Skip to main content

Joy Ride onboard CX711

wat was originally a 3.5hour flight to colombo turned how to be a "joyride" at the wrong time of the day. As the cabin lights dimmed; i tot i might as well take a quick nap on board my flight yesterday evening for my first "proper" meditation retreat. As a typical spoiled city dweller mumbling to myself over the over-cooked vegetables on my inflight vegetarian meal; i was too restless to cat nap; let alone sleep even though i was given one of the bext seat ever on a flight! i call it the "excutive economy class" with no seats in front of me and just behind the business class.
About 30mins more to go before the decend; i went to the toilet umpteen times and ask the stwardress "how much longer" (i never liked taking flights; the confined space, the noise, the cabin pressure and the dry air). She cooly replied 1 more hour...Mmmm...i tot we are already been in the air long enough...so i went back to my seat..turn on the cute gadget below my seat(as there aint seats in front of mine) and watch the "flight progress animation"..dats when i found something strange....the cartoon of our plane is actually flying AWAY from colombo!!!
My first tot was maybe we flew too fast so got to pollute the environment more before we can land...but barely 5 mins after that..there was an annoucement by the captain...telling us that we WILL NOT be landing in colombo and the airport was closed indefitely...
Many tots ran through my heads and among them innocent lives will be lost(not mine lah). As i read the news on the Net...we were almost live-targets for sri lanka's air force anti-aircraft artellery! The rest is history...
Just for the record, the airline company called us this morning we can board tonite's flight and WE are going!(apart from 3 who feels this is just too much in a day)
And guess wat? my aircon was left on when i returned home weary and disorientated at 5am...

Comments

Dominic said…
What a ride!

So where are you now?
23 February 2009 at 22:41
Eric Yee said…
yo Torch-bearer, I can't wait to see your photos. Bring a DSL next time yeah? Have a good rest and start to the new week. I'm trying hard to remain mindful and not harbour naughty thoughts :p
1 March 2009 at 20:36
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Truths and Lies

A friend sent me this clip on McCruelty.com recently.... I'm sure this is just the tip of an ice-berg; behind the colours and gleamours of shopping malls and excessive consumerism of the modern human society lies all these "dirty laundry" kept away from the public eye. Another example i can think of is the BIG LIE where we are being programmed that we can just go about our daily lives concentrating on the "Consumption bit" and ignore the Extraction, Production, Distribution that came before that and Disposal that comes after that....It's time we wake up from Truths like "Perceived Obsolescence" and "Planned Obsolescence" McCruelty: I'm Hatin' It--Learn More.
4 comments
Read more

Paramita Meditation Centre

8 years ago in Feb, i made my first maiden trip to this beautiful island nation of 30 million. Today, the pretty busy road that serves the main throughway from Colombo to Kandy has been widen, resurfaced and thus i see even huge tour coaches and container trucks passing by as i stand above about 5 storeys high at the main meditation hall as i start my walking meditation before THE SIT. Yesterday, an american-vietnamese resident nun living here gave me a surprise by giving me a local sarong and a illuminated statue of the buddha; she wished my happy new year as the sinhala new year is on the 13/14 Apr. PMC is located up the granite slopes to mitigate the noise from the traffic; however, the train tracks that probably runs at least 5 times a day is on the same height as the Dhamma Hall. Gotten used to the symphony of train, vehicular traffic and the sound of nature (birds, insects, whispering of the leaves).
Post a Comment
Read more

The Bird Cage

M ore than 3 years ago, when i tasted freedom; tried to fly back into the bird cage recently. Yes, there's a steady and predictable flow of water and food, shelter to protect me from the elements but i lost myself in that process; i was unhappy inside the bird cage... As i look back, I've already know where to forage for food, know where to spend the night (but probably needs to become more mindful to drink enough water and be aware of my breath.) So why on earth do i still yearn to fly back into the cage?
Post a Comment
Read more