Bandung Airport, day 75 of 77, quick simple “lunch”. In travel, sometimes it’s the small simple moments that hit you. Not just the big “epic” train journeys, the glam events or the celebrated people you may meet. This is one moment . Waiting for Air Asia to Singapore… and from there it’s InsyaAllah a home run. The feeling is one of bittersweet , a kind of melancholia. Can’t wait to be home … but also sad that the journey, almost a lifetime of dreaming almost fulfilled, is coming to an end soon. InsyaAllah.

But as I reflect, the overwhelming feeling is one of gratitude above all else Syukur alhamdullilah. When we go for Haj as they say we are tetamu Allah (God’s guest). So if we could stretch that thought a bit: to do a trip like this, – to see God’s good earth at the ground level through one of its arteries – ie it’s trains – as said, one needs several preconditions to be in place … First, you need the idea, then the motivation, then planning, the time, health, some means, an absence of commitments , peace of passage of where you go through, and last but not least , tertib (ie an order) in the sense that all those preconditions need to be in place at the same time and on the right sequence! So, there is much to be grateful for. I am absorbing and reflecting the many splendored things, places, people, events, trains, ships, hotels that I saw, heard, smelt, felt, tasted, rode on… InsyaAllah in the days, weeks, months and maybe years too, I will still be processing it! Directly, subliminally, who knows! Alhamdullilah, jzkk thank you to the many friends, strangers, and indeed a few family members that I met along the way, whose kindness, time and hospitality myself and Mas received and to my incredible KK 2019 logistics team back home ! jazakallah khair.

The spirit of travel … as M Nasir sings in his classic song Kembara Emas and as Doobie Brothers croons in its Long Train Running chorus … “without Love … where would you be right now!”. That’s perhaps a good note to end this rambling thought awaiting for the flight for the home run ❤🚂🙏🏽. Alhamdullilah. #kretapikir

26 September 2019