24 Oct 04 - Checking out Bekok for our retreat
It was a little bit of an adventure yesterday for Bro Goh, Joey, Jessy, Fenny and myself when we went to do a recce of the Bekok temple. We had liased with the Bekok Guan Yin Temple to use the premises for the retreat by Sayalay Dipankara between 25 December 04 and 2 Jan 05. See more retreat details at www.cakkavala.org
The trip was very fruitful. In the short 30minutes that we met up with Venerable Zhen Yi, abbot of the temple,
all our answers melted away with his gentle and full of metta answer:
"No worries, it can be arranged. We will follow your schedule and make sure you will not be disturbed."
I had prepared a long checklist before we went, and the other 4 of them were witness when I ran through the list in 10 minutes, and then helpless, turned to them and remarked, " I don't have anything else left on the list! Is there anything you need to ask?"
We were truly at a loss of words for the genuine hospitality of the temple, and the wonderful facilities available.
All we need to do, is to arrive at the temple on 24th Dec to firm up the sleeping allocation, get to know where equipment are, and to put up notices.
We arrived at Bekok at 12.45pm with a heavy downpour, dashed across the railway tracks and sat in an old coffee shop (all the shops there were old!) drinking tea and coffee waiting for the rain to stop.
After lunch, we did some grocery shopping including rice, biscuits, soap, toothpaste, etc, our dana for the temple. The shop owner gladly offered to send the things we bought on a motorcycle to the temple. She added, "You're coming back again? Buy more the next time!"
Shifu was resting when we arrived, so a nun told us to do what we want. So we meditated for about 30minutes before shifu came out. The meeting with shifu was over in less than an hour. Then we just sat around discussing some other points for the retreat. By 3pm, the nun shifu had got a private taxi to send us the nearest Bus station at "Chaah" (near Segamat).
On the way, diligent Fenny asked the uncle if there were buses serving Bekok town, and whether we can take a bus from Chaah to Bekok. The uncle's interesting answer, "There is a bus, but sometimes it doesn't run. That Indian driver works as and when he likes it. Most people in Bekok have their own vehicles anyway."
So we can literally wait till tomorrow for a bus in Bekok. =)
When the uncle slowed his car, I thought we had reached the bus station but there were no buses in sight. Uncle said, "Wait a minute. I will go and see if the ticket seller is at home. If he is not here, then he should be outside."
See if ticket seller is at home?
Uncle came back, apparently not finding the ticket seller. We arrived straight at the bus station, which was strangely empty of buses, but we could see uncles sitting around chatting on the railings and benches. It looked more like a community park then a bus station.
Helpful uncle helped us to ask for a bus to JB. One company's tickets were sold out, another one went to look for the ticket seller at home (again!), and another one told us to change a bus from Ayer Hitam. There was a bus coming at 6pm, but being only 4pm, we quickly opted for a change of bus at Ayer Hitam.
We paid uncle RM12 for the 20 minutes ride in his private taxi, and he ushered us up the 'slow bus' that had just came into the bus station, talking to the bus driver in malay making sure he knew where we wanted to go.
All set, we paid RM3 per person for the 1 hour bus ride to Ayer Hitam. From Ayer Hitam, we quickly jumped on a bus called the Causway Link which would terminate at Larkin. It cost us RM$6.50 per person. The journey took another 2 hours.
Arriving at Larkin, it was already 7pm+ and as we waited, discussing what bus to take back to the causeway, Joey stumbled upon a group of private taxis offering direct rides back to SIngapore, all the way to where we stay. 10 minutes of bargaining later, Joey came back and ushered us to the 7-seater that he had struck a deal with. The driver picked up 2 more passengers, and we were off. This cost S$10 per head.
By 10pm, most of us had reached home.
this is my personal summary:
- Train is the fastest and cheapest (S$6) public transport option for getting to Bekok!
- Sleepy little towns of Malaysia seem to offer a good and slow pace of life for keen meditators. You can disappear home for a sitting, and people know where to find you! =P
- Bekok is such a small town, that our two coaches are sure to turn heads when they arrive in December. Better be on best and most mindful behaviour!
looking forward to the retreat!
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