Onsdag 12 November 2008
So I and Alfiya went to this lovely place in august. After a 300 km car trip over the Urals , from Ufa to the Asian side, we landed in the Von Grad Resort & Spa in Chelyabinsk area. The lake Turgajak is called "Little Bajkal" for its clear and clean water. This is a remarkable geological area, where the earth magnetism is higher than anywhere else. Tha lake is beautyful and the nature too. It´s almost swedish, but with considerably better summer-weather of course.
Hotel and facilities were really lovely, and the friendly atmosphere too. Very relaxing indeed.
Hotel and facilities were really lovely, and the friendly atmosphere too. Very relaxing indeed.
Lördag 24 November 2007
In Utanede, about 20 km from my home, in the forrest close to the river Indalsälven you can find one of the real great anomalies in Sweden. The only Royal Thai Pavillion outside Thailand lies there as a memorial building for king Rama V or Chulalongkorn, as he was called. He visited this area in 1897 when the World Fair was held in Sweden. His name was left in the memory of the locals thanks to the name on a short stretch of road that King Chulalongkorn walked on his way to the flat-bottomed boat that was transporting him and his three sons downstreams Indalsälven, after having paid a visit to Sollefteå and surrounding areas. In 1975 a dance troup visited Bispgården, where this place is situated, and when they were asked if they would like to visit King Chulalongkorns Road , they didn´t believe their ears. King Chulalongkorn is almost considered a God in Thailand. He was the one to abolish the slavery, and also the bigamy (although he himself had about 30 wifes and a hundred kids... He died at the age of 57, I believe....)
After the visit from this dance troup rumour about this place reached Thailand, and the story began. After a number of years the pavillion stood ready at its place, greeting the Thai and the Swedish, and beeing the most remarkable memorial I believe in Sweden.
Look it up at : http://www.ragunda.se:81/thaipav/paviljong/pav_frame2.html
http://www.orbville.com/member/penang/bilder/82949 http://www.orbville.com/member/penang/bilder/80449
After the visit from this dance troup rumour about this place reached Thailand, and the story began. After a number of years the pavillion stood ready at its place, greeting the Thai and the Swedish, and beeing the most remarkable memorial I believe in Sweden.
Look it up at : http://www.ragunda.se:81/thaipav/paviljong/pav_frame2.html
http://www.orbville.com/member/penang/bilder/82949 http://www.orbville.com/member/penang/bilder/80449
Torsdag 22 November 2007
Went down to GC in december last year. Since we come from two different directions Alfiya and I, we have to make some really good travel planning before we go. Once the trip has started we don´t really know if it is possible at all to get in touch during the trip. Normally SMS is reliable, but when it comes to Spain, one never knows for sure. I brought along my business telephone with a Tele2 card in it, and I might as well have thrown it away at the Canaries, since it didn´t work properly in any place on GC. Well, now it happened that we were to meet in Cran Canaria, at the airport around 1.45 on the night between the 30th and the 31st of december. But now things started to go out of hands. First my flight (and I found out later that hers as well) were hours delayed, although it was a regular flight - due to a terrorist attack at Barajas Airport in Madrid.. Everybody that has experienced this type of events knows the consequenses when it comes to delays.. Well, I tried of course in Barajas to SMS Alfiya, but noway Tele2 had made this possible thru´its spanish roaming partners, so I left for GC. Once arriving in GC the first thing I had to do was to check when Alfiya was going to arrive. First we had her Iberia flight from Moscow to Madrid - delayed - and then which flight she would arrive on to GC. Now I found out that the informations desk at the international airport at Gran Canaria is a place where people only speak spanish, if they even bother to answer when you´re asking... So I just couldn´t get any information from them, although I do speak some spanish, had all the flight times and numbers at hand, and the name of the passenger Alfiya. They just didn´t care to help. They said that you´ll just have to wait and see what flight she will arrive on.... I mean - there are flights coming and leaving GC every second minute all around the clock...
Finally at 4 in the afternoon on the 31st of january I saw my love inside the customs area, and after a while we were together! We went directly to the apartment to sleep, after some 14 hours delay, and woke up a quarter to twelwe on New Years Eve. We opened the champagne, and stood on the balcony (Alfiya wearing my clothes since her bags were missing) and really enjoyed each others company, the warm soft night, the fantastic fireworks and just beeing there and together and in love. http://www.orbville.com/member/penang/bilder/81834 http://www.orbville.com/member/penang/bilder/81845
Finally at 4 in the afternoon on the 31st of january I saw my love inside the customs area, and after a while we were together! We went directly to the apartment to sleep, after some 14 hours delay, and woke up a quarter to twelwe on New Years Eve. We opened the champagne, and stood on the balcony (Alfiya wearing my clothes since her bags were missing) and really enjoyed each others company, the warm soft night, the fantastic fireworks and just beeing there and together and in love. http://www.orbville.com/member/penang/bilder/81834 http://www.orbville.com/member/penang/bilder/81845
Måndag 19 November 2007
Firefly is a Malaysia based low-fare airline company, based in Penang, that flies around SEA on a daily basis.
Firefly Airlines is the only airline connecting Malaysia's northern Penang state, Koh Samui and Phuket (in Thailand).
Penang - Kota Bahru (twice daily)
Penang - Langkawi (twice daily)
Penang - Kuantan (twice daily)
Penang - Kuala Terengganu (twice daily)
Penang - Phuket (daily)
Penang - Koh Samui (daily)
WEB: http://www.fireflyz.com.my/
Firefly Airlines is the only airline connecting Malaysia's northern Penang state, Koh Samui and Phuket (in Thailand).
Penang - Kota Bahru (twice daily)
Penang - Langkawi (twice daily)
Penang - Kuantan (twice daily)
Penang - Kuala Terengganu (twice daily)
Penang - Phuket (daily)
Penang - Koh Samui (daily)
WEB: http://www.fireflyz.com.my/
Lördag 17 November 2007
Thousands of different teachings!
Although Muhammad the prophet taught one single teaching, there are maybe thousands of teachings today that are all claiming to be Islam? This division has caused millions of fatalities. In limiting our reading to religious works, we went astray in the world, writes Mahathir bin Mohamad, Prime Minister of Malaysia 1981-2003.
Islam astray in the world
Children often play a game where they sit together in a shape of a circle. One of them whispers something to the child sitting next to him, who repeats the story to the next child and so on until it has made its way all the way around. When the information returns to the first child, its content has changed completely. Something similar has happened within Islam.
Muhammad the prophet preached one single teaching. Yet, today there are maybe a thousand teachings that all claim to be Islam.
Muslims, divided as they are between different interpretations, no longer play the part they once did in the world. The conflict between Sunni and Shia is so deep, that both sides condemn the other as being apostate, kafir. The idea that the faith of the other is not Islam, and its followers not Muslims, has instigated civil wars that have caused the death of millions of people, and still take lives.
Even within Sunni and Shia there are more fractions. The Sunni Muslims have got four imams and the Shia Muslims twelve. They all preach differently. Besides these there are other fractions, the Drusians, Alawis and Wahhabis included. Our Ulama (religious teachers) teaches us that their words are not to be questioned. Islam is a faith. Its rules must be obeyed. Logic and reason has no application.
But what are we to believe when every branch of Islam claims all the others are wrong? After all, the Koran is one book, not two or three or a thousand books.
According to the Koran, a Muslim is a person who testifies that " there is no deity worthy of worship except than Allah and Mohammad is his Rasul (messenger)." But the unity of our faith has been broken since we Muslims like to add conditions coming from other sources than the Koran.
Perhaps the biggest problem after all is the increasing isolation of Islamic savants from the rest of the world today - and from great areas of Islamic life. We live in a time of science, when man can see around corners, hear and see such things as what happens in space and clone animals. All this seems to oppose our faith according to the Koran. This is because those interpreting the Koran are only scholars in a religious sense, and thus lack the ability to understand the miracles of science today.
The fatwa's (verdicts of Islamic law) they proclaim seem unreasonable and unacceptable by those oriented in science. One Islamic scholar, for instance, refused to accept that a human being had landed on the moon.
Others say earth was created 2000 years ago. The age and size of the universe measured in light years are such things impossible to grasp by a solely religiously educated Ulama. This lack is, to a great extent, to blame for the misery of so many Muslims. The murders and the humiliation of Muslims today occur because we are weak, as opposed to in ancient times.
We can consider ourselves victims and criticize the oppressors, but to stop them we will have to reflect upon ourselves. We must change for our own good. We cannot demand of our detractors to change themselves so that we can have it better.
So what do we need to do? A long time ago Muslims were strong because of their knowledge and education. Muhammad's order was to read, but the Koran doesn't specify what to read? In those days there was actually no Muslim knowledge to talk about, so to read meant reading whatever was available.
The first Muslims read the works of the great Greek scientists, mathematicians and philosophers. They also studied the written works of the Persians, the Indians and the Chinese. The result was the flourishing of science and mathematics.
Muslim savants contributed to the general knowledge and developed new subjects like astronomy and geography, and new branches of mathematics. They introduced numbers that made simple and infinite calculations possible.
But around the fifteenth century the Islamic savants began limiting scientific studies. They started studying religion only and steady fasting arguments that only he, who studies religion, Islamic judicial law in particular, will be rewarded in the afterlife.
This resulted in an intellectual degeneration at the same time Europe became interested in science and mathematics. So, when Muslims went backwards from an intellectual point of view, Europeans started their renaissance, developing different methods to satisfy their needs, which included the development of weapons with the help of which they could dominate the world.
The Muslims, on the other hand, weakened their capacity to defend themselves, in a disastrous manner, through turning away from, or even deprecating studies of such profanities as science and mathematics.
This nearsightedness stays one of the main reasons for the oppression that today's Muslims suffer from. Many Muslims still condemn Mustafa Kamal, the modern founder of Turkey, for having tried to modernise his country. But would Turkey be a Muslim country today without Atatürk? The clear vision of Mustafa Kamal saved Islam in Turkey as well as Turkey for Islam.
The inability to understand and interpret the true and fundamental message in the Koran has brought nothing but misery to the Muslims. When limiting our reading to religious works and disregarding modern science, we destroyed the Islamic civilisation and went astray in the world.
The Koran says: "Allah will not change our unhappy situation if we ourselves do not make an effort to change it. " Many Muslims don' t know this still. Instead they only pray to Allah to save us, to give us back our lost splendour.
But the Koran is not a talisman to hang around the neck to protect us against evil. Allah helps those who develop their mind.
Although Muhammad the prophet taught one single teaching, there are maybe thousands of teachings today that are all claiming to be Islam? This division has caused millions of fatalities. In limiting our reading to religious works, we went astray in the world, writes Mahathir bin Mohamad, Prime Minister of Malaysia 1981-2003.
Islam astray in the world
Children often play a game where they sit together in a shape of a circle. One of them whispers something to the child sitting next to him, who repeats the story to the next child and so on until it has made its way all the way around. When the information returns to the first child, its content has changed completely. Something similar has happened within Islam.
Muhammad the prophet preached one single teaching. Yet, today there are maybe a thousand teachings that all claim to be Islam.
Muslims, divided as they are between different interpretations, no longer play the part they once did in the world. The conflict between Sunni and Shia is so deep, that both sides condemn the other as being apostate, kafir. The idea that the faith of the other is not Islam, and its followers not Muslims, has instigated civil wars that have caused the death of millions of people, and still take lives.
Even within Sunni and Shia there are more fractions. The Sunni Muslims have got four imams and the Shia Muslims twelve. They all preach differently. Besides these there are other fractions, the Drusians, Alawis and Wahhabis included. Our Ulama (religious teachers) teaches us that their words are not to be questioned. Islam is a faith. Its rules must be obeyed. Logic and reason has no application.
But what are we to believe when every branch of Islam claims all the others are wrong? After all, the Koran is one book, not two or three or a thousand books.
According to the Koran, a Muslim is a person who testifies that " there is no deity worthy of worship except than Allah and Mohammad is his Rasul (messenger)." But the unity of our faith has been broken since we Muslims like to add conditions coming from other sources than the Koran.
Perhaps the biggest problem after all is the increasing isolation of Islamic savants from the rest of the world today - and from great areas of Islamic life. We live in a time of science, when man can see around corners, hear and see such things as what happens in space and clone animals. All this seems to oppose our faith according to the Koran. This is because those interpreting the Koran are only scholars in a religious sense, and thus lack the ability to understand the miracles of science today.
The fatwa's (verdicts of Islamic law) they proclaim seem unreasonable and unacceptable by those oriented in science. One Islamic scholar, for instance, refused to accept that a human being had landed on the moon.
Others say earth was created 2000 years ago. The age and size of the universe measured in light years are such things impossible to grasp by a solely religiously educated Ulama. This lack is, to a great extent, to blame for the misery of so many Muslims. The murders and the humiliation of Muslims today occur because we are weak, as opposed to in ancient times.
We can consider ourselves victims and criticize the oppressors, but to stop them we will have to reflect upon ourselves. We must change for our own good. We cannot demand of our detractors to change themselves so that we can have it better.
So what do we need to do? A long time ago Muslims were strong because of their knowledge and education. Muhammad's order was to read, but the Koran doesn't specify what to read? In those days there was actually no Muslim knowledge to talk about, so to read meant reading whatever was available.
The first Muslims read the works of the great Greek scientists, mathematicians and philosophers. They also studied the written works of the Persians, the Indians and the Chinese. The result was the flourishing of science and mathematics.
Muslim savants contributed to the general knowledge and developed new subjects like astronomy and geography, and new branches of mathematics. They introduced numbers that made simple and infinite calculations possible.
But around the fifteenth century the Islamic savants began limiting scientific studies. They started studying religion only and steady fasting arguments that only he, who studies religion, Islamic judicial law in particular, will be rewarded in the afterlife.
This resulted in an intellectual degeneration at the same time Europe became interested in science and mathematics. So, when Muslims went backwards from an intellectual point of view, Europeans started their renaissance, developing different methods to satisfy their needs, which included the development of weapons with the help of which they could dominate the world.
The Muslims, on the other hand, weakened their capacity to defend themselves, in a disastrous manner, through turning away from, or even deprecating studies of such profanities as science and mathematics.
This nearsightedness stays one of the main reasons for the oppression that today's Muslims suffer from. Many Muslims still condemn Mustafa Kamal, the modern founder of Turkey, for having tried to modernise his country. But would Turkey be a Muslim country today without Atatürk? The clear vision of Mustafa Kamal saved Islam in Turkey as well as Turkey for Islam.
The inability to understand and interpret the true and fundamental message in the Koran has brought nothing but misery to the Muslims. When limiting our reading to religious works and disregarding modern science, we destroyed the Islamic civilisation and went astray in the world.
The Koran says: "Allah will not change our unhappy situation if we ourselves do not make an effort to change it. " Many Muslims don' t know this still. Instead they only pray to Allah to save us, to give us back our lost splendour.
But the Koran is not a talisman to hang around the neck to protect us against evil. Allah helps those who develop their mind.
Lördag 17 November 2007
My name on Orbville is choosen from the fact that Penang in Malaysia is "my second home". Penang is a fascinating state in Malaysia, and for those of you wanting a hub for exploring SEA , it´s a good choice. Why not read more about Penang? Wikipedia has a good page on Penang with the address (click on blog to see address) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penang
Read all about it !
Read all about it !
Torsdag 15 November 2007
I came to a turning point in life. What are the most important things in my life I asked myself. I came to the conclusion that my fine apartment, my brand new car, my cable-TV bills , my restaurant and pub-visits and the shopping weighed like a feather. The important things were 1) Love 2) Health 3) Environment 4) Close friends & the kids 5) Silence 6) Fresh air 7) Good economy 8) Travels 9) Small bills 10) Good food...
So, where could this be found and realised? I sold out everything, my houses on the coast, my new car, my apartment and a lot of things -possessions that I didn´t own - they owned me! I bought my uncles small mountain hut, rebuilt it, installed winter water, shower, toilet, rebuilt the road and now I´ve been here for three years happier than ever before. I go abroad when I want to, I have friends in the village, I have my woman on-line every night and we meet whenever we want to, to spend quality time together. The environment is gorgeous, it´s completely dark in the night only the stars are shining, I can see the tracks of the lynx passing by my house, a stray reindeer passes by once and awhile, I stick-walk in the village evry day, my creativty is better than ever. The fish in the river tasts just fine, so does the berries I pick in the autumn. I´m fine now. I really am. http://www.orbville.com/member/penang/bilder/80455 http://www.orbville.com/member/penang/bilder/80458 http://www.orbville.com/member/penang/bilder/80452 http://www.orbville.com/member/penang/bilder/80446 http://www.orbville.com/member/penang/bilder/80453
So, where could this be found and realised? I sold out everything, my houses on the coast, my new car, my apartment and a lot of things -possessions that I didn´t own - they owned me! I bought my uncles small mountain hut, rebuilt it, installed winter water, shower, toilet, rebuilt the road and now I´ve been here for three years happier than ever before. I go abroad when I want to, I have friends in the village, I have my woman on-line every night and we meet whenever we want to, to spend quality time together. The environment is gorgeous, it´s completely dark in the night only the stars are shining, I can see the tracks of the lynx passing by my house, a stray reindeer passes by once and awhile, I stick-walk in the village evry day, my creativty is better than ever. The fish in the river tasts just fine, so does the berries I pick in the autumn. I´m fine now. I really am. http://www.orbville.com/member/penang/bilder/80455 http://www.orbville.com/member/penang/bilder/80458 http://www.orbville.com/member/penang/bilder/80452 http://www.orbville.com/member/penang/bilder/80446 http://www.orbville.com/member/penang/bilder/80453
Onsdag 14 November 2007
Went down to Brighton to meet Alfiya for a week-end in july. She goes to GB every year with a bunch of students. They were staying in a very typical English boarding-school. The weather was fine so we could enjoy this very much British sea-side resort. People come down from London every week-end to spend some time in the fresh sea air. Brighton is a nice town, with some very interesting memorials (f.ex. an Air Force and a D-day Museum). For those of you haven´t been here, there is a long stretch of beach - pebblecovered - and a famours pier with some amusement park attractions, gambling halls and stuff like that. All the coast is like some mixture between an amusement park and a museum. It is worth a visit, although I would really recommend a visit between monday to thursday. Come weekend the prices for accomodation rockets, and it can be hard finding a hotel room even.
http://www.orbville.com/member/penang/bilder/79947 http://www.orbville.com/member/penang/bilder/79945 http://www.orbville.com/member/penang/bilder/79943 http://www.orbville.com/member/penang/bilder/79946
http://www.orbville.com/member/penang/bilder/79947 http://www.orbville.com/member/penang/bilder/79945 http://www.orbville.com/member/penang/bilder/79943 http://www.orbville.com/member/penang/bilder/79946
Onsdag 14 November 2007
We try to go to the islands once a year around new-year. Last time we stayed in Playa Inglés on a very nice hotel, booked thru´ Sembo. Weather was nice all the time, a little windy as it often is, but really nice. We spent lots of time on the beach, in the Maspalomas dunes, and going around the island by car. Last summer, as most of you know, GC had some severe fires in the woods from Inglés and Mogan and up towards Cruz de Tejeda in the center of the island. Now we will be going back on the 29th of december to spend a couple of weeks in Puerto Mogàn. Puerto Mogàn is like Venice, a great harbour area, with channels, low-rise buildings, nice restaurants and bars and a good beach. A perfect spot to relax. No wonder The Canaries still keeps its grip on the Scandinavian public, it really is one of few places you can go in wintertime for a short stay.
http://www.orbville.com/member/penang/bilder/79798 http://www.orbville.com/member/penang/bilder/79795 http://www.orbville.com/member/penang/bilder/79791 http://www.orbville.com/member/penang/bilder/79793
http://www.orbville.com/member/penang/bilder/79798 http://www.orbville.com/member/penang/bilder/79795 http://www.orbville.com/member/penang/bilder/79791 http://www.orbville.com/member/penang/bilder/79793
Onsdag 14 November 2007
A city that never sleeps... Take a trip to Moscow! Walk in the Gorkij-park , at Arbat, take a tour on the river, visit the great Cathedral, the clubs, the cultural hot-spots. I first went to Russia in 1968, then I have been there in 1979, 1985, and lately every year. I have been to Siberia, travelled the Trans Siberian Railway, been in Bratsk, Irkutsk, Chabarovsk and St. Petersburg, I have a lovely family there, in Ufa, as beeing Tatars they are ancesters to the great Kublai Khan. Mother Russia is a world to be explored. Don´t hesitate. Go now!
http://www.orbville.com/member/penang/bilder/79700 http://www.orbville.com/member/penang/bilder/79696 http://www.orbville.com/member/penang/bilder/79693 http://www.orbville.com/member/penang/bilder/79691 http://www.orbville.com/member/penang/bilder/79698
http://www.orbville.com/member/penang/bilder/79700 http://www.orbville.com/member/penang/bilder/79696 http://www.orbville.com/member/penang/bilder/79693 http://www.orbville.com/member/penang/bilder/79691 http://www.orbville.com/member/penang/bilder/79698