Five days in Tassie enthralled me. Hobart nestles at the toe of Mount Wellington is the second oldest city in Australia. Relatively small town like Perth but Hobart is more reserve in nature and warm in welcome. There is really nothing much to do there but loads of stuff to behold. I'd say Hobart is a perfect getaway to unwind and to feel the serenity of country life. Launceston, Huon Valley, Derwent Valley and Port Arthur will serve your eyes.
Well, that's not my whole point. Of course you go for a holiday for sight seeing but more importantly is the value that you get from your observation and experience in people's place. A day after I checked-in at Hollydene, came a group of Korean students for a five weeks English course in Uni of Tasmania. I met a couple of them. Communication is quite a problem but we manage to decipher each other somehow after a deep remuneration. Keno was one of them. They told me that Koreans seldom speak English and realizing the importance of English they Uni they are studying in Korea send them to English speaking country to master the language. Well, fair enough. This spaked my mind of the type of investment they country is making. Just like me here under sponsorship, investment for the country's future. They can see the long term effect of today's investment. This is waht we need to develop a country. Terry said that that is the reason why Malaysia is so thriving now.
I was thinking about Saudi Arabia then. They are currently employed about 30000 American, about 15000 British and 2000 Australians expatriates. Where are all the capable Muslims? Are they not given the chance for contribution or merely their talent was not explored? Saudi is a wealthy country in resources. They can builts big highways and flash palaces. Is that where the money gone in the name of developing the country? Physicaly yes but how about morally? King Saud may be does not see the importance in investing in his people because he si too busy obeying America's demand. This is where we are lack in. we can't see the future or at least see what lay ahead the next day.
Keno also told me that it is in their culture that when they elder in the group is moving away, they have to stand up and greet him as a show of respect. This is a real simple stuff but we seldom practice. This is so beautiful if can be incorporated into Malay culture. Sometimes we tend to forget this kind of simple stuff as we are busy thinking and learning the other worldly knowledge. This is the sort of value that we need to take or learn from other culture to further enrich our daily practical life. Most of the time we do not have to think or to look far. Most of the time they are just around us and it is up for us to notice of let it pass unnoticed.
We met Hong Yeh at the Melbourne airport on the way to Hobart and we became friends then rather quickly. We went to visit him in Launceston(2.5 hours north of Hobart) and was quite surprise of his hospitality given the fact that we only met him couple of days ago. It is easy to win friends and it is also easy to loose them. I learn that friends are like pet. You have to always look for them and once you got them, you got to 'cuddle' them with your heart. That are some of the things that I gather from Tasmania and have at least stolen my heart.
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