Pilgrimage in the Land of Wonblair (Part II)

The Bird of Paradise sent two phoenixes to rescue these five poor water ducks. The phoenixes led them to the Bird of Paradise with great care. Although they suffered from their deep wounds from Won-Duc-A-Won's plucking, they struggled on and made to all the holy places where the Bird of Paradise had enlightenment, nirvana, gave sermons and his birth place.

On the first day under the Mango Tree, the ducks were shedding their tears like mad. Nobody knew how hard that they had tried to reach this place. They had a great time under the Mango Tree. Although they were not enlightenment as the Bird of Paradise. They had found their inner peace. Under the Mango Tree, they met some of the great disciples of the Bird of Paradise. It was as if they had reached heaven when the ducks heard the song of enlightenment.

The ducks went to all the places they were suppose to visit with the help from the phoenixes. They also learnt many good things from the two phoenixes. The two phoenixes were very kind to the ducks. They were not only led them to their destinations; they also led them to the way of enlightenment for their future quest. Of course, not enlightenment as yet, but you just never know!

During their pilgrimage, a young duckling had grown close to the phoenixes. He wanted to follow the Phoenixes' path when he was a bit older and vowed to come back to the Land of Wonblair.

After seventeen happy days with the phoenixes, the three water ducks said farewell to the group and flied back home. The other two water ducks went two days after them. The phoenixes reminded them that they should always remember this trip which didn't come easy and always remember the Bird of Paradise's compassion and loving kindness. They thanked the phoenixes for their great help and teachings; with their respect that they brought back home with them a whole hearted of love.

Pilgrimage in the Land of Wonblair (Part I)

This is a story that symbolizes my trip in India 2007.

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Somewhere in December, there were five water ducks (gullible in Cantonese) flying to the Land of Wonblair to search for the Bird of Paradise.

They landed in a group of turkeys. The head of the turkeys was called Won-Duc-A-Won (Con-man in Cantonese). He was a fox, camouflaged as a turkey. Not only want to eat all the water ducks, but also have all the turkeys for dinner as well. He told the ducks that he knew the way to search for the Bird of Paradise. The minute the ducks joined the turkeys, Won- Duc-A-Won demanded them to give him their best feathers as a price to take them there.

On their path of discovery, they found Won-Duc-A-Won had lied to them. He actually wouldn't take them to search for the Bird of Paradise; instead he would take them to where he wanted to go. The five water ducks felt a sense of hopelessness. They were upset and felt cheated. Therefore they tried to escape from the turkeys.

A decision was made to follow the turkeys until they were familiar with the Land of Wonblair, leaving their duck minds at peace. You see, the five water ducks had no confidence in this new land at all.

By the way, one amazing thing about this Won-Duc-A-Won, was that he was a disciple of Bird of Paradise. He renounced his foxy life when he was 9 years old. Do you believe this? The ducks wondered if this was true. This was why one of the ducks trusted him in the first place.

During the trip, he displayed his love for the beautiful feathers, chicks and other worldly things. The ducks also discovered his love of himself very much, by letting his group members eat the very basic food, but for himself would be different. The ducks could see him was into 'I, Me, Mine'. He walked fast without taking care of his group. It didn't matter to him if one or two ducks or turkeys had gone missing. He had his best meal without sharing with others. You might wonder how the ducks knew he was into chicks, because he looked at them and wanted to go to Bollywood to see more beautiful chicks. Unfortunate to him, but fortunate to the rest of the group that, that day Bollywood was close for the outsider. The rest of the group were very happy because they had no interested to see chicks, instead of the Bird of Paradise in their pilgrimage trip in the Land of Wonblair. The ducks considered this was wrong and had put them off even more.

The ducks went with the turkeys to visit most of the caves in the Land of Wonblair. They enjoyed all the places that they went even with the pain on their bums about this Won-Duc-A-Won.

On the way, Won-Duc-A-Won was eyeing on the duck's beautiful feathers. He couldn't control himself by showing his greediness with his saliva dripping from his mouth. Goodness how could a turkey be dripping with saliva, the ducks wondered and guessed, they soon discovered his foxy tail. They then realised he was a fox, instead of an innocent turkey. The ducks knew he was not only wanting their beautiful feathers, but their fat bodies as well. He tried very hard to pluck the duck's beautiful feathers. He knew the good days wouldn't last for long. Every day Won-Duc-A-Won thought someway to get more and more feathers from the ducks. The ducks knew very well about Won-Duc-A-Won's moves but they couldn't find a way out to search for the Bird of Paradise. They prayed for miracle and the miracle occurred.

Heng Chuan my other childhood friend

Heng Chuan was one year older than me. He had a big family and lived next door. Han Xiang, Heng Chuan and I often played together. Heng Chuan sometimes bullied me as I was younger than him. We often fought violently. He had a group of brothers and sisters and I was with my sister Hing. Every time we fought, his mother would come over and reported the incident. My mother would say: “I will punish them.” But she never punished us because she knew our neighbour’s children were very naughty as well. Whenever his mother came to tell my mother off, she would make a bowl of beautiful fish-ball soup for us. We truly didn’t mind the fight and getting told off by their mother because we loved the fish-ball soup very much.

We fought with each other more often than playing with other. Their house was higher than ours and they frequently threw rubbish over to our house. My mother asked us to ignore it and we were full of rage.

Heng Chuan was in the same class as mine for Year 1 and Year 2 at Truong Phuoc Duc. We had wonderful time there but Heng Chuan was not a protective type of friend.

In 2010 July after my bowel cancer operation, I rang Han Xiang. He asked me to search for Heng Chuan. Heng Chuan’s eldest brother is my second brother’s best mate. My sister Fong went to visit them years ago in Perth so I got the phone number from her. I rang his sisters and brothers in Perth, and got his number. In August 2010 I took the courage to give Heng Chuan a call. I thought he wouldn’t have a good impression about me because of our rebellious past. With a nervous long breadth, I said to the phone: “Hello there, may I speak to Pham Heng Chuan?” His wife was at the other end and called him. He picked up the phone and I introduced myself to him. He was thrilled. We talked and talked for about three full hours. I couldn’t believe what he said to me. He said the fighting events were the most memorable moments instilled in his life. He couldn’t forget all the fighting events and he often thought about me. He said I had a deep impression in his mind. “Wow” I said to myself I couldn’t believe this because I thought he hated me as I argued and fought with him. I never knew Heng Chuan didn’t hold a grudge against me for all the trouble I had caused.

My love

My love for noodles can be dated back in my early childhood. My father used to take me for wanton noodle soup, fish fillet rice noodle soup, Cambodian seafood noodle soup, Vietnamese crab meat noodle soup, meehoon noodle soup, steamed duck leg noodle soup, Vietnamese pho and so on. My father often offered me some treats (meehoon noodle soup or wanton noodle soup) after school when he picked us up. Every Sunday morning, he would ask us whether we wanted to have yumcha or go for noodle soup for breakfast before we enjoy our outing.

My first lover was wanton noodle soup. I remembered when I was little, my father used to take me to his friend’s noodle stall. My sister Fong and I had to order 2 serves of wanton noodle soup each. I love the bouncy texture of the noodles and the soup that had been brewed for many hours. Someone once told me the secret ingredient for the wanton soup was a dried octopus. 

As I grew older I had found my second lover – Bun Bo Hue. I love the fusion of spices in the soup base of Bun Bo Hue. I had a recipe for this soup noodle but I didn’t bother to cook it. I was quite faithful to my second lover until my son came along. I couldn’t take it any longer as every time I had it I vomited. I accused the restaurants for their unhygienic service and blamed on the spices. At the end, I had to move on and left it behind. 

I found my third lover during lunch at work – instant noodles. I can’t remember when I started falling in love with it and my love for it is strong. Although the instant noodles are so tempting, I must restrain myself. This is very hard when I am crazy about this love. My third lover has a variety of flavours – Korean hot and spicy, Taiwanese vegetarian, Malaysian, Thai and so on. I never have enough of it. 

Lately I have found my fourth lover – homemade noodle. Years ago I bought my husband a bread maker which can knead the dough. My daughter bought her dad a noodle cutter as a Christmas present a few years back. With these two tools, I can make fresh noodles within an hour. I discovered that the noodles I make is far more bouncy and tasty then the noodles from the store.

I have reviewed my love journey and have discovered one thing. No matter what soup base that I love, the main ingredient is noodles.  So I am not that fickle about my lovers. My love from the beginning till the end is still noodle.