The Balance

A year is just around the bend since I last posted something on my long lost forsaken blog =C

Well, playing the blame game, I blame my 'no time' on work. Work work and more work. I moved to Singapore and with that, even more work, even more work and even more work T.T

This pass one year has been a roller coaster ride for me, I had my fair share depressing moments to joyful moments. Yes.. I'm still a Student in the 'Heart' area; but already a Master at work =/ 

Today, I could not sleep. Something was bothering me and as much as I try to sleep, my body just would not go to sleep. So I sat on my bed. Thinking... thinking... and thinking... I realized something.. that I don't have a life. My daily routine is just eat, sleep, work. I was bored to shit. Even on a holidays, I never seize to stop thinking about work; and that is the problem. I'm always minding other people's business.

I do not have a balance in my current state, and that really is not a good thing. It's not fun either being like this. In the midst of reminding myself that I need to balance work and play, comes an email chasing me for documentation or requesting support for a new problem etc.. the problem never ends.. Then I'm back to square one; even more work, even more work and even more work T.T

But in the midst of my realization, I remembered a teaching from this humble Buddhist monk, Ajahn Brahm, where in his book 'Opening the Door of Your Heart' he tells of a story of 3 types of gardener. The first would work in the garden non-stop, with the hope to later enjoy the beauty of nature. The problem is he never stopped. He continued working on the garden as the garden continues to need sweeping, watering, pruning, etc.

The second gardener sat in the garden to admire the beauty of the garden. His mind wandered into what needs to be done but he never really picked up the rack to sweep the leaves etc. It was only thinking of needing to do work but no actual work done. The grass grew, vines grew and choke the flowers and it soon it was not a beautiful garden.

I don't remember the third gardener.. but it hit me that I am like the first gardener. I keep telling myself I will earn to be able to enjoy my life luxuriously. I will this and that after I have completed my work. The problem is.. work is never done. I never have time for myself. Never have time to relax. It's always about even more work, even more work and even more work T.T

It's not easy trying to break away from this cycle.. but, I am trying. little by little, with a little motivation from here and there, I believe I will soon get back the balance I once had.

Viet 2

I have been really really busy over the last couple of weeks. Anyways, Continuing from my previous post, is still on Vietnam =) On my day of arrival, I took a walk in the right direction from my hotel. I kept walking walking and walking and eventually came across this place.

The famous Ben Thanh market. A place bustling with both locals and tourists, a place to eat local food without being slaughtered, a place to see young HOT girls selling clothes and other stuffs. The first thing I ate was the famous rice noodle beef other know as phở bò (pronounced as fur boar).

Famous for its coffee as well, I knew I had to try it; and so... I did =)

Coffee

Their coffee is unlike anywhere in the world (at least I think so). The blended coffee beans is poured into the stainless steel filter and then hot water poured into it. the coffee will drip slowly to the cup at the bottom with milk at the base. 

Their beans has a strong aroma which really turned me on. Unlike the ordinary coffee beans, these beans have very strong aroma that even across the table, I could smell it as though it was right in front of me. If you enjoy coffee, you'd definitely love this.

Other traditional food that I got to eat was their spring rolls; made of rice paper. They seem to make turn rice into papers and noodles. That's their specialty.

The spring roll

Something like popiah

But best of all, I like their burger which they call Benh Mi.It's spicy and are very generous with their turkey =)

Benh Mi

Viet 1

I was on a business trip to Vietnam for 10 days last week. When my boss 1st told me he's sending me there, I really didn't know what to expect.

Vietnam in my perspective was just a poor country with nothing much to offer and isn't as happening as our KL. That all change during my stay there. I was converted in just 10 days.

When I landed at the Tan Son Nhat airport, Vietnam, The 1st thing that hit me as strange was the local time. Vietnam is located further to the east of Malaysia. Therefore, logically, Their clock should be faster than Malaysia. That however is not the case.; they are in fact 1 hour behind us. That is still something I wonder even till today.

Having been hit by this weird time reversal feeling, I suddenly felt I needed to explore this simple country more. I suddenly had the urge to wanting to see this country, not from a tourists point of view, but from a locals point of view. This was the start of my conversion as I quietly say to myself "Vietnam, here I come."

One of the very 1st things I noticed about the country is that their roads are filled with motorbikes. The number of cars on the road is less than what we have in Malaysia. I manage to capture this on my way to work.

The sea of motorbikes on the opposite direction.

Zooming in. ..and I thought Penang was bad.

The traffic there is crazy. Crazily unique =) Everyone uses the honk like its a musical instrument and everyone squeezes on the road. If I happen to knock you on the road and there isn't any injury, you'd just give me a stare and we'll continue our journey. No violence, no trying to eat each other, no suing, nothing. Just a stare and we're off . Is that unique or what =)

I talked to a local about the traffic condition and this is what he tells me. The number of bikes on the road is due to the cheap prices of bikes there; and with 10 million people living in Ho Chi Minh city alone, what do you expect the roads to be like? lol

The other thing is that, cars are special things to them. Owning one means you're rich. If you're rich, then you should drive a big car. Call them show-off =P

I asked the local, "What if you drive a small car?" he says a lady driving a small car is fine but generally, the locals are shy to drive small cars because they see it as a shameful thing. Also, if you drive a small car, most people will treat you like an outcast. 

I thought to myself 'that serious huh?' Also, I came to understand that it is not very easy to get a bank loan over there as compared to over here. 

Moving away from the busy traffic, Vietnam has lots of good food. I had the opportunity the dine with some locals to taste their local delicacies and drink their local beer. All these in the next posts. Goodnight for now =)