After 12 years of on and off travelling I have got breathing into the flow pretty much down to a fine art. Not much ruffles me when it comes to travels. For example, this year’s travels so far has seen us miss planes, lose car keys, have to change plans from one country to another, lose my phone (twice), not have enough money in cash to pay and a ferry leaving farrrr too soon. And with a little self management, rerouting of thoughts, and trusting in the Divine I can mostly keep myself chilled.
Yesterday was a little different.
After Greta’s Thailand visa sorting and my bag repacking and internet morning, we had planned to meet and go to the Penang National Park and walk before picking up the visa in the afternoon, leaving the evening to do our last minute stuff before leaving on a boat the next day. But the treasured visa was now going to be ready at 330. So time was a little tight when she arrived tired and in need of rest at at 1230 at the guest house after a crazy but highly productive morning sorting her visa (the location for visa collection was around 30 mins away direct by car and by bus and walking was around 1.5 hours so heading off to the other side of the island for a casual walk was now not an option). So we scrapped walking and decided that instead we would action heading back to Langkawi to transfer by boat into Thailand the following day. So, I left Greta to have a well earned rest and shower and ventured out instead on a mission. Sum total of list of things to sort was a ferry to Langkawi for first thing in the morning, a taxi to get us from the Guest House to the ferry port at 7am, call Langkawi to see if they had my phone and perhaps sort car hire, organise an onward ferry to Kohlipe for the afternoon from Langkawi, oh….. and scooters for immediate hire to get us to the said visa collection point and for a spot of sightseeing in Penang before night fall. I do love a time pressured organisational challenge.
First point of contact I hit a blank on all points due to availability, lack of phone answering, incorrect numbers and more. On top of that Greta was sugar crashing when I arrived back to her in our room. So priority shifted to us getting food for Grets and working out an alternative to get us to Georgetown in time to get Greta’s passport or we wouldn’t be going anywhere! I sent Greta off to get food from the shops at the end of the road and got back to the missions.
After sorting the ferry, the taxi for the morning, two returns to the room for more ferry ticket money (this getting about lark is expensive) and then for my passport to hire scooters (note – you need passports here, apparently they don’t care about licences!) and the car hire company with my phone not answering meaning that no onward ferry was required… my list had diminished to immediate concerns. I met back up with Greta who after a few more minutes sitting in the shade and me force feeding banana and water was feeling much better. It was now getting too late to get the bus, and after the second try at scooter hire had been unfruitful I started to get a strong sense that we were not supposed to be getting a scooter.
This sent me off on a crazy mind train to check in with myself to see if it was just my fear of being responsible for Greta on the back of the said scooter in the imminent rush hour of crazy noholdsbarred Malaysian driving, or if it was my intuition talking. Knowing which is which can sometimes be a real challenge.
Anyway, hitting the main road post Greta eating we didn’t find the 3rd contact – a travel agent I was sent to for scooter hire by the 2nd contact. There was a bus waiting at the side of the road but in my mess of intuition or not intuition questioning we didn’t take it. More questioning and self analysing ensued. Was that the right decision? Should we be on the bus? Should we try and get a cab? Am I just scared? Maybe I should face my fears and just get a scooter? Perhaps we should hire a car, then we would be at least protected in the crazy traffic? But still Greta would need to navigate, so the chances of ending up in China and probably falling out with us being in a rush trying to get to the visa office in time was super high. Which left no options. And time was ticking.
I spotted a scooter and car hire place and after conflabbing about my fears with Greta and trying to see if I could work out if it was fear or intuition we decided to see how much each option was. And then see how we felt.
A man outside, sitting on a plastic chair next door, asked if we needed a ride. We said no thank you, checked out the scooters and asked him if he knew how much. He directed us inside the car and scooter place, as if he was only interested in if we needed a ride, 25 MYR per hour 5 hours minimum he said. Now, in Malaysia you get asked this a LOT. Being white and female, we get several people an hour curb crawling us in unmarked cars offering “taxi”. We were focussed on our goal so with a thanks but no thanks to the seemingly random man, we headed inside.
We got the costs. A scooter 40 MYR (about 8/9 euro) and a self drive car 120 MYR (about 21 euro). Then the man behind the counter offered us a car with driver. As he said this, the man came in from outside and he referred to him. I can offer this at 25 per hour 4 hours minimum. Making it 100 MYR. All of a sudden the “dodgy” taxi offering man from outside who didn’t appear to be connected to the company was now seemingly the better option. A quick discussion ensued. No scooter riding, no fears, no ending up in China, and no pressure on us, just on him to get us there in time. We took it.
A quick trip next door for some lunch to keep us going and we were off.
Now we were both sitting in the back. Not touching as normal (partly out of respect to the culture and partly not to give the said random man now driving us any weird ideas – we had already been scarred with a guy wanking openly at us less than a metre away in our first 30 mins on the island, and a tidal wave of “taxi” offerers and leerers everywhere we go – and this is when we aren’t touching!). It was HOT even with all the windows open and my usual struggle with being cooped up in the back of a car was being heightened with my “we would be on a scooter with wind in our hair if I wasn’t such a pussy” thoughts and also due to being told to keep my arms in the car as its apparently a signal you are asking the Police to come in Malaysia. Great. Hot and sweaty and grumpy with myself and not even able to hold Greta’s hand. Grump grump grump.
We arrived at the visa place a few frustrating detours around traffic jams later (the scooters were just whizzing past in the gaps just to rub it in). I told Greta I was going to sit with the trees a bit so went off for a wander while she checked to see if she could pick her passport up. Thankfully we were 20 mins early with our driver man knowing all the back routes. After a little plant and bird loving I was assessing what was inside me, I wanted to go back and get a scooter for the rest of the day, to get out of the car and be free, and to face my fears. Not be stuck in the hot car with the man trying to get us to go to all his friends’ places and not being able to touch. But rationally he was the best option and now we had arrived safely and still had him to guide us through the town to the temples we wanted to see when we had limited time. I was just frustrated with myself for letting my fears beat me and frustrated I felt I had lost the flow.
Greta had to wait for her passport so came over to see how I was doing, so we sat under a tree together and I expressed all. We decided to just stick with the driver. And I would just have to get over my coopedupness and self frustrations. Not the end of the world now is it Gayle. Choices have been made and even if I felt I was off the flow I just had to trust this was what was supposed to be happening and the universe would sort it all out.
After a successful queuing and picking up of the visa we headed back to the car. We sneakily held hands in the back like school kids and asked him to take us to the temples. By the time I got to the temple I was feeling much better. The car wasn’t so bad after all and the man seemed nice enough.
We arrived at the temple and he said take our time he would wait outside.
The Buddhist Wat in Georgetown was incredible.
Beautiful decor and amazing godheads and Buddhas. We bought candles and incense and spent almost an hour wandering the different temples and prayer areas in silence. I gave offerings and prayed a lot, asking to receive more teachings on just surrendering even when I am struggling to trust. The place was incredibly humbling and I was filled with love and contentment.
We both got back in the car like new people. Awash with openness and quiet glowing.
He told us we would not make the second temple and to the National Park before his time was up so if we wanted to still do that we would have to pay extra. We thanked him but decided we would just go straight to the National Park. At least then we would still get to walk and he could drop us there within his 4 hours. So we headed out.
Greta fell asleep in the car. And I got chatting to the driver. After a few slightly awkward first sentences my usual openness with people returned with a vengeance and we got chatting about his family and then Hinduism and meditation. Our enthusiastic chatting about meditation woke Greta up and she joined in. We started talking about synchronicity, divine intervention, living from the heart and how he felt it was perfect he was driving us on this day and how it’s hard to speak to people normally about these things or they think you are ”weird”. All of a sudden this man I had been so cagey with was turning into a friend; very quickly. We were all talking fast, enjoying each other’s lessons and sharings, stories of life, oneness and living in surrender, about his project he was researching to give support to the people here who need it the most. He said he would like to stay in touch so we can share and inspire one another along the path of life. That when we work together, share our experiences and learnings we will be strong.
On the way there he took us to eat Durian (a local delicacy of fruit that costs a ridiculous amount, smells like sick but tastes like creamy wonderfulness) simply because we mentioned it and would not let us pay. He said for him to meet people like us it was a blessing for him and to give is to receive. That we are all here to help each other live a little better. We got lots of free samples from the man he took us to, and enjoyed all the local fruits. We bought some to have after the walk.
We arrived at the National Park and they would not let us in. Apparently the afterhours dusk walk we had somehow managed the night before was strictly forbidden but SK (by now we knew his name) offered to take us somewhere else as we had an hour on the clock. We requested jungle and forest. The forests here are incredible. He said he knew exactly where to take us.
We drove through the rainforest, high into the mountains and with the beauty surrounding us and the noises of the forest coming through the window, the wind in my hair as I hung my head out to breathe the fresh air and the amazing teachings pouring from this humble man my heart and soul felt alive. He reminded me in many ways of Prabhu. A guru in Bali who guides me strongly.
We arrived at a corner in the road, where his friend owned a spice stall. Alarm bells rang slightly but I disregarded them, this man was genuine, no doubt about it.
We got out the car and SK made us listen. We could hear a waterfall. He led us to where we could wash our faces and hands from a pipe direct from the waterfall then led us off a narrow path into the forest. It was beautiful. The rainforest was dense and abundant, the plants were thriving and full of life, the river flowing past us was full, and the sounds of the waterfall and cicadas and birds filled the air as we climbed around the rocks along the path up to the head of where the waterfall was. It had begun to rain and the wet forest was shining as we reached the end of the path. A waterfall was falling into a pool and after clambering the last few big rocks and asking him if he would be offended, I took my clothes off and jumped in. The water was cold against my skin and I stood up in the pool and faced the sky. With the rain falling, the wet dense forest around and the sound of the waterfall I was swept into a powerful moment of gratitude. And humbleness. It began to rain harder. Greta joined me in the pool, standing facing the sky in the rain, she shone brightly with the same inner glow. She looked beautiful. My heart was overflowing. I wanted to kiss her and a fleeting moment of frustration ran through me. But as we got out and dressed in our clothes. SK said it didn’t matter about the car and led us back to the roadside, guiding us carefully through the rocks the best way he knew so we didn’t get hurt. His constant mindset of love and care was an example to live by in every second.
Back in the car we drove back down the mountains towards Batu Ferrengi, where we were staying and where he had brought us from. No one was looking at the time anymore and with our windows open we all enjoyed the last few moments of forest driving, talking and reflections. He was sharing with us lesson after lesson that he had learned.
A wonderful openhearted giving man with a heart the size of the earth, this gentle man had quickly become my teacher and brought my trivial worries of the morning into embarrassing scale. How could I have been so wrong about this man? I had been so lost in my thoughts in the morning that I had gone from the KNOWing and TRUSTing in what was coming, I had been lost from reading the signs that in all the years of travel have kept me on track and provided me with the most incredible amazing experiences with random people in random places. Everything had led us to this man.
And to top it all I had not seen the beauty in him, through my fears and my protection. In EXPECTING him to be the same as another I had judged him unfairly, and not been as open with him as I could have been. What if I had missed this amazing opportunity and connection through my fears and cageyness. I saw the HUGE difference between an outcome that can occur from fear based actions and one born from trust and open heartedness. And what a difference it is. I am not saying to put yourself at risk. But to be conscious to silence your mind wherever you can, and let your heart be your guide.
He has humbled me in a way that even now brings tears to my eyes whenever I think of it. The most powerful lesson and reminder in the benefit of staying open, in the beauty and wonder of giving love for no return and in what comes when you surrender to the Divine. To trust the flow wholeheartedly as it happens.
A great example of a beautiful soul who loves to give, I learned a lot from SK in a few hours, and hope to continue to do so as we stay in touch.
I hope this story gives you some learning, resonates with something inside you. And perhaps, just perhaps makes you consider what COULD be waiting for you if you just step out of your mind, breathe, trust, and give your heart openly.
Much love to all
Gayle
xxxxx