The Best Things In Life R FREE..

An article today in The Sunday Times about Miss Posh Nosh having to be frugal for a week with no car no aircon..no dining @ fine restaurants ..luxuries most Singaporeans are used to..for others its just no sweat....its just a matter of getting accustomed to change...the only constant thing is change..having fireflies next to you when you sleep IS a nice change..time to reflect...miss those magical flying glowthings...

Free lessons in humility...the best gift from this trip to Nepal..one the poorest countries in the world..but so much richness in the heart and soul of it all..the average worker takes home only approx 2500 to 5000 RS which converts to about US$50 to US$100 per month..not much when compared to the rest of the world but they get by with lots of love in their hearts..I'm in paradise..there's just a little more sunlight in the heart...a genuine gift to kids on the streets..just a mere 50 rupees..not much by standards but to them it means alot..in exchange for the most wonderful smile?..priceless..

**little brother getting a piggyback after skool@ Pokhara..

**Even the dogs R happy here @Pokhara

Pokhara. Images of a perfectly serene Phewa Tal starts to form in my mind...Phewa Tal, Nepal's 2nd largest lake...Pokhara ..a beautiful mini town with literally hundreds of shops overflowing with buddhist ritual items, nepali souvenirs, newari puppets, huge scary masks, crystals of all shapes and sizes, mantras of all kinds filled the air..Mention Pokhara and trekkers would instantly think of the famous Annapurna Circuit Trek..I was invited to stay for 3 days in a little village in Pokhara by nuns from Khachoe Ghakyil Ling nunnery.. who also became my good pals in Kathmandu and made sure I had the best of everything during my stay..They had the whole week off and took the opportunity to showcase their little tibetan exile community (what they call refugee camp) ..We started off bright and early ..Ani P came to my room @ Shambhala Guesthouse at 7am and dragged me off my bed.."Wake Up! Wake Up!"..Packed clothes for 3 days and off we went...took a taxi to the bus station and we had a nice little rickety 6 hr ride to the final destination..amazing view of the surrounding hills..stopped midway and had Daal Bhaat (typical nepali staple food of rice & lentil soup) for lunch..forgot to mention that the bus driver seemed to be gearing up for the upcoming F1 race ...tho this race track had deep ravines on the other side and every sharp turn could send us plummeting down God knows how many metres...by the end of the ride our brains jiggled too much n turned to putty..just wanted to lie down and sleep it off..Dragged our feets and our bags across an equally rickety wooden bridge with roaring rapids below...plonked everything down @ her dad's home and his rhythmic chants of Om Mani Padme Hung from outside soon lulled me into deep sleep....he never stops his recitations and I guessed that he must have passed the 1 million mark by now...am inspired to step up in my own "homework" & practise..

‘By reciting one hundred million Mani, all the myriad living organisms in your body will be blessed by Avalokiteshvara ( Guanyin ), and when you die even the smoke from the cremation of your corpse will have the power to protect whoever inhales it from rebirth in the lower realms’ …. Karandaryuha Sutra

* rented a boat for 250 Rs (S$5)..good for 1 hr of rowing..@ Pokhara Lakeside and had the most wonderful time ..am at the front of the boat..we alternated between Resham Firiri..(a popular Nepali folk song)..and row row row your boat....it just gets funnier by the minute..

Resham Firiri Resham Firiri..Udeyara jounkee dandama bhanjyang

Resham firiri...Eknale banduk, dui nale banduk, mirgalai takeko.Mirgalai mailey takeko hoina mayalai daukeyko....~this song's about 2 ill fated lovers who are physically separated by mountains ..but remains united in love

JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE SOUL

Caught Journey to the centre of the earth today...can't be more exciting than the ultimate journey to the centre of the souL...powerful living light...holding our own personal universe together..a hidden treasure..just like we all are in a world within our own world...we've travelled too far away from our centre of stillness...it's been a long journey..can't wait to go home... still unlocking this century old mystery of Jules Verne..a masterful prophetic genius..always a classic..odysseys from the deepest depths of the ocean to the deepest depths of the earth..adventures like these never fail to inspire our imaginations and seize our minds..where is my dusty old paperback? fact not fiction..this movie would encourage more classic reading amongst the youngsters..

Brendan Fraser ..the goofy-cute leading volcanologist searches for his brother Max..who mysteriously disappeared while doing his fieldwork..and so they all embark on this exciting journey to retrace Max's steps according to his clues in his worn out logbook..Trevor (Brendan)...had a major breakthrough and it blasted him and his nephew along with the smashing mountain guide babe into the core of the earth..where ..flying snapping giant pirahnas...sea serpents..drooling T-Rex..giant snapping venus flytraps.. dominate this dangerous lost world..a crispy virtual roller coaster theme park ride..

thought the video segment was kinda cute ..imagined that Sean would morph into Super Mario anytime...jumping on those huge chunks of magnetic rocks..still impressive although we thought it was kinda dumb....the characters could have been more well developed but who's complaining...those pretty little blue glowbirds stole the show! A family movie mainly for kids...and the kids in all of us...those stunning 3D visual effects almost always an excuse for seeing it in the cinemas..and oh..that mean little snapping fishie that jumped right out of the water and grabbed his cellphone...So hilarious..getting a signal @ the core of the earth? C'mon! hahahaa...no extra popcorn points for plot or acting..

amongst us..this family friendly contemporary update scored 3 snapping pirahnas..minus the teeth..

Happy Ghosts..

*Can you spot the eerie face in the smoke?
7th lunar month in the Chinese Calendar..

when the gates of the underworld open for just one month once a year and all hell breaks loose...! Souls of the dead are set free to wander the earth... holiday time

Entertainment for the living and the dead..boundless movement in an imaginative mind......this is it..things people do to "bribe" the other side to give them more luck their bucket can hold..instead of focusing on the actual true meaning of this Ullambana Festival..In the Ullambana sutra, the compassionate one taught that anyone wishing to benefit their parents in both their past and present lives can make offerings to the Gems and dedicate the light, love +merits accumulated to their departed loved ones and all teachers of past lifetimes..But in retrospect, if it makes everyone happy..what the hell..hell hell..

Prayers, rites and rituals observed throughout the entire month...Our grandma used to draw up a list of protocols to follow: 1. Do not swim..the water ghosts will drag u under..2. "Do not step or kick the hell notes/offerings/ashes else the ghosts will get angry and follow u home!"...

3. Kids not allowed onto the streets after sundown else they get possessed....Superstitions, myths or pure fear of the unknown...Paper offerings, hell money, huge colourful incense, endless food ...all to appease the wandering souls "good brudders"...and the dearly departed..scenes like these replayed all around Singapore..We often wonder how the "Postal Service" works on the other side and if it is as efficient as it is here on earth..People believe that they have to satisfy the hunger pangs of "good brudders" in order to gain good luck all year round..Echoes of Getai abound..it literally means "Singing Stage"..where performers rush from stage to stage all across the island..lots of OTT performances and jarring hokkien songs..amusing local humour ..remember to leave the first VIP row to the "good brudders" else you'd find a mysterious footprint on yer A$$ ! Loud biddings ring on throughout the night..attracting huge crowds (visible + invisible)..auctions for "good luck" items at rediculously high prices..."black gold" (chucks of charcoal)..all snatched up before u can say BOO!

Can you handle a trip to the cemetry after midnight?...its a walk in the park..honda civic engines roared and broke the silence...paper money fluttered in the wind.. ghosts eating candles.. staring at emotionless faces on the tombstones...they stare back..a ring of fire..what lies beneath? they are not forgotten..a quest to be free from suffering above and beyond..hold on to the death wish...outer ghosts ..inner ghosts..humans r far more terrifying then the craving souls...let go of the phantoms of the past...the ghost of delusion..

Spooky hauntings ..endless cravings

Haunted samsaric moments in this state of mind

The invisible operator drifting from shell to shell

Fragments of a bizarre past diluted

Satisfy the unsatiated cosmic surfer

Harmless flawless spirit

Changing faces of a pretagaki..

Return to the Spookerdokerdoo..

**Something captured on video in J.B Malaysia recently..

MIRACLE ~ CORNFIELDS

"Forgiveness is the only illusion within my dream that will take me out of the dream".

..True forgiveness is the recognition that there is absolutely nothing going on? Overlooking the false and seeing the truth...People often say "Oh look at that! try to forgive"..Forgiveness overlooks what is not in recognition of what is...Forgiveness waits..watches and judges not...Forgiveness..the true path of peace...It's time...time to let go...When i don't know what to do..let forgiveness show me what to do...I'm just blindly attacking myself in this dream sequence..I'm not accepting the truth in my reality in any moment that I'm not in a state of joy and happiness + total bliss...So what am i really doing? Just killing myself in this state of unforgiveness...the whole idea that I'm experiencing this dream is meaningless cuz there's nothing going on...what is false and what is true? Only the truth is true and false never was...forgiving myself in this process of awakening..its the toughest one..I am already awake!! Time to let of of all these self judgement of all my wrong doings and I'm absolutely innocent..absolutely..totally completely innocent..

Forgiveness..the manner in which i can really let go of the dream...in my frantic attempt to prove that I'm guilty..guilt..a fabric of fear..a real savage fantasy indeed...so I've convinced myself that in this heart of the matter there is absolutely nothing do to except to forgive..the home team forgives..all my guardian angels, protectors and the most compassionate buddha forgives...forgiveness is absolutely required but requires absolutely nothing..the power of acceptance..In every moment, in every opportunity what am i doing here?? Everything that i see in this dream frequency really boils down to this question..what and who am I? The answer is always the same..perfect spirit..safe healed and whole.. limitless and one.. right here right now in this moment of perfect trust..trust that everything will be alright in this changing dreamscape of coloured cornfields..the most unique journey..the only journey i know of where relationships are a means of awakening..what then is total surrender? Spiritual practices and meditation techniques and what not..there is this self denial..self sacrifice..self enquiring path..self remembering..of all the love that there is..a spontaneous occurence without any effort whatsoever..Stillness in love..As i give happiness..i receive happiness....happiness empty from its own side..the silent wind of grief blows through..

Today's chokur duchen..merit multiplying day..every positive or negative action will be multiplied 1 million times!..we had a four hour recitation of the King of Glorious Sutras called the Exalted Sublime Golden Light Sutra with 30 others...a very precious text..it brings peace and happiness and is very powerful to stop violence. By hearing this text, one's karma is purified..Anyone who keeps, memorizes or contributes to this text exceeds the 8 worldly beings and all their wishes will be fulfilled. May it be so..

Unforgettable Faces ..

Of people and places, every face tells a story of hope , suffering, anguish or happiness? Such contrast can only be seen from the wide eyed... to the mother's pain of having to be separated from her only son yet again..A genuine welcoming smile from wonderment at having seen foreign visitors to a remote village high up in the mountains...for the first time..

Colour me wild..let my mind be perfectly free...the only constant thing is change..nothing ever stays the same..this world is still beautiful.. peter pan still has wings...what colour is it?

When the wild sunflowers bloom, I'll be home

When the wind has lost its shades of grey, I'll be home

When the lighthouse heals the pain, I'll be home

When the seafarers swing their lethal muggs, I'll be home

When mummies sing their last lullabies, I'll be home

When will i truly be home? Not X'mas..not this time..