Haanism

Visit to Yuen Long (I)

2012-02-18T22:14:00.001+08:00

到香港，当然也不会错过与老朋友见面。

星期六，约了大学朋友阿Van在元朗站等。当天约了中午12点。我原本打算早上先做很多事情才出门，到最后啥都没做到。从鰂鱼涌站搭港铁去到元朗站得费约50分钟，整11点我才三步拼两步赶去地铁站。不晓得是不是天气的关系还是我平时的周末都习惯了慢条斯理，在地铁上我也是昏昏欲睡那样。终于，到了站，快步走去约好的A出口，从远处就看到已经10个月不见的阿Van。当时是12点正，他说我真是超准时，呵呵（我则在心里庆幸没有迟到）。

去年是在星期五与阿Van午餐，接着他就继续工作。这一次，由于是周末，他很热心地安排了很多地方陪我去。见面前，他打电话来问我去到哪里了、吃了早餐没、有没有带够衣因为天气应该会蛮冷。一见面，就迫不及待跟我报告“行程”：首先，我们先去吃午餐，然后去哪里，之后再去哪里。我跟他说，我好像参加了一个旅游团那样哦，你真是一个尽责的导游。其实，我真的不要求什么，就算随便找个餐厅坐下来聊天几个小时我也很满足，未必一定要去哪里走。

不过，他真的做了很多功课，因为住屯门的他，其实也不是很了解元朗站附近有啥。首先，他带我去吃斋点心（没想到他还记得我吃斋）。老实说，我知道香港人喜欢饮茶吃点心，但所谓的斋点心对我来说还算新鲜。平时吃斋，也没有很想去吃什么斋肉类，只要有很多不同的蔬菜供选择就很满足了。到了那里，我让他决定吃什么，我则忙着换大光圈镜头拍点心（他也已经知道我的衰样），而且菜单上太多太多选择，我不想伤脑筋。随便叫了几样，吃吃一下就饱了。

我们当天的目标是元朗站附近的“满汉一条街”和南生围。有一天在办公室他打电话给我，不小心提到“南生围”这三个字，我就迫不及待说，对对对，我就是要去那里！之前看过一些网页，但就是没有清楚说怎么去，而且好像要花蛮久的时间才可以走到。我是从香港的处境喜剧“谁家着头无烟火”认识南生围，之后再看到香港朋友大龙的相簿，说那里是“香港唯一的自然景色”。种种的诱惑之下，我对它的好奇程度节节上升。高楼耸立的香港我已领教过、离岛也去过，虽然首次抵港已经去了湿地公园，但新界区应该还有许多值得探索的地方。

花了大约一个小时在brunch，我们就朝“满汉一条街”，也就是元朗舊墟走去。根据网上的资料，西鐵元朗站A/B出口，步行約5分鐘就可以抵达。

元朗舊墟位於元朗市中心东北边缘，在康熙八年建立。古時的「墟」或「集」乃乡民进行买卖的中心，村民一般都会在此把农作物拿到墟集买卖。所谓“满清一条街”，泛指元朗舊墟的長盛街、酒街及利益街，因街上遺留了不少建於清代的建筑物而得名，是昔日元朗最繁盛的市集。直至一九一五年新墟建成，舊墟漸见衰落。該处有近二十幢建筑物首度获得评级，其中同益棧（我没有去到）和晉源押，不但直接被评为一級，更分別排在名單上的第十三及十四位，料日后获优先評估能否列作法定古迹，另有多幢民居被评为二级或三级。

这一天，阿Van也带了它的C仔单眼相机，我俩一路走、一路拍。当时，我对那个地方完全没有概念。阿Van前一晚才从网上得知这个地方，阅读了一些资料，算是有概念，所以有一路给我解释他所已经吸收的。基本上，在那里就是看旧式建筑物、注意建筑特色。其中较为重点的古迹如下：

晉源押，歷史評級I，建于1910年代，位於長盛街72號，香港現存最古老的當鋪
大王廟，歷史評級I，建于康熙時期，供奉洪聖王和楊侯公，為當年元朗舊墟的政治及宗教信仰中心
玄關二帝廟，歷史評級I，建于1714年，供奉玄天上帝及關帝

走着聊着的时候，想起了多年前在中国婺源时，经过司机兼导游的解释，才得以了解其实中国人的建筑其实很讲究、充满着内涵。若当时我们只管自己逛，知道的肯定少了很多。就好像晉源押的葫芦形招牌（看上图），挂起来有蝙蝠在上金钱在下的形状，似乎有福在眼前的寓意。还有，“二帝庙”那竖直的牌匾放置形式，据说只有皇帝御赐的才可有。

对我來說，高墙、古宅、圍村建筑（指由石墙包圍的传统中国村落，用以防禦邻近仇敌、盗寇和猛兽）是陌生的。所谓的「圍」，是一道道用石块和青磚砌成的，保存著「圍村」裡的本土文化精髓。其实，元朗是全港拥有最多古蹟的地方。在82個香港法定古蹟中，元朗就佔了11個。夾在南邊圍和西邊圍中間的「元朗墟」市，早在三百、四百年前已出現，但不少住在元朗的人卻不知道這舊墟的存在。圍村廟內，处处都是百多年前的珍貴建築，反映了圍村建筑的智慧。

在那里，也可以看到老人们悠闲地坐在椅子、沙发上闲话家常，或在一起打麻将。小孩们也有充裕的地方打羽球、跑来跑去。这与香港市区居民的生活，应该是有很大的差别。在元朗旧墟待了近一小时，我们下一个目的地是南生围。

Dessert Buffet at Red Ant

2012-02-14T22:53:00.000+08:00

去到香港，约我的前老板出来聚聚，是无可厚非的事。老土说一句，一日为师，终身为师。最主要的是，当年和他一起工作，深受他的影响。当时不察觉，但今天在自问为什么自己当PM会和公司里其他PM那么不同，抽丝剥茧之下就会发觉，很多待人处事都是从前老板那里“遗传”下来。对于这一点，我深感幸运，另外，在我们不再是上司下属的关系之后，他私底下也帮了我很多帮。我真的心存感激。

上星期二，工作时间我在MSN依然appear offline，知道我死样的他，尝试“hi”了一下。一如既往，我会回答他。他问说是否要当晚见面，或者是我临走之前的星期五晚？为了不想什么都留到最后一分钟，我说就当晚吧。幸好我真的选了当天，因为星期五那天我们在办公室做到将近凌晨12点。其实我前老板住的地方距离我工作的地方不远，就只是两个地铁站（而且还不必转站）。我一直想说他应该会找一个在我们中间的地方见面。这种叙旧，随便找个茶餐厅坐下，聊聊天就好，我从来都不觉得吃那部分有多重要。

当他建议去“红蚂蚁”吃点品自助餐（dessert buffet）时，我还有点惊讶，而且那个地方也不是“就在我们中间”。从我们俩的地方搭地铁过去，还要转站，但我的人一向喜欢尝试新东西，所以就说没问题。上网找了找他所说的地方，原来好要先拿号码，不然就没位子。前老板说，他可以下去等“派筹”，因为他的办公室就在附近。他还说，放工之后他会先回家吃晚餐，然后再去那里。讲真，如果是我，真的不会这么做。回到家了还要再回去白天办公的地方，真的不要搞我。午餐时我跟大师兄提到这点，问他是否有兴趣一起去，他说没问题，我也就跟钱老板肯定，我俩会一起去（去等派筹时要告知人数）。

当晚，大师兄和我工作到8点，才走回酒店。放了东西，去洗衣店拿我的衣，再去惠康打个白鸽转，就到了我们从酒店出发的时间了。从鰂鱼涌站去到观塘站，大约11分钟，然后去说好的A出口等。自助餐9点半才开始，我们9点就见面了。将近10个月没见面，大家也没什么变，但那是我第一次看到他肩膀空空（没有背laptop bag），手上只拿着一把雨伞如此轻松。大师兄和前老板虽是初次见面，却好像好久不见的老朋友，滔滔不绝说个不停。前老板阐述香港客户有多难搞，每一字每一句都似乎说中大师兄的心事（他多次长期被“困”在香港面对难搞的客户）。当前老板说我们的软件时（他也是用户之一），大师兄也能跟他对答如流，因为已经做了那个项目几年，不像我只接手两个月，对很多东西都未了解透彻。

9点半，终于可以入座。说是自助餐，正确一点来说应该是“付港币68吃到饱”，共有14种甜品供选择。幸好有三个人，不然我想真的很难每一样都试。一开始，侍应会送上饮品，然后就可以开始点要吃的甜点。每一轮，最多只能点六种哦！在这里就不仔细说我们每一轮点了什么吧（一共点了三轮），就一样一样给您介绍吧。

总的来说，最好吃的是2号：即焗软心朱古力布甸（Warm Rich Chocolate Pudding with Custard Sauce），我们总共点了三个。我个人觉得，如果布甸内有一些larva徐徐流出，应该更佳！其他的评语：

香芒千层酥 (Crisp Puff Pastry with Fresh Mango)：卖相好，不过太多cream，而且芒果不是很新鲜
纽约芝士饼 (New York Cheese Cake)：芝士味过重，收敛一点会比较好
绿茶焦糖燉蛋 (Green Tea Creme Brulee)：烂绵绵，吃了第一口就不想再来，是最大的败笔

我们吃了一小时多，已经饱到快不能动。大师兄说，可能这一年都不再吃甜品了，呵呵。

那天晚上，我这个平时没什么吃晚餐的人，饱到睡不着。终于爬上床睡觉的时候，是凌晨两点了吧~ 在香港的日子，就是每天迟睡，然后又翻来覆去好久都睡不着。

P/S：更多甜品照片按这里

Back From HK

2012-02-12T17:25:00.000+08:00

从香港回来了。

没想到在那里的十多天，根本没有时间也没有精力写任何东西。原本以为，除去了每天的两小时塞车（酒店和办公室之间只需要10-15分钟的步行），应该会有很多闲余时间。哪知道，就是不能坐下来好好写，只能让思绪在脑海里任意漂浮，找不到定点。在那里，可能是因为天气太冷，晚间常都难以入眠，直到我找到一个十分保暖的方式，才能睡得比较好。奈何，每天早上的闹钟，都得被稍延迟，自己才甘愿起身。

这是我第四次去香港。2007年8月（夏）；2011年3月尾（春）；2011年5月中旬（春）；第四回落在今年的华人农历新年年初九（冬）。出发前收拾行李时，有上网查看天气及温度。约摄氏15度，我不太记得是怎样的感觉。是和金马高仑原差不多吧，我想，但我最后一次去金马仑高原也是蛮久之前的事了。没顾虑太多，反正大多数时候都在室内，而且要买的话也不难。关于衣着这一点，后来我被香港朋友大龙说，你真的不知死~呵呵~

若没记错，之前我都不曾坐靠窗的位子抵港。这次，原本我自己在网上预办登机时也是被分配到走廊座，就也接受了。后来大师兄先斩后奏帮我换去他隔壁（原本我是坐他后面）。我也没异议（如果那是我多看一秒都不想的人就另当别论），就这样，成就了我第一回得以从空中俯瞰香港。那种感觉确实是前所未有。不曾有一个国家，是高楼那么高而且如此稠密的。望下去青葱或蔚蓝一片的我就记得有不少。虽然追看港剧多年，我记得，当年我第一次莅临香港，抬头望那许多耸立的高楼，一股震撼依然撼油然而生。

抵港那天，机场超多人。以往我都是搭机场快线到香港站，然后乘港铁到住宿。之前才在绣婷的部落格留言说我不曾乘机场巴士，这一次，就乘酒店巴士直接去到酒店门口。傍晚七点从机场出发，没塞车，约45分钟就到了。虽然不饿但第一晚还是和大师兄去吃晚餐，顺便看看附近的环境。去到一间小面店，里头竟然有“净菜面”，有点惊讶。之前光顾的店铺，它们的选择都不曾如此“清”。我时常看不到完全适合我吃的，所以十分记得。我们住的酒店地理位置不错，虽然靠近香港殡仪馆，但周围有7-eleven、惠康 wellcome、各式茶餐厅、洗衣店、糕饼店，总的来说就是十分方便。至于酒店房间，竟然还有提供一个 hot plate 供煮食，这也是我蛮喜欢的。我到楼下惠康买东西回来自己煮，比去茶餐厅很难才看到适合我吃的餐，来得好多了！

这之前，也有多次因工作而出国，但性质不同。以往的都为期一星期之内，这次由于在工作上的角色有所转变，我首次travel for UAT (软件的 User Acceptance Testing)，一起过去的同事（大师兄）也是个比较“崭新”的身份（以前都是和做销售的同事一起），而且必须待超过一星期。对我来说虽是长，但对大师兄来说，应该是前所未有的短（以往他都是待几个月）。这项目之前不是我负责的，2011年12月我才开始接手。出发前好多人都跟我说过他们来这里面对客户的经历，全都不是好故事，难免让我有一种“期待又怕受伤害”（期待的是项目得以顺利完成），心情颇为复杂。

这一次来，很有“回到悉尼”的感觉，许多以前在那里居住、工作的回忆如泉水般涌过来。包到如此密实、清凉趋寒冷的天气、许许多多从地铁站鱼贯出来的人们、超多的行人、快捷的脚步等等。当然，在大马也有前卫的建筑及办公楼，只是，肯定没有机会看到人们有类似的穿着。每天走去办公室的时候，都会注意四周，然后想看那些是只在香港、不在悉尼，或vice versa的情景。

不必工作的周末周日，我到了新界区（New Territories）。首先与大学朋友阿Van见面（一起去了他也不曾去过的元朗旧墟和南生围），接近傍晚就到了大龙和珮璇家（白沙村）。那晚，我就在巴沙村过夜，有了抵港后前所未有的熟睡。隔天醒来的时候，看看时间，哇，快11点了，自己都吓了一跳。其实多年前初次从中国过境到港，曾经来过大龙家，还借过宿。当时他俩刚在南京念完书；现在，宝宝恩珆已经五个月大！至于大龙的家人，当时见过，只是没想到还会再见面。他们依然好客。最没想到的，就是来香港还有利是（红包）收。而且那里的习俗是，老公给一封，老婆也给一封。所以，我一共“抖”了五封利是，又吃又睡又拿，真觉得不太好意思。恩珆很乖，都不会嚎啕大哭也还没能力四处爬。可能是冬装穿得太厚，连翻身都不能。我却因为她这么“乖”而喜欢她，也刚好她也不抗拒我，都会跟我笑。星期天中午和他们道别后，我就独自前往林村。从网站上看到，那里有许愿节，而且在港剧多次看过许愿树，很想去亲眼目睹。

排着长龙、等着上免费去林村的穿梭巴士，我和排在我前面的两位大叔搭讪，然后我们就认识了。他们是去过去协助维持秩序的自愿工作人士。后来，其中一人（朱Sir）跟我交换电话，说如果有什么可以打给他。我们抵达林村分别后，不久就接到他的电话，邀我和他们一起吃盆菜。我了解盆菜里头大多是肉类（之前在大龙家他们也刚好吃盆菜），但为了和当地人一起吃盆菜、过许愿节的特别体验，我还是去了，只是从头到尾，没人发觉我都是夹菜不夹肉。之前在等巴士时，他们已经教我可以搭什么巴士回到地铁站（未免穿梭巴士再排长龙）。吃完盆菜后才八点多，我们就一起离开。原本说要陪我一起等巴士，但最后我还是跟他们从林村一起步行40分钟到太和地铁站。经过大埔头水坝，朱Sir还给我叙述相关的故事。朱Sir给了我他的电邮地址，吩咐我之后把照片e给他（email给他的意思），我也有履行我的承诺。

一个精彩的周末周日后，再次回到工作。最后一个星期，大家都在关注是否可以准时完成。之后的情况就如股市那样，上上下下，一直到星期三似乎都还蛮乐观。其中一晚（星期二），我们也是做到晚上八点。忙里偷个闲，约了前老板AC一起去吃点品自助餐（dessert buffet）。其实也不算是自助餐，只是给港币68，可以任你吃到饱。幸好大师兄没有拒绝我的邀约，我们三人才能品尽每一款甜品。前老板和大师兄虽然是初次见面，却似乎一见如故，滔滔不绝说不停。也幸好大师兄有在，可以代我回答前老板很喜欢聊的技术性课题（technical topic）。

到了星期四，一个急转弯，记得当晚自己的心情也是难以解释的。幸好在PJ营地驻守的同事上网和我聊天，让我有机会抒发一下。最后一天，星期五，大师兄和我都抱着沉重的心情走去客户的办公室，一路上大家都静静没说话。直至午餐之前，上海的同事解决了一个关键的问题，我们才如放下心中大石。那一天，我们工作到将近凌晨12点，回到酒店的时候已经是12:12am了。收拾行李、洗澡、把之前写好但不知怎么忘了存所以得再写过的电邮弄好、发出去，才上床睡觉。隔天的闹钟，依然在7:30am就响。当时还觉得超累，不想起身。

无论如何，现在已经回到大马。工作方面，虽然还差那一丁点，但还算是一个不错的成绩。剩余的几个小虫（software bug），有待上海的同事解决，就算我们多待，下星期一、二也是没东西做。在香港，似乎睡不好也吃不好。吃方面，虽然是有斋餐馆，但那里的斋，似乎很喜欢模仿肉类。斋叉烧啦、斋鲍鱼啦、斋卤肉啦，这些我都不太喜欢，我只想要不同类型的蔬菜。

就先写到这里。元朗游记，迟些再分享 :)

P/S：相簿有三

The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari - Excerpt (7)

2012-02-03T21:00:00.000+08:00

One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven

Chapter Twelve - The Ultimate Purpose of Life

Everything that lives, lives not alone, not for itself. ~William Blake

When all is said and done, no matter what you have achieved, no matter how many summer homes you own, no matter how many cars sit in your driveway, the quality of your life will come down to the quality of your contribution."

When you work to improve the lives of others, you indirectly elevate your own life in the process. When you take care to practice random acts of kindness daily, your own life becomes far richer and more meaningful. To cultivate the sacredness and sanctity of each day, serve others in some way.

Just as you entered the world with nothing, you are destined to leave with nothing. This being the case, there can be only one real reason for your being here - to give yourself to others and to contribute in a meaningful way.

Stop seeing yourself purely as an individual and start seeing yourself as part of the collective.

Your life moves to a more magical dimension when you start striving to make the world a better place. Yogi Raman said that when we are born, we are crying while the world rejoices. He suggested that we should live our lives in such a way that when we die, the world cries while we are rejoicing.

Law had become a business for me rather than a labor of love. I was an idealist in law school like so many of my contemporaries. Over cold coffee and stale pizza in our dorm rooms, we had planned to change the world. Almost twenty years have passed since then, and my burning desire to advocate change has given way to my burning desire to pay off my mortage and build up my retirement fund.

Compassion and daily acts of kindness make life far richer. Take the time to meditate every morning on the good you will do for others during your day. The sincere words of praise to those who least expect it, the gestures of warmth offered to friends in need, the small tokens of affection to members of your family for no reason at all, all add up to a much more wonderful way to live. And speaking of friendships, make sure you keep them in constant repair. A person with three solid friends is very wealthy indeed. Friends add humour, fascination and beauty to life. There are few things more rejuvenating than sharing a belly-bursting laugh with an old friend. Friends keep you humble when you get too self-righteous. Friends make you smile when you are taking yourself too seriously. Good friends are there to help you when life throws one of its little curves at you and things look worse than they seem.

Chapter Thirteen - The Timeless Secret of Lifelong Happiness

The past is water under the bridge and the future is a distant sun on the horizon of your imagination. The most important moment is now. Learn to live in it and savour it fully.

Happiness is a journey, not a destination.

Don't miss the forest for the trees.

The size of your bank account and the size of your house have nothing to do with living life with a sense of joy and wonder. This world is full of unhappy millionaires.

There is a huge difference between making a lot of money and making a lot of life. When you start spending even five minutes a day practising the art of gratitude, you will cultivate the richness of living that you are looking for.

Life doesn't always give you what you ask for, but it always gives you what you need.

Begin to live each day as if it was your last. Starting today, learn more, laugh more and do what you truly love to do. Do not be denied by your destiny. For what lies behind you and what lies in front of you matter little when compared to what lies within you.

The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari - Excerpt (6)

2012-02-02T14:23:00.000+08:00

One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven

Chapter Ten - The Power of Discipline

Through the steel of discipline, you will forge a character rich with courage and peace. Through the virtue of will, you are destined to rise to life's highest ideal and live within a heavenly mansion filled with all that is good, joyful and vital. Without them, you are lost like a mariner without a compass, one who eventually sinks with his ship.

Everyone is different. One of the fundamental principles that Yogi Raman taught me was that truly enlightened people never seek to be like others. Rather, they seek to be superior to their former selves. Don't race against others. Race against yourself.

Freedom is like a house: you build it brick by brick. The first brick you should lay is willpower. This quality inspires you to do what is right in any given moment. It gives you the energy to act with courage. It gives you the control to live the life you have imagined rather than accepting the life that you have.

Self-control is really nothing more than mind control. Will is the kind of mental powers. When you master your mind you master your life. Mental mastery starts with being able to control every thought that you think. When you have developed the ability to discard all weak thoughts and focus only on those that are positive and good, positive and good actions will follow. Soon you will start attracting all that is positive and good into your life.

Positive always overcomes negative.

When you control your thoughts, you control your mind. When you control your mind, you control your life. And once you reach the stage of being in total control of your life, you become the master of your destiny.

Complacency kills - the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I had lost my hunger - a hunger for living with more meaning, with more festivity and more satisfaction.

Wisdom without proper tools for its application is no wisdom at all.

Words are great influencers. Words are the verbal embodiment of power. By filling your mind with words of hope, you become hopeful. By filling your mind with words of kindness, you become kind. By filling your mind with thoughts of courage, you become courageous. Words have power.

This is the mantra I suggest you repeat at least 30 times a day: 'I am more than I appear to be, all the world's strength and power rests inside me.' It will manifest profound changes in your life. For even quicker results, blend this mantra with the practice of creative envisioning I spoke of earlier. For example, go to a quiet place. Sit with your eyes closed. Do no let your mind wander. Keep your body still, as the surest sign of a weak mind is a body that cannot rest. Now repeat the mantra aloud, over and over again. While you do so, see yourself as a disciplined, firm person, fully in control of your mind, your body and your spirit. Picture yourself acting a Gandhi or Mother Teresa might act in a challenging situation. Startling results will surely come your way.

Chapter Eleven - Your Most Previous Commodity

Maybe it's all the pain you suffered in your former life that has allows you to embrace our wisdom with such an open heart.

Those who use time wisely from an early age are rewarded with rich, productive and satisfying lives. Those who have never been exposed to the principle that 'time mastery is life mastery', will never realize their enormous human potential. Time is the great leveller. Whether we are privileged or disadvantaged, whether we live in Texas or Tokyo, we all have been allotted days with only 24 hours. What separates those who build exceptional lives from the 'also rans' is the way they use this time.

The most meaningful things in your life should never be sacrificed to those that are the least meaningful.

Failing to plan is planning to fail.

Enlightened people are priority driven. This is the secret of time mastery.

Some people learn from the errors others have made. They are the wise. Others feel that true learning comes only from personal experience. Such people endure needless pain and distress over the course of their lives.

You must be ruthless with your time. Learn to say no. Having the courage to say no to the little things in life will give you the power to say yes to the big things. Shut the door to your office when you need a few hours to work on that big case. Don't pick up the phone every time it rings. It is there for your convenience, not the convenience of others. Ironically, people will respect you more when they see that you are a person who values his time. They will realize that your time is precious and they will value it.

Yogi Raman told me that those who are masters of their time live simple lives. A hurried, frenzied pace is not what nature intended. While he firmly believed that lasting happiness could be reached only by those who were effective and set definite aims for themselves, living a life rich with accomplishment and contribution did not have to come through the sacrifice of peace of mind.

Laughter opens your heart and soothes your soul. No one should ever take life so seriously that they forget to laugh at themselves.

Act as if failure is impossible, and your success will be assured. Wipe out every thought of not achieving your objectives, whether they are material or spiritual. Be brave, and set no limits on the workings of your imagination. Never be a prisoner of your past. Become the architect of your future. You will never be the same.

No matter how big a house you have or how slick a car you drive, the only thing you can take with you at the end of your life is your conscience. Listen to your conscience. Let it guide you. It knows what is right. It will tell you that your calling in life is ultimately selfless service to others in some form or another.

The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari - Excerpt (5)

2012-01-30T22:00:00.000+08:00

One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven

Chapter Nine - The Ancient Art of Self-Leadership

Change is the most powerful force in our society today. Most people fear it, the wise embrace it. Zen tradition speaks of a beginner's mind: those who keep their minds open to new concepts - those whose cups are always empty - will always move to higher levels of achievement and fulfilment.

Build strength of character, develop mental toughness, live with courage - these three attributes would lead one not only to a virtuous life but to a life filled with achievement, satisfaction and inner peace. Courage was a quality everyone could cultivate and one that would pay huge dividends over the long run.

Courage allows you to run your own race. Courage allows you to do whatever you want to do because you know that it is right. Courage gives you the self-control to persist where others have failed. Ultimately, the degree of courage you live with determines the amount of fulfilment you receive. It allows you to truly realize all the exquisite wonders of the epic that is your life. And those who master themselves have an abundance of courage.

Close-mindedness holds my life back all those years.

Kaizen - constant and never-ending enrichment of the mind, body and soul, into my new life.

In the East they say that luck favors the prepared mind. I believe that life favors the prepared mind.

Study a baby. She has no limits. Her mind is a lush landscape of potential and possibility. Properly cultivated, it will lead her to greatness. Filled with negativity, it will lead her to mediocrity, at best.

Fear is a conditioned response: a life-sucking habit that can easily consume your energy, creativity and spirit if you are not careful. When fear rears its ugly head, beat it down quickly. The best way to do that is to do the thing you fear: Understand the anatomy of fear: It is your own creation. Like any other creation, it is just as easy to tear it down as it is to erect it. Methodically search for and then destroy every fear that has secretly slid into the fortress of your mind. This alone will give you enormous confidence, happiness and peace of mind.

Taking the time to renew yourself is the most important thing you can do. Ironically, taking time out from your hectic schedule for self-improvement and personal enrichment will dramatically improve your effectiveness once you get back into it.

Solitude and quiet connects you to your creative source and releases the limitless intelligence of the Universe. The mind is like a lake. In our chaotic world, most people's minds are not still. We are full of inner turbulence. However, by simply taking the time to be still and quiet every day, the lake of the mind becomes as smooth as a plate of glass. This inner quietness brings with it a wealth of benefits including a deep sense of well-being, inner peace and boundless energy. You will even sleep better and enjoy a renewed feeling of balance in your day-to-day activities.

Knowledge is only potential power. For the power to be manifested, it must be applied. Most people know what they should do in any given situation, or in their lives for that matter. The problem is that they don't take daily, consistent action to apply the knowledge and realize their dreams. The Ritual of Abundant Knowledge is all about becoming a student of life. Even more importantly, it requires that you use what you have learned in the classroom of your existence.

Try not to live your life bound by the shackles of your schedule. Instead, focus on those things that your conscience and your heart tell you to do. When you invest in yourself and start to devote yourself to raising your mind, body and character to their highest levels, you will almost feel as if you have a personal navigator inside you, telling you which things you must do to see the greatest and most rewarding results. You will stop worrying about your clock and start living your life.

Read regularly. Reading for thirty minutes a day will do wonders for you. But I must caution you. Do not read just anything. You must be very selective about what you put into the lush garden of your mind. It must be immensely nourishing. Make it something that will improve both you and the quality of your life.

Some books are meant to be tasted, some books are meant to be chewed and, finally, some books are meant to be swallowed whole. To truly get the best out of a great book, you must study it, not just read it.

All the problems anyone has ever, and will ever face over the course of their lifetime have already been made. More importantly, the answers and solutions are all recorded on the pages of books. Read the right books. Learn how those who have preceded you have handled the challenges you are currently facing. Apply their strategies for success and you will be astonished by the improvements you will note in your life.

It's not what you will get out of the books that is so enriching - it is what the books will get out of you that will ultimately change your life. Books do not actually teach you anything new. Books simply help you to see what is already within your self. That's what enlightenment is all about.

The only way to improve tomorrow is to know what you did wrong today.

There is nothing wrong with making mistakes. Mistakes are part of life and essential for growth. It's like that saying, 'Happiness comes through good judgment, good judgment comes through experiences, and experience comes through bad judgment.' But there is something very wrong with making the same mistakes over and over again, day in and day out. This shows a complete lack of self-awareness, the very quality that separates humans from animals.

Figure out what is right and what is wrong in your days and in your life. Then set about making immediate improvements.

Pain is often the precursor to personal growth. Don't dread it. Instead, embrace it.

Nothing to extremes, everything in moderation.

Never forget that it is the quality and not the quantity of sleep that is important. It is better to have six hours of uninterrupted deep sleep than even ten hours of disturbed sleep. The whole idea is to provide your body with rest so that its natural processes can repair and restore your physical dimension to its natural state of health, a state that is diminished through the stresses and struggles of daily use.

Yogi Raman would never eat after 8pm. He said that the digestive activity was the sages' habit of meditating to the soft sounds of their harp immediately before heading off to sleep.

Laughing is medicine for the soul. Even if you don't feel like it, look in the mirror and laugh for a couple of minutes. You can't help but feel fantastic. William James said, 'We don't laugh because we are happy. We are happy because we laugh.' So start your day on a delightful footing. Laugh, play and give thanks for all you have. Every day will be an exquisitely rewarding one.

Shortly after you have awakened, go into your sanctuary of silence. Get still and focused. Then ask yourself this question: 'What would I do today if today was my last?' The key is to really get into the meaning of this question. Mentally list all the things you would do, the people you would call and the moments you would savor. Envision yourself doing these things with great energy. Visualize how you would treat your family and your friends. Even picture how you would treat total strangers if today was your last day on the planet. As I told you earlier, when you live everyday as if it was your last, your life will take on a magical quality.

The words you say to yourself affect your self-image and your self-image determines what actions you take. For example, if your self-image is one of a person who lacks the confidence to do anything of value, you will only be able to take actions which are aligned with this trait. On the other hand, if your self-image is one of a radiant individual who is fearless, again, all your actions will correspond to this quality. Your self-image is a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts.

Ritual of Simplicity. This ritual requires you to live a simple life. As Yogi Raman said 'one must never live in the thick of thin things. Focus only on your priorities, those activities which are truly meaningful. Your life will be uncluttered, rewarding and exceptionally peaceful. -> I stopped wearing expensive clothes, I kicked my addiction to six newspapers a day, I stopped needing to be available to everyone all the time, I became a vegetarian and I ate less. Basically, I reduced my needs.

Every being on this Earth, every object on this Earth has a soul. All souls flow into one, this is the Soul of the Universe. When you nourish your own mind and your own spirit, you are really feeding the Soul of the Universe. When you improve yourself, you are improving the lives of all those around you. And when you have the courage to advance confidently in the direction of your dreams, you begin to draw upon the power of the Universe. As I told you earlier, life gives you what you ask of it. It is always listening.

Failure is not having the courage to try, nothing more and nothing less. The only thing standing between most people and their dreams is the fear of failure. Yet failure is essential to success in any endeavor. Failure tests us and allows us to grow. It offers us lessons and guides us along the path of enlightenment. The teachers of the East say that every arrow that hits the bull's eye is the result of one hundred misses. It is a fundamental Law of Nature to profit through loss. Never fear failure. Failure is your friend.

Always be brave. Stand your ground and follow your dreams. They will lead you to your destiny. Follow your destiny, it will lead you into the wonders of the universe. And always follow the wonders of universe, for they will lead you to a special garden filled with roses.

The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari - Excerpt (4)

2012-01-29T11:30:00.000+08:00

One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven

Chapter Seven - A Most Extraordinary Garden

In the fable, the garden is a symbol for the mind. If you care for your mind, if you nurture it and if you cultivate it just like a fertile, rich garden, it will blossom far beyond your expectations. But if you let the weeds take root, lasting peace of mind and deep inner harmony will always elude you.

The toxic waste that most people put into the fertile garden of their minds every single day: the worries and anxieties, the fretting about the past, the brooding over the future and those self-created fears that wreak havoc within your inner world.

Worry drains the mind of much of its power and, sooner and later, it injures the soul.

To live life to the fullest, you must stand guard at the gate of your garden and let only the very best information enter. You truly cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought - not even one. The most joyful, dynamic an contented people of this world are no different from you or me in terms of their makeup. We are all flesh and bones. We all come from the same universal source. However, the ones who do more than just exist, the ones who fan the flames of their human potential and truly savour the magical dance of life do different things than those whose lives are ordinary. Foremost amongst the things that they do is adopt a positive paradigm about their world and all that is in it.

Mind management is the essence of life management.

Start to see your mind for what it is - nature's greatest gift.

Most of us have the same raw materials from the moment we take our first breath of air; what separates those people who achieve more than others or those that are happier than others is the way that they use and refine these raw materials. When you dedicate yourself to transforming your inner world your life quickly shifts from the ordinary into the realm of the extraordinary.

There is only one thing that we have absolute dominion over. We might not be able to control the weather or the traffic or the moods of all those around us. But, we most certainly can control our attitude towards these events. We all have the power to determine what we will think about in any given moment. This ability is part of what makes us human.

There is no such thing as objective reality or 'the real world.' There are no absolutes. The face of your greatest enemy might be the face of my finest friend. An event that appears to be a tragedy to one might reveal the seed of unlimited opportunity to another. What really separates people who are habitually upbeat and optimistic from those who are consistently miserable is how the circumstances of life are interpreted and processed.

Your I can is more important than your IQ.

Every setback offers an equivalent benefit if they took the time to search for it.

No matter what happens to you in your life, you alone have the capacity to choose your response to it. When you form the habit of searching for the positive in every circumstances, your life will move into its highest dimensions. This is one of the greatest of all the natural laws.

All success in life, whether material or spiritual, starts with the thoughts that you put into your mind every second of every minute of every day. Your outer world reflects the state of your inner world. By controlling the thoughts that you think and the way you respond to the events of your life, you begin to control your destiny.

There are no mistakes in life, only lessons. There is no such thing as a negative experience, only opportunities to grow, learn and advance along the road of self-mastery. From struggle comes strength. Even pain can be a wonderful teacher.

To transcend pain, you must first experience it. Or to put it another way, how can you really know the joy of being on the summit of the mountain unless you have first visited the lowest valley?

Stop judging events as either positive or negative. Rather, simply experience them, celebrate them and learn from them. Every event offers you lessons. These little lessons fuel your inner and outer growth. Without them, you would be stuck on a plateau. Just think about it in your own life. Most people have grown the most from their most challenging experiences. And if you meet with an outcome you did not expect and feel a little disappointed, remember that the laws of nature always ensure that when one door closes another opens.

Once you consistently apply this principle to your daily life and start to condition your mind to translate every event into a positive, empowering one, you will banish worry forever. You will stop being a prisoner of your past. Instead, you will become the architect of your future.

Begin to live out of the glory of your imagination, not your memory.

From tonight onwards, forget about the past. Dare to dream that you are more than the sum of your current circumstances. Expect the best. You will be astonished at the results.

You know, John, all those years in the legal profession I thought I knew so much. I spent years studying at the finest schools, reading all the law books I could get my hands on and working with the best role models. Sure, I was a winner at the game of law. Yet I now realize I was losing in the game of life. I was so busy chasing the big pleasures of life that I missed out on all the little ones. I never read those great books my father used to tell me to read. I haven't built any great friendships. I've never learned to appreciate great music. Having said this, I really think I'm one of the lucky ones. My heart attack was my defining moment, my personal wake-up call, if you will. Believe it or not, it gave me a second chance to live a richer, more inspired life. Like Malika Chand, I saw the seeds of opportunity in my painful experience. Most importantly, I had the courage to nourish them.

Fun came in the form of simple pleasures.

Start thinking about your dreams for a change, just like when you were a little child. Jonas Salk said it best when he wrote: 'I have had dreams and I have had nightmares. I overcame the nightmares because of my dreams.'

Start to revere life again and celebrate all of its wonders. Awaken yourself to the power of your own mind to make things happen. Once you do, the universe will conspire with you to work magic in your life.

When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all of your thoughts break their bonds: your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive and you discover yourself to be a greater person than you ever dreamed yourself to be.

Success on the outside indeed begins with success on the inside, and by changing his thoughts, Julian Mantle had changed his life.

The mind truly is like any other muscle in your body. Use it or lose it.

Your mind will do wonderful things for you if only you will let it. It will attract all that you desire into your life, once you learn how to operate it effectively. It will create ideal health if you care for it properly. And it will return to its natural state of peacefulness and tranquillity - if you have the vision to ask for it. The Sages of Sivana have a very special saying: 'The boundaries of your life are merely creations of the self.'

Enlightened thinkers know that their thoughts form their world and the quality of one's life comes down to the richness of one's thoughts. If you want to live a more peaceful, meaningful life, you must think more peaceful, meaningful thoughts.

Quick-fixes do not work. All lasting inner change requires time and effort. Persistence is the mother of personal change. I'm not saying that it will take years to make profound changes in your life. If you diligently apply the strategies I'm sharing with you every day for only one month, you will be astonished at the results. You will begin to tap into the highest levels of your own capacity and enter the realm of the miraculous. But to reach this destination, you must not get hung up on the outcome. Instead, enjoy the process of personal expansion and growth. Ironically, the less you focus on the end result, the quickly it will come.

With one eye fixed on the destination, there is only one left to guide you along the journey.

What is luck, my friend? It's nothing more than the marriage of preparation with opportunity.

Concentration is at the root of mental mastery. The moment you concentrate the focus of your mind on a singular purpose, extraordinary gifts will appear within your life.

The secret of happiness is simple: find out what you truly love to do and then direct all of your energy towards doing it. If you study the happiest, healthiest, most satisfied people of our world, you will see that each and every one of them has found their passion in life, and then spent their days pursuing it. This calling is almost always one that, in some way, serves others. Once you are concentrating your mind power and energy on a pursuit that you love, abundance flows into your life, and all your desires are fulfilled with ease and grace.

Too many of us are consumed by needless and endless worry. Worry causes your precious mental energy and potential to leak. Soon, you have no energy left. All of your creativity, optimism and motivation has been drained, leaving you exhausted.

Rose is very much like life: you will meet thorns along the way but if you have faith and believe in your dreams you will eventually move beyond the thorns into the glory of the flower.

One must not allow the clock and the calendar to blind him to the fact that each moment of life is a miracle - and a mystery.

When you run inspiring, imaginative pictures through the movie screen of your mind, wonderful things start to happen in your life. Einstein said that 'imagination is more important than knowledge.' You must spend some time every day, even it is just a few minutes, in the practice of creative envisioning. See yourself as you want to be.

There is nothing noble about being superior to some other person. True nobility lies in being superior to your former self.

If you want to improve your life and live with all that you deserve you must run your own race. It doesn't matter what other people say about you. What is important is what you say to yourself. Do not be concerned with the judgement of others as long as you know what you are doing is right. You can do whatever you want to do as long as it is correct according to your conscience and your heart. Never be ashamed of doing that which is right; decide on what you think is good and then stick to it. And for God's sake, never get into the petty habit of measuring your self-worth against other people's net worth. As Yogi Raman preached: 'Every second you spend thinking about someone else's dream you take time away from your own.'

Fatigue is a creation of the mind. Fatigue dominates the lives of those whoa re living without direction and dreams.

Only those who seek shall find.

The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari - Excerpt (3)

2012-01-26T21:22:00.000+08:00

One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven

Chapter Three - The Miraculous Transformation of Julian Mantle

Every event has a purpose and every setback has its lesson. I have realized that failure, whether of the personal, professional or even spiritual kind, is essential to personal expansion. It brings inner growth and a whole host of psychic rewards. Never regret your past. Rather, embrace it as the teacher that it is.

Ultimately, life is all about choices. One's destiny unfolds according to the choices one makes, and I felt certain that the choice I had made was the right one. I knew my life would never be the same and that something marvelous, maybe even miraculous, was about to happen to me. It was an amazing awakening.

Chapter Five - A Spiritual Student of the Sages

Back then, even the simplest of things filled me with a sense of joy. Maybe it was time for me to reinvent my destiny.

Great dreamers' dreams are never fulfilled, they are always transcended. ~Alfred Lord Whitehead

Live longer, stay younger and grow far happier.

Success on the outside means nothing unless you also have success within. There is a huge difference between well-being and being well-off.

Chapter Six - The Wisdom of Personal Change

Investing in yourself is the best investment you will ever make. It will not only improve your life, it will improve the lives of all those around you.

It's only when you have mastered the art of loving yourself that you can truly love others. It's only when you have opened your own heart that you can touch the hearts of others. When you feel centered and alive, you are in a much better position to be a better person.

Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakens. ~Carl Jung

Chapter Eight - Kindling Your Inner Fire

Trust yourself. Create the kind of life you will be happy to live with all your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into the flames of achievement. ~Foster C. McClellan

We are living in a very troubled world. Negativity pervades it and many in our society are floating like ships without rudders, weary souls searching for a lighthouse that will keep them from crashing against the rocky shores.

As you strive to improve the lives of others, your own life will be elevated into its highest dimensions.

The purpose of life is a life of purpose. Those who are truly enlightened know what they want out of life, emotionally, materially, physically and spiritually.

The real source of happiness can be stated in a word: achievement. Last happiness comes from steadily working to accomplish your goals and advancing confidently in the direction of your life's purpose. This is the secret to kindling the inner fire that lurks within you.

If I fail to accomplish these goals by the end of my life, I am certain that I will die feeling unfulfilled and dissatisfied.

It may seem as though you are forced to take a few risks to discover what you are best at and the essence of your life's purpose.

Benjamin Disraeli said: 'The secret of success is constancy of purpose.' The happiness you are searching for comes through reflecting on the worthy aims you are dedicated to achieving and then taking action daily to advance them.

You will never be able to hit a target that you cannot see. People spend their whole lives dreaming of becoming happier, living with more vitality and having an abundance of passion. Yet they do not see the importance of taking even ten minutes a month to write out their goals and to think deeply about the meaning of their lives, their Dharma. Goal-setting will make your life magnificent. Your world will become richer; more delightful and more magical.

Anyone who wishes to improve the quality of their inner as well as their outer worlds would do well to take out a piece of paper and start writing out their life aims. At the very moment that this is done, natural forces will come into play which start to transform these dreams into reality.

Never do anything because you have to. The only reason to do something is because you want to and because you know it is the right thing for you to do.

A day without laughter or a day without love was a day without life.

Never forget the importance of living with unbridled exhilaration. Never neglect to see the exquisite beauty in all living things.

Remain spirited, joyful and curious. Stay focused on your lifework and on giving selfless service to others. The Universe will take care of everything else. This is one of nature's truest laws. And never regret what has happened in the past. There is no chaos in this Universe. There is a purpose for everything that has ever happened to you, and everything that will happen to you. Remember what I told you, every experience offers lessons. So stop majoring in minor things. Enjoy your life.

A burning sense of passion is the most potent fuel for your dreams. Here, in our society we have lost our passion. We do not do things because we love to do them. We do things because we feel we have to do them. This is a formula for misery.

Always remember that what lies behind you and what lies in front of you is nothing when compared to what lies within you.

The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari

2012-01-25T17:07:00.000+08:00

I think this is the first time - before finishing a book, I already could not wait to share its essence here. Right before the arrival of Chinese New Year 2012, I managed to finish this book. Now, I've just finished typing out all the meaningful quotes I marked in the book. I guess this is the longest time I've ever taken - because there are so many good ones!

Few weeks ago, early in the morning, when I passed by a book rack (to take a broom and sweep the floor), this book suddenly caught my sight. I was attracted by the book title. Hence, without hesitation or asking, I grabbed this book and started to read it.

This book is truly inspiring, at least to myself. It is basically around two men, who are both lawyers.

"This is an interesting story. It is a story of a lawyer who appears to have it all - the corner office, the life style, the cars, women... Then he gives it all up and tours the East. While there he comes across this strange monk and monastery. He comes to live life in a much different way. Yet he is challenged by the monk who has trained him to go back home and share the message he has learnt, with the West. Julian, our main character, returns to his old law firm and to his friend, John. He tells him a parable; then the rest of the book explains the parable and how it relates to different aspects of our lives. The parable is rather simple and a little strange but as it is explained you will never forget it. Read it to find out how a garden, lighthouse, sumo wrestler, pink wire cable, stopwatch, roses and a winding path of diamonds are symbols of timeless principles and virtues by which to live your life. This book could help raise the quality of your life to a new level." (sourced from the book review written by Steven R. McEvoy)

I've always been loving inspirational books. Perhaps it's coz I need a lot of positive energy to carry on life. However, if summarizing what I've read so far, we are always reminded to "live life now (not the past of future)", "everything happens for a reason", "live like today is your last day", "follow your heart" etc. If you ask me whether I agree with all these sayings, I could only answer you "precisely", without any reservation. Years ago, something used to happen to myself, which I thought that could be the worst ever in my life. Suddenly, I lost all my directions. A lot of questions arose in my mind till I spent many months to clear my own doubts. Today, when I look back, I'd say, that's not something too bad. Ironically, I've to say, I appreciate the happening of that incident. It taught me so much which I knew how to adjust myself and live a much better life nowadays.

Just like what Steve Jobs has said - you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Speaking from the heart, this statement is SO TRUE!!

Because the excerpts are truly a lot, I will need to take multiple rounds to share them. Please bear with me. Meanwhile, kindly take some time to briefly read. You will understand why I'm so eager to do all these uninviting acts, keeping my readers bored :)

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"Happiness comes through the progressive realization of a worthy objective. When you are doing what you truly love to do you are bound to find deep contentment."

"If happiness comes to everyone who simply does what they love doing, why are so many people miserable?"

"Fair point, John. Doing what you love, whether this means giving up the work you are presently doing to become an actor or spending less time on those things that are less important to make time for those things that are more meaningful, requires a great deal of courage. It requires you to step out of your comfort zone. And change is always a little uncomfortable at first. It is also more than a little risky. Having said this, this is the surest way to design a more joyful life."

"Exactly how does one go about building courage?"

"It's the same as the story: once you get yourself together, your world will be okay. Once you master your mind, body and character, happiness and abundance will flow into your life almost magically. But you muist spend some time daily working on yourself, even if for only ten or fifteen minutes."

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"Thoughts are fully in your control. It is just as easy to think positive thoughts as it is to think negative ones. But why do so many people worry and focus on all the negative information in our world?"

"Because they have not learned the art of self-control and disciplined thinking. Most people I have spoken to have no idea that they have the power to control every single thought they think every second of every minute of every day. They believe that thoughts just happen and have never realized that if you don't take the time to start controlling your thoughts, they will control you. When you start to focus on good thoughts only, and refuse to think the bad ones through sheer will-power, I promise you they will shrivel up very quickly."

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"You know what's funny about life?" Julian asked me.

"Tell me."

"By the time most people figure out what they really want and how to go about attaining it, it's usually too late. That saying, 'If youth only knew, if age only could' is so true."

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"I like my toys and the material things I've earned. They are my rewards for all the hours I have worked over the years since we first met. But I feel empty - I really do. I told you about my dreams when I was in law school. There is much more I could do with my life. You know I'm almost forty and I've never been to the Grand Canyon or the Eiffel Tower. I've never walked in a desert or canoed across a still lake on a gorgeous summer's day. I have never once taken off my socks and shoes and walked barefoot through a park, listening to the kids laugh and the dogs bark. I can't even remember the last time I took a long, quiet walk by myself after a snowfall just to hear the sounds and to enjoy the sensations."

"Then simplify your life. Apply the ancient Ritual of Simplicity to every aspect of your world. By doing so, you are bound to have more time to savour these glorious wonders. One of the most tragic things that any one of us can do is to put off living. Too many people are dreaming of some magical rose garden on the horizon rather than enjoying the one growing in our back yards. What a tragedy."

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"Stop spending so much time chasing life's big pleasures while you neglect the little ones. Slow things down. Enjoy the beauty and sacredness of all that is around you. You owe this to yourself."

"Does that mean that I should stop setting big goals for my future and concentrate on the present?"

"No," replied Julian firmly. "As I said earlier, goals and dreams for the future are essential elements in every truly successful life. Hope for what will appear in your future is what gets you out of bed in the morning and what keeps you inspired through your days. Goals energize your life. My point is simply this: never put off happiness for the sake of achievement. Never put off the things that are important for your well-being and satisfaction to a later time. Today is the day to live fully, not when you win the lottery or when you retire. Never put off living.

Don't fool yourself into thinking that you will be a more loving and giving husband when your law firm takes on a few more junior lawyers to ease the burden. Don't kid yourself into believing that you will start to enrich your mind, care for your body and nourish your soul when your bank account gets big enough and you have the luxury of more free time. Today is the day to enjoy the fruits of your efforts. Today is the day to seize the moment and live a life that soars. Today is the day to live from your imagination and harvest your dreams."

Why I Told My Daughter to Quit Her Job

2012-01-25T11:02:00.001+08:00

Today is the 3rd day of Chinese New Year. I'm back to work. Quite free. No appointment is scheduled for this week. Most of my comrades, clients, partners are not working this week. Glad to read this article - Why I Told My Daughter to Quit Her Job. This is sourced from HUFF POST. Feel free to click and read it :)

Since I don't think I shall copy & paste the entire article here, please allow me to share a few parts which I personally like.

Life is too short to be miserable for money. [Honestly I've started to think like this before I turned 24 - not sure if that is considered lucky or unlucky :D]

College, you see, is not really about preparing you for the job market. It's about gaining the knowledge and skills you need to seize opportunities -- and that includes knowing when to walk away from something that makes you unhappy.

If you land that seemingly "perfect" job with a salary worth boasting about, but then you hate it and are afraid to quit, your wings are clipped. That "safe" job will kill your creativity, drown your enthusiasm, and smother your ability to get up in the morning with a bounce in your step. Why stay?

Jobs are like college courses. Each one you take teaches you a set of new skills and offers a fresh perspective on life. They aren't meant to be permanent, most of them. They are only stepping stones.

When you quit a job, any job, it can be terrifying. But it's also exhilarating, as you open yourself to new possibilities. So go ahead. Take the risk. Quit that job, if you hate it. You might surprise yourself.

The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari - Excerpt (2)

2012-01-20T23:23:00.000+08:00

One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven

The Ritual of Live Nourishment

"In my days as a litigator, I lived off of a steady diet of steaks, fries and other types of junk food. Sure I ate at the finest restaurants in the country, but I still filled my body with junk. I didn't know it at the time, but this was one of the main sources of my discontent."

"Really?"

"Yes. A poor diet has a pronounced effect on your life. It drains your mental and physical energy. It affects your moods and it hampers the clarity of your mind. Yogi Raman put it this way: 'As you nourish your body, so you nourish your mind.'"

"I assume then that you changed your diet?"

"Radically. And it made an amazing difference in the way I felt and looked. I always thought that I was so run down because of the stresses and strains of my work and because the wrinkled fingers of old age were reaching out for me. In Sivana, I learned that much of my lethargy was due to the low-octane fuel I was pumping into my body."

"What did the Sages of Sivana eat to stay so youthful and bright?"

"Live foods," came the efficient reply.

"Huh?"

"Live foods are the answer. Live foods are the foods that are not dead."

"C'mon, Julian. What are live foods?" I asked impatiently.

"Basically, live foods are those which are created through the natural interaction of the sun, air, soil and water. What I'm talking about here is a vegetarian diet. Fill your plate with fresh vegetables, fruits and grains and you might just live forever."

"Is that possible?"

"Most of the sages were well over one hundred and they showed no signs of slowing down, and just last week I read in the paper about a group of people living on the tiny island of Okinawa in the East China Sea. Researchers are flocking to the island because they are fascinated by the fact that it holds the largest concentration of centenarians in the world."

"What have they learned?"

"That a vegetarian diet is one of their main longevity secrets."

"But is this type of diet healthy? You wouldn't think that it would give you much strength. Remember, I'm still a busy litigator, Julian."

"This is the diet that nature intended. It is alive, vital and supremely healthy. The sages have lived by this diet for many thousands of years. They call is sattvic, or pure diet. And as to your concern about strength, the most powerful animals on the planet, ranging from gorillas to elephants, wear the badge of proud vegetarians. Did you know that a gorilla has about thirty times the strength of a man?"

"Thanks for that important tidbit of information."

"Look, the sages are not extreme people. All of their wisdom was based on the ageless principle that 'one must live a life of moderation and do nothing to extremes.' So if you like meat, you can certainly keep eating it. Just remember that you are ingesting dead food. If you can, cut back on the amount of red meat that you eat. It is really hard to digest and since your digestive system is one of the most energy-consuming processes of your entire body, valuable energy reserves are needlessly depleted by this foodstuff. Do you see what I'm getting at? Just compare how you feel after eating a steak with your energy levels after eating a salad. If you don't want to become a strict vegetarian, at least start having salad with every meal and fruit for dessert. Even this will make a huge difference in the quality of your physical life."

Starting to Understand...

2012-01-18T23:47:00.000+08:00

Today, I feel like I start to understand why my parents love teaching and can be teachers their entire life... The satisfaction is great when you see someone learning, improving.. becoming a better character.

In mid Nov 2011, got to know that I'll be taking charge of a new project team. This is not a new team, but I'm new to almost all the members and the customer. When the people around heard about the news, they "congratulated" me, wished me good luck. To those who were already in the team, they told me "welcome to the hell". (written about this in Nov - click here - see the bottom part of the post)

Honestly, I've got some sleepless nights after I heard so much about the team, the people, the client, whom I'm going to deal and work closely with very soon. I had some negative emotions in myself too, coz I truly liked the project team I was already handling that time. But then I had to let go everything good in hand and took over something everyone said is TERRIBLE.

I spent some time adjusting myself. I told myself, since I had no choice but to do it, why not I welcome it with an open heart? Honestly, I did have hard times at the beginning, maybe coz I started off with a lot of listened stories. I kept telling myself - NO BIAS, NO BIAS, NO BIAS. I tried to know them better to have them see me as friend, but my first few trials did not yield positive results. They just replied me with emotionless face. I felt quite fed up too!

So far, I've been taking charge of the project for 1.5 month. I think not only me, people around also saw some changes to the ever claimed "most hopeless group of people". Am unable to clearly elaborate what have I done over this period. I just saw what happened and responded with the self-deemed-appropriate actions, without knowing if those are right or wrong moves.

Just now, when I logged on to the Internet, coz I forgot to close my Outlook, then I was notified with a new email received. That's from a testing team member sending out the test results. Then I started to chat with him, joked & asked him how come sending out email at this hour. He told me he's trying to accomplish a task, which I told him can do only tomorrow. I'm not someone who likes to ask people to work over time.

"[22:42:56] i just eager to learn something new only"
"[22:44:47] the ISO is ok now. haha, i can sleep well tonight. haha.."
"[22:45:49] revolution is a painful journey. it's better that we suffer at the beginning rather than when we go on-site"
"[22:46:05] gtg. Bye bye"

When reading the last statement, only I realized.. he was still in the office!! Suddenly I felt so guilty. Today, he already told me that he felt like being on-site (they had to face very fussy and picky customers, never-ending tasks on-site). I've been giving them pressure, else nothing can get done. Also took some chances to let them know what kind of person I'm. Anyway, I hope I'm not too OVER till they feel over-stressful or hate me at the back.

On the other hand, I also appreciate the trust and honesty from a member. He initiated a talk to me, telling me very frankly how he feels, what has he experienced, what are the difficulties he's facing - all the things which he did not have the courage to tell his boss. I was glad to listen to feedback, so that I can know the root cause and have an idea how to solve problems. Thereafter, I provided him some workarounds which we are implementing now, hoping can turn the current condition better. I truly don't want to see someone having PASSION in doing things become another disgruntled employee and finally choose to leave. As a guiding person, we shall help them to flourish, not the opposite.

I'm not sure how long is this journey and how far I can walk together with them. I also know no matter what I do, it's impossible to get everyone to be happy with me. My tiny wish is to turn them to be up to standard, on par with the rest of good ones I previously worked with. When people talk about this team, they should smile and show the thumb, instead of a face with ugly emotion.

Hope one day, my dream (specific to my project team) can come true. As what I've publicly claimed last week:

"this could be a mission impossible for myself but anyway, I do not wish to tell myself that can never be realized. With such a thinking in mind, for sure I’m doomed to fail."

The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari - Excerpt (1)

2012-01-13T23:59:00.001+08:00

One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven

Am reading a book titled "The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari". Just started not long ago, have not even finished 100 pages. However, I could already feel the large amount of positive energy filled within myself. I can't wait to share a part of conversation I've just read.

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"Wouldn't it be a little risky for me to give up my job to start searching for my overriding passion and purpose? I mean, I have a family and real obligations. I have four people who depend on me."

"I'm not saying you have to leave the legal profession tomorrow. You will, however, have to start taking risks. Shake up your life a bit. Get rid of the cobwebs. Take the road less travelled. Most people live within the confines of their comfort zone. Yogi Raman was the first person to explain to me that the best thing you can do for yourself is regularly move beyond it. This is the way to lasting personal mastery and to realize the true potential of your human endowments."

"And what might those be?"

"Your mind, your body and your soul."

"So what risks should I take?"

"Stop being so practical. Start doing the things you have always wanted to do. I have known lawyers who have quit their jobs to become stage actors and accountants who have become jazz musicians. In the process, they have found the deep happiness that had eluded them for so long. So what if they could no longer afford two vacations a year and a posh summer home in the Caymans? Calculated risk taking will pay huge dividends. How will you ever get to third base with one foot on second?"

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They are more to come. I can't wait to get back to reading the book, till the end! :)

The Torment of Waiting

2012-01-11T23:04:00.000+08:00

等待的煎熬

最近都写不出任何东西。周末周日的时候，不晓得为什么，平时应该做的事（细嚼整个星期的副刊）也都被搁着，只想睡觉看电视，做些“什么都不必想”的事。近一个星期，每天不是翻来覆去睡不着，就是睡得着但早上起来依然觉得超累。今天醒来左手还抽筋。第一次这样呢，惨~~

这星期有向一名同事提及这些状况，她可以猜到是为什么。顿时觉得幸运，至少有个人让我抒发一下感受。

之前，在面子书这样写过：“等待，既漫长又短暂。漫长，是因为明日复明日，明日何其多；短暂，是因为总在期盼今天的结束及明天的到来。”再一次深深感受到等待的漫长及痛苦。我很喜欢的作者Andrew Matthews 写说：

Our thoughts are the cause and our life experience is the result.

Dwell on what you don’t want – illness, poverty, disappointment – and you get it. Dwell on what you do want – health, prosperity, opportunity – and you get it.

Most people dwell on what they don’t want – and wonder why they stay stuck. Always, always, always think about what you want.

简单来说，就是我们该想我们要得到的，这与所谓的 law of attraction 说法不谋而合。我就是这样做着，不晓得是不是接近走火入魔了，所以当中的副作用统统出现了。另一方面，又一直提醒自己做人要带平常心，凡是不强求，有就有，没有也未必是坏事。

我就是在这两种思想间不断被拉扯。不知是否因为这样，上星期六醒来，觉得好像扭到颈那样。虽然不是颈项完全转不到，但上一次有这样的情况，是两三年前了，而且还是因为开夜车到早晨、热气才会那样。

被问年尾没有放假啊？我说没有。
被问华人新年没有去旅行啊？我说没有。
被问华人新年没有拿假期啊？我说没有。
被问今年有什么旅游大计？我不敢回答。
被问今年几时有去潜水？我真的很想，但不敢计划什么时候。

讲真，会这样回答，真的很不像我。不是不像，应该说，根本就不是我！

曾经说过，我很喜欢旅途中种种的不确定，但原来，当相同的东西出现在正常的生活中，会变得那么难以招架。就连工作上很多大大小小的决定，我都在拖，因为在等一个答案。每天放工过后，我就回家，看两小时半的电视，让时间过，快快过，让头脑都放空，没有机会思考任何事情。

快要抓狂了~~ 希望这样的日子，就快来到尾声。我不想有一天早上起来，全身抽筋，叫天不应，叫地不灵。

Welcoming Year 2012

2012-01-01T00:23:00.000+08:00

好像很早开始，当别人在感慨这一年不知不觉就匆匆过了一半时，我已经开始在想关于2012的事了。并不是因为我不懂得活在当下，而是心里有太多计划，无奈今年都没机会实现，唯有放在下一年。总是有些时候，是得安安分分地过的，就像我的2011年。

最后一天，我没有把希望看完的书看完，反而是把时间花在玩了成另一篇投稿的文章。没有人给我任何期限，但就是想快快完成然后发给编辑。

那天和朋友提到说，今年啊，只看完了11本书。若与之前两年相比，确实是很少很少。接着她问我，那你又为自己定下目标明年看完成多少本吗？我说没有。我只是希望自己可以多看一点书，汲取别人的知识经验、提升本身的写作能力，但我却不想去设定一个数目为目标。

不久前有个老友跟我说：“你的不再那麽有原則，是好事來的！本來就很精彩的你，開拓更多的可能性後，一定會更精彩的。”这句话激发我很多想法。不知从什么时候开始，真的是有觉得以往自己很多的所为原则，其实都局限了许许多多的可能。在我“破例”去做时，才发觉到事情的更多其他面，而且往往都是positive的。没想到原来在和我认识多年、一起成长的老友眼中，也看到了这点。谢谢她告诉我，让我更加笃定这种改变是没有问题的。

今年，我花了不少时间为明年铺路。有些路已经大概铺好，就仅剩测试报告的降临。其他的路，铺了大概60%吧，还得继续努力。其实这2011的最后一个星期，默默期待着电子邮箱某天会收到测试报告，奈何等呀等，依然尚未收到。反之，我没太在意什么时候会公诸于世的稿件，则“及时出炉”。所以，人生就是这样，想太多也不能怎样，该等的时候，就耐心等。

不能及时把文章写完，这原本是2011年的最后一篇，现在变成了2012年的第一篇。没太多东西想说，因为该写该说的，我一直都在做，没特别感觉想去作个总结还是怎样。陆续有人问我2012年有何展望？也没什么，就希望dreams come true。当然，不该变的，就是秉持着follow my heart这个宗旨过生活。

不多说，祝大家在新的年，快乐安康！

Video of Dive Buddies' Visit

2011-12-18T14:10:00.001+08:00

十二月，我都在把还没有办妥的事办完。

上星期五晚，写好了答应别人的稿。之前答应得很快，但到要写的时候，就真的是要我的命，因为编辑跟我说，字数在千五字以内。像我这种人，要我写得短，才是难事。无论如何，还是完成了，现在等着稿件刊登，是第一次投稿给网络媒体。不再给杂志投稿，因为对他们的排版都不是很满意，虽然稿费高，但还是不想给自己带来失望，宁愿“自爽”般只在自己的部落格发表。这一次，我先看过了他们的网页，觉得好，所以欣然答应。

今年的旅游稿，全部都完成了。仅剩的，就是在上星期潜友到访适耕庄时，我拍了好些短片，可以剪辑一下，让大家做个纪念。我没有特意给自己设下一个期限，但昨天还是花了一天在家弄着弄那。选歌啊、一个个短片慢慢看慢慢剪、想想要怎么把他们衔接起来等，都是费时费力的。选歌方面呢，有一个要考虑的，就是如果用英文歌，通常放上youtube一阵子，就会被block掉，他们说是版权问题。所以呢，一定要选中文歌曲。

星期六晚上，终于做完，但在save movie 的时候，挑战就来了。可能是因为整个短片太大了（9分钟多），所以一直失败。不是存不到档，就是不能完美（从某个时候起就只有audio没有画面）。

所以，我跟自己说不用勉强，先去睡觉，今天一早起来又再继续努力。依然困难重重，我又不想把它一分为二，所以就上谷歌找找，看别人是否面对同样的问题，及有没什么可参考的解决方案。最后，找到了这个，就用了方法二“Method 2: Reduce the Movie Setting Size”，终于没问题。

没什么，只希望大家会喜欢。我知道我的拍摄及编辑技术都有待加强，所以，要多练习啊！

昨天去了稻田一趟，看到很多田地都已经收割。上星期来，真是个明确的决定。昨天中午，也下了场雨，听到雨声的时候还是为潜友们感到庆幸。

注：重看的时候才发觉错字，把“谢谢光临”写成“谢谢观临”（一定是当时在斟酌到底要写“光临”还是“观赏”所以才会这样）... 不好意思，由于需要的时间太长，不打算改了，只做个简单的声明。

Dive Buddies' One-Day Trip to Sekinchan

2011-12-11T22:42:00.001+08:00

今天都在弄着昨天的照片，终于搞定了。现在想写些东西，因为脑子里有很多句子、画面不断在侵袭我，必须整理一下写出来，不然总觉得怪怪的。

没想到2011年的最后一次很奋力地“玩”，竟然是因为潜友们来适耕庄走走看看。之前十月的时候一起去刁曼岛潜水，离开的那天，大家在亭子等着船只的来临，不知怎么就提到了适耕庄的鱼头。那时我和文彬各自推荐自己觉得最好吃的鱼头，他们还企图挑拨离间，说我俩意见不合、就快吵架了。后来就说道，12月的时候他们可以来啊，那是收割的季节，稻田都金黄色一片，景色十分美丽。文彬还说，如果真的成行，他会从新加坡回乡当导游，带他们去吃好料。

潜水回来之后，大家又各自投入自己的生活。直至11月多，看了看日历，扣除其中一人将会去纽西兰旅游的日子（他找我帮忙编排行程，所以我知道他出发和回来的日期），也就不剩太多的选择。一向当惯主办人的我，脸皮厚厚地在面子书问了大家是否要来，大家很容易地就选定了日子。接下来其他的，就是完全交给我了。老实说，去了刁曼岛，我也不晓得自己什么时候可以再和他们一起去潜水，对于2012年，确实有很多未知数。所以，对于他们到访适耕庄这件事，我也希望别拖，珍惜当下，如果可以就尽快完成。毕竟我对自己说过的话比较认真，当时说的并不是客套话，和一般人随口而说的“得空找你喝茶”或“得空call你”不一样。

2011年12月10日，我共有17个朋友到访适耕庄，而我负责接待他们。15人来自雪隆，2人来自马六甲。这是我有史以来带的最大的团！托我爸的福，联络到两个可以去参观的果园。原本说要去果园时（午餐过后）我爸才来和我们一起走，但早上大家一见面就好像话题很多、说到停不了的样子，所以最后，他和我们一起走了整天。

这一次，不懂为什么，我确实有点紧张，可能是人多，也可能是因为他们是我关系良好的潜友，我不想令他们失望。星期五傍晚，我还自个儿到稻田及海口走一趟，深怕自己漏掉任何精彩的部分忘了和他们分享。星期五临睡前，知道文彬在赶着回乡的路上，所以给他发了个短信，算是提神也好，算是提醒他要小心驾驶也好。星期六一早，闹钟未响我就已经醒了，看看手表，七点多，他们应该都在Chen家集合、要出发了，也知道文彬凌晨一点那样已经安全到家。由于睡得不是很好，那天起身后眼睛肿肿的，我得在仅剩的时间内极力消肿，哎~

大约8点40分，雨慧就打电话来了。我吩咐他们到了Tanjong Karang告诉我，好让我有时间准备准备。放下电话，我就打给文彬。不敢只是发简讯，怕他睡得太熟听不到，呵呵。大约九点，文彬和我到了顺源海鲜饭店，我们的贵宾在我们抵达之前就已经到了。在顺源的早餐呢，点了店家的三个招牌菜，还有一些青菜。原本我的想法是令他们尽量不错过任何好东西，但我忽略了“大多数人的早餐都很简单”这点。一早就吃三种鱼，令他们吃到有恐惧症。可能我应该像以往那样，就点个蒸鱼头和青菜就好。以前的同事吃过之后，到现在每次想到那个蒸鱼头都还会很有feel。所以说，多未必好；反之，刚刚好或不够更加能让人怀念。

早餐过后，我们浩浩荡荡四辆车，就出发到林贸易，也就是米厂。途中，因为看到有割稻机在割稻，所以停了一会儿。当天的天气，真的好热，大家都汗流浃背。我自己也不太习惯这样“热力四射”的周末，因为我平常都只是呆在家，不会出来晒。不过呢，若要有蓝天白云为漂亮的照片背景的话，气温都不可能很低啦。总得要牺牲其一。

看完了割稻，就继续往米厂前进。那里以前只是卖米，现在还可以让人参观工厂。那时，我也接到钦鸿（我的大学同学，来自马六甲）的短信，说他就快到适耕庄了。文彬和我暂时离场，出去接他们。再次回去米厂，我和他们一起参观工厂部分，老实说我自己也没有参观过那一间。之前去过的是另外一间。在卖米那里，还有播放关于稻米的影片，蛮不错的，很有教育性，而且剪接摄影方面都做得比我好很多倍。

第三站，是A村的南天宫，那里的卖点就是可以从高处俯瞰稻田。当天还可以看到不同颜色的稻田呢！所谓的不同颜色，就是未收割的金黄色，已收割的黄褐色（稻草的颜色）。不远处还有人在烧芭呢！潜友们真幸运，一次过什么都看到了。在南天宫，我就是一直在那个亭上面而已，因为那里风大、凉爽、景美。直到有人喊“团友们...”才甘愿下去。当然，在上面也是在解答团友们的疑问、帮大家拍照，不是在上面偷懒哦~

第四站，是所谓的“动物园”。听我爸说“动物园”，自己都觉得好笑，怕会误导团友们。待会儿他们估计会看到什么老虎狮子却没有看到，那怎么办呢？这个“动物园”，其实我爸和我本身都没有去过。其实那是个芒果园，只是园主在里头也饲养了很多鸡鸭鹅（我爸是这样跟我阐述）。之前我也和潜友们大力称赞过适耕庄出产的金龙芒果，只可惜几个星期前已经不再有（季节过了），这一次我不能和他们分享。说回动物园，我原以为里头只是听说的鸡鸭鹅，怎知去到那里，还有火鸡、猴子、牛蛙、兔子、果子狸（musang）；而水果方面，也不只有芒果树，还有山竹树、榴莲树、桔子树，以及听说可以治癌的优顿草。小孩们来到这里，是蛮高兴的！

园主说他是我哥的同学。讲真，他不说我也猜不到。我当天的穿着就好像也是个探访者，手里也是握着相机，但他竟然可以毫不犹豫就知道我是谁。后来，他说可以带我们到对面的水翁园参观。我们跟着他去，大家很高兴地采摘水翁，好不快乐！

眼看时间不早，我们就道谢道别，去吃午餐啦。当时已经是下午两点。团友们虽然是城市人，但都没有挑挑剔剔的，至少没有指定吃东西一定要到有冷气的餐馆。既然没有特别要求，我们就带他们去家乡菜煮得很不错的金记海鲜饭店。这一次点的菜，似乎也太多，但幸好“家庭桌”都可以帮我们解决。可能好些东西都是小孩子比较喜欢吃的，所以他们可以吃得多。我们这一桌年纪不太大也不太小的，两人是纯素食者、一人不吃蛋白质食物、剩下的好几人都有胆固醇过高。

午餐过后，我们再到另一个水翁园去。这一个是C村村长的，之前已经和他说好会过去，他欢迎之至，只是没有想到之前的动物园的园主也会带我们去水翁园。幸好有来，团员们说，因为来了才知道这里的水翁比之前的那个美得多、甜得多。那里除了水翁，还有其他的水果，比如说百香果、柠檬、酸柑。村长也是好客之人，任我们采摘，而且还很卖力为我们解说。他的魅力无法挡，连一向腼腆的MJ都忍不住说要认他为干爹，哈哈哈！适耕庄呢，有着很多很有钱的人，但他们就像“草包着的金”，从外表都看不出来。至于我，当然不是他们的一部分！在那里，我最喜欢的呢就是那个种百香果的架子，看起来好像在新疆看到的葡萄架。所以，看到相似的东西，我当时看到葡萄架的那种振奋，就马上统统回来了。

离开村长的水翁园，我们直奔渔港，也是本地人俗称的“海口”，想带团友们去看渔船起鱼。起鱼是潮州人的说法，意思是渔船捕鱼回来，把捕到的收获搬上岸、分类、称重。我们去到的时候，鱼已经起完了，没得看。虽然如此，却看到了罕见的一幕。那天，水面有很多大大小小三角丁，人们用网一捞，轻而易举就捞到了。住在适耕庄那么久，我也没有看过这种情景，他们一来就看到了耶！团友们也加入捞鱼一族的行列，以他们的水准，根本就是没有难度。

之后，就是不远处的海滩。之前带台湾的朋友来，我都先叮嘱他们，说对于这里的海滩，你不要要求太多哦。去到他们却说，不错啊，因为那时涨潮。如果退潮的话就会看到很多泥泞、垃圾那样。以往我每一次去，那里的“树上屋”都是有人，所以轮不到我们上去的。这一次，又例外了，第一间竟然是空的，所以就可以上去站站、躺躺、吃吃虾饼。那里风大、又有得遮阴，所以是很舒服的。只是，由于是在海边，风吹得越久就越会觉得身体粘粘的，呵呵呵。我们在沙滩做了一件傻事（我本身是没有试过啦），就是九个人分别摆出“SEKINCHAN”英文字母的形状。“I”字本来是我的，但被MJ抢去，最后我则有扮“n”。拍完检查照片，最年轻的19岁小弟，他的“A”算是不及格，但我们已经没有力再来一次了。

钦鸿得在当天驾车回马六甲，所以他先道别离开。感觉上我好想自己也很忙、玩到很快乐，基本上也没有什么怎么招待到他，真不好意思。在夕阳的照耀下，我们再去了一趟印度人的稻田那里。那里算是比较有传统风味，因为印度同胞们会把屋子建在稻田中央，而且好些还是高脚屋。前一天，在沙滩可以看到很迷人的夕阳，当天却美景不再。无论如何，在印度芭那里，我们还是有拍到一些好笑的剪影照片。潜友们和我都太爱剪影，很喜欢玩这种东西。五月在Koh Lipe时是在海中，这次这是在陆地上。

到了晚餐时间，他们已经事先声明不要再有太多鱼，最好是吃一些适耕庄特色小食。小食？想来想去就好像只有拉拉煎，而且应该没那么早开档。最后，还是带了他们去海口的“喜记”。那里出名螃蟹炒米粉、碳炒福建面等，是我和家乡朋友相聚时常会去的地方。其实我一早就是想要带他们去喜记（6点才开），只是怕那里不够位子，因为我们声势浩大。去到时，真的是坐满了，我要求店家是否可以多开几张桌子（虽然旁边的空地都也放满了），店家在他们住家门口的屋檐开了三张桌子，还说坐那里好啊，如果下雨的话不会被淋湿。团友们要求简单的食物，所以就叫了炒粉、炒饭、几道小碟的海鲜，就解决了。吃到一半，真的是开始下雨。

总结整天的经历，只能说，团友们是非常幸运。我们的一日游，就在晚餐过后结束。我回到家也已经是晚上八点多将近九点了。第一次带团带到如此充实。通常呢，在下午四点多，就已经是在我家休息，累到不想动的了。当晚想选几张照片先上载让大家先睹为快，奈何网络的速度超慢，等到我昏昏欲睡。文彬问我他们到家了没，我发简讯过去，首三个都没回复，除了第四个的MJ。我在12点前也已经去会周公，隔天才陆续收到大家的回复，也间接可以知晓他们隔天是几天起身 :P

一上网，看到MJ已经漏夜筛选及上传照片。潜友当中最年轻的他，是唯一一个在当天还可以熬夜的。从大家的反馈，这一次的团应该带得不错。当然也要特别感谢文彬还有我爸，不然又忙摄影又忙自己玩的我，哪有那么大的能耐？

要看相簿的话按这里：
Dive buddies came to sekinchan - 10 Dec 2011 (Part I)
Dive buddies came to sekinchan - 10 Dec 2011 (Part II)

以往一些关于适耕庄的帖：
Jun 2010 - Hay Bales in Sekinchan
Jun 2009 - UC Guys Visited Me at Hometown
Mar 2009 - Dawn in Sekinchan
Dec 2008 - Harvesting
Nov 2008 - Paddy Field
Mar 2008 - Reflections

Xinjiang Posts Summary

2011-12-06T18:07:00.001+08:00

费时两个月，终于在2011年结束前，完成了所有篇章。

可能有些人不明白为什么回来之后，要难么赶着弄照片、上载、写文章等等的。虽然有时很累，但却乐在其中。老实说，很多东西，直至我写文章的时候，记忆经已模糊，得参考回相簿的照片说明。原来对自己有要求是好的。不然，我想我人生至此，应该有很多东西都不能圆满完成。

“爱和热忱将让你忘记一切疲劳，让你有勇气承担挫折、继续努力。”这句话一点都没错！

这几年都在尝试不同的游记方式。以前，通常都是按地方写；这一次，尝试以每一天来写。以前有试过每天的写法，但那是 on the road，意思是旅途中写的。如果你有写过游记，就会知道，在路上写的和回来之后、很多东西沉淀下来、自己有更多想法后才写，差别很大。原本以为以一天天来写，可能会写不长，哪知每次写出来都还是长篇大论，但却也同时记载了很多细微、值得品味的细节。

由于同时在佳礼论坛分享游记，也让我认识了各方不同的朋友，大多是也去过新疆的人，或一些旅游达人。经过大家的交流，真的是在回来之后，还得到更多的资讯。算是一个意外收获。其中一位叫小林子的，其实在我出发之前我们就已经交流过。他很热心地把搜集到的资料跟我分享。我8月19日出发，他9月18日出发。所以我回来后，也赶快把我觉得有用和“经过证实”的资料发给他。在那个论坛帖，他也帮我客串，分享他的经历以及一些照片。

在这里想总结一下关于新疆的篇章：

9月25日至12月4日之间所写，旅途中的每一天。曾经，我怀疑自己是否可以写完，或离开北疆之后那些，是否会草草了事。幸好，我的耐力还蛮足够的。

新疆游第1天（吉隆坡 - 广州 - 乌鲁木齐）
新疆游第2天（乌鲁木齐）
新疆游第3天（乌鲁木齐 - 可可托海）
新疆游第4天（可可托海- 布尔津）
新疆游第5天（布尔津 - 禾木）
新疆游第6天（禾木）
新疆游第7天（禾木 - 喀纳斯）
新疆游第8天（喀纳斯）
新疆游第9天（喀纳斯）
新疆游第10天（喀纳斯 - 乌尔禾）
新疆游第11天（乌尔禾 - 赛里木湖）
新疆游第12天（霍尔口斯口岸 - 伊宁）
新疆游第13天（那拉提）
新疆游第14天（一号冰川）
新疆游第15天（乌鲁木齐）
新疆游第16天（乌鲁木齐）
新疆游第17天【写在第16天的结尾】

文章写完之后，看了看在新疆时摄下的片段，选了些弄成一个短片。做了几个短片，水准都没有提升。有好些效果，我希望可以做到，但，还是做不到。关于拍摄短片这方面，或许我没什么天分，但我还是有观察平时所看的，慢慢偷师。这一次的短片，或许有些闷，因为都是片段的剪辑而已，里头完全没有我们的出现。以前去潜水的，都有潜友开心的笑容、湿漉的摸样、海底的英姿或可爱的海底生物。也感谢佳礼的朋友告诉我，刘若英及黄立行的《分开旅行》MV，有部分是在新疆拍的。

由于我也很喜欢这首歌，所以就直接用它作为背景音乐啦。

年末了，大家都在清年假。我竟然... 虽然还有这个资格，但脑子里却没有什么目的地。日子太近了，什么都贵，心还是不要太野吧。这是我唯一可以对自己说的话。哈哈哈！

Xinjiang Maps

2011-12-05T11:48:00.000+08:00

在整理着旧照片的时候，发觉有一些新疆的地图或许可以放上网和大家分享。如果你没有打算去，对你来说当然是没用的。记得我在搜集资料的初期，难找到一个好的地图，所以不知该怎么编排才为之“顺路”。至于乌鲁木齐的地图，是有找到一个，但由于太不仔细而不太能够派上用场。

回来之后，扫描了一些地图，现在放上来，希望方便搜集新疆资料的驴友们。不要忘记点击放大图片哦！

新疆省详细地图（一）：

新疆省详细地图（二）：

阿勒泰详细地图：

布尔津至喀纳斯路线图：

布尔津县城地图：

喀纳斯地图：

乌鲁木齐详细地图（一）：

乌鲁木齐详细地图（二）：

Xinjiang Trip Final Moments

2011-12-04T00:00:00.000+08:00

曾经斟酌过，到底是否要去欧亚博览会看看？老实说，机会实属难得。抵达新疆之前，完全不晓得新疆会有这盛事。

最后，我们还是决定不去。我本身对人造、特地摆出来的东西没啥兴趣。2010年在上海的世博会，更加大型、参与的国家更多，我都根本没想过要去。所以这次，也没有必要因为“很多人觉得应该去”而去。我一向都不习惯活在别人的期望之下。

早餐过后，一贯在旅社前上了153号的公交车。单价的收费也很好，我们可以先上车，再慢慢打算要在哪里下车。其实，在昨天的车程上，我就留意到一些比较热闹的地方，但却不太记得站的名字。一路上，就四处张望，最后找到了。我们在友好商场站下车。当天确实没有什么大计划。

下了车，四处走走，还不错，有熟悉的快餐店（肯德基、必胜客）、商场、市场、书摊、图书城、很有规模的馕店，可说是琳琅满目。市场一向来是我的最爱，这一个也不例外。最主要的是，我们在里头找到了久违的肉夹馍，当然是要先尝为快。我们在布尔津首次认识和品尝肉夹馍，觉得它价格廉宜并可口美味。后来，一路上都不再找到。虽然有些牛肉面店写着有卖，但要点的时候他们都说没有。

那一间馕店，除了各式各样的馕，还有售卖烤包。我们原本想逛到饿了才回去吃烤包。怎知我们回去时，烤包已经卖完了，只能与它缘悭一面。那里还有专业的把馕装箱，让购买者可以容易携带。虽然去新疆前我十分向往馕，但吃过才领教到，我们应该是属于有缘无分那种。买回国当手信？不必了。已经可以想到最后会剩下很多，没什么人要吃因为太硬了。有道“己所不欲，勿施于人”，所以馕没有成为我带回家的手信。

花了几个小时在那里逛商场、逛书城，也进了去肯德基吃雪糕。我一直说，如果有时间想要回去二道桥附近的那条坑坑寺巷，再次感受那里的民族风情。我早已准备好了我的长镜头，要去拍道道地地的维吾尔族，摄下他们自然的生活片段。话说回头，真的是要感谢之前在乌鲁木齐没有地图胡乱走，才会去到这条很有特色的巷子。另外，之前我看到有一档卖馕的，他的馕看起来是比较软的那种。上一回很饱，这一次想回去看看是否比较软的馕会和我“有缘有份”。

在乌市的两天，我们不知在巴士站问了多少回路，通常都是关于去哪儿该搭几号公交车，然后哪个站下车。看我们都可以无惊无险抵达每个地方，就知道那也是个进步的城市，人们也都乐于助人。其实我觉得这种经验是很好的，它让我们知道，其实这个世界上的人在某程度上都是在互相需要着，没有谁是特别厉害或有资格去看不起人。而且，很多时候当我们了解到自己对别人小小一个的帮忙很感谢的时候，下一次，当我们遇到同样需要帮助的人，我们也会毫不犹豫地为他们伸出援手。这不是一小步一小步地在迈向和谐社会的路上吗？况且，这些都是很好的与当地人交流的机会。

有些人可能会觉得我们在浪费时间，觉得去旅行时间有限，最快的方法就是打的，不必问不必等，给钱就可以解决问题。这个想法没错啦，只是，我们有的是时间 :P 最重要的是我们很享受当中的过程。

一下公交车，就看到了两星期前在坑坑寺巷卖蜜瓜给我、衣着整齐的“生果阿叔”。他依然是在卖蜜瓜，只是这回多了一个人，以及档口迁移到了比较接近二道桥的地方。由于距离颇远，我一厢情愿地看到他而已，他则在忙着做生意。就算看到我，应该也不认得我了吧？我常常这么想（觉得人家不认得我），但很多时候他们的反应都让我吓到。所以，我命中注定是不可以做坏事的，不然很容易坏事传千里、名誉扫地。呵呵。

终于，我又回到了期待已久的坑坑寺巷。换上长镜头，我拍照拍得很过瘾。当然，不是每个人都不介意被照，那就跳过抗拒镜头的，狂摄那些欢迎我的人就好。我真的觉得这一条巷很有特色，一切是那么的自然、生活化。越走越远、越拍越多，最后自己竟然变成了焦点。好一些维族都围过来，开始跟我交谈。他们会说汉语，所以沟通方面没有问题。他们的问题依然离不开那三部曲：你从哪里来？马来西亚人会说汉语哦？你乘飞机来多久、多少钱？

在那里，我不再假扮自己是中国人（通常别人都会因为我说话的腔而觉得我是广州人），而是老实道出自己来自马来西亚。维族会觉得很有亲切感，因为他们知道马来西亚也是个回教国。至于那些维族小孩，他们大多不会抗拒我的镜头，只是在拍过之后，主动让他们看照片他们就会很开心。还有一个比较年长的老伯，他示意我们拍他，我们就拍咯。我拍一张远距、一张近距的，他看了还会跟我说，他比较喜欢远距那一张。哈哈，真可爱。

至于那个卖软馕的，我有见到他，但却没有看到他在做馕。没办法，再留一个遗憾！我也是有经过上回和她语言不通、用台币当人民币用的那个黄面档。我不晓得她还是否记得我，但我有主动向她招收及微笑，她还是一副羞涩的模样，露出腼腆的表情。我在坑坑寺巷还买了两条黄色的萝卜回家。萝卜是我常吃的蔬菜之一，黄色的倒是第一次看，所以很想买回家用我们的方式煮，看口感是否一样。在新疆，都是吃手抓饭的时候里头才会有黄萝卜。我不敢买太多，只选了两条大的。没想到两条才人民币一元，便宜到我不信！

后来，回到二道桥那里，我又去吃蜜瓜了，然后再搭车去七一酱园。

去到七一酱园的时候还早，就先逛超市。整8点，五一夜市的小贩陆续摆摊，我们就在那里用晚餐。不晓得啦，我觉得五一夜市就好像槟城的Gurney Drive那样，有名气、摊子多但食物素质就一般而已，而且价钱比较贵。好一些摊贩看到你拍照，还会骂人或给你摆臭脸。老实说，坑坑寺巷的维族在这点看来就友善很多。所以之前一晚，巴士上的老太太说有维族的地方危险，我并不太认同。我觉得大家都想要安定的生活而已，只是某些时候，一些人因为某些原因而做出令人印象不好的事。其实，大家的本质都是想快快乐乐地过生活而已，没有必要对谁有偏见。听朋友说，他在北京的时候看到新疆人在那里也是备受歧视的。

那天，也就吃了一些抓饭、一些刀削面、一些啤酒，就饱了。烤肉档超多，一串一元，但我没吃。在夜市那里，有两位道地新疆女生去和我们会面。其中一人（国琴）是昨天，在我们乘公交车回旅舍的途中，我两名友人在交谈中认识的。说着说着就交换了电话，那女生特别热情，向我们要联络。隔天，她放工之后，就带着她的女儿及一个朋友一起来和我们见面。她说她原本想尽地主之谊请我们吃晚餐的，只是她抵达之前我们都已经吃饱，所以就坐下来聊聊天。老实说，之前在新疆都觉得大多数的人都不太友善，尤其是一些餐馆的，服务态度完全不行。如此的经验让我们没有预料到，会遇到如此好客的新疆人。

离开的时候，我们就跟着她走而已，因为她住的地方离我们的旅社不远，基本上是比我们早一两个站下车而已。她带我们乘BRT，没到站和上车之前，我还一直在想，BRT到底是什么东东？难道是MRT、LRT那种？但在乌市混了两天，似乎还不晓得那里有这类的交通工具。后来，才知道，原来BRT也是巴士来的，只是它走的是特别通道，不会被交通灯或其他交通工具给影响，车费也是每人上车一块钱。基于它有这种优势，所以不必多说，它是十分超级拥挤的。在里头确实有当沙丁鱼的感觉。国琴抱着她的女儿，还和车上的另一名女乘客聊起来（她们不认识彼此的），我站在旁边把她们的一字一句都听进耳里，觉得其实新疆人也是可以很友善的。一直以来我们都常常会跟着自己有限的机遇和经历下定论，而那些定论概括的，可能只是很小部分的人而已。

这个国琴很好笑。我们下了BRT，得再转巴士、过三站才能抵达。国琴说我们就打的吧，因为过了晚上10点，巴士费每人起50%（也就是1.5元），可是呢，我们有五个大人一个小孩，基本上德士会超载。一辆德士拒绝我们，但后来一辆私家车却愿意载我们。下车的时候国琴有付钱给司机，但不晓得是多少。我们之前搭BRT的费用，她也是毫不计较帮我们付。我们要还她钱，她不收。到了旅舍，她们也去我们的房间坐坐、聊天、吃宵夜（从夜市打包的），她的女儿自在BRT开始，经已睡到不省人事，但那个小女孩一睡就很厉害，不管你怎么跑跳她都不会醒。

当晚，忘了她们是几点离开，总之是凌晨12点过后。我们互相留了QQ号码及MSN账号。国琴一直交代，下次如果有再去新疆的话一定要通知她，她要带我们去喀什吃真正美味的烤肉。那晚，我收拾行李至凌晨2点才睡。临睡前，还设好了隔天6店的闹钟。

回国的那一天

隔天，在飞机场的时候，我买回国的啤酒一共有三罐，但一罐被没收去了。买罐装啤酒当自己的纪念品是我的习惯，而且放在大包通常没问题。只是这一次，不晓得为什么会不被允许。在安检那里，他们查到我大包里有液体，我就随便拿了一罐啤酒出来交给他们。他们问说“还有吗？”，我说没有，他们也没有要求再扫描行李，我的两灌乌苏啤酒（青和红）就和我一起安全到家了，现在放在客厅的橱柜里。至于那关新疆啤酒，就拜拜了。

在机场，那些地勤的空姐也是凶巴巴的，和安检处那些男人一样，总是在吼。面对不会说中文的旅客，他们还是继续说中文，人家因为听不懂而没有招指示做，他们就大骂，我觉得那些旅客真的很无辜。虽然被无礼对待，在办好手续离开柜台之前，那些旅客还是会用他们仅懂得的中文说谢谢，我在想，那个空姐，不懂会不会觉得惭愧呢？班机上，有很多大马的安娣安个，还是一样吵吵闹闹，不等乘客坐好就一直在吵要换位。原本还希望说这般人最好不是大马的，但他们一开口，国籍就无所遁形了。

在飞机上，对于期待已久但一转眼就成为过去的新疆行，觉得些许感慨。无论如何，很高兴走过新疆！

Xinjiang Trip Day 15 (Urumqi)

2011-12-02T14:00:00.000+08:00

在新疆的最后两天，都是在乌鲁木齐四周晃。

很想念在旅社附近的小食摊，怎知回来之后它不再“露天”了，反而搬进店铺里。幸好他们有放一个写着“吃早餐请进房内”的牌子。这一次，我点了个玉米粥，黄黄色的，不咸又不甜。香港和大马那种很甜的“糖水”，感觉上很不健康。也因为熟悉了那种甜，吃起比较健康却淡而无味的玉米粥，竟觉得不太习惯。

早餐后，在旅社前上了公交车（巴士），一路“摇”到红山市场站。那段路程还蛮长的。初抵乌市时，没有地图在手，所以选择打的，而且也一直不懂自己的正确位置在哪儿。在喀纳斯买的地图，附有乌市地图，这一次就派得上用场了。乌市的公交车，车费都是一元人民币，不管距离。如果有储值卡的话，才九角钱。我们当然没有大费周章去买储值卡，一轮一块钱的收费，已经是够超值、令人感恩的了。也可能是中国人口众多的关系，公交车的设计，也可以承载比较多的人。一般上，都是坐的位子为主，不够坐才站。乌市的呢，则是以站为主，坐的位子较少。欣慰的是，那里的人都很有公民意识，看到老人上车会让位。

当时的“亚欧博览会”，真的给这个城市制造不少麻烦，这是我个人的看法。首先，露天的摊子得搬进室内；各个夜市不能摆摊，最著名的五一夜市得暂时迁到七一酱园那里；至于公交车，也会因为一些地方进不了而乘客必须提早下车步行过去。当时的乌市各处，会看到博览会的自愿工作人员，大多都是青少年，给大家提供博览会的资讯。

之前在网上读到有人称赞红山公园很不错，所以在我真正抵达前，确实对它有些许期待，但一去到，虽不必给入门票，但园内许多地方、玩意儿都得付费。简单一句说，我不喜欢红山公园。我心目中的公园是里头有花有湖有草，有人晨运或野餐，最好还会有一些鸟鸭之类的。红山公园呢，却弄到好像一个游乐场似的。去眺望楼要5元；大佛寺要5元；豪华转马15元；游船30元；摩天轮15元；空中脚踏车15元；奇能滑道20元；聊斋宫10元；豪华转马15元；碰碰车15元；碰碰船20元；UFO飞碟15元；神龙府10元；地宫20元。看得眼花缭乱吧！这些都让我觉得十分郁闷！

无论如何，在红山公园可以从一个比较高的角度眺望乌鲁木齐这个城市。去到之前，心里的那个乌鲁木齐并不如现实如此的高楼耸立、摩登进步、四通八达。安慰的是，公园里头还是有漂亮的花草树木。一路上没机会看到薰衣草园，在红山公园那里至少还看到一些，尚算安慰。公园的大树上，都挂着四五“层”的雨伞，不晓得是干嘛。通常我们都说，下雨时别在树下开伞，会被雷击。为什么在那里还要放那么多把伞呢？

去华凌市场之前，我们进了一间经济饭店吃午餐。那里的形式和大马有些不同。在大马，多数是拿了饭菜才去给摊主看多少钱，然后付钱。在那里，已经有一个价格表，说好比如“三素8元”、“一荤二素9元”、“二荤二素13元”那样。我们先去柜台说我们要什么，然后付钱，之后就会得到一个牌子，上面写着你付的是哪种配搭。之后，就把牌子交给拿饭菜的人、选你要什么菜，他们会帮你拿。接过饭菜，就把牌子交给拿菜的人。饭店的另一个角落，还有免费的汤供应，但必须自己去拿。

我当然是叫了个三素。整个“配套”很大份，所以吃得很饱。装饭菜的碟子，不是普通的一个圆碟，而是可以让饭菜分开放，有很多“间隔”那种。小的时候，我也是有类似的托盘，而且还有卡通的呢。只是后来妈妈说太难洗，就不让我用了。难洗确是事实，得很细心才能真正洗得很干净，每个转角细节处都兼顾到。

吃饱饱后，我们直奔华凌电脑数码广场。除了电脑数码之类的货品，里头也有家用电器、文体用品、精品家纺、床上用品、工艺品、绢花。我们当然没有每一楼都走，主要是看电器、相机镜头之类的，还有最底楼的家庭杂货。那里的摄影用具没比大马来得便宜，况且我要找的东西也找不到。我在那里最大的收获就是买了一个“不见不散LV230便携音箱”，因为觉得它很方便，而且也没在其他国家看到有那种东西。买了回来，才知道我家乡的早晨市场（pasar pagi）已经有卖类似的东西，也都是从中国进口的。更甚的是，我妈也刚买了一个大同小异的，真是心有灵犀一点通！

最神奇的是，我们在那里看到有人卖“钟客3合1马六甲泡沫白咖啡”。没错的话，在大马好像没有看过这个品牌。

下一站，是北园春市场干鲜果品交易区，堪称“北园春批发市场”。我们也是去到巴士站，问问人，上车付钱，然后就抵达了。我这种人，看到不胜枚举、整齐排列的新鲜水果就会亢奋、情绪高涨。很想有人卖切片的蜜瓜，但全部都是整粒卖而已。其中一摊的男主人，可能是看到我隐约散发出来的“十分想吃蜜瓜”的气息，就切来请我们吃了。哈密瓜太大了，买不回家，可惜！老实说，我真的很想买些新疆瓜果回家与家人朋友分享，但除了带不了太多，回国后我也不会马上回家。多等一个星期，那些水果可能都坏了。无论如何，我还是和老伯买了3公斤的吐鲁番无籽青葡萄。老伯把葡萄打包好，让我可以手提上飞机。后来，不消四天我就把那3公斤的葡萄吃晚了。可以这样吃，真过瘾！

北园春那里，售卖干果的店铺比比皆是，每个人都叫我们进去看看。虽然对干果没什么知识，还是根据店员的推荐买了一些回家：巴旦木（杏仁）、紫丁香、红枣、核桃。后来，根据品尝者们的回应，很多都赞巴旦木及红枣很好吃，只可惜吃完了就没机会再添。领着一大一小的两箱收获，我们打的回旅社。原本想说就在对面的北春园夜市吃晚餐才回去，但那段时期夜市不能经营。

尽管夜幕尚未低垂，回到旅舍的时候，已经是晚上8点。其实我是很懒惰再出去了的，但友人说要去五一夜市（当时暂且迁去七一酱园），那也就少数服从多数。怎知在巴士上和当地人聊天时，有个老太太说我们搭巴士去到那里会很迟了，危险（维族很多），所以建议我们隔天早点出发。后来，我们就根据老太太的建议在半路下车，到了温州商业街。我无所谓，总之可以吃饱就行。

在温州商业街一眼望去，虽然和大马的路边摊或小贩中心没啥两样，但那里的摊贩真的是超积极的那种。呼唤你、招呼你坐下、很卖力地推荐你他的食物、饮品，我们确实有被吓到，因为是同一时间有很多个一起来“围攻”我们，只差他们的口水没有泛滥成灾而已，呵呵。那天晚上，我们点了半只椒麻鸡、豆角蒸面、烤羊肉、烤鸡、烤鱼。这些当中，最不能挑剔的我个人觉得是豆角蒸面莫属了。烧烤食物我没兴趣，而那个我觉得千里迢迢去到还可以破例吃吃的椒麻鸡，真的吃到我有点麻木。可能是我的错，我万万没有想到那整碟东西是冷冰冰没有丝毫温度的。所以，我觉得完全不好吃 :(

最后，我去便利店买了些巧克力饼“洗口”。当晚的失望，挥之不去。

Xinjiang Trip Day 14 (Glacier No. 1)

2011-11-29T21:30:00.000+08:00

不知不觉，在新疆快两星期了。今天，也是九月的第一天。

由于路途漫长，我们在早晨8点就集合出发。宾馆的老板娘睡眼惺忪地出来收过我们的钥匙后，又回去睡。一路走来，好些宾馆都很严，在客人退房的时候总会去仔细检查房间。当然，还没完全睡醒的她，跳过了这个步骤。退房前，我在房里吃了玉米片（从大马带过去的corn flakes）泡牛奶。可能是在戒喝牛奶及美禄之后，很久以来我都只是“干吃”，当天我突然觉得这样的配搭很美味。久久放肆一下的感觉还不错！

今天的天气也是没什么惊喜：阴天、多雾。一路上看到许多炊烟袅袅的毡房、依然翠绿但稍缺少活力的草原、牧人赶牛羊的画面、积雪的山峦，以及第一次看到牦牛。那些牛羊的出现，真的很壮观。司机会响笛慢慢前行，要它们让路。在车上看这场景的我们，总觉得它们很可怜，因为不是它们不要让开，而是挤到真的没什么移动的空间了。午餐呢，则是在巴伦台搞定。之前一天，在那拉提选择叫菜吃饭，遇到了想不到的“惊喜”，所以今天还是乖乖选择一贯的清真牛肉面。

其实，我们心里都在期待回到乌鲁木齐、结束租车的日子。有点想要摆脱吃清真食物的日子。司机不在之后，我们就不必再有啥顾虑！

午餐过后，我们路经“天山一号冰川”回乌鲁木齐。当时适逢乌市主办“首届中国亚欧博览会”的期间，所以安检十分严格。当时，不是乌鲁木齐的车子都不能进入乌市。公安们除了说要看我们的护照，还使人去复印了呢，不晓得真正原因是什么。司机说，这一回，我们的学生证真的帮上忙了，虽然我们不是新疆人，至少他还可以跟公安说，这几个人是长期在中国念书的。过了那一个安检，走石子路的生涯就开始了。

震震跳跳了快两个小时、经过了好几个火车轨道，我们终于抵达了最高点：海拔4280公尺的胜利达坂。当时对于“达坂”这个词真的很陌生，回来查字典，才知道这是山口、山岭的意思，源自蒙语。在这银雪皑皑，海拔高度达四千米以上的群略之颠，分布着大小七十多条现代冰川，其中以一号冰川最大（长约2.4公里，平均宽500米）。1959年，中国科学院兰州冰川冻土研究所在乌鲁木齐河的源头，天山山脉天格尔山中建立了天山冰川研究站，“一号冰川”名字中的“一号”即是由当年的研究编号而来。

这些巨大冰川的由来，是因山顶终年不化的积雪，年复一年地堆积。经过重压、融冻和重新结晶等一系列过程，逐渐变成半透明、淡蓝色的冰川冰之后，又在坡度和重力的作用下向低处流动而形成的。从高处往下看，俯瞰我们的来时路，才发觉，我们真的转了无数个弯才去到，幸好我们都不是会晕车的人。在那儿行驶，公路两侧一边是万丈深渊，一边是悬崖峭壁。离开胜利达坂往下走不久，就碰到了阻碍。由于发生石崩，路被堵着了。我们抵达的时候，已经有好些人在那里处理石崩的情况，分工合作把石头搬开，好让车子可以通行。

司机吩咐我们留在车内，他下去了解情况。我们也就一直都待在车里而已，整整一个半小时。上一次那么靠近雪，是在纽西兰，可能这是老天爷制造给我们的机会，可以和雪相处久一点。石子搬得差不多之后，最靠近石崩点、对面方向来的两辆超大的卡车先走。看那巨无霸都可以无惊无险的驶过那个凸起来的地方，也让我们信心增了不少。奈何，或许是大家都等了很久，缺乏了耐性，对面方向来的车一直不让我们过。司机也很不耐烦，因为他今天确实驾驶了很长的路途，应该也是归心似箭吧。在对面的一辆私家车还在踌躇的时候，司机快快就驶了过去。四轮驱动在这种情况下总是比较有优势。后来，司机还不忘开窗骂人，说过不了就不要浪费大家时间之类的话。

我想，大家都很像快点可以离开吧，不然天黑了，在那里行驶的危险就会增加好几倍！

抵达乌市时，还是一样有安检。路上都是排长龙的车子。司机就跟安检人员说，他赶着载我们去机场搭飞机，我们没花多少时间就很顺利地就通过了。我们回到初抵达乌鲁木齐市入住的青年旅社，前几天我就已经打电话预定好，还凭三寸不烂之舌跟工作人员要到会员价。也因为这样，我们不住床位，住标间了！

一抵达青年旅社，拿了行李及和司机说了谢谢，我先进去向负责人肯定他真的有为我们预留房间（毕竟没有预付订金，会担心有什么闪失），友人则与司机在车子那里处理我们还得付给他的车费。后来听友人说，司机在言语上明示她们说通常外宾都会给小费。根据我们当时的经济情况，小费真的是不可能的了（不然也不必减少租车的天数），而且，据他的表现，真的还不至于会让我们给小费。

当天的晚餐，我们去了旅舍附近的一间川菜馆解决。虽然我们店的只是非常简单的宫保鸡丁、黄瓜炒山药和青菜豆腐羹，但对我们来说，算是一个解脱后的安乐茶饭。

终于不再是清真牛肉面了！

Xinjiang Trip Day 13 (Nalati)

2011-11-26T23:30:00.000+08:00

为了解决钱不够的问题，我们决定减少租车的天数。原本想说从伊宁直接回乌鲁木齐，可是司机说路途太远，坚持我们可以不去巴音布鲁克，但还是要去那拉提。

之前从网上的资料看到，其实那拉提和巴音布鲁克，均属草原，还有不少人提供意见说两者之间，哪个比较值得去。出发到中国前，有个去过新疆的潜水朋友提到巴音布鲁克的九曲十八弯，说那里很美，令我也很想亲自去到那里看看。奈何，只怪自己计算错误，在当时那种情况，割舍是唯一解决问题的方法。

2011年8月31日，是新疆肉孜节的第一天。其实在马来西亚，30号就是开斋节了。对于这日子的差别，我不晓得为什么，回族的司机也回答不了。身为穆斯林的他，虽然平时并不怎么遵守教条，唯一做的只是不吃猪肉，但在肉孜节当天，还是会去礼拜。据司机及我上海的同事所说，现在比较年轻的一代，都是这样的了，差不多被汉族给同化了。喝酒、赌博、没有斋戒，对他们来说不算是什么大问题。我只是奇怪，他们至今依然遵守的“不吃猪肉”，又可以延续到什么时候呢？

今天的早餐，我们自己吃，因为司机去礼拜，他说礼拜过后还会有食物供应。那一天，很多店铺都没开，我们在九点四周逛了逛，都找不到合心意的地方吃早餐，依然只有昨天午餐的牛肉面店和晚餐的水饺锅贴店。后者在早上只是提供一人十元的自助早餐，我们看了看菜式的选择，最后还是去了牛肉面店。去了新疆快两星期，终于在当天第一次看到背包客。那两个背着大背包和不少摄影器材的女生，也是在找地方吃早点。昨天中午在那牛肉面店吃了不太有温度的凉面，那个早上，则是点了热腾腾的清汤牛肉面。

其中一名友人有肚泻问题，我给了她一些药。早餐的时候，她也没胃口吃太多，只吃了一粒鸡蛋、咖啡和我们带着走了约整个北疆的馕。除了佩服馕的硬度，还有它的长寿。不晓得为什么晾晒后的馕，可以那么耐久储。若用真空塑料袋包装起来，还可以保质三个月。这个原理或许就和菜干、咸鱼等是大同小异的。当年四川的汶川地震，从新疆这里，也是运了很多馕过去那里赈灾。

那天，我们大约10点半才开车。去那拉提的路程，大约5小时。一路上，天气都是阴沉沉的，大家也没怎么说话。牛大哥在路上慢行过路、无处不在的测速器，成为了我们最熟悉的景象。抵达那拉提的时候，先去住宿的地方。

那拉提也是一个似乎不太欢迎外宾的地方。如伊宁，价格比较大众化的宾馆都不接待外宾。司机一早替我们找到了愿意非法接待我们的酒店，用他自己的身份证帮我们登记。市价300的三人标间，我们以180块钱住进去了。老板不忘提醒我们说如果有公安去查的时候该怎么应对。午餐过后，司机载我们去那拉提景区。其实，看到那天的天气，又下着毛毛细雨，我已经觉得有点郁闷。最后，我们没有购票进景区，只是在附近的草原部落走走。

据说成吉思汗西征时，有一支蒙古军队由天山深处向伊犁进发，虽然时值春日，山中却是风雪弥漫。当这支因饥饿和寒冷而疲乏不堪的军队翻过山岭后，眼前出现了一片繁花织锦的莽莽草原，泉眼密布，流水淙淙，犹如进入了另一个世界。这时云开日出，夕阳如血，人们不由的大叫“那拉提（蒙语“有太阳”的意思）。于是，就有了这个地名。

回到酒店之后，友人两人说要出去逛逛，我当天超级懒（应该是受天气影响，呵呵），就只留在房间，把自己藏在被窝里，开着笔记本整理一路走来在新疆拍的照片。其实酒店是可以上网的，但员工因为肉孜节没工作，仅剩的典型老板娘，啥都不懂，打电话向员工求救了好几轮还是弄不好网络，最后也就算了。虽然我这人在平常的日子里是非常宅，一但出游就变得很活跃，但旅途中，还是偶尔会什么都不想做，只想赖在那里。有时候，总是需要稍微沉淀一下，再继续上路。

看当时的天气，我不断跟自己说，不去巴音布鲁克或许这的是对的，因为去到那里可能也看不到很漂亮的景色，应该也不算太可惜。听司机说，下了几天的雨后，应该就会开始下雪了。

友人回来后，买了一些吃的，包括我爱的奥利奥（Oreo）饼干。她们到了之前去那拉提景区时经过的那间“驼铃国际青年旅舍”问问，原来它还没有真正得到中国YHA的认可，但已经把自己当做是一份子了。无论如何，我还是希望那拉提可以快点有间青年旅社，那外宾就不会困难重重了。也希望当真的做到对外开放之后，要去景区的外宾（港澳台同胞除外）都不必那么麻烦得先到派出所登记。

在大陆，时常会看到类似“让中国走向世界，让世界走向中国”之类的口号，但事实上，中国本身是否做好了走向世界的准备呢？这一趟，至少我认为，想要在那里花多点钱也很难 :) 无论如何，相较2007年背包华东华南的时候，只有中国银行信用卡会被接受的情况，现今算是改善和开放了许多。

慢慢来吧！总得需要时间~

Immense Gratitude Today

2011-11-23T21:11:00.001+08:00

想记住这一天，所以我写这篇。

背后一定有一个故事吧？没错。不过还不是公开阐述的时候。

虑是多忧了，钱是多花了，时间是多费了。但不要紧，我清楚看到身边的人都对我那么好。就算很忙、时间很急迫，还是不拒绝我的要求，竭尽所能地花心思、花时间、绞尽脑汁帮我。而我这个接受别人帮助的，除了心存感激地道谢，好像也做不了什么了。

今天中午11点多，接到阿蕉电话，说在附近，要来找我吃午餐。其实我早上吃了比较多，没打算吃午餐了的，因为我一天一餐正餐就够，而且我还有带芒果去公司。不过，还是没有拒绝。怎知，一放下电话，就有排山倒海的东西冲着我而来：有个同事建议说午餐时候讨论些东西、供应商开始在网上和我聊事情等等。阿蕉抵达我公司之后，我还在座位花了些时间处理好手头上的东西才搭电梯下去。来载我去吃饭，还要等我，真的是不好意思。我也不想的。

更好笑的是，阿蕉建议要去吃午餐的地方，就是我早上去吃早餐的地方。一天以内去同样的地方两次，有点好笑。不过我没有说什么，就当做是自己今天第一次去那样，只是，我不再吃同样的东西。其实，那时我还蛮还饱的。

人很多，我让阿蕉先去拿饭，我找个位子先坐下。当时店里人山人海。奇怪，不是初一也不是十五，干嘛斋饭店那么人头汹涌？等着的时候，有个女生过来问，她是否可以跟我们一起坐？看她像是个学生，而且独自一人，我就点头了。

吃着饭聊着天的时候，阿蕉说，11点多的时候在PJ附近，想找人吃饭，想到的是我和另一个在南洋商报工作的朋友（我也认识）。想了想，我的工作比较安定（都是在公司，没有到处跑），而且我拒绝她的机率比较小，所以就选择打给我。听了，觉得幸好刚才没有因为突然间很多东西一起来而打回电话给阿蕉拒绝一起吃饭、给这个认识多年的好朋友制造失望。

不懂为什么，最近发觉自己好像真的蛮幸运。简单来说就是：关关难过关关过。一个个障碍，都慢慢被解决；一次次的焦虑，最后总会没事。真的不能不开始相信这句话：

‎"If you know what you really want and truly asked for it, the whole universe will conspire to help you." ~~ 《The Alchemist》

当然，我相信平常，我们也应该尽量为他人伸出援手。在灾难来临的时候，在埋怨和担心的同时，不要忘了换个角度往好的方面想。

有时生活的好坏，就只在一念之间。

希望我的幸运，可以持续到这个星期六。放下心中大石后，就要继续写我的新疆游记。这一次，很用心地写，还受到青睐，有人来向我邀稿。答应了他会写，不过是在考完试之后 :)

过了这个月，12月还有更大的挑战等着我。最近工作上的安排稍微有更动，大家都在“祝贺”我被分配到一个犹如下地狱的项目。上星期，就已经因为这项目所将为我带来的种种问题而发恶梦、睡不好。到时，我需要的是更多的正能量！希望到时我也不会被打倒！

Buying A Naan

2011-11-16T23:00:00.001+08:00

有些压力、有些隐忧，所以写写文章。希望写完感觉会好一点。有什么压力、有什么隐忧，就暂且不说了。

今天，难得可以早放工，而且经过整天很认真地在做一件需要全神贯注、需要一直重复的事，未到六点身心已十分疲惫。外头已经在下着雨，就提醒自己，有人说过下雨的话，就要准时放工，不然越迟，塞车情况就越严重。

虽然不是很饿，但又想奖励自己，就在回家的途中，停在Glenmarie看看有什么简单的东西可以买来吃。有一间印度店的小摊子，记得之前在那里买过tosai来吃，而且还吃到隔天马上发热气，但今天就是想要再冒险。

去回那个摊，忘了以前吃的东西叫什么，而那人似乎马来文不太流利，一直跟我说有烤鸡。最后我放弃使用正宗的语言，比手划脚跟他说，我要那个圆圆的东西，我不要鸡。阿弥陀佛，他终于明白我的意思了！他问我说是不是Naan，我就点头说是，因为那时tosai这个名词还没有出现在我脑海。上一回来打包，我没有注意看，今天我变了，呵呵。也可能是因为去新疆转了一趟回来，所以对那些在新疆看过的东西特别敏感。

那时突然惊觉，原来新疆的馕，应该就是我们这里时常在说的Naan。以前一直觉得Naan是印度的食品，因为它和roti canai是类似的东西，都是一片东西点咖喱吃，所以自然而然把它们当做是一家人。我站在那里，看那男人的动作，哇，根本就是我在新疆看到的。过程、手势、用具等等，基本上都没啥差别。连馕坑都有。只是这里做出来的馕，没有新疆那么：

大（用的面粉比较多）
硬（恕我不晓得怎么决定它的硬度）
图案美（新疆的用印来弄图案，这里的只是用手点几个洞）
数量多（新疆大量生产，这里是你点一个才做一个）

（以上三个是我在可可托海“拍摄”的制作馕的过程。在马来西亚，也是有用这样的馕坑，而且也是把馕“粘”在馕坑，也有使用那支长长的东西。从馕坑把馕拿出来后，也是有在上面涂一层薄薄的牛油。）

等待的当儿，我又八卦了起来，开始“访问”摊贩。我问他是来自哪里的，因为他的样子不像来自印度，他回答我说是巴基斯坦。最近也遇到蛮多的巴基斯坦人，难道大马对他们来说真的是天堂？之前在适耕庄，带育铉去沙滩走走时，向一个骑着电单车卖雪糕的男人买冰淇林，我也问了同样问题，那个男人也是来自巴基斯坦的。看到他刚才跟我鸡同鸭讲，再问他是否也会说马来文，他回答我说“sikit-sikit”。

之后，我就跟他说，我也有去过巴基斯坦哦，但只是去伊斯兰堡而已。在伊斯兰堡时，也有吃过类似馕的东西，但是那是在餐厅吃，我记得是没有配咖喱的。对于巴基斯坦的食物，最难忘的还是那些稀稀的、不甜但带咸的yogurt，还有我吃到上吐下泻的经历。

我再问一句，在巴基斯坦吃馕有陪咖喱的吗？他跟我说有。不是吧，配咖喱应该是来到马来西亚才这样做的吧！不肯定。待我下次再去巴基斯坦再确认确认才行。

我尝试跟他说，在中国，也有馕。从他的反应看来，他似乎觉得不太可信。我再说，那是中国靠近哈萨克斯坦的地区，他好像继续一头雾水。

做好之后，他原本想像对其他客人那样，给我打包好。我有个早上装水果去公司吃的饭盒，就建议他把馕切小、装在盒子里头就好。我们继续以手势沟通，附带他对我很诡异的眼神。弄好后，他执意要给我一个塑胶袋装盒子，我又执意说不必（环保嘛）。我问他多少钱，他说不知道，我就直接去柜台那里付钱。付完钱，我离开的时候还和他笑笑，说thank you。

他一定觉得很奇怪，为什么有一个奇怪的人来买东西，问一大堆问题，然后还那么“非典型”地要他跟着我的指示做。

我也很奇怪，为什么他要问我“你结婚了没有”这样的问题。我来打包罢了喔，结婚了没有什么关系？

难道你要绑架我儿子？