New place, new cultures

I am going to write today a little bit about two different experiences related to the malaysian culture, the Hari Raya and the indian wedding, that I could live during my first weeks in Kuala Lumpur.

Hari Raya (October 15) is a muslim celebration to mark the end of Ramadhan, the month of fasting. For muslims, it is a time of joy and victory or self-restraint and abstinence, and it symbolizes purification and renewal.

It is a time to visit relatives in their hometowns, enjoy with the family, at the same time it is said this is also a time to forgive and forget past quarrels. The younger members of a family approach their elders to seek forgiveness, handshaking and then kiss the hands of the older person as a sign of respect.

Younger children can also get what they call "duit raia", gifts or money in small enveloppes. In this sense its similar to the chinese culture, "ang pow" (紅 包, 紅=red and 包=enveloppe) and japanese otoshidama-bukuro(お年玉袋) that are given on new years day.

Sergio and I were very lucky to be able to spend this special day for muslims with a muslim family. One of our friends offered to take us there and we just couldnt say No! cause we really want to learn about the cultural things in Malaysia.

We were taken to a muslim house and we had a very nice lunch and cookies there, could see how they decorated the house, the atmosphere of joy all family being together... it was a really nice experience!

I was surprised because generally speaking, in Spain it is difficult to get into the muslim culture. It is something not so many people is usually interested in, since they are of course not a majority. Here in Malaysia, muslims are certainly everywhere and I find their culture quite interesting. I am happy the day I go back to Spain I can tell more of how they live and how friendly they are everywhere...!!

Similar thing happen in Spain about indians, its culture is quite unknown, and to experience an indian wedding with ritual was also a good thing to learn. This time, the staff at the embassy was invited to the wedding, and the ritual was quite nice to see. The priest comes and bless the young couple, cleaning their spirit with purified smoke and offering them many gifts as the relatives greet them by turns. The music is also typical indian and the priest prays a lot during the ritual to wish them prosperity.

What was surprising for me was to see that we were almost the first guests to arrive to the ceremony. The priest started it even there was still nobody attending it! The date was at 5pm, but not any guests there.

Then by 5.45 to 6pm, guests start coming in and ordering foods. As soon as the foods were over, everybody left!

It would seem that they didnt really care for the wedding or the ritual, but mostly for food only.
If you would do so in Spain, surely family members and friends would complain.

I feel in Spain people likes to attend all the process of the wedding, since the couple enters in the church until the very last drink or dance after a family and friends dinner altogether.
But in this wedding I felt the guests mostly cared about coming and eat, because they were late joining the ceremony and as soon as the foods finished, most of them left even the ceremony was still going on.

I wonder its the Malaysian style to celebrate weddings or simply the indian culture?!
Whatever, I could enjoy the whole process and liked the music, the atmosphere, to see the families very pretty well dressed... and of course the food too!

With the wedding and Thaipusam, indian culture seems a bit more familiar to me than what it was in Spain. I am even liking indian food! Lucky to experience!

The price of happiness

I feel lucky to be here in Malaysia, happy and thankful for that I got a chance to work here and enjoy, even with 8 days off a year, some of the trips that I ever dreamt about.

People who knows me and I call them friends, surely know how much I have been liking asia since many years ago.
My first contact with asia was almost 10 years ago, and at that time I was quite interested in Japan. Basically I became to like the culture, the language, the society, I liked to know people and exachange impressions about how different the world is and how every country and every person is different.

Since Japan was the first country I knew, after I visited there I became interested in other asian countries as well. I wanted to know whats different between Japan and other countries, because I seldom had a chance to know about it while I was in Spain...

After some time I went to Thailand and realized it was quite different from Japan, the culture, people, the traditions, the temples,...
All in all, now in Malaysia, been to Vietnam and Cambodia, I am getting to know bit by bit how asia is in real and I am very thankful for being here, able to move even I just got 8 days off a year to travel around!

When I was in Japan, I loved Japan. When I was in Thailand, I loved Thailand. Also I loved Vietnam, and so I do with Cambodia as well! I love all asian countries because they are so interesting for me... and help me certainly to brigthen and open my mind to the world, which is the best thing of all.

I was in Cambodia a couple of days last December, with friends and coworkers on a small trip.

What impressed me the most about the country were mainly two things: the temples which are located in very rural areas, even into the jungle, and the people.

The visit to Angkor Wat was really fantastic; we went there on early morning to see the sun rise, and at the time we arrived to the temple, nobody was yet in! Even the monks were still sleeping there... luckily we could get into and pick up a good spot where we could feel in the refresing morning, how peacefully the sun rises there everyday.

Getting into the temple was an adventure, cause no lights in but the natural one, which is very poorly lighted in the early morning... you got to watch your steps especially when climbing to the top on a very narrow stairs!

Another temple we visited was Pra Thom (Tomb Raider temple) , famous for the trees covering around the stones and certain parts of the temple. This temple is located somewhere into the forest, and its impressing how big it is in the inside...and to see how the roots of the trees grew up so much around!

The Bayon temple is also one of the most famous ones because of the stone shaped faces around it. This temple was made by the king, as a gift to their parents as he planned to make a temple for every member of his family.

Every temple I saw in Cambodia was fantastic and full of history and memories. The country itself survives mostly because of tourism, but you can feel especially in the rural areas how warm and friendly people is.

This is the part I liked the most, without any doubt. Children play happily even they got nothing, seem enjoying their life easily, being friendly to everyone.
All in all, what I can learn from this trip is that the life I have now is quite comfortable compared to Cambodians lifestyle. I value every effort I did and thank the destiny to be here now.

However when I saw the children smiling there so friendly, I realized once again that happiness is not related of how much you earn or how good work you have, but the people surrounding you and how good you can behave to others.

This could be a good topic to discuss with people from many modernized countries. I myself have never seen people as happy as these kids were in my life!
A smile doesnt cost any money and its the best way to make people happy.

These kids got almost anything, but they certainly remain in my memory as one of the happiest days in my life, and I could learn from them. Who cares how high status you have in your life, if at the end nobody is with you at the time you need friends to encourage you? What is the price "modern" countries' people pay to achieve happiness in their lifes? Life values certainly may vary depending on where you are born and how you are grown up. I think in Cambodia I could see the most innocent and natural way to be happy.

Live your life so that everyone around you is happy!

Listen, see and respect, life has always lots of things to be learnt!

The creation of a New Star: Going through my ghosts

Stars are the places where large atoms are built. Past generations of stars formed the gas and dust from which the planets and life were made.

A new star is born whenever a star dies. Death in this sense is not an end, but the beginning of life.

The Sun is the source of almost all the energy used by living things, including humans. We could not survive without it. A star (such as the Sun) is a ball of gas which has, at its heart, a nuclear fusion reactor.

In life, we need both, sun and atoms. Atoms can play the role of who we are, as we are made of atoms, while the sun can tell us how lightly we wish to live. Body and spirit, here we are. Human heart is naturally like the sun, wanting to feel bright and making others people's life happy. We could say, there is a part of the sun in each human.

A very important part of my life was gone all a sudden some time ago. I became a dead star. I lost hope, I lost who I was, I lost my own and my way. What is more, I lost faith and trust in love - one of the human essences.

In order to be a living and shining star, I should get rid of the ghosts of my past life, fight them and overcome the situation. One of my good friends told me once that "Tough times do not last. Only tough person does".

This, my third trip to Thailand, has given me part of the courage enough to overcome my past.

Ghosts will cry my absence keeping silence, and I will start being a new star, shining in the sky. A new creation has been done.

This is me, world. Find me in the sky, as I am wishing to be the most shining star. The time to be reborn is coming, when I can create myself, find the strenght inside me, and live brightly as the sun lights me.

Welcome back to life!

The experience of rafting !!

I'll talk today about the experience of rafting, which I joined for the first time at the end of November last year with my coworkers and some friends.

On a sunny saturday, we decided to go to Kuala Kubu Baru, about one and a half hours drive from the center of Kuala Lumpur, where Selangor river lives along green nature and nice views.
We had a training for 10 minutes, where the masters explained about safety and asked us to sign (quickly) a document declining all their responsability on whatever could happen to us. Such a nice welcoming, scary if anything happened to us!!


We got into the boats carrying our equipment, that is a helmet, a protective lifejacket and an oar, never expecting how the experience would be...






Going down to the river calmly, we were spreaded in several groups, a total of six people in each boat, including two masters who helped us to manage the directions. So, we were actually sitting in the middle of the boat, with our oar, and a lot of excitement waiting for us!

There are five types of rapids, classified from 1 to 5 according to their difficulty, one means the rapid is the easiest one, and five is the most complicated and dangerous, not only rapid, but also a falling around less than two meters height with the boat!

Once you are in, there is no way to avoid it but FACE it... you gotta go all through it, even praying not to sink!! haha...

We thought some of the rapids would be like 2 or 3 only, but we found out on the way that some of them were even 5!! and with level difference... :D

So, yes, as you can imagine, some of the boats did sink on the way down to the river... the rapids are quite exciting, when you go down and the master asks to use the oar left or right so quickly you feel as if your life was totally depending on it ! (and actually it does haha...)


This is a nice teamwork cause all of us have to move at the same time and follow the instructions properly.

In the middle of the way, we did stop for a while to take rest and take some pictures on the waterfalls, it was such a nice view!

Sometimes we even had to stop for a while and carry on the boat ourselves in order to skip picky stones or avoid narrow spaces that the boat couldnt pass through... it was a nice experience fulled with nature, risk and a lovely, quiet ending!

Totally we did rafting for about 5 Kms, passed through about ten rapids, and enjoyed a calm swim at the end of the circuit. After such an experience, to feel relax and calm down on the river, you can just let the current take you away peacefully, enjoying the nice views, feeling alive!!

Let's go for it more times!


I would like to go rafting again, maybe some time later around Kuala Lumpur with my friends. Its a good experience, as long as the boat doesnt sink...hehehe :)

Thaipussam

Sorry I have been busy for work and travel in the last days and just came back to Kuala Lumpur and update my blog with new events...

I wanted to write about some trips I had done before, but this time I was so impressed by Thaipussam that I just couldnt wait to write about it!




So... lets go for it!

February 1st is a special day for indians in Malaysia, they do celebrate the Thaipussam, which is the most important event of the year.

This festival is celebrated mostly by the Tamil, the lowest race group originally from india who settled down in Malaysia during the british colonization.



Its name, THAIPUSSAM, comes from the following origins: THAI, which is refering the tamil month of Thai, and PUSSAM refers to a star (which is the highest point during the festival). - sorry nothing related to Thailand on its name hehe... - Thai refers to the 10th month which is very important month in the tamil calendar and its celebrated always during full moon, because they do believe the full moon is a passageway to reach the brightest star.
Pussam is actually in the zodiacal sign of Cancer.

This festival is also celebrated in South Africa, and it used to be in India as well but since some time ago the Indian authorities forbid it and now its only in Malaysia and South Africa where its held. Lucky me I could see it even once in my life!



This ritual commemorates both the birthday of Lord Murugan, the youngest son of Shiva and Parvati, and the occasion when Parvati gave Murugan a lance to defeat the evil demon Soorapadman.



There is a big statue of the Lord at the main entrance of the Batu Caves.


Well what I could see there.... firstly the devotees do fastening for one month before the festival, in order to purify their body.



Then on Feb 1st, they come walking from the Indian temple in Chinatown to the Batu Caves, which is around 15 kms far, quite a lot of distance!

The devotees shave their head and do the fasting, to:

1. ask god a favour, or

2. to fullfill a vow, or

3. to show repent of their sins.






they also put juice squeezed from yellow lime juice on their body, as they believe it will help to numb the skin when they get hurt...

Actually the devottees believe god will help them to relief the pain on their body and prevent from bleeding.

During the day before Thaipussam,the devotees use to break coconuts along the way to the Batu Caves.


This breaking of old coconuts along the road where Lord Murugan, the god, will pass, is a ritual.




Many devotees will pledge a certain number of coconuts each year and to fulfil their vow, lorry loads of old coconuts will be lined along the roads where the chariot of Lord Murugan passes. The coconut water is meant to wash clean the roads.



The devotees bring along kavadis, which are devotion acts, bringing since simple milk pots till the most devoted act, which is a mortification of the flesh by piercing skin, tongue or cheeks. It is claimed that devotees are able to enter a trance, feel no pain, do not bleed from their wounds and have no scars left behind.


The scenes are bit hard to see depending on the time you reach the festival. I have been there twice, on the first day where it was still quite empty, and the second, which was fully crowded and with lots of devotees.

The second day we went there by train. I have never seen such a crowded train in my life, nor even the subway in Tokyo can be compared.

Lots of indians pushing hard to get in to the train as if they were refugees escaping not to be caught by the police.... took us almost 3 hours to reach by switching trains since they were sooooo crowded!

When we finally reached there we went to see the devotees along the river and the scenery was quite impressive. I could see a full ritual of mortification, from its beginning since the devotee is totally conscious and later on its transit to trance and going into the temple after that.


The change of attitude on the devottee is amazing. First the priests do the piercing hanging pieces on his/her skin, and the most impressing devotion act consists on hanging 108 pieces in their body.
After that, the priests give them some powder and at the same time hearing the traditional music and crowd and incence they come into trance.

This switch is something must be seen...his eyes point to nowhere in the crowd, his head starts stunning rythm of the music and he goes nowhere. The priests have to take him and stop from running uncontrolled till he becomes more calmed and can be controlled. Its then when the priest loads on him a small golden shrine on his body, or do the last piercings before going into the cave.


The crowd around him who was at the beginning curious is now scared to see this new human being.
They feel like its sight is lost nowhere, cannot recognize things easily as when they were totally conscious. Some devotees become agressive, most are calm even in the crowd who are scared of seeing them in trance.




Not only men do this ritual, also women, even young boys and girls. While I was walking around I saw one man (probably husband) taking care of her wife who was also in trance.

And even a family trying to calm down their daughter who was on the way to trance, who seemed to be possessed.... quite amazing.


We climbed to the top of the Batu Caves, 272 steps up, in a full crowd. The views from the top were surprising as when you look down you see how many people is joining the festival.




The authorities expected around 1,500,000 visitors this year.

In just two days its a big traffic jam, isnt it?

Finally we came home 6am, feeling so tired. The festival was really something.

A unique experience I do recommend to see once in your life, to get to know how different the world we live in is and how different beliefs human have.

At the end, a short note: even on the crowd, I could see only one chinese guy attending the festival. I wonder do really chinese and indians get along as good as it seems here? Will indians attend Chinese New Years events in two weeks? Wait and see. :)

**** Thanks to Py and Hellewise for their helpful explanation! ****