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Published: October 22nd 2007
A steady stream of interesting people find their way to Magick River. It must be the call to the wild, the need to reconnect with nature and a desire to seek peace outside of the money driven city. I've been here for 18 days now and i have seen more than ten groups of people come and go. Most of these people came not only to get a dash of the wild but also to connect with Antares. He is a freedom fighter and artist who has lived out here in the Orang Asli (Aboriginal) Village for many years. He is married to a Orang Asli woman and together with their son, dogs, and cats they live a peaceful existence in this lovely jungle river ecosystem. A few years back the Malaysian Government built a damn along the river. The water backed up and flooded the previous homes of the Native People. Antares had been a leader in the struggle to stop the dam from happening. In compensation the government moved a portion of the villagers up river to where I now type this blog. It is a beautiful place and the homes were built from a European Architect. Antares expanded
his lot by building an amazing bamboo palace behind the house. The twist of the story is that although the Orang Asli got a nice new village next to the free flowing river upstream from the dam, they only were given a 90 year lease. This has major implications for the future of their tribe and grandchildren. Essentially they are on borrowed time and when 90 years comes up, who knows where the property will go. And without land, Aboriginal people the world over, lose their base.
Antares is a Global citizen and he attracts visitors from around the world. The funny thing is that he actually is not a big fan of crowds. He was telling me that his preferred limit for visitors was 8. That very moment a group of 16 showed up ready to spend the night. I laughed at the timing as we welcomed this group of mixed backgrounds. There was the family from the South African Embassy, the Kenyan Embassy, local Malaysians, and a writer from Spain. Antares let go of his limit and hugged them all.
I happily shared the bamboo hut. Fortunately they also brought tents and lots of South African
Food. We had a great couple of days and the city girls had a new perception of wilderness when they left.
Everyone needs a dose of nature now and again. I know that I now feel refreshed and joyful which frees up energy for me to continue my work. Thanks to mother earth for her flowing rivers and cooling rain. Thanks for the people of this world who radiate compassion, joy and respect for eachother. Thanks to Antares for creating the paradigm of Magick River.
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Antares
non-member comment
Nice talking to you in cyberspace too, Peter!
Weird isn't it? I'm leaving a comment on your travel blog while you're lying in a hammock 30 feet away! Bet you'll be accessing this blog in the next few minutes and you'll find my comment here as proof that I did clickon the link you sent three minutes ago :-) Thanks for the positive review of the Magick River paradigm - it's actually a hologram but let's not get too technical here. BTW the MR website is now on www.magickriver.net but you'll get redirected if you go to magickriver.dot.com :-) Thanks for posting my Flying Starman pic here... KREEEGAH! Starzan bundolo!