Bitten by the Travel Bug

Still planning

2011-06-08T22:53:00.001+08:00

Our travel plans have a major adjustments. We might be including another country in our trip. Although, we are excited, it also creates additional, additional, additional,

costs
planning
relaxing time

It's all in the planning stage, nothing is confirmed yet but maybe you can guess where we're going?
Why is it so hard to find a blog of a Malaysian on their Europe trip? I do want some suggestions on accommodation, food and others.

To see the previous layer budget in here. Picture from news-world.us.

Distraction toys for my toddler

2011-05-17T23:42:00.000+08:00

Travelling with a toddler really is a challenge even though for a quick stop at the supermarket (which turns out a few hours). I'm looking at toys that can distract my little one especially in the plane. Something small, not noisy, not messy and can engage her for hours. Small notebook shares her favorite ones which are:

art supplies: watercolor case, colored pencils, coloring book.
tea set and petit fours by Haba
jewelry box with dress up jewelry – it also served as a place to put special things
puzzles – stored in ziplock bags, not in the boxes
felt cupcakes
more felt and scissors – we made a felt town and other crafts.
balloons – the kids played with them in the tub. We made the biggest water balloon they ever saw.
balls
favorite stuffed animal
a couple of books

I like some of the ideas, so I might bring:

color pencils, coloring book, stickers and blank papers.
maybe a small etch-a-sketch if I can find them
a stuffed animal
puzzles
tangram puzzle
a couple of books
I like the idea of tea set and jewelry box but not sure and balloons maybe but not balls (don't want it to go bouncing on someone's head.
a few blocks (lego)
Ipod, phone (installed with toddler applications :))
toy car
band aids (first time hear of this idea)
a card game (Snap?)

Any more ideas?

Friends from Czech and Pasar Ramadhan

2011-04-23T03:31:00.000+08:00

Originally posted on August 2010

We hosted a couple, Julie and Lucas from Czech Republic for 5 days on last two weeks. My hubby reply their last minute request from the couch surfing project. They had been travelling Asia for the past 10 months starting from Malaysia actually, going to China, Laos, Mongolia and Thailand using Air Asia. Currently, they are at Kota Bharu (based on our recommendation :)) and will be going to India by flight. There onwards, they be using land road, probably through Pakistan, Iran, Turkey and so on, to Julie's hometown in France.

We love hosting as it give us chance to meet new people and hear their experiences. I love how European can save up their money, quit their job and went travel like they're no care in the world (damn you debt!!!). Julie and Lucas turns out to be nice, down to earth people and a great cook. They didn't go to the typical touristic places and at one of the places where they visit (in Tibet), it had the one of the beautiful view I ever saw.

Pic: in Tibet (borrow your pics, Lucas!)

Since it was Ramadhan, of course we bring them to Pasar Ramadhan which fascinates them so much. Let see, we bought nasi briyani with rendang, murtabak, bubur lambuk, otak-otak, cendol, cincau, air asam boi, samosa and a few other that I don't remember.

As usual, there is a tour of Putrajaya. They like the Wawasan bridge. Also, we bought them to the HQ of Sate Kajang at Haji Samuri Sate Kajang in Kajang. They tried the heart and the mutton and liver are sold-out.

They even cook break-fasting for us, stuffed vegetables with rice and meatballs. It was very delicious especially the bell pepper and meatballs.

Coincidently, there was a couch surfing picnic going on which we opted to go but didn't stay long because we had to send them to train station to go to KB. We met a bunch other travellers, some been here on work and some still travelling and some from dear own Malaysia. My hubby made murtabak (lupa plak tangkap gambar) which turns out great (any request for recipe?) and Fatin had so much fun playing at Lake Garden's park. Julie cried when we part as we already feel like old friends.

It's been a good experience. Any plans for travel this year?

I-City, Shah Alam, Selangor

2011-04-23T03:27:00.002+08:00

Originally posted on July 2010

Do you know what i-city is? This supposed to be center where real estate, IT and communications come together in one place. Like Cyberjaya only closer to KL? I saw a few IT companies already in there and I'm sure they put in fiber optics and any other technology in there.

However, what people are attracted to is the garden of tree lights. Suddenly the road behind UiTM (where I spend 2 years of my time studying there are jam packed with cars going to this garden of lights.

Tips from Nelli is to park at the multilevel parking since it easier to push stroller. However, we missed the turn and just park at nearby houses where we had to climb a hill and push the stroller in mud and sand *sigh*. Another tips is to exit Padang Jawa from Federal Highway rather than the front UiTM exit because if you stuck in the jam, it a short one than the other exit. Besides, the sign-board only appear near to the place rather than all over Shah Alam.

There are a lot of people with big, profesional camera. However, when the people are pack like sardines, you can't take good pictures anyway. We're fail at night photography so, just enjoy the selected pictures. For nicer pictures, you can see Taufiq Shariff pictures of the i-City. I think he took during late evening since there are not many people there.

Zoo Negara, Kuala Lumpur

2011-04-23T03:18:00.000+08:00

Originally posted on June 2010

How was your past weekend? For us, it's a 4 days weekend.. okay, 3 and half day weekend. Wednesday night was spend at my parent's house. Hubby got an office event at Zoo Negara on Thursday, so, we tag along. The two of us, Fatin and I, had an outing to see the monkeys. The first time Fatin had some sort of encounters with monkeys were when she was 3 months old at A Famosa Resort Animal Safari World. Let just say that the parents enjoy it more than the kid.

Pic: Prott.. excuse me.

This time, I can see she enjoys or maybe feels weird when watching the animals. She even got scared by a miniature horse and an otter :P

Pic: The otter (memerang) that scared Fatin. Somehow, the animals like Fatin because they seem to go near the cage when we walk by.

The tickets are priced at RM20 for adults with myKad (Malaysian identity card) and RM6 for child with myKad. We start at 10am straight by going to the Ape centre and pass lots of animals on the way.

Pic: This Seladang was huge. Even taller than me.

Pic: In no mood to pose.

Then, I rushed back around 11am to the elephants to see the elephant show. Since, it was still early, I grab some food at a kiosks near the cage. Fatin was napping by this time.

Unfortunately, I got the time wrong. The elephant show had been cancelled for quite sometime. The multi-animal show was actually at 11am or 3pm and the one at 11.30am was feeding time for the elephants. See the schedule here.

So, I walk to the show just in time to hear the ending (not even one stunt). Oh well. Fatin had woke up by now and we're off to see the fishes and penguins. I thought, previously, the aquariums had some sharks (the big one, not the small variety one) and some piranhas but I might be mistaken since I didn't see any. I didn't see my seahorses either.

Pic: So majestically proud.

Pic: Do you know what fish is this? This is Sepat Ronggeng that a very nice fish to eat also. Taste sort of like Bawal. It's hard to find and I only saw it at a market in Perak.

Pic: No, this is not the one that kill Steve Irwin. But, it's in the same family :))) The tail are really long, as long as the length of this aquarium.

By then, it was noon and we opted for some tram ride around the Zoo. Hey, KFC was also not there and being replace by fish and chip restaurant. I was planning to eat KFC but had to make do with Thai fried rice near the entrance.

Pic: This bird came out of nowhere very close to us and it's huge (about my shoulder). I was worried that it will bite.

Pic: Pink Panther err.. flamingo in action.

Then, we had our lunch beside the lake. The weather was nice with breeze but the food was bad but I finished it anyway. I saw my hubby across the lake feeding elephants (hehe). After a walk to bird house, we returned for home. I finished the whole zoo in half a day (not bad huh?) and skip the reptile house (no snakes please).

Pic: The baby Baboon is so cute, right? Five little monkeys jumping on the bed....

Chris and Regina's coming and Sepang Goldcoast

2011-04-23T03:06:00.001+08:00

Originally posted on December 2010

The week before the surgery, on Christmas day, we got a guest, Chris from Germany coming to see us on his way to meet her fiance in Russia. It was a long story on how we met but it was the fourth time we seen him (3 times in Malaysia) and he had been in Malaysia about 7 times already, mainly to use the AirAsia service :P

Pic: Driving in KL with no license hehe

On Christmas day, we was waiting for him to come after a Christmas in Singapore. Then, the next day, we spend shopping for some souvenirs for his fiancee at Jalan Masjid India. He bought kain batik, scarves, dress and kebaya (he must be in love :P) While I got 1 clothes for baju kurung.

Unfortunately, it rains like crazy. We only manage to take cover in one of the stalls. Feels like it's about to fall down. The stalls in front of me, the drain pipe falls down.

We went back during the night and was exhausted. I was supposed to meet up with friends but was too exhausted. Luckily, we didn't go because our other friend, my hubby colleague Regina from Houston, US had arrived from Singapore. Both were staying at our house. We last saw her about 3 years ago. So, we pick her up and had a dinner at Old Town Coffee House and heads back home.

The next day, we drops Chris off to LCCT for his flight to Russia. Then, we off to Sepang Goldcoast where I was supposed to meet my friends the night before. For information Sepang Goldcoast is a newly developed tourism place in Bagan Lalang, Selangor. It's about another 30km to Port Dickson. I guess, it is now the closest beach to KL area. The development of the beach was done such as way to rank it as the third palm houses/hotels in the world!

Anybody up to invest are truly welcome :D

Part of the beach is for public. While the hotel and houses part are going to be private. For now, they let you to their cafe and sales office. If want to see the houses, you must get written agreement from the sales office.

Besides seeing the palms, the sea foods are delicious and cheap (according to my friend). We don't get to eat because we come in afternoon and unfortunately the shops was not opened yet. Except from eating, you can swim here and many shops are selling swimsuit and floating device. The beach is very shallow and people are swimming very far to get to deep end. Be sure to go to the end of the road for the wet market. Bagan Lalang actually is a fisherman's village and this market have very cheap seafood. I bought 800gm mackerel (tenggiri) for RM12/14 and a big white pomfret (bawal) for RM12/14. I should have buy the red fish also.

Updates and Fun Part!

2011-04-23T02:50:00.001+08:00

I saw my last update and it was 10 months ago. Wow, that was unexpected. There is always some stories to tell but had little time to tell. A lot had happen since then such as, Hadi, Malaysia solo rider travelling with kapcai had reached London on 24th October 2010 and reached home on 15th December 2010.

I had also deleted some personal stuff in the blog and dedicate it for what it was meant to be at the beginning of it's creation, a travel blog, food and something in between.

I had yet to change the blog template.

And, for the fun part, we had another trip coming up.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia --> Berlin, Germany --> Poznan, Poland --> Paris, France --> Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

I know that you might be wondering, Europe again? Same country, again? Yes but however, we're going on this trip for a few reasons:

Hubby's sister, Adik is finishing her last year there and hopefully with our visit, she'll be one less lonely girl (pun attended for JB fan) and more dedicated to finish her study (fingers crossed).
Attending to a friend's wedding reception, Chris which we met during our couch surfing to his place, Cologne and he visiting us in our place in Malaysia. See full trip story here and here. Also, his trip to our place at here.
We're going to take advantage of Adik's house and save a whole week worth of accommodation.
Visit our work counterpart office (another support centre) at Poznan since it is very near to Berlin and see live in person, colleagues that I spoke to/messaging to at the very least once a week.
Experience Ramadhan and Eid in totally different environment (yikes!). This is coincidently happen on the same date that we plan the trip.

One major difference of this trip with previous trip is that we have a toddler now!

So, this trip will be slower pace, with limited countries or sites visited, limited pictures due to someone had to take care of the kid and "kid-friendly" attractions/shops/restaurant. I'm hoping to share some costing that we have just for you to have an idea on the cost if you want to partake the same trip. The first or second question friends always ask me is usually how much you spend on the trip or how much is the flight tickets and so forth.

The Outer Layer

Flight Tickets:

Air Jordanian - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Berlin, Germany (transit in Amman, Jordan) = RM5,298 (2 adults and a child)

= RM1,489 (+RM401 for tax) for 1 adult.

Air Asia - Paris, France to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia = Euro 807 (2 adults and a child)

= Euro 212 (+Euro 171 for tax and fee) for 1 adult

Air Berlin - Berlin, Germany to Paris, France = Euro 342.39 (3 adults and a child)

= Euro 28.99 (+Euro 59 for tax and fee) for 1 adult

Car Rental:

Avis - Berlin to Poznan to Berlin = Euro 191.59 (7 days) (+Euro 45 for car seat)

That's the outer layer of our trip. Basically, it covers the going and return between each places. We missed Air Berlin promotion flight for the date that we want at Euro 44.99 per person. Price per person above have to be added the value in (bracket) to get the total price. Famous questions that might come up from this:

Question 1: Why we didn't buy return tickets; even if we're doing "open jaw" trip?

Question 2: Is it cheaper to buy one-way trip than return trip?

Answer 1: It's cheaper. Provided that you return using Air Asia, of course. There are not many flights that stops at Berlin, a different case from Frankfurt. Therefore, you only have a skeleton of flights to choose from. Another option is to arrive at Frankfurt and took another flight/train to Berlin. We calculated that this option will be more expansive and we can't be bother with changing flights with our toddler in tow.

Answer 2: It's always cheaper to buy return tickets because the price with one way ticket will always follow the departure country currency and airport tax or fees. After converting the difference value, it will always more expansive than buying return tickets.

Later on, the middle layer which is accommodation cost which will be updated once confirmed and inside layer which are food, entertainment, entrance fee and others which will be updated after the trip.

For now, enjoy some entries that I haven't published yet and see V Keong costing on his Europe trip last year for another reference. He was using train as the Europe hopping transportation on each countries while we are mostly relying on low-cost flight.

One Man Journey on a Kapcai

2010-06-12T10:58:00.002+08:00

Just found this blog about the journey of one man, Syed Ahmad Abdul Hadi bin Syed Hussein from Malaysia all the way to United Kingdom on a bike (kapcai nonetheless). I'm proud of his courage and pray that he can finish the journey. He is currently at Khardung La, India. See his website here and keep track of his journey there. If you feel generous, give some contribution for him to continue his journey.

Tips for traveller to Europe

2010-06-09T10:09:00.005+08:00

I'm still haven't connected to my PC (I'm using the hubby), so the pictures are still in the PC. I seen a few people add me as followers, I'm really surprised as it's been a while since the last post. Thank you!

The economy are getting better. The gap between Dollar and Euro are closer. So, I seen lots of people are going holiday this year. Unfortunately for us, might be no travel this year also :(((. We'll see how next year goes. Once you get the travel bug, you feel the itch all the time.

I posted some travel tips to a local newspaper but the email not going through. I post the tips if it published, okay.

Now, I thought I give some tips for traveller from Malaysia (the hot and humid country) going to European country.

Weather - The best time to go travel are during spring to me. Winter are too freezing, Summer are too crowded. Autumn might be good but I haven't travel during Autumn. It's because prices for most accommodation or sights are cheaper than during Summer. The crowds are thinner, therefore you'll get to see something without queuing long. However, winter is the cheapest way to go for accommodation and flights. But then, you got to buy winter clothes. Due to climate change, April and May had unpredictable weather but May seems better as April had lots of rains.
Packing list - If going on early spring and autumn, you still need warm clothes and even winter coats. It might said 16/17C but the wind are making it so cold. If you can handle it with thin coats, look for thin material that keep you warm (like fleece). Most people said to bring clothes that you can layer up when it's cold and take off a piece when it's warm.
Essential - Bring your medication and the common medication (paracetamol, eye drops, plaster, flu medicine). Going to pharmacy will knock off 15-20 euros (that's a meal or two!). One other important thing is to bring LOTION. I didn't like lotion leaving in this humid country where the lotion turns into sticky hands. But there, I was rubbing in 3-4 times a day (or whenever I had time). Your skin will get very dry and flakey usually by a week time. Though, it differs from people to people. Lucky hubby! On the same note, bring moisturizer for your face also. This rule are for boys also.
Money - Make sure to activate the PLUS in your ATM card which can be done at ATM machine. Be sure to change the limit to higher withdrawals (the default is RM1000). Call your credit card to inform of your trip so that the card won't get blocked. Find out what's the transaction fee for credit card withdrawals and other fees. It's good when you have several banks so that you can use the cheapest if must too. Check also the charges for credit card transaction (usually 2%) and currency exchange charge between banks. Change some money to euros to tide us before we find an ATM machine. Our changing rate usually are better than if you change at your destination.
Storing money - I guess this depends on how you want to store them. I hate the waist money thing. It's bulky and makes your tummy bigger. The important thing here is to split your money. Keep some in pockets, some in your backpack and some in your jacket. Maybe other people keep in shoes? :) Keep it close to your body and in front rather than back. Same goes with your passport. Have copies of them and keep in your wallets and bags.
Scams - There are a lot of scams everywhere you goes. The ever popular one is tying a "friendship" bracelet to your wrist and then ask for money. So, stay clear of that and check your balance twice.
Bookings - Bookings for car rental and accommodation in Internet are always cheaper than if you when to the counter. Sometimes, you even see the price different between websites because it depends on the deal they get with the place.
Transportation - The cheapest way to travel are by bus but it is not always comfortable. It good for short distance trip. The low-cost flights (SkyEurope, Ryanair etc) are sometimes cheaper than train like eurorail for cross-country. We got a 5 euro (promo price) flight from Paris to Prague. We paid about RM300 for train from Milan to Venice. Consider prices as well as time. Sometimes, the train ride through scenic view will be enjoyable to experience if you don't mind the prices. Consider overnight train or ferry to save money on a night accommodation. Other transportation such as ferry will be a different experience than the usual road trip such as from Dubrovnik, Croatia to Italy or from London to Paris. Every country had some sort of discount card for transportation with sights. It depends on how much you are using the transportation and the place you want to go.

Travel to Genting Highlands

2010-04-06T01:44:00.008+08:00

The Location: Genting Highlands

Accomodation: Genting View Resort

Date: Thursday to Friday on January 2010

We had been to Genting numerous of time. The reasons are:

1) It's the closest highland from Kuala Lumpur.

2) It's colder due to the fact that it's a highland.

3) It provides lots of distraction.

The trip this time are a bit different because we had a little one now and we're staying on the lower ground, not smack at the top of the mountain.

The resort that we were staying (see the above picture) is a studio apartment consists of one bedroom separated from the living room by a slide door, a bathroom and kitchen with stove and refrigerator. So, you can cook in there but you had to bring your own pots, pans and other kitchen utensils. The resort's location is just before Gohtong town. The resort provides transfer to the nearest cable car where you can go up to Genting. To go from Kuala Lumpur, you can either took a bus (you can either take from Puduraya or at LRT Terminal Putra), took a taxi or by car which took about an hour.

Pic: See how colder it is, there's some mist. KL was having a very hot few days during we were up there.

The great things about the resort are its the best of both worlds which mean it situated amidst greenery which makes it peace and quiet but you can go up to the theme park if you're bored. Our room are right beside a river, so that we can hear the sounds of the river everytime we open the window. They have teambuilding course for companies and you can might request hiking or other outdoorsy activities. It's perfect for family as you can either took a walk around the resort or go to the club house which you can amuse yourself with tennis, squash or swim in the heated pool (which are not working during the time we are there). Warning, if you are not cooking, food are hard to come by. There's a coffee house at the lobby or you can eat at the nearby town (one Malay restaurant and the other are mostly chinese steambot) or just went to Genting and eat there. The price are cheaper than the hotels at the theme park where on weekends can be up to RM200++. For our stay, weekdays are about RM150 and friday (consider as the eve of weekend) are at RM180.

During our stay, they are not a lot of people (no school holidays, weekdays and no long weekends), so we had the place almost to ourselves. Here, we walk er... hike to the lobby, where we ate a late breakfast (bread and tuna) by the pool.

So then, the next thing we do is to drive up to the theme park (somehow, the cable car are not working that weekend) and play in the outdoor theme park. The only other thing you can do here are go into the indoor theme park (video arcades, some small rides like rollercoaster, merry go round, 4D cinema) or gambling at the casino here (it's what Genting are famous for).

Since doter is here, we got to play the kiddie rides, consists of driving an Antique car....

Some flying contraptions (rockets and dumbo?)..

Ferris wheel..

Merry go round... (what I previously always want to ride but shy due to kids stuff)

Tea cups and ghost rollercoasters (more like rollerride). Then, I get to ride this...

The spinner and he got to ride this...

The pirate ship.

Then, trying luck on this. We were not lucky!

The next morning, I want Fatin for the first time to try the swimming pool (which are unheated -- broken). She was not amused. In fact, she scream her head off. Luckily, there's only us and a few workers.

Try a different approach, makes her relax, play a bit by the water side.

She becomes less afraid.

A happier baby. I notices, it's a natural instinct when she in the water, naturally she start to kick her legs (dog paddle) to keep a float. How come we forgot this when we grow up?

It's had been a much needed and relaxing holiday.

Lazy.. lazy.. lazy

2010-03-26T10:38:00.003+08:00

I want to update on the travel, but I'm to lazy to hooked up the pc that had the pictures. I'm going to finish up on Venice but it's nothing much because the third day was spent shopping and then, it will be somemore of local destination and Brazil. It's weird, but you'll tend to treat your own country destination with less touristy feeling (only took some pictures of you). You know, you can visits again.

Travel to Venice, Italy Day 2

2009-12-17T01:22:00.008+08:00

Paris, France -> Prague, Czech -> Venice, Italy

See Venice Day 1

The next day, we bought 24 hour tickets for vaporetta (water taxis) to explore islands, Murano island and Burano island that's close to Venice. I realized later that actually the ticket that we bought is for 24 hour vaporetta in Venice only and not to the island. Luckily, maybe because it's weekend? that there are no one checking the tickets.

First, since we got unlimited rides, we took the vaporetta and cruising along the canals. See the view.

Pic: One of vaporetta stops -- Ferrovia.

Pic: Not sure whether this is some building of purpose (library etc) or the palace houses used by the wealthy.

Pic: Hilton hotel.

Pic: San Giorgio Maggiore up close which we can saw yesterday from Doge's Palace and a vaporetta.

Pic: View of Doge's Palace from the water.

Pic: One church in another island.

We arrived at Murano island. This island is famous for producing original Murano glass (you can see it at shops, KLCC got some). Just when we arrived, we were being ushered to see a demostration on glass blowing on one of the factory. After the demo, we asked for some money (sabar je la). They said that the art of blowing/making glass was passed through generations from father to son and there are no school for this. Then, we were ushered to their gift shops where people can purchase vases, dinnerware etc. (nice tactic).

Pic: Red brick building at Murano island (must be hot living here)

We break for lunch at the restaurant at this square. Opposite from Rome, we had been lucky to find all good food in Venice in spite of it full of tourists.

Afterwards, we hopped the vaporretta to go to the next island, Burano. Burano is a fishing village. While Murano is famous for it's glass, Burano is famous for it's laceworks. And a unique thing about Burano is the houses was painted in different colours.

This trip lasted whole day but it was worth it.

Travel to Venice, Italy Day 1

2009-12-16T23:42:00.009+08:00

Paris, France -> Prague, Czech -> Venice, Italy

On the next morning, we was woke up by a loud, rude knock on the door from the housekeeper asking whether we are staying another day or not. And she did this to each room. Really loud. Sometimes, Italian can be a bit standoffish. So, we quickly get ready and went out of the hotel with hope of finding another hotel nearby that we can transfer.

Off we go with a crowd wave that seems to be going in one direction, so we just go with the flow. Stop for a while for some European breakfast (croissant and coffee) at park at a table. Them usually took it standing by the counter/bar. The old ladies beside us kept staring at us. Never seen Asian people before? or trying to place which country? Hope the conclusion is not India hahahaha. Just a bit darker and straight to India folks!

Pic: Ni namanya gondola.

There are so many canals and bridges. Everywhere you look is tourist and occasional locals working for tourists. And of course, the first gandola we saw, jakun sekejap la yek. Then, saw gondola that parked, of couse stopped to take pictures. Padahal lepas tu banyak giler jumpa gandola dan tak heran dah. Then, we somehow arrived at Rialto bridge. The bridge full of stops and besides the bridges, there are lots of markets and more shops.

Pic: Rialto bridge and view from top of Rialto bridge.

The morning light, happy mood, it really is breathtaking scenery and view from the bridge, I have to admit that I feel romantic already (hehehe).

Pic: Pak cik bawa gondola sambil nyanyi.

Unfortunately, we made a decision even before we arrived to not ride the gondola because of money shortage. 30 minutes gondola ride is equal to one night room (mahal gilos tau). But I regret a bit la (huhuhu, next time, ada rezeki, insya-allah).

We come across, a house where Mozart stay for a while while composing one of his music. They travel from one country to the next while composing and you can come across their house at any other country. On our way to the must-see Piazza San Marco, we took a wrong turn and come across Teatro La Fenice.

From there, we can't find our road on the map. Anybody who's going to Venice, first thing you must buy is their map as there are so many roads (gaps between the building) and very confusing. Don't rely on the maps on book guide (like us) because it's not sufficient. We bought a map on the second day, I think. Eventhough you don't mind getting lost and just go with the flow, even then, with a map, you still get lost. But from here, just go where the crowd goes and suddenly we arrived at Piazza San Marco.

Pic: St. Mark Basilica and Campanile

I can see what the fuzz is with Piazza San Marco. It's a very large square line with St. Mark Basilica on the front with it's bell tower; St. Mark Campanile. On the sides, it's shops and cafe; perfect for people watching. And in the middle, thousands of merpati birds. You can bought 1 euro of bird seeds and prepare to be attacked, I mean, swamped.

Pic: I don't like fluttering birds to near to me, okay. Banyak tau nih.

Pic: Dah takut dah nih.

Pic: St. Mark Basilica up close.

Pic: Some shops at the sides.

Just up front is the Doge's Palace where the city's administration took place with Doge acts as Ruler. It is also connected to the prison where the famous Casanova was held. If you watched Casanova (movie starring Heath Ledger), you can see the Doge's palace and the waterfront of the palace in more detail.

Pic: Doge's Palace

Pic: In front of the palace and overlooking San Giorgio Maggiore; a church.

Pic: The bridge of sighs

From the Doge's Palace, it is connected to the old prison by a bridge called Bridge of Sighs given by Lord Byron. It is the last view from the bridge that the prisoner will see before their imprisonment. It was said that prisoners would sigh at their final view of beautiful Venice out the window before being taken down to their cells. In reality, the days of inquisitions and summary executions were over by the time the bridge was built, and the cells under the palace roof were occupied mostly by small-time criminals. Another legend is lovers will be granted everlasting love and bliss if they kissed in a gondola at sunset under the bridge. :P

After that, a walk futher away and we come across a theater show at one of the piazza (square) near Accademia Bridge. Although, it's in Italy (or might be France, I forgot), but it's very entertaining as the face expression is being exaggerate or in other words, you can understand the storyline. They even involves audience where they point and say something (at me also) and one kid got scared and cry. I really like the costumes because it's so beautiful.

We took a detour to Accademia Bridge which is being renovated and sits down at one of the benches beside an art school where a dog tries to sniff my shoes.

The hotel near to our place, was full so we slept again in the crappy room.

Travel to Prague, Czech Republic Day 4

2009-12-10T10:12:00.004+08:00

See Prague Day 3
See Prague Day 2
See Prague Day 1

Paris, France -> Prague, Czech -> Venice, Italy

Day 4 was nothing much because it was spent traveling from one country to the next. So, it's only story on the travel. The morning was spent packing. Then. we catch our flight, easyjet to Milan to get to Venice, Italy. It seems that there are no direct flight from Prague to Venice. From Milan, we took a train to Venice Mestre. When we landed at Milan, on my research, it said that we can reach Milan train station either by train (city train) or by bus. We cut our schedule pretty close as we were going to take the second last train into Venice.

So, we decided to use the train to go to the train station which located at Terminal 1 (we were at terminal 2). So, we took the transit bus to Terminal 1 only to be told, the train didn't go to train station and we're supposed to took the bus. Off we take the bus (luckily it's just there at the airport) but still have to wait a few minutes which I took the time to watch the smart looking Italian people. And what do you know, the bus that we took went to terminal 2 and stops there from a while to pickup people before going to train station.

Considering the traffic and the mistakes, we arrived late at Milan train station and have to take the last train which stops at Venice Mestre station. From there, we transit to another train into Venice. Venice is on an island and Venice Mestre is the connection between mainland and the island. The train ticket to Mestre is about RM300++ and the train to Venice is about 5 euro, I think.

At the train station, we only had time to buy sandwich before boarding, that's why no pictures. The train have rooms or coaches I think it called like Harry Potter train, if you can't imagine with about 6 seats facing each other. The trip is about 3 hours. I thought at first, it's like direct train but it actually stops to a lot of station to pickup people. By the time we reached Mestre, all of the people that we sits with were already departed. We travel night and were tried so we slept. I was concerned on the warning about people pickpocket you during the rides in train. Luckily, nothing bad happens.

When we arrived at Mestre and ask the conductor, which platforms is the train to Venice as we only had 10 minutes transit time. He said platform 3 which we went to but there was no train. We suspected it will arrived anytime soon. The signboard for destination is to places that we don't know. We tried to ask the locals but they don't speak English. One of the lady said to wait for her friend that went to buy something at the station.

But she took longer and while we were waiting, one train at platform 1 departed. When the friend came, she said the train that we saw departed is the train to Venice and it's the last train. I was very concerned by this time and taught we had to sleep at the train station. Suddenly, the locals look like a rough looking people with non that can speak English.

Luckily, my hubby suggested to walk outside of the station and there is a bus station outside. A bus was there. We asked the bus driver on which bus to go to Venice and luckily it's his bus. So, we bought the tickets (about 3 euro, I think) much cheaper than the train tickets. And watch the view of the water while crossing the bridge. He then stops at a bus station and everybody went out which left us confused whether we had arrived or not (as we can't see the canals hehehe). The bus driver nicely show us the way which actually just across the street :P.

We booked rooms very closed to train station that we were supposed to get out from because expected to arrived late. The walk is not to far and it's well lit with a few people still out (tourist, I think) taking pictures. We get to the hotel (forgot what's the name) and he took us to the next building. And the room was horrible. Really. There's a long cord of light in the middle of the room that about to fall down. The windows shows another wall. No TV, small room and looks like a motel which are not what was said in the hotel info during reservation. And we paid 79 euro per night which is the expansive between the 3 cities!

If you read information by other traveller on accommodation in Venice, they always said ask to change room if the room is not up to your standard. Maybe this why, they like to cheat people a bit. So, now when I travel, I always print up the reservation and the info of the room (usually attached) so that we can prove the rooms not as standard. But we were tired, it's passed midnight and time to sleep. Before I sleep, I thought, this is not a romantic city afterall.

Travel to Prague, Czech Republic Day 3

2009-12-10T09:14:00.005+08:00

See Prague Day 2
See Prague Day 1

Paris, France -> Prague, Czech -> Venice, Italy

The third day was spent walking around old town. We see the astronomical tower. The clock have three components, the first one is representing the position of sun and moon, the moving sculptures and figures of Apostles and the last is calendar dials representing the months. I don't know how to read it anyway.

Pic: The astonomical tower and at the bottom, the clock.

The clock was made by Jan Růže (also called Hanuš) and his assistant Jakub Čech. The myths surrounding the clock is that after the completion of the clock, Hanuš was blinded so that he will never create another creation like that in any other place. Grisly huh.

There's a show where the Apostles dance by the stroke of noon or midnight but we missed it as we were coming down from the tower (like a cuckoo show). The show was brief and when I see it in Amazing Race Asia season 2, it's not much show really.

The view from the tower is magnificient. There's an entrance at the back of the tower with tourist centre, I think. You went up at by lift or climb up (it's not too high; you can manage).

Pic: View from the top, a very nice square with Church of Our Lady before Týn.

Then, we come to the Powder Gate. This imposing 65 metre high gothic tower was built in 1475 by Matej Rejsek as part of the city fortification. Later on, it was used as a store for gunpowder, giving it the name the Powder Tower.

Next to the Powder Gate is the Municipal House which have concert halls, restaurants and host balls and exhibition. I guess, it's on restoration when we go there.

That's all we see. We really took it easy at Prague and there's a lot more to see actually.

Travel to Rome, Day 4 and good byes

2009-11-23T09:59:00.004+08:00

Germany -> Bratislava, Slovakia -> Budapest, Hungary -> Vienna, Austria -> Zagreb, Croatia -> Dubrovnik, Croatia -> Rome, Italy

The last day, so sad.

We had our last day breakfast at the camp, which makes, not so bad food actually. Pack our bags, check-out and hop on to a transfer van to the airport.

Pic: Mobile home are allowed here also. They can plug in to electricity and water pipe. Their camping grounds is so nice. My hubby dream home; mobile home :P

Pic: We didn't go here actually.

Pic: This is our bags. Mine is smaller than them, of course.

At the airport, we come across 3 other Malaysians backpacking. They also had the same bag cover as we were and quickly write our names on ours. And got into a bit talking. If not mistaken, they just tour Rome and surprise, we didn't use a lot of money to travel.

After a quick tour of the shops and loo. We figured, we better just go in and look in the tax-free area for some other souvenir eventhough, it's still early. However, when we queue for the customs, it was so long and full of people. And by that time, our flight is on last call. So, we had to sprint to the gates, which were very, very far. And I thought, we were the only one. But some other girls are sprinting too. And, they are calling our names by this time. Quickly check at the gates by MH ospitality. That's how, we left Rome (a mad dash). Later, I can continue updating on the previous trip (Prague).

Travel to Rome, Day 3

2009-11-22T19:27:00.008+08:00

Germany -> Bratislava, Slovakia -> Budapest, Hungary -> Vienna, Austria -> Zagreb, Croatia -> Dubrovnik, Croatia -> Rome, Italy

Day 3 is visiting a few landmarks that we haven't visits. One of it is to Piazza del Popolo. I really love Europe architecture of building squares where people can sits and people watching.

Pic: Now, I really want to ride on this.

Pic: Everybody seems to have a ride on this, so, so did we.

Then, we went walking to Villa Borgehese park which was said to be one of the beautiful park in the city, right next to the piazza. From Borgehese park, you can walk to Spanish Steps. Actually, there are short-cut from the piazza, walking up the stairs to get to Spanish Steps. No need to go through the park like we do. However, it's very nice to change the environment, watching trees, watching locals relaxing in the park, watching kids rollerblading or riding in small cars.

I think, at this time, it's weekend and we are very lucky that there are some sort of food fair going on there.

Pic: Sausages.

Pic: Butcher mistress.

Pic: All kinds of pastries.

Pic: Nyum nyum.

Pic: Newly cooked pasta. Hey, where did it goes?

Pic: A pig with an attitude.

Pic: There's the pasta.

Pic: The boys are going nuts on this :P Nice job polizia!

Pic: All kind of fun here.

Pic: This is a must-haves.

Pic: A drink from this, is very niceeee.. very fresh!

Pic: View of Piazza del popolo from above, in the park.

After a 15 minute walks, we arrived at Spanish Steps. As expected, everything gigantic and lots of people flocking here.

Pic: View from the top.

Pic: This is the steps, sometimes sloping and unbalance.

The best thing to do is join them, lepaking and soaking up the sun. There are also some illegal vendors selling pirated handbags and sunglasses, Prada of course. There are even a cops chasing action happen and the cops got some of their stuff ouch!.

And, I feel bad however, for a couple of japanese/korean tourists for being scam at the steps. I was watching the whole transaction. It's very similar at Mont Marte in Paris, where a guy playfully ties a string to your wrists and after finish tied, they ask for your money. I can see the guy faces changes when he realized, he being scam, but he had to pay.

And our camera battery flat, so, there are no pictures of the full stairs and fountain at the bottom of the stairs. Afterward, we just went for some lunch and hunt for some souvenirs. A bad dinner again and time to go back to camp.

Travel to Rome, Day 2

2009-11-22T18:11:00.015+08:00

Germany -> Bratislava, Slovakia -> Budapest, Hungary -> Vienna, Austria -> Zagreb, Croatia -> Dubrovnik, Croatia -> Rome, Italy

It's been a long time that I updates on travel. Can I continue where I left off? This is actually like a travel diary for me also since I didn't jot down any in other place. The last time where I last wrote is I'm at the last stop for our journey, which is Rome.

On day 2, we are off to another very close country, the Vatican City.

Pic: The real entrance where the staff, popes and other VIPs get into Vatican.

As early as we were to arrive there, it was very crowded with tourist already queued in front of the entrance. Though, last time my hubby went there, it's more crowded that this. However, it took less than one hour to get inside, I think.

Pic: Square in front of Vatican cathedral.

Pic: Entrance for tourists, noted the long queue. To Vatican cathedral dan Pope's crypts which we forgo.

Pic: Emperor? Looks like Zeus

Pic: To truly appreciate Vatican, in wide angle.

And inside Vatican is... breathless. Here is where the money is...

Pic: ...Gold crusted ceilings

Pic: ...Beautiful ceiling murals

Pic: ...Enormous sculptures

As the usual with cathedrals, it hosts lots of religious sculptures, murals, altars and even dead popes. The different is, it is much grandeur, much wealth (splashes of gold everywhere) and much more beautiful.

Pic: This one is a dead pope. Usually, they put in underground in the crypts. Not sure why some of them are not in crypts.

Pic: Altar.

Pic: Something different. This is a mosaic murals. You can't see it at one glance. Only if you really study it, you will see that it's from small mosaic almost like a puzzle.

Then, off to lunch, just outside of the entrance. Sandwich and drinks. Expansive here.

Pic: Face before....

Pic: ...getting sourvenier from the birds there.

Then, we are off to Vatican museo (museum).

Pic: Nice spiral stairs at the museum.

They are so many arts here. Worth taking a guide or even better a tour guide rather than that headphone thingy. Than, they will guide you to important and interesting art such as done by Da Vinci.

Pic: Arts.

Pic: This is a significant and famous art. But, I forget the name. The ascension? The pictures told stories of Jesus being taken to heaven.

Pic: The courtyard in the middle of the museum. The eye that sees it all?

So, enjoy the next pictures of some of the beautiful murals in here.

Pic: This one is the story of the building of the Trojan horse.

All this walk actually leads to a special room, if you didn't know. It's Sistine Chapel! And it is breathless, if you can ignore the tourists and the whisper. No pictures from me as it is not allowed. Sistine Chapel is famous for it's ceiling murals done by Michelangelo, Raphael, Bernini and Sandro Botticelli. It 3D like and very beautiful. To enjoy it, you must walk from the door in and stands in the middle of the room and look up. It tells stories in the bible from Old testament, I think.

The most touching picture (pun intended) is this: The creation of Adam by Michelangelo taken from Wikipedia.

And, that's the last section. Way to finish of the walk.Then, a cup of coffee and we just walk around town.

Pic: I want to visit this: The Pantheon but it was closed at the time we arrived there.

Pic: This man is really talented. By using spray paint and some stuff, he can make beautiful pictures which you'll never guess from the start. He got some videos in youtube that you can google if you like.

Then, walking futher to Fontana de Trevi and it is a heck enormous fountain. Do Romans never learn to make things small?

Pic: Fountain de Trevi.

Pic: This one I don't understand. Why people lepaking at the fountain? Like watching a show or race or something?

Off to dinner. We been having a bad luck with food in Rome and this is no different. Not awful but not so good service either. After that, back to our "kontena" room to sleep.

Cerita kawan part 4 - kawan sekolah asrama

2009-10-20T00:19:00.006+08:00

Cite yg ni lagi ringkas kut. Masa zaman sekolah ni, aku rapat dengan 3 lagi org kawan, Syam, Kahar dan Lin. Kami selalu pergi kemana-mana bersama-sama misalnya pergi makan, pergi prep, pergi riadah. Kisahnya bermula dengan Lin. Aku dengan Lin ni sekelas, dan kami dapati, kami je yg sekepala dan suka membuat bising di dalam kelas waktu prep. Gilo ko, kalau buat bising waktu belajar, nanti kena tanya soalan.

Kitaorg berdua siap pilih untuk duduk di tempat paling strategik sekali, merangkap di belakang kelas sekali, dan sempadan antara laki dengan pompuan. Sekolah aku ni banyak budak Johor, Kelantan dan Terengganu yang alim2. Tu yang ada sempadan tu. Tu yg aku dengan Lin bleh baik giler sebab kitaorg tak de la baik sgt :P. Tetiba plak masa form 5 kut, cikgu kononnya nak muhibbah, tak nak ada sempadan, telah merestructure kelas (mungkin jugak sbb aku dgn Lin bising sgt) dgn meletakkan aku nun di depan sekali, depan meja cikgu. Hampeh betul.

Tapi, nama pun asrama, maka selalu la jumpa kat luar kelas, ye tak. Lin pulak rapat dengan Kahar (satu dorm) dan Kahar rapat dengan Syam kut, maka kami pun rapat bersama-sama. Cuma Syam kurang skit sebab dia pengawas, dok jaga disiplin saje hehe dan jugak sebab dia tak kaki jalan (berouting), cam aku, kahar dan Lin. Tapi, aku selalu kena tinggal masa makan kat dewan makan sebab diorg ni jenis makan telan terus. Walaupun aku dah kurangkan kuantiti makan aku, tapi masih tak sempat nak menandingi diorg.

Kitaorg plak jenis suka cepat kemana-mana misalnya, cepat turun ke dewan makan lepas habis sekolah, sbb malas nak beratur panjang dan kalau balik dorm cepat, bleh tido dulu. Dan juga cepat beratur nak masuk dorm lepas riadah, sebab nak cupp mandi dulu (siap berlari-lari cupp, ok). Dan juga, yg paling haru, cepat mkn pergi ke masjid utk sembahyang jemaah, sbb nanti dpt duduk saf paling depan, bleh intai imam yg sume suara sedap dan bebudak junior yg hensem2. Bukannya apa, tak de la mengantuk masa khutbah antara sembahyang nanti.

Antara 3 org ni, Kahar yg paling aku contact, duduk pun dah dekat. Syam, ok jugak, cuma aku malas nak call saje.. hahaha. Tapi Lin, yg paling rapat, dah ilang semenjak dia kuar sekolah dan keje nun di London tu. Ada sorang lagi, Imah, sekelas aku, namun, hanya nampak di friendster and baru join mukabuku. Yg sorang ni pulak, Nelly, tidak la serapat mana masa belajar. Tapi sekarang, boleh tahan baik la jugak semenjak dua-dua ada baby ni hehe.

Kesimpulannya cite panjang aku ini, kawan pergi dan datang. Yang pada masa itu, rapat, tak semestinya rapat pada masa sekarang. Maka, aku hargai kawan-kawan yg aku jumpa terutama yg kekal rapat. I love you and I appreciate you, Farah, Baj, Ita, Ha, Zubec, Faez, Eni, Kahar, Syam, Lin, Jas dan Lina. For my other friends, I wish we could stay closer in the future. Happy birthday to me, and I wish all my friends can be with me.

-The end- Korang baca ke cite aku panjang2 ni? Ko la yg start dulu ni, Ha.

---------------------------------

Aku terlupa lagi sorang la. Kawan ni sama universiti dengan aku, pastu duduk serumah sewa dengan aku waktu bekerja dan sama opis dengan aku, Malin namanya. Yang ni rapat masa duduk sama-sama. Memang best la masa tu sebab dua-dua keje shift petang, maka melalak tak tido (tgk vcd/main game) sampai kul 3/4pagi dlm bilik. Tapi, aku nak minta maaf la, kerana sbb aku, kita selalu sampai opis lambat hahaha.. jln laju giler. Sebelum aku duk satu bilik dgn dia, dia selalu sampai awal. Pastu, aku telah mempengaruhi dia dtg lambat (bukan aku suruh pun, dia yg terikut aku).

Dan lagi sorang ni, waktu zaman university, aku sempat rapat dgn dia sekejap kerana bergossip (aisey). Pastu, bile time praktikal, aku dpt tau dia telah menyebarkan rahsia aku, yg aku suh dia simpan, kat org lain. Cam ne aku tau? sbb org yg dia sampaikan tu, cite kat aku... hahaha.. tu la, benda cam ni, lama2 sampai jugak kat orgnya. Sebab aku bukan jenis konprantasi, maka, aku terus je dek je kat dia. Aku rasa dia perasan. Org mcm ni reject je awal2 kan. Tu la, aku muda lagi, byk buat pilihan yg salah.

Cerita kawan part 3 - kawan universiti Degree

2009-10-19T23:26:00.002+08:00

Di cawangan, tak de course kami utk degree maka, kami pindah ke Shah Alam. Aku, Ha, Faezah Ahmad dan Melah berpakat untuk duduk menyewa bersama-sama dan kemudiannya berpakat juga untuk minta dorm bersama-sama. Kat sini, aku sorang je pompuan dr batch dan cawangan aku yg ambik course IT. Yang lain kebanyakkannya ambik course Network. Ketika kami mengapply dorm di asrama yg baru je siap tu, boleh pulak memilih rakan utk sebilik yg sama. Maka, aku dan Ha pun satu bilik, manakala Faez dan Melah di bilik yg lain.

Masa ini, kami masih rapat termasuklah Eni kerana satu asrama dan pergi ke aktiviti asrama bersama-sama. Di masa yg sama, Eni rapat pula dgn dormmatenya Busu (yg sama dip bersama-sama kami juga sebenarnya). Dan di sini, berkenalan pulak dgn Zubec. Rasanya dikenalkan oleh Melah kerana mereka satu dorm ketika diploma. Zubec yg sama belajar di cawangan, dahulunya course lain tetapi mengambil IT pula untuk degree. Pada mulanya, aku happy sbb ada kawan sekepala, bleh pergi belajar bersama-sama. Namun, dia terpaksa mengambil pra satu semester utk dia catchup balik subjek 3 thn yg kami ambil semasa diploma huhuhuhu.

So, rapat la pulak dgn Zubec walaupun aku dan Ha suka buli dia sebab dia sangatlah manja ketika ini. Zubec, if you read this, I seen you grown from being a manja, unconfident person to a confident and independent woman. Tapi gelabah tetap ada hahaha.

Maka, aku pun terpaksalah mencari kawan baru untuk berborak di dalam kelas nanti, ye tak. Kalau boleh, kawan rapat. Malangnya, semua di dalam kelas tu, ada kawan masing-masing dari cawangan ataupun majoritinya, dari shah alam. Aku telah memulakan dengan cuba berbaik-baik dengan mereka, tapinya, tak berjaya kut hint aku, maka aku kesorangan. Mungkin diorg ingat aku kera sumbang kut, tapi setelah kenal aku, aku tak rasa diorg beranggapan begitu... hopefully. Sampaikan. ada sorang tu tegur, nape aku suke duduk sorang-sorang (dalam satu row tu ada 6 kerusi, tapi aku konker 6 sekaligus). Aku nak je jwb, pesal korang tu tak cuba open, terima org luar skit. Berclique-clique la diorg ni (bdk shah alam *sorry to say aaa*). Lagi satu reason, aku malas nak berhimpit-himpit dgn diorg duduk penuh satu row. Kerusi dan meja kat dewan bertingkat-tingkat tu sangat kecik plak tu. Kalau aku konker sorang, bleh aku letak beg aku satu meja, pastu tangan aku ada space nak menulis skit sambil buku teks bleh buka kat depan. Kalau tak, buku teks kat bawah, pastu notepad kat atas buku teks. Setiap kali nak rujuk, kena angkat notepad. Kekadang tu aku join jugak diorg bila aku tgk tak ramai. Tetiba, bila kelas nak start, penuh plak aisey.

Dua org kawan dr cawanganku plak adalah lelaki. Yg mana, kekadang aku selamba je menempel duduk sebelah Da'a di row yg kebanyakkannya bdk lelaki. Aku tau jugak, nampak buruk perangai sebenarnya, tapi aku peduli apa, sebab kekadang tu dpt jugak la borak dgn org yg serasi. Aku risau jugak la kut2 ada gosip2 liar memandangkan si Da'a tu pun hensem (kata org lain). Tapi, mcm tak de, setahu aku la. Apa aku tak layak ke? ahaha

Cam ne pun, aku dgn classmate aku tu start baik bila banyak projek yang kami buat bersama-sama. Disebabkan aku bleh baik dgn sume org, maka aku selamba je masuk group sesapa yg tak cukup dan diorg pun tanya aku nak masuk group diorg tak. Pendek cite, tak de la kes aku tak de group. Yang positifnya, aku kenal lagi ramai classmate aku. Dalam ramai-ramai classmate aku, yg aku rapat ada dua je. Sorang tu namanya Matun, rapat sebab banyak projek buat sama-sama dan dia sgt baik dan lagi sorang adalah Hafiz, rapat sebab projek, sgt baik hingga sanggup tumpangkan aku pegi kelas programming dengan dia. Kelas tu kat seksyen lain, jauh dari main kampus dan selalunya tak de gap antara kelas, so kalau naik bas, memang tak sempat. Sebenarnya, aku ada bincang lagi dengan dia nak ambik kelas programming tu ke tak sebab tak de transport. Dan bila dia pun ambik dan offer nak tumpangkan aku. Aku pun ambik kelas tu.

Hafiz dah tak rapat bila start kerja sbb laki, payah nak keep in touch la. Matun plak, lps habis blajar, tak contact pun. Sekarang hanya berfriendster la. Semenjak Hafiz kawen, maleh la aku nak call, ye tak hehehehe. Da'a pun dah tak rapat sgt semenjak abis belajar, nak2 plak dia dah kerja jauh ni. Dan sorang lagi coursemate aku, Azwa rapat gitu2 dan jumpa time gath je la sebab dah pun kawen dan duduk jauh plak tu.

Dlm separuh pembelajaran kat Shah Alam, Ha giveup duduk sebilik dgn aku (sbb aku selalu tak de kat bilik --- sibuk bercinta la katakan, dulu jauh, sekarang dekat). Dia pun pindah menyewa di luar dan aku pun duduk dengan Zubec. Maka, aku pun semakin rapat la dengan Zubec yg selalu minta aku ajar programming tapi tak concentrate bila aku ajar. Di masa yg sama, Ha pun rapat dengan org lain misalnya Pae. Tapi kami masih ok.

Cerita kawan part 2 - kawan universiti Diploma

2009-10-19T22:46:00.004+08:00

Abis cite kengkawan di opis. Cite kengkawan kat universiti plak. Aku masa diploma, universiti cawangan di Perak tetapi masa degree, di Shah Alam pulak. Kengkawan di Perak ni, sgtla kami rapat sekali. Mungkin kerana kami belajar di rumah kedai, jalan skit je dah terserempak balik muka yg sama dan jugak jadual belajar yang sangat padat oleh universitiku itu. Bayangkan setiap sem, memang cukup2 jam kredit la, yang kitaorg kena bawak. So, siang jumpa, petang jumpa, kekadang, malam pun jumpa bila ada kelas ganti. Pastu, atas usaha beberapa orang, kami selalu jugak jumpa untuk berbuka puasa la, kenduri la, makan2 la, anak lahir la, maka hubungan sentiasa dipupuk.

Mula2 masuk dip ni aku rapat dgn sorang minah, Yati namanya sebab dia sebilik masa orientasi dengan aku. Pastu pulak, masuk sama dorm dgn aku. Aku pun tak sure mcm mana, tapi aku dgn Yati tak rapat dgn bebudak dorm aku (aku tak berkenan langsung la perangai diorg). Aku pun budak KL jugak Oii. Nak dijadikan kes, masa Orientasi tu, ada malam buat tahajud kat dewan kut. Si Yati ni bangun dan kejutkan aku. Aku tak ingat, aku pergi ke tak (mcm tak je). Nak dijadikan cite, org lain sume tak bgn sbb alarm diorg tak berbunyi. Boleh tak dlm 20 org, 2 org je yang sedar. Esoknya tu, kitaorg dipersalahkan sebab tak kejutkan diorg. Hello, awak tu dah besar, pepandai la bangun sendiri. Dah besar panjang, saje je cari reason nak salahkan org lain. Sebenarnya, seingat aku, si Yati dah kejut sorang ni, tetapi tak bangun, so kitaorg biarkan saje.

Maka, pada semester kedua, kami semua dibahagi-bahagikan ke dorm lain yg lebih kecik. Aku sangat la riang gembira hahaha. Malangnya, si Yati di dorm yang lain, yg mana kerapatan kami, jadi kawan biasa saje (lagipun sekarang dah tak contact. Baru sahaja terjumpa dia di mukabuku ari tu). Nasib baik la di dorm yg baru ini, tak de pun org2 lain di dorm lama aku yg masuk sekali. Kat sini pun sgt best sbb kawan sebilik aku sumenya serasi belaka. Dorm aku ada 3 bilik. Lagi dua bilik tu senior yg aku tak de la rapat sgt. Dalam bilik aku pulak, ada 4 org.

Dalam 4 org tu, yg aku masih rapat sampai sekarang adalah Zura. Tapi dia sekarang mengajar di Sarawak la pulak, alahai. Payah nak keep in touch. Yang tiga lagi nih, Angah, dah lost contact semenjak dia kawen, padahal duduk selayang yg aku hampir setiap minggu pergi. Aku message dia asyik tak berjawap saje. Fedap la aku. Cite dia, aku ambik dr Zura saje. Then, sorang lagi, sape ye nama dia, pun dah lost contact. Aku pun tak ambik no tepon dia, nape tah ye. Dia berhenti semester last tu dan diganti plak dgn juniorku si Jelah. Minah ni pun tak keep contact sbb dia yg menghilang. Ada isu kawen tanpa rela la dan tah-apa-apa.

Masa diluar dorm, aku rapat dgn Ha. Mungkin ketika itu sebab kami suka kecoh didlm kelas bersama-sama sambil mengutuk Jas yang perasan Shah Rukh Khan ketika itu. Sampaikan fail yg dibawa pun, ada gambar Shah Rukh bersama potongan rambut Shah Rukhnya. Secara tidak langsung, aku pun rapat dgn Jas (sebenarnya dia baik orgnya) dan Faezah Ahmad (sbb Ha kawan dgn dia). Dan kami juga rapat dgn Lina (tak ingat mcm mana tah tapi mungkin sbb Jas baik dgnnya). Lagipun Jas, Lina dan aku ada segroup mentor mentee yg sgt rapat pada masa itu. Di masa yang sama, saya baik la jugak (tak serapat mcm Ha sbb kepala kurang masuk) dgn Dila kerana dia salah sorang mentor mentee merangkap juga dorm-mate lain-bilik dgn aku.

Dalam rapat2 ini, ada yg menjadi teman tapi mesra la pulak iaitu Lina dgn Jas (tanpa pengetahuan aku). Yang sampai sekarang aku tak puas hati sbb diorg tak bgtau aku, padahal rapat tu sedangkan aku beria la pertahankan diorg dr gossip2 liar org lain. Dan slps diorg putus sebentar, Jas dgn Dila la pulak. Yg menyebabkan kami rapat masa ni, sbb selalu keluar beramai-ramai bersama mentor-mentee yg lain dan yg paling best, selalu pergi sarapan kat kedai dekat pagar pak guard. Aku rasa, aku telah merapatkan si Ha dgn Jas time ini. Sgt la rapat aku dgn Ha, ketika ini sampai ada yg kutuk kitaorg bising dlm kelas.

Di saat ini, Jas dan Lina dah kurang rapat semenjak diorg kawen. Ye la, takkan nak tepon laki org kan. Yg lain, rapat tapi rapat lagi dgn Ha. Dlm serapat-rapat kitaorg dlm mentor-mentee tu, ada sorang senior yg ku percayai, adalah kaki pencopek. Mungkin ketika duitku hilang, masih ragu-ragu. Tapi setelah dianalisa, mmg dialah orgnya. Bukan tuduhan lagi bahkan ada pula cerita, dpt dr org lain selps peristiwa tu berlaku, yg dia mmg pencopek. Isk.. kawan punya cerita.

Aku juga ketika itu dah rapat dgn Eni, aku rasa sbb buat projek bersama-sama. Aku dan Eni bertambah lagi la rapat bila praktikal bersama-sama. Dari kenal biasa2 saja ketika belajar, aku juga menjadi rapat dengan Melah yang dapat praktikal di tempat yg sama. Maka, kami bertiga selalu la lunch bersama-sama dan berym sepanjang hari di opis hahahaha. Kerja tak de yek, jgn salah anggap. Memang seronok waktu ini, walaupun Eni tensen kerana bosnya tak de kerja nak bagi pada dia merangkap, tak de benda nak present nanti.

So, tinggallah Ha. Eni dan Melah dah kurang rapat semenjak masuk course berbeza.

Cerita kawan part 1 - kawan kerja

2009-10-19T22:03:00.004+08:00

Susah betul nak dapat kawan yang serasi ni kan. Kawan ketika hepi2, mmg ramai, time ada masalah, payah betul nak cari. Even yang serasi pun, kekadang pikir dua tiga kali juga la nak minta tolong, ye tak. Entry kali ni cam panjang skit la, memori masa silam.

Bagi aku, kawan yang serasi yg aku jumpa ni berakhir time belajar je la. Masuk je keje, mmm... tak de pun sebenarnya. Ada yang serasi semasa bekerja dan boleh hepi2 bersama, tapi time kerja je la. Abis kerja, ada ke gi jumpa kat luar sama2? Dah la hari2 jumpa, weekend pun muka dia jugak ke? hehehe..

Bila dah tukar kerja atau berhenti kerja, setakat contact gitu2 saje. Yela, sebelah je yg keep in touch, yg lagi sebelah tak, busan jugak. Berkawan ketika kerja ni pun, kena jaga-jaga. Tah2 dia yg report kat bos benda ape yg ko buat salah. Misalnya, ada sekali tu, bos aku ckp kat aku ada org report kat dia aku selalu dtg lambat. Memang la salah aku tapi tak de semangat setiakawan/team mate langsung la. Dan aku rasa, org yg report tu pun, bukannya bangsa lain pun, bangsa sendiri jugak. Salah satu reason jugak aku tak rapat sgt dgn org kat opis, kiranya tak open book la.

Masa aku mula-mula masuk kerja dulu, ada la jugak senior ni yang aku rapat dgn dia (dia dah keje situ 5 thn). Tapi, biasa la, manusia bukan perfect, dia ni jenis laser yg kekadang, aku pun tak tahan. Pas tu, agar sukar menyimpan rahsia (kaki gossip sebenarnya). Dia simpan jugak la dr org yg lain tapi akan cakap kat org dia percayai yang mana bagi aku, kalau dah rahsia tu, aku nak dia sorang je yg tahu. Payah sebenarnya nak jumpa org yg tak ckp langsung kat sesapa. Aku je kut (biasanya aku dah lupa, tu sbb tak ckp kat sapa2 hahaha).

Pastu, kitaorg mula renggang bila tetiba aku terpilih utk satu projek ke Brazil. Bukannya aku minta pun, tapi bos pilih sbb skill aku. Senior aku nih jeles sbb dia yg lama kerja kat situ dan dan-dan dia terus tanya bos aku direct, nape tak pilih dia.. isk.. tensen je aku masa tu. Pastu, aku unconsciously la rasa dia jeles kat aku dan kadang2 aku rasa dia tak suka pun kat aku. Aku plak masa tu, dah start simpan rahsia tak bgtau dia hal2 aku sbb aku tak nak dia bgtau org lain plak. Diam2 sendiri je la. And so, tidak serapat dulu, sampai la sekarang, yang mana aku tak cite hal aku kat dia, dia pun tak cite hal dia kat aku. Tapi kitaorg tetap kawan biasa.

Ada lagi sorang aku rapat gak la tapi tak contact sgt dan sorang lagi aku tak rapat sebenarnya, tetapi lps aku behenti, tetiba jadi baik pula, selalu hantar aku sms walaupun sms forward. Jadi la kan. Eh, lupa plak, ada jugak segroup kengkawan yg sebatch masuk dgn aku dan seteam. Yang ni memang serasi tapi sekarang setakat contact gitu2 saje, tapi kalau jumpa kembali, boleh la borak dgn havocnya. Lupa plak sorang mamat fabulos nih. Tak de la rapat sgt sebenarnya, but selalu keep in touch dgn blognya.

Save our planet day

2009-07-22T11:34:00.000+08:00

I was reading this while waiting for the stupid Restaurant City to load up. When I reach 10 dishes, I'll stop. Anyway, this is 50 ways on how you can help to save the planet. While it's mostly carter for US people, you can use some of it. Been planning to do some of it but never get around to it *sigh* Jun, remember to take own bags to do grocery shoppings.

Been proud of seeing our supermarket stepping up in the plastic consumption. I've been to europe and seen the effort they did to improve the environment. We took the badness from them (piercings, tattoos, punk hair), why not take some of the goodness. Some acts we can follow, change our garbage bins to recycle bins in all places. Start with the airport (why? give good example to tourist hehehehe hipocrite in good way). Then, all our shops can step up a notch to offer plastics but you have to pay 10 cents each which leads to more people to bring their own bags. Ikea had taken the lead here.

Offer people discounts when using own cup and plates or food cointainer. Use no water for toilets. Scratch that hahaha.

There is one question been asked to me by my former european collegue. He asked, "what is the water use for in the toilets?". Which I said, "to clean after yourself". And then, he asked, "Isn't it wasteful to use water and then, paper to clean after yourself?". Which left me in the baffled of how to answer this questions on Malays culture. Never yet met an European that's not concerned at least a little bit of environment. Ehem, moral of the story is, keep it air dry, people! :)))

After that funny story (I hope it tickles you funny bones), let's pledge to try our bit to help our planet and passed this list to others (the list not the story pls).

Travel to Rome Day 1

2009-05-21T11:22:00.015+08:00

Germany -> Bratislava, Slovakia -> Budapest, Hungary -> Vienna, Austria -> Zagreb, Croatia -> Dubrovnik, Croatia -> Rome, Italy

The first day in Rome. Guess where did we go first? The Colosseum, of course. Some history now, Colosseum was used by the gladiator (Roman warrior or mmm...executed person? hehehe) as a contest of brawn prowess as the public watch the match. Can we said it's barbaric since people are still watching WWF? It was built around 70-72AD under emperor Vespasian. It was estimated 500,000 people and animals had died here!!! Luckily, I haven't seen any ghosts hehehe. Last thing on my mind. It's partially ruin due to earthquakes and stone robbers.

Regret that we didn't took the many tourist guide outside of colosseum since there was no info whatsoever and apparently, my guide book is totally not completed *sigh* Oh ya, we bought Roma Pass for 23euro which is totally worth it. You get 3 days of free transportation, 2 free visits to 2 sites and map. The other Roma Pass get you free tickets on train also. At colosseum, we used this and just sails through the queue as there are separate queue for Roma Pass holders. Colosseum and the ruins area (Roman Forum) counts as 1 sites.

The outside design is absolutely gorgeus. The inside was awestruck. Can't really imagine it as amphiteather at first since the seats are ruins. But the small museum shows the image of the completed colosseum.

Pic: Me inside Colosseum ground floor overlooking the podium.

Pic: If you see the sticking stones, it's actually the base of the seats where the spectator sits. It's now ruins. The gap hole on lower right hand is the stairs to go to the seats.

Pic: The lower grounds (rooms) where the gladiator and animals was kept before being rise (a rise platforms really) to the podium. The podium was destroyed. You have to imagine that on top of the rooms, there are a large podium/floor covered the whole area.

Pic: The second floor.

Pic: Some newly constructed seats and podium. As sample I guess.

Pic: Some view of the outside.

Pic: My stupid guide book.

This is the Arch of Constantine which is right beside the Colosseum. It was built to commemorate Constantine victory against Maxentius on year 312.

Then, we break for lunch at a restaurant recommended by the guide books hehe. Mine was awful since it's too simple. I'm having a bad food days throughout my visits in Rome. Too many tourist traps restaurant and should research more on good restaurant? The food in Venice is excellent and Italian food in general is excellent actually *sigh*

Pic: This is the ruins area taken from the road on our way to the entrance.

Enjoy some pictures taken during our walk to the entrance to the Roman Forum.

Pic: TV Commercial or film shootings. Who knows?

Arrived yey!. Since my travel guide is hampeh, let me search the net. Let's see... That's all I can find, plus my guide book in boxes somewhere. The Roman Forum is the central settlements, markets, shops and tavern. A very busy place once upon a time.

Pic: The columns on the right is the Rom Forum. The arch is the Arch of Septimius Severus.

Pic: Colums in front of Temple of Antoninus and Faustina.

Pic: Inside one of the homes/temples?

Pic: The end, the Arch of Titus

Pic: Children on school trip playing at Arch of Titus area and inside Arch of Titus.

Off for dinner.

Pic: Change diet. Western food. This is Vege burger. Awful. I don't want to be vegan.

Pic: At one of the campo on the way back.

Travel To Croatia Day 4

2009-04-05T12:57:00.013+08:00

Germany -> Bratislava, Slovakia -> Budapest, Hungary -> Vienna, Austria -> Zagreb, Croatia -> Dubrovnik, Croatia -> Rome, Italy

See Croatia Day 1

See Croatia Day 2
See Croatia Day 3

As our journey is coming to the end, we opted to go shopping for sourvenir (plus this is the cheapest place compared to the other places we went :P) Lots of magnets, t-shirts the usual.

And also some last minute visits around the city.

Then, time for food, of course. Finally, we went to a halal Croatia restaurant named, Taj Mahal which I don't know why since it was not Indian food restaurant. The food was really good and something different. There's a Dubrovnik Restaurant at Damansara and they serve authentic Croatian food. We had try Cevapi there also and it taste authentic.

Pic: The only food I remember the name is this one, Cevapi.

Pic: Croation tea. Bitter but good.

Last but not least, it is the time to go. Anja's husband are taking us to the airport that evening and we was kind enough to let us took the last picture of the old city. Bye Dubrovnik and hello Rome.

We took skyeurope for our next flight to Rome. From the airport, we navigate through the busy metro and stop at Cornelia station to go to our next accommodation, Plus Camping Roma. The metro ride is alright though I'm a bit scared to get pick-pocket here as most people warn us. I think the Rome metro is more complex than the Paris metro. We were supposed to exit "via Aurelia" entrance but it seems there are more than one via aurelia. We went out at the wrong exit and it's took us some time to navigate to the bus station. Luckily, we got McDonalds as a sign hehehe. First time so happy to see McDonalds.

Pic: The bus stop where we can never seems get in the bus here. (bus 246 and 247)

Then, we have to take bus to the camp. The bus service to the camping is horrible. Maybe the day service is alright but the night service really bad. It's comes in one hour interval and usually very full from people going to the camp. There are two bus station that we can took to get there. The other one just a bit farther but you can have two choices of bus but it's sometimes comes and sometimes don't (maybe we got the schedulu wrong, I don't know). Once we even walk back to the camp which took about 45 minutes (just straight line actually).

Although I had seen the pictures of the camping site. It's quite homey actually. There's a place where you can put up the tent, place for mobile home or the one we took was a 3 bed dorm (my hubby said in a ship container. There's not too much space but it's okay. We got hot water, fan, windows and sheets and comforter and bathroom is inside. The facilities around the camp was ok also, they got swimming pool, restaurant, nightclub, washing machine and convenience store which was not much. However, right across the street from the camp is a hypermarket where you can get fresh food and others.

Pic: Me inside our dorm.

The pictures below were taken when we check-out actually but it will be more apporiate here.

Pic: The entrance, of course

Pic: Information centre where you can book transportation or arrange trips.

Pic: Reception / registration / check-in

Pic: This is where we stay, very pretty and homey actually.

Travel to Croatia Day 3

2009-04-05T12:24:00.009+08:00

Germany -> Bratislava, Slovakia -> Budapest, Hungary -> Vienna, Austria -> Zagreb, Croatia -> Dubrovnik, Croatia

See Croatia Day 1

See Croatia Day 2

On day 3, we wake up bright and early to walk along the old city and avoid other traveller. However, we still stuck with some other travellers but still bearable. I think we took around 2 hours to make one big circle and we take our time. Enjoy the pictures taken from on top of the wall.

Pic: Stradun from on top of the wall.

Pic: Beyond the city wall.

Pic: Watch turret to see enemy ships.

Pic: If you notice, I do tend to take cats pictures whenever possible and this two are so cute.

We went back to eat lunch at the same restaurant as the day before. I ate the same thing so I won't bother you with the picture.

Pic: Black squid risotto

Pic: Appertizer. Forgot what it is, not so good.

After that, we just went back to the apartment and sleep. We really took it easy here after about 2 weeks of hard-core travelling. Do you think I can be a sports drink model?

A Famosa Resort, Melaka

2009-03-30T12:16:00.009+08:00

On last thursday, we went for some R&R at A Famosa Resort. Since it's not weekend, we get a nice king size bed room for RM 158 per night. I thought it will be just us there but actually, there's a lot of people staying at the resort and the theme park. The weather are not so fine, a bit of raining but still okay. The food inside there was bad (you know the type, overpriced, the-only-alternative food). The room comes with breakfast but it's a choice of 3 sets breakfast (none look too promising). I was so looking forward to a buffet.

We choose it because it's something we never do. There are a few parks there (water parks, cowboy town and animal safari world) and lots of thing to do (riding horses, go-kart, golf, flying airplane etc). I've only been twice before, once for an event and both times we went to the water park. The water park was awasome by the way.

That night we went to Cowboy Town for dinner and see what's there. The carnival parade was not bad (shabby clothes but fun). They finish it with fireworks display which are amazing. I never seen fireworks that close before huhuhu. Now I know why the entrance fee are so expansive. Other than the carnival, it's all bored. Sorry no pictures because all are blur; needs tripod and got bad case of parkinson hand.

We went to Animal Safari on the next day. It was not bad actually. A bit sad because some animals are unkept like the ostrich/imu. The elephant trainers got sharp hooks while working with the elephant though haven't see them use it. Just look a bit cruel to me. They got a few animals shows and wild wild west show in the morning and repeat shows in the evening. Most of the workers and trainers are from Thai especially the elephant trainers. My hubby like the wild wild west show because the level of difficulty of doing it (men and their action movie!). I like the elephant show because the elephant look like it having fun.. hehehe..

We only manage to take the safari ride in a truck and then, it goes around the animal place. Most of the animals are still in cages, though.

Pic: The animal during the safari ride.

Pic: Animals in the cages that you can find.

Pic: Our daughter relaxing after just having a bumpy lunch in the safari truck

Then, we went to see the shows. There another attraction which is the monkey island where you took a raft to the island but we haven't got time.

Pic: The actors on Wild Wild West Show with one excluded.

Pic: During the bird show.

Pic: The elephant show

In conclusion, it's been a fun holiday though, I think we enjoy it more than our daughter. (huhuhu)

Travel to Croatia Day 2

2009-03-14T08:58:00.010+08:00

Germany -> Bratislava, Slovakia -> Budapest, Hungary -> Vienna, Austria -> Zagreb, Croatia -> Dubrovnik, Croatia

See Croatia Day 1

What better way to start a morning than to have breakfast in the balcony, bread bought from the local store, overlooking a beautiful sea and right beside old town.

Pic: Our breakfast with complimentary orange marmalade by Mrs. Anja

Dubrovnik old town also called as the pearl of the orient is surrounded by a wall to offer protection from protection from enemy that wanted to conquer Dubrovnik. However, Dubrovnik do get attack a lot. The most recent were on October 1, 1991, where Dubrovnik was attacked by the Serbo-Montenegrin army. The siege lasted for 7 months. In May 1992, the Croatian army liberated Dubrovnik though they still received sudden attacks from Serbo-Montenegrin army within the next 3 years.

Pic: The sanctuary of rememberance for the fallen warrior during the siege

Many of Dubrovnik young people died during the siege. A sanctuary was set-up here as remembrance. You can still saw some burned building throughout Dubrovnik that haven't been restored. Anja was very sad during the time when we went to the sanctuary. She pointed people that she knew that were dead and had to leave the room.

Pic: Stradun which usually fills with tourist and so crowded during summer.

After that, we took a walk along the main road; stradun and the port area and also the surrounding area until lunch.

We ate at a corner seafood restaurant near the port. It was very fresh and delicious. I took the grilled prawns and can eat it day after day.

Pic: Deep-fry calamari

Pic: Seafood risotto. I can never like risotto; to me it taste like in-between rice and porridge

Pic: Grilled prawns. Now you see.....

Pic: ..... Now you don't.

Somehow, during our walk, we found a doorway, more like a hole towards the sea. I think I've read about this, where it is actually a pub but seems closed now. Probably due to the wind.

Pic: The sea beside the old town wall. More pictures the next day when we revisited the place.

We're so looking forward to cook ourselves some good meal with rice. We missed rice already. However, the shop didn't have any chillies what so ever. No red chillies, jalapeno or even bell pepper. So, it was not spicy at all but at least we found rice :P

Travel to Croatia Day 1

2009-03-13T22:22:00.011+08:00

Germany -> Bratislava, Slovakia -> Budapest, Hungary -> Vienna, Austria -> Zagreb, Croatia -> Dubrovnik, Croatia

The morning at Zagreb starts off bad with a bad breakfast. All of it were bad including the bread. How can bread be bad, you know? And it's at the hotel restaurant. Fahmi said that the chocolate dessert are good but for me it's bad also. Then, we were off to the bus station (Kolodvor). Since our flight were in the night, we kills off time by sightseeing Zagreb. We left our bags at the bus station (cost by the hour but cheap).

Pic: Kolodvor bus station. By now, getting familiar already with it.

I haven't done any research on Zagreb so, don't know what to expect. We took the trams right in front of the bus station and it's the wrong side. But it's okay, we got to see some of where the locals live. Boring though cause the buildings are modern and boxy and not much building somehow. Then, we change back and headed to the old town.

Pic: In the tram.

The view keep getting better and we're off at a park where people are sunbathing and dogs are playing.

After walking for a bit, we arrived at center of the town. Quite a few banks there..hehehe..

Then, we come across a morning market selling plants and flowers. By this time, the stomach was grumbling and we stop for lunch.

There's a hill where they arranged tables and chair and become very beautiful actually. We opted for italian food.. huhuhu.. and have pasta and soups and I must say, it's not bad at all.

Walk around the town brings us to a church and an old run-down house but a very good photo background actually, very rustic. And I'm a fan on nice walls. See for yourself the below picture, very nice but in reality the ground wet and sticky and smelly. A few walking by locals look at us weirdly, though.

Unexpected beauty comes at the unexpected place. We come across Zagreb train station. In front of it is a beautiful parks with a statue, lots of benches and flowers. On this beautiful day (finally, we are out of rainy days), we do as the locals do and relax on the benches. I'm just breathing in the scenery and luckily not that many dogs.. huhuhu.. Lots of couples laying around and walking about.

Then, off to the bus station to get our bags and took the bus to airport to go to Dubrovnik. The buses for the airport are just at the side of the bus station and it goes hourly, I think. Not so many people though in the bus. If not mistaken, the journey took around an hour. The airport are not so big, more like Kota Bharu airport. No food choices, so we're eating sandwhich tomatoes and feta cheese.

Unfortunately for us, the flight been delayed. I'm getting bored but luckily we can get through to our apartment owner that our flight been delayed. Because of the hour, we had arranged for her to pick us up at Dubrovnik.

The flight are not long, I think about one hour. We arrived almost midnight. Just as we're went out of the airport doors to the waiting room, we saw a lady waving a piece of paper with my name. Never happen to me before. I feel so important :P

Pic: Anja and me at the airport.

That's our apartment owner, Anja. She reminds me of russia lady with her clothes and heavy perfume. And also she feels really maternal. I'm quite taken with her though. She and her husband had travel all over and even to Malaysia. But then, they decided to live here and renting apartment for traveller. Their kids are all grown up and working far. She said she called the airport and got our arrival time so that she doesn't wait too long.

We took a ride in her neighbour's car. The ride to her place is about 45 minutes. We came across curvy roads, some a besides the ocean. Not much to see because it's too dark. After we arrived, her husband gives us a long tour of the apartment and show us how everything works. It looks great and exactly how the pictures shows.

But the thing that captured our eyes is the view. So breathtaking. It is correct when they say they have the greatest view. The apartment name is Panorama Apartment and it's right beside the old town gate. Just 5 minutes and you're there. I think we paid about 80 euro per person but it's worth it. It got one room with queen size bed and Fahmie had to sleep at the sofa bed in the living room.

Pic: Can you believe that we have this from outside our window? So beautiful.

From the window at the balcony, everything smells orange. That's because, they planted oranges and their neighbour also planted oranges and actually, all over the place got orange tree. Anja and her husband are very hospitable. They left for us an homemade orange marmalade and a bottle of wine which we ask him to take back of course. Not bad for the end of the day.

Travel To Vienna Day 2

2009-03-13T21:26:00.006+08:00

Germany -> Bratislava, Slovakia -> Budapest, Hungary -> Vienna, Austria -> Zagreb, Croatia

See Budapest, Hungary
See Vienna Day 1

The next day are just unlucky day plus poor planning on our part. We spend the morning at the Opera House because I want to go for the Opera House tour. See the seats, the stage, backstage so on. So, we wait at the cafe across the road and have pastry and coffee as usual. That's why people are thin here compared to nasi lemak and roti canai.

Pic: Strudels anyone?

At the right time, we went to the entrance and actually, the tour are not available that day. But we are not the only one that mistaken. Previously, lots of people are waiting there also.

Pic: The Seccession Building.

Then, since we covered quite a lot yesterday, we look for what we haven't seen yet. So off to see the Seccession Building which not worth much and can be visited yesterday because it's so close to other building that we went. Interesting facts here, the building was not liked when it first opened and been called "temple of bullfrogs". Now, when I think about it, it does look like a bull frog.

That evening, we took a bus ride to Zagreb, Croatia. I can see the magnificent Alps on the way. The journey took about 3 hours and we arrived at night at Zagreb. Unfortunately, we haven't booked any accommodation and prepared to find the hostel that we look-up from the Internet. Unfortunately also, since we arrived quite late, the shops are all close therefore, can't buy maps or get direction.

We arrived at Slisko Hotel near the bus station. The guy at the reception is so nice and he called for us to the hostel we want to stay. However, it's fully booked. As we are already tired, we decided to spend a night there. We paid about 80 euro, I think (my hubby and I a bit more since 2 person; not fair though because it's a single bed). Off to bed, everybody.

Travel To Vienna Day 1

2009-03-13T19:30:00.011+08:00

Germany -> Bratislava, Slovakia -> Budapest, Hungary -> Vienna, Austria

See Budapest, Hungary

It's time to explore the land of culture, music and theater of Austria. Our host, Manu's place is within walking distance to the city. As is with the city in Europe, the most impressive structure; the size, the wealth of it, is the cathedral. So, we heads to Stephansdom (St. Stephen Cathedral). Unfortunately, none of the original structure remains; I'm not sure but due to war.

The oldest structure are the thirteenth century Giant Gate as shown below and the Towers of the Heathens which both built in Romanesque design which is weird since the rest are Gothic design.

In every cathedral, besides the coloured glass, I'm always fasinated by the big organ and they got an impressive one here.

One of the sculptor of this cathedral likes to put images of himself throughout the place. One of it is at the structure below a stairs. He is the one that peeking out of the window at the bottom right corner.

Near the cathedral, there was a lot of people wearing old era costume (like mozart costume) selling or I would say urging people to buy tickets to opera or other music performance like mozart orchestra (what do they called it; recital??). One of them even border on insulting us by saying why do we came to Vienna if not going to the music show, just so to sell tickets. I'm sure that they are lots of other reason to go to Vienna and as with so many choices, the one they offering might not be the best and only serve as tourist trap. I will say, do some research if going to this path.

On our way to Hofburg Palace, we went through a nice walkway/square which lined with shops to attract the tourist obviously.

However, I can't resist a picture near Tiffany & Co. (hoping my hubby will buy one items obviously... and as if, there isn't an outlet opened in KLCC already).

Hofburg Palace is really remarkable. It is massive. It was the imperial residence of Habsburg emperors until 1918. It is expanded as the Habsburg power magnifies. One of the building are now houses the offices of Austrian President.

Pic: Me trying to look like one of the elegant lady over there.

Pic: Sisi's museum (Empress Elisabeth)

Pic: The red gate, I think.

Pic: One of the gates.

Pic: Museum and National Library.

Pic: Searching for lunch. Not so good as it looks, though.

Next on agenda is the one that I like doing, which is to go to its Naschmarkt which is the biggest Vienna market place. They have lots of fresh ingrediants and lots of open-air restaurant to eat. Even got one stalls selling Asian fruits like rambutan, langsat and so on.

Pic: The usual stuff in market.

Pic: Don't think they want rabbits in their garden.

Pic: Got Beer?

Then, it's just a walk through the city. The next building is the Karlskirche; the largest Baroque cathedral north of the Alps.

Pic: I love trams pics.

Pic: The Opera House (Staatsopern)

We got lost on the way to the Opera House. If I can't get to watch opera, watching the Opera House is okay also. We came across Opera toilet near the underground metro. Now you can pee and listen to Opera. Now I know we are at the land of music.

Back to Manu's place, he invites us for a cup of coffee. This is one of the thing locals are famous for; their coffee house. So, we talk a bit. I'm watching the action at the table on my left. Starts with talking. By the time we're ready to leave, they're advance to making out.

Manu's said that he had been invited to a birthday party of his friend's friend so, he invited us along. There, we met his friends from France that also want to get out of hectic France lifestyle and live in Vienna. It seems Vienna had a very laid-back approach to life. Here you can live even if you don't have a job. The government pays you or something like that. In Vienna, it's seems safe. You can go out at 3/4 a.m. and there's still people walking about or in pubs. The cars even stops if you want to cross the street at this hour. Actually, I don't even watch the road went crossing because I know the car will stop. Unbelivable here.

As the party progress on, the room getting smokier, music's arrived (the cds I mean), people dancing. There are nice people, really. They made us feel welcome. However, I guess they are so laid-back that a couple even bought a baby to the party. Yup, to the loud, smoky party. Babysitting problems or just pure unresponsibilities here. That's wraps up the night.

My brother

2008-11-19T18:37:00.003+08:00

As some of you know that my brother had passed away last 2 weeks due to cancer. Thanks for all the condolences. I'm doing okay though occasionally I thought about him. On one hand I feel it's too early and on the other hand I'm glad because there will be no more sufferring. Death of loves ones and miscarrige are something that you have to experience it to know how it feels.

Semoga rohnya ditempatkan dikalangan orang yang beriman. Doakan rahmat kepada abangku. Al-fatihah.

Raya Here and There

2008-10-16T11:53:00.003+08:00

Yes, I know that it's long past but I just want to share my raya with you. This year raya a little different for me than the my tradition raya had been. Previously, our tradition is to go back to my hometown in Negeri Sembilan usually one or two days before raya and went back to KL around the third raya. All of my mother's side of the family will be there which is a lot because my uncle and aunt makes up of 9 siblings and that's not included their children and their children's children. Some of them that have house close to the kampung will come on first raya and celebrate with the rest of the family.

Usually my mother and one of my aunt will be the lead and be the main chef of the family. In keeping with the raya celebration, we will cook ketupat made from coconut leaves (lately, my mother mix with the ketupat segera Nona :P), chicken and beef rendang kawah; cooked in a big kuali and lemang which will be made by my oldest aunt and cooked in open fire by any available guys that happen to be there. Last year, my hubby got recruited to do this; it's his first time.

My cousin and my jobs usually includes of making the popia in the morning of raya, putting the kuih raya in the jars and of course eating them in the process, helps with the setting of the place and so on. But the most exciting thing when we were young is happen right after raya prayers, when the men had come back, all of us already showered and dress in new raya clothes, we had our breakfast of raya foods and then, we went to each uncle and aunt and queue to receive our duit raya. Due to the large extends of the family, I can received more than RM200 in that morning alone which is a lot at that time.

On my hubby side of the family, they usually went to their oldest aunt's house in Gombak and celebrate there. They will stay in the house and relatives will come to the house. However, during the first raya with my hubby's family, we went back to Kelantan and celebrate there because his cousin is getting married at the hometown during raya. You get the raya excitement of going back to kampung and the environment.

However, this year is the first time I celebrate raya in KL. The day before raya, we went to the aunt house and just chill out there with my hubby aunties, uncles and cousins. Raya day, there are a lot of the relatives coming to the house and have to postpone a few times to go out until the relatives went back. My in-laws and I went to my parent's house and celebrate there also. This year, my parent's also didn't went back to kampung as the tradition. My brother had just been diagnosed with cancer and undergoing kimoteraphy. He was back to my parents' house for the raya and since his immune system is still weak and can't be exposed to lots of gems, my parents opted to stay in KL. Since my other aunt who usually cooked with my mother was also tending to my cousin's illness (almost 2 years now that she is still breathing using oxygen in oxygen tank), therefore, my kampung house is closed for this year.

We also went to a few relatives house around KL area but I have too says it's different raya in KL and less celebrative vibe. On the second raya, we went back to my kampung and celebrate with some of my mother and father side of the relatives. We went back around 11 p.m. and decided to test the new GPS in my hubby new toy, E66 nokia phone. The GPS is supposed to bring us using fastest route. It direct us in kampung roads where I never been before and no highway at all. Somehow we got to Semenyih and finally reach home. The fastest route translate to less kilometres I guess but not necessarily fastest since the road might be a one lane road and curvy which makes you slow down than if using highway which farther but you can drive faster. However, it was fun and the GPS had been useful before.

The third raya, my in-laws and sister come to our house and then we went back to my hubby's aunt house and spend the night there. By the fourth raya, we were back in our house. Therefore, this raya, I can celebrate both side of the family, my hubby and I. Hope your raya had been fun also. And so, my fren, you are welcome to come to our house during this raya. There will not be 'open house' so expect kuih raya only probably :P.

Travel To Budapest, Hungary

2008-09-25T17:28:00.007+08:00

Germany -> Bratislava, Slovakia -> Budapest, Hungary -> Vienna, Austria

The next morning, after breakfast of bread and cheese with our host, we went to Keleti Palyaudvar train station to buy the tickets for the evening train to Wien/Vienna. The trip from Budapest to Vienna takes about 3 to 4 hours. See the timetable. I forgot the price but train in europe is pricey than bus price probably not more than 20 euro.

There are a large train timetable at the front of the station where everybody seems to be standing in front of it which I don't know why. It's a old kind of time table which the words flips whenever there are new information; not like the digital one that are used in the present. Therefore, every few seconds the words flips (with the sounds) to show new train arrive or departure. Cool! :P

There seems lack of seats around and only a few food shops have chairs.

Pic: Keleti train station.

Pic: The ceiling.

Pic: The train that we were boarding looks much nicer. This one probably the train to local stations.

Then, we went to one of the places that our host suggested which is the citadel. Probably we choose this because he said he used to skip his university classes to go here. The citadel is located on top of a hill. However, I didn't expect that the citadel to be in a very high position. (We haven't do much research on Budapest either).

Pic: The citadel is behind the hotel building on the left, higher than the cross monument at the back of me.

Budapest was divided into 2 parts, the hilly parts which is called Buda and the lowland parts which is called Pest. It is divided by river Danube. The citadel which is located in Buda area on top of Gellert Hill is a stronghold or fortress that was built by Habsburgs in 1851 to show control over the Hungarians. To get to the citadel, you can either drive or walk up the hill through a park which lovely trees and places to rest. Which we did rest lots of time in the journey upwards. Lots of people keeps passing us by. I'm sorry to say that if not because of me, the other two guys had already arrived at the top earlier than we should have :P

From the park and at the top of the hill, we can see most of the Buda and Pest area and the view is very breathtaking. A very nice way to spend an evening. However, the battery of my hubby's camera was finished and we couldn't took pictures of the view. We haven't copy the pictures from Fahmi's camera yet.

Right in front of the citadel is the Liberation Monument which was built in 1947. The figure is a woman holding an olive branch in her hands which symbolize peace.

Pic: The Liberation Monument.

Pic: At Manu's living room.

After spending some time there, we went back to the train station and proceed to Vienna. Our next host house is very easy to find since it is very near to the center of town. Emmanuel (Manu) Kasper is a frenchman who been living in Vienna for a few years already. He had a very nice apartment with his roommate, wood flooring and large living room. He's a computer programmer and a reggae player.

Pic: A very nice restaurant, Bierteufl.

He took us to a nearby pub/restaurant, Bierteufl where we ordered a very nice, sweet plate of crepes but it was too much that we're having a difficult time to finish it. The pub/restaurant is very beautiful which log ceiling and wooden chairs. Before we when out, we notice that Beethoven used to live at the top apartment from the restaurant and he finish composed one of his symphony there. It's a very cool thing because everywhere you walked in Vienna, you can see this kind of plate showing famous composers living there or composing there. I also seen one of Mozart apartment in Venice. It's incredible to think that they live all over Europe and been composing everywhere.

Pic: A plate showing Beethoven lives here.

'Berbuka Puasa' with UiTM friends

2008-09-24T14:20:00.005+08:00

On Sunday, we went for breakfasting with my UiTM friends, Ha, Paez Noor, Zubec and her hubby at Big Plate Restaurant in Subang Permai. Although, there was no response from my batch (it's getting lesser and lesser response), the four of us still meet that day. The restaurant was suggested by Ha and it's quite in the middle of nowhere :P. There are other branches of this restaurant in Shah Alam that my hubby and me had tried few years before and it's good.

Pic: Big plate restaurant is at Pusat Perdagangan Subang Permai in Shah Alam, at the shop lot row opposite the Monterez Golf Club. Above is the Monterez Golf Club map. At the traffic light, turn right instead of left, near the mosque.

We arrive just at the right time, just before they opened the buffet for us to get food. But my friend, Zubec who come late, rush to get the food when they arrived before they greeted us :P.

Pic: The assortments of local kuih/desserts. The small glasses are puding that you can eat, not candles :D

The provided buffet for this ramadhan which costs RM30 per person. The spread was very good and provide something different from other restaurant. Since it is a western food restaurant, they had grill prawns, spagheti, lamb with gravy, chicken and beef kebab, ice-cream in cone, soups, assortment of desserts and salads. Not to dissapointed people, they also provide briyani rice and normal rice. It's worth the money because the spread was a lot compare to the amount of money that you were paying.

Pic: My salad and fruit plate.

Most of the foods taste good but my favourite was the grill lamb, chicken kebab and salad with homemade tartar sauce. The restaurant will refilled only the main courses, therefore, get your salads and desserts first before it finished.

Pic: My hubby main course plate, grill prawns, hotdogs, chicken kebab, grill beef, grill chicken and rice. (mine about the same).

Pic: The kueh plate. The only western kueh is the bread pudding.

All in all, it's a great fun to be seeing my friends again and the stories tolds and get to eat together this ramadhan. So, after this, it will be open house for hari raya will be coming up. (Yey, more food pictures).

P.S: Zubec don't have pictures because she came late.

'Berbuka Puasa' with Farah and Adam

2008-09-15T15:24:00.005+08:00

Yesterday, I finally got the chance to berbuka puasa with one of my best friend, Farah and her bf, Adam at Kunang-Kunang Restaurant in Gombak. We had been busy for a few months and now she can she my big stomach :P

Pic: Farah and Adam taken with my camera phone.

My hubby and I never saw this restaurant although we drive beside MRR2 lots of time and stops at the Petronas station lots of time too. The restaurant have lovely environment with man-made waterfalls, plants and trees. Sorry, no picture here. It's quite big and you can see the effort it takes to make the restaurant.

We take the buffet ramadhan menu which consists of 5 meal courses; Malay, Indian, Chinese and Western including Grill for RM47 per person which is more than enough portion for you to eat. The food taste very nice especially the daging salai, beef satay, seabass with tomato, grill brinjal and ABC. The chicken satay was not so good and grill mushroom was salty. However, it's very satisfactory. Although they don't have crabs or prawns, they substitute it with lots of lambs and seabass.

Pic: My food plate :P. Rice with daging salai, beef curry, grill vegetables, fish, fried kobis, kerabu mangga etc.

Pic: The cendol and ABC.

Pic: Chicken Soto.

Pic: Satay.

While you were eating, they played live traditional songs. Although, it uses modern instrument (electronic gendang and keyboard) but it was good.

I wish to stay longer if not for unfortunate events :P.

Travel To Bratislava, Slovakia

2008-09-06T14:10:00.009+08:00

Germany -> Bratislava, Slovakia -> Budapest, Hungary

We woke up to a very cold and rainy morning. After check-out, we took the trolleybus to the city center and main bus station for the evening bus to Budapest. There's no kebab and we breakfast to a couple of bread and coffee.

We haven't done any researched on Bratislava at all but luckily found the old town by walking straight from the bus station (with the help of sign board also). It is just about 15 minutes walked. After we store our luggage (untypically backpackers but I can't wear it anymore. It keeps getting heavier day after day although with the same amount of clothing :P) and change our Slovak money, SKK, we walked to old town.

The old town is beautiful and suddenly I feel much better when compared to the hotels and bus station area that we had been through. We managed to find a tourist information centre and secure a map.

Pic: A square near to the tourist information centre.

Pic: After we secured a map. The pink building is the Primate's Palace, the mayor's office.

Pic: The Old Town Hall.

Pic: One of the squares which had a lots of sourvenier shops.

Pic: Fountain, a usual in a European square.

Pic: Michael's Gate which is a sysmbol of the city. It is built from the mid of 14th century.

Pic: The city have a lot of this type of structure. Meet Rubberneck.

Pic: Meet Schoner Naci, who lived at the beginning of 20th century.

Pic: We opted for a nice pasta meal, long bean and potato.

Pic: Fetucinne carbonara.

Pic: This is the trolleybus.

Pic: In the bus to Budapest. It's a express/transit eurolines bus where it stops a few times to pick up other passangers from the small town on the way to Budapest.

That evening, we started for Budapest, Hungary by bus. We bought the tickets from the main bus station. There's a lot of bus going every hour. I forgot the price but I think it is no more than 20 euros per person. The journey took about 3 hours. When we arrived, there's another money changing. By this time, we already getting confuse because the money keeps getting bigger number.

Fortunately, we had the chance to warn our next host in Budapest of our arrival. We arrived when it almost dark and they had just came back from work. Agnes was a tourist guide and her boyfriend, Matyi, was a photographer. Although, their house is very small but they are very nice and we talked a lot on travel and Budapest. As she was a tourist guide, she gave us a map and recommend places for us to visit.

Pic: The top bed.

Pic: Agnes and Matyi's place.

Pic: Agnes and Matyi the morning after, while eating breakfast.

Travel To Germany Day 4

2008-09-06T13:01:00.010+08:00

See Germany Day 1
See Germany Day 2
See Germany Day 3

Frankfurt -> Kaiserslautern - > Trier -> Koblenz -> Koln / Cologne -> Marburg ->Bratislava, Slovakia.

The next morning in Marburg, we went for a walk around the lower part of the town. Then, took the elevator to the upper part of the town. We were halfway to the castle which Wolf keeps wanting to see :P.

Pic: The river that divided the town from upper and lower.

Pic: The water quite high probably because it's still rainy season.

Pic: Narrow street and tall buildings.

Pic: As you can see, it is very clean here.

Pic: Going up the hill through back street and alleyways.
Pic: Taking a rest at a beautiful spot.

Pic: View from the top.

Pic: My hubby, his friend, Fahmi and Wolf.

Pic: Not sure whether the house is connected with THE Martin Luther.

Pic: The town square with cuckoo clock.

Pic: Rows of small shops selling everything from stationery to clothes to bags.

Finally, around 3 o'clock, we made our way to the airport to go to Bratislava, Slovakia. We made our way to from Marburg to Frankfurt to Frankfurt-Hahn which actually is one hour away from Frankfurt. I read that Frankfurt-Hahn is far from Frankfurt but I didn't expect it to be that far. It is the airport only for Ryanair airlines. We almost missed our check-in time and the guy at the counter really makes it that we messed up his plans :D.

However, we've made it. But the funny thing is, we kept hearing commercial, after commercial after commercial in the Ryanair. And I thought, Airasia have many commercial already. There's even a Ryanair jingle just before we were going out of the plane which I had to keep quiet from laughing out loud. The flight journey was about an hour and half and we arrived at Bratislava just before midnight (it was the cheapest flight).

Bratislava airport at that time have nothing... really nothing... the shops are all closed except one, a coffee shop. The information counter was closed. I think we are the last flight in. Luckily there is a bus map with translation. So, we went to wait for the bus which station luckily right in front of the airport. I should said that the airport is smaller that Kota Bharu airport and I hope that is not the international airport.

There was a machine to buy bus ticket at the bus station but can only use coins which we don't have. So we have to ask the locals for some change. Luckily, the kind lady at the airport knows what I want from my sign language as she can't speak English.

We took a trolleybus which is a bus that use electricity so that so that you can see the cables but works like a bus (can swerved). From the airport, we kept going to nowhere and then, change to another bus, going to nowhere also. Besides us, is residental area with no signs of city. However, we arrived safely at Hotel Plus where we booked from Bratislava Hotels website. This website is a very good website that give very detail and accurate information on the hotels plus review from past travellers. Highly recommended if you want to use the website. I booked through the website and within 2 days, received reply from the owner of the hotels regarding the reservation.

Pic: View from the hotel room.

The hotel is nothing much but i guess it's worth the 37 euro we paid for the double room. Other hotels is much much expansive. The hotel structure looks like a dormitory. Fortunately, the we travel 3 person therefore we took 2 rooms which is actually one big room that divided to two smaller rooms. The toilets and shower are shared within the two rooms. There is no locked for the shower though and it just a flimsy door. It's far from Europe standard in terms of location and facilities but then, we only going to be sleeping there for one night only.

Pic: Our room.

The Apprentice vs. The Firm

2008-09-04T15:05:00.003+08:00

I never watch The Firm episode before. Apparently, the story is like the Apprentice where the contestants fight for a job in a firm. Anyway, I got to watch the Firm the other day where the teams have to promote and sign-up as many as possible customers for Tune Card; a prepaid visa card with privileges at Lim Kok Wing University.

The promoting was as usual, nothing interesting to tell here until the board room time come. If any of you had watch The Apprentice, you had seen how they fight to survive in the board room. They will list their qualities, beg to Mr. Trump not to sacked them and even back-stabing their team mates.

So, how surprised am I to find that in the Firm, when the CEO (ala Donald Trump), asked them who should be fired, this lady said, I should be fired because I have other commitments and can't concentrate on the tasks. Suddenly, this other guy also said that he also have other commitments and that he should be fired. He also said he didn't contribute much to the tasks each time. His colleague then, defended him saying that he improved with each tasks.

Don't they want to stay? Why did they join the tv shows anyway? Are Malaysian executives are all like this?
Surprise, surprise, the guy get fired. (*me in ironic)

Guests from Germany

2008-09-04T13:26:00.005+08:00

For the past few days, we had a couple of travellers, Martin and Chrissi coming from Germany where they found my husband page in global freeloaders website. We did explain that we had moved and now our house is really far from Kuala Lumpur. I don't think they realize until they had arrived here that far means "highly inaccessible" in terms of public transport until they got stucked for 30 minutes at our dear unrealiable commuter station KL Sentral while trying to catch one that did not come.

However, all goes well and they arrive safely at our house. The next day, we took them to see Putrajaya (the pink mosque, the prime minister building, bridge etc). Unfortunately, the mosque were closed to visitors at the time we came (Asar time). They got to see just the mosque courtyard and wear the pink robe that look like rain coat. (the other option was blue hahaha).

That night, we took them to eat at Aunty Aini's at Nilai to try the Malaysian dishes. Luckily, they eat spicy food. The sambal kupang was extra spicy that night. My hubby teach them how to eat using hands with the thumb action. They perfected eating with the hand thing and with the thumb thing, they found it easier to eat. And for once, I finished eating first than everyone else! :P.

Since that night was the night of the Malaysia independence day, we were supposed to get to KL and watch the countdown. However, we realized the time too late and rushed to KL within one hour. All the roads leading to Dataran Merdeka was closed and lastly we just parked beside the road near to Dataran Merdeka. We can see the fireworks from between two tall buildings and that's all. So dissapointed. Suddenly, when they saw the tourists, some Malaysian made comments in English saying something or other. :P. After that, we just went back home after a detour of mango special ice blended at Restaurant Murni, PJ.

All in all, now they know the unreability of public transport, how to eat using hands, malaysian hygiene of using hose in the toilet, to bring their own toilet paper and the many delicious Malaysian cruisine. They are currently in Cameron Highlands and will stayed until the 8th and haven't yet see Kuala Lumpur in detail.

Ramadhan

2008-09-02T17:09:00.001+08:00

Selamat Berpuasa di Bulan Ramadhan kepada semua rakan-rakan. Semoga kita berjaya menempuh segala dugaannya.

Travel To Germany Day 3

2008-08-23T19:25:00.012+08:00

Germany Day 1
Germany Day 2

Frankfurt -> Kaiserslautern - > Trier -> Koblenz -> Koln / Cologne -> Marburg

In the morning of the third day, our hosts are kind enough to prepare breakfast for us. The breakfast consists of bread and eggs which is the breakfast everywhere in Europe. (that's why I can lost weight here!). Then, we went to our next destination which was Marburg but we went around the Cologne city first.

Pic: We love Garmin! Our trusty GPS while driving and walking.

Cologne is the fourth largest cities in Germany. The University of Cologne where our CS host studied is one of Europe oldest universities. However, Cologne lack the certain charm that cities such as Trier and our next destination, Marburg have. Most of the buildings in Cologne are quite new and boxy looking. These was due to the fact that most of Cologne were destroyed during the World War II.

One of the buildings that survive is the Kolner Dom, a majestic gothic style cathedral that started being built in1248. From 1880-1884, it even qualifies as the tallest structure in the world and one of the world's largest cathedral.

Pic: The Dom Tower.

Pic: The outer wall design.

Pic: Delicate gothic style walls.

Pic: It's still raining in Germany.

Pic: One of the performers wearing medieval costume.

Pic: The ceiling made from marble.

Pic: The altar.

Pic: Must have one pics inside.

Pic: The beautiful stained glass.

Pic: One of the small altars.

Pic: Some bishop or rules that being buried in the cathedral.

Pic: The ceiling design.

When you look at the cathedral in the world, you can see where the money goes during that time. Then, we continue to a university town, Marburg to meet one of my husband friend and our host.

Marburg as one of the university villages in Europe sits one of the oldest Protestant University in the world, University of Marburg which also where our friend/host is finishing his 10 year PHD. Marburg lanscape full of narrow and hilly streets, the tallest buildings only at five storey high and divided by two parts (the upper town and the lower town). The upper town can be reached by 2 elevators available if opted to skipped the long walk up the streets. Marburg also has one of the most progressive schools for the blinds where you can see lots of blinds students around the town and facilities to helped them such as different sounds for street crossings. During the Romanticism era, it is said that the Brothers Grimm collected many of their fairy tales here such as the Rapunzel's tower and red riding hood. Marburg will also become the new solar city by end of this year.

We arrived early at the town, therefore we decided to climb a very high and exhausting climb to the Marburg castle, the highest point in Marburg. One of the reason is also to skip going to this castle with our host that like most european walks very fast :P.

Pic: Arrived at the castle.

Pic: View from the top.

Pic: The town of Marburg.

Pic: Marburg castle. Now is one of the schools, I think.

Pics: Reminds me of Mary Poppins movie.

Pic: Trying my hands on capturing artistic pictures.

Pic: The car park... hahahha.

Pic: The Marburg town.

Pic: My darling hubby at the castle wall.

Pic: Now you can see how steep I had to climb.

Pic: The red house during the walk down.

Pics: The houses and shops in Marburg.

Finally, the time to meet our friend, Wolf. We were waiting for him in the middle of the junction, sitting on the bench, facing the Elizabeth Church. He just laughed at us and saying you look like three Malaysians in the middle of the junction.

Wolf and his housemates are cooking dinner for us, salad, bread and potato something. And we went for another walk near the house with him telling some of the Marburg history and folklore. After a tiring day, we slept in his bedroom in his very high bed.

Pic: Our host, Wolf during one of the smoking session they were having.

Pic: Our bed for the night which was built by Wolf himself and feels like three storey high.