Snowdon Mt. Invitation--Better Tomorrow

Allahu! I knew it. Hobbies reflect one’s personality. Maybe in the most subtle way we could imagine.

As I have mentioned in my previous entry, my hobbies certainly are to be around Mother Nature and to photograph her as best as I can.

A friend of mine invited me to visit Snowdon Mountain in Wales this winter and I checked it out on Google just to make sure that this place is as promising as my seniors have told me. It turned out to be my mistake to think like that because it has fantastic view all around.

I know now why I loved both of my hobbies so much. I am a person who uses analogy to make people understand my content while talking or writing sometimes and it clearly shows that this is my thinking pattern for lots of matters.

I love how my hobbies symbolise life, my life specifically. I always see a mountain or a hill from the ground as something so magnificent, so glorious standing on its own. Of course, then I would be intrigued to climb it but a person is vary from another physically and as for me, it consumes a lot of energy and emotions(whenever I feel like giving up halfway up the hill). After reaching the top, I would immediately have my phone in my hands to take photos to bring back home. Once I got home, I would edit them or leave them originally and post them on social media or for my personal file. 

This is exactly how we live our lives every single day! As a child, we see a career or a bungalow as something spectacular, impressive enough to make it as our dreams. We grew to achieve or to be exactly the person we wanted to be and it never gets easier than day 1; we got stronger and more cautious instead. Once we get what we hoped for, we craved for it to last and become our everlasting memory in our minds to tell our families and perhaps future generations. We sometimes post our life stories on social media (or not). Am I right?

Nouman Ali Khan (Islam preacher) once said that if we see the world as we should be, every creature and manmade stuff can be a medium for us to reflect upon our life and our doings.

So, would you want to change your thinking pattern once in a while? Sometimes, change is good for both our souls and bodies. I’m saying this because most of us have changed already. As kids, we imagined stuff, we were more positive than we are today, we were innocent, we practically used analogy if you can recall your childhood? Imagination explains it all! Now, we became more realistic, seeing the world as it is; a cruel planet to live on as can be quoted as “only believe what we can see” even love can be misinterpreted to be the meanest feeling. Guess what? All of us have been through a lot. Me too. But, we should never blame on others for what we have done wrong. We are the cruel creatures, the world is the victim (if we want to discuss about global warming etc.)

You know what I’m talking about. We were born for a purpose. To make peace and it is never too late to start something nice. We might have taken a false corner but we can always turn back around and get on track right this moment. I repeat, it is never too late to change for a better tomorrow, for a better us. We struggled. I know we did though I never knew your terrible stories but I am now trying to convince myself by writing all these down for us to remind ourselves that we are smart and good enough to our own self that we can change for the better. All good things can be done alone but it is much more powerful and effective if they are done by a group of people; a community, a country, every soul in the world.

This reminds me of the victorious era when Muhammad pbuh ruled Makkah. This is a fact agreed by great historians and scientists and economists, not simply a religious point of view.

Please drop a comment if you have something to say or to express an opinion. They would be very useful for me to improve next time.

***I think I will definitely accept the invitation. 

Thanks. Salamualayk. 

Bukit Batu Putih, PD -- Let us be inspired!

Bukit Batu Putih, Port Dickson was my latest hiking trail and was extremely worth it. Just 30 minutes of hiking but since there was no sign of the hill’s entrance we, me and Kak Najwa, were lost and finally reached the top after roughly above an hour. So, as usual, I always have something to write about my hiking trips. Sometimes, I did not write based on the activity itself but commonly was highlighted by it.

In this entry, I would like to highlight about inspirations. We all need inspirations from time to time after mental exhaustion life events. We all have been through it. No big deal because we know how to tackle this particular subject as everyone is learning throughout each day. However, when I stepped my feet back to my house after this hike, I realised that I have numerous questions in my head and one of them was how well do we actually know how to tackle hard days and really apply them to our life in order to have better tomorrows?

Source: Internet.
Hiking entrance- right before a hut in front of the firehouse

I’m talking about both emotions and actions. Of course, every act is a translation to what we feel but sometimes our brains interpreted it  almost to the opposite and that’s how one develop his character; extrovert or introvert. This is just a general perspective from someone who barely knows about humans’ brains. An extrovert is able to fully express his feelings most appropriately and it is contrary to an introvert. Please do correct me if I am wrong.

I actually was inspired to write about this after watching a very inspirational movie the other day. Too many ‘inspire’ root-word in a sentence, I know. Anyways, my hobbies inspire me in a way I never thought of possible. So, I do recommend you guys to have hobbies and be proactive in doing so. As for mine, each time I go to hike and then take some good photos, I feel alive and revived. I haven’t feel that way for quite some time and a bonus just came knocking on my door. The view at hilltop of BBP, PD was breath-taking. The feeling that I felt at that moment was almost similar to every bad thing in the world are wiped out in a split second. It is indeed such a powerful feeling. I was super excited that my fear to heights was gone for couple of minutes. I stood on a rock and suddenly thought that this is a blissful country. I repeat a blissful country. Yes, a very blissful one.

We are blessed for a gift after another and we overlooked it most of the time. When we are tested with hardship, we complained, we rebelled yet did not have enough faith to believe that the bigger the investment, the bigger the return. We pray, we ask Allah for mercy, for solace yet we never try to our full capabilities on seeking it. All we do is ask and demand but never to put proper amount of efforts parallel with our wishes. I demanded rest when we were lost in the middle of a hot dry day which was totally appropriate but I also demanded that I can find the entrance as soon as possible. I rejected the possibility on enjoying the forest’s view and might able to find a rare breed bird because it never registered in my mind. Soon after we walked round and round, circling Tanjung Tuan Firehouse, we also asked some Samaritans and googled on how to reach our ultimate spot, again demanded longer rest, we found it!

Only if I was not so demanding, I would be thrilled and cherish the very moment. My physique was fatigue and I could no longer establish any joy and this is an exaggerated version of my tiredness. Yes, I do make lame jokes too.

When we are inspired, we actually believe in ourselves to go through our days and perhaps take risks or in other words, grab opportunities! They’re lying there untouched by people whom are scared to try new things, to change a routine, to leave comfort zone. Once headed down the hill, we sang “I am Titanium!” out loud and it felt good! Of course there were nobody there but the nature heard us, Allah heard us. Every piece of thought are silent prays and never have Allah missed to answer them; yes, no or I’ll give you a better option. After all, I do think I am titanium. :)

All I’m trying to say is take a pause once in a while. It might not be any harmful to anyone or to any outcome that we wished for. Learn to rest, not to quit and cherish every moment because we deserved it.  Seek opportunities and grab them while they last and most importantly, be inspired!

p/s: be inspired even from a smile.

That’s is for now, Salamualayk.

Bukit Saga--Wondrous Waterfall

Masha-Allah!

This phrase alone actually can save my time from writing a 600-word of description on how amazingly Allah had taught me through my hobbies (photography & hiking) but as usual, we, humans would die arguing about stuff that do not come along with explanation. #metaphor

So, here we go!

Masha-Allah is an Arabic phrase that expresses appreciation, joy, praise, or thankfulness for an event or person that was just mentioned. However, I am using this phrase not only for an event or a person but to every single of them that has walk into my life picture for almost 5 months I have resided in Malaysia after roughly a year stayed in another man’s country.

Truthfully, I just wanted to share my experience for hiking at Bukit Saga, Ampang along with the idea of the above phrase can channel throughout this page because it is plain interesting in my head.

I went for hiking to this hill twice and enjoyed every second during both days. For the first time, I went with Azira and Wahidah because they’re the only ones whom have free time at that moment. Undoubtedly, we gasped for air after 10 minutes of walking from starting point because for those who haven’t been here yet, the whole 2-hour trail is innocently steep. Your spine, your shoulders, your thighs and your lungs basically will suffer for a good outcome. I repeat, for a good outcome, a very good outcome; as Rasulullah had taught us to repeat an advice/motivation thrice (first, to inform the listener. Second is to stress the point. Third is for the speaker to remember what he had advised the listener)

We had to spare a chocolate bar for instant sugar intake or else either one of us, beginners, can collapse and instead of walking down the hill will roll down the hill. That is a fact. Nevertheless, we made it through all the way to the summit and felt happier and relieved more than after receiving a gold medal for 100m sprint (if we won one).  A few hikers were spending their time on the summit too though it was noon already.

One thing that made me love my hobby more is it taught me how to love and defend your stand proactively. Bukit Saga now is a part of targeted site to be excavated for a new highway route in Kuala Lumpur. The downside of this is obviously the possibility of losing a place that one has put a heart into it but on the bright side, as I have mentioned above is how those people defend it like it meant their souls.

Source: Internet

‘Those people’ are a community; Persatuan Pendaki-Pendaki Bukit Ampang, if I am not mistaken. They even built a mini recreational park on the hilltop which is supposed to be an encouragement for youngsters to exercise more. I truly support this idea! Again, if this hill will be excavated in some years from today, the whole aim would be gone. Less green means less oxygen. As simple as that but a new highway is crucial too in order to reduce traffic in the city. Did we use our power wisely to have both situations under control? Bukit Saga stands the ground and less traffic can be obtained?

I do not mean to be emotional on this matter but it is for awareness purpose generally. I am not backing up any side. Just pointing out facts and questions that we have kept under our beds.

We thought of continuing our journey that day to a waterfall but were strictly forbidden by local volunteers. It was noon so no human beings can help us girls if anything happens also it was about to rain. Abided not to the advice but to our lust, we achieved a consensus to just have a go. Half way to the virtually picturesque waterfall, we could not proceed due to darker view in the forest and we couldn’t afford a chance to gamble around with the danger of slippery trail and may break our body parts. We turned back and ran downhill. I fell and as a result, my ankle swelled. It did not make anyone of us to slow down in any way somehow because it was getting much darker like it was actually almost night time. So, we laughed and continue to run downhill again. As we almost reached our car, it rained cats and dogs. We were very grateful for that and for letting us to be safe from any danger. Alhamdulillah.

Moving on to the second part of this entry.

I went with Kak Najwa. I seduced her with exaggerated version of my story about how lovely the waterfall is though I did not encounter it the first time. She was hooked and again our physiques were challenged for a good outcome.

Source: Internet

This time, we determined to fasten our pace and to go to the wondrous waterfall. At noon, we were a bit ahead from my first hiking trip so we moved forward and to our naïve minds, the path to go there is barely touched by humans at least recently. Why? Because there lived a huge group of wild Chikah ( I still don’t know how to spell this Orang Utan relative correctly) and they were stalking us from tree tops. We finally saw them soon after they started to make horrible sounds indicating as we learned afterwards not to go inside the territory. We headed back to the hilltop as fast as we could, feeling like throwing up that instant but we managed to keep it together with wooden sticks in our hands as our only weapons.

We then took an hour break at a spot just to talk about how lucky we were to escape from wild animals’ attack. For my lesson, never trust a website fully and always ask an acquaintance for guidance for any challenging physical activities.

As for my reflection, it is indeed worth knowing that being determined to get something is totally fine as long as we can handle the consequences; negative or positive because everyone in this world is born to be neither a winner nor a loser, each of us is born to be a chooser. We choose an option and pray to Allah that we can embrace the path; risky or easy. As parallel with what Islam has taught us, always choose something for the benefit of everyone and give in for exact Qada’ & Qadar.

That’s it for now. Assalamualayk.

Bukit Kiara Park--Hike for knowledge

21^st July 2016 is a date that I would certainly remember. My girlfriends from secondary school (Wahidah, Ida, Azira), a new friend, Amalina and I went to Bukit Kiara Park, Kuala Lumpur for our first hiking trip together. Alhamdulillah for this ultimate opportunity.

It was not only our first hiking trip together but also my first personal hiking trip without any organisation managements, etc. in Msia. We planned it through Whatsapp messages and when the day arrived, we thought we were totally prepared. Turned out that was only half true.

…

Since Azira was the driver, she had to go around the residential area to pick us all and we were on the highway at about 8:10 am but reached Bukit Kiara around 9:45 am because we were stuck in traffic for 30 minutes and were confused with directions a bit. In addition, some of us are not morning people so it was not remotely warm start but we were all fine after we reached our destination. Everybody was intrigued on what was coming on our way. We settled down, got our bodies warmed up while surrounded by most B.K residents doing their morning routine exercises.

We then walked around the park, searching for an entrance since there was no board or anything like it to ease us as beginners and strangers to this new place. We found an elderly Indian man and asked him our ultimate wonder. He was very friendly, the way he talked and smiled while giving us directions on how to get to the hiking trail and how not to get lost because there are a few trails that would determine on how long we will be in the forest.

Wahidah had a selfie stick and was really excited to take pictures of us on our way in to the forest. I was too.

From right: Wahidah, Ina, me, Ida and Azira

So, we headed to a pavement road and walked for about 5 minutes before we heard people talking amidst trees beside the pavement. With no further due, we all decided to follow those two guys whom were talking and go from there. It was pretty steep trail and we were losing our breaths so we took our first break and saw another two elderly Chinese men whom walking on the same trail as us. We said hi and joked about following them since we did not know about this forest. Surprisingly, these two gentlemen said yes and even volunteered to be our guidance till our way down.  I was the first person after Uncle Roger and I must say that he is quiet a talkative person. He asked questions and gave advices to us like we are all his grandchildren. I was pleased to hear those because he talked about real adults’ life and it felt like a sort of awakening moment, a turning point or a slap in the face.

He said things like we must use our youth years wisely by travelling the globe and learn about other cultures, expose ourselves to new adventurous physical activities just like hiking instead of lepaking in local malls and be socially impaired; humiliate unique traits in people while do not realise that respect must be earned and differences must be cherished. Uncle Raymond told us that he hiked Mount Kinabalu when he was 16 years old. I still waited for an ice-cream truck passing by my house when I was 16. We were dumbfounded by these two men. Uncle Roger added that he studied in England and worked in Australia, fully English educated but he never forgets his roots; Mandarin language, his fatherland(Malaysia) but he complained about how close-minded our community nowadays , like the war has never taught us anything. Most families are super conservative that they do not allow modern adjustments to be taken respectively. Like I said, a slap in the face.

Uncle Roger(front), Uncle Raymond(back) and us with sticks like pros

We took breaks and the hiking trip took about 90 minutes and we sweat off good. All Rendang, Ketupat, Lemang, etc. gone for good. I personally felt energised after we finished hiking. The same energy channelled equally for us take more photos on a hanging bridge in the middle of the day.

This trip did not end there. We craved for a decent lunch. Azira drove the car all the way to The Curve, Damansara as directed by Ina (Wazer) and we had a fine lunch and we discovered a tradition for our group, we changed plates clockwise until our own plates reached us again. I exchanged food in restaurants with friends before but in a sloppier way. Thanks to Ida. So, it was a good exercise and a brilliant time spent together.

I learned my lessons and I know hiking is my hobby, seeing the nature is one thing because it soothe our biology with fresh abundant oxygen in the air but I remembered a quote stated 

“you are no better than dumber you before you learn new knowledge until you practise it”. 

Let us all practise things we learnt and use our youth years for a better older us in the future.

Au revoir. 

The Immaculate Easter Break (; part IV ;)

…Hopefully this part will be as beneficial as I expected it to be for motivational purpose…

Kak Najwa and I had a blast by going to nature reserves here in Sheffield; we never thought that this hobby of ours can be very meaningful in a very abstract way.

Woolley Wood is another nature reserve that currently is being taken care of Sheffield Council. Here, we expected this particular area to be full of English Bluebell, a wild kind of flower that grows only in Spring. We were almost right because this wood is literally has English Bluebell duvet, they covered every inch of the wood’s floor and that was a gift from Mother Nature! SubhanaAllah.. It superbly soothed my hectic heart.

    

  

  

But…

It wasn’t just that. Before we discovered this fairy-tale-background wood, we had to walk for 3 consecutive hours amidst a small town during a hot afternoon just to find the entrance. As a matter of fact, our thermal wear burned us from the inside along with again, hunger. Both of these factors led to major carelessness and lots of miscommunications. In timely manner, we were first directed by a local farmer (thankfully), only that it was a vague guide which contributed to our little miscommunications. We appreciated his help though because without the ‘vague’ guide, we couldn’t make it to Woolley Wood. Alhamdulillah.

After performing our Zuhur prayers nearby big trees, we took some more time to rest and to eat our lovely lunch. Well, we just wanted to enjoy the view for a bit longer plus our legs were terribly sore. One thing we did not know at that moment was since this small region is just 10 yards hidden from a residential area (which is why we couldn’t find it with ease initially), there were of course dog owners along with their dogs or shall I say big sized ones.

Let me tell you a fun fact about a dog, it has a very sensitive nose that theoretically can smell something for over miles away from them. So, let us all imagine a situation where me and my partner was having our sweet little lunch in the wood and they were passing by a main path that coincidently also coming our way! They barked and continue to bark at us expecting food while running towards us and almost bit my leg. I am scared of dogs not because of the typical reasons; neither because I am a Muslim nor I am Malay or even I had lack knowledge about dogs. It was because I was chased by wild dogs twice in separate events before. So, logically, I do get easily scared by them and truthfully, I almost cried. Yes too, I am scared of many things.

I am writing these just to inform and maybe learn our lesson that we humans get scared instantly if we think we can be compromised by something. If our lives are in jeopardy, it is totally acceptable and because we think our lives are in jeopardy all the time by so many things now, we all accept whatever reasons that are scaring us. It is a noble act by respecting other peoples’ fears but in the same time, we are being fooled by our own kind. We now can get scared of cockroaches, home spiders, rats, heights, fur and electricity.

It makes every sense because respectfully, we all have bad experiences with those creatures. So did I. But, what we are lacking of are strong will and courage to tell our brains not to be afraid. This is usually the hardest part of dealing with fear. The only thing that stops us is ourselves. So, let’s think harder about this which I reckon that this issue also applies on our careers or relationships etc.

Last but not least is Blacka Moor. This is the last nature reserve that we had a chance to go to during the break. This specific reserve area is also an attraction to people that have science interests as written on the entrance sign which I cared less about it but felt more intrigued to go in.

To our luck, it hailed that day. Heavily that it almost seemed to look like heavy snow in December. Hail is just a shorter name for water and ice rain and looked like snow. Nonetheless, we had our best chance to see beautiful colours of flowers covered by snow. It is most likely that the two seasons, winter and spring, combined at one time. SubhanaAllah again. We were almost speechless to actually discover all white surrounding since we are originally came from tropical weathered continent.

We, again tried to find the best spot to eat our lunch and perform our solah along the way through the very cold temperature which I presumed approximately 2 ̊C. My gloves were wet due to the hail and could not protect my hands anymore until my both hands swelled that I could not even scratch my nose with it. Plus, I was not wearing the gloves the entire time because I was busy taking photos of the dramatic landscape.

We managed to hike to the top of a hill and made our way back down to ground level then to the swampy area of Blacka Moor. It felt like we were walking down to Harry Potter dead parents’ house because of the trail provided in the swamp was freaking us out just by walking on them. The trail was slippery because of the water and some were even covered by moss. Once we headed back to the forest, the icy surfaces were almost all disappear. Birds and other small animals started to make their unique sounds again which we both interpreted it as a natural therapy. No living things dare to go out in heavy hail except us. We were both lucky and damned at the same time. Mesmerised by the astonishing landscape and got flu by the cold temperature. Fair enough I think.

That experience made me reconsider about how much we complain and still go through our routine every day without knowing those complaints are building a character in us in which it is okay to complain once in a while as long as we made it till the end of our day. It is also known as a humanly trait. I am sorry for us that we actually do this but I do believe that it is also the most traditional and the hardest trait to get rid of which is why it also is worth knowing this fact.

All nature reserves; Mam Tor Hill, Bamford Edge and Ladybower Reservoir, Wyming Brook, Fox Hagg, Moss Valley Woodlands, Ecclesall Woods, Woodhouse Washlands, Woolley Wood and Blacka Moor that Allah has given us chances to go to, all hit a different spot in our hearts in a good way every time by taking lessons after experienced multiple difficult tests along the journey, by allowing ourselves to absorb and by really think about the lessons. All made me a better thinker as a Muslim and I would be stupid if I don’t use these lessons in the future. Again, just wanted to restate my aims of writing this blog which are solely for me and Kak Najwa to remember what we have learnt along the way during the break and those who read this entry to learn and think about several new things in reality.

Au revoir, Assalamualaykum..

The Immaculate Easter Break (; Part III ;)

We are down to the third out of four parts altogether.

The break was almost over so we rushed ourselves (mutual decision) to make this activity almost like a daily basis routine. We decided that woodland-walking and immature photography activities are our hobbies. In fact, we did captured some of amazing photos ourselves and we are proud of that. We learned new things about photography and nature landscape that it became almost an educational slot on weekly basis.

I must say that I loved it. Loved it enough to know it can be an addiction, a good kind of addiction. J

So, the next destination was Moss Valley Woodlands and yes I got some interesting experiences (for me, at least) to share.

We made it to the closest town by bus at almost noon if I’m not mistaken and as usual, we would use directions given from a trustworthy website with Google Maps’ help. Unfortunately, we got lost or we thought we were. After about an hour of walking down the streets, we still couldn’t find our way in to the wood which was a bizarre encounter. Commonly, there would be a signboard somewhere along the road to ease our journey but not this time. We were hungry and almost fight with each other because we did not have our breakfast that day and I am advising you readers to eat your breakfast, any type of food literally.

We eventually found an old local couple at a residential area who were cleaning their front yard and asked them on how to get to Moss Valley Woodlands and to our surprise they did not know where this place was. But, we did not give up. We made a bit more research and with a little geography knowledge we had, we interpreted the map over and over again until we finally reached our desired destination. How relieved we felt at that time considering our empty tummies and our tired limbs. Later that day, we found out that the old couple knew that the woodlands existed but they just do not call it with the same name. 

Thus, I got my lesson; a lesson that pinched my heart. We all need help in any form but sometimes we take them for granted because we simply overlook them. I am a newcomer in Sheffield and did not master about directions to go anywhere so I required help from Google (because did not want to bother other people much with a tiny ego), verbal help from good Samaritans and of course signboards along the streets but that particular day all these aids were not available or in other words, they could not help me to get to my destination.

And by that I managed to come out with a few questions for us to think about…food for thoughts. Can we be succeeded without help? Can we get what we want with lack of willingness? Yes, miracles do happen but they do not happen all the time. We must earn the miracles.

The next few days, we came across a similar output website that showcases nature reserves and achieved a consensus; to have a go at new places since it did not have much information like the previous website and we thought it would be nice to embrace new adventures (sort of).

How lovely this view and this is only the entrance.

Ecclesall Woods is one of the oldest woods in England which has been conserved by Sheffield Council instead of Sheffield Wildlife Trusts for more than thousands of years (the history was written on an information board).

We then encountered a group of old couples on our way in. They were carrying backpacks, wearing proper outfit to go through cold weather (approximately 9  ̊C) and so were we. I was amazed by their willingness to have a walk together with friends at old age into the woods. I imagined myself do that with my friends because it is an indication that our bodies are still fit to do outdoor sports and I always love keeping my body fit though I love to skip it at most times too (confusing but understandable for other girls XD).  

It also indicates that our silaturrahim is very strong that we still can be friends for a long time. That is a friendship goal! ;)

To be truthful, we never intended to go to Ecclesall Woods in the first place. We were aiming to change direction to go to a washland that week and were hooked to try going to Woodhouse Washlands Nature Reserve by attractive photos on the website. 

We got to the place of interest but there were cattles which we thought was completely safe. In contradict, we did think of finding a snake as being warned on the website and prepared for it but never to acknowledge that those herbivores were trying to chase us. Still, we did take some photos before leaving and headed for Ecclesall Woods instead. Animals do demand their privacy from urban citizens whom do not recognise wildlife enough and I admit I am one of them. I got chills and ran away from taking a risk to be physically compromised which I think is fair enough. The cattles demanded privacy (as I call it) and they got it because they deserved it.

Moving on to the last part… 

The Immaculate Easter Break (; Part II ;)

Wyming Brook Nature Reserve is the name. A place where there is no rushing homo sapiens. There was only a torrent river with gushing sound of water and chirping sound of birds. I went with Kak Najwa again this time. She became my woodland-walking partner. We entitled ourselves with that name in which neither of us cared enough to extend the group (unless there were requests from friends) or lousy enough to go alone; fair and square.

So, a few of English people with their dogs walked pass us while we were walking and sat near the riverbank from time to time for almost 4 hours we were in the Nature Reserve. Walking and a bit of hiking in this particular area only took about an hour and a half. Why 4 hours? We decided stayed back for a bit longer to be amazed by Mother Nature simply because we loved it and we still loving it.

I would love to come again to this nonsensically peace place with my books and a cup of hot chocolate. I am imagining myself sitting and reading books while holding the cup to keep warm and think as a civilised adult (not that I am not). This is just my surreal dream, that’s all.  XD

The sound that oak trees made as a result from the friction with the wind really resembles the feeling as we were in a spa with scented therapeutic candles all around us. That was a total rare experience in this modern techno world. Those whooshing and creaking sounds were able to clear our miserable, tumultuous minds just for a quick moment and that was the most precious moment in my life personally as I can only get that sort of feeling when I see my mother’s smile which obviously I could  not get since I was thousand miles away from her.

We only know how much we really love or care about someone/something when they’re not with us. I thought I showed enough affection towards her while we were living under the same roof but once my mind got cleared up I realised that how much I wished I could’ve done much more than I did before.

Beyond everything, I learned to express my care in many forms and really practise them until today; I prayed harder, I made gifts not bought them and I said that I love her.

Back to the storyline... :D

We got out from the worldly heaven pretty early, at about 3pm and in Spring, Maghrib time (when the sun sets) is about 8pm so we had plenty more time. Of course, we did not want to go home that early because it would be a waste if we did not use the time wisely to explore nearby nature reserves and experience quiet times even more. So, we went in Fox Hagg Nature Reserve. It is not a huge area of flora and fauna but we saw some footprints of humans, dogs and horseshoe so we acknowledged that this place is also being utilised for recreational purpose, not only keeping it at its best condition along with previous reserve areas we had a chance to go to.

As we walked down the riverbank’s trails, we learned that with no existence of stones stuck on the ground, we will have trouble of walking and may injure ourselves because of the slippery trail. We then got home at about 7pm with lots of humanity lessons to think of but a long shower and dinner beat our thoughts so that is why I need to write all these down.

Thus, the million-pounds-worth life lesson that we discovered throughout this woodland-walking activity was we should cherish everything in our lives and by that I mean to the smallest creature or man-made creations. In other words, we should appreciate everyone/everything as it shows our true colours; civilised or non-civilised? First class or third class way of thinking? I leave that for all of us (including me) to answer. 

Moving on to next part… :)