People are often so busy living that never stop to wonder why ~ Terry Pratcett
Rushing life throughout my given 24 hours a day doing chores (yes … I call it chores) felt heavy on my soul. My mind is always occupied with the idea of being busy but at the end of my 24 hours, I realized that there is not much accomplishment that I could be proud of.
I want to have a full control of my busyness. So that I have more excess time to do things that I love … things that I want to do, not others expect me to do. Time flies. Juggling my responsibility and my dream, I felt that 2017 has been a heavy year for me.
And, I am wishing for a flamboyant 2018 … so, I started by setting up my new year resolution and planning earlier than usual. Spelling out clearly on priorities that I want to accomplish in 1- 2 years time.
Filling up details of my 2018 planning in my Evernote app with rational resolution In Sha Allah. More traveling, exploring, writing, reading, creating, crafting, daydreaming … more me time. Am off to bed now … will write more in a few days.
“The quiet sense of something lost”
Cheers
MM
ps- letting go of his hand … you weren’t even mine in the first place
Re-visiting my India’s photos for my latest NST assignment to celebrate Deepavali or Dewali. All these photos bring back memories of me surviving India and I think its time to repeat India again.
I am yearning to experience another round of emotional burst … in India maybe in 2018.
Sharing a few more photos of the bustling street of Old Delhi, New Delhi.
And my article on India for the NST readers is turning out well too, alhamdullilah. I am sharing it here for my own future reference.
It’s either that I don’t get enough sleep or cause of this mild flu that I had since a few days ago, my head felt like it’ll burst, a headache … better than a heartache, I hope so. Pretty busy these few days … writing and trying out something new.
I am aiming for something different in my life so that I can be free doing the thing that I like the most … which is daydreaming :-). Hope it’ll work out well …
My girlfriend sent me a poem of Maya Angelou … just the right motivational boast during my downtime. Keeping it here … cause I like it so much, hell yeah! I rise … jom layan …
I found a new secret hideout in Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu, Malaysia.
A simple, quiet and rusty place for an introvert soul, like mine … or let me rephrase it again, an OLD and worn out soul like mine. Lol … Selfish me, everything has to be like mine … mine all mine, no sharing and I do not want to share my soulmate either (if I ever have any) … gth! mental … oh yes!
Pak Awi’s Yellow House located at Pulau Duyung, Kuala Terengganu
Kuala Terengganu has a few small islands in-between the mainland and Pulau Duyung (Duyung Island) is the largest island. I flew over the islands during a paramotor event last 2 years. Never occurred to me that there are interesting stories to explore down there on the islands.
Well … Pak Awi didn’t pay me anything to promote his place so don’t get me wrong. I just love the place.
I found a new hidden place that I could stay for a few days or even weeks without creating a big hole in my wallet. A cool and safe place to go home to after hours and hours wandering around Kuala Terengganu.
Lepaking at one of the bench
What would I do here in Kuala Terengganu? Hmmm … I am going for a story hunting and I myself not sure what is the outcome gonna look like, lol.
I plan to hang around with the makciks (mid-aged ladies) around the villages listening to them gossiping he he he and the pakciks (middle-aged man) around the coffee shops or jetties reminiscing about life. Tengok berapa lama boleh tahan … the rest is a secret.
A few more photos of my new found hiding place before I end this post.
Surrounded by mangrove trees
So, you can here all kind of birds and insect sounds here
This antique …
the hangout hut
sleeping inside a mosquito net
Last but not least … my all time favorite breakfast, Nasi Kerabu. A blue colored rice mixed with fresh vegetables, salted egg, stuffed green chili pepper, a piece of roasted chicken and sambal (chili paste). Wallah … am hungry now … gotta run.
Bye
Cheers,
MM
ps- sambil dengar lagu “kutuliskan kesedihan, semua tak bisa kau ungkapkan, dan kita kan bicara dengan hatiku” dan perut yang lapar
“There is a way that nature speaks, that land speaks. Most of the time we are simply not patient enough, quiet enough, to pay attention to the story.”
I have been home bound for months now. My last trip outside Malaysia was to Mongolia and Lake Baikal, Russia in March early this year. I am still not sure where is my next destination yet. I am ok with just anything …
Yeah … I do miss my traveling moment for sure.
The quietness, the feeling of being lost, the discovering, the learning and breathing the air of strangers land but I do believe in not exaggerating or over indulging upon something. Maybe because I get bored easily, too much of anything could kill my interest.
Well … I was not basically just sitting at home for this past few months. That travel addiction still stings me badly and I have a ‘secret’ way to sooth it down before I turned mental. I tagged along with my other adventurous soul group … my paramotor friends of course.
At Kuala Selangor … enjoying the morning light
Of late they are into cross-country flying aka XC flying with paramotors.
I didn’t expect to experience such a rich and raw exploration moments while hovering low in the airspace. The landscape from high above is dreamy and mesmerizing, the air smells differently … it felt as if I am physically not here in Malaysia but somewhere traveling across different continental within 1.5 to 2 hours of each flight.
We would be in a deep forest for 10 minutes, in urban cities in another few minutes, on acres of acres of orchard, on some mysterious island, in a blue looking lake and sometimes just hover around a small town around Antara Gapi for maybe 10 minutes.
From Kundang to Bukit Beruntung, Kuala Selangor on 2017.07.23
We flew in a small group … most of the time with well-experienced pilots, around 4 to 7 of them. As usual … I would be in charge of capturing the moments of us, flying. We started very early in the morning before the morning light is out, took-off from our flying base around 7:00 to 7:30 am so that we could catch the early morning light from the horizon … morning light is always our favorite.
For me …. the best way to end a hectic week is not through snuggling on your bed for the whole morning on the weekend but to do all this lol … mental? Yes …
Inside a cloud at Tekah Airfield on 2017.04.15
Unlike paragliding, thermals are not our best friend. The wind tends to be calmer early in the morning and we would experience the heat around 10 am when the sun is fully out. The heat created thermal heat on the airspace and our wings would swing according to the heat flow which is not good (dangerous too) for flying low.
So, by 10 am we are expected to land safely at our starting takeoff base.
And yeah … sometimes we drove out of Kuala Lumpur to the east and west part of peninsular Malaysia with our engines and wings and join our local flying friends from those areas.
Kuala Besut, Terengganu from up on the air on 2017.07.16
Is it dangerous? Hmmm …
As I mentioned earlier in my previous post about paramotor, any extreme sport requires you to have a certain level of skill to ensure safety. And that skill is acquired from hours and hours of flying training or flying experience. And planning is very important.
Apart from making sure that the engines and wings are in its best condition … we tried to minimize our risk by ensuring proper planning before and during each flight with the help of technology.
From Pulau Indah to Morib Beach during low-tide on 2017.04.09
MBOR challenge achieving 10,000 feet in a group at Tekah Airfield on 2017.04.15
Inside a cloud at Tekah Airfield on 2017.04.15
At the Water Reservoir Sungai Tinggi, Kuala Selangor on 2017.05.13
At Bukit Tabur, Selangor on 2017.05.21
At Unisel wetland, Batang Berjuntai, Kuala Selangor on 2017.05.28
From Kundang to Tanjung Malim, Perak on 2017.06.11
We saw this S-shaped river on the way to Tanjung Malim on 2017.06.11
Flying over Antara Gapi airspace on 2017.06.11
Bukit Beruntung area on 2017.07.23
From Kundang to Bukit Beruntung, Kuala Selangor on 2017.07.23
Pantai Irama, Bachok, Kelantan on 2017.07.15
Kuala Besut, Terengganu on 2017.07.16
The shoreline of Kuala Besut, Terengganu on 2017.07.16
From Kuala Besut to Perhentian Island, Terengganu on 2017.07.17
From Kuala Besut to Perhentian Island, Terengganu on 2017.07.17
Is it scary?
Honestly yes … sometimes lol … but when you are already up there on air, your thought mostly would be on how to ensure that we are well prepared for the worst. I call it the survivor instinct …
The shoreline of Kuala Besut, Terengganu on 2017.07.16
Flying cross-country gives us the opportunity to see the world in a way that most people would never will and it is a privilege for me to be a part of it.
And, sharing the beauty version of layers and layers of landscapes from up above through my lens with my viewers is very self-fulfilling. Some might get personal seeing me mingled around comfortably among my ppg friends … get it over with, after experiencing life I believe that there is more to it than getting hitched, In Sha Allah kot ha ha ha.
From Kuala Besut to Perhentian Island, Terengganu on 2017.07.17
I might appear bias or might have inhaled too much dust while flying but I think it is a privilege for a human being to be able to fly at will either with a light-aircraft or a wing and glide on air doing paragliding or with an engine attached to a wing like a paramotor.
And I am not sure when this flying privilege could last as air regulation might change according to technological change or cost hike on flying kill enthusiast or in an extreme case, political change – so I believe that it is very fortunate for us to be able to fly at our own will today.
Sharing some snapshots from our GoPros during a few of our XCs here in today’s post as an inspiration and motivation for ourselves … fly high peeps! create your own moment.
To view photos from this post in better resolution … please click here
Sunset flight from our takeoff base at Pulau Indah to Jugra Hill on 2017.08.13
Re-visiting my India’s photos for my latest NST assignment to celebrate Deepavali or Dewali. All these photos bring back memories of me surviving India and I think its time to repeat India again.
I found a new secret hideout in Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu, Malaysia.
