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Indonesian Blogger’s Umrah Experience (Ollie’s Blog)

By on 03/06/2011 in Daily Thought, Right Brain, The Right Brainer, Travels

Many rightbrainers can be described as being very spiritual regardless of the religion.  I really enjoyed reading Ollie’s account of her Umrah experience to Mecca and Medina.  After reading her blog post, I sometimes wish my faith could be as strong as hers.

Excerpt:

Living in Indonesia, country with largest Muslim population in the world, I’ve been a Muslim all my life. I automatically become a Muslim because my parents are Muslim. I didn’t walk thru process of ‘searching’. I accept Islam they way it is. And I didn’t questioned it. The 5 times praying ritual started become a soul-less routine. Because that’s what you’ve been told to do since you were a kid. You didn’t seek for it but you get feed. Sometimes you didn’t know what you eat, so you just chew, just because everybody else eating it.

Then come one moment in my life, when I just felt that I’m ready to go to the Holy Land of Makkah, visiting Ka’bah, performing Umrah (Lesser Pilgrimage). People said it’s the personal ‘calling’ from God.

Read more here -> http://www.salsabeela.com/2011/06/03/my-umrah-journey/

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New Japan Airlines Commercial (Japan Probe)

By on 23/05/2011 in Memories, The Right Brainer, Travels, Video of the Day, Videos

Saw this in the Japan Probe blog today.  I think you all know I am a Japan Airlines fan.  I was one of the many who were disappointed when the crane was removed as the tail logo for Japan Airlines.  It has since returned.  Below is the first video of Japan Airlines using the crane.

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getting real, – getting older – seeing through the game

By on 28/03/2011 in Books, Daily Thought, Travels
 

getting real, – getting older – seeing through the game

Only caged dogs bark….
- Tengra Ngiam
I read this yesterday:
for easier reading -click on the picture to see it full size
It comes from the book  A Fortune-Teller Told Me: Earthbound Travels in the Far East
by Tiziano Terzani.
As I get older there is a kind of liberation.
Not the angry young man’s liberation,
But the liberation from self imposed restrictions and rules.
Finally I see that so much of what I’ve bought into is not worth the effort.
There are other ways.
Most of it smoke and mirrors and  bluff, – bluff as in poker-bluff.
Once you dare to call the bluff you laugh at yourself,
because the point was for me to find the courage to call the bluff. Break the hypnotic gaze of those imagined ‘should’s’ and shouldn’t ‘s.
The challenges and the fears are all internal. Conquer those and the rest is half done.
Why all this carry on ?
Why all this smoke and mirrors when I was younger ?
I got upset.
Then I realized: it was part of the game.
You are young, you are naive, you believe stuff they tell you….
And then you fight your way back to your own truth.
It reminds me of those initiation rites: they drop you in the middel of the jungle with a compass and a knife and one other item of your choice.
Can you find your way back ?
They drop you in childhood, with only the still quiet voice of your own heart and a jungle of distrations – to see how long it takes you to get back ‘home’. :-)
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Japan Airlines Crane Returns

By on 01/03/2011 in Picture of the Day, The Right Brainer, Travels

Tsurumaru Crane returns - Japan Airlines

Tsurumaru Crane returns - Japan Airlines

Japan Airlines is one of my most favorite airlines.  As a kid, the white Boeing 747 and/or DC-10s with the red crane on the tail was my symbol of flight, freedom and traveling around the world.  When I was 10 years old, I wanted to be a 747 pilot for Japan Airlines.  I spent many years throughout high school dreaming of flying for Japan Airlines.

In 2008, management at Japan Airlines decided to do away with the tsurumaru crane.  Immediately, people felt that the disappearance of the crane would spell doom for JAL.  During the three years, the airline went bankrupt several times and the quality of the airline went downhill.

Last month, a new revitalized Japan Airlines decided it was time to bring the crane back to the airline.  For many people, including myself, this symbol meant new found growth for JAL after many years of bad luck.  Seeing this picture of the crane on a newly painted Boeing 767 brought joy to my eyes.  JAL will now be saved.  I can again now dream of flying around the world on my favorite airlines.

Welcome back tsurumaru… :-)

 

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