Travel Series : Easter Holiday 2011 - London Day 3

Day 3 - 24th April 2011

After day 1 and day 2, I was left with day 3 (last day). Time tu la rasa macam, ala, banyak nye lagi tempat nak pergi tapi tak sempat. Ana suggested if we go for teater mlm tu since we all takde plans (memang disengajakan takde plan spy boleh allocate benda² yang tak sempat). And boleh check out tix kat lastminute.com. As much as I LOVE teater, but it's not something that I want to do at last minute. Teater nak kena pergi n select yg best², especially bila kat London since they have banyak teaters and plays. I really wanted to watch The Phantom of the Opera, (minat gila, bought the OST of the movie, hafal lirik lagu and slalu practice in the shower) tapi takpe la, maybe I can go there again (coughs) and watch :p So disebabkan perasaan ala, banyak nye lagi tempat nak pergi tapi tak sempat, I told them macam, okay kita kena gerak pantas okay. Breakfast early and shoot out to our first tempat nak visit. Tower of London. which is located about 15 mins walking distance from our hotel. Kena melalui London Tower Bridge. (See photo. Mana tak sakit pinggang/belakang, the whole day berjalan macam penyangkut beg). We then reached Tower of London about 930am. It opens at 10am. Tapi beraturnya sudah panjang berjela-jela (normal la tu). So about 1015am dapatlah kita masuk dalam. At first I macam nak taknak pergi tempat ni cause people say it's kinda 'keras' dan somehow I have a natural detector for these kinda things. Tapi I bacalah segala ayat al-Quran yang penah hafal. Alhamdulillah, tak rasa kekerasannya. I don't know why. Padahal kat Tower of London tu tempat orang kena pancung, orang mati, orang kena bunuh dan sebagainya. and it's about more than 100 years old punya tower. Perhaps it was still morning, benda² keras tak bangun lagi, perhaps detector I tak function dia luar kawasan, perhaps takde apa pun, wallahualam. Snapped a few pictures and masuk kat tempat The Royal Crown Jewel punya place. Di sini mereka simpan and exhibit all the Crown Jewels worn by all the Royals since the starting of the British monarchy (maka tercetus lah minat untuk mempelajari sedikit sebanyak pasal sejarah. Zaman² SPM dulu tak minat).

 Adina n Me at London Tower Bridge

 Credits to Putri. I find this picture very creative

After noon, we jalan abit at the St. Katherine docks (di mana Ana tunjuk rumah lamanya) and then headed to Madam Tussaud. Kelaparan, we singgah at a restaurant and had lunch before masuk Madam T. I had soup and bread and a coke. Lepas tu beratur n masuk dalam. Tak de la lama sangat beratur, about 15 mins kot. But inside was packed! Sampai² je terus ke A-List party. Kat sini all the wax for A-List artists like Brad n Angelina, Julia Roberts, George Clooney, Tom Cruise, Will Smith, Miley Cyrus (?), the guy acted as Harry Potter and banyak la lagi. susah nak amek gambar tapi managed to jugak la.. and then banyak la lagi, tak terkira la berapa banyak artists. it was supercool! but personally, I rasa yang madam T kat Parisnya lagi banyak patung dia, or maybe sbb kat Paris x ramai orang so sempat amek gmbar bnyk.. yang ni ramai sgt org kot.. After like hundreds of pictures, we finally habis khatamkan semua patung² tu about almost 5pm. Di penghujungnya ada kedai souvenir and mereka semua borong macam² souvenir. I only bought one thing kat counter dia. The thing that I wanted the most, biarpun dapat yang cikai punya (only at 4 pounds. Kalau replica betul² dia costed about 37 pounds)

Cincin tunang William bagi kat Kate.

Its too big, I had to wear it on my index finger, plus I already have a ring on my ring finger.

We exited Madam T, and went for souvenir shopping kat tepi² tu. I bought 3 small paintings, 1 Google London T shirt for my husband (which he loves by the way), and purses and keychains for myself and anak² sedara (mereka pesan). We found a gerai waffle nearby and sorang satu beli waffle cause it smelled so good. We then walked to Regent Park to Ley-Park (get it? hehehe) kat sana I fed the birds and itik roti yang I brought from hotel (I love doing this). So burung² pun berterbangan dekat saya sampai rasa takut bercampur seronok! Sambil tu, kawan² cuba fikir apakah agenda seterusnya. We then decided to go to Malaysian Hall for dinner.

 Waffle 3 pound

Ley Park at Regent Park

We took the Tube to Queensway and jalan sedikit about 2 blocks and then reached Malaysian Hall. Disebabkan kelaparan dan lauk pauk yang banyak kat sana, saya terus terlupa nak ambil gambar makanan and keadaan dalam Malaysian Hall (edited - chup! ada actually, see below). In here, memang ramai orang Malaysia lah (d'uh...), what's interesting is that semua orang buat dek je. Okla tak kisah lah tapi we all ni macam excited la nampak orang Mesia and senyum² tapi mereka pandang saya macam saya ni orang gila. Maybe cause I was wearing Kate's engagement ring kot (haha). But I rasa orang Malaysia dalam Malaysia pun taklah sesombong orang Malaysia in London. Sedihnya rasa. But not all la.. Ada yang senyum balik. Cuma where's the love man? Sigh. It's okaylah. Kalau depa datang Mannheim, I akan friendly la inshaAllah :)

 Tanah tumpahnya darahku

After dinner, shopping sedikit lagi souvenir and then headed back to hotel sbb esoknya nak bertolak pagi and malam tu kena pack. Memang rasa sedih la sedikit sbb cuti dah nak habis.. Smpai hotel, semua orang packing dengan tekun and tido awal.

The next day, bangun pagi, said our goodbyes (nangis) and the three girls headed to Kings Cross Station (teringat kat monopoly game) and I headed to Heathrow Airport all by myself..

Kat airport adalah incident yang kurang menyenangkan kat one of the bookstores tapi malas la nak citer.. Maybe one day la I citer.. anyway, untuk menghabiskan pound yang tinggal sket², I bought myself Victoria Secret - Secret Charm EDT at 7 pounds. BEST GILA bau dia. Husband I pun suka.. Rasa nanti nak borong and buat business kalau takde jual kat Mesia. Ada tak? Rasa sedih sangat nak meninggalkan London but hopefully dapat chance nak pergi sana lagi.. I LOVE LONDON.. and the British accent is so cool.. 

 Leaving on a jet plane

Crossing over at the English channel - between UK and Europe

Flight was alhamdulillah okay, seat paling belakang, tepi tingkap and duduk sorang. and was in my husbands arms again at 1630pm (local time). Muka dia bersinar² bila jmpa saya. Best :)

So finally, I finished my London trip. Phew, hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed sharing it with you guys. Sorry grammar english n BM tunggang langgang, I just wanted to write it as fast as possible.. Till the next post.. Take care all! :)

Travel Series : Easter Holiday 2011 - London Day 2

Day 2 - 23rd April 2011

Day 2 was more relaxed and nature-like, I would say. We started quite late sbb semua orang bangun lambat akibat kepenatan hari pertama. As usual, breakfast was in bed. Luckily masih ada roti and cereal to isi perut. Plus I brought some 30 energy bars so that we would be energetic like the energizer bunny (how coincidental is that, energizer bunny, easter bunny.. heh). We went to Houses of Parliament and took the guided tour. It costed 15 pounds. Best. The only thing is that, during the tour we weren't allowed to sit down as our arses are not worthy enough hehehe.. but truly, memang kena berdiri and dengar the tour (60 mins). Kaki I dah terketar² and dah sakit belikat cause I sangkut my SLR tapi takleh amek gmbar. Damn. We can only sit at the Commoner's room (cause we have no Royal blood. Except for Putri, tapi mungkin Royal yang dimaksudkan mereka adalah macam set-set Prince William). But the cool part is that we got to learn about the Parliaments, get to see the rooms where the action takes place. Masuk bilik yang the Queen tukar baju and pakai her crown (and its a damn big room to tukar baju and pakai crown). Cuma, tak boleh ambil gambar :( But the tour guide, Joana was really funny. sempat dia masukkan unsur² lawak masa tengah semua orang muka serious dengar citer.

We headed for lunch dekat Nero Cafe opposite Big Ben. (semua ni dekat² je, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Houses of Parliaments and Eye of London.. (eh lupa nak add! on the first day pun we all naik Eye of London.. ok will edit the previous post) ). After that, Putri pergi lepak dengan kawan dia. So it was just me, Adina and Ana. We headed to Hard Rock Cafe! Memang itu must-go for me. Funny thing is, we got lost agak jauh jugak la nak ke destinasi. Turns out, it was only a few steps away from the Tube station. Mental note : When uncertain, ask for directions. (Gambar sesat and tensyen) As we reached HRC, ada dua tempat rupanya. Satu the cafe itself (for makan) and the other one is the souvenir shop. And get this, we had to QUE to get in to buy souvenirs. Rasa macam nak beratur masuk club je (not that I have ever done that. But it just felt like it). I thought macam nak beli benda² kecik je, but since kena beratur lama, campur the sesatness, my friend said, 'ko baik beli something dalam HRC nih..' . True enough. I bought a SpiceGirls HRC Tshirt, a rantai, a drumstick (for husband) and a shotglas. Tip : if you guys plan to claim VAT, ambil borang kat counter and suruh orang tu isikan as you pay. Ana only told us later (setelah dah sampai Hyde Park and macam malas nak jalan balik ke HRC) that we had to get the forms kat HRC itself, maka burnlah VAT claim saya. *FRUST!* Although it was like ala takat 8 pound je (as she said), it's still money (ye la, bagi orang yang tak bekerja macam saya, 1 pound pun saya kutip). With that money, I could buy another Victoria Secret EDT kat airport. Damn! (yup, memang murah kat airport. Will blog about this later). Oh well, takde rezeki namanya :(

 

                         Ketika sesat, terambil gambar nih                            Sebelum sesat

                          Richie Sambora babeh                                              Sampai juga

After berbeg - beg shopping di HRC (me only satu beg, kawan² lain berbeg - beg). We headed to Hyde Park. Cantik la. Kat sini, objective saya adalah nak tengok Princess Diana's Memorial Fountain. Memandangkan we all bawak banyak beg (they) and to the fountain is about 10 mins away from the entrance (katanya), we rented 3 bicycles and cycled through Hyde Park. Waaa bestnya! rasa macam citer The Sound of Music, with the wind blowing through my face, and I slowly sang, 'The hills are alive... with the sound of music.. aaaaAAaaaa' , didn't feel like I was 29 at all! After about 15 mins cycling, we finally reached the Memorial Fountain (tipu! katanya 10 mins je jalan). Best la tengok fountain dia. very unique. snapped some pics and menikmati keindahan kejap, then suddenly, dah start mendung and hujan. We headed back to the Tube station. Mula² undecided. But later we decided to balik hotel, sbb hujan. sayangnya. Sedih gak. Tp in a way, bagus gak, boleh letak barang² and lepak² jap. Malam sambung lagi. This time, it was already 530pm.

Maka pulanglah kami ke hotel and lepak. Me and Adina sembang sambil makan Maggi kari in a cup (just like the good ol days in Taiping) dengan rambut bergulung dgn tuala sbb baru lepas mandi, duduk bersila atas kerusi. Rasa macam kat Maktab cuma kalini perbualan bukan pasal Prep, Fizik, Addmaths atau Reymee from Innuendo. But about LIFE. Wow have we grown :) Rasa best la cause it's been a loong time that I didnt have those kinda talks. Slalu sembang dengan suami.. and dengan classmates kat sini. Bila borak dgn classmates sini, rase penat aa nak kena cakap German. It's not berborak. It's hard work! nak kena pikir grammar, translate bagai.. This was really relaxing to me.. Walaupun beribu² batu dari tanahair, felt just like in Mesia :)

After solat jama', we headed out nak makan dinner. Plannya, nak pekena Sup Tomato from Nero Caffee kat bawah hotel, which is SO SEDAP and murah. Tapi tengok² dah tutup (baru kol 8pm). Time² ni la rindu kat kedai mamak. So takpela, we ronda² kat hotel area and took pictures. Best la amek gmbar at night. Sbb jambatan² sume berlampu and it looks gorgeous. AFter that, singgah Marks and Spencer lagi skali, beli susu and Cheese for breakfast keesokan harinya. And then balik hotel.. That was it for day two.. Very relaxed. :)

Travel Series : Easter Holiday 2011 - London Day 1

Tiba² ada Bus stop and I berjalan towards the bus stop. He followed me from behind. My heart was racing. Even though ramai orang berjalan² but I felt panic but tried so hard to keep my cool. I pun buat² mcm tgk jam, and suddenly ada bus. I pun selit² blkg orang and bila bus tu nak jalan, I jumped inside the bus (not knowing where the bus would take me). Phew lega. Now I had another problem. I didn't know where the bus was taking me. I took out my map (I really looked like an Asean tourist) and tengok luar, tengok map. tengok luar, tengok map. Sampai ada orang tua ni asked me, 'Are you lost?' Oh gosh, was I that obvious? So jawab lah dengan accent London sket. 'No not really. I'm just touring around' pause, 'actually where are we right now?' lepas tu dia jawab something that I couldn't understand cause the accent was soo thick. I only understood this.. 'if you wanna take the tube, you have to stop here cause the next station is very far and a bit on the outskirt and not many tourists around' Ok, confirm I looked like a tourist. Husband warned me about not making that excited-touristy-look. I got off the bus and took the nearest Tube, Borough to London Tower Bridge. Okla, lega. Luckily it was still not dark. I decided to ronda² nearby the hotel je, snap a few pics and head back. I entered Hays and the view was great. Again, I took pictures of London Tower Bridge and guess who I saw................. the Paki guy... AGAIN! Damn it. Ape nih.. kebetulan? I think not! So I kept my cool.. and then I entered Mark and Spencer. Lama la lepak situ. Beli roti, cereal, susu and terus masuk hotel. Phew. Balik duduk diam² and terus tertido.. tepat² midnight, my friends reached the hotel ... waaaah bestnya.. reunited.. nak sembang lama tapi semua orang tak larat. Diorang jetlagged. I pun kepenatan. Esok pagi bangun baru la catch up..

22nd April 2011 - Day1 sebenarnya

Woke up relatively late compared to my usual routine. I share bilik dgn my friend, Adina (my schoolmate zmn Taiping yg sgt² rapat) and her two friends Ana and Putri dalam bilik sebelah. Breakfast in bed and siap² and terus headed to Westminster and jalan ke Buckingham Palace to watch the Changing of Guards. Mak aii.. Ramai gile orang. Sempat la bergambar sket. I find that the guards sangat comel. Rasa macam tengok carton bila tengok diorang berkawat and playing the bands.. Cute sgt! (yg lengan biru tu tangan saya)

After changing of guards, we headed to Westminster Abbey, tempat yang Kate and William nikah semalam :p and also Big Ben. Masa ni panas gile and we singgah kat Tesco Express to buy sandwiches. Takde tempat duduk so we makan berdiri dekat depan Thames River (European style) sebelum naik Thames River Cruise. Sib baik Putri bawak minyak cap kapak kalau tak rasa nak muntah juga. We took the Thames River Cruise to Greenwich (journey sejam). It was AMAZING! Sangat² lah direcommend. 13 Pound pergi balik. Very worth it. We panjat la the bukit sampai ke atas The Royal Observatory in Greenwich and took picture kat the Meridien Line. Tapi yang atas skali punya kena beratur panjang. Since we ada time line to catch, we amek kat yg bawah tu je. But it was totally worth it. Best sangat :D

Lepas tu, berlari kita utk kejar the last boat back to Westminster. Sesampai Westminster, sume orang dah penat. Edited part : So terus beratur ke London Eye. Memang disengajakan amek London Eye lambat supaya dapat tengok sunset. Turns out, sunset lagi lambat (around 8 plus). We were on it kol 7 lebih macam tu. Nevertheless, the view was breathtaking. Really worth the 40 mins of queueing (tak sure spelling).

    Atas : View London Eye from Below

Bawah : View of below from London Eye                

After London eye, nak cari tempat makan for dinner. I recommended makan kat Banana Tree (restaurant orang Malaysia) berhampiran Queensway untuk makan nasi. Semua orang kelaparan, kepenatan and kejet-lagg-an. Balik pula, kitorang naik bus and sampai hotel at almost 11pm. Balik² je semua orang kong. But it was a superb first day :)

Travel Series : Easter Holiday 2011 - London Day 0

We were hanging out, husband was on the PC (as usual) and I was reading my book. We had this conversation.. 

Husband : Next week Jumaat I cuti tau..
Me : Oh, ye ke? Nape?
Husband : I nak pergi Physio pagi..
Me : Kenapa appointment pagi?
Husband : saje je..... lagipun Jumaat depan kan birthday you..
Me : Haaaa???

Can you imagine? I forgot that my birthday is next week. I don't know if that's a good or bad sign.I didn't minta anything for my birthday cause my husband already paid for my London trip, which I will be blogging about it right now... hehehehe.. (kalau tangguh, sampai bila² pun takterblog.. like that Krabi trip.. the Paris trip.. and the Ireland trip.. and the Munich trip.. and that KL trip... PD and melaka trip.. (sigh banyaknya tertangguh)..

Ok ok.. My trip was from 21st April to 25th April.. Since 21 and 25 tu travelling day.. so that would mean, I had 3 full days to ronda London..

21st April 2011

Bertolak from home (Mannheim) pagi around 640am cause we took the Regional train. The journey to Frankfurt Airport was 1 hour and 15 mins (plus tukar seround). Usually we would take the ICE to Frankfurt Airport yang mengambil masa hanya 20 mins but twice the price. I checked in before 9am. Kebetulan depan I ada serombongan orang Korea maka kecohlah British Airways punya lane tu.. Since it was the Easter Holidays, orang kat Check in counter suruh pergi kat Gate awal cause takut security check lane lama sbb ramai orang. Pendek cerita, my flight was 1120am and I reached Heathrow London 1155am (local time). So sampai lah ke London sorang² for the first time. Buat muka confident la sbb travel sorang² kan. Ikut je mane ramai² pergi. Kat imigresen orang tu tanya mcm² la sbb Visa saya dari Frankfurt, alhamdulillah okay sume. Terus ke Luggage Claim. Kejap je dapat beg, maka geraklah ke Underground Tube. I didnt know that kat Underground takde line, maka panic lah tak dapat nak call husband ckp I dah naik train. And I was supposed to meet my friend at 2pm. And I thought I was running late. My jam dah 1345. I forgot about the time difference. Rupanya masih awal.
From Heathrow Terminal 5, I changed at Hammersmith. Masa ni ada sorang Pak Itam mcm follow I. I dunno if I was being paranoid ke apa. Tapi buat la muka confident naik turun tangga with my luggage. Finally I took the tube and sampai la ke Queensway. Keluar² je station, wah! London life! And tiba² ramai sangat orang Melayu. Excitednya! So I pun senyum lah sipu². Igt nak buat kawan, boleh sembang². Tapi dia pandang mcm saya ni orang gila and terus jalan je.. Sedihnya :( I tried several attempts nak menegur orang Melayu, macam tu la reaksi diorang. Tapi ada la brader² who saw me and I think they knew that I am a tourist (dengan camera sangkut kat badan), dia pun bagi la salam. 'Salamelekom kak'. I pun jawab lah salam, but takde la sembang dengan diorang. Then I met my friend, Mimah and her cousin, Ruzie. So we headed for makan at Tinseltown. It's an American steakhouse tapi ada cop Halal. Best la. And portion dia besar. So bungkus 2 ketul ayam, bawak balik hotel for dinner.

Then berpisahlah dengan Mimah and her cousin guided me to Hilton Tower Bridge. The hotel that we were staying. I was supposed to meet with Thierry, my friend's friend's brother in law (pjg ye) cause check in under nama dia (dapat discount). Rasa mcm apa je tunggu mat salleh stranger kat hotel. So settle check in and Thierry pun gave me the keys and I pun masuklah ke bilik. Wow bestnya. The rooms were very comfortable. At this time, it was almost 6pm. My friends from KL hanya akan touchdown kol 2140 at Stansted and reach the hotel at probably midnight. So I had the freedom and the room all to myself. Maka saya pun mandi lah bath tub, solat jama' and headed to town sorang². I dah reload my Oyster card. I had no idea where to go. Just jalan² mengikut mana kaki bawa. I pun ronda² lah nearby our hotel. Hotel kitorang dekat dengan London Tower Bridge (See Image above. This one orang slalu silapkan dengan London Bridge. This is London Tower Bridge. London Bridge sebenarnya very old and biasa je.) The view was magnificent. So I jalan² and amik gambar. Skali sedar² macam ada orang Paki sedang mengikuti saya. Dia jalan depan I tapi pandang² blkg towards me. Bila I berenti, dia pun berenti (konon² amek gmbar). I ke kiri, dia pun ke kiri. I ke kanan, dia pun ke kanan. Shit. Takut la ni. Dah la I sorang. What do I do?

To be continued................................

back in Mannheim

back from London. and it was simply awesome :D

boots, heidelberg, winter and experience

I think sueannajoe was my junior back in SriAman. That statement was totally irrelevant but I just wanted to write that. I have been reading her blogs (she has a number of blogs, in BM, in English, about her business and photography) and she is pretty good.

We are planning to go to Ireland during the Christmas holidays. My husband's younger brother is expecting their 2nd baby. Yup, 2nd baby. So we are gonna visit them. I thought of going backpacking (am I capable of backpacking?) around DE abit before going to Ireland for the Christmas Hols. But it all depends on my husband. Nak la jugak jalan - jalan here. However, some friends are coming to DE for Christmas so maybe I might bring them jalan - jalan around Heidelberg. It's very near to Mannheim. My husband works in Heidelberg. But not the tourist area. Dia dekat tempat² office. Heidelberg is eine altstadt (an old town) and its beautiful. From Mannheim, it takes about 30 minutes or so to get there. Depending on which train you are taking. I have been there more than 3 times and I don't mind going there again and again and again..

Anyway, I wanted to share with you guys how I felt about this upcoming winter and what are my preparations. In the magazines and websites stated that this year's winter is gonna be the worst winter and I am so not looking forward for it. I bought a few jackets though and a few pair of boots and gloves. A long black trenchcoat from H & M and a cute white one from The NewYorker. Kelakar when I say The NewYorker because they actually have a shop that sells NewYork fashion. And they are not bad too. Not so pricey and it has that young vibe going on. I did blog once about buying a red jacket with a hood so that I have that little red riding hood kinda thing going on.. But I saw Baby Spice wearing a white jacket and a pair of white boots in the video Stop Right Now and she looked so cute! (Takde pic, so I had to PRINTSCREEN on the youtube video. Pathetic ay? Click on photo to see clearer) I know my husband would raise an eyebrow if I said to him, awwww cute kan boots putih tuu? kan ? kan? kan ? But.. I won't request for those from him.. Hehe.. if I want, I will buy them using my own money which he gives me every month. By that time, winter pun dah habis. Haha!
 
Some of the jackets I see online nampak cantik bila model dia pakai.. Or you see other people putting them on, it looks soo good. Macam citer Ally McBeal, Sex & The City or 30Rock. Samala bila tgk website H & M online. You feel like buying everything, if possible! But all of those are just the advertisers playing tricks on our minds.. and also, good looking models and good photography plays an important role.. Maka, jangan tertipu dengan online fashion pictures :p For example, yang kat tepi nih .. I can never pull that one off! But it looks so good on the model ! Believe me I have tried that exact same jacket but I don't look as near as good as that model. Maybe the shape of my body pun mcm sekeping je, so tak nampak cantik..  Boots dia pun cantik but kena jaga² because most boots from H & M and NewYorker or any other shoes that costs 20€ and above has pig skin lining. Jenuh la nak samak balik (although ada sesetengah orang cakap tak perlu samak because hanya perlu samak when kena daging babi. But just for the benefit of the doubt, I did samak). Harini ada mood la nak citer pasal fashion because yesterday I did a whole lot of 20 minutes walking while having my lunch. I had a small portion of wedges with Lemon Tartar sauce from Nordsee to-go (or Malaysians say it as Take-Away, dipengaruhi oleh Colony British). So I walked from Marktplatz all the way to Hauptbahnhof. I noticed that people walk while eating for several reasons. 
1. Nak jimat masa. 
2. It feels warmer when you walk sambil makan. Its a bad habit, I know. But the coldness made me do that. 3. You can kill a few stones macam jalan, sambil window shopping, think and do your shopping list in your head, check out other people's fashion and finally reach your destination. 

Things they usually have while walking are bende yang macam to-go-ish like Pretzel, Croissant, Burgers, Fries. Depa takde la makan nasi lemak or kueyteowtomyam while walking. That would be a messy sight wouldnt it?

Yeah it's already November and in a few days it'll be mid of November and come December will be winter. Daun - daun pun almost semua berguguran. My hajat untuk berphotog with my feet in dalam himpunan dedaunan pun taktau sampai ke tak since it's freaking cold to go out for photography.. But for Winter, I hope it snows though. Last time when I first landed, after a couple of days, it snowed. But I only experienced snow on my way to the hospital di dalam tangisan  sebab kena chicken pox. Read here to recall. Last Winter was quite an experience. An experience I shall never forget kot.

Talking about experience, I went to Seilwolf yesterday to do the normal weekly grocery. Kat situ tak ramai orang and you can get all this weird² stuff that they don't sell in the normal DE grocery supermarkets. By weird² stuff I mean asian stuffs like cili kering, tofu, santan, sos for nasi ayam etc etc. So as I was walking, I saw another asian looking lady and I thought it was Kak Asmah (a kakak permanently residing here, married to a German and has twin sons a year younger than us). So dengan penuh confident I ran to her and said, Hi kak asmah! and she was like, 'was?' (apa?) and I was confused, I said, 'eh, ni kak asmah kan?' dia pun boleh jawab, 'nein, nein' .. rupanya she was some Thai or Vietnamese lady. MALU OK! terus saya ckp, 'ooh! Entschuldigung²' maksudnya, 'ooh malunya saya.. sory²'. My husband will say that I am racist bila I citer nih, but actually I am not .. betul...!

Okla, do you notice that this post takde correlation antara satu sama lain ?
This entry has been edited several times. I lost count

Back in Mannheim

Salam everyone. I am back in Mannheim now. To those who follow my blog, you must have noticed that I changed the template (again) of my blog. It is now the Fall season here.

Once again, the whole family sent me off at KLIA. All the time that I was there, I felt sad but tried so hard not so show it to my family. Pretending to be strong. I know for sure that I will miss them dearly. Even though the technologies have advanced so rapidly and that I can talk to my parents almost everyday, perhaps even more often than people who are in Malaysia, it is still not the same. But I know inshaAllah I will pass this phase. It's always hard at first, but eventually, as the days become more routine, I hope that I will be okay.

When they sent me off, mama made Curry Puffs and Caremel Pudding and my sister brought Fried Kuey Teow from home. We ate at KFC like it was just like home. That's my family. Everywhere we go, we would always feel like home.

The holiday was great, even though one month is not enough. But inshallah, I hope to see each and everyone again next year when I return.. or if they decide to come and visit me here could be super cool :)

The flight was okay. I slept throughout most of the journey. But I managed to finish watching The Notebook and ate all my meals. The movie was simply amazing. Despite being sad departing from my family, it made me realize that I will be meeting my husband and I know that he will be waiting for me at the airport.

Upon arrival, they announced the temperature (-1°C)and everyone simultanously said, oooooohhhhh!!! Imagine from being in a very hot country to a very cold one. I wasn't really prepared for the weather. I only wore a pullover and a spring jacket. Luckily my husband brought my winter jacket and gloves. My husband came with our old high school friend, Kurik, and we had breakfast at McDonalds. After that, we headed back to Mannheim via ICE. I knew it was cold when asap were coming out of my mouth when I breathed.

True enough when my friend said, Fall is very nice here in Mannheim. I wanted so much to take out my camera to snap some pictures when I was on ICE but I was too tired. Perhaps one day I might go out to do some photography. Hope I wont get lost in the forest again :p

Ok people, this is just to update you upon my arrival here. I am missing my family at home so much and hoping and praying that they will come and visit us here one day. Because I know they will enjoy it very much..

Take care people! Will upload some pics on the next post :)

Kuala Lumpur

Halo y"all.. yes2.. its been awhile since I've blogged. Tekan keyboard pun dah jarang. I am actually in Malaysia right now. Home sweet home. I will be back in DE inshaAllah next week.

It's great to be back of course. Meeting my family and going for vacation with both of my families (mine and in laws) and basically just hanging out and enjoying our kampung.

I haven't been active in FB or blogging. But today I am online because my husband is back in DE a week earlier because he has to work.. So I am waiting for him right now (macam zaman couple2 dulu) :p i cant even blog properly now.. but i will try..

Occasionally, I do log on my FB account just to check out how everyone is doing. What are the people's responses about the Budget and everything else. I decided to privatise my wall because most people dont know that I am back and I try not to reveal that takut tak sempat nak jumpa orang.. My priority is always my family.

I visited my aunties and uncles around KL area .. and also a few of my husband's relatives.. To introduce, to catch up and to visit for hari raya. Not so much of the makan. It's nice to meet them. Remembering where I belong, my kampung. Papa always made it compulsary to visit relatives during raya. It's just once a year. And I believe that it is good that he instilled those values to us. It made me remember where I came from. How my relatives are doing. and things like that..

Of course for every visit, there is always something to learn. And something that I learn. Uncles and aunties will always give advise.. about marriage.. about life.. general ones.. like 'jaga dia elok2.. duduk negara orang, elok2, etc etc..' although i have heard that a thousand times, it's still nice to know that people remind us about those little things that sometimes we take for granted.

A unique advise that my uncle gave me.. That really made me think.. "Perkara2 yang kita jangan tunjuk2 kat orang.. amalan, sedekah, aib, harta dan kesengsaraan hidup.. " You dont get that everyday.. Till today I still think about what he said.. Perhaps many would beg to differ on this.. But I think that what he said is true.. Kalau kita sedekah, perlu ke semua orang tau ? Amalan2 yang kita buat.. What is the motive of announcing in FB kita pergi solat di masjid setiap waktu ? (just an example) I have nothing against going to the mosque.. Alhamdulillah.. I only wonder the motive of updating status on amalan2 yang dilakukan.. I believe that these things are only between you and Allah.. Sharing it to the world doesnt mean that you will have more pahala.. If you are sincere in doing the things you do in the way of Allah, rewardnya inshallah lebih tinggi..

Of course this is just an opinion.. Something for me to think about .. salah ke saya tulis pendapat nih ?

Paris Trip 2009 - Part 1

I have been delaying this post for almost a year now. I promised since my old blog that I would post about my trip to Paris. Since I have abit of energy to talk / write, and my husband is playing his PS3, I will blog about my trip. I can't really remember all the small² details. Good thing I brought 2 cameras and took loadssssssss of pictures. So that will be my reference.

It took us 2 hours plus to travel from Mannheim Hbf to Paris' Main train station, Gare de l'Est via ICE (fast train). I love travelling on ICE. Feels like your on a plane and you don't have to go through all the hassle of checking in early and going to the Airport. I would recommend this mode of travelling if you plan to go to a few places around Europe. While in the train, we finalised our trip plan, watched abit of shows from our laptop, listened to mp3 and did a bit of sleeping.

Paris is very different from Germany. The people, the dressing, the language, the communication, the crowd, the roads. It was my first time on a Metro and it was dark (underground train) and we were having a hard time finding a place to buy a ticket. But what's cool about travelling in Paris is that they sell different kinds of tickets for different length of stay. So you can request for the amount of days you plan to stay in Paris and they will provide you with an unlimited time of travelling within those days. If I remember correctly, for a weekend in Paris for 2 adults costed us around 30€. They call it the visitor's coupon or something. And with this coupon, you can get discounts if you go to certain local attractions.
 

Our first stop was Hard Rock Cafe Paris. Of course to buy the souvenirs. Since Paris is a very popular destination for tourists, many of the workers are well versed in English. So you wont get lost in translation :) The first Metro we stopped was at Grands Boulevards. Just a few steps away and you can see HRC Paris.

That's me in the corner. A HRC T shirt would cost almost 50€ and a keychain around 15€. Being a Malaysian, I would always look up do a bit of calculation and my husband would tell me not to do that. Cause I might end up not buying anything. But I just can't help it. Sigh.. But now is a good time to travel to Europe since the currency is dropping. 1€ = MYR 4.

After the souvenir shopping and the picture taking, we walked a few steps and headed to Musee' Grevin. It's a wax museum and its supercool! We just showed the visitor's coupon and got discounts at 20% if I'm not mistaken. The time that I went there was just after the death of MJ so at his wax, many people wanted to take pictures with it. Including me. :p

Hung out my homie Obama...       Was rocking it with Jimmy Hendrix

My husbnad shared ideas with Einstein..    I did a bit of Kung Fu with Jackie

Ok. I will stop here for now and continue again later (hopefully there is a Part 2, 3, and so forth. Notice how I haven't been blogging as frequent as I did before ? Why why ? Warum ??

Bis Dann.. Tschüss!