Traveling Through The Realm Of Space & Time
Leaving Ulaanbaatar was the hardest thing to do in my journey so far. Its actually not really about my sickness and the harsh weather… but the Mongolian hospitality is something so special here. How can you leave someone who just started to learn how to pronounce your name now… and suddenly call you brother on the next day? Leaving Ulaanbaatar is like leaving home, it made me teary. I would love to come back here one day… but I can only put it on my wishlist. I can only plan… only the creator of the universe has the power to decide all things.
locals performing some rituals near the temple in the Gobi Desert
Leaving Ulaanbaatar towards the Gobi Desert on the southern part of Mongolia, I see less and less people, slowly it gets more and more quiet, and slowly it feels like I’m getting nearer to China… the emotion… the smell… the surrounding… everything. Comparing to other parts of Mongolia, traveling through the Gobi desert is special. You need to be self-sufficient. The distance between civilization is about 200km here… and nothing in between. Only the lonely road snakes through the flat sand dunes.
Khamarind Khiid, temple of power!! in the middle of the Gobi Desert, southern Mongolia
I kept riding through the vast endless desert, dunes to dunes. The landscape is the same day after day. The land is so vast sometimes I feel like I’m not moving… not progressing, I feel like I’m moving in an endless loop. I kept pedaling through the same landscape and started to feel bored and fatigue… and my mind started to fly away into another realm thinking about something else while my physical body is here in the desert under the scorching heat.
My legs are working hard like a machine, keep pedaling fighting both the wind and gravity. I have no idea where I got all the energy cycling for hundreds of kilometers through the desert. But my mind… my mind is in another realm… keep thinking about so many things, mysterious things… My body is right here on earth, in the physical world that exists inside the 4 dimensions…the 3 dimension of space and a dimension of time. And this world bounded by it’s rules. The world of gravity, push and pull. Everything sits on its own axis, exactly when and where it should be. But my mind is not in this physical world. My thoughts don’t carry weight, it doesn’t require space to exist, it can travel through time… in a split second, my mind can be in the mountains and fjords in Northern Norway a year ago… and I can close my eyes and imagine witnessing the magical light of the Aurora Borealis dancing all over the sky of Norway… or the image of my family back home in Malaysia.
They say, if you want to understand the secret of the world, you can simply look at yourself, its all inside you. I realized that a long time ago, I look at my palm, my fingers, my hands and my whole body, this is just an oxygen mask for us to live in this physical world, the world that can be sense with our 5 senses, sights, hearings, smell, taste and touch. It changes it looks everyday, as I’m getting older, the wrinkles on my skin grow noticeable everyday, I grow darker everyday exposed to the sun… my size and weight depends on how much I eat and how much calories I burn… and many more factors. But my mind, my emotion and my soul… don’t exist here. I can’t sense them with my 5 senses. They don’t carry weight, they don’t require space to exist. I find it amazing… amazing because we don’t even know where our real self belongs. I looked down, watching my legs keep pedaling, pushing myself through the desert, I wonder where does this energy comes from. The food that turned into calories that gives this energy is just like fuel to keep the fire burning, but where exactly it came from? By the time I’m writing this journal on my laptop inside my tent in the middle of the sandstorm in the Gobi desert, I just write whatever comes to my mind… but where does this idea came from? It came from a source that is unknown to us, a mystery.
When I carry my bag, is it me who really do the work… is it me who really carry it? I control probably 1% of it. When I have the intention the carry the bag, I carry it, but the moment I carry it, there are probably thousands of things going on which are beyond my control. I start to breath deeper without me realizing it. My muscles flex when I carry the bag, blood starts moving through veins and fill up the vessels of the muscle on my arm, making the muscles tight and hard, giving me enough energy to fight the gravity to enable me to carry the bag. So much things going on even to do a simple task and its all beyond our control. Who is actually controlling all that? Its something beyond our comprehension, something mysterious. We can understand its presence but we can never understand or imagine it…. just like we understand the existence of the concept infinity.
Throw a dice on a flat surface, it might end up at number six. We call it luck. But its only for us the creations… since we don’t see the future. We cant even see what will happen in the next 5 seconds. But is it just random that the dice end up at number six? Certainly its not. How hard we throw it, the angle, the type of the surface… and many other unknown factors in the rules of physics make the dice to end up at six. We the creation cant control it precisely, so we call it random… but not for the creator of the universe. He knows the secret of the universe and control all things. I believe its “maktub”, it’s a word in Arabic, which means “it is written”… or it is destined that the dice will end up at number six. It is all written, we are here just to experience it. We are all travellers… in a long journey in this physical world. We are all travellers… through the realm of space and time.
Diary Of A Traveller 
sir your journeys amaze and inspire all who read your blog.
thank you brother for the positive comment… appreciate it
Yes. You are inspiring for us all. Thank you.
Subhanallah….His colors are ultimately superb! Thanks for those great pics…they are amazing.
Another awesome post . It’s such a grand feeling to be so weightless and insignificant.
Assalamualaikum … May Allah SWT keep you safe and guide your every step. JazakAllah for sharing your thoughts and visions of Allah’s great creations. BarakAllahu fik.
Brother, as always, awesomeness written everywhere – in the words, the thoughts and of course the pictures. I can imagine you really enjoying this at the same time in two minds – the physical and mental exhaustion, being far from family etc resulting in those deep thoughts. We pray for your safety bro, and that you keep inspiring us all, insha Allah.
Asslm…tuan…x lama lg kita akn mnyambut ramadhan…alangkah bertuahnya tuan dpt berpuasa n bertarawikh n bermunajat seorg diri di tgh2 padang pasir jika tuan masih lagi di gurun tu…tidak terkejar2 dgn masa n berdoa la sepuasnya…
Beautifully written. You described your feelings and physical state very well. I really appreciate your photos. A joy to look at and a lot to learn out of. The desert, although isolated, sounds like a spiritual place. A place of self-discovery and appreciation towards God. May I know the temperature during the day and night at the desert? Do you carry a thermometer with you?
tq so much for reading! Its getting warmer in this part of the world… its about 15-20c daytime…. much colder when the wind blows. But at night its still quite cold… below 10c
Thank you for your reply sir. The daytime temperature seems like a nice temperature to be outdoors. But I understand it’s a desert and you’re exposed to the elements. I ask Allah to grant you a safe journey and keep you in good health.
Assalamualaikum Saudara Zahariz, Subhanallah……..terpegun saya dengan kebesaran Allah. Saya mendoakan saudara sihat selalu.
Fareez
Kuala Lumpur
o do Codex Alimentarius (CAC) foi criada pela ONU para
supostamente facilitar o com. Alexithymia and Disinterest
– The uninterested may be Alexithymic- an ancient Greek word with root meaning ‘word’ and ‘soul’- as the seat of thought, feeling and emotion.
Be sure to find good quality cleaners that are
not harmful to people”.
Assalamualaikum…
Thank you for sharing again and again. All of your sharings are soo beautiful. The beauty in the pictures taken, the beauty in words and in fact the beauty of truth. They are all amazing.
And Zahariz,
I hope you don’t mind that I shared about this site with my blog readers. Some knew you but some have not heard about you. Though they differs in opinion, but I still adore your strengths and motivations to execute your plans and dreams.
Keep on exploring and keep in touch with us, will ya. Stay strong and stay healthy.
wsalam Aziela,
tq so much for sharing my site on your blog. really appreciate it. everyone’s opinion differs… thats what makes us unique. sure ill keep sharing… :)
Salam brother. Wow! Profound indeed. Especially about noticing your ever increasing wrinkles. Just kidding :-) I love your posts and please keep them coming.
Admire your work and effort, May Allah bless you, you inspire a lot of people, love reading your blog 😁👍
Your amazing writings always inspire me…when I feel … you, keep reading again and again.
I’ve been a long time reader of your blog (since the Scandinavian adventure), but I guess I never made a comment before :)
Always love to see your update! I’m a small time traveller myself, and the world never ceases to amaze me. Reading your blog makes me see the part of the world I can’t see for myself.
All the best in your journey. We’re all cheering you!
Very impressive, I wish I was as young as you and able to do what you did, as I understand its not only requires courage but also stamina as well as physically in a good shape…
What an epic post Hariz…I hv been too busy and can only read it today…I can feel each word of yours deeply in my heart and mind, as I felt the same way too when I did my ride alone in the unknown…terasa begitu kerdilnya kita jika dibandingkan dgn kebesaran Sang Pencipta, am I rite? Tk care brother, my prayers always with u…
Saya mdoakan encik zahariz sentiasa DLM lindungan Dan peliharaan Allah sepanjang perantauan..Maha suci Allah..menguatkan hati seorang insan untuk meneroka misteri kejadian serta ciptaan Allah yang tidak mampu semua insan melakukannya..terima kasih bkongsi dgn kami semua keindahan dunia..moga kita smakin btambah cinta pd si pencipta..SALAM ukhuwah..SALAM perjuangan..SALAM kasih Sayang dr kami rakyat Malaysia buat encik zahariz..teruskan DOA utk umat manusia..DOA seorang musafir..mustajab..
Jaga kesihatan…wasalam..
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Excellent photos! I’ve found you through World Journeys Discover as he mentioned the both of us in today’s post! So happy we can connect!
Jessica, Turquoise Compass
yeah saw that post Turquoise! Love your blog too. Thats great and keep in touch!