we drove more than 9 hours to arrive at tasik kenyir, terengganu. it was a needed and needful break. we dispensed with all the usual luxury and crashed onto a houseboat. trekked into bat caves and felt the fright of temporal darkness. certain spirits remained. ignoring those whispers, we bathed & soaked by ice-cool waterfalls 
and endured soiled-moist days & chills of tropic falls. mr pang, our reliable skipper, caught freshwater fish and ordered them cooked them by the lake. and macik dished out plates of nasi lemak, catfish curry, ulam, tomyam and nasi goreng within the span of 3 full days. kept our bellies full. we wondered how a floating kampung of sorts could keep us safe from primeval hantus and age-old apparitions who will always nest cuddled within the tepid folds that line the crown of malayan trees. we live by the calendar of daily rain, dusk and mists...led by cicada song, turquoise hues and jungled rivers that tempt the soul with quiet, we pause in the weary centre of existence and find heaviness fogged into oblivion. 
Unknown to us, there are moments
When crevices we cannot see open
For time to come alive with beginning...
when breeze becomes gold in a day.
Delighted to be so high
Above the lives where we dwell,
Together for a while
From the other sides of the world,
Sensing each other...
The echoes take us
To the heart of the mountains.
When the silence closes,
You say, Now that they
Have called our names back
The mountains can
Never forget us.
adapted: john o'donohue's conamara blues
