Iceland

Flaajokull

We got to Iceland 4 days ago and it has been jammed pack with awesomeness. We picked up our 4WD rental from the airport and headed for the Ring Road. We covered a lot of grounds in the first 3 days - Geysir, Gullfoss, Seljalandfoss, Dyrholaey, Reynisfjara, Skogafoss, Svinafellskogull, Fjallsarlon, Diamond Beach, and Jokulsarlon. My advice to anyone planning a trip here is to give yourself enough time so that you don't have to skip any of these places. Words can't describe these places so I won't attempt to.

We were expecting Day 4 to be slower. There isn't that much to do or see in Hofn itself. We decided to go to a nearby farm which had a petting zoo. Turned out that the zoo doesn't open for another 2 days. But the owner was very kind to let us walk around the farm so the kids got to see goats, sheep, duck, chicken, and a lovely cat and golden retriever. Later we went to a guesthouse which offers horse-riding. The person who offers horse-riding wasn't around so we introduced ourselves to the horses instead. My son who was nervous about touching the horses managed to give one of them a tiny pet on the head. My daughter who is comfortable with horses changed her mind about horse-riding because the horses didn't smell so good. The petting zoo and horse- riding didn't quite go as planned but the visits didn't turn out to be epic fails. 

We decided to spend the afternoon to visit Flaajokull, the smallest glacier tongue in the Vatnajokull National Park. It was a long and bumpy ride on the gravel road leading to the carpark. From the carpark, there is a sign-posted path - meant to be an easy hike right to the face of the glacier. It was easy enough for the kids to do even though they complaint about the distance. After close to an hour of walking we got to the lake in front of the glacier. My wife stayed with the kids who wanted to play at the lake. The glacier looked like it was 20 minutes away from where we were so I continued with the hike. But after 10 minutes, the path ended abruptly, possible destroyed by a rockslide. So I went back to join my family at the lake for a snack. On our drive back, we saw a pack of reindeers.

We rounded off the day with a wonderful dinner at a cosy restaurant in Hofn called Nyhorn. Lamb chop for the kids whilst my wife and I had smoked cod. I would recommend this Scandinavian restaurant to anyone passing by Hofn. The day didn't go quite as planned, but it was way better than I had expected.

Looking forward to the rest of the holiday!

Hurray to Malaysia

Truly a historic week for Malaysia. The ex-PM at the age of 92, rallies the people to overthrow a horrendously corrupt regime. In less than 20 years, Malaysia had regressed from being a leading moderate Islamic country to a country where religion was used to divide and a veil for cronyism. Credible leaders and thinkers highly regarded by the international community were replaced with amoral puppets.  Now the man who masterminded the industrialisation of Malaysia has salvaged the country from the brink of hopelessness. Harapan is aflame. 

Had Najibism been more discreet, would it have triggered the People's Tsunami? It took many hard knocks before the country mustered enough willpower to fight this Goliath. Yet I am not clear whether this is a fight for how things used to be or how things ought to be (or is how things used to be how things ought to be?). Is it too soon to ask this question or will it be too late to do anything about it once the wheels of politics starts turning again?  Will meritocracy at least be in the front seat even if it isn't ever going to be centre stage?  It is a good start that for the first time in 60 years a non-Bumiputra  with a proven track record  has been entrusted with the role of Finance Minister. There needs to be trust that meritocracy is about getting the best people to do the right thing so that everyone prospers - everything that Najibism stood against.

The citizens of Chinese and Indian descent are very proud to call themselves Malaysians. For those of them who work in Singapore, you can sense how proud they are of their origins and citizenship. The fact that they have been treated as second class in Malaysia does not stop them from being every bit true Malaysians. They have been in Malaysia for many generations and for many more generations to come. They don't have any other place to call home. My siblings are Malaysians so I know this too well. Rather than feeling indignant, they have been faithfully praying for change in the country. 

Reformasi is a journey and some things will take time to change. But I hope that Malaysians won't allow complacency to set in. The PM is 92 and with all due respect, there isn't a 3rd return if things go dreadfully wrong again in 50 years time. There are jokes about how relieved people are that they no longer have to attend a Bersih rally. But actually the door is now just open so that the cleaning up work can start.