蓝天白云下: July 2010

Friday 30 July 2010

Borneo Trip 4 - My Fourth Day

Have travelled to Royal Regalia and the Mosque at Kiulap area today!

Again, it's a self directed journey! Finish trip earlier today, so got some time to talk to my aunt and my Uncle Ah Boon, LOL~

No matter what, it's a really a good trip! Personally I feel that such self-directed journey is good for me, as I feel soooooo comfy with it! No pressure from others, pressure to finish the journey don't really come from others, except yourself that determine the extent of initiative! Haha~ And you don't need to feel afraid that you can;t finish the journey and makes a whole-life-regret for you and your friends!

Anyway, that's why I like about SELF-DIRECTED JOURNEY, it's not really a new experience, I have conquered Kuala Lumpur and Bandar Seri Begawan quite on my own! Of course, that's can be done due to significantly smaller size of the capital of this royal kingdom of Brunei Darussalam!

Had Special Mee Mamak and Teh-C Special with Afifah at the morning in Gadong Area, namely the C.A.Mohamad corner! Then at evening I had a very very unexpected meeting with Pei Ru! I just turned my head, and then, 'eii???'. Haha~ that kinda funny! And the location was a Pasar Malam opposite to Royal Regalia, and the most funny was, she was arrived at BSB at 10am on the same day itself! As what Juliana said, OMG! you proved that Brunei is soooo small...well... for me...That's jodoh! That's nasib! That's 缘份！LOL~

Then at night, went to Sabuk Area, namely the Terindak corner to have dinner with Aqilah and her bf...well...of course....I felt so bad, just thinking myself as a very shiny light bulb!!!!　Haiz...so bad of me...Although Qilah kept telling 'it's ok', yet...well...

That's in short for what had happened actually between my University of Bath's collegues on my third day at this capital of Brunei Darussalam! And today I had gone to more places as stated above, and truthfully speaking, BSB is kinda of quite easy to travel around just by real buses and buses number 11, of course! Not much hassle, and personally I myself quite enjoy that! I had my own rhythm, flied at my own blue sky, swimed in the blue ocean that I prefer - and everything - are considerably without the inetrference of others!

But truthfully I don't think I'll do the same at Europe, the network is very very much complicated and sophisticated, and it's quite difficult to do the same thing on your own at Europe, and truthfully speaking, I really don't have much much feelings of direction! Success at BSB is due to familiarities, as I had travelled around the same area for almost 3 days. At Europe, everything is rushing...hence the situation is kinda of very different, as I wil say, as it involves train, buses with stations changing, and even underground tubes or whatsoever! Well...

In conclusion, as a person born in and raised in Borneo, BSB just give me a sense of familiarity and hospitality, so adaptation is not much of a problem! And again, thanks to my relatives and my friends that had given me so much invaluable support, during my very short visit to this royal kingdom at the northern Sarawak!

Photos will be uploaded only next week...Stories of Miri and Limbang should come soon!

Til then, take care!

WITH LOVE,
Jack =)

-Back to nest ZZZzzz-

Wednesday 28 July 2010

Borneo Trip 3 - My Third Day

Travelled to Brunei Musuem, Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque, Brunei Stadium and Kampong Ayer!

Next station: Liukap and Royal Regalia!

Special thanks to Afifah Ali Hassan, PeiRu Teo and Aqilah Rahman for great accompanient today! Great foodsssssssss, nice talkssssssssssss! In short, J'ai bon voyage aujourd'hui! =)

Tuesday 27 July 2010

FW: Truly MALAYSIAN!

This is a very good article from a younger generation and a great granddaughter of Tunku Abdul Rahman. A very well expressed opinion of how all Malaysians should be treated.

IF THIS IS THE VOICE OF YOUR YOUNGER GENERATION IN MALAYSIA , YOU WILL BE BLESSED.

Sharyn completed her Diploma in Advertising from Taylor's College, and then left motherland to pursue her BA degree majoring in Media Studies and Anthropology at Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand. While waiting for her graduation in May 08, she interned briefly at M&C Saatchi Wellington, a global advertising firm. Upon returning to Malaysia, jobless and relieved of rent payments, Sharyn stumbled upon Wild Asia through The Star which sparked her interest to learn more about nature and environmental causes. Armed with a communications background, Sharyn works on the Wild Asia website and editorial, translating geek terms into laymen language, easily accessed and understood by visitors regardless of their backgrounds, be it scientific, business, the arts or just plain interested.
By The Tunku's Great Granddaughter

This is a great piece. She has all the qualities of her great grandfather. Tunku has reason to be proud of her!

Tunku Abdul Rahman's great granddaughter

Sharyn Lisa Shufiyan, 24, Conservationist

Both my parents are Malay. My mum's heritage includes Chinese, Thai and Arab, while my dad is Minangkabau. Due to my skin colour, I am often mistaken for a Chinese.

I'm happy that I don't have the typical Malay look but I do get annoyed when people call me Ah Moi or ask me straight up "Are you Chinese or Malay"

Like, why does it matter? Before I used to answer "Malay" but now I'm trying to consciously answer Malaysian instead.

There's this incident from primary school that I remember till today. Someone told me that I will be called last during Judgement Day because I don't have a Muslim name. Of course, I was scared then but now that I'm older, I realise that a name is just a name. It doesn't define you as a good or bad person and there is definitely no such thing as a Muslim name. You can be named Rashid or Ali and still be a Christian.

I've heard of the 1Malaysia concept, but I think we don't need to be told to be united. We've come such a long way that it should already be embedded in our hearts and minds that we are united. Unfortunately, you can still see racial discrimination and polarisation. There is still this ethno-centric view that the Malays are the dominant group and their rights must be protected, and non Malays are forever the outsiders.

For the concept to succeed, I think the government should stop with the race politics. It's tiring, really. We grew up with application forms asking us to tick our race. We should stop painting a negative image of the other races, stop thinking about 'us' and 'them' and focus on 'we', 'our' and 'Malaysians'.

No one should be made uncomfortable in their own home. A dear Chinese friend of mine said to me once, "I don't feel patriotic because I am not made to feel like Malaysia is my home, and I don't feel an affinity to China because I have never lived there.

I know some baby Nyonya friends who can trace their lineage back hundreds of years. I'm a fourth generation Malaysian. If I am Bumiputra, why can't they be, too? Clearly I have issues with the term.

I think the main reason why we still can't achieve total unity is because of this 'Malay rights' concept. I'd rather 'Malay rights' be replaced by human rights. So unless we get rid of this Bumiputra status, or reform our views and policies on rights, we will never achieve unity.

For my merdeka wish, I'd like for Malaysians to have more voice, to be respected and heard. I wish that the government would uphold the true essence of parliamentary democracy. I wish for the people to no longer fear and discriminate against each other, to see that we are one and the same.

I wish that Malaysia would truly live up to the tourism spin of Malaysia truly Asia. Malaysians to lead - whatever their ethnic background. Only ONE NATIONALITY MALAYSIAN. No Malays, No Chinese, No Indians - ONLY MALAYSIANS. Choose whatever religion one is comfortable with.

MERDEKA
MERDEKA
MERDEKA

Citation: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=410801268718&id=688522016

Borneo Trip 2 - My Second Day

Hmm... Really nothing much to do here, at least for this moment...

What I can say, Bandar Seri Begawan is really a quite medium-sized town...and it's truly purely Islamic! No alcohols, no cigarettes (DITEGAH MEROKOK, as Bruneian says). So some of the Bruneians (especially the lucky Bruneian Chineses) wil have some sweet escapes to Limbang or Miri Town, both located in The Bumi Kenyalang, Sarawak!

Even the commercial signboards all got Jawi characters (modified version of Arabic to suit Malay Language). Yes, applicable to almost 95% of the shops here I will say, small or big, fat or thin, tall or short! Even the Chinese shops also applicable! Interesting, huh???

And Sultan / Yang Dipertuan Negara Brunei Darussalam is very very very highly regarded here! Even my aunt said that Sultan's birthday (15 July) is much more grandly celebrated than the National Day! (If I'm not mistaken, and if my South-East Asians History still functioning, it should be at 23 February).

This is what I can say for this Islamic Monarchy Country, situated at the northern Sarawak...Bruneians really appeciate their status to be able to maintain the highly regarded Malay Sultanate system that may share great history as Kesultanan Melayu Melaka (Malacca Sultanate, too).

Brunei Darussalam, divided into 4 divisions, and some of the main cities are of course, BSB itself, plus Seria (Shelltown), Kuala Belait, Labu, etc etc. (And I plan to have a sweet escape to Miri soon via Seria, or to Limbang via Kuala Lurah!)

My thousand thanks to Afifah and Aqilah for at least replying my message! Not sure whether we will have breakfast as planned at the end, **finger-crossed** , but hopefully 'can-loh'! (Please don't forget to respond to my lovely Bruneian number, ok??? LOL...)

And of course my uttermost thanks to my aunt and my uncle Ah Voon, plus Uncle Ah Boon. At least I got a simple shelter at this BSB...

That's all the updates for today, I guess, as wi-fi connection is not everywhere, and my laptop need to be charged constantly...

** Stay tuned **

Monday 26 July 2010

Borneo Trip 1 - Trailer

Now I'm at KKIA (Kota Kinabalu International Airport Terminal 1), online-ing using wi-fi from Starbucks. Haha, wanna challege myself this time to travel 'self' and try to be reporter for the whole journey! Of course, pictures after trip. Yet perhaps it's very good to update your travel experience every time every day, so that you talk more, give others more information, and you will not tend to procrastinate!

The flight at 6.30pm later will be via Royal Brunei Airlines, a 40 mintues journey flight. Haha, good also -lah, because when I checked the tickets prices last time, Royal Brunei and AirAsia got only few MYR difference! So of course I go for BRA!, ops, I mean, RBA!

Should be nothing much to do tonight, it's almost night when I reach Bandar Seri Begawan (or BSB in short). See what my relatives have arranged for me. Of course, we can't depend 100% on others to do something for us, right?

Stayed up with panda's eyes due to my lovely sister's determination to finish her Ideal Gas Law presentation last night (or I should say, this very early morning), luckily I managed to re-fill my sleeping time on the bus, when travelling from Keningau to Kota Kinabalu. Although I have travelled via this road almost thousands times, I still astonished and mesmerised by the beautiful scenery on the way. The mountains look so grant! 我国的山河似锦！宏伟的山峰、壮丽的山脉，所言不虚！

Managed to travel around KK also, quite self-directed journey, a little bit boring and lonely yet still so meaningful and promising to me!

"Ladies and gentle, your flight to Brunei Darussalam BI0826 (aka MH9008) is now ready for boarding...please..."

Looks like that will be the full stop for today at Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.

Like what I promise before,

Borneo Trip - Across Borders and Boundaries! National and International! On this mystical land of Borneo...

I'll try my best to report my progress and 所见所闻、所听所知，asap!

** Finger crossed **

Sunday 25 July 2010

聆听 - Listen

我们活在一个又真实又虚构的世界里。。。

真即是假，假即使真。。。

在人生不同的阶段。。。

经验、过去教导我们成长，让我们珍惜现在，放眼未来！

我，因看到身旁的人最真实的写照。。。

我，不要得过且过。。。

即使我必须因此遭到最迷惑的不解。。。

我，亦不想放弃。。。

过去教导我要放弃多少、坚持多少。。。

亲情————

友情————

爱情————

属于风的，就让它飞翔吧！
属于海洋的，那就汹涌吧！

静静聆听内心最真实的呼唤。。。

亲爱的，

你——

听到了吗？

Friday 23 July 2010

爱与雪

在爱斯基摩人的文字中，就有三十个“雪”字，用以分辨那在一片白茫茫世界里学的诸相。在我们所习知的雪中，爱斯基摩人因为长时间细致地观察，竟能一一辨别它们在颜色与结构之间的不同，而且由于环境里只有冰雪一种情况，为了在语言与文字中能确实表达环境，不得不发展出三十个雪字来。

爱斯基摩人应用敏锐的观察力，奠下对地形与风向的惊人认识，因此在在无人全无辨识目标的单调地方，对他们来说，从满了意义丰富的参照点。

。。。

他们告诉你有一只鸟飞在天上，你应是看不见。这并非他们生来有非凡的双眼，而是他们当下几经入经验本身。他们不是观察者，而是参与者。

探测了雪对爱斯基摩人的意义，使我想到我们对身边事物的任何理解，几乎比不上他们对雪的明白。就说“爱”字好了，我们所居的人间，爱是何其多样，何其复杂，然而我们只有一个“爱”字可以表达，其无力可想而知。

为什么我们的一生为爱所左右？我们日日活在爱的情感里，竟不能说真切说出爱的有为法呢？我们在面对茫茫人世的未可知里，是否能从空气的气味，风飘动的衣角，大海拍岸的浪声，或者说仅从一只鸟的飞向，就判断得出爱的方向，毅然出门追寻呢`？

其实，爱的大情感，再大的层面里就如同一片冰白之雪，敏感的人从里面找到不同的东西。也只有自己对爱的体会才是最真实的；鲁钝的人只看到一片白，难以揣测在看来完全相同的表面，竟可以有深沉的神秘与复杂。

恐怕有些人从未有爱，正如同有人一生完全没有见过雪一般。

（摘自林清玄《爱与雪》，本文略有改动）

Snow at Bath

Snow at Helsinki

Citation:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?id=633480097&aid=118261&s=180&hash=0ae03f947edb2c85275322eea111f1cc#!/photo.php?pid=3230633&id=633480097&fbid=211145085097

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vanha_Kirkkopuisto_lumisateella.jpg

Bath - Lab Coat Pub Tour

Date: 15 October 2009

This event is an annual event organised by PSA (Pharmacy Students Association) at Bath.

We went to at least 4 pubs in Bath in a single night! Haha, sounds crazy huh?

Yet we know our limit -lah, main purpose is to discover the mystery behind this annual event.

Well, it turned out to be quite fun =)

Enjoy the photos!

Gathered at Student Union before leaving...

One of the pub =)


Crazy enough huh?

IN CONTRAST...These were what we've done!

Not forgetting some nightlife pictures of Bath, too...

AND

Haha, seems normal right?

Should be back to hostel at early morning that day...

But still worth an experience =)

Citation: Facebook Photos of Yean Hui

Travel Series 19 - Vatican City (EGO diligo vatican urbs!)

Vatican City - Another UNESCO World Heritage Site!

Official name: Stato della Città del Vaticano OR "State of the City of the Vatican".

Established at 1929 =)

A small country (only about 44 hectares / 110 acres) situated within Rome, Italy, where religious leader is still playing important role here, even in the country's administration!

One of the country that still using Latin (apart from Italian) as the primary (official) language, and it is the only country in the world that uses Latin as its ATM machines!

Unfortunately due to time constriction we just can't take even a quarter of a photo at its ATM machines! (Disappointed...)

Lets pictures do the talkings!

The Entrance

What's the advert about?

I think you must have realised that I purposely rotate this picture... =P


This is taken outside, OBVIOUSLY...

And not forgetting some personal photos of me =)

And, finally out!!! See the sunshine again! Yeah yeah!

Next Station?

Florence, Italy! (Italian: Firenze)

Please refer (back) to Travel Series 1 & Travel Series 18 ...

(Jackie, =.= , why so much cross reference one???)

Anyway ...

More to come!!!

Next Station after 22/07/2010???

Borneo!

Crossing borders and boundaries...

*** Stay tuned =) ***

Travel Series 18 - Italy II (Io amo l'Italia!)

OK, I know it's kinda weird and random to post like this because my another Italy Post in actually at Travel Series 1! Ok Ok! Forgive me! Only after updating I realise I can do it better, and I think everyone should understand that right ???

Now let's get some random pictures of Italy now =)