Globetrotting : Iceland

"If Icelanders were animals, we would be sheep", said an Icelandic magazine editor

The trip to Iceland was pretty eye-opening. Rough terrains, icy mountains, and unexpected gust. The hardest time to bear was the night out to hunt for the Northern Lights with the excursion tour. The wind was so strong, the surrounding was pitch black and the weather was extremely cold.

However, the night was pretty surreal. It was my second time to be able to look up to the clear starry sky, after my first, when I was in the National Service back in Malaysia.

Like how the caving instructor once said, "there is just too much light pollution nowadays. Finding a peaceful mind in a noisy world, or finding tranquility in the city, is impossible."

The Orion's Belt, the Ursa Major and many more unknown stars surrounding the moon. This reminded me how I love astronomy when I was younger, while I was reading the Rakan Sains magazines. Since then, hunting for amazing celestial events have been a dream in the heart.

Soon after, it was there. The Northern Light. The green dancing light appeared. It was as if the fluorescent green acrylic paints fell off from the palette of heaven. It got brighter. Then the reddish/ purple light emerged as well. The sky was full of dancing colours for a brief moment.

I still remembered the moment. Everyone punched his/her fist to the air and kept cheering, just like how we cheered when Lee Chong Wei won his badminton matches.

A Singaporean couple from NTU, who came to Europe for an exchange came to us and asked us whether we could take a picture of them with the Aurora. They didn't have a good camera to take with the beautiful landscape. So, we took for them. We hoped that this would be one of the best memories they share together in their lives.

Along the trip, we met this kind old man, who was the owner of the restaurant where we had one of our dinners. He gave us a souvenir, a picture of him when he was younger, and carrying an unknown species of fish. He reminded me of the book, The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. It seemed to me that the preserved fish could be his first catch when he became a fisherman. We didn't manage to get more out of his great stories because we couldn't speak Icelandic.

I wondered what were the stories behind his catch. A catch which he has kept for so many years.

But, yea that was Iceland for me. Full of folklore, the great fisherman stories, the amazing aurora and many more geographical miracles like the geysers, icy waterfalls, and the separation of tectonic plates. All the knowledge I learned in form 3 Geography kept flowing back. "kawasan tundra.." etc

"So, if the Icelanders are sheep, they are as gentle as a lamb. Those who survive since the Vikings, those who play the Icelandic Airwaves music, and of course those who still believe in the tales of Yule Lads and the age-old wisdom that the Vikings have bequeathed to the Land of Fire and Ice."       



 

Thinking about your thoughts

The last day of term. The last autumn term of his undergraduate studies-finally has a proper closure. Well, maybe not so proper, since there are quite a lot of works to be done over this break.

But, at least for now, he couldn't be bothered. Plus, the thoughts are pretty messy. Many things are running  across his mind. 

Some said, that is good and he shouldn't be worried, because they are just like the Gemini meteor shower, where tens of thousands of  meteors falling down from the sky, and they are meant to be enjoyed with a calm heart. 

Some said, that is probably a test for the soul. And this is because the soul forgets that good things in life don't come easy. The soul assumes that as long as he put in efforts, the road in front will be paved perfectly. 

"Probably, that's what competition does to your mind. It distorts the mind." He thought.

Thinking has become an art. Some said thinking linearly is amazing, some said lateral thinking is what makes the world wonderful. 

He suddenly gets confused with his own thought process. How should he think about something has become a conscious act. 

Just like how you need to draw a picture that attracts the limelight, and not a picture that is hid behind the canvas; and is only found out by the world when you are gone. 

But, that is also the time when you start holding your brushes and palette, and forget that you actually know how to draw a picture. 

He stands in front of the blank paper. His mind doesn't know how to think, anymore. 

两间屋子的爆炸事件

你站在那里。看着那三间屋子，你蹲下来，不知所措。

一间，还未走靠近些，就已经爆炸了。速度太快，太快，快到你无法相信自己眼前的一切。你问及别人，别人告诉你，你还没到这儿，早就爆炸过一次了。

你问，为什么？ 别人说之前太多人进来时，都躲过了地雷。现在就只剩地雷。

后来，很幸运的，你有机会拜访第二间。打从心里，你告诉自己，进去证明你的能力吧。或许是第一次，到处踩中地雷。

情势恶劣，错漏百出。

结果，很失望地，看着第二间爆炸。

原以为没什么希望了，第三间的屋主，邀请你去拜访。

你告诉自己，不能重复第二间的错误。结果，你并没有重复那些错误。但是，真的不敢说到底情势是如何。

你和屋主的佣人谈天还不错，她所出给你的题目，因为时间的关系，只能够解决一半而已，就像一场玩不完的游戏。

但是，真的希望不是一场梦。

你站在那里。看着那三间屋子，你蹲下来，不知所措。

The Chill

It's now December. All of a sudden, many of us feel that it's now the last month of the year, what have we done for the year? 

Walking on the street, the weather literally sends chill up your spine. As per usual, we blame the snowy cold weather. But, come to think of it, this is the last time you will be spending your winter in one of the most vibrant cities in the world. 

Next year, it would be the sweaty, humid weather in Malaysia. 

Blame the graduation goggles, some said. 

Time flies, faster than you would have expected 4 years ago. The first snow you touch with your bare hands, or the first breath that you can see with your eyes. 

How you keep talking or breathing to 'smoke' and  how you throw snowballs to your friends, or just lying down on the snow for few seconds. 

While I was typing this in my small cosy room in London, I became more appreciative towards the cold weather.