Whatever-lahno

Chasing Aurora Birthday Trip: Finland, Sweden + Norway

2020-06-21T21:06:00.003+08:00

Salam semua....

How you all have been doing so far? I hope you guys are in the good health and bless with your families and friends. Yap...my mood to blog is still low even though we do have 3 months lock down. Yap the laziness is hard to cure.

Before the lock down, I was manage to go for my Chasing Aurora Trip as well as celebrating my 40th birthday in Ikea in Sweden! I have received the best presents ever, not one but two sightings of Aurora. One in Rovaniemi and the other one in Abisko. Alhamdulillah....I also has manage to expand my gorup of friends and having the blast with them. I even met a cute guy in Abisko (but already married, but still) so here I just share some of the highlights photos for you guys to see.

Please pray for my strong will to continue to blog so I can update my experience better.

Thanks guys!

Melbourne - The mountain, the sea and the city Part 2 -Brighton Bathing Boxes and Puffing Billy

2019-11-10T21:16:00.001+08:00

Salam all, yep a little bit busy. In fact I have been working in outstation for one month now. So that is why slow updates. So let continue, shall we?

We know Australia custom & immigration won't be so easy for us. Especially, we are number one illegal immigrants there and I heard about the stories of 6 girls that have been denied at boarding gate to go to the Perth. So we came prepared. Alhamdulillah, we got our visa easily. I applied on Saturday and got approval on Sunday. What a relief. Then we asked our HR to issue us confirmation letter that we are working and not going to be apple pickers as well as printed the itinerary and even bank account summary. I even bought a clear file to put all the details inside. So when we got there, at first the officer asked us to go to the gate but unfortunately, I can't go through so I when to the counter instead. I have my file ready to be shown to the immigration officer and within 2 minutes, she just looked at me and stamp my passport. No, questions asked whatsoever and I'm kind of baffled but happy. Then we have to wait more that 15 minutes to get our bag and then the second hurdle begins, the custom. Gulp! As we declare that we bring some medicines so we were asked to go to another section and the officer just asked if we got any food and we said no. So, the officer just let as pass through the green lane. So the whole thing just take up 30 minutes and and most of the time, we were waiting for our bags. When we got through to our freedom, I heard one of the officer said to an Indian lady, "This is herb" as she shown it to her angrily and we hurried get away from the scene.We bought Telstra for AUD 10 simcard with 2GB Data and it last until the end of the trip. We took Skybus from Tullamarine Airport to Southern Cross Station and it cost us AUD 28 per person for round trip. We bought it from Klook. Original price would be around AUD 37 for return and we saved AUD 9 for the trip. When we arrived at Southern Cross Station, we took a taxi to go to the hotel as it was late and we are so tired already.

So the next day, we went to the convenience store to get something for breakfast and walk to the tour office. It just 10 minutes from our hotel. It was super cold around 9C and we just moving around so warm our bodies. We met some of the tourist and most of them are Chinese descent (hence Chinese speaking tour) but one of them say hi and speak Malays to us. So there are from Indonesia and also Malaysia. So when we get into the bus, and true enough we are the only hijabis there and the tour leader realized it. As much as she can, she tried to mix English and Chinese explanation and we were very thankful for it.

Our first stop is Brighton Bathing Boxes. It situated at Brighton Beach and here you can see there are 82 distinctive bathing boxes, a row of uniformly proportioned wooden structures lining the foreshore of the beach. Mind you then we went early in the morning and there are still many people there. So you have to take turn to take photos in front of the boxes. So, we just when to the boxes that doesn't have people and just took the photo. We just spend around 30 minutes here and for me it more than enough unless you want to take photo with all the 82 boxes, then you might want to spend more time there.

Then we went for lunch at Grants Picnic Ground and it was just a lovely place. They have restaurant with souvenir shop and surrounding by greenery forest. We just ordered pumpkin soup and garlic bread and it was delicious and fulfilling.

Nest stop is Puffing Billy. At first we are not able to go in as there is a construction and the tour guide have to call the station to say that we are going to be late. Actually, it is not only us got stuck but got other tour buses also. After a while, the driver manage to find small road leading to the station and we were hurried to go to the train. So, what is so special about Puffing Billy's train? Puffing Billy is a steam train and is one of the finest preserved steam railways in the world. This century old steam train is still running on its original 24 kilometre mountain track from Belgrave to Gembrook, through the beautiful forests and fern gullies of the Dandenong Ranges. As for us, we only goes to 3 or 4 stations from Lakeside to Menzie's Creek. As the train is the open-sided carriages, so they are the best way to see the stunning views and previously, you can even dangle your legs over the side of the carriages but I think got accident, so that is why they didn't allowed it anymore.

The scenery was great. We went through greenery forest and small villages and a piece of you wondering how do people live here. We saw a glimpse of people's daily life and even children and adults are waving at us when we passed by. Maybe because the next coach is full with school children and to see they laughing and waving, it just pure joy. To be honest, it was the most peaceful thing I've ever done as looking through the open window and feels the cold breeze. It just so amazing. I will definitely ride it again if I have a chance.

Our next stop is actually quite scary, I think it just a bonus stop as we still have time. It is William Rickett's Sanctuary. William Ricketts is an artist, who remembered by his works at this forest sanctuary for his clay sculptures. Most of his subjects are about native indigenous people. So, you can see that some of the sculptures are NSFW and it is in the forest. So don't come at night. My friend and I just go through one round and get back in the the bus. Luckily that the bus has free wifi so we have time to upload some photos in social media.

Our last stop is at SkyHigh. At an elevation of 630m, it is the highest natural viewing point in the whole of Victoria, affording staggering views of Melbourne’s skyline across to Port Philip Bay and beyond. So from here you can see the whole Melbourne and the view is quite nice.

After completed the tour, we went for dinner at Pondok Rempah. It was busy night but the food is not bad. Then we still have time to go to Chemist Warehouse. To tell you the truth, this is my favourite place in Australia. You can get cheap original perfume here as well as medicines. We just wondering around figuring out what to buy as today is not shopping day yet. Actually, I can stay here all day, seriously.

So, we when back to hotel, refresh and wash some clothes before going to bed. The first day went great and tomorrow is Malaysia's Independence Day and we are going for a long trip. We are going to Great Ocean Road. So stay tune!

Cute bathing box

There are 82 boxes along the beach

Restaurant / Souvenir shop at Grants Picnic Ground

Lunch of the day

You can go hiking here

You also can get close with birds with small fee

Attractions around Dandenong Ranges National Park

Looks sunny but still cold.

Our first station

Steam train full with school children

Cute train driver

Yap...weird sculpture

Don't come at night!

Tall trees

Melbourne from Sky High

Cheap perfumes!

OMG!

Dinner of the day

Melbourne - The mountain, the sea and the city Part 1 -The Preparation

2019-10-14T13:50:00.000+08:00

Assalamualaikum, suprised? Me too. So lets not wait anymore so here is the first entry.

So, my friend and I has been planning the trip from 2018. At first we wanted to include Tasmania, as we want to see the Aurora Australis but since our budget is not enough sob sob so we just stick to Melbourne only.

As we are two single girls and we feel that driving is not a n option and plus, it is during winter, so we are a bit scared to drive in unfamiliar territory. So, we scouting for tours and we manage to get kind of awesome deals from Extragreen Holidays where we get 2+1 tours just by paying for two tours. It is a Malaysian company and from our researched they are the cheapest by far. So we manage to book:

1. Puffing Billy (C98)-30 (Chinese speaking )

2. Great Ocean Road(C96E) - 31 Aug (Bilingual speaking)

3. Gold Trail+ Ballarat (C80)-2 Sep (Chinese speaking) + 20 AUD for Ballarat Wildlife Park Entrance.

4. Mt Buller Sightseeing Day Trip(English):($68) x 2 Subtotal: $136

Optional item: Toboggan rental: PerPerson (AU$15) x 1 for 1 days

Book Online & Save: PerPerson (AU$-1) x 2 for 1 days

Subtotal: $13 Total Tour price: $151.98

All these tours from AUD 245 per person (~RM 700). Not bad, right. And another reason why they are so cheap, it is because we took Chinese speaking tour. Yes, it is true. I mean, we only need to know where to go and what time should we meet right so the language is not a problem. As Malaysia, we are used to listen and maybe understand a little bit of Mandarin. Plus my friend is studying Mandarin so it is great practice for her. We also book another tour which is

We also manage to get MAS flight to Melbourne of RM 1, 500 each with 20kg luggage. Haha...it is because of countless hours of monitoring Skyscanner and ITA Matrix https://matrix.itasoftware.com/. Since only two of us, it just easy to discuss and booked it immediately. But I do have feeling that 20kg is not enough as I have planning to shop until I drop especially for Smiggle (I have 5 nieces....so you think?) and to tell you the truth, the extra luggage for MAS is not so cheap, so we just bought 10kg with seat selection on our flight back to KL and it cost us around RM 560 (yeah it is absurdly expensive) but that is what happen when you bought cheap flight but you wanted to shop a lot. We do apply visa before buying the flight ticket. I use online and it cost us RM 40 per person and it is quite fast. I mean I apply it on Saturday and got the confirmation on Sunday. Phew, one thing has settled as I heard that some Malaysian are having difficulties getting the visa and sometimes they have to appeal and maybe apply the expensive ones.

As for accommodation, As we plan not to bring any food from Malaysia, so we need a place that we can cook. The reason why not bring food, one because of limited space in our luggage and we know that we need to declare if we bring food and as we will reach Melbourne around 9pm and we imagine it will take long for immigration and custom and we might be leaving airport around 11 or 12pm. If we bring food it might take longer, we assumed. So we just plan to buy food from the local market and and we are still ok just to eat bread or maybe to try local food there. As we are not driving, so the location is important. It has to be in the city and can take public transportation at ease. So we booked City Edge on Elizabeth Apartment Hotel in Melbourne CBD through Agoda for 6 nights and it costs us around RM 1,500 so per person is around RM 750 (RM 125 per person per night). It is a studio apartment with kitchen and washer. So we can save space to bring less close.

So, when we prepared for the travel, there was a viral story regarding a group of girls has denied to take their flight to Perth by Australian immigration liaison in KLIA 2 boarding gate itself because they thought that maybe they wanted to go there to work as apple picker. So, we are quite sure that we do have a face of apple picker and one of my friend who went to Perth also has 30 minutes interview with the immigration officer after she arrived there. But luckily, she was ok and for her friend, they even asked for her phone's password to check the messages. So avoid to be send home we did ask our HR to prepare us a letter and print all the itineraries and make sure we knows what we are doing. I even bought a clear file for the trip hehe.

As my friend is from JB and our flight is at 9am so we booked a hotel (Barry in KLIA) in Sepang the day before and the hotel has free Airport Transfer to KLIA 1 & 2. THe hotel costs us RM 56 per night for two person. The hotel is clean but small but good enough for one night. The next morning the airport transfer is a little bit late but luckily our flight has been delayed to 10.15am so we are manage to reach airport in plenty of time.

That's all for now but I promise to update as regularly as I can from now on. I have another two more exciting trips in December and February. Want to know where, stay tune. Nest update is on the arrival and visiting Brighton Bathing Boxes and Puffing Billy Train... stay tuned!

Our excited faces....

The sign of the hotel apartment

Washing machine!

Requested for twin bed, extra AUD 30. The room comes with queen bed

The kitchen

Family trip to UK

2017-10-19T16:05:00.001+08:00

Salam semua....

Ya, I know I have gone for too long. It is all because of my stupid laptop need to be repaired and actually I was away for one month in August to visit my brother and his family and we went to Wales and Scotland.

So, as we are waiting for my laptop to be repaired (I'm using my office laptop now) let enjoy some of the photos. Yes, I will definitely try to complete my NZ first before updating my Paris +UK trip....

I will never bored with Eiffel Tower

Versailles Palace

My father in front of Wollaton Hall aka Batman Manor, Nottingham

First time seeing deer face to face...

Conwy Castle....

The smallest house in Great Britain

I love Wales!

Great Orme Cable Car (Llandudno)

Caernafon Castle, Wales

The Pontycysyllte Aqueduct

Tu Hwnt I'r Bont

Yap, visit Liverpool Stadium

No point going Liverpool if you are not going to see the Beatles, right?

Took MU Stadium Tour

The Falkirk Wheel, Scotland

Dean Village, Edimburgh

Edinburgh Castle

Eilean Donan Castle, Scotland

Portree, Isle of Skye

Kilt Rock Waterfall, Isle of Skye

It is confirmed, there is no Loch Ness monster.....

Picking fruits and vegetable at the farm

Gigih panjat nak tengor Hogwarts Express!

Ok guys, see you soon!

I'm going for adventures in New Zealand Part 6: Lake Tekapo and Lake Pukaki

2017-04-30T22:31:00.003+08:00

Yeah yeah I know I know, I know. I'm so sorry.......enjoy

The weather is lovely and we are hungry. So, lunch time. We have plan to have a picnic at Lake Tekapo and so we headed there.

Lake Tekapo famously for their Lupins. You will always have pictures of the lake with Lupins and one of the picture also become my wallpaper. Now, I can get my own pictures of the lake with Lupins for my laptop's wallpaper.

We have cold rice again, but with the view, it just worth it. After that, we have some time to spare and photo time begins.I tried to 'slide 'some rocks at the lake but I lack of skill. I even fell after throwing the rock. I have picture to prove it!

After that, we went to the famous Church of the Good Shepherd. It was situated on the other side of the lake. Boy, there are so many people there and more Lupins. It was a small church that was built in 1935, the first church to build around here.

Again, I still cannot tell you how much I adore Lupins, it just becomes my second favourite flower, where the first one is of course Tulips. It is quite hard to have photo sessions by ourselves as tons of people also like Lupins. So we need, to walk around to find a place with less people.

Then, we continue our journey to Mount Cook. At one time, I'm as a navigator and my friend is driver while chitchatting and suddenly we saw the bluest thing as eyes can see.We are just gasp as we saw Lake Pukaki. It just so blue and take our breath away.

Lake Pukaki is the largest lake in New Zealand. Actually, until we almost arrive Mount Cook, the lake is still there, I mean it is huge. And why it is so blue? because it is from glacier. I can just imagine the coldness of the water there.

Of course it is another photo session time. With breathtaking view of snowy Mount Cook and bluest lake, who can resist?

After a while, we continued our journey to Mount Cook and spend a night there. I would update about Mount Cook in my next entry because it is one of my favourite experiences in New Zealand. If you want to know why? Stay tune!

Picnic lunch near the lake

When you try so hard, then you fell...

My current wallpaper...

Church of Good Shepherd

Another side of Church of Good Shepherd!

Lupins...lupins everywhere....

On our way to Mount Cook

Add caption

This is the part where we gasp...

Me, try to pose 'cooly'...

Three shades of blue...

Mount Cook, here we come....

I'm going for adventures in New Zealand Part 5: Inland Scenic Route 77

2017-03-19T20:28:00.000+08:00

My laptop is ok, so now without further due, here is the update. By the way, Hi Letchumy(^_^)

Inland Scenic Route 77

Around 8.30am, we are ready to check out and make our way to Mount Cook using Inland Scenic Route 77 Actually, I know about this road when I read in my facebook post in travellers' forum. It is not usual road that Malaysian always use, the from the blogs and internet research, most of Malaysian will use road where they will pass Ashburton and Ealing. So, since I'm the navigator, I decided to give it a try.

The weather is gloomy and I'm actually quite frustrated as we might not able to see beautiful scenery along the way and it is cold as it is around 10'c. However, we still our hope is still high as we are hoping as it is only in he morning, perhaps the weather will be in the afternoon.

Along the way, although the weather is still gloomy, but we do enjoy the scenery, especially went we passed through cows and sheeps cattle. We just like crazy people like screaming sheep...and cows like w have never saw cows and sheeps before. But honestly, i've never seen black and white spots cow before except in New Zealand's milk ad when I was little. So one bucket dream is checked.

Our first stop would be Rakaia Gorge where where can see turquoise river. The beautiful Rakaia Gorge is located on the Rakaia River, in inland Canterbury. You will find the scenery is stunning even in the gloomy weather. I saw he photo when the weather is nice and it is superb.Rakaia Gorge combined with places of historical and geological interest. The popular Rakaia Gorge Walkway is a 10.4 kilometre return track along the top of the Rakaia Gorge, to the ferryman's track. You can do boating, salmon and trout fishing and even explore the area by walking in the track.

We stopped here to take the photo even though it is quite cold and light raining. I mean, we can't miss to take photo, is that the travelling all about? I'm quite afraid to go near the riverbank because the stream is strong and the is the sign warning not to be there when there is flood. However, curiosity killed the cat so yes, the water is freaking cold.

After sometime, I mean when we cannot bear the cold already, we decided to continue our journey. Our next stop is somewhere which I can't remember but it has a place to stop and the scenery of white open green field and it just so beautiful. Of course we took a lot of photos and we are not alone on this. There are other tourist do the same thing, hehe.
Along the scenic route is like you are going to the countryside and the road is much more smaller with less car.

By noon, our prayers has been answered and the weather is getting better as we almost reaching Lake Tekapo. From afar, we can see the snow on the top of Mount Cook and it was breathtakingly stunning. Of course, again, we need to stop to take photos and we met a couple from Korea doing the same thing. We even took selfie together with them.

Along the road you will see a lot of tourist car or van stopped to take photos, I even jumping with joy when I saw lupins there.One of my friends said, even the weeds here are beautiful.
After about an hour, as we are hungry already, we decided to have lunch picnic at Lake Tekapo. So, that will be in the next update hehe.

To make up my long absent, here more photos for you to 'cuci mata'......

Selfie for the long journey

Yep...that cow is just wondering why do I took their photo?

Turquoise Rakaia river....

Rakaia Bridge

Although you can't see it, but it is freezing cold!

Anyone who wants to make a reference...

The warning sign

As you can see, no cars at all...

At lookout point somewhere along the road...

Trees as the wall...

Sheeps!

I bet the scenery would be much better with blue sky...

Like a big storm is coming in...

Yellow and green....

Weeds never look so beautiful...

Wide open grassland...

Wefie with Korean couple...

Trying to look cool....

Lupins!

Can you see Mount Cook?

Photo session!

Laptop problem....

2017-03-05T17:20:00.002+08:00

Sorry guys, I'm not able to update for a moment as I'm having a little bit of problem with my laptop. Once I've got everything fix, then I'm ready to update. Thank you for your understanding!

I'm going for adventures in New Zealand Part 4: Christchurch

2017-02-15T15:55:00.002+08:00

Salam...I've been busy lately so not able to update for sometime. But, here I am. So enjoy

It is a good day for us as we are going to fly to South Island today by Jetstar at 10.30am. We have already book a shuttle to bring us to the airport. We have not done any shopping as we wouldn't want to have excess baggage, because we only bought 20kg per person only to save cost(^_^)

The shuttle will pick us up around 8.30am and it arrived sharply. At first, I'm quite worry because it will stop to pick other passengers but at the end we manage to arrive at the airport around 9.30am.
After checking-in we manage to get to the plane and arrive safely at Christchurch at 11.55am.

We book our car rental fro Go Rental for both South and North Island later. When we arrived, we give a call to the car rental and they asked us to wait at the car rental area which is very near to the entrance. After a while, we saw the pink Go Rental van that picked us up to the car rental office which around 5 minutes away from the airport.

As I didn't do online check-in so it takes a little time for us to do the registration. So, your Malaysian Driver License can be used in New Zealand. For this trip, we paid for four of us to be the driver and it cost additional 30 NZD. As for the car, I booked Toyota Corolla with Peace of Mind Insurance of 15 NZD. So total cost for the car rental is 349.20 NZD ( 87.3 NZD per person ~RM 300) for 8 days. Not bad I think. Then comes to the luggage, yap so now we have 5 luggage which 3 of them are big ones and 2 smaller ones. After huffing and puffing for a while, we manage to put all luggage except mine, which is the smallest one in the car boot. So my luggage will seat at the back seat. Then we are ready to go to our hotel.

We arrive at our hotel, John Motels & Holiday Park around 2pm and after getting the keys we just can't wait to eat as we are very hungry. Our first meal in South Island? Of course instant mee hehe.
On the way here there is a major construction work happening and we miss our turns to the motel and have to do another round again. The motel that we booked is spacious with two rooms, living room and kitchen with utensils. After getting full already, comes our major activity, which is sleeping. Yap, we should just call this is our 'sleeping trip'.

Around 5pm, we get ready for shopping in Pak'N Save actually. As we are going for a long journey in South Island, we have plan to do some 'home' cooking to save some budgets. Most of motels that I booked, have kitchen facilities and I make sure it as one of priority for booking.

It was a great experience shopping in Pak'N Save as it has a lot of varieties and affordable. We bought milk, fruits, paper plates and cups and some chocolates of course. Before that, we have already put aside of 50 NZD per person to buy for groceries and one of my friend has been promote as treasurer.

After complete our shopping as the weather is still nice we have decided to driving around a little bit until we saw some parks and decided to have some photo sessions. After that, we took a wrong turn and ends up around some housing areas and it took us a while to go back to the motel. When we arrived it was dark already and we cook some Nasi Goreng Cendawan (Fried rice with mushroom) by Brahim's and get some rest for tomorrow's journey of 324km to Mount Cook.

Ok guys, I promise to try to update frequently after this. See you next week!

Ignore all the things!

Nice kitchen I would say...

Our transportation of 8 days...

Pak'NSave

Half the trolley

Hail the chocolates!

We are lost!

I'm going for adventures in New Zealand Part 3: Devonport and Sky Tower

2017-01-21T22:31:00.001+08:00

Salam guys, sorry lama tak update. Here you go

The next day, we took a ferry to Devenport and it just a 15 minutes ride form the ferry terminal. The reason we want to go here because it is the cheapest ferry, around NZD 12 returns and we want to see Auckland city from another view.

Before that we went to get a breakfast at one of many halal restaurants in Auckland. However some of the restaurants are not open yet and we were looking around until one guy just tell us there is a Kebab restaurant has open few block from where we are. Of course after getting lost for some time, we manage to find it. Kebab was so big so some of us just eat half of it and keep it for lunch later.

Ferry to Devonport interval every 15 minutes. We got into the ferry and sit outside which is super cold and super windy. After we arrive, we plan to walk to Mount Victoria which is around 20-30 minutes walk up. On the way there, we saw a lot of shoplots and historical building along the way. Although it is called Mount Victoria, believe me it just like small hill but still quite high.

As we are on the way up, there is car like stop and an old lady asked us whether we need a ride to go up there, and like clueless child, we just agreed. Lucky for us as the walk up is quite long even with a car and luckily for us, she is a very nice lady named Aideen and she is not kidnapping us. Aideen always jokes with us that we are too trusting because she might kidnapped us. But yeah she is just nice lady.

When we reached at the peak, the views are super nice and we can see Auckland city and all it's glory. Then we take a wefie with kind Aideen wich she insist to wear hijab like us and one of my friend gives her a scarves to wear in the photo. We also meet tourist from Canada which also took photo of us because she said it is something interesting.

After we said goodbye to Aideen, we just hanging around the area taking photos. We can see some of military ships docking at the harbour and there are also and big fake mushrooms that use as water sprinkler. How creative is that?

After a while, it is getting too hot and we decided to go back. The road on the way down feel easier and as we passed through a school, the kids are really friendly and keeps saying "Hello" to us. First we thought that we wanted to have lunch in Auckland. But as we passed through the shoplots and restaurants, we feeling kinda hungry. We even saw a group of Malaysian in one of fish and chips restaurants. I guess there are students here.

So, as we still have half of the kebabs so we decided to stop at one of the park bench and eat our kebabs. It just peaceful and calm there as there are not a lot of people and cars around. We saw the group of students passing by and we smile and said hello. So far my experience meeting another Malaysian abroad are wonderful. I have never met rude one.

After that we decided to go back at hotel. We have plan to go to Sky Tower near dawn because I think it will be wonderful to see Auckland city from way up there at dawn. As dawn hers is around 8-9pm, so we decided to go there around 6 pm. As we don't have plan to go any where at the mean time and as we are tired from the journey, we sleep in. Yes, we have travel to New Zealand to sleep in the hotel. We plan that we just don't want to go out for the sake of going out. After all, it is called holidays....that is whay we want to do something to enjoy and relax according to our pace.

After a great afternoon nap, we went out to go to the Sky Tower. Yeah, we walked there and although we are on our second day in Auckland, but it feels like we lives there as we walking around knowing where to go. Or perhaps we can see Sky Tower from afar and just walk to it.

It took us a while to know that the entrance is inside the Sky Mall. The cost of the ticket is NZD 29 per person. When we get there, the lift will bring you to level 53 (or 63?) where the observation deck is. So they have this glass floor to walk for those who doesn't have fainted herat and proudly I can say that we have walk, step and even sit on it. But it still a quite scary experience. After that we went to another higher foor were you can see a magnificent 360 view of Auckland city. It just so breathtaking.

We spend quite sometime there as we were waiting for the down. But as we feel hungry, wo we have to come down early a litte bit. Then again, "Where to eat?" is another task to go. After do some Googling, we found out there is a Malaysia Mamak restaurant that we can walk to. It is near the Sky Tower.

As we walked there, it becomes dark and we just not sure where are we going. Google Map is our only hope. Then we found this area where a lot of shops, restaurants and bars and we feel that we are at the wrong place. THere is a restaurant that looks like Arab's restaurant but also they have bar, so we are not sure. We are about to give up and when back to yesterday's Kebab when we decided to see the shop the the Arab's restaurant and sure enough, we found it.

We are just so happy to find familiar food in just second day of our journey in New Zealand. Yeah, Malaysian and its' food cannot be denied. We ordered teh tarik, noodles and fried rice and they taste like heaven. Seriously, the teh tarik is better than the one in Malaysia. Must be the milk that they use.

After feeling content, it is about time to go back to our hotel and prepare to the airport tomorrow as we are flying to the South Island. We have a great time in Auckland and we will coming back again at the end of the journey. We went to all the places by walking and I would say it was a great exercise and experience. It feel quite save to walk and people here are very nice. Hope to come here again soon!

Stay tune for our journey at South Island where we drive and guide by ourselves. All 4 girls first time driving in the foreign country. Scary or not? To be continue......

Breakfast session...for energy

Ticket and brochure for memories....

Devonport Map

Auckland City from Devonport...

Favourite photo of Auckland

Hide behind giant mushroom...

Another view from Mount Victoria...not sure what island it is

Ferry Terminal....

On the way down to the Sky Tower entrance

Are you scared of heights?

I was scared actually...

Four of us!

Some part of Auckland city...

Overlooking the harbour...

Delicious Mee Goreng Mamak...

I'm going for adventures in New Zealand Part 2: Lost and Found in Auckland

2016-12-30T21:31:00.003+08:00

Salam to all of you. As promised here is my update on Day 1 in Auckland, New Zealand

We arrived at Jucy Snooze Hotel around 4pm. I have booked a room with one bunk bed and one queen size bed. After clean up ourselves, we have we plan to go out for walking around and to get lunch. Then, I just realized that I can't find my NZD pouch. It has more than 500 NZD and I have got no money on me at all. I'll start to panic and open my bag and each compartment one by one. Can you imagine, on the first day itself I already lost my money? I feel like crying.

Then my suggest I call Airport or Malaysia Airlines as I might drop it there as I also realized that I also lost my pashmina in the plane. The feedback was not good for me as the person asked me to go to the airport to make a report and there is possibility the flight has already left. Then, I just trying my luck and called the shuttle coach in case I dropped it there and the representative promise to check and called me back if they found it. Since there is nothing good to do just by waiting inside the hotel, so we continues our plan to go out. In case if there is no reply from the shuttle coach, I plan to go to the airport at night.

We are going to Albert Park as it just nearby to our hotel. While walking around I received call from the shuttle coach, they found me purse. Syukur Alhmadulillah, I was so blessed and the driver will drop it to my hotel and pass it to the reception as I was not around. Then, my friends said that they can see my smile again. Of course, I save my money day and night and it was a lot of moeny. Of course I was worried if I never see it again. I'm so blessed that there are people who are honest and I always have faith in humanity that people are naturally nice. I also blessed that Allah has answered my prayers.

Albert Park is a beautiful park near University of Auckland. It has cute building and there are many people day picnicking and enjoying the scenery. After a while we decided to grap something to eat as we are starving and making our way to the city and we found from Google Maps and Zabihah.com that most of halal restaurants are in the city centre itself.

The city centre is like any other city where there are many shoplots, malls and backpackers hostel. We also saw some of tourists walking around and some beggars or homeless people. Most of the beggars are local native and some of them are Caucasian. Hmmm, even in develop country there are still unfortunate people. It just makes you think, you know.

At the end, we settle at Kebab Time near Sky Tower and my friend who's her chicken rendang has been thrown out at immigration has ordered chicken to satisfy her sad feeling. We saw a lot of people in and out of the restaurant and it seems that even local loves kebab, not only Muslim eating at the restaurant. The price is not bad, you can get kebab and drinks below 10 NZD.

After fulfilling our stomach, so we have energy to walk again so we went to Harbour just to see the sunset. But we are a little bit late as we kinda lost and we only manage to get there after a while. But it just nice to see the luxury yachts / boats and just wonder how nice it would be if I have one. By the way, it was freezing cold as the cold winds keeps blowing and I though because it will be going to summer already it won't be freaking cold. Boy, I was wrong.

Then we headed back to our hotel and of course we lost a little bit. But, I remember thinking, here we are, four of us walking at night in foreign country, lost but still feeling safe. Like there is zero worries at all like we know no matter what, we will be alright. It just a wonderful feeling.

Great shuttle service!

The four of us!

In front of our hotel

Loves the tree with Sky Tower at the background

Sky Tower

Yachts at the harbour. Next building is Hotel Hilton

Night life in Auckland...so quiet!

I'm going for adventures in New Zealand Part 1: The behind story and the arrival

2016-12-27T21:03:00.000+08:00

Salam, as promised here are the story of my amazing journey to New Zealand. It will be divided into many parts and I try to update as much as I can.

Believe it or not, this is unplanned journey. My travel mates, you may know them from my Turkey and Europe trip just whatsapping (it that a word?) around like saying hey where are we going this year and suddenly I just suggested New Zealand and everybody agreed. It was before Raya if I'm not mistaken and at first there are only three of us . Then one of my travel mates who are currently working in Jeddah as a nurse said that one of her friend also would like to join us and it is confirmed that there will be four of us.

Then we have not decided whether to go by tour or by ourselves. I'm all into ourselves but some of us still have doubt whether we have the confidence to navigate and drive by ourselves to a country that we have never been before. So we decided to check in MATTA FAIR in September to figure out tour package and to compare the cost if we do it ourselves. We already decided to do it in November as that is the time where everyone has free time.

So, two of us who are working in Malaysia went to MATTA FAIR to find out the cost and to buy flight ticket and boy we have been bamboozled, I meant we thought ticket would be cheaper and it was way beyond our budget. We also found out that of course if we do it by ourselves it would be much cheaper. Even one of the travel agent that we've met said it. Now, we are confuse because it seems that the ticket price is out of our budget and whether we still want to continue with our plan or not.

At first, we thought to cancel it and perhaps just go to Japan instead however after more than 1,000 whatsapp messengers we just close our eyes and buy the ticket and I have to stay up till 2am to buy 4 tickets where the prices where difference and we agreed to average them. I will tally all our cost at the last updates, so be patience you guys!

So, I'm the 'unpaid' travel agent as I plan the itinerary and pay for all the cost that need to book first. My bank is quite thrill to see my credit card bill but don't worry, I have 100% confidence with travel mates and they pay me on time and no question asked and it makes may job a little bit easy. I'm using Booking.com for all our hotels booking and bookme.co.nz for all our activities such as Milford Sound cruise and Kawarau Zipride in Queenstown. As we plan to cook, so I try to book budget hotel/motel that have cooking facilities and shared bathroom as it is much cheaper compared to private room. As for car rental, we book from Go Rental as it was recommended by one of reference blog http://selekeh.com/blog/?p=55 and it is one of the cheapest I've found after some research. We did thought to rent caravan or motor home but I already told them that I'm not going to change/ dump the waste...seriously....geli...and none of them want to do to so we just settle to hire a car instead. For both North and South Island, we hired Toyota Corolla. It fit all of us but I have funny story about it so just wait for it.

As for the flights, we took return MAS Airlines to Auckland and from Auckland to Christchurch we took Jetstar. Then we will depart to Auckland from Queenstown by New Zealand Airlines.

Since we only book a sedan car so we have agreed to only bring one luggage per person and it was crazy hell to fit my clothes as I only bring the cabin size luggage. I didn't bring any food because it can't fit. My travel mates told me the bring a lot of food and I just wonder how the manage to pack it inside their bag. So, later at the airport I found out how they can fit all the food and clothes, one of them bring 2 luggage instead as one as agreed upon and the other two bring the biggest luggage they can find and it look like I'm the smallest one. I just kept thinking on the flight how on earth we can fit all the luggage inside the car boot.

Actually, I do have concern about this trip because I do the itinerary by myself and I just hope that we will not be lost and another thing is I really hope that the immigration didn't think that we are drug mules or went there to work as apple picker; then they will reject us and we have to go back but we have already paid a lot for the trip.

So, the journey to Auckland took us 10 hours and it was a very comfortable flight. I really like MAS as the steward and stewardess are kind and somehow they though we are students so we manage to get extra food and goodies hehe.

Our flight supposed to be at 9.30pm from KLIA, however, it was delayed and we only arrived at Auckland Airport at 1.30pm. It was a full flight and we do expect a lot of people at immigration. So, before we line up for the passport checking, we went to the Vodafone store to get simcard. What we do is to buy a simcard and shared mobile hotspot with everyone. We choose 8GB data plan and the price is 99 NZD dollar. Until the end of the journey, the data plan is available. Not bad huh for 4 persons who likes to upload photos a lot.

The process of passport checking at immigration is quite smooth for us. The officer did ask a lot of question for the couple in front of us but when it comes to our turn, she just look at us and continue to stamp our passport without any hesitation. Maybe the student thing is work for us. We already know that at Arrival Card we need to declare everything, so we just declare everything, food, medicine and even sport shoes. There will check if there's dirt on it. Seriously! Two of my friends has to go through to another immigration process as they declare food and one of them has to see all the chicken rendang to be thrown into dust bin. NZ immigration is serious about the thing that we bring to their country so if you want to bring food, bring dried one and chicken is no no. We only manage to go to our hotel with airport shuttle after 3pm. I have book the coach at shuttle at https://www.supershuttle.co.nz/ for 59 NZD (one-way) for 4 person and it will send you in front of the hotel.

Guess which one is my luggage?

I think I have to end the first update now and I will tell you some story that makes be believe that there are good people in the world in my next update. I learnt my humble lesson from it. So stay tune!

I'm back baby.....for real!

2016-12-13T18:25:00.001+08:00

Salam All,

Yeah it looks like that I abandoned this blog, which I did.....sorry. But I'm really-really back this time. I promise.

So as a teaser, here are some photos to prove you why I'm here and please guess where have I've been recently?

So, I just can't wait to update my journey and hope that you guys are still there.

See you soon!

Wordless Wednesday

2015-09-09T22:55:00.002+08:00

Matta Fair 2015

2015-09-06T20:33:00.000+08:00

So, i just come back from Matta Fair today and surprise suprise bought something...haha. But I have not bought my flight ticket to Europe yet although the ticket price is screamingly cheap....yes, it is because I didn't finalize the date yet. There have the discussion where my brother suggest that we go in August instead of May because then hey can get entrance to heritage places for free as the have heritage passes or something. According to the passes, if they stay in UK more than 1 year, they can get into the heritage places such as castles in England fro free, and if 2 years, they can enter the places in Scotland for free.

Then I was thinking if I go in August, then why not just go in October instead, then I can watch Autumn leaves fall and who knows Aurora Borealis. Then again, the discussion when back to May. So, now I still try to finalize our itinerary and the budget that we have to fork out. So that s the update for my UK road trip.

So what about today's Matta Fair? There are still a lot of people, believe me especially in Domestic Hall compared to International Hall. But in the International Hall there too a lot of people and I was amazed with Apple's Booth, seriously nice.

So what do I bought from Matta Fair today?

1. Berjaya Redang Island Resort.

Well we manage to get 2 nights stay there for RM 588 for 2 person. It includes snorkeling trips as per attached in photo below.I hope we got a good deal.

Berjaya's Hotel Promotion

2. Dinner Buffet Voucher at Putrajaya International Convention Centre.

We got it for RM 29.95 instead of RM 40 and we were promised with beautiful view at night. They also has promotion of Buffet Lunch for RM 21.25. Cheap right?

So, we are planning to go to Redang in October and I will update you more about the trip. See you soon!

Apple's Booth

Kids playing snow sleigh courtesy of Korea Tourism

All things from Matta Fair!

British Isles Road Trip: Preparation 2

2015-07-12T18:28:00.002+08:00

I hope it is not too late to say Happy Ramadan and it is not too early to say Selamat Hari Raya, Maaf Zahir Batin.

So, how is your Raya preparation? For me, I just wear some old clothes that I rarely wear, I mean seriously, Raya is just for newlyweds, children and parents. For single like me, I will go pray in the morning and have nap in the afternoon. Seriously.

I quite pumped up about my road trip even though I just found out that my brother's car has met accident. Nothing serious, just a dent and he needs to pay 50 pound for it while he get more than 500 pound claimed from the insurance company. Sweet.

So, I just Google and do a lot of digging especially on Tumblr on which places we should go. So here is my top 5 places we should visit while vacationing in British Isles. They ae not in particular order.

1. The Dark Hedges

Seriously, I knew The Dark Hedges, pre Game of Thrones, I always fascinated with the mysterious around it. The Dark Hedges is a unique stretch of the Bregagh Road near Armoy, in Northern Ireland. Hope I can have a picture of me walking from the back. It would be so cool.

2. Tu Hwnt I’r Bont Tearoom, Llanrwst

Tu Hwnt i’r Bont is a traditional Welsh Tea Rooms situated in delightful market town of Llanrwst and the gateway to the beauty of Snowdonia, Wales. The cafe’s roof is covered in Virginia creeper which is quickly changing from green to red as the autumnal colours start to show. I doubt I can see the tearoom as in the picture but it would be thrill to have some traditional tea with with my brother and his family here. My treat!

3. Loch Ness

Ok seriously, who went to Scotland without going to Loch Ness? Who knew, I might having a selfie with the monster itself?

4. Stanage Edge, Peak District

Large gritstone edges that overlook Hathersage in Peak District, Stanage Edge found fame as the scenic spot where Elizabeth Bennet, played by Keira Knightley, daydreamed of dashing Mr Darcy, , in the 2005 Pride & Prejudice. Me and my sister in law want to re-create this scene...yeah waiting for my own Mr. Darcy....

5. Fairy Pools, Isle of Skye

Fairy Pools, seriously beautifully crystal clear blue pools on the River Brittle. One look and you just feel want to dive in and stay they forever. Seriously, I can't wait to swim in the pool.

So, here are the top 5 places that I wanted to go and hopefully, it will come true!

British Isles Road Trip: Preparation 1

2015-06-07T17:55:00.001+08:00

Looks who is coming back? Yap, it's me again. I know some of you might fed-up with me appearing like chipsmore, "sekejap ada, sekejap takde" I'm so sorry. I just lost it. Sorry!

But now I pumped up already yeah...after some Skyping and televideo through Hangout, it is already set, I'm going to road trip together with my brother around British Isles. For your info, my brother and his family is in Nottingham since last year as he is continuing his study for Phd. I plan to visit them next year because I miss them and especially my niece so much. Then I told them I might want to visit Scotland (yeah because of Outlander) and they said they want to come to...so wohooo road trip!

So what is British Isles? It just covers England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and Northern Ireland. See, my brother would like to go Snowdonia, Wales so we include that and I really want to go to Isle of Skye, Cornwall and The Dark Hedges. So after some calculation, it looks like we will cover up to 2000km. Yep, I'm planning to cover for petrol expenses and try to find out how much is the petrol cost in UK.

So far we just try to plan which place we would like to cover and how much it will cost. I try to play with Google Map and find out what our journey will be like.

If we cover all British Isles

If we didn't cover Ireland, ten it will become UK road trip

So far everything is still under planning and I will try to find more info for the trip. We plan to to do it in the month of May next year as the day is longer and before fasting month.

So, if you have feedback and info regarding this trip, feel free to comment. I welcome any ideas and tips.

Ok, bye for now!. I promise I will be back soon!

I'm back, well sort of

2015-03-08T21:36:00.002+08:00

Salam again to all. Ya, I guess you guys wondering what happen to me? To tell you the truth, nothing actually. It just I've been very lazy, besides I'm not going anywhere.

It's not that I'm quitting travelling but I just nothing to share actually. I can't just ramble about myself for my next posts, who want to read that?

For 2015, I'm not planning to go anywhere because I'm saving up for my next trip next year. Where to? I 'm planning to visit my brother and his family in Nottingham and from there perhaps we can go to Scotland. Scotland is one of country in my bucket list especially after obsessing with Outlander tv series. Seeing the highlanders with their sexy accent makes me want to go there so bad.

I'm still have not enough of England. Anglophile as myself would be content until I seeing cliff at Cornwall, theme park in Brighton and again London. I might throwing Cardiff or Dublin in my next visit. At first, I want to move on and go see The northern lights in Scandinavian country such ass Finland and Sweden, but every time I open my tumblr and see the green grass and old buildings of Cotswold, I just want to be there again. So I guess my quest to see the northern lights have to wait.

So far that is the update of myself. I will try to update my blog as much as I can but just be patient with me ok.

GO GO SALES CRAZY ONLINE!

2014-11-27T14:26:00.000+08:00

Ok, I want to take a break from Turkey update for a minute. So please bear with me. So, it is end of the year and of course there are a lot of sales coming up, YES, Branded sales and anything under the sun. No women can ever deny the pleasure of shopping brings to them as women can never have too many fashion items. As women will never feel they have enough clothes, shoes or accessories even though they have a full closet of them. From apparels, shoes, handbags, accessories or beauty products, women will always find a way to splurge every month for their desired items. I admit, I’m one of the women. It can be frustrating to shop if you have to stick to a budget every time you get your salary or allowance money. Women do not have to fret any longer as retail brands and malls are always organizing sale promotions based on holidays for their customers to enjoy. Season sales are always a fun event for women who can never get enough of shopping new fashion items in their closet. Women can now have the luxury time of spending their hard earn money on items with affordable prices.

Sadly shopping through crowded malls and finding a parking space may be irritating to deal during your day offs. I mean, you have to go round and round or wait at the side for someone to go out. Then, you have to push through people on sales and getting shoved by makcik, (yeah this usually happen in SOGO) may turn you mood into a bad one. So, what other alternative to shop freely? You can go shopping online. One of the famous website, such as ZALORA has offers sales up to discount price for their fashionable lady customers to enjoy. Women can browse through their online shopping site with ease and comfort without ever wasting their energy. ZALORA special price sales will definitely make women feel the worth of every penny spent and be confident with their speedy delivery. So happy shopping, girls!

ZALORA is one of the leading shopping sites in

Malaysia

which constantly provides promotions and discounted price of their fashion products. Women can do their online shopping at home or even the office and have their items delivered straight to their doorstep. Chase the sales and never miss the special opportunity by shopping online at ZALORA.

Turkey Trip Part 4: Hamam and Belly Dancing

2014-11-24T21:48:00.000+08:00

Salam all, ya I know it has been too long. The thing is I've been transferred to new department (actually, we have this department before but abolished 5 years ago) so, we have to re-start the SOP, rules and regulations again and it had been hectic.So just let me continue ya...

So after a wonderful lunch, we have been brought to the pottery factory. Again, the pottery products are beautiful but, again super expensive. We didn't buy anything there.

Our next stop is another fairy chimneys place and there are more and more beautiful. We just kept taking photos with beautiful weather.

After that, we went to Hamam, except for Maria. It cost us around 30 US Dollar for each person. At first some of my friends quite hesitate to go in as we just afraid that we will be naked inside. But, there's videos showing in the lobby about what they will do and none of it involve naked so we just glad to sign up. Boy, we were so wrong.

So we went in, and need to change. First they put this masked for face and scrubs and it feels refreshing. Then we have to go to sauna room and we met few Brazilian girls. After that we need to wash ourselves whether to use bathroom or swimming pool. As we went to swimming pool, so there a topless lady come up so, bathroom it is.

So after that, massage time. Ok in the bath place, there will be a round pool and the there will be Turkish girls to wash us with soap and massage a little bit. So the people will wait surrounding the round pool and wait for their turn. So, when we went in, we just awe and one of my friend said "Pemandangan apakah ini?" Why because all the women there are naked yap....seriously. So....yap, big mistake. I won't tell you guys more, but for me it happen twice already and another one is in Bali. So what happen in Turkey's Hamam stays in Turkey's Hamam. Overall, it was refreshing bath and what an experience.

So, after that we have our dinner and can't stop laughing about out experience in Hamam. After that, we went to this restaurant to see belly dancing and others cultural dance. There have some tidbits for us while we are watching and one of the waiter want to serve us alcohol and we just shout no and he just look at us bewildered. Then the cultural dance starts and the dancers are beautiful and handsome. So my friend want to see the sufi whirling dance, where the dancer just dance in circle and it is amazing that they don't puke or having slight headache after that.

The belly Dance part is the last part actually and man, we just so jealous with her stomach as it is flat, seriously. Maybe I should try to do belly dancing. Then she invited some of audience, man of course and ask them to follow her moves and they tried and it just so funny.

Actually, we have plan to celebrate Maria's birthday and it was a surprise for her.We sang happy birthday song and everybody is looking at her. Once in a lifetime to celebrate birthday in Turkey. So, tonight is our last night in Cappadocia and tomorrow we have to wake up early as it is time for Balloon ride. Another experience that I can't forget. Stay tuned!

This is how they make a vase

Beautiful plates...

There are something special about these plates...

They glow in the dark...

More fairy chimneys...

Sufi dance...

Happy birthday Maria...

The uncles are all sporting and they are humorous

Turkey Trip Part 3: Fairy Chimneys and Cave Restaurant

2014-10-26T15:40:00.004+08:00

Salam semua....long time no see....lets go right to the main thing...

So, here we are in Cappadocia....we have one day to travel here. Supposedly we want to ride the balloon today but because of bad weather yesterday, so they have postpone the previous tour group to today and we have to postpone to tomorrow, but no biggie.

In the morning, Mr. Cengiz has taken us to see our first fairy chimneys. So what is fairy chimneys? According to wikipedia, fairy chimneys were formed when lava covering the tuff (consolidated volcanic ash) gave way along preexisting cracks of sloping areas and became isolated pinnacles. They can attain a height of up to forty meters, have conical shapes and consist of caps of harder rock resting on pillars of softer rock.A "fairy chimney" exists until the neck of the cone erodes and its protective cap falls off. The subsequent disintegration of the remaining pinnacle continues until it is completely leveled down. So there are a lot of fairy chimneys in Cappadocia. The reason they were called fairy chimneys because from the folklore that at night, they can hear some kind like musical from the stones and they believe fairies are living there. So that is how they got the name.

On that day, we all agreed to wear long skirts and colourful so as you can see later, the combination with clear weather and colourful skits makes it even brighter and colourful. So when we went there, there are also a lot of tourist and they are so interested to taking photos with us. feel like a selebrity a little bit. Haha

Our next destination is Uchisar Village. where we have a nice view of the castle and the fantastic cone-shaped rock formations surrounding it. The magnificent landscape of Cappadocia has been formed from solidified lava streams, ash and tuff stone from volcanic eruptions millions of years ago. From there also we can see the Pigeon valley where all the houses are for pigeons. Why do you ask? Well, it is the same concept of houses for "Burung Walit". The build the houses for pigeons so that they can use its feces for agricultural purpose. The valley was so big and there we found a very special tree. the "Devil's Eye" tree. What? But basically it is just a fake tree with the famous "Devil's Eye" ornaments on them but it was colourful and great for photos taking scenery.

Then we went to the carpet factory, where the owner showed us how the handmade carpet was made. The owner was funny. So they bring us to this room full of carpet and all of them are beautiful. Some of the carpet can change the colour depend on which view did you see it. However, the carpet was not cheap, I mean only like 4 x 4 can be around RM3k to RM4k and one of the beautiful carpet I've ever seen cost around RM 10k. I can go to Europe again with that kind of money. On the plus side, they guys who show us the carpet are eye candies and even the sons of the owner too. H event joke, if we bought the carpet, free one of the guys.

After a frustrating event looking at the expensive carpet, we went to lunch at the cave restaurant. Yes, the restaurant is in the cave. It has beautiful decorations and we have our own personal musician. I mean he played for every tour group in the restaurant. So by the time we eat here, to tell you we know that the food here can be so fulfilling because it has many courses. So I just try to find the one that not so fulfilling so I can eat all the meals. My friend Maria also feel the same so she ordered a beef stew. So when the get our order, the beef stew come in this one big pot, and the look at Maria's face is so priceless, I mean she is thinking how can I finish all the stew? Well luckily the pot just for "show and tell". The give portion to us and another portion at another group. You could see that she just feel relieved and we are laughing about it non stop. Until now I can still remember her face at that time.

So, I only write for the half day and it is already half page. I will continue with the rest of day in Cappadocia in my next update. Enjoy the photos.

Shops selling souvenier

Have to climb to see the chimneys

Fairy chimneys

Tourist from Canada...

Gaya cute Maria...

The Pigeon Valley...

You can see Ushisar from here...

Beautiful carpet...

The "Devil's Eye" Tree

Our tour guide Mr. Cengiz and driver, Mr. Yassin

The owner of carpet factory

Silk...

This carpet around RM 8000

I love this one

Buy 1 free 1

So this is the Cave Restaurant

Our cozy table...

Beef stew...

Hehe sempat lagi diorang ni...

Turkey Trip Part 2: Bolu to Cappadocia

2014-09-28T00:15:00.001+08:00

Salam semua....so without wasting times, here is the part 2 of my Turkey Trip.

So we woke up in the morning and ready to leave Bolu for Ankara. Today's journey will be a long one as we will go to Cappadocia. It will take around 7 hours and 30 minutes wna we have a stop at Ankara, the capital city of Turkey.

The journey was great, plus we have wifi in the van, so it is time to find out the latest story in Malaysia and to keep in touch with families and friends.After 2 hours, we reach to our first destination, Anitkabir or the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

I've done my research and Turks really love Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. For them, he was like the Modern revolutionist, reformist and the founder of Republic of Turkey. So you can't say anything bad about him. You should see the building for his tomb, it was so big, at first when I saw it, it looks like Greek Temple or something. From Mr. Cengiz, our tour guide, after Mustafa Kemal Ataturk passed away, the statesmen don't want to buried him and put him in the glass tomb, but after a long thought, they buried him as he is also a human and a Muslim.

The mausoleum also includes a museum and a big garden. We were so lucky because when we arrived there, we could see the ceremony of changing guards. Of course after that it was photo sessions, a lot of photo sessions. You can see a tiny part of Ankara from the complex.

After that we are on our way to Cappadocia. We are so excited as we already told Mr. Cengiz that we want to go for hot balloon ride the next day and he said he will take care of it. He also told us about Turkish Hamam and whether we are interested to try, me of course, so does Asma and Azi but no for Maria. So we plan to do it tomorrow.

So on our way to Cappadocia, we stop at their R&Rs and they always something new that we can see. For example, every R&R has car wash service. No, you don't have to line up or park at designated place, they will come to you and wash you car where you were parking. How cool is that? I can't imagine if we have that kind of service here at Plus R& R...it would be chaos.

So after eating, talking and sleeping in the van, we finally reach Cappadocia. Our first stop is Saratli Underground City. One of the characteristics of Cappadocia is having plenty of underground cities. It’s known that there are more than a hundred of underground settlements in the region and many of them are not open for visits. The underground cities, which are guessed to be used since the Bronze Age, used to be a settlement mostly in Byzantine period, doubtless. In this period, increasing invasions forced local residents to build underground cities for protection and religious purposes.

So far, it has been determined about 40 underground cities just six of these have been opened for visit. Nobody can know how many underground cities there are in the Cappadocia area.So we visit one of them.

So there are many rooms, even for the cattles, they have their own place. From our tour guide explanation, the first inhabitants of Cappadocia area have opened deep cavities within the volcanic rocks due to escape from the attacks of the wild animals and hard winter conditions and then they have enlarged these cavities according to their daily needs, they opened new cavities and created the underground cities connecting these cavities with tunnel and labyrinths. Later the underground cities were the place of the hiding of the first Christians who escaped from the persecution of the Roman soldiers and were enlarged to able when were necessary an entire city to live and every kind of fixture necessary for the living of the people has been attached. When there wasn't any danger the people living on the ground in case of the danger have hidden in the underground cities. For this reason all the homes at that time were connected to the underground cities with a tunnel.

After visiting the site, outside of the place you can see a lot of women selling traditional dolls, and they are very aggressive. I mean they will call you to buy the dolls from them and it freaks us out a little bit. So we when to the souvenir shop and wait for a large group to go through and we slipped out. Before that we manage to drink fresh pomegranate juice and it was sour, really sour but it is fresh.

Then we check in our hotel, Hotel Dinler which situated in the middle of the city and we could see the surrounding mountains and it just beautiful. since we have time to spare, so again, it was photo session. During dinner, we've been told that we couldn't go for hot balloon ride tomorrow as today's was windy so their postpone the today's group for tomorrow's morning and there is no slot left for us. So we will do it the day after that.

So that is my update so far and as for my next update, it will be on Cappadocia itself, as we spent the whole day there. What about the Turkish Hamam? Very interesting and funny story I tell you and I still contemplate should I tell or not. However, I will be away to Philippines for work and only coming back the day before Raya Haji. Then I need to back to my hometown on the Raya day itself and coming back next week so perhaps there will be a long gap. I will try to update during my work trip, but I can't promise. so Selamat Hari Raya Haji to all of you!

So this is our hotel in Bolu...

View opposite of the hotel...

We are set and ready to go...

Nice pine forest...

Pine forest has gone...becoming more desert now...

The mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk

Inside the mausoleum...

So below this is where he laid forever...

Depicts the story of Turkey's independence...

Road of Lion

In front of the Independence Tower, there is a statue group of three women in Turkish national costumes. The two women at the sides are holding a large wreath reaching to the ground. This wreath, made up of grain sheafs, represents the abundant country. The woman on the left with a cup in her stretched-out hand is asking for God's compassion. The woman in the middle, covering her face with her hand, is crying. This group represents the pride of Turkish women, and their solemnity and determination even in grief and hardship.

The relief inside the Independence Tower shows a young man standing straight and holding a sword with both hands while an eagle is perching on a rock beside him. The eagle represents power and independence in mythology and in Seljuk art, and the young man with the sword represents the Turkish nation defending its independence.

Potential No. 1

Potential No. 2 hehe

Our van...the best van in the world..

At R& R...

Car wash service in the progress...

Restaurant...

Highway map...

Isn't that Wall's?

Hmmmm Magnum....

Ice cream and a Turkish delights...

Time to eat...in the van...

Old house in Saratli Underground City...

Time to go in the cave houses...

This is the underground well's area..

Four of us...

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Time for pomegranate juice...

At last, home sweet home...

Our room...

Photo sessions...

Turkey Trip Part 1: Istanbul, here I am

2014-09-24T21:20:00.000+08:00

Istanbul, aku datang!

Salam semua, so here I am as promised. Lets’ get started.

So here we are on the journey again. We meet at KLIA and 2 of my travel buddies are from my Europe trip last year and another one is from Forum Cari. We took our 9 days 7 nights package from Panaroma Tours during March MATTA Fair. I will review about the tour more on the last entry for this trip.
We took 3.30am Qatar Airways flight to Doha, connecting us to Istanbul. Overall, the flight was great, except for my left neighbour whom listen to the music loudly and sometimes humming to sound. Usually, I don't mind but it is 7 hours plane journey and I barely have sound sleep.

When we arrived at Doha, it was 6am. Previously, during my Europe trip, the airport was under renovation. Now it was ready and it looks amazing. It is one of beautiful airport I've ever seen.
After freshen up, we went to line up for our next flight to Turkey. There it will take us around 4 hours to Istanbul. We reached there around 12.30pm, so we, ladies took some time to freshen up, again. Before the journey, we have already imagined about our tour guide. My friend, Asma, who is our “liaison officer” with the tour agency, has already demanded a guy as our tour guide hehe, so we already make a pact that we will shy away and to promote Asma with the tour guide. So of course we imagine him to be the one with grey or green eyes of course hehe.

So, now it is time to meet our tour guide, so he has grey eyes of course but a little bit older than we imagine. Nevertheless, throughout the 8 days journeys, he becomes our favourite man of the hour. He is just great and we love him. So, here we are meeting our tour guide, Mr. Cengiz and meeting our best transportation ever, our own van, just for four of us. It is spacious, got extra seats, we can stand tall in it and the best part is, it got wifi. I sure miss the van now.

Afterwards, we went to lunch at this beautiful restaurant overlooking Marmara Sea, Sehir Restaurant. So that is the first time we tried their cuisine. What I can say, it just so healthy and a lot. From our itinerary, we are supposed to go to Bolu, and visit Istanbul on second last day when we are here, but Mr. Cengiz bring us to Topkapi Palace first because the palace will be close during the intended time of visit.

According to Wikipedia, The Topkapı Palace is a large palace in Istanbul, Turkey, that was the primary residence of the Ottoman sultans for approximately 400 years (1465–1856) of their 624-year reign. As well as a royal residence, the palace was a setting for state occasions and royal entertainments. It is now a museum and as such a major tourist attraction. It also contains important holy relics of the Muslim world, including Muhammed's cloak and sword.^[3] The Topkapı Palace is among the monuments contained within the "Historic Areas of Istanbul", which became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985, and is described under UNESCO's criterion iv as "the best example[s] of ensembles of palaces [...] of the Ottoman period."^[4]

It is a large complex with many small buildings. Mr. Cengiz brought us in and tells us the history of the palace. He also brings us from the Imperial Gate to the Third Courtyard. He was patiently waited for us as we are making a lot of stops for photo sessions and selfies. Yes, my friend Asma brings a monopod and it has an interesting story that I will tell you in later posts.

The decorations of the palace especially on the ceiling are beautiful. It fills with Islamic calligraphy and gold plated geometric patterns. There are a lot of red, turquoise and blue colours in the pattern. I just remember that we did learn about Ottomans’ era (Kerajaan Uthmaniyah) in Sejarah Dunia (World History) when I was in Form 4. I thought, I would like to travel in time to see people during tha era and although I was like 1000 years too late, I’m glad to see the remaining are still intact.

There are a lot of tourists when we visiting the place. After the tour with Mr. Cengiz, we were given 45 minutes to look around the place. At first we wanted to go to see Prophet Mohammad’s museum but there are a lot of people lining to go in. So we decided to take photo instead. One of the reason why the palace was build at the current location is because the view of Bosphorus. We can see the Asia part of Istanbul from the palace and it was stunning.

So after a lot of photo taking sessions, we are on our way to the next stop, Bolu to spend the night there. It took around 3.5 hours to arrive because of the traffic in Istanbul, especially when crossing the bridge to Asia side. Remind me of Penang Bridge a little bit.

We reached at Bolu around 9pm and having our dinner at Koru Hotel. The hotel was nice and has a small forest behind it. It reminds me of Twilight a little bit. So that is the story of the first day we are in Turkey and the next story will be on our visit to Ankara and Cappadocia’s underground city. Stay tuned!

The new Doha airport...

Tasty omelette...

Where the owners of the bags?

On our way to Topkapi Palace

The Imperial Gate of Topkapi Palace

The entrance of Second Courtyard...

This is the entrance to Third Courtyard...

This is the curtain of the palace...

So where are we going?

What a view....

The list of Sultan's living in the palace...

We took photo with girls from Brazil...

These three girls...

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So we are going to the other side of the Istanbul...

Love the decoration...

Beautiful view in front of the restaurant...

Look who is back?

2014-09-19T23:10:00.000+08:00

Well it is me again. So I'm back from Turkiye and the trip was a blast. Tired but blast because we visited the whole country. From Istanbul to Cappadocia to Kusadasi and back to Istanbul. I'm still jet-lagged so I just give you some photo previews from my journey. I will be back for full story soon. I promised!

Let's another adventure begins...

2014-09-09T19:30:00.001+08:00

Well, I'm back....sort of. I'm off to Turkey today and will coming back next Thursday. I'm not alone this time around. I went together with my people that I've known from my Europe trip and one surprisingly from Cari Forum. Well, the more the merrier.

So I hope that I can update you with my adventure this time. It has been too long and overdue adventure. I can't wait to soak my feet in thermal pool of Pamukkale and ride hot balloon at Cappadocia. It is also my dreams to see Hag
ia Sophia.So, please pray for me to get there and home safely. Hope to see you guys soon!

Lay low for a while

2014-06-29T18:17:00.004+08:00

Salam Ramadan guys. So how was you feelings?

Sorry guys, I've tried and I've tried.....and I still got the feeling of blog-writer block. Yeah, I think I just lay low for a while, especially during this holy month. I just focus on increasing my taqwa and just reflects what I have done so far. Don't worry, I will still read and comments on my fellow bloggers and hopefully I will get inspired soon.

So this is not the end, I will come back when I'm better and hopefully can update you guys about my trip to Turkey in this September...

P/S: If my fellow blogger wants to have "Buka Puasa" together, please invite me. Hehe. I would love to come.