My Gold Coast Trip...

I can't remember the last time I had a real break from work. Well, maybe it was way back in 2002. My sister was still working in New York so my other sister, her husband and I decided to pay her a visit before she came back to Malaysia for good. We had a real nice time there despite the cold weather of winter. We even experienced snow when we were there. Imagine waking up the next morning and seeing the whole ground covered with snow. Such a splendid view! But brrrrr on certain days, the temperature even went down to almost 0 degree! Apart from my experience when I was studying in Scotland, that was the next coldest place!

Let's see...how did Gold Coast come about? Again, the same sister who I went to New York with, decided her daughter needed a break from her work too. My niece is an accountant with Amanah Raya Berhad and she needed a roommate for the trip . Knowing that I have a knack for travelling, she invited me to come along. Well, why not? I couldn't find a better time to go for a holiday and this would be a good opportunity. Moreover, I've never been to 'Down Under'. It would be fun, I'm sure.

It would be winter in Australia at this time of the year. Right, the next question would be what proper clothings to bring? hehe, after all it was winter! On the contrary, later I was told by many people who had been there at just about this time of the year that the weather would not be that cold, especially at Gold Coast. In the end I only brought some clothes which I figured would suit a 'mild winter'. Anyway, I managed to borrow most of the clothes from my sister because she travels abroad extensively and she has a large collection of clothes for whatever season! One problem out of the way...(hehe, the implication is I could use the money for shopping instead!)

The flight to Brisbane (pronounced 'Brizburn') took about 9 hours or so. We were in transit at Sydney for one hour before we headed to Brisbane. By the time we arrived at Brisbane it was quite late at night. We were taken by the hotel transport to Gold Coast which took us approximately 1 hour 15 mins. It was night time so we could not see Brisbane clearly as we could during day time. Moreover, we were so exhausted by the long hours on the plane so we sort of dozed off occasionally during the drive. The driver spoke in the Australian accent which to me was interesting. I like conversing with native speakers of English because I could at least pick up some of the conversational skills in English. It is important to someone like me because I teach English Language. It is not every day that I can get the opportunity to communicate with a native speaker of English....

Finally we arrived at the hotel and it was well past midnight. We were welcomed by the hotel staff and once we got into our rooms we straight away went to bed as we needed a proper sleep to make up for the much discomfort on the plane.

Not knowing what time Subuh would be, I put my handphone alarm at 6.30 a.m. But alas! When I woke up , I could see that the sun was shining brightly. Oh yes, how could I forget? It's winter and so the days are shorter. This is something I discovered when I was studying in the UK...So hurriedly, I took my ablution (which by the way, the water was quite cold in the morning) and performed my Subuh prayer. Doing all this reminded me very much of Scotland in winter but of course it was much colder than this. So coming back to the 'shorter days' thing, by 6.30 am the sun was already shining and at 5.00 pm it was already maghrib.

On the first day, we decided to go to the SeaWorld, which by the way, is a theme park. It was a bit away from town and we were taken there by the travel agency driver. There were many people at the SeaWorld and the weather was in fact quite mild. There was sunshine but it was chilly too. Unlike, Scotland whereby winter would mean quite gloomy days, much less to see sunshine. Indeed, winter in Gold Coast gave me a different definition to the word. The Australians were going around in T-shirts and pants that made me wonder if it was winter at all! Interesting indeed and that was something I learnt when I was there.

At the Seaworld theme park you can see roller coasters, trains and one can even go on a helicopter ride to get a view of gold coast. There are certain 'stations' or shows that you can view and the tickets are already included as you pay at the entrance. Anyway, we decided to follow the biggest crowd and it was a show everyone was waiting for...the dolphin show. It was indeed a good performance by the dolphins and their trainers. It made me wonder how such animals could be trained to such perfection...

Our next station was the seal performance. Imagine the seals acting in an investigation 'drama' entitled 'The Fish Detectives' with human beings! It was simply impressive and so entertaining.

...there is still a lot I want to write but time does not permit me now. So I will continue with the rest of my journal at some other time, insyaAllah.

The Biggest Price I had to Pay

The Demands of My Work and A Price I have to Pay…

Going to work, coming back from work, meeting deadlines, doing heaps of paperwork, etc. Day in, day out in has become such a routine that I have taken it for granted. What is sadder, at times I take people for granted too. The routine has become mechanical to me. I rush for time and to a certain extent I develop gastritis because I take my meals as and when I feel it necessary… at my own time, not what is required by my stomach. I’ve even learnt to abuse myself.

Work has become highly demanding and I see myself getting deeper into fulfilling the demands. I could feel it has become such madness but I just have to go with the flow. I know and I have heard and read somewhere it says ‘a third of our time should be for work, a third for us to give ourselves a rest and the remaining time for us to perform ibadah’ (or something along that line). But slowly I see myself devoting like 60% for work, 15% for ibadah and 25% for rest. It is hardly the kind of ratio that Islam proposes! Without realizing it, I have been doing this for years. But Alhamdulillah, I still make it a point to perform my obligatory prayers five times a day though I have to admit, at times or rather most of the time when I am at work, it would be towards the end of the prayer time and it has become a routine to me again. Subhanallah, I am not improving myself in terms of my commitment to Allah.

What about my obligation to others? Have I fulfilled it? Two months back a colleague of mine met with an accident which nearly cost his life. Again, I was too wrapped up in work that I did not manage to visit him when he was first warded in the hospital. However, when I finally did manage to find time to visit him one afternoon, the nurses told me that he was just taken to HUKM that morning! Well, I had the intention of visiting him and that should account for ‘niat’ but it it was unjustifiable…Later that day, I was telling myself ‘What is becoming of me?’ Is this the kind of social obligation I am portraying now? And it should start small scale for instance, establishing brotherhood of Islam among collegues at work before venturing into something bigger like the society at large…

The Biggest Price I Had to Pay…

Gosh, look at me! I am almost invincible. Just a few days before going to Kuala Lumpur I left an offliner for an online acquaintance saying that I would be heading to KL that day for an important ‘tahlil’ conducted by my uncle and that two days later I would be heading to Ipoh to attend yet another meeting, bla, bla, bla…I was proudly telling him my weekly itinerary . It was like I was the most important person in the whole world! At the end of the message, I even asked him ‘How did you find time to write?’…I was becoming arrogant, even.
Anyway, the very next morning again I was racing against time when I was due for my part time tutorial meeting. As I said earlier, I have taken so many things for granted in my life, including my auto journey. Karak Highway is no new route to me. I have been travelling along the road for years. But that morning destiny had intervened. The fact that I was ‘called’ to go to KL was in fact predestined. The incident or rather accident which took place afterwards altered my life (or my whole being) in a way I could never imagine…

I was going uphill actually as I was approaching Genting Sempah tunnel but this particular stretch was going downhill. That was where it occurred. I was in the middle lane as usual when suddenly…oh God, it isn’t a very nice thought, anyway I felt that I was totally out of control and the car just swerved to the left of the road. At one point I felt like it skidded because the road was quite slippery. But there was another theory which came about later that says it might be due to my bursting tyre. Frankly, at this point that isn’t my biggest concern. What is would be our lives, those of mine, my mother’s and my maid’s. And for the first time in my life I understood what ‘tawakkal’ or total submission means. I completely left it to God and I decided at that point that if that was how my life was supposed to end I ‘redha’…The fine line which separates between life and death is just the iron railing because on the other side of it is
the ravine. Will I make it or not? Life is indeed fragile…

When my car came to a complete halt that was the time I felt I was given a second chance in life by God. It was such a miracle because the three of us escaped without as much as a scratch! Alhamdulillah, God is indeed great. I would not want to ponder or dwell on the ‘what if’s’. It would give me sleepless nights. Even at this point when I am writing this I can’t help shedding tears because I can’t thank God enough for granting me still a life to live. To me, there is so much to learn from this incident and especially in terms of my relationship with God, other human beings and even myself. Things happen for a reason. I should do a lot of reflection after this. Also, under no circumstances should I take people and things for granted. Maybe that is the biggest lesson of all.

Two Verses From the Al-Qur’an which I feel are so relevant to me are as follows:
1. “Sekali-kali tidak akan menimpa kami melainkan apa yang telah ditetapkan Allah bagi kami. Dialah Pelindung kami dan hanya kepada Allah jua orang Mukmin bertawakkal.”
(Surah at-Taubah 9:51)

2. “Jika Allah menimpa sesuatu mudarat kepada kamu maka tidak ada yang dapat menghalangnya kecuali Dia (Allah), dan jika Allah menghendaki bagimu kebaikan maka tidak ada yang dapat menghalang limpah kurnia-Nya. Dia memberi kebaikan kepada sesiapa yang dikehendaki-Nya, antara hamba-hamba-Nya, dan Dia Maha (Ghafur) Pengampun lagi Maha (Rahim) Penyayang.
(Surah Yunus 10:107)

P.S. Ironically, these are the two verses I’ve been reciting after my obligatory prayers.
Now God has put so much meaning to it…


….till I see you in my next journal, insyaAllah.