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A Red Panda at the Giant Panda Breeding Research Base in Chengdu. I feel sorry for these little fellas, and not just because they are endangered. They share their home with the Giant Panda, who are the limelight hogs of the animal kingdom in China.
52 inspiring Buddhist quotes and sayings on life
Wat Phra Singh in Chiang Mai is one of the biggest Buddhist temples in the city. It houses the Phra Buddha Sihing, an important Buddha statue.
In the Wat compound there are famous buddhist quotes and sayings attached to trees throughout the garden, which makes for an enlightened walk around the Wat.
[If everything is gotten dreamily, it will go away dreamily too.]
[Dhamma is systematic practice for a man at every stage of his life.]
[Flattering words are but honey-coated poison.]
[Light dispels darkness. Wisdom dispels ignorance.]
[With Dhamma established in the mind, even bare rice is delicious enough.]
[Those with good eye are inclined to fall into deep well.]
[As you sow so you reap.]
[Until death there is nothing enough.]
[There is no glory for a lazy person however good looking.]
[Without recognition of death, how can there be any knowledge of it.]
[Mans death is the least of all things material. What is left to the world is virtues and vices.]
[The simplicity of the good man is hard to follow. The simplicity of the evil man is easy to follow.]
[Physical charms attract the eyes, goodness attracts the mind.]
[Failure teaches a man how to succeed.]
[Poverty with dignity is better than wealth based on shame.]
[Never is there any effect like that of merit.]
[Without a beginning, there is nothing to worry about the end.]
[The most valuable service is one rendered to our fellow humans.]
[Do not neglect recollection of death.]
[Don't escape when you have a problem because there always is a way to solve it.]
[Ignorance is the real evil.]
[If there nothing that you like, you must like the things that you have.]
[Better is to speak unpleasant truth than to tell lies.]
[It is easy to know man's face, but it is difficult to know his thought.]
[Peace is the highest bliss.]
[Eat to live but (don't) live to eat.]
[In time of suffering, only dhamma is real friend of the mind.]
[Merit making calculated to impress is not real merit.]
[Do try to do good but not to be great, otherwise you will be in danger.]
[Everyone may be a fool but nobody is a fool forever.]
[No other foes are greater than birth and death. No other friends are greater than merits.]
[With mindfulness, a person always prospers.]
[There is no saturating the fire with fuel.]
[The skilled man does not show off, but the man without knowledge usually show off.]
[Crying with the wise is better than laughing with the fool.]
[Anxiety shortens life.]
[Not only to be receiver, but also to be provider.]
[Time and tide wait for no man.]
[Living without hope is like burying oneself.]
[Education is a guide, knowledge is a key.]
[Selfishness is the father of all evil.]
[To defeat others is the starting point of hatred and vengeance.]
[Constant dripping wears away the stone.]
[Every honest work is honourable work.]
[Clean, clear, calm; these are characteristics of a noble person.]
[Good to forgive, the best to forget.]
[It is flooded water that makes mud; it is clean water that wipes away mud.]
Merit is to accumulated, evil is to be abandoned.
Selfishness is the real enemy of peace
[Today is better than two tomorrows.]
[To do good and evil unseen by others are always seen by oneself.]
[A man who will be the public leader, must know how to be the public follower.]
New Old Town, Chengdu – China
What is old is new again. Much of the time in China an old town is actually new. This area near the Wenshu Monastery is called the “cultural folk zone”. Still, I prefer a facsimile of an old building over an ugly modern concrete block any day.
Apartments and temple, Chongqing – China
Apartments looming over a temple in Chongqing – China.
Terracotta Warriors, Xi'an – China
Terracotta Warriors, Xi’an – China.
Bell Tower, Xi'an – China
The Bell Tower of Xi’an. A bit of old China marooned in the traffic and buildings of modern China.
Flight Review: MASwings – Miri to Mulu
Gunung Mulu National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo. While it is not far from the city of Miri, there are no roads from Miri and the boat there is costly and slow. So the easiest way there is to fly.
MASwings
MASwings is a subsidiary of Malaysian Airlines and operates regional flights in Malaysian Borneo. As they serve smaller airports they use Turboprop aircraft.
[MASwings ATR 72-500 at Mulu Airport]
The Flight
A newspaper and a free drink is offered on this service. Milo. Now there is a drink I haven’t had for years.
[Free drink and newspaper]
The flight from Miri to Mulu is just 30 minutes. You hardly get time to crack open the Borneo Post before the descent begins. Not that you want to read the paper. Look out the window and check out the wild land of Borneo. When you look out the window you can see why flying is the best option to Mulu. Down below is prime jungle and a winding river that makes for a 12 hour journey from Miri if you went by boat.
[Flying over jungle]
Tickets
My schedule was changing often so I didn’t buy a ticket until a few days before the flight, but I still managed to get reasonable priced tickets. If you book in advance there are flights available for around 30 MYR ($10USD).
Great Wall of China, Mutianyu – China
Mutianyu is a section of the Great Wall of China north of Beijing.
Attending a Dusun Wedding in Sabah
Sometimes weird and wonderful things happen when you travel. I had a good feeling about Malaysian Borneo the moment I arrived in Kota Kinabalu. I ended up spending longer in KK than I had intended. I wasn’t in a hurry to leave and things just kept happening. On what was meant to be my last day there I sent a text message to the travel agent who arranged my bus to see Mt Kinabalu. From that text message we went out for dinner that night.
At dinner my new friend Tania was telling me about her family and how she comes from the Dusun tribe of Sabah. She mentioned that her cousins wedding was on the next day and then asked if I wanted to go as well. I said I would love to go. I had a ferry ticket booked for the next morning, but that was easy enough to change, and I would have taken the loss anyway.
Then it occurred to me that I had nothing to wear. Afterall I’m backpacking. In the tropics. I don’t have formal wear, even when I am at home with a full wardrobe. I mentioned this to my friend, and she said:
“Oh that’s ok, I’ve got something for you to wear”.
Now, when I was in China I learnt that it is a fallacy that westerners can’t learn Chinese because they are tone deaf. If you are not deaf, then you can hear tones. For example, take that last sentence that was said to me:
“Oh that’s ok, I’ve got something for you to wear”.
Say it to yourself in an innocent, matter-of-fact manner.
Now say the exact same sentence in a devious trouble making manner, chock-full of tones.
The way it was delivered to me the “oh” was elongated and the “I’ve” was emphasised. The tone was so devious that alarm bells should have been ringing. It did register with me, and I thought maybe she has a nice floral Hilo Hattie style Borneo shirt I could borrow. I left it at that.
So I said yes I will go, and the next morning I was picked up by Tania and her brother, who drove us to the family house. Their home is in a kampung (village) which lies in the shadow of the great Mount Kinabalu. The family house is a small farm, with cats, dogs and chickens roaming everywhere and the back yard consisting of rice fields.
[Kinabalu view]
Later on in the day I went with Tania and her brothers down to the river for a “shower”. Just a bar of soap in the clean waters running off the mountain.
The Wedding Day
The next day the family house was the base for the wedding party. The actual wedding was about 200 metres down the road at her cousins house. We originally weren’t even going to go as Tania had to go back to work, but luckily her work let her off at the last minute.
There wasn’t much for me to do in the morning so I was sitting around with the rest of the guys watching DVD’s while the girls were doing each others hair.
After lunch everyone started getting ready and the wedding party entered the room with their magnificent costumes on.
[Dusun Girls dressed up]
I was wondering what to wear but I noticed that everyone else who was attending the wedding was wearing jeans and t-shirts, so I needn’t have worried about not getting dressed up.
Then at the last minute, Tania’s dad came over and lead me to the costume wardrobe. Oh how convenient, they just so happened to have a big size jacket for me. I tried to turn down the offer, but they were having none of it. So I said yes, coat me up, but first let me go to the toilet, as once this thing goes on I don’t want to try and work out how to take it off.
The jacket went on, then the bells, belt and other bits of flare. Then to top it off was the winged hat.
[In costume]
Wow, what a costume. I felt truly honoured to take part in this.
From the house Tania and I lead the wedding procession down the road to the wedding reception.
At the wedding the bride and groom take their seat in the house, and everyone comes in to give their good wishes. Anyone who has a camera is the official wedding photographer.
[Wedding party]
Everyone in a costume then went outside where there was some dancing to be done. None of it was rehearsed. I just worked out the steps as you go. Can you imagine a wedding in US/UK/OZ unrehearsed. It was so casual and seemingly stress free.
I felt a bit odd being a part of the wedding party, but I have been told since that it is common to be invited to weddings in Sabah. I have also been told not to turn down an invitation to a Dusun wedding. I tell you, I’m so glad I didn’t.
Zhengyang Gate, Beijing – China
Zhengyang Gate, Beijing – China.
