Plunge

Life is a wide pool.
It takes plunges to the deep
To find an ocean.

one flower = one plunge in the pool after work

KL is serene tonight to plunge to a bowl of light in the dark

Leaving

You were home
For a while,
A short while,
Until an ignored road calls
To leave,
To go back to
A road less travelled
Which a few are lured to walk.
It brings me to a place not known.
What's known is
Birds chirp along the way,
Hares run between bushes,
Woods give shades from scorching days,
Wild flowers nod to greet footsteps,
The narrow path brings this journey to a bright end--
Meeting
You.

pamit is a Javanese and Indonesian word that literally means “saying goodbye” although in Javanese the word pamit has a weight of a polite request to leave ♥️

Perfect Weekend

Weekend, Beloved
Perfect with noisy kitchen
And finished laundry--

today’s healthful brunch❣️ we call it urap in Javanese cuisine — the raw leaves are “kencur” from the pot in the balcony ♥️

About kencur

wanted to eat raw veggies but i didn’t trust the source so boiled it was — missing my home in Yogyakarta where greeneries grow organically

the grated coconut

i still haven’t bought a new food processor after the old one was spoiled so today i had to do it with my favourite pestel and mortar — now my hands feel burnt of the chili heat 😎

Work & Study

In this life of hues
How can I note what’s given?
To work and study--

had breakfast sometimes dinner at this table for 9 days was an experience

it is a table under an artificial tree, the light is not too bright, not so obvious from too many angles so I chose it and when I saw the number, it became my table

next time might be other numbers 🍀

44 means foundation, hard work, growth, achievements and if it is what is communicated to me, thank you.

44 is also country code of United Kingdom; I miss Chisholme House where time flows calmly while this body works and mind studies life with true devotion engaging with fellow human beings and nature. Dear God, please carry me there again.

About Chisholme House

Pose!

Pose as you love to.
Life gives one chance for one name.
Breathe in and breathe out.

my friend in his funny pose 😂

I can’t thank enough to him for informing me about the “Da Vinci Alive Bangkok”

he said “Rike, I’ll go with you if my boyfriend goes to his class”

Thank you, Bank!

Epic Dinner

Today's dinner of a dreamer
Looks like a dream
Tastes like a dream
Smells like a dream
Sounds like a dream
But feels real
At a table for one
Of epic dinner.

Today’s dinner was way beyond my expectation especially the size. The taste was still as predicted as Thai food to be yet the vibe where I enjoyed my dinner was so relaxing that everything became good!

Let me show you today’s epic dinner.

In fact I surpassed the word gluttony. Please forgive me for being so greedy yet not finishing the order.

Next time better (better means eat more???) 🙃

💕

namprikapik muang kung: mackerel, deep fried eggplant, omelett cubes plus all the raw vegetable (some leaves like coriander leaves and others i know not, long bean, cucumber, small eggplant) and the shrimp paste sauce

❣️❣️❣️

fabulous💕

miang krob bai mara: deep fried bitter gourd leaves❣️❣️❣️

kaeng leang: spicy herb vegetable soup with prawns

butterfly pea leaves tea❣️❣️❣️

this… is… the pinnacle! i thought it was a warm drink as a gift — lucky i asked: it was to wash my hand 😂😂😂

and so i did

it smelled good yet my hand is coloured now 😂😂😂

One Hot Day Out

It is very hot in Bangkok but I really want to sit down meditating before praying in a place where people pray. A place of praying is one of best places as in that area human beings are willingly connecting themselves with power beyond their own, God’s or whatever they call the power is.

I went to Wat Pathum Wanaram Rachaworawihan near the hotel and it really is a serene spot among this busy city.

This hot day out has turned to a serene cool within.

Thank you❣️

in bloom

ready to bloom

Wat Pathum Wanaram Rachaworawihan

wherever i go, i won’t miss — i won’t iss praying (my own way), it can be in mosque, shrine, temple, church, meditation center, hotel room, where.ever i feel my heart is showing me a space ♥️ — praying hall of Wat Pathum Wanaram Rachaworawihan

wherever i go, i won’t miss eating — lunch before temple 💕

Twins

There are twins in life
Where mirror is concluded,
Balance is guarded.

my most worn twins — one pair is 6 years old, the other is 4; wait until both are uncomfortable to retire 😍

this time a room with twin bed is chosen, not because i stay with someone but i want to experience a different type of room — the same design, just the bed is different 👍🏽

the Twin Towers across the 38th floor

Preference

It's a preferred life,
Not a perfect one. Not much,
And she's fine.

45R is one of my preferred brands (doesn’t mean i buy a lot of its products though) – its good material is preferred, its most designs are not as they are to me “very foreign” ☺️

Navigated

She's navigated
By stars that cluster in shapes.
They're glowing maps.

remarkable aspect of manta ray behavior is their ability to navigate across vast distances

a friend who didn’t meet for quite some time met me again in Hanoi and brought me this manta ray for my bag

she said she will invite me soon to her wedding 😍

thank you❣️

About manta ray

Learning from Tarot

I realise that I am a meaning seeker and I seek meaning in anything interested to me.

I seek meaning in the holy Books, in my own self, in nature, in literary works, in work of art and even in Tarot cards.

I don’t regret my failures of putting the right meanings to things as they’ve brought me here.

Thank you❣️

Four of Cups

⬇️

many lament over life as if they have no love ignoring a hand offering love 😁 what an irony!

thanks to my dear self who has found a pinch of self love in the journey – not perfect yet, hope it be before the end of this journey

Experience

Nothing's right or wrong
To experience this life.
Hey! Judgement applies.

fish with veggies and rice paper (paper rice?) — green is always the best part in Vietnamese cuisine

not suitable for one, should invite a friend next time

not professionally, very slowly for satisfactory experience

Fresh and Unique

I wish you a fresh air
That brings coolness in a hot day,
And lullabies me in a cold night.

I wish you a unique vibe
That loves me romantically,
And beautifies yourself naively.

banana flower salad — fresh and beautiful

young rice ice cream only in autumn ☺️ — unique and cool

Cảm ơn, Hanoi 🙏🏼

The Fool

This fool
Is learning
Through
Humming and
Walking with a friend and
Greeting fun adventures and
Kissing the flowers and the air.

Hello,
Fool.
Be sweet life!

one of my best friends is a prominent tarot master in Ubud, whose reading always reminds me that I am The Fool — thank you, De Nov ❣️

Chair

Some people choose flowers,
Some ice cream,
Some either as the chair is the glazed pleasure,
Not what's before.

there is a chair behind flowers, there is a chair behind ice cream — which chair do you want to sit on?

In Javanese culture chair symbolizes status, authority, power.

The chair can also be compared with someone who gives one’s lap for sitting that symbolizes comfort, indulgence.

Seems like those two are different but both can give the same quality of life either positively or negatively.

When someone gives you comfort as if you are everything, yes you might be everything but that person at the same time is controling your status, your authority, control your power — making you a puppet graciously. Graciously at least, you said.

There is a Javanese adage “wong yen wis dipangku mesthi mati” that can mean “put someone on your lap and s/he will die”.

Pangku or pangkon is one device in Javanese script to “close”, to “kill” a “root consonant” at the end of a word. When an alphabet is followed by a pangkon device, it will turn to a closed consonant, a “dead” end.

pangkon: the Javanese alphabet that provides lap to a root consonant and closes or kills it 😍

e.g.: how “harusa”, “makana”, “minuma”, “bapaka”, “rudala” and “kusuta” are turned to “harus”, “makan”, “minum”, “bapak”, “rudal” and “kusut” by a indulging pangkon

Congratulations. You’ve got a chair. You’ve sat on a comfortable lap. You are the master of a universe. Yet remember, the chair can topple down, the lap is just a part of an individual who has mind– the master mind that governs you. You lose without truthfully winning. 💕

I see just a chair. With flowers. Or with ice cream. Or with both. Or without any. Both sweet through different senses, enticing for comfort. For just a glance. For just a sniff. For just a lick. For just a second. And then blended with a familiar taste name “just now”, a dead end before now.

A chair is a past tense adorned by a hope.

Dear, Life. Thanks much for the endless love. I need no chair except the mountain under the white cloud. I need no lap but breathing this fresh air. And how much ever I want someone or something, I will never take them from their chairs or their laps. Let them be empowered or expelled there — it is their best place. Be peaceful❣️

Let me be with those sitting on no chair but the lap of a naked soul. ❣️

Thank you, dear mother tongue. Even your Phonetics and Phonology bear insight and wisdom.

Thank you, my twisted-cum-twisting mind.

The Right Things

If you want to climb through me,
Step on my shoulders,
Not on my head.
These shoulders are strong enough
To bear and push you up.
This head is only to decide if what you do is right.

hard-boiled egg is my preference; you can prefer medium or soft or even raw to consume but all of us peel the egg before eating because that’s what we call eating it right 🤪 and don’t forget to eat it with mouth, not your eyes