picture in my mind

Before I forget about it completely, I should put a quick post about the roadtrip -- a wonderful, wonderful break, and meeting distant family connections, 

and enjoying the chillax kampung life in Malaysia.

There was this park called "Taman Tamadun Islam" in Terengganu that had various Islamic monuments and mosques in mini size -- very exciting!

They didn't miss out Masjid Sultan! Hehe. 

We were so psyched to see Singapore in a different country.

And of course, DURIAN. 

And being invited for home-made Nasi Dagang at 10 PM at night

-- el fresco kampung style!

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This trip also allowed me to slow down, and start on At The Loch Of The Green Corrie (while on the road in the car, or between moments in the hotel room) gifted and forced upon me by E -- and wonderfully so. (Ever since coming back to SG, I have had little peace of mind to keep reading this like I did on the trip -- sadness.)

This book is beautiful as books rarely are. And pays tribute to a poet, and poetry in general.

Rich day

All day we fished

the loch clasped in the throat

of Canisp, that scrawny mountain,

and caught trout and 

invisible treasures.

We walked home, ragged millionaires,

our minds jingling, our fingers

rustling the air.

And now, lying on the warm sand,

we see

the rim of the full moon

rest on a formal corrugation of water

at the feet of

a Britannia cloud:

sea and sky, one golden sovereign

that will never be spent.

-- Norman MacCaig

I feel so deprived and sad, when I think of how in crammed, busy Singapore, I, we, can scarcely understand, much less experience, this feeling of richness without riches; to be attached to the landscape, and the realness and concreteness of nature, the inexhaustibility of our God-given earth; to be able to feel content, and feel like what there is, is enough.