Hong Kong Trip part 2

Disneyland!!! yes.. both kids are over excited for that particular day (but I believe my hubby is slightly more over excited..hihiks).. checking out from our hotel to move to Disney Resort for another nite stay there.

Oh yeah.. pardon me for forgetting to share some basic cost of transportation there. The taxi cost from the Hong Kong Island to Disney Resorts was +-300 HK Dollar. The taxi cost from airport to HK island was +-400HK Dollar (if I remember correctly). And you oughtta take a different colour of taxi to get to different island, so be sure to check on that before boarding. They charge more based on your luggage and toll. But that was the total cost that we paid. So, divide by the 5 (and a half) of us, that's still not too bad.. I think it is the best way to travel with the bags and everything.

Sadly, while waiting for our taxi, the sky turned dark and suddenly its pouring rain! All the way to Disneyland!!!! The 11 years old Tisya starts to feel sad.. and tot there goes all her hopes of glory and joy to have her dream vacation in Disneyland.. :(

We reached the Hollywood Hotel with a warm welcome, the bell boy immediately took our luggage and stack it onto his trolley, then professionally label them together and hands out the reference card. He then pointed us to go to the provided bus to go to Disneyland. Bayangkanla.. belom check in ni.. baru keluar dari taxi jer, pandai2 je apek ni.. nasib baik betul mmg kiteorg nak buat camtu pun.. haha

So, dengan rase yang sikit2 happy and sikit terkilan due to the rain, we boarded the bus. Then 5 minutes later, we've reached the gate. Our assumption that the ticket booth would be flooded with people (like the one in Paris) was so wrong. The place is practically empty. And so was the crowds inside! Man.. memang rileks gile.. don't really have to think about the long line of queue (except for picture taking with Disney's famous idols- Mickey & Mini Mouse).

I felt quite happy to be able to take Myra in, now that she is older, she recognize most of the Disney character.. and was really happy to see them. But, the down side of taking her now was the fact that there were not that many rides to go to that suit her age (or height). There were 4 part of the whole park; the Main Street USA, the Adventureland, Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. Pusing-pusing kejap cam dah abis.. Compared to Disney world in Paris, 2 days is the minimum time to really enjoy the whole park! But still.. I think it is just the right size of a park for a 3-5 years old kids. So, no complaint there~

from then on, starts the fairy tales of the kids.. enjoying every little bit of their time in Disneyland, ignoring the drizzling rain.

Well.. enough 'talk', now let the video do the talking. Enjoy~

We left the park right after the last shot of fireworks.. the not-so-crowded place seems packed now. Everybody were rushing to get to the hotel. We tot we gonna wait long for a bus, but the resort has everything under control. Rows and rows of buses were lining up; ready to take passengers. It was a well organized process, people were divided by numbers and quickly boarded on bus in no time. Same thing at the hotel.. lucky for us, that Me and Aizal had took the opportunity to check in earlier (we took a little detour to the hotel during our time at the park, because Myra need 'to go'). Overall, we are 110% satisfied with the services and the hospitality that the resort had shared. It was surely worth it.

The next day, the rain just kept pouring harder.. So we cancelled the plan to visit the Ngo Ping 360. Instead, we took the train to Tung Chung station, and strolled along the branded outlet mall. It has got plenty to offer, but sadly not our pocket :(. I guess ade gak hikmah hujan lebat, rupe2nye the cable car for that 360 view tour was closed for yearly maintenance.. so takde la penat je terkejar2 nak gi visit..

After few hours, its time to go home. We picked up our bag at the hotel, then took the taxi to the airport. At 1830hrs, we bid farewell to Hong Kong. Another fun filled holiday to remember.

Myths of the 'Orang Tue'

Yes, I know.. I'm writing a completely different story, whilst my trips (sss) stories are yet to finish. But I just couldn't sleep until I write this one off my head (No.. I do not hear voices like the manics people.. it's rather inspirational thoughts by the way :P)

From day one that I announced my pregnancy, people surround me just couldn't help but to guess on the gender. They all somehow become 'the expert'. Comparing all mine and their own past experiences lah, physical appearances lah and the what they call rather abnormal behaviour of the mother (i.e Me).

So, the myths of petua orang tua begins...

1. Orang tue-tue cakap kalau 'Perut membesar kedepan, ade pinggang, anak lelaki'. (This was my mom.. she had it wrong before, dulu time myra pun die kate ade pinggang! :P)

2. Orang tue-tue cakap kalau 'kite malas2 time pregnant, anak lelaki'.

3. Orang cakap kalau 'time first pregnancy dulu lain, sekarang lain, anak lelaki' (in case the previous one is a girl)

4. Orang cakap kalau 'mabuk teruk time first trimester, anak lelaki'

5. Orang cakap kalau anak perempuan tu tak suke kat Mak die mase pregnant, anak lelaki (This is supported by Myra's abnormal behavior towards me, she is now more prone to manje with her dad than me :(

6. 'Eh eh, anak orang suke kat kau la.. anak lelaki kot lam perut tu.. Dulu die tak suke Eicha sebab pregnant girl' (my younger sister was telling this, when her 1 years old son somehow like it that I held him)

But one contrary prediction from my pinoy neighbour was that 'I think it would be a girl again, because you are so beautiful (I think she meant blooming, yada-yada)... hiks (Note: Ini yang die cakap, bukan saye nak masuk bakul angkat sendiri :P)

Then, come the Chinese calendar...

Some of my husband's officemates (No, they are not Malays nor Chinese.. and yes, they include a matsalleh too ) AND my sister both predicted 'Baby boy' on their assumption of the consumed date of the baby and the Chinese calendar calculation.. hik hik.. agak lawak considering, how on earth do you actually calculate based on the exact dates the baby is consumed?

Well, this is just few of their own initiatives, in their eager to 'bet' whether the myths are actually true. And I, myself am curious too. Sejauh mane kebenaran teori-teori ini???

Although, yesterday I have had the support of technology to confirm their prediction, semua ni still Allah (SWT) yang tentukan. Kami hanya berserah, and hopefully, 4 months after this, all those who had their share of prediction would be quite happy seeing the little bird 'flying off' my belly. Insyaallah..

Well...what's more important is the baby is safe and healthy. Aminnnnn

Hong Kong trip

Gosh.. i know it has been a while since i last updated my blog. There are so many things happening that i kept delaying an entry after another. But certainly not today! Today, I will finish off my entry on our last trip to Hong Kong. (Well.. that was my determination 3 weeks ago.. hehehehe)

It was a sudden plan to go back to Malaysia, urged by a sudden 'kerinduan'.. First, we booked our flight ticket home from 2nd of June, then Mr.Ai suggested why not go to Hong Kong and take Myra to Disneyland? So, we booked our flight and hotel to HK; a 4days and 3 nites trip, 2 nite spent on Hong Kong island and 1 nite on Disneyland Resort. Then, lepas dah excited2 with the booking and all.... i discovered a joyful news, I was already 6 weeks pregnant!! So I guess we've created our spontaneous-tradition; both my babies had their chance in Disneyland while in my womb. Last time Myra had her chance in Disneyland, Paris and now baby M2 got its chance in Disneyland Hong Kong... ;) And that just mean Mommy aren't allowed to have fun with all the blood-thrilling rides! (phewwhh.. agak lega.... hehehe)

So after few days in KL, came 7th of June, joined by Mr.Ai's sister and her daughter Tisya; we took the 4hours airasia flight to Hong Kong. Myra was not that excited at all, she kept asking us to go back. But her mood turn to joy when boarding the plane, she opened up the 'meal-tray' then curiously shouted 'Mommy! Takde? TV takde?!'. Oh boy.. the joy of explaining mengapa kapal-terbang-tambang-murah- ini tidak menyediakan tv to the 2and a half years old kid. :P

Luckily, she fell to a deep sleep few minutes after take-off.

The 4 hours ride isn't a joyful one for me because of few reasons;
1. The seat is too cramped. No space to stretch your legs
2. The flight was full. No chance to get an extra seat or two
3. The back ache caused by my pregnancy
4. My squashed bladder that kept pushing regular visit to the loo.

So, note to myself; never again board a normal airasia route for flight longer than 2 hours. It really serve you with its lowest possible comfort. (Well, what you pay is what you get la pun..)

Nevertheless, on the plus side; we reached Hong Kong safely and the pre-booked meal is as good as ever.

After checked in and few hours of quicky nap, we carry on with our first destination; The PEAK. From the hotel, we adventurously took the tram to Shau Kei Wan terminus. Determine that it should be a short and easy ride to the PEAK (well, according to google map, the hotel is just a walking-distance away from THE PEAK). Well, turns out google map was wrong, luckily I took the initiative to ask the local the arah-tuju. The locals there are quite friendly, and speak good english too! I'm impress ;) So, based on the direction from one local woman to another local man, we finally reached THE PEAK! pergh.. bleh tahan jauh! Memang menipu btol la google map nih! (or izzit because the hotel's add yang tipu?!! grr...). Well, anyway.. I'm glad that we are still on track with our day 1 itinerary. Dalam sebok2 beratur nak beli tiket tu, tibe2 my phone rang.. Doha's number.. hurm.. i just simply picked it up and answered. Rupe2nye an old colleague of mine, asking if I'm interested to do a freelance work from July! Wahh.. another rezeki.. alhamdulillah.. after one year plus being a housewife, i think i should give it a try, at least before baby M2 arrives ;)

Pic: Tisya on top of Hong Kong

After spending few hours at the top, we then made our way to the ferry station (but this time by cab.. hehehe with 1 preggie lady, a cranky myra and 1 lady in period-pain, i guess cab is the way to go). We took the ferry to Tsim Sha Tsui and then waited until 8 pm to board the ferry back to Central, awaiting the so-called magnificent "Symphony of Light show'' from the ferry view. Oh how disappointing, the show lasted like 5 minutes and the only lights we saw came from not more than 10 buildings! Gosh.. talking about exaggeration! Luckily we already ventured the Tsim Sha Tsui surroundings, and found few beautiful spot to hang.

The following day, we took the tram again to the nearest bus station to go to Stanley Market. It was not that difficult to find, the bus station is just few meters opposite the Central MTR station. (Yes, i had the local help again..malu bertanye, sesat jalan maaa ;)

Myra was really excited to took the double decker bus ride. She sang 'The wheel on the bus' song over and over again throughout the journey. Even Tisya was excited, it was her very first experience, riding the tram, the double decker bus and the ferry, lucky to have an adventurous uncle and aunt huh Tisya? ;)

It was a scary journey to Stanley Market, being on top of a double decker bus, on the front row! riding the bengkang bengkok hills, we felt as if we nearly scratch the hill, for every turn it made. Kecut jugak perut.. cam naik roller coster! And some more, the bus driver dgn slamber bawak laju! huhu.. tapi naseb baik, slamat sampai..

According to google; Stanley Market is the place to go for all sorts of souvenirs and bargain hunts. But it works rather on the opposite for us, the shop mostly being unfriendly and won't allow any bargain at all. Nevertheless, there are still few shops that's still kind enough to lower down the price, but still even after the bargain, I still think it was way too expensive!

After the 'satisfying' shop, we went back to the Central, took the cab to go to Islamic Central, not far from Causeway Bay. Finally eating rice, halal dim sum and few other halal chinese dishes. But surely our taste bud can't really swallow the un-spicy chinese food, looks tempting enough, but tasted literally like a fried beef in a salty-soy, full stop! :(.

The same nite, we took the MTR to kowloon and venture one night market after another. The best is surely the 'Ladies Market'. It is simply the biggest night market there with many stuff to buy. Almost like the Petaling Street in KL. If you are looking for imitation watch, or designer items, this is the place to go, but don't expect it to be displayed on the shop, as it is illegal. If you walk around the market, somebody would definitely approach you with a file filled with the pictures of the 'hot-stuff'.

Fyuohhh.. i'm tired now.. recalling all those memories in Hong Kong.. i think i should stop here, and continue again after some time.. stay tune for our Disneyland stories! ;)

Wake Up!!!

I was a bit behind on this, (was it 2 years ago?? ), nonetheless perhaps there are others like me, who never been exposed to such excellent discoveries through this amazing online film production called The Arrivals . A must see, for those who believe of the end of the world. There are 2 more interesting series on the WakeUpProject website called '' Phase 3" and "The Divine Book" also worth your time to watch. You can also watch it through Youtube, you'll find plenty, find the one under Noreaga/Archernahr. Go and have a peek, it'll change your perceptions of the world insyaallah.

Better late than never~

menyahut PanggilanNYA.. (pt 3)

We arrived in Mekah late at nite. As we approach nearer we recite the talbiah... whilst our little heart felt excited and overwhelm to finally reach our main destination... Mekah al-Mukarammah.. and to finally see the the holy Kaabah with our own naked eyes, insyaallah. From afar, I could see the brightest light coming from Masjidil Haram.. subhanallah. But, my first sight was distracted by the bigger building just right to it, The Zam-Zam Tower..memang potong stim. Why would they build such a gigantic tower in this holy land? It has taken the special grand-appearance of Masjidil Haram.. I would personally think that because of this, people could be more amazed to see the big tower than the Kaabah.. (sigh..).

But alhamdulillah.. despite the BIG distraction, my heart is still itchy from curiosity..

curious to see the magnificent Kaabah, the Baitullah. At that moment I was excited plus scared, would I see it? Bermacam-macam cerita tak bes dari pengalaman2 orang lain (actually pengaruh dari bace cerita2 cerekarama dari metro la.. apela.. hehe) terngiang-ngiang kat kepale.. ade orang yang tak nampak Kaabah sebab dosa yang tergantungla, and macam2 lagi la cite tak bes... So I pray hard.. moga-moga we are among the lucky one to be able to perform umrah without any hiccups.

And Alhamdulillah.. that very nite, we approached the Masjidil Haram, and there it was.. the big black cube.. as beautiful as people said it was, dan yang paling penting, I saw it! ;)

Around midnite, we performed umrah, from Tawaf to Saie and to Tahlul.. and khalas.. at around 1++ i think, we are free from the pantang-larang ihram. Mase buat umrah tak rase letih, tapi once dah selesai, fuhh.. terase jugak, nasib baik Myra kena tinggal kat hotel, kalau tak, sure lagi mencabar nak angkut die sekali tengah2 malam buat umrah (although I am sure akan dipermudahkan olehNYA kalau kiteorg bawak pun..;).

The hotel we stayed in is just few hundreds meters away, so agak senang nak berulang-alik. The next few days were just us and our own activities, berulang-alik ke Masjid, ambik sebanyak mungkin peluang untuk tawaf, because this is where, the only place we could do so.

I recall from a video I saw about tawaf, claims that ''the Kaabah has the strongest energy on earth that flows counter-clockwise, so by us flowing in co-relation with this energy, we are uplifting ourselves, we are reaching spiritual level that we rarely felt anywhere else, and the fact that we perform 7 times of the tawaf is because of the 7 level of the skies. So, we are reaching the ultimate state of wisdom spirituality''.. wallahualam.

I don't remember which day exactly we went for the group tour to see the Kaabah's Museum and the ladang unta. It was a brief tour, tak sempat nak bergamba sangat pun, hiks.

Anyway, the very last day before our departure, me, my hubby, nizam and Aiman went for our own quick tour with the local taxi. Paid Saudi Riyal 100 per taxi, to visit Jabal Nur, Jabal Thur, Jabal Rahmah, Mina, Padang Arafah etc2. During that tour, we could just imagine ocean of people coming to perform hajj. That empty tent, that empty field would be filled up with millions of pilgrims, with one hope; to not only fulfill one of the 5 pillars of islam... but to be accepted by Allah.

That same evening, we performed tawaf widaq, partly sad that it's time to say good bye. Praying that we'll be invited again..soon insyaallah.

23 hours later, we reached Doha... dengan azam dan semangat baru, semoga Allah terus-terus memberikan hidayah. Memang betul bak kate ustaz Abdullah, doa Nabi Ibrahim (a.s) sememangnya sangat makbul, doanya, semoga sesiapa saja yang datang ke tanah suci Mekah akan rindu untuk datang kembali..

that is exactly what we felt until now.....

menyahut PanggilanNYA.. (pt 2)

Another day in Madinah Al-Munawarah.. which is by rukun, is not part of the umrah, but as one of the respected sister once told me, 'How could you not come and visit Rasulullah (s.a.w) when you are so very near already?

She was right..

The ziarah to Madinah is mainly to send our salam to rasulullah (s.a.w) and his sahabat and to also visiting Raudah; which is as per rasulullah (s.a.w) is part of the heaven's garden.. and is among the most mustajab place for doa. So, whenever you have the opportunity, go ahead and make your wish to visit it, after raudah you are just meters away from makam rasulullah (s.a.w).

For ladies, they have provided few time slot for ziarah, sometime after subuh, after zuhur and after ishak. The guys have much more convenient to visit, which for them are open all the time.

Me and ibu went at around 10-ish that nite (taking turns as we left Myra at the hotel with her dad). We were guided straight to Raudah's way (so we tot). They have a system to gather all the ladies as per their nationalities; which of course put us among the Indonesian and Singaporean group. The ladies guard (as fierce as they can be) would constantly shouted 'Dhudhuk ibu..dhudhuk..' (which is kinda cute, considering they are arabs and all, hiks). So there we goes...from one point to another, like a heard of sheeps we were guided and ordered to make our way, meter by meter nearing Raudah, everytime asked to dhudhuk (sit) then again making few step forwards, then sit.. until we can actually see the Raudah. At the very last point, few of the Pakistani and Turkish ladies got so angry with our group. They stubbornly sneaked in to be among us (as they tot we are next in line to get into Raudah). The ladies guard kept shouting for them to get back to their group, but their ziarah spirit seems much stronger than to bother about a small system as this. We've waited 10 minutes, and another group went in, 15 minutes, another group went in.. it was told that our group (which is the most well-behave and dengar cakap) will be the last to go, so that the Turkish or the Pakistani won't have the chance to push us (which is apparently their best known-behaviour, hence the system). So bagus jugak la ade system ni, at least semua kompem dapat merase.

Alhamdulillah.. 15 minutes before midnite, we finally got in.

(Pic by Aizal)

The next day we have our ziarah with few local ustaz (which are from Malaysia themselves). We visited Masjid Quba, Bukit Uhud, Ladang Kurma and Kilang pencetakan Al-Quran (which is the biggest in the world). The mutawwif in our bus is ustaz Abdullah, throughout the journey he was talking really passionately about the sejarah that all of us felt so tak puas, and rase nak dengar lagi... so Haji Mansur invited him again for another session that night, none of us felt sleepy. All eyes and ears are onto him, memang best.. sayu je dengar sejarah rasulullah (s.a.w) and para sahabat. I hope one day to get the chance to hear the history told by him again..

Never in my life, have I felt so into the scene when people talked about history until that day.

The next day, we checked-out and ready with our Ihram, making our way to Miqat in Bir Ali, untuk pasang our niat umrah and off to Mekah Al-Mukarammah.

To be continue (Insyaallah)

menyahut PanggilanNYA.. (pt 1)

I think this is the only trip that one could never really plan on their own, unless they are 'invited'.

Our trip started on Wednesday evening March 31st, we left home after Asar, around 5pm. The meeting point is at Al-Saad stadium. Mr.Zahed was kind enough to offer his big Armada to send us off, alhamdulillah. So, there we are, nervous and excited to see the BUS that we gonna make as our bed-on-wheel throughout our journey for umrah.

Sampai-sampai je Al-Bayyan compound, we saw 3 of the buses lining up- gorgeous good looking brown metallic buses! New and Super cool, complete with a nice toilet (like the one in airplane) Alhamdulillah.

After maghrib, more and more people start to come, we loaded our bags into the bus and started choosing our seats, when we discover it's a full reclinable seat, sweeeeet! So there goes our worry . With a nice bus like this what could possibly be wrong? ;) The best relief is knowing that we can scrap off 'ke-taklalu-an untuk gune tandas awam' throughout the journey (which by experience from other people are super terrible!)

Some friends are kind enough to come and see our departure. So while waiting for the rest of the passengers, we hop on and off the bus (more like Myra yang forcing the hop-on-and-off) to meet them. At around 8, as planned we made our move. There are 4 buses all together, our bus was No 1, with the organizer Haji Mansor as a head. So, we lead the way to the Qatar-Saudi border.

We arrived Qatar border 1 1/2 hours later, with quite a smooth ride..

At around 10:30pm begins our best ujian, the Saudi border. First, Haji Mansor asked all of us to stay while he gets the immigration chop. Then the men were asked to go for fingers scan and picture taking. Then, the ladies turn. It seems quite a smooth deal, until one of the lady got stuck with her finger print; 5 times of failure and we started to panic. Tapi dengan izin Allah (rupe-rupenye almost all of us pray for her success serentak) 2 minutes after, she came out with a happy result, Alhamdulillah.

The next step was to go for baggage scan. We were asked to take all our belongings down and clear up the bus. Nothing should be left inside, not even a botol susu! It was already 1 AM i think.. so we were not in our best energy-level, plus the cranky Myra..cooobaaannn. The Saudi do a thorough check of the bus, using their special-trained dog. Then, the ladies were asked to enter a room for some handbag inspection and name filling. The immigration officer was a nice lady, all she had to do was to write down our name and check our handbag (if any). Once all done, we are back on track. Finally proceeding with our journey to the first destination; Madinah al-Munawarrah.

25hours later (yes.. campur tolak break), we arrived Madinah during Maghrib. I considered myself very lucky that I manage to get the room key and get ready in time for Ishak prayer (Further more, memang bersyukur that my period elok2 je abis time sampai Madinah!!). Ibu asked us to went ahead without her, as she still a bit too tired to rush to Masjid Nabawi. The magnificient Masjid was only 100 meters away, with the ladies entrance right across our hotel. It was my first best experience ever... seeing so many other sisters eager to perform jemaah prayer.

The spiritual experience is just unimaginable and beyond words. I couldn't really know how to express it here. I guess one can only know by own experience.

It was true what people say about the holy place, any wish.. any niyah will be granted almost instantly... so careful for what you wish for!

Among one of the magical thing that I experienced was when we lost Myra's crocs. We kept all our (cikai-slipper-that-intended-to-be-use-for-masjid-takut-kasut-mahal-hilang) along with her crocs, and yes.. like we expected, the slipper hilang.. tapi yang sedihnye so is Myra's crocs. The next day, my little heart was wishing that 'harap2 ade la crocs myra..' then I tried eyeing the shoe rack....then there it was.. myra's crocs with our emptied slipper bag; elok je ade! wah.. instant reward, alhamdulillah.

Banyak sangat cerita-cerita magik jadi, but i think this is enuff for now.. ;)

To be continue..