Sweet Fruits, Rough Skins. Which Do I Pick?

I've had just enough time...  to try to pick the sweet fruit from the rough skins

Taken in the town of Bidor on the way home...

I stood there staring

At the fruits

Within easy reach

Which do I pick?

How do you judge

Which is sweet?

When all the sweetness

Is covered

By rough skins?

Appearance is deceiving.

Shall I ask the fruit seller?

I may receive an honest answer

Or I may not...

Bitter Is The Old House That Known Despair (老屋的辛酸)

I've had just enough time...   to take pity on the old house

Taken of the old house I chanced upon in Teluk Anson in Perak, Malaysia

I stood before the old house

And it just stood there

It knows it can stand longer

Than I can stare

It knows I have questions

It knows I care

About its history and

How it gets there

But it is not about to reveal

Its secret affairs

Why should it tell and

Why should it share?

When all these years

No one cares

It will take its secrets

To its grave

Bitter is the old house

That known despair

_________

我站在老屋前

老屋竖立在那

知道它可持立

远比我可凝望

我有许多疑问

我在乎它的历史

它如何走来

但它不愿揭晓

它的私隐

这些年来

无人在乎

为何必须告知？

为何必须分享？

它宁可秘密

带到墓土里

唉！一所历经

辛酸的老屋

 

Keeping My Nose Above Water

I've had just enough time to...   keep my nose above water

Taken of the turtle keeping its nose above water in Gunung Lang, Perak, Malaysia

Keeping my nose above water

That is what I do

As my whole body goes under

I fight to stay afloat

With my nose just on top

Pulled down by my weight

The world upon my shoulders

Pushing me under

I struggled to the surface

Push my nose up above

Desperate to survive

Another moment

For...

Maybe a helping hand

A chance upon a random log

Or to make it to dry land on my own

But that seems so far away…

I paddle there…

Bobbing up and down

Grasping air with every breath

I just keep going

Keep reminding -

Courage is in the struggle

That spirit is all

Keeping me

From going under…

The Leaning Tower of Teluk Intan.

I've had just enough time to...   take the 110 steps up the leaning tower of Teluk Intan

The Leaning Tower of Teluk Intan against the straight lamp post :)

There is a leaning tower and it is not in Pisa. In the center of the town of Teluk Intan a Pagoda structure rise 25.5m from ground level and tilted slightly to one side. My skeptical friend whom I took to the tower downloaded an app into his smart phone and measured a tilt of 2.8 to 3.0 degrees so it is not an optical illusion. The reason for the tilt is the soft ground on which it is built and the water tank at the top though it is no longer in use.

It reads 2.8 degrees tilt

From the outside, the wooden structure appears to have 8 storeys high but from the inside, you will discover it only has 3 floors with the water tank on top of the third floors. It held enough water for 800 people which used to the entire population of the town when it was built. Today, it has an estimated population 120,00 and is the third largest town in the state of Perak. The tower has a board base of 13m which gradually tapered to a top width of 8.1m. There are 110 steps to the top if you are counting.

A wave from the tower

The popular story of its origin was that a rich merchant consulted a “Feng Shui” (the Chinese system of geomancy) master who advised him to build a large storehouse at a strategic location which has a commanding view of the downriver traffic to increase his influence. The British District Officer upon learning of this got another “Feng Shui” master who advised him to construct the clock tower to counteract the move. Thus, the tower was born from the titanic clashes of the “Feng Shui” masters. But this comes to naught when the Japanese invaded and used the tower as an observation post during the war.

So if you happened to be in Perak, drop into the town of Teluk Intan (Diamond Bay) formerly known as Teluk Anson to the British and pay a visit to the leaning tower of Malaysia.

An Island of My Own.

I've had just enough time to...   wish to retire to an island of my own.

Taken of a private island not my own in Tanah Merah Lake, Perak, Malaysia.

Out there I know

An island waits patiently,

For me to come home.

Each day

Squeezing through the crowd,

I am an island of my own.

The clock ticks

And with each impatient minute,

I heard my island calling me home.

_______

No man is an island,

No man stands alone,

Each man's joy is joy to me,

Each man's grief is my own.

We need one another,

So I will defend,

Each man as my brother,

Each man as my friend.

- John Donne

The Light At The End of The Tunnel

I've had just enough time to...   see the light at the end of the tunnel.

After a long time in the dark, I saw the light at the end of the tunnel (Ipoh, Malaysia)

I saw light at the end of the tunnel.

I saw white clouds and blue sky.

I have been in the dark for too long

And my eyes need to adjust to the light.

But I know where I’m heading to

And what I’m leaving behind

As I walked towards the light

At the end of the tunnel…

When The World Is A Lonely Place.

I've had just enough time to...   test my courage.

Taken on the top of Maxwell hill, Perak, Malaysia.

When your world is shrouded in mist

And you could not see further than the nearest tree

When it come closing in

And you could not reach for a helping hand

When you are utterly alone

And the world seems such a dreadful place

You will learn what courage is.

The Sorrow of the Lonely Urn.

I've had just enough time to...   appreciate Beauty while it last.

Taken in the Gunung Lang resort, Perak, Malaysia.

In the shadow,

The urn tells a timeless tale

In soft whispers.

To the attentive grass and

The slow climbing vines.

“Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty”

It sadly said,

“But Beauty fades and Life goes on”

"Nothing last forever,

The truth of beauty is -

When it exists."

_______

Ode on a Grecian Urn - John Keats

Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness!

Thou foster-child of silence and slow time

            Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard

Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on;

Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear'd,

Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone

When old age shall this generation waste,

Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe

Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou sayst,

"Beauty is truth, truth beauty," – that is all

Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.

Lotus Pond Under the Moonlight - 荷塘月色

I've had just enough time to...   pass by the lotus pond.

Taken on the way back from Kampar.

wǒ xiàng zhī yú ér zài nǐ de hé táng
我 像　只　鱼 儿 在 你 的 荷 塘　
zhī wéi hé nǐ shǒu hòu nà jiǎo bái yuè guāng
只 为 和 你 守 候 那 皎 白 月 光　
yóu guò le sì jì hé huā yī rán xiāng
  游　过了 四 季 荷  花 依 然 香　
děng nǐ wǎn zài shuǐ zhōng yāng 　
等　你 宛 在  水　中　 央　

- 荷塘月色  / 凤凰传奇

Like the fish in the lotus pond,

I waited for the return of the moon's brilliance

Swimming through the seasons for the fragrance

Of your return to this water.

_______

For one who travels by day,

I wonder how the lotus looks like

by the moonlight.

If You Do What You Did...

I've had just enough time to...   do something differently.

Taken in Ipoh from 9 storeys up.

If you do what you did

When you were young...

Can you guess

Where you'll be heading...

The Old Man of the Mountain.

I've had just enough time to...   speak to the Old Man of the Mountain.

Taken in Gunung Lang, Ipoh.

The Old Man

by Robert F Doane
Published 1939 at 13 years of age
Campton New Hampshire 
On the crest of a mighty mountain
Looking over the lake below,
A face with a human expression
Watches many a century go.

It was made from a mountain of granite
With the skill of a sculptor's hand,
And guards the green valley below it
As time passes over the land.

At dusk when the birds cease their carols
And the wind murmurs through the trees,
There's a sense of sadness about you,
As you stand in the evening breeze.

You feel that a great respect's due him -
So mighty beneath the blue sky,
There are few who have not been inspired
By that face as they've passed it by.

And to me, as to Daniel Webster,
The thought comes now and again
That in the great State of New Hampshire
The Master of Sculptors makes men.

_______

Do not grieve that the Old Man of New Hampshire is no more,

He just left the granite shoulder of Profile Mountain,

To rest on the limestone shoulder of Gunung Lang.

(The Old man of New Hamsphire fell on May 2003, I found my Old man of Gunung Lang in Sept 2011)

When The New World Becomes Old.

I've had just enough time to...   look at the New World.

Taken in Kampar, Perak.

Where will you be?

What will you do?

How will you cope?

When the New World becomes Old?