Flight details

I know why the caged bird sings

Looking at my recent schedule, I begin to realise that I have slept in a hotel room more often than at my own place, taken flights more regular than taking a taxi and believe me or not, left the airport and came back again within 12 hours.

A quick glance at the flight details will reassure my stance.

5 april to 23 April HCM city to KL for friso shoot.
23 to 25 April KL to BKK for pepsi music online.
26 to 29 April back to HCM city.
30 April to 4 May back to Singapore.
5 May in HCM city.
6 May till 10 back to KL for firso talking tots online.
11 May till 13 KL to BKK for pepsi max shoot.
14 May till 16 back to HCM city.
17 May till 21 back to BKK for pepsi max online.
22 May till 27 BKK to KL for friso rocky onine.
28 May sting ppm in Bangkok.
29 May 1.10am BKK to manila.
29 May 7.20am Manila to Brunei.
29 May 4.50pm Brunei to Kota Kinabalu.
31 May back to HCM city.

Some mornings I woke up not knowing where I was, but i was quickly calmed down by the familiar sights and sounds outside the windows. Some occasions I spoke Thai when I was supposed to converse in Bahasa or English. Once I almost missed my flight due to an hour's time difference.

Freedom to fly is a gift. It's quite another when you have to do it often.

But I truly enjoy it.

Morning flight, Patan Durbar square, Nepal

Clay maker

A Japanese lesson on attachments

I learnt how to make tea cups and rice bowls from a humble Japanese master, Kitokuchi san.

He gave me a piece of wet clay and showed me how to press the clay with even strength and meticulous attention, of course with the help of a swirling machine.

Within 20 minutes I was amazed to see out of the formless clay I had transformed them into a shape which we proudly call a tea cup and grew attached to it happily.

To see a piece of clay a while ago and a beautiful zen cup minutes later was a mysterious transformation I have never encountered before in my life. It gave me the perspective to observe how things come and go.

Everything in our life is composed of other elements and never exists independently. The names we give them are nothing but a conceptual idea. A cup is never a cup without clay, water and heat. The same can be said to all other things in our life.

All the possessions in our life – cars, houses, furnitures, even pets and plants – are created by different causes put together. We do not own anything in this life. So there is no point of clinging to them.

Now when I hold a cup in my hand, I see more than just the cup itself. In it I see the sun, the rain, the soil and the ceramic master.

I can see the whole universe in a tiny tea cup. I can also see impermanence and attachment dwelling in the very present moment.

From nothing...

to something.