(picture courtesy by En Low Wai Chong - thank you sir)
What a week it was!
It was a plane hopping exercise to be honest. Nothing more, nothing less. Four cities in 5 days, excluding KL of course. (But I am not talking about London, Paris and New York here of course, just in case you would think that I am trying to mislead you. My travels have never been that glamorous!)
I have always enjoyed my trip to the other side of Malaysia. To me, it is untouched and unspoilt, the way the Peninsular was in the 70s and early 80s - until greed tears us apart. Strolling in KK and Bintulu, albeit without purpose, is an exercise in humility. One would see and feel the sincerity of the people, many of them yet to be touched by the pursuit of worldly wealth, but in themselves are the richness of life unseen no more on our side of the peninsular.
This is however slowly but surely eroding away in Borneo.
Nonetheless, a whirlwind trip to anywhere is always not advisable, so the daily flight at 7 am didn't help. It is not good for the body, waking up daily at 4 am, I know that. But beyond that, the trip was not was not of bone breaking nature.
I still have the time to stop and smell the roses, so to speak.
So we went to Kundasang.
I have always loved the mountain. To me, they are to be admired, and of course respected. They are the backbone of this planet earth, without which this mother earth of ours would simply disintegrate. To me too, the mountains near Calgary would be one of my two choices of place for my retirement, never mind that the winter may be a bit harsh.
But they are so beautiful that they are heaven on earth.
So are the mountain ranges at the Kinabalu Park. You would see 5 or 6 different ranges in the background, with the different hue and shades denoting their distance.
Scenery postcards are made of!
So I was cursing my luck and lamenting to the organizer that I was not told of the trip beforehand for me to bring my own camera. It is very seldom I didn't bring the cam to all my trips. I was basically a 'trigger-happy' guy and a hoarder in as far as pictures are concerned!
It was a plane hopping exercise to be honest. Nothing more, nothing less. Four cities in 5 days, excluding KL of course. (But I am not talking about London, Paris and New York here of course, just in case you would think that I am trying to mislead you. My travels have never been that glamorous!)
I have always enjoyed my trip to the other side of Malaysia. To me, it is untouched and unspoilt, the way the Peninsular was in the 70s and early 80s - until greed tears us apart. Strolling in KK and Bintulu, albeit without purpose, is an exercise in humility. One would see and feel the sincerity of the people, many of them yet to be touched by the pursuit of worldly wealth, but in themselves are the richness of life unseen no more on our side of the peninsular.
This is however slowly but surely eroding away in Borneo.
Nonetheless, a whirlwind trip to anywhere is always not advisable, so the daily flight at 7 am didn't help. It is not good for the body, waking up daily at 4 am, I know that. But beyond that, the trip was not was not of bone breaking nature.
I still have the time to stop and smell the roses, so to speak.
So we went to Kundasang.
I have always loved the mountain. To me, they are to be admired, and of course respected. They are the backbone of this planet earth, without which this mother earth of ours would simply disintegrate. To me too, the mountains near Calgary would be one of my two choices of place for my retirement, never mind that the winter may be a bit harsh.
But they are so beautiful that they are heaven on earth.
So are the mountain ranges at the Kinabalu Park. You would see 5 or 6 different ranges in the background, with the different hue and shades denoting their distance.
Scenery postcards are made of!
So I was cursing my luck and lamenting to the organizer that I was not told of the trip beforehand for me to bring my own camera. It is very seldom I didn't bring the cam to all my trips. I was basically a 'trigger-happy' guy and a hoarder in as far as pictures are concerned!
I have melted many times over that day - like ice cream on a hot summer day, when I saw this view. If only...
It was so beautiful that I was wishing that I could open an office here with me punching my computer in the valleys of Kinabalu, trapped between the foliage and insects and leave the KL office be manned by my engineers. Let them battle the KL traffic daily, while I immerse myself fully with nature.
Oh, sorry, I was day dreaming.
It was so beautiful that I was wishing that I could open an office here with me punching my computer in the valleys of Kinabalu, trapped between the foliage and insects and leave the KL office be manned by my engineers. Let them battle the KL traffic daily, while I immerse myself fully with nature.
Oh, sorry, I was day dreaming.
EPILOGUE
The title is a quote by Khalil Gibran, the most famous Egyptian poet, philosopher, artist. This is one quote I remember from years ago studying English literature at high school (MRSM KB). And it should be reflective of our journey to the foot of Kinabalu that day.
We didn't see KInabalu but the cloud.
Well, if you can't bring yourself to the mountain, then let the mountain come to you. :-)
ReplyDeleteWell, I presume you are talking figuratively or philosophically. Yeah, I would love to have the mountain come to me, if you can let me know how to ask the mountain to move to nearby my place! ;-)
ReplyDeleteMy dear friend, nothing is figurative or philosophically speaking if you have that faith in yourself and particularly, in the almighty One. While the ifrit pledged to present before Allah's Prophet Sulaiman a.s. the palace from far away land that he requested before he could even stand-up from his throne, the learned ahlul-kitab did it before he could even wink (The Holy Quran, An-Naml:39-40). A mountain? However, of more importance is the exclamation made the Sulaiman a.s. in verse 40 of the same surah.
ReplyDeleteI am from the generation who grew up in the forties. It was just jungle, clear streams everywhere and with progress comes the destruction of some of nature. We can still preserved nature in our own small way, like create a little garden in your yard of which I did. I am now getting the benefit of that small space of nature at its best. Little animals, insects, birds and other flying animals do comes and go. We cannot get what we have lost.
ReplyDeleteFor Malaysian we still have that enchanting places in Sabah and Sarawak to enjoy. We must take good care of these places.
As for the camera, always have it at hand or at least use your cell phone camera to get some images. I did that when I did not take the camera a long.
Have a nice day.
Pak Idrus,
ReplyDeleteThanks for dropping by. I agree with you and I missed those clear streams, passing by; I missed those mata air; I missed those palong. Many of those are lost for good (sigh).
I also agree with you on creating whatever we could in the small space that we have, though at times I have difficulty trying to maintain them.
As for the phone camera, well what can I say? It was one of those trips!
Dear Joey, too heavy a stuff for me to comment and comprehend ;-) You have a blog somewhere where I can learn a few things on this topic?
ReplyDeleteRahman,
ReplyDeleteThanks for leaving a trail that lead me to your beautiful site. It seems my good friend
pak idrus has found his way earlier than me. Please allow me to put your site on my blogroll.
Thanks for dropping by En Zawi. I have also enjoyed your blog (as much I had enjoyed Pak Idrus') tho I had been more of a lurker. It will be an honour to be on your blogroll.
ReplyDelete