The hill I saw in a recent dream?

Hah... Perhaps the title is perplexing. Bear with me for a while and all would be explained. That is while I still feel like writing. Besides, the set of pictures used for this story practically continues from where I left off in Kota Buruk (the ruined fort) in Muar... . Be patient and God will grant you wisdom, haha! :]

About 2 weeks ago, I had a weird dream where I entered an alternate universe via a door on top of a certain hill, one that as far as I remember I've never stepped foot on. And I've stepped foot on many summits... There's just one clue given... The hill lies near Tanjung Olak...

Now, I've never been to Tanjung Olak but I know there's such a place by that name in Muar. Suffice to say, it gave me the strong impetus to return to Muar for the Islamic Aidil Adha celebration. Otherwise I could have celebrated it elsewhere as there's part of me that wanted to head for Kelantan or Terengganu to start a new session of adventure.

To cut a long story short, after visiting Kota Buruk, me and my brother immediately head for Tanjung Olak about 10km away, on the small road which leads to a dead end. The problem is I don't see any hill there, so how?

After loitering for a while I decided to head back towards Jorak. From there I plan to go to Pagoh to visit another place. Just a kilometre or so after heading back from the said Tanjung Olak, I saw a hill that looks exactly like that in my dream! Except it is located quite a distance away, at least that's what it looks like from there...

Luckily I stopped at a stall in Jorak to have brunch and met a rather knowledgeable elder person. Somehow we hit on and I told him about the dream...

Then he told me the Tanjung Olak I went just now, the Tanjung Olak that appears in current maps was not the original Tanjung Olak. In fact the real (or old) Tanjung Olak lies near a hill just like the one I saw in my dream! And according to him there are some mystical legends associated to that place...

The problem is how to get there... Apparently there's some inland routes through some rural villages and plantations but the roads might not be good enough to give way for my brother's car and its low floor. Besides there's just too much junctions and we could get lost. So he told me to get to the main road from Bukit Pasir to Pagoh and look for the junction to a quarry. That's how I get to the hill shown in the picture above...

Now, I'm positive I've seen this hill in another dream. It's just I'm not sure is it the same hill as the one in the dream which gives the name Tanjung Olak because the one in the recent dream looks like it had a slightly sharper summit. Then again perhaps that is the view from another angle?

So I decided to make a quick climb. If there is another hill it should not be so far off... It should be visible from up this hill I reasoned...

I went on leaving my brother waiting in the car down below. I went on until the foliage got so thick and blocked the path up... A path which I could have gone through but had to endure some mess to my clothings...

Then again I've been gone for a while and my poor brother down there, sitting in the car with the hot sun shining might not be so happy. So I decided to climb down...

Do I get the right hill? I hope so... At least I've tried...

Now, there could just be another hill around but I surely can't see through the plants and foliages... The only way to make sure is to climb all the way up where it is clearer but the hill is quite high and the path blocked while I sure can't expect my brother to continue waiting. So I left the place hoping that those who matters know I've tried... Don't ask who those people are OK...

Next, we went to Kampung Raja, Pagoh more than 10km further and visited the tomb of Sultan Alauddin Riayat Shah of Melaka (ruled in the 1480s AD or so), the only surviving tomb of a Melaka Sultan... The last time I was here was perhaps half a year ago...

This time I decided to bring my Selempang Merah (literally translated as red sash) along... Again don't ask me what is this thing. Those who know should know what it signifies...

This time I felt like wrapping the red sash in a position known as the lam jalallah (like a variation of the Arabic letter lam) at the head gravestone of the Sultan... I don't know why, I just did...

After doing my obligatory prayers at the mosque besides the tomb, we left and head back for my parents' place in Kampung Temiang...

On the way, we passed through Bukit Pasir and saw this huge Chinese cemetery area covering the hill at the small town... Ah... There is enough high clearing here for me to clarify whether I made up the hill at Tanjung Olak (the old Tanjung Olak that is) or not...

From on top that hill, one could get a good view of the legendary Gunung Ledang or Mount Ophir some 30km away heading north-east...

A look towards the east shows these hills... Then I realised the one in the middle was the one I climbed up where else there's another hill albeit a much smaller one just a bit up to the north.

Now I remember... The sign-board on the main road leading to the hills said the quarry is a 4.5km inland where else we went in for only about 1-2km or so... I mean we could have gone further inside but the road, frequented by many heavy vehicles were such in a bad shape that I could see my brother's face squint whenever he had to negotiate a hole... And there's many of them.. That's why I decided not to get any further and thus just went up the hill as seen in the first picture.

So did I went up the right hill I saw in the recent dream, the one with the name Tanjung Olak attached to it? Looks like I missed that one... But I know for sure, the one I climbed up was shown in another dream, a much earlier one and that is it itself revealing. And I've tried what I could within the limited time and resources available then...

Perhaps, I will make another visit and climb the right hill. Perhaps... Meanwhile I hope God is pleased that I've continued doing my little bit to understand the things that I should given the certain type and lineage of blood that flow through my veins. Given this posting which is a way for me to let go of what happened, hopefully more pieces of the jigsaw puzzle that is my purpose in life will be made apparent soon enough. That's it! ... :]