Chapter 1
**Departing Sydney **
” Keep refreshing this page as I edit the page at each destination and add new things, until this chapter is completed.”
@On the 6.20 am flight tomorrow Brisbane.
Yesterday, when the truck was loaded and the house got stripped of all those superficial decorations- called comforting tools, to its original existence, for the first time I realised it was happening!
In the past few weeks I was on a marathon of throwing things out/ rehoming stuff or packing to send them off the my brother who lives in Brisbane.
I had packed a couple of boxes of sentimental, several boxes of books and tons of clothing, but thankfully I got to my senses and realised these boxes don’t bring comfort but only make my next chapter more complicated. I consider this chapter as a new beginning, why on earth do I have to drag the past to this beginning?
Sentimental represents the past, I have lived my past on a daily basis, and tried to comprehend it breath by breath, I have created my memories and that’s what I need . Leaving behind sentimental are only becoming burdens on the shoulders of the departed’s family and friends.
So I got to get rid of them all.
The most pleasant thing that happened in the past couple of weeks was spending time with my friends, those who were important enough to get together and say a proper goodbye. Their kind words were the most valuable gift for my journey.
***10/03/2025 at the gate 77 BNE. Waiting for my Jetstar flight to Denpasar
When I arrived in Brisbane, because my brother was in Melbourne for a project, my sister in law insisted on picking me up from the airport, but because the truck which was carrying my stuff from Sydney was due to arrive early in the morning , I suggested she stay at home. So, I got a cab and paid $110 for a 35 minute drive. I usually carry cash, but that morning I was out of cash and I was charged about a 5 % surcharge for using my card. I find this surcharge very disturbing. A legitimate robbery. Banks used to provide this service, but they withdrew and new companies were born to make money out of others pockets. A good example of a bullshit job, but unfortunately they are becoming more essential in this new world and people getting used to them and paying these vultures don’t bother them anymore.
When I see businesses like that, I realise how our creativity becomes limited. Bakeries that produce real products suffer because of a lot of competitions with big chains and businesses like these card- reader services generate wealth with no sweat.
Anyway, moving on..
Spending time with my niece was priceless.
On Saturday arvo, I called one of my oldest acquaintances in Brisbane. He has a two year old daughter and his wife has become a good friend of my SIL. They have recently bought a new six bedroom house and just finished the renovations. He invited us to go to their house in the evening for a BBQ to show off his mansion.
We happily accepted. On our way I bought a bottle of Remy Martin as a gift.
Let’s call him Sam. Sam was friends with another friend of mine in Sydney whom I recently cut ties over using AI ( I usually don’t use this terminology, because to my understanding, it is false and fake by nature ) for creating poetry and claiming them his. Obviously Sam heard about that story and he wanted to hear out my version. A polite way to say he was a little bit nosy.
Talking about that topic was very unpleasant for me. Though we talked about it.
I am not a big fan of entertaining children with TV programs but Sam and his wife kept talking about different children entertainers and kept playing different episodes of those poorly done shows ( the only validation for them wasn’t the quality but the number of hits on youtube by other people like themselves ). To me it was very sad to see how the little girl was so hooked by those shows.
Then he made me watch a video from this university lecturer who was criticising Australian multiculturalism and he was trying to justify that as Australian we shouldn’t encourage multiculturalism because it ruins our own culture.
I asked him to pause the video as I had enough and I was surprised as an ethnic background himself how could he find racist comments of the speaker sound and just!
I told him ” to me, the benchmark for assessment of a developed/ developing or backward culture is based on architecture and art. And told him how I find these two factors going backwards in Australia. I told him about my personal experience with Sydney opera house and how, in my understanding, the Opera house productions and the audience were going backwards. I was telling him how disturbing it was when I could see some weird audience stand and shouting bravo for a bad performance to tell others how cultured and sophisticated they were”
anyway…
Obviously,
That evening wasn’t a good evening!
We don’t have TV ( I didn’t have one in Sydney and luckily my brother’s family also followed my footsteps on that. ) Therefore, we didn’t know anything about a cyclone which was on its way toward us based on the story line cooked by the media.
On Tuesday we went for the weekly grocery shopping ( I usually do my grocery earlier in the week) and at the shops we were asked if our full trolley was because of the panic shopping.
-Panic shopping? What for?
-A cyclone is on its way and his name is Alfred. He is going to get us!
After shopping, I had a chat with one of my best friends in Sydney. We usually talk on a weekly basis and our talk contains lots of deep analysis. He also told me about Alfie. While I was talking to him I searched for some satellite images, and from what I saw, I told him, ” I can see it would be very unlikely this cyclo reach Brisbane, cyclones don’t make U-turn as some media said it”.
I told him I’d look at the images closely that night and would confirm my findings.
I did a bit of research on cyclones and their pattern of movements and found out historically, no cyclone hit Brisbane. There were a couple of cyclones towards Brisbane in the 1970s but they died out before reaching Brisbane.
Anyway, I started following some news to find out what’s going on and checking the Bureau of Meteorology ( BOM) regularly . My observation was frustrating. With my mathematical and scientific approach, I could see no evidence of a cyclone hitting Brisbane but I could see a lot of warnings by the media and the government.
I could see, one more time, the power of propaganda to create fake scientific facts for future use as they did before.
They said a cyclone made a u-turn ( as it doesn’t ) and it impacted a life of millions but based on the guidance and the leadership of the government, the impact was mitigated. ( The proof of impact would be the empty supermarkets and heavy rain/ flood after cyclone)
I don’t have problems with being vigilant and cautious but going too far again by the media, reminded me of the power of the media over the crowd.
Brisbane got shut on Friday and Saturday and BOM kept using the sign of a cyclone on its app despite the visibility of the blue sky.
The government even shut the airport for two days.
We went through the city on Friday, the whole town was a ghost town!
It reminded me of something I tried very hard to forget.
With my brother who was back from Melbourne , we found a fancy fastfood place ( in normal circumstances I would avoid such places ) open in Hamilton on Friday evening and we had beer, hotdog and burgers. That meal was perhaps one of the best things that happened that day since the whole city was depressingly empty, our expectation was so low, down to the ground, whilst seeing a place open with other people out there, made us feel we were among friends.
In Australia we experience lots of rainfalls, floods, cyclones and bushfires almost every year especially Queensland which is closer to the equator and faces these harsh conditions more often. And that’s why I found creating panic over weather conditions outrageous and the sadder part was that people forgot these facts about their own country.
Anyway… Moving on…
On Saturday evening we were invited to some of my brother’s friends’houses. They were educated people, a dentist couple and several engineers were the host, hostess and the guests.
When I told them about my unplanned journey, one sighed and some wished me well, and a few were saying how much they wanted to do it too.
Life is not about what we think about but the actions we take and the decisions we make.
Life is not about potentials but about the functions.
I told them we were supposed to find our questions. And I told them about mine. They nodded.
When I told them what if we got it wrong, they told me about the Toyota and other car making companies and their management qualities. I couldn’t understand the link, so I nodded!
The whole week was a combination of stress, anxiety, frustration, joy comes from playing with my niece , and love from my brother, his wife and friends.
And Saturday night had it all in itself.
The weather condition changed and it was raining, heavily. It seemed the weather was going to make the decision for me.
On Sunday morning I decided to book my flights.
I had some credit with Jetstar from a cancelled flight last summer. So I decided to use that credit.
I used that to purchase a ticket to Bali, then from Bali to Singapore then Dubai and finally to Mashhad.
When I told my brother and his family over the breakfast, that I finalised my tickets and I’d be leaving on Monday morning they were shocked.
The storm was telling me to move. And move fast.
On Friday evening, at the fancy fastfood shop in Hamilton, among the unknown friends, with my brother and his wife and niece, we were talking about the importance of independence and how crucial it is in my life. I told them about my tribe, a group of people that I could feel comfortable among and I wouldn’t need to explain myself to them. I don’t like liars. I don’t like blindfolded followers. I love intellectual compatibility. And I love meaningful conversations.
The storm made me move. To go and find my own tribe.
And I am on the road.
Well..
I am not sure the flight path is considered as a road but I am on a move. Till I find peace in my heart.
I know that peace has to appear internally but my observation and sensing will be the guidance.
The world is very chaotic. I am not sure if it is supposed to be like that or it is like this because we’ve got it all wrong. But anytime I find a corner of quiet and I reflect, I can feel I am not too far away. I had this corner of permanent quietness in Five Dock, but it became mundane, I had to create a chaos to encounter certainty and assurance.
The plane is an airbus A321-Neo, three sits on each side. About 240 passengers. And I am surrounded with Aussies on their way to Bali for a nice and pleasant holiday. Around me, there is a family of ten who are going for the 50th birthday of the grandpa, Lincoln, and a wedding of the daughter who gave birth to a little blue eyes boy, Billy, eight months ago. They are a nice happy and decent family. Though based on their appearance only, I certainly couldn’t reach this conclusion.
I’d be only staying in Bali for six hours.
Brisbane was so flooded. It is so sad how the infrastructure was established so poorly that anytime the city faces flood ( which is very regularly) the whole city trembles.
I was so stressed that my flight might get cancelled because of the flood, especially when the airport was shut for no good reason and on sunny days, I was wondering for a very good reason, it would be very likely that they would cancel the flight. But luckily they didn’t.
I sent a message to my brother after he dropped me off at the airport and told him: “The sunny days are on their way. I am sure of it.” And of course I wasn’t talking about the weather only.
When we took off, it was so pleasant to pass through the thick clouds and see the blue sky and the beautiful bright sun.
The clouds were like a dark curtain separating me from the rest of the world underneath. Those underneath not aware of how it feels up here and anyone up here has no idea of the life down under.
Seeing these phenomena, floods, cyclones etc, shows me how little we could become and how amazingly we could find a way out, at the same time.
Sometimes we need distraction to change direction.
Sometimes we need distraction from the distractions. Most of the time life is only a sequence of distractions to keep us engaged and completely distracted without noticing we are distracted from reality.
It’s still about one hour to Bali and I am not in a hurry. I’d like to sit relax and enjoy this marvelous view above the clouds.
14:20 Denpasar airport, @ coffee club
I said goodbye to the happy family and got to the airport to collect my luggage. I realised I have to exit through the immigration to collect my luggage which cost 55 AUD. Annoyingly and helplessly I paid the fees and learnt the lesson- Bali is an awful transit destination- and went to the carousel 6 to pick up my two suitcases. Then I found out I have to exit through customs too. Well, maybe everywhere around the world is the same, when at the Australian airport, they milk tourists in any filthy way including charging 5 AUD for the luggage trolley, why shouldn’t Indonesians do the same thing and make extra cash? Despite this, I suppose I just wanted to be annoyed with the world at that moment.
…
I just got distracted with the waiter at the coffee club. Coffee club is an Australian franchise and sadly despite my support for the Aussie brands, my experience with them in Krabi- Thailand, was awful and I thought I won’t deal with them again. But here at the airport in Bali the choice was between Starbucks and coffee club and again I picked the Aussie brand and guess what happened. I ordered smashed avo with salmon and poached eggs. Unfortunately the salmon was off. I notified the waiter and he asked their chef and the chef confirmed that the salmon was off. I hope I won’t get salmonella or some gastro.
Anyway, back to the story…
To exit the customs you have to fill out the online form and take a photo of the generated QR code and show it to the officer at the gate.
I found this self service system very awkward especially if people are computer illiterate or not technology savvy.
So I crossed the gate and entered the free world.
Anyway…
I asked if there was a lounge and I was told there was a hotel on the second floor and when I checked it out I realised it was a place to hire a capsule, a little hole on the wall. I see so many signs of going back to the cave.
And that’s how I ended up at the coffee club with dodgy salmon.
My next flight is to Singapore.
..
I have about another 90 minutes in Bali. I have already checked in my suitcase , but I have to carry two bags with me into the next two flights. I can’t believe I got these arrangements so wrong, long flight, long waits and low luggage allowance and my flight wasn’t much cheaper than a direct flight anyway. I blame the kindness of the Jetstar staff last year who gave me credit for the flight I didn’t turn up to. Without that kindness probably I was already half way to my destination with more comfort. But I also can say this is a lesson to learn, this is the price for being spontaneous and not paying attention to the details. However, this is only the beginning, I will do better next time.
To be continued – edited…
@ 18.44, Bali time, on the flight to Singapore
Another airbus A320, this time I am near the front, in row 6, next to the window and the other two seats next to me are vacant. So I may stretch my legs a bit later on.
When the plane was taking off, I could see the lights simmering at the distance and I could see a big crowd wandering in the streets, many tourists, young and old, boys and girls, with different perspectives. Some there for celebrations, some for fun.
Some for leisure and some for lust.
Some may fall in love and some may end up with a broken heart. I could see the formation of lots of new stories. Like the hot and burning magma falling out of the volcanoes and creating new rocks and landscapes.
And believe it or not I saw all these only from the shimmering lights in the distance. I call it the magic of flying, seeing the world from the above, that brings wild imagination. Sometimes being too close to the events/ objects makes us distracted from seeing.
This flight will be two hours and fifteen minutes long.
Let’s see what my journey at the Singapore airport is like.
@ 20:25, still on the plane, about 20 minutes away from Singapore.
I said earlier that my planning wasn’t that great for picking up the right flights, but now I have started liking it. To be above the clouds with descent breaks in between. Experiencing four flights in 40 hours seems like a luxury experience to me. Hearing the roaring before take off and flies towards the moon feels nice.
I can also observe when I am in my natural habitat, away from nonsense, I feel, sense and behave harmoniously. But acting harmoniously doesn’t mean reaching the harmonious state.
Sadly but evidently a stressful environment or lifestyle impacts harmony and causes anxiety for those who are in transition including myself.
Therefore, those people who live in a chaotic living system and act, or think drastically, are not to blame.
Perhaps the art of living is how to locate a safe harbour in a stormy ocean. When one lives in a safe and protected environment and thrives, can’t be necessarily considered as an enlightened or spiritually gifted but finding the path in the middle of chaos, hardship or disaster probably demonstrates that the person has reached the harmonious state. Just something to ponder.
Also I was wondering if someone plants a loudspeaker in my head, is playing my thoughts out-loud, makes me embarrassed?
Head and heart should be a transparent box holding a treasure which by presenting it, encourages others and brings hope and joy to the life of viewers, not a bullet proof safe box full of secrets and disturbing objects which takes away charm and smiles and replaces them with fear and helplessness.
And this is another topic to ponder.
The lights of Singapore appear on the horizon. And the flight stewart just announced we were going to land shortly.
..
And we just touched the ground.
Despite Sydney airport and its curfew, Singapore airport doesn’t look like it is falling asleep at all. I can see a lot of activities.
To be continued- edited…
@23:49 on the A380 plane, next to the window again and so far no-one is next to me. Hopefully it stays this way and I could sleep flat tonight.
The Singapore airport is massive. There are four terminals and getting from one terminal to another takes about twenty minutes on the shuttle bus.
There were multiple USB stations, between every few seats, for charging mobile phones. The toilets were so spacious that I could take the luggage trolley inside and I even managed to open my laptop and do a bit of work. And I was about to have a nice feeling about my whole experience that something minor but unpleasant happened. Then I was thinking how one person could ruin the whole experience and change one’s perspective about one nation or one culture.
When they opened the gate, there was a security spot with the x-ray machine and army people. I took out both my laptop’s phone etc, and the guy on the other side of the gate asked me to remove my boots too.
I offered to take my belt off, they said that’s okay but when I passed the x-ray machine, the guys started touching me. That made me uncountable and I complained about the procedure, the machine cleared me and I couldn’t understand why he did what he did! I didn’t know how I was supposed to feel. Stay cool and let him do whatever he thought it was right to do or let him ruin my experience. Obviously I chose the latter. Why? Because I still have a very big ego hidden somewhere and every now and then it jumps out and asks for some appraisals and pat.
To be continued – edited.
@4.25 Dubai local time.
Just landed in Dubai.
I struck again. The two seats next to me were vacant and I could lie down and have a good rest.
Have you ever asked yourself what does the middle east mean?
To me it sounds nonsense. The planet is a sphere, ( thankfully I am not saying it is flat) no east nor west, show me the east and I’ll show you the middle of it.
It’s exhausting that I hardly find anything in the mainstream media that I agree with. For example arabs are so proud of themselves for thriving in such a capitalistic and pretentious way, tall buildings and shining shopping centres but no culture, the same as Singaporeans or people from Hong Kong, while I see all of these as creations of the west to hold their grip around the globe.
Probably my problem is I was born Persian and the empire died a long time ago, but the pride of being Persian is still flowing in my veins. And that pride without any backup makes me sad. The vanity is there but there is no power. Perhaps if I was born as an Anglo British, I was so proud of the chaos created by my ancestors and our politicians, philosophers, artists, scientists, historians, theologists etc. because for a country to stay in power that’s the only way. Divide and rule. Manipulate and bully!
I am not saying what I feel is right, but unfortunately that’s how I feel. But I know, realisation, is the first step towards a change.
@5:26 am. I am at the queue to check in my luggage for the final leg of this chapter. The next flight is at 5 pm and I am going to find somewhere to freshen up myself a bit and maybe catch up with my work.
And I was just told that I am in the wrong terminal. I have to take a cab to go to terminal 3. Ouch!
To be continued- edited.
It’s so annoying when I see how Arabs look down on us.
Terminal two is where all ” undeveloped countries ” are flying from. Racial and status segregation! The terminal 3 is bright and very shiny, still too pretentious for my taste, and the terminal 2 is at the back of the airport and it is like a dump!
It took about 15 minutes on a taxi and around 20 AUD to get there.
I found a rundown cafe to chill a bit.
A nice surprise was that throughout my journey so far, I could find flat white everywhere. I remember in 2015 no-one knew about this great Aussie creation. Now it’s become a globally recognised phenomenon.
We are not only known for the invention of wifi, cochlear implant and hills hoist but by our flat white as well. So proud!
I used the airport wifi and caught up with my work a bit and also I could sort out an unexpected bill.
When I decided about my unplanned journey, the first thing I did was the cancellation of gas electricity, gym membership and the internet.
When I cancelled my account with Optus I was rest assured that there wouldn’t be any extra charge for me. But yesterday I received a bill from them. It was very annoying. If you have contacted Optus customer service, you would have known how frightened I became. I am overseas on my unplanned journey and incapable of calling them unless I wanted to spend twice the amount of the bill on the phone waiting to get connected while listening to ” your call is important to us… ”
Anyway.. there is no need for me to share my experience with Optus with you, I am sure their reputation is crystal clear to everyone back home. The good news was I got it sorted and as I was rest assured last time in writing that there was nothing to be worried about, this time too, they sent me the transcript and several emails to assure me there wouldn’t be any bill and further charges and if there was, disregarded it. ( Believe it or not, they couldn’t guarantee that there wouldn’t be another bill 🤣, so incompetent! At least with those emails, I know I don’t need to contact them again.
Moving on..
I checked in and got rid of my bags and crossed the immigration.
As I mentioned earlier terminal 2 is full of Africans, Indians, Turkish etc, so far I haven’t heard any Persian but they must be them too. Although I feel I am one of them. I really like their kind big smile, white shinning teeth, I know none of them ever occupied and looted other countries. These people are simple and not pretentious but apparently Emiratis see themselves better than these people. Obviously they feel ashamed of their association with them and that’s why they segregated them in such a way, so far away from the other terminals to make sure their rich western guests don’t get disturbed by the conventional appearance of these people.
I am proud of being one these people.
They are poor, but I know they have kind hearts.
Dear God, I’d like to thank you for this experience.
In three hours I will be flying over the Persian gulf, crossing over the beautiful north coast of the Persian gulf and Oman sea, flying over the ancient Shiraz, Kerman , Yazd and Isfahan and saying hi to Kurds and Lors , going towards mt Damavand, the highest peak of Alborz range, where it engulfs Tehran and seperated the beautiful emerald like stripe of South coast of the Caspian sea then soar slightly to the left and land in Mashhad.
My sister and my nephew ( he is five years old and I haven’t met him in real life yet) and my older brother and my niece including my in laws are part of the welcoming committee. There might be red carpet and orchestra as well. There will be a big show. 😂🤣
And this will be the end of chapter one.
If nothing unexpected happens in the next few hours ( as you all know I am very spontaneous and dramatic and I may invite some drama- hopefully not) I say goodbye here and I will start a new chapter tomorrow.
The end of chapter 1
13:18 Dubai local time.
Terminal 2 , Dubai airport.
It will be edited further.