Transland Journey

It all started with a religious polemical argument within my fellow form-mates in MCKK [ class of 69 ] in the jubileeintan69 website.
Two chaps were almost getting too hot under the collar over some 'ranting' issues, the usual 'purist'  vs 'traditional'.

I interjected and suggested we discuss a possible Kuala Lumpur- London drive instead to 'defuse' the hot situation.
Two weeks later saw myself, Peng[ an oncological paediatrics consultant from UH, semiretired, survived cancer of colon ], Bab [ ex Petronas ] and three others brainstorming on this [ Jed, Deng and Bastamam ].

Driving to London at 60 !!??
As usual with most Malaysian style  brainstorming session, we had teh tarik to 'warm up' the neurons , then gulp in a couple of roti canais, followed by a full plateful of  mee mamak. Then , and only a 'much later' then , the 'storm', sans the brains..........

Talk about 'crazy' people, we do have a lot of them coming from MCKK, at least during my time I was there.....that is why we have such thing as BERSIH  now. Restless souls, semiretarded childhood , a preamble to a delayed protracted adolescence  coalescing into late adulthood !!
But we are certainly no  'sissies' from VI or St John like our friend NTR .......
[ NTR was definitely not MCKK of course, not like his late dad... Otherwise he would not be so 'takut2' as he is now. Everyone in and out of Amenu knows his problem, but the typical' lallang' he is, he is not reading in between the lines and still  waiting for someone else to 'bersih' his problem ! My God ! Once a 'lallang', always a 'lallang' ! Must be in the water they serve at St John or VI. No wonder they always lost in Rugby to even RMC .]


We are doing the KL- London drive sometime next year, probably August after Eid. We agreed on a possible route driving thru Myanmar[ hopefully Myammar opens up its border by then], Bangladesh, Nepal, India, Pakistan [  Osama Ben Laden's Abottabad, Quetta etc etc] and on to Iran via the Kyber Pass, then Turkey. From Turkey onwards it would very 'light and easy' heading for Europe and London, via Bulgaria, Slovenia, Serbia and Croatia, Bavaria and Switzerland. My initial plan for leaving on the eve of Ramadan and doing the Umrah and Eid in Makkah midway was shot down .Bab and Peng were unfortunately not 'mad' enough.


We reckoned 2 months would be ideal for us to be able to pack in visits to some World Heritage spots and towns along the way.I will drive my Hilux single cabin with the help of my 2 boys, while Peng and Bab plus minus wife will probably in between them secure an old Landcruiser Prado. We plan to 'camp' as much as we can along the way. On  'breaking camp' in London we would go our separate ways. If Bab's and Peng's Prado is still intact by then they will ship it back to KL. Plan B would be to sell it as scrap iron in East London.So far my other classmates are not yet 'mad' enough to 'want to join us'.


I have my very own plan B and plan C : will drive down to Florence and leave my Hilux there with my son in law and daughter who is currently looking after Malaysia's 'durian plantation'  owned by Petronas there.
Some eight months later, after doing some decent work in my hospital back in KL, I would take a two month break and do the 'Muslim Conquest' route in the reverse direction:
Serville, Cordoba, Gibraltar, Tangier, Casablanca, Tripoli , etc and etc and finally Cairo. That would be , insyaallah the 2nd phase.

Godwilling , in late 2014, plan C would be  a trans-Siberian cross to Vladivostok from Moscow and the Stans in the West. This would require a wee bit more of ' mind over matter doa  and zikr' as this is basically no man's land. Insyaallah.
'Angan2 orang tua'.




PS : 
that 'mind over matter doas' and zikr would be ...


'ya  Muqallibal qulub, thabit qalbi alla kaa ta'atik
ya Muqallibal qulub, thabit qalbi alla kaa di nik'
oh The One Who changes hearts, make my heart firm in Your obedience
oh The One Who changes hearts, make my heart firm in Your Din


'bismillah himajreha wa mursaha innarobbi la Ghafur rur Rahim'
in the name of Allah it's sailing and it's anchorage, He is al Ghafur [ most forgiving ] and al Rahim [ most merciful ].


'allahumma innaka 'affuwwun tuhibbul 'afwa fa' fu anni' [ doa laylatul qadr ]
oh Allah, You are The One who pardons greatly, and love to pardon, so pardon me


'hasbunallah wa ni' mal Wakeel'
Allah suffice for me, He is al Wakeel


'has biyallah hula illa hailla huwa alai hi tawwakal tu huwa Rabbul arsil Azim'
[ the 'mother' of all tawwakal ]


'rabbirfili wa liwa lidayya wal mukmini wal mukminat'
oh Rabb, absolve me from my sin, my parents and all muslims, males and females


la hawla wala kuwwata illa billah hil Alim yul A zim
there is no change or power except Allah. He is al Alim [ all knowing ] , al Azim [ most high ]


la ila haillallah huwahdahu lasharikalah lahul mulku wa lahul hamdu yuhyi wayumit wa huwa ala kulli lishain Qadir


and 'mother' of all zikir,
la ila haillallah


and finally,
'la ila hailla anta subha nakainni kun tu minazzolimin'
Prophet Jonah's doa, when he was  swallowed and subsequently 'delivered' by the whale.




We all are no Prophet Jonah, but what the heck, even though these are short doa's , but all 'supergedebe' and superheavy  with  connotations within the 'al ghaiba'.
Try them everyday, morning, evening and night. In prayer and outside prayer. In sujud and outside sujud.
Do this with deep sincerity and reflection.
In all your waking moments : standing, sitting and occasionally while sleeping
Remember Him in everything that you do.
Internalize your doa and zikr in your psyche.
You will be on an entirely different 'plane'.
Imagine, no more over-reverence to people irrespective of their position and background.
That constitute ' spiritual and mental' freedom.

They work all the time.
Believe me.