God's grace

"Seest thou not that God sends down rain from the sky, and leads it through springs in the earth? Then He causes to grow, therewith, produce of various colours: then it withers; thou wilt see it grow yellow; then He makes it dry up and crumble away. Truly, in this, is a Message of remembrance to Men of understanding." 39:21


These last few weeks, I have been quite focused on the exams that I had no inspiration to write about something so dear to me - the beauty of God's creation. I thank God for allowing me to be in Scotland, and more than that, being in the "farming" area.

Within Heriot Watt campus, I can see for myself the seasons' effects on nature. As I walked today, I noticed this duck with her ten little ducklings swimming along in a little pond behind the library. I also noticed the three swanlings are gone and it seems that the female swan is sitting on a new brood. The bare trees have started to grow green again and some are blooming. Wild garlic and daffodils are abound. Life is returning from the dead of winter.

This is something not experienced by those living in the tropics where there is no seasonal effect, especially those living in the city. While I experienced it to a lesser degree before, I think being out of the city drives the lesson home as the contrast is more stark. It drives home what God said in the Qur'an regarding the renewal of life and how it is a message for us...

Trip to Skye

It's been ages since I've wrote in this blog. Well, things have been very hectic for the past month with all the projects and assignments. But lessons ended last week and we are having our Easter break before the exams. To take a break before settling to study for the exams, I decided to go for a trip to Skye with the Chaplaincy...I thank my friend Dayang for her recommendation of the island before I left Singapore. The trip was definitely worth every penny for it combined all the things I really loved...history, mountains, water, walking, photography and most of all, good company.



We started out on Friday afternoon, 3 pm, from Heriot Watt and one of our first stops was somewhere I've been before - Glencoe. But what a different Glencoe it is...with the sun shining and the warm (well relative to the freezing rain before) weather, the red deers were frolicking in the glen.



Of course, I couldn't resist to snap some photos of the place, especially with the sun in the background. I like the effect it made.



We then went to Fort William where we had some fish and chips before heading on to Skye. The beautiful weather held up and the longer day made it possible for us to enjoy the scenery as we passed by the Five Sisters (a mountain range) which still have some snow on their peaks. However, by the time we arrived on Skye, in the village of Uig, it was too dark to see anything.


So, we settled down and rested in preparation for the next day. Unfortunately, the day dawned, bringing the rain with it. So, for most of the morning, we were exposed to the rain. Below is an example of how difficult it was to take pictures in the rain - my lenses were misty and dotted with raindrops. But I tried to take this picture of the river that originated from the Cuilins (a mountain range on Skye).

Rocio, my classmate, and I posed below...you can see the Cuillins behind us. Rev Allister's wife, Nickie, mentioned that this area was great for walks. Luckily though we didn't manage to go for a walk here since I don't think anyone fancied walking in the rain.

We also visited Port Righ (Portree), the capital of Skye. It was actually quite small with less than four blocks of main street. Next, Fiona, our guide (and a really lovely lady who volunteers her time arranging the whole trip for us), brought us to Old Man Storr and his wee lady. They are basically these two stone pinnacles, remnants of ancient volcanic plugs. We didn't go up there but visited a nearby waterfall as shown below. One thing good about the rain is that there's enough water in the waterfall for a great picture.

We also visited the Kilt Rock Waterfall which I've decided I wouldn't upload a picture here but it was really impressive. Anyway, as we make our way up the Trotternish Peninsular to Quiraing, the rain gradually stopped though the sun was still playing hide and seek. The Quiraing is spectacular landslip on the eastern face of Meall na Suiramach, the northernmost summit of the Trotternish Ridge and is about 543 m high.

As Peter, Fiona's busband, took this picture of the group for us, we were standing at about 350 m above sea level at a guess. We still had a bit more to climb before we arrive at the "Prison", a pyramidal rocky peak which look like a medieval keep.

That's Rev Allister, Tim, and me (from the left) as we pose with the Quirang in the background.

Peter is in green and in the middle of the picture, Rocio in yellow and Mauricio, my other classmate, is beside her as we climbed up to the shoulder between the Prison and the Needle. You can definitely identify which of these rock structure is the Needle.

Here is where we part ways with most of the team going up to the Needle and beyond while the rest of us, for reasons of our own, decided to stay at the current level and circled the Quiraing. Below is the small team of us who decided to go for the "low" walk. It was still a great walk and we actually found this wee lochen (small lake) to rest and admire the scenery.

As we made our way back down, the sun finally decided to show itself, and the land was transformed. God's grace made it possible for us to view the various contrasting forms of the land and we were amazed.

After the Quiraing, we went further up to visit a ruin castle owned by the McDonald clan. Such a sad story, it was, of why they abandoned the castle - a tragic death of a child, the heir to the McDonald chief. Nearby, as in almost everywhere in Skye, there are some crofts and here, I saw this really woolly sheep. Couldn't resist...

That's the castle.

Finally, after a long day, we arrive back at our hostel. Guess what time it is from the picture?

Did you guess, correctly? Hmmm....well, it was 8 pm, actually. And the sun was setting in the bay in front of the hostel.

The next day we said goodbye to Skye as we walked along the bridge below connecting Caol Loch Aillse (pronounced as Kyle Lochalsh), a small town on the mainland to Skye. The yellow flowers are gorse, a native vegetation in these parts. A surprise awaited me when Peter suggested we smell the flowers...it brings back memory of home - the smell of freshly grated coconut. Whatdyaknow...God's way of sharing the beauty of His creations with us that in this far away land where coconut was once a strange plant, it shared the same smell.

Slipping away from Skye, we headed towards what must be the most photographed castle in Scotland...Eilean Donan Castle.

We were entertained by the guides within the castle with its history and the history of Scotland.

Above is one of the views of one of the three sea lochs surrounding Eilean Donan. And on the other side of the castle, the daffodils are blooming.

As time passes, we had to leave the enchanting castle for another historic but more ruined castle along Loch Ness. There I was resting and trying to see if I could spot Nessie. Unfortunately, there was narry a shadow.

At last, we were heading back to Heriot Watt, passing through Aviemore and we spotted snow still clinging to the mountain tops.

We got back about 8 pm (dusk) and I was happy to see my bed. Still, it was a great trip.