Kryptonite

A quote from someone I continue to aspire towards


Which is stronger
having something to protect or having nothing to lose…




- Hok



守るべきものを持つ者と失うものが無い者では一体どちらが強いのだろうか。。。



-北斗

Trials and Tribulations: Part 2

I have never been a patriot by any sense of the means and I've always played down my cultural heritage. I spent majority of my childhood in Indonesia and I gotta admit we had it pretty good while we lived there. We lived in the "priveleged" part of Jakarta along with all the other expatriots. We had a fountain in front of our house, maids, drivers, hell I even had my own maid. Travelling was pretty common for me even back then but even then we still lived in comfort. Before we moved to Australia we spent a year in Sri Lanka. I guess that was my first taste of the real world.

When your young you seem to just accept things for what they are, you never question them. Looking back on that year I had a hell of a childhood. We had a pretty shotty house compared to the one back in Indonesia. I remember one day going to the cupboard to grab a towel so I could have a bath. I stuck my little hand in the dark cupboard and pulled on something fleshy. Turns out it was a fat ass rat, rabies and all. It tried to bite me, but my ninja reflexes saved me hahaha. Amongst the rats, there were constant blackouts and floods. I remember looking out the window one day to see a cow floating down the street and yes I thought that was a normal sight.

There would be military at the entrance to every suburb, every store. They were bloody everywhere. Stories of bombs, death and corruption filled the newspapers everyday.


Yet I don't think anything has affected Sri Lanka more than the 2004 tsunami. There was no family that wasn't affected in some way. That photo was taken in 2008, on the same beach that the tsunami struck and to this day it remains unused and abandoned in light of what happened all those years ago.

I never, ever speak of my Sri Lankan heritage but I guess for anybody that can take the time to read my blog its only courtesy to share. I am from the mountainous region of Kandy, in central Sri Lanka as well as the Southern coastal region of Galle(where photo was taken). I come from a long line of hardworking farmers. There are sides to Sri Lanka I adore, yet most I abhor. I guess I just don't mix well with Sri Lankan culture. One thing I learnt from that beach and one thing I am proud to say is that Sri Lankan people will always wear a smile, even in the face of adversity and since that day I've done my best to do the same.

Later Days
Sukhi

Trials and Tribulations: Part 1

The past months have been interesting ones. I'd like to think I have grown up enough to think rather than life simply being "shit" its all just a bunch of experiences to take us to a conclusion we should have arrived at so many years ago.

I can't help but feel blessed, having the chance to see and experience so many countries and as cliche as it sounds a picture paints a thousand words.  These next pictures are no work of art but gave me some sense of clarity and more importantly gave me some sense of purpose. I hope it will do the same for you.

My first view of Scandonavia, I never thought a place so untouched could exist. People describe Australia as barren, a land heavy hearted from its experiences. If that were true Sweeden is a land pristine and so so very different

apologies for not looking my best in this one, no amount of photoshop can mask how bloody hot it is in China. I must say China is an incredibly country the streets smell, road rules are a thing of the past, its always such a flurry of events. In spite of it all the people I met in China were of uncompromised honesty. On a 38 degree day, with 90% humidity my parents made plans for "sightseeing". Suffice to say the polluted streets of China aren't the most enjoyable. Lunch that day was an array of oily, fried meat. Any source of vegetables had to be fleshed out from those very very oily pieces of meat and like the miserly bastard he is all my dad could say to me was "son i payed bloody good money for this, your eating it all".

I guess we all agree that the worsed part of throwing up is waiting for it but that day it came as unexpectetedly as anything. Our tour group just arrived at the emporers summer palace, yet like I said the spew came out of nowhere. I huddled in a corner, I remeber the fleeting thought if this were a few thousand years ago they'd have my head. So as the fried chicken was about to make an encore the local Chinese huddled around me. I couldn't help but think its bad enough im about to chunder they didn't need to watch.

Out of nowhere i was thrusted with some vile smelling herbal medicine and farout it was like magic. After that they helped me up and made sure I was better. These are people who didn't know a word of english, let alone know who I was. It was a genuine compassion thats so foreign back home in Aus where everyone turns a blind eye to the guy walking their dog on the street, or the girl sleeping on the bus.

That photo I took was in a teashop in Beijin(took it after i chundered). The person standing next to me taught me all i know about tea. She was honest and a character in her own right just like everybody else in China. It was such a refreshing country, i'd love to go back.

Religion has given me some purpose in life. I'm certainly not the type to go about converting the masses, but when things were tough I always had the people in my temple. This was a photo from 2009, i'd come to the end of a long retreat at my temple in peats ridge. It was a week where every given moment was spent in meditation, strictly 2 meals a day, no talking, no heaters(the temperature was 3 degrees celcius on the "hottest" day) but it taught to appreciate the little things. I was the youngest person on that retreat, yet to this day every person in that photo remains a friend, an aunt, an uncle. They are people I can rely on each and every day and for that I am so thankful.

on a less important note I shaved my head for the first time 2 days after this photo was taken =0

I was meant to upload more photoes with relevent stories, but its late and sleep makes the world go round. Night all

Later Days
Sukhi