The Building Whisperer

Hello dear friends and welcome to my Sanctum, a place to share thoughts, ideas and hopes, in creating a society with grace, conscience and compassion.I am Boon, an explorer, an adventurer and a student, of life, and a student for life. The latter, a boon my parents dealt me, by naming me “Hwee Boon” in the Fujian Chinese dialect meaning “Wise Scholar”. My surname “Yap” means “leaf”, so quaintly appropriate, because in ancient times before the advent of paper, scholars and poets wrote on leaves.

I am Chinese, brought up a Taoist and Buddhist in a Muslim country, went to a Methodist primary school and Catholic convent secondary school, with a Western University education. Malaysia is my country of birth, where I grew up steeped in all Chinese traditional culture, festivals, spirituality, including martial arts. Australia is my home. Although often not there due to my travels, this sunburnt country and its bejeweled sea has become my sanctuary, a place I return to regain tranquility and balance.Trained as a biochemist with medical research background and international business experience in the high-tech biomedical industry, my clients have mostly been from the hotbeds of biotech in the West coast USA. The excitement of working at the forefront of medical technology and therapy such as in stem cell therapy, minimally invasive spinal repair, etc., was a buzz! - my “Yang” passion.About ten years ago, I embarked on a journey returning to my roots under the guidance of my father, Yap Cheng Hai, to pursue all things esoteric in ancient Chinese philosophical wisdom based on the Yi Jing and the Tao – my “Yin” passion.Having spent equal time in both the East and the West, I am able to straddle both, and am at home in society as sleeping under the stars; enjoy good dining, concerts, museums and galleries or staying at home curled up with a good book or movie; cooking up a storm, design and sew/knit, chinese-brush painting, or playing the piano; but most of all, I love the outdoors.With a passion for life, I have soared far and wide, about 40 countries last count. I pack in a lot, playful and introspective, with the heart of a dolphin and the spirit of a wandering albatross… and for this, a special friend has named me a skydancer.So yes, I am a skydancer, but very purpose driven, I decide on the place I want to go and make sure I have fun getting there.

This applies to both work and play, and often for me they are inseparable. My work often takes me to major cities in the world, while my recreational travels are often intrepid and with purpose – The Galapagos in understanding Darwin’s Origin of Species, Antarctica was in Shackleton’s footsteps, Machu Picchu to understand the Inca’s tantric connection with the cosmos and to find similarities with traditional Chinese Feng Shui; bringing me close to nature or into pristine wilderness in search of “Power Sites” where I recharge and my spirit can soar, to remote places off the beaten track. It is in these places too that I learn the most about how humankind interact with each other and their environment, sometimes saddened, at other times heartened by what I see. A child of nature, I think deep ecology, and am concerned about planet earth.

I often carry a smile with me, and in familiar company I have a wicked sense of humour! Enjoying the repartee of friends with intellect and depth, I cope poorly with the inane or shallow but have every time in the world in the presence of kindness. My closest friends prove friendships are inseparable by distance, scattered globally in South Africa, USA, India, Bhutan, Australia, throughout S.E. Asia, Japan, Europe, and now China.They are special ‘affinity’ individuals from my life journey; I’ve never been part of a clique.I am passionate about travel and experiencing new cultures, learning and passing on traditional wisdoms, novel ideas with humanitarian leanings, and sustainable development and conservation, to help create a society with grace, conscience and compassion, for there is only one planet Earth.I invite you to join me along my journey…May you have an enriching life!