That special birthday trip

it's the time of the year again, where my lovely hubby get older and i got smarter.. hehe
For his birthday this year, I planned to bring him to see his favourite Man U team on a fight in Manchester.. but until the last minutes.. i can't get any tixx for the game.. so.. as an alternative, we swing over to Belgium.


By Eurostar, Brussels is 1hr 50 minutes away.. i like travelling with it.. no hassle.. fast check in.. and you don't hafta worry about buckling up for the take off! Just what we need to travel with a 10 months old Myra.. who can't sit still, let alone buckled up on the seat! hehe

The weather just great.. after collecting our rental car and check in to the hotel.. we swing to see the infamous 'The Grand Place' and it's once-in-every-two-years Giant flower carpet.

I guess u hafta be really far from the carpet to actually appreciate the beauty.. cos, i can't figure out what the big fuss is all about when i'm standing right there.. the flowers all death.. and too colourful for me! hurmm.. but the picture looks nice.. don't you think? maybe it's photogenic or something.. ;)
There was too many people there.. we walk through and see rows and rows of restaurant.. serving seafood.. yummy! but aizal is a bid cautious when it come to food.. for him, if there's no sign of 'Halal' than he rather starve.. (which from my opinion is not that necessary as long as you know what's the ingredients cos, let's face it.. we have to consider few facts here in order to be fuss-free on food;

1. it's not an islamic country
2. not all the restaurant register themself to be check by the islamic-organization
3. it's a seafood restaurant

Well, enuff about that.. anyway in case any of you is wondering.. we didn't starved at all.. there were many many halal shop around.. as the arabs are commonly seen in brussels..

Next day, we decided to drive to the neighbouring country.. and off to Amsterdam!.. yeah.. it only took us 2 hours ++ but with the GPS.. (surprisingly) it made the journey longer, i think it took us 3 hours or so.... cos.. Mr. Driver kept confusing with the pointer signal and misses few exits. Well.. am not complaining as long as i'm not driving.. ;)


Here's the picture of the thing that made Amsterdam so damn famous.. it's 'magic mushroom' and the coffee shop that sell weed legally. And next to it, is my lovely husband-the bedday boy.



We didn't go too far.. just a quick tour in the town and the canal area and a peek of the diamond factory street.. but sadly, no shiny souvenirs for me.. as it's not my special treat :(

After few hours, we head back to Brussels.. a straight journey home. Toll free hassle free.. no immigration no nothing.. just need to fill up the tank and go. How great is that?!
Minus the fact that Myra mabuk kete.. i think she threw up like 3 to 4 times on the entire journey.. luckily I bought a spare jeans just before push off.


Left: Myra-budak mabuk.. dah pengsan di tempat kejadian.





That's that about our trip.. cutting the long story short.

Happy Birthday Shayang!!! muah muah muah!

the windsor trip continue

Last tue and wednesday both me and aizal got 2 days off together.. so we proceed to go to Windsor (again) and visit legoland.. yeah.. bapak budak nak sangat tgk lego.. time kecik2 dulu tak kesampaian.. hehehe

So, we started off early taking jubilee line straight to waterloo then exchange to windsor.. the trip this time is much better as I've known the best route to take and i took the timing of the train before going off.

So, approximately 2 hours later, there we are.. in legoland again..

It was a bit showery.. luckily Myra has recovered her diarrhoea and don't really mind the cold weather.. she enjoyed the trip by standing and posing to the camera, (as if she's so big already!)

look at this! macam dah besar je.. jalan pun blom! hiks..

The next day, we went to see Madame Tussauds.. couldn't move as there were too many people!!! we regretted the trip.. just hafta come back again sometimes.. (luckily we've bought the Merlin Annual pass, which means unlimited entry to top 12 UK attractions for a year.. ) hahaha.. I know.. we are a bit crazy to buy that pass.. but if you calculate.. it is cheaper than buying 2 entry tickets.. so, what the hecks.. kate dah duduk london.. ;)

After the crowded moment @Tussaud, we went to ride the London Eye.. the que was long, but we decided to go ahead, as london eye wouldn't stop moving.. so it shouldn't be too bad.. after 1 hour of queing.. we finally step onto the 'flight'. Again, seeing london from the top.. I am happy i finally got to share this moment with aizal..

After the 1/2 an hour flight.. off we go to see the london aquarium..(it is situated just besides the eye) nothing much to see.. but the shark is soooo.. scary!

myra.. didn't have that much fun.. she look a bit scared.. i'm not sure whether it was because of the dark.. or she just don't like the fishy surroundings.

So, there goes our 2 days off.. an outing like other ordinary tourist...(minus the double decker bus tour).. which i think we should try some day.. hurmm.. will leave it till someone from malaysia come for a visit ;)

visit to legoLAND

Sha came for a quick stop in london and decided to see us.. she suggested legoland.. so, i figured why not? sounds great for myra too.. so yesterday me & myra had an adventure ride to see Sha in legoland.. just the 2 of us as aizal had to work. :(

from our home.. Aizal suggested to tied myra up on my chest n dragging her stoller, cos she won't want to sit on the stroller, and riding the tube would be not that pleasant with a crying baby.. so.. there i am with all the equipment attached (feel like a combat ready to go to war)

first stop, liverpool street.. had to go to holborn n switch to piccadilly line straight to heathrow.

after a long journey, we finally saw Sha.. lege.. dah ade org tolong tolak stroller hehe

So, from Heathrow we took a bus to Feltham train station then a train ride to Windsor.. gilela panjang journey.. i took off from 1100am and reached legoland at 3.30pm..only few hours to closing time..

myra lak got diarrhoea ..kesian.. sampai kurusss.. but despite all that, we still had a fab time!

Home improvement (before & after)

Tadaaa.. here how our lil apartment looks like before make over.

will update the after pics once i got everything in order.. heee

when the first month is over..

Well... tak sangke.. we've made it to the first month ere with no problem at all.. plus, we are now happily living in our own lil apartment in stratford.. I've dress it up to make it as homely as possible.. so I'm all happy for now ;)
earlier today, before I'm off to work, me, aizal and lil myra went to see the malaysian week fiesta in potterfield park. They are promoting some malaysian stuff there.. just drop by london bridge tube st and walk.. it is not far not the tower bridge.
There, we had some satay (which is ridiculously pricy.. £3.50 pound for 4 pieces), nasik with beef rendang (more like daging masak kicap.. urghh) and some karipap n cucur udang (hangus?!)... i dunno la how these people manage to open a restaurant in london.. their food.. OH MY GOD.. not at all close to tasty.. hurm..
Tengah jalan2 ambek angin kat situ, ade lak ternampak muke pemes.. there he is.. Mr. Saipul Apek.. so, ape lagi we snap up a pic with him lah..

London for dummies

First week - nanny/babysitter/childminder hunt - Done and done. Got a very flexi-trustworthy-friendly nanny to take care of myra, alhamdulillah~

2nd week - Report duty, well although I did expect the british to have a better system than the arabs, but they do have many down point too, i guess everywhere in the world, it just a common problem.. but at least they are more organize.. but in terms of lembabness.. it is just slightly the same.. hahaha

Funny example of the brits;
1. We have to attend an interview with the banker to open up an account.
2. He was panic to see that on our passport, there's no written info of our surname, so he said he might not be able to open the account for us. (But after that he then got some clearance from the manager to use our father's name as the surname.. daaa~)
3. He panic again to see that we don't have a written prove of home address (even on the introduction letter written by our HR clearly stated the temporary address).. he said it is a 50-50 chance that the account will be approve. As confusely as it gets, the registration was only done via online application in front of us, and I can clearly read the form and choice of answers.. he then gambled to pick one up.. and poof! you know what?! the application went through without any problem. (Until now, I am still very much confused to why he was so panic)
4. Aizal can't enter the HR building even when he has got a staff id with his picture on without someone agreeing to allow him in. I was allowed to enter the HR building without any problem because I was wearing the temp id card. ?@!#? confusing confusing.. hehe
Well enough about that..

While we are starting off to learn the new job and all, our boss yang baek hati has gave a green lite to do our house-hunt and not to bother about work until it is sorted. Lucky! So, off we go goozing around london; central-west-south-north& east. Viewing flats after flats.. saw some dodgy ones, then ended up falling in love with this conversion flat in Holland park.. it was way above our monthly budget.. but I just tot we should view.. there it was- a dream come true.. a lovely 1 bedroom apartment, with not-so-small area and a view of downstairs garden. Lovely! But after a long discussion&arguments, we realized it is just unrealistic. So, we settled for the 1 bedroom apartment in Stratford instead. It is a 6 months contract, so if we find it hard to live in.. we can just find a new place and move (as if its easier done than said).. Stratford from work, is like 20 minutes away by central line.. this will be the Olympic area in 2012. We'll update the pics when we moved.. so far.. we haven't paid the full amount yet..so it is still a 70-30%.. finger cross!

the first 3 days in london

tgk Myra.. kemain~ ngan kasut baru.. environment baru.. cam tau je dah pindah london.. hiks

the first time we arrived, yup.. we expected to be placed in some small room.. but our room is not too bad.. there is still some space to cramp up our luggage.. the key here is to minimize!

this is the result of the creative mind of londoners.. a cupboard-size of shower room attached in our bedroom.. kelakar gile rase.. mandi lam almari.. hiks~~

On the first day of our arrival, we didn't do much.. just stroll along the area looking for some halal restaurant.. makan fish & chip and shawarma.. tengah2 makan datang a malaysian family ni.. mmg btol la ckp org, org malaysia mmg bersepah2 kat london.. hehe.. kebetulan anak die same baye ngan Myra, so sempatla pose skali.. after their long baby-talk (more like a scream than a talk)