Amsterdam - 25th March 2011

I'm sure you have watch one of those funny Mr Bean episode where he's doing something completely innocent and then he gets into a spot of bother that turns into a full blown madness, ended up with him naked somewhere in a ditch? Hold your horses, this story will turn out to be one of those episodes. By far this is the best Klutz Cop story there is yet.

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We woke up at 5 am in order to catch our train to Amsterdam if not mistaken around 6.00 am. The streets were deserted but there's a few cars passing by. We just walked to Gare du Nord from our hotel. Dah sampai, sempat pulak posing dengan train dulu. Sempat jugak pergi kareb sementara tunggu train.

Gare du Nord heading to Amsterdam

We only had a email copy of the ticket. The bar code looks macam tak lepas je. So we asked at the ticket counter and the clerk said that it's perfectly acceptable. So we head to towards our coach which of course had to be at the very end.

And that's when the adventure begin.

We were suddenly stopped by two plain clothes lady police! WTF! But since we were not doing anything wrong, we were calm. We answered their question and showed them our tickets and passport. They went thru our stuff and finally let us go. Tah kenapa la dalam ramai-ramai orang, kitaorang yang kena check. Macam penjarah ke muka kitaorang ni.  Actually we were stopped again at the Paris airport on our way home. Banyak la jugak soal. Dah la aku tengok police tu lagi macam gelabah sebab kena cakap English dengan kitaorang and our English seems more fluent than them. Anyway, we didn't give it a second thot and went on to locate our coach and seat. Again before we enter the train, we show it to the officer by the door, one glance at the printed email, he showed us to our seat.

Please note, at least there's already 5 people looking at the printed email ticket including us.

So all settled. I'm so happy to be on the train again. The Thalys seems more comfortable than the Eurostar that we took from London to Paris a few days before. Suddenly a guy approach us and saying that we got his seat. Puzzled, we showed him our ticket and true enough, we are in the correct seat. So the guy just didn't make a fuss and went to look for another seat. I notice that everyone seems polite and don't mind changing seats. Kalau kat Malaysia, mau dah terkeluar anak tekak bergaduh.

Finally the train made its way out of the station and it is on! Sebelum trip ni, macam-macam la aku berangan nak buat kat Amsterdam. Memang semua tu evil thots la kan. Hehehe. The ride is about 2-3 hours. With some stops at Brussels, Antwerp and Rotterdam. Kitaorang pun apa lagi, zzzz.

An hour in the ride, the conductor start to check tickets. When she get to us, she had trouble scanning the bar code in our email. She apologizes because there seems a little problem with the system. So kitaorang pun sambung zzzz lagi. Half an hour later she came back to us. There's a problem. Your ticket is on the wrong date. It's for yesterday. YESTERDAY?

OMG! Apakah yang telah kulakukan? Semalam aku sedang berpelesaran di Eiffel Tower. We quickly read the email again. Indeed it the ticket was for yesterday. Aku rasa muka aku masa tu dah cuak campur takut campur rasa nak mati semua la ada. I can hear my heart beating in my ear! The lady conductor bless her heart, assured us that not to worry. "I can see how you might have made the mistake. You bought the ticket on 25th of Jan. You think that the ticket is for 25th and not 24th". She told us, that we can stay on till we reach Amsterdam. But we need to sort out of return tickets. I can't thank her enough.

Darn it! Dah la train ni nak stop banyak lagi tempat ni. The seat might have been reserved by someone else. What else can we do but to feign sleep for the next 2 hours. Adooi... terseksanya la. Tutup aje mata. Aku dengar commotion around us. Agaknya ada orang bising kitaorang ambik seat depa. Tapi memang kitaorang buat bodo je la. That was the longest 2 hours of my ride. Kalau dari London ke Paris ambik gambar sampai seribu. Ni takde satu pun gambar aku ambik. Takut punya pasal!

Nak jadi lagi cerita lawak, train tu pun kena detour sebab ada train lain pulak yang rosak on the track up ahead. Shit happens in multiple kan. We are still counting sighhh.

Finally we made it to Amsterdam with heavy heart. On the platform, we met the nice lady again. She told us not to worry. Maybe you can talk to the station master to explain your problem. Siap cakap have a nice day lagi tu. Semoga dia murah rezeki. Kalau dia evil, kena pulak aku turun tah kat tengah ladang lembu siapa kat Belgium ke tadi. Pengsan!

So now semua evil plan is put on hold. We need to sort out our return ticket. Sighhh. I know this is gonna cost. Goodby cheap ticket. We get to the ticket office and got a number and waited for our turn. Sekali tu, nak jadi cerita burung bayan.... tetiba ada pulak police officer datang ronda-ronda kat situ. He saw a single briefcase that was unattanded befhind a pillar not far from where we were seating. He was asking around who's bag is that. Takde siapa mengaku. I have a bad feeling about this.

5 minutes after that, he came back with a police tape and a few of his friends. And to my dismay, he open his mouth and said "Everybody out! Out!" Shit ada suspected bomb pulak. Celaka la siapa punya bag tu. But thinking again, if the police start to ask around, kitaorang la in deep shit. Looking at our ticket, we shouldn't be here today. Kitaorang pun cepat-cepat cabut. Jangan toleh belakan!

Damn it Malik! Memang la stress tapi bila dah ada bomb scare pulak aku rasa mcm sangat ridiculous... aku pun tergelak. Goodness, what else will this day bring. Kakak aku dok membebel, ha tu la kau ... ha tu la kau tu la kau. Adoiii...To calm us down, we went out from the Central Station and into a cafe by the cannal. Minum hot chocolate and chill kejap. After an hour, we try our luck and seems that the ticket office is open again. Well suffice to say we had to purchase a new ticket and it cost a bomb. But after a day that we had so far, I'm not arguing about money.

By the time we buy our day pass, dah penat dah. Takde mood pun nak buat apa. But since we are there, we try to cover what we can. I find Amsterdam noisy and smelly and haphazard. Bila nak cross jalan, you have to watch out for bikes, trams and dogs. Perhaps sebab dah ada blunder ticket tu jadi tak seronok. Hahahaha

We went out the cannal tour ride, Rijkmusuem, Van Gogh museum, Red Light district (hahaha), take picture at Iamsterdam. And yes, we did find Hard Rock Cafe and buy loads of t-shirts. And yes, we did ride the tram. We even tried the herring. OMG tak sedap! If given chance we would want to check out Kuekenhof, to see tulip in bloom, but there's not enough time. We didn't visit Anne Frank's house as there's a long queue. You could take in Amsterdam in a day. Dari pagi sampai petang boleh la habis. But if you want to go to Kuekenhof, that will be another day I guess.

Here's some of the pictures

Centraal Station Amsterdam

  

The famous canal



Mari beli t-shirt lagi

I amsterdam with Rijkmuseum in the background

Van Gogh Museum. Beli poster yang tak gantung lagi

'Coffeshop' near Red Light District. Tak berani pulak nak masuk.

 Tried a bite of fresh herring. Fav snack of Amsterdam. Rasa nak pengsan ok.

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With that, I end my 2011 entries. May 2012 bring new adventure that will take me to new (hopefully far and exotic) places. And hopefully no more encounter of the Klutz Cop kind.

Happy New Year!

Getting Crabby

We always wanted to eat Chilli Crab in Singapore. Tah berapa kali pergi asyik tak sempat aje. So this time around, dah siap-siap google nak cari Chilli Crab yang halal. Surf punya surf, a lot of people recomended this place, along Changi Road name Kampung Chai Chee Restaurant . Check out their website

Walaupun aku tetiba telah demam and had breakouts all over the body. The symptoms were all pointing to measles. Gosh bila yang aku pergi Singapore tak sakit. And we also had to ditch the idea of going to USS. This happen masa pergi tengok Belinda Carlisle and gang. Alhamdullilah diberikan jugak kekuatan and rezeki and dapatlah merasa chilli crab ni. Kitaorang naik cab aje pergi. Bagi address kat cab driver. Habis cerita.

Chilli Crab cecah dengan fried bun. Sedap gila bun tu!

Closer look

Nasi goreng kampung yang masih terkenang sampai hari ini

Memang sedap and price is reasonable. Tapi if nak belanja orang kat sini accept cash aje. So if rasanya nak melantak tak ingat dunia, bawak la duit banyak-banyak ye. Will definitely come back next time.

Jogja - 19 to 22 Oct 2011 - Part 3

Nothing is plan for today accept to visit the Kraton. And also what is this place call Taman Sari. Everyone was talking about it. Tu la sebelum pergi tak google dulu semua benda ni. We had breakfast at the hotel which had a pretty decent spread. My friend was raving about head messages around Jogja. Tak jumpa pun. So instead I booked myself a 3 hour massage at the hotel later in the afternoon.

Kraton or palace or Istana is open for the public to have a looksy. A lot of people were miling about dok ambik gambar. While purchasing the ticket to enter the palace, we were approached by this uncle. Who turned out to be Indian from Canada. From here on, I say this again - It only happen to me.  

This guy, who I shall refer to as Uncle Vinod (not his real name. I do not want this to be traced back to me in anyway. Hahaha), wanted to join us as he said that he did not understand mostly what's being said. So since we can speak English, he would like to join our company while going around the palace ground. We got an English speaking tour guide who took us around. We saw a number of the Sultan's gift collection, clothes and pictures. Ada meja makan tu macam meja makan kat rumah Tok aku kat Muar pulak aku tengok.

Kraton ground

After the tour we tip the lady guide. Turns out Uncle Vinod's middle name is Al Kedekudsi. He claimed that he have yet drawn out cash from the ATM. Ya right. We then went on looking for Taman Sari. I thought there's like a water park or garden somewhere not far from the Kraton. Taman Sari used to be a place of leisure for the Sultan. Agaknya macam summer palace ke? Or weekend gateway palace?

Uncle Vinod still followed us when we met David who's kind enough to bring us to the Taman Sari. Which is now in ruins. It's wedge in between the settlement of the Kraton household. Semua orang nak jadi Prajurit so that you are part of Kraton and get to live around the Kraton. Davis is also a Prajurit who also oversee's the conservation of Taman Sari. Kena kencingkah kami? Mungkin juga. Tapi I had a thoroughly enjoyable day as David seems very knowledgable and keep on dishes bits and pieces of interesting facts of the place.

For example, he brought us to the bathing complex, which has not been used since 100 years ago. There's two pool. One is for siler siler (nama lain utk gundik or concubine) and one is solely for the king. Even the queen is not allowed. So while siler-siler is taking a bath ala Pamela A in Baywatch I would presume, the king will be looking from the tower above, having the chance to choose his pick for the day. If he likes someone he will pick a flower from a newby plant (which was planted for this one and one purpose only) and threw it to her in the pond. Having the golden ticket ie flower, Ms Siler is now invited to bath with the king in his pool. Later they will retreat to the nearby room for an afternoon delight. Macam nak pengsan tak dengar?

The siler pond. On the left the viewing tower. Picture taken by Uncle Vinod al Kedekudsi

This is where all the magic happens! (Creepizoid!)

David also took us to secluded section of the Taman which was in complete ruins. He said that in one of these rooms that the Sultan will meet up with his other wife from the other world - the famous Puteri dari Pantai Selatan aka Nyi Roro Kidul aka Suzana Sundel Bolong yang si Kay intrigued sangat tu. Dah la tempat tu gelap and creepy. He said that those who lived around the Taman still see her from time to time. By that time, aku dah duduk luar dah tak nak dengar cerita. Takut siut!

As the hours go by, uncle Vinod became more annoying. Memula macam semangat la nak translate all the things that David told us. In my head I thought, hmm if I ever going to be a travel writer or travel show host I must always appear cheerful and able to explain things. That last like half an hour, lepas tu aku dah duduk jauh-jauh je dari dia. Si Kay pun.. lama-lama aku dengar dia explain .... bla bla bla de bla bla de bla... something like that la... yada yada yada daddadyaya da something like that la. Hahahaha. Aku paling bengkek bila dia sibuk suruh aku ambik gambar dia guna camcorder dia. Jadi director pulak, you should walk slowly from this angle and that. Don't forget to push record. Eh banyak la cengkadak plak. It's ok you can explain things while shooting the video. I should have left a few second of malay curse words monologue when I had the chance! The final straw came when uncle Vinod sibuk pulak jadi makcik balik dari pasar, nak tanya kenapa aku tak kawin lagi. Dude, in this blistering hit, please spare me this nonsense.

The last place that David took us was the Masjid Bawah Air. An underground praying area complete with secret tunnel from the Taman Air. That's a pretty cool place. Macam bomb bunker pun ada. After that, we concluded the tour and said our goodbyes. Uncle Vinod sibuk pulak mintak email etc. By then aku dah cross the street to buy some drinks. Panas yang amat. And tak kuasa nak layan si mamat ni. Kay apparently gave him his email. Lo and behold, he did write to her a month after that. In fact, he even called her. And called her from Canada. Apakah?! I told Kay, if he ever ask of me, please say I'm dead.

Inception style staircase at Masjid Bawah Air.

Jib under the open roof of Masjid Bawah Air.



After that we went back to the hotel in style. Naik becak sorang satu. Ok Jib naik dengan mak dia la. Hahahah.

Naik Becak keliling Jogja

Later in the evening we went out for las minute shopping. Kali ni aku pun join in the frenzy at kedai Batik. The whole of Malioboro street has nothing but kedai batik. Seluar batik, beg batik, baju batik, seluar dalam batik semua ada. Somehow we thought that the selection at the batik Kraton shop that we went on the first day was nicer. Syabas Kartini kerana telah berjaya menjejaki kedai itu dalam kepekatan malam. Masa tengah pusing-pusing cari kedai tu terdetik dalam hati, kot tetiba ahvang becak ni nak keroyok aku pulak kan. I don't think that I have the energy to run. Perhaps a better defense I thot maybe I can tell them that I have HIV :P Alhamdulillah semuanya selamat.

Dan selamat balik ke 1Malaysia bak kata Jiben.

So Mayan ruins next?

Jogja - 19 to 22 Oct 2011 - Part 2

Today is activity is to explore Candi Borobudur and Prambanan and it's surrounding area. I just found out that Sungai Solo ie. from the song Bengawan Solo.. is a few hours away. Tapi tak ada apa pun kat situ. Even the tour guide/ driver said that "Di musim kemarau ini...", which we echo " tak berapa airmu?". Hahaha. Kay pulak fascinated nak jumpa long lost aunty dia nama Suzana somewhere in Pantai Parangtritis, which is also not far away I suppose from Jogja. But we thought, let's take it easy and see how thing goes. The main agenda is visit the chandi mandi.

We got the driver from the hotel's contact. Punya la malas nak cari suruh orang hotel cari. So the guy call us up and pick us up the next morning. It will be 500K rupiah for the whole day. Boleh la, malas punya pasal kan. First thing we ask him to do is to take us for breakfast. He stop at a shop along the way. Makan nasi dengan lauk pauk. Sedap gila ikan keli tah masak apa ni

Borobudur

The tour guide/ driver help us to obtain entrance ticket into Borobudur. Mahal jugak la. Dapat la discount a few RM by buying from him. I have been warned that the place will be swarmed with penjaja-penjaja who will pester for you to buy things. Beli dari sorang, satu bukit kejar kau lepas tu. I know that drill. So it's game face! Bring it on!

It's about 200 meters walk perhaps across the yard heading towards the tourist office and entrance to the place. Turun aje dari van, dah 20 orang tunggu. Dengan payung, topi, baju, ayam, itik and tah apa benda lagi. Aku memang hati batu sebatunya. I have indeed perfected my blank expresionless face. Just block all the sound and look straight ahead. They smell fear and emotion. One thing to note, never say anything. Not a word. If you say, "nanti la.. karang", kau balik nanti dia tunggu la pulak. Hahaha. Si Jiben telah diwarn tak payah la nak membeli. Tapi dia tumpas juga, nak membeli topi. Ha ambik kau sekali aku pusing dah macam kena kerumun dengan gremlins. Akhirnya semua berjaya masuk dalam tourists office dengan jayanya.

The driver left us there after passing us the ticket. Nak masuk kena pakai kain la pulak. And tetiba the guard there asked us,

   "Surat mana?"

   "Surat apa?"

   "Ya surat begini.. (pointing to a stack of papers). Kena ada surat baru boleh masuk"

    "Habis ticket ni nak buat apa?" (dah la mahal)

    "Kena ada suratnya juga"

Maka high blood pressure aku pun go upstair!

    "Surat yang macam mana? Siapa yang nak kena tulis surat ni pulak? Kertas apa nak pakai tulis surat ni?

Apa bezanya ticket yang dah beli berapa ratus rupiah ni dengan surat? Surat beranak? Surat cinta? Dekat mana nak dapat surat ni? Bila masanya nak dapat surat ni? Siapa yang nak kena sign surat tu? Raja mana?" ha ambik kau...

"Ya tadi beli.. tiada surat?"

"Saya beli ticket bukan surat. Tak tau, driver yang beli ticket. Dia bagi ticket aje"

In my mind, kalau nak masuk tempat ni pun nak peleceh memang nak kena la kan. Nak suruh aku menyuap pulak ke? No way. Aku sudah bagi icy stare dekat guard tu. Sikit lagi mungkin aku kena tembak pulak kat situ. Nasib la si Kartini sangat bertenang. Dan guard tu baik ati nak callkan driver kitaorang. Berlari la pulak datang driver dengan the so called surat. Serious shit lama sikit, akan aku suruh guard tu baca segala surat yang ada kat situ... apa benda la yang ada dalam surat tu. Yes I am an ASS. But seriously explain kat aku apa rasionalnya aku membeli ticket tapi still tak boleh masuk. Kalau tak nak bagi masuk, jangan jual ticket tu.

Anyhoo, setelah friction tersebut, we made our way to the Chandi. Sangat panas ye kawan-kawan. Jauh pulak tu nak jalan. Along the way ada lagi gerombolan yang nak jual-jual benda. This time offer nak sewa payung and yang lagi best, service nak tolong dukung budak-budak kecik naik atas. Bila kitaorang senyap aje, tak paham-paham bahasa dok pester-pester lagi. Aku dah geram, aku tanya dia, "kalau angkat saya boleh? Berapa rupiah?" Terdiam kejap mamat tu. "Ya yang kecil aja.." "Ha kalau nak angkat saya boleh. Kalau tak payah". Bengkek gila mamat tu. Pastu mesti dia maki kitaorang sebab si Jiben sudah tergolek masa naik tangga. Nasib tak apa-apa.

Seriously tempat tu panas and tangga-tangganya sangat steep. Macam nak luruh jantung aku memanjat. Ada 7 levels, each represents something. And every level tu aku kena take a break. Finally sampai jugak la ke langgit ke tujuh katanya. Samapai la ke level-level stupa yang macam loceng-loceng tu. In the recent Amazing Race, they had to count the buddha statue with the different hand gestures. Aku rasa kat bawah, macam ada info board yang tulis all this info. Memang ngok mat salleh tu semua nak kira satu-satu. Ada beribu benda tu around the place. Photo shoot pun bermula. Baju aku dah lencun dengan peluh. Nak turun pun macam nenek tua. Kalau tergolek, kena la panggil balik brother yang nak offer angkat budak tadi!

Assortment of pictures at Borobudur

Merapi

Next destination is to Merapi. Kitaorang semua tertido sikit punya sedap dalam van. I think I might have even snored! Pastu terkejut dengar dengkur sendiri. Hehehehe.

It was about a year ago (25th Oct 2010) that the mount erupted. We can still see the path of destruction along the way up. There's a lot of black sand that is being mined from the river nearby for construction. Pokok-pokok semua dah nak tumbuh balik, tapi pokok-pokok yang terbakar dulu tu still ada lagi. It was very cloudy that day, so tak nampak puncaknya. You can go on motor ride (motor scrambler no less) along the mountain's path to take a closer look. Macam gatal je nak pergi. Tapi kang sape pulak nak cari aku atas gunung tu if anything happen. So lepak-lepak kat bawah je. Despite the hot sun, the temprature up there is very pleasant.

Greens yang dah mula tumbuh among tunggul-tunggul pokok yang terbakar dulu



Very cloudy day, so tak nampak puncak Merapi (kata tour guide tu la)

Untuk celebrate kejayaan dapat melihat Gunung Merapi, kita makan jagung bakar. Terbaek!

Prambanan

Another must visit candi is called Candi Prambanan. Like Borobudur it is also listed as a World Heritage site. The place here is more bertenang and suitable for picnic. This candi is actually a Hindu temple while Borobudur is a Buddist monument. But these days majority of folks in Jogja are Muslims.

Nak masuk, kena beli ticket lagi ye. Kitaorang dah pergi ke kaunter meant for local folks. Baru terperasan that the entrance fee for the locals is way cheaper. We could've easily pass as local as well. Aku pun pernah terbaca blog sapa tah yang berlakon-lakon jadi local and got to buy the cheaper tickets. Memang tak senonoh. Unfortunately, aku terlupa that fact. And masa si Kay dah senyap-senyap beratur, aku terpanggil plak dia. "oit awat kau beratur kat situ?" Hahahahha pecah tembelang. Sorry kak non, lain kali kalau nak berlakon sila brief supporting cast sekali. Hehehehe.

There's a few separate site for the temples. The structures are not as high as Borobudur, but man the place is huge. Jauh gila nak jalan. Jiben at one point, "Kenapa kita dekat sini? Saya nak balik hotel". "Saya pun nak balik hotel" Hahahahha. Nasib kat entrance tu ada tempat makan. Mari la makan dulu. Though tak sesedap tempat breakfast tadi, lapar punya pasal. Layanz!

Assortment of pictures at Prambanan

Si anak kecil yang hampa kerana tertipu kena jalan berbatu-batu (ironically... sambil tengok batu). In the background, si ibu yang masih tegar membeli belah

 UGM

 By the time we got out of Prambanan, dah petang dah. But it's still early. We still have the driver till 5pm. It was just 4pm. So we asked him to take us to the largest and oldest national university in Indonesia, Universitas Gadjah Mada. Known to the local as UGM.

Coolness! The campus is just like UM in KL. The faculties are located along the the main roads around the city. We could see all the students lepaking and riding their bikes. Ada macam-macam fakulti. Aku nampak Perhutanan la... Medical la.. Falsafah la. We even stop for photo op. Pastu ada sorang budak sudah nak merajuk sebab mak dia nak posing sorang-sorang. Hahahah kesian dia.



Budak kecik yang hangin dengan maknya yang asyik nak posing and tak bagi dia 'enter frame'

  

Famous landmark. Mesti ambik gambar, macam la grad dari sini kan

 

Don't you just love the localized English word? Prioritaskan.. sekali baca ingat Senorita :P

Jogja - 19 to 22 Oct 2011 - Part 1

Jogja was not part of the travel plan for this year. Memang dah lama berangan nak posing ala Lara Croft kat Borobudur.. Mayan Ruins... or Angkor Wat. Tapi tak sempat-sempat nak plan. Plus dah kopak pulak after so many sessi berpoya-poya tahun ni.

Akan tetapi tiba-tiba tepikir pulak challenge baru. Can I do a tri-nation visit within a month? Well not exactly a month, but a few weeks apart from each trip. 14-17 Sept to Bangkok, then 8th-10th Oct to Singapore and 19th-22nd to Yogjakarta, Indonesia. All I can say is that, I'm still alive. But between these 3 trips, tah berapa kali aku MC, tah berapa klinik aku pergi and tah berapa kali boss aku geleng kepala sebab assortments of sakit yang kuar including measles scare! Sigh, note to self, lain kali, please allow longer period to regroup and reenergize!

Anyway, back to the trip. Makanya sampailah aku and Kay and Jiben ke Jogja. Flight pagi buta pukul 6 pagi ke. Again note to self, no more early flights please. Nasib baik naik bas dari KL Sentral ramai orang. Dapat la aku tido dengan aman sampai airport. Tahun ni ni la trip aku mencemar duli pergi LCCT. Seriously, the terminal need a bigger space. Lain kali, buat je la semua benda besar-besar, even if half of it is occupied by hantu ke penunggu ke... eventually nanti tak muat jugak. Tak payah la susah-susah asyik nak buat construction nak extend itu ini.

Jogja just had a festive weekend sebab anak raja dia baru kawin. Dengar kata 3 hari 3 malam pesta tari menari gilang gemilang diadakan. Satu bandar tutup, makan semua free la apa la. But by the time kitaorang touchdown, dah habis la pulak. Perhaps it's a good thing jugak, sebab semua orang dah balik. Kang nak pergi mana-mana susah pulak. Tapi if dapat sibuk-sibuk ambik gambar best jugak kot.

The taxi driver who drove us to the hotel patiently explained what had transpired over the 3 days before. All of the who's who that came over. He tried to console me by saying, "Takpe.. ada lagi anaknya yang masih belum kahwin. Nanti bisa datang lagi ke Jogja". Somehow, this is one thing that I am amazed of the Indonesian people. They are very proud of their heritage and culture, they love to share and tell you everything. And they tell it so beautifully, terpegun aku dengar. Macam best sangat, padahal takde la apa pun. This driver who spoke so softly manage to answer all of my questions about Jogja in that just few minutes ride. Tak payah nak wiki-wiki.

Unlike aku naik teksi kat KL ni. Somehow conversation always get tangled into politics. Just last months, the uncle behind the wheel, tetiba riled up and keep on repeating..."dia cakap dia main punggung... lepas tu dia cakap balik.. ha itu C4 punya case macam mana... dia main punggung ... dia C4...kita semua tengok wayang hari-hari" We started of talking about a chinese restaurant, tah macam mana end up here. No doubt memang kelakar. Aku gelak gila babi dalam teksi tu, but makes me wonder what kind of conversation would he have with  tourists. Sama jugak la bila naik cab kat Singapore. Asal tau je kita dari KL, "So how's your Mr Najib?" Macam la aku PA dia kan.

Opps... sudah masuk simpang lain pulak ni. Back to the trip. Sorry.

We booked ourselves into Ibis Malioboro. A bit pricey sebab charges tak included breakfast. Damn. The room is very nice and most important, memang sebelah mall. Tu sebenarnya sebab nak duduk sini. Unfortunately it was too early to check in, so wandered off to check the place around.

Keluar je hotel, ada la pulak pakcik-pakcik kayuh beca ajak ronda-ronda. Since we have nothing better to do, on aje la. Yang lawaknya, tah kenapa la kitaorang ingat yang kitaorang ni boleh muat dalam satu beca. Bontot aku aje dah 3/4 beca tu. Pendek kata after the ride, aku rasa bontot aku kecik sket sbb padat sungguh dalam beca itu. Pakcik tu bawa la kitaorang jalan along Malioboro, then around the Kraton which he said is still closed and stopped at Batik shop. Ibu Kartini tertewas disini, dan telah memulakan sessi membeli belah tak hengat dunia.

Dah almost nak balik tu, baru la aku tersedar yang pakcik kayuh beca tu tak pakai kasut. Untuk menjadi lebih dramatik, dia turun pulak tolak kitaorang bila ada tempat-tempat yang naik bukit. Kitaorang offer nak turun, dia kata tak apa-apa. Tapi dok terjerit-jerit panas bila pijak jalan tu. Macam la aku ni mendera hamba abdikan. Imagine it's ripe in the afternoon, memang la tar atas jalan tu gila panas kan. Aku dah start la masuk mode hati batu. I told Kay, be prepared to get ripped off. I told her to pay the guy. Sebab karang kalau aku yang bayar, mau naik darah bila dia nak buat sob sob story. Nasib masa bayar tu, it was he price that he said before. Still la mahal kot, sebab sebenarnya murah aje naik beca ni. It was 30K rupiah = RM10 la. Aku saje je tanya, kenapa tak pakai kasut... there you asked for it... siap dengan muka nak menangis dengan tangan-tangan ... cakap la pulak tak mampu nak beli selipar. I just rolled my eyes and walked off. Ingat aku tak nampak kawan-kawan dia dok gelak-gelak kat tepi tu. Kay kata aku tersangat skeptical. Hahahahha.

By then dah tengahari, so soru time. Katanya kat sini food sangat sedap. Tapi aku rasa takde la sangat. Ada certain kedai sedap, ada yang macam hampeh. Along Malioboro ada a lot of stall called Lesehan. I think it meant kedai yang bersila atas tikar getah, on the kaki lima. Which is ganguan perasaan sebab nanti perut berlipat bila nak makan. We went to a stall which has proper stool and table. For the first meal in Jogja... wah sedap banget! I had Nasi Gudeg? Which (aku hentam aje ni kalau salah sorry).. I think meant the gulai/ kari urat/tunjang yang ada kat kedai-kedai nasi padang. Kay had Nasi Goreng apakenda. Rupa macam lemau, tapi rasanya 1st class!

And wash it down with bergelas gelas Es Teh. Aka Teh O Ais. Tapi sedap. Rasanya macam teh botol. Aku assume semua teh kat sini berasal dari teh botol. Es Teh is the source of my horrid coughing for the next 3 weeks sampai doctor almost nak suruh aku pergi chest scan!

Cheers!

Paris 2011 - Part Quatre

Bonjour!

Last day in Paree. Last day in Europe. Last day of the holiday :(

This morning we woke up early and head out to the places that we haven't been to. First stop is Notre Dame. Ada la pulak Sunday service. Public are allowed to enter for free. Mcm eerie la pulak. There's also paintings in the church tapi malas nak tengok. Pergi just nak ambik-ambik gambar je. One of the main attraction is to climb till the bell tower and take a closer look at the gargoyles guarding the cathedral.Tak kuasa la aku kalau masuk bab panjat memanjat ni.

This is what it looks like outside

And this is in the inside

Next the other museums that we haven't visisted. Top of the list, to see Auguste Rodin's work at Rodin Musuem. He is a great sculptor whose famous work includes the Kiss, the Thinker and the Gates of Hell. The scultures were real and to the detail. Memang blown away. The museum itself was a former hotel with a manicured lawn. Cantik

If you are visiting, do not miss going for a walk around in the garden. A number of sculptures are located around the ground. One of it is the Thinker

Inside, you will find the Kiss. The room is full of different version of the Kiss. Let's call this Make Out room.

This is my favorite is the below bust. Made from clay. Macam real kan.

Next we wanted to go to Musee de Orsay. Partly because we already bought a set of Orsay and Rodin ticket. Cheaper. Tah kenapa kitaorang ingat dekat musuemnya. We keep on thinking this building across the street with a golden dome is the musuem. After half and hour walk, we reached the place only to discover that it's actually an army musuem. WTF. Sekarang sudah penat.

And kenapa patah balik all the way to Rodin tadi sebab nak kena naik Metro. Musee de Orsay is actually located across from the Lourve. Adoiii pagi tu aje, berapa ribu steps tah kitaorang jalan. Nasib bila sampai sana, we get to skip the queue sebab dah beli ticket dari Rodin tadi. Kat sini dah tak berdaya nak jalan. We just pass thru to see more works from Van Gogh, Gaugin, Renoir, Boudin, Monet and tah siapa lagi. Memang best, tapi dah tak larat nak enjoy.

Around 4pm, we made our way back to the hotel. Sempat lagi tapau McD tu. Sampai je hotel, sedar-sedar our airport pick up dah sampai. Tak sempat nak makan McD terus angkat bag semua and make our way to the airport. Our flight was a night, so we had a good 3-4 hours at the airport, to sort out nak claim segala GST. The custom officers tak check pun barang-barang kitaorang. Nasib baik. Kalau aku bukak bag aku, tak tentu boleh tutup balik. They are full to the brim.

Ramai pulak jumpa orang Malaysia kat situ. Semua nak balik via Dubai. Masa nak get refund untuk GST tu aje ada geng bukit yang sangat kecoh, membuatkan minah yang kira duit hangin. Hangin pun hangin la dik, janji dapat duit. Heheheh. Flight dari Dubai ke KL pulak, aku duduk sebelah makcik Arab yang anaknya duduk KL. Takpe ke makcik tu rupanya dah pernah duduk Malaysia. Nasib baik aku tak goreng-goreng dia pasal KL. Heheheh nak sampai KL, makcik tu siap tukar sim card Digi. Hebat tak hebat!

With that, we touch down in KL on Monday 28th March at 9.30 pm. Alhamdulliah semuanya selamat. Alhamdullilah jugak semua yang plan nak buat dapat buat. And looking back, I think one of the pleasant surprise from the trip was seeing the Sunflower by Van Gogh at National Gallery in London and again at Van Gogh Musuem in Amsterdam. Never I imagined that I get the chance to take a close look at the masterpiece.

Just like this trip of a lifetime - Manifique!

Paris 2011, Part Trois

Today is Saturday. The day before, we actually went to Amsterdam. That will be a post of it's own. Hari ini ialah shopping day. First stop, Gallaries Lafayette . Actually takde la nak membeli sangat, walaupun everything was on sale. Sempat lagi satu round kat LV and Longchamp.

Mak aii... ramainya manusia. An advise, if you want to go to LV or Longchamp, baik pergi ke Printemps (sebutnya Pran-tom.. or something like that). Orang tak ramai and tempat lebih bertenang. One of the main focus today was to buy macaroon yang dikirim oleh M_M_Biru.

We bought them from two places, the first one is Pierre Herme at Galaries Lafayette. They are all so pretty and classy and woweee. Macam sayang nak makan. The rose flavoured from La Duree kot.. is to die for. Macam rasa sirap bandung. We packed and keep this in the fridge dan berdoa it will make it during the trip. Hand carry tu... gila precious cargo. Kat airport pun ada jugak La Duree tapi malas nak explore sebab it's in a different terminal than the one of our flight home. Selamat sampai and aku rasa M_M_Biru makan suku sehari. So over 2 dozen... heheh that last about... entah...hehehe.

The whole day went by with a blur. I wanted to get ipad2 beacuse it was release just the day before. Hah, dream on! Berjam pulak pusing-pusing cari Apple Store kat area Opera tu. Dah petang hujan pulak.... but we got a great place for shelter. Mari membeli t-shirt.

We end the day with a quick photo shoot at Arc de Triomphe. Arc de Triomphe sits in the center of Place Charles de Gaulle. (Roundabout yang gila banyak kereta). It was built to honour those who have fought in the French Revolutionary and Napolean wars. Beneath it lies the tomb of unknown soldiers from World War I. Kitaorang malas nak pergi sampai sana, so ambik gambar from across the street aje la.

Malam sebelum tido, we went online to purchase extra luggage on the flight. 60 kg tak cukup! Hahahah. Hotel ni ada pay as you use internet kat lobby. Bagus betul.

Bonne nuit!

Paris Trip, 2011 - Part Duex

Objective hari ini ialah satu dan satu aje - La Vallee Village. The outlet mall just outside Paris. Hahha actually I have no idea where it is, just tau train stop aje. It's one stop before Disneyland. It's the Express RER A, and the station is Val d' Europe. Train ni kena hati-hati before naik, do check which station it will stop. Kalau tak nganga je kang train tak stop kat station that you want.

Ni la rupanya station Val d'Europe. To go to La Vallee, just take the escalator up and out the exit..

Then turn right and go into the shopping mall.

Just walk till the end of the mall till you see this sign (should be on your left).

Then out the door.. and voila, you have arrived at paradise

The first shop that will greet you is Longchamp. Borong jangan tak borong. We bought almost 10 bags ke, segala mala size semua ada. Puas hati uols! My sister also bought a Samsonite luggage. Memang tengah sale. So segala hasil tangkapan di masukkan dalam luggage maka senang nak angkut balik hotel. Hehehehe.

Tah pukul berapa kitaorang habis memborong, tak ingat pukul berapa balik. Tapi balik kejap je rasanya, pastu petang tu keluar balik. This time for River Seine boat ride and going up Eiffel Tower. Memang nak naik malam. Kononnya nak tengok lights around Paris. Punya la sejuk!

The boat ride was fun. Get to see the buildings on both side of the river. Masa kitaorang naik tu ada pulak segerombolan school girls. Asal nampak guys tengah lepak2 by the river bank, asyik cheer aje. Seronok jugak. Lalu la segala mala bridge yang dalam video clip 'Someone Like You' by Adele tu.

The boat ride is very near Eiffel Tower, so lepas boat ride boleh naik the tower pulak. Just that those yang naik naik malam kena ingat that they will only have one entrance open, so the queue memang lama. Kalau siang-siang 4 entrance will be open. Maka sambil menunggu, tah berapa juta pose la aku ambik. Pastu area in banyak orang jual-jual souveniers. Memang murah la, but berhati-hati sebab sini katanya orang selalu kena pick pocket. Alhamdullillah, we were ok.

This is what the view from above looks like

Tour Eiffel

Paris Trip, 2011 - Part Un

We are off to Paris today. We called a cab to bring us to the St Pancras station. Tak kuasa nak naik tube. Barang banyak and bag sgt berat. Bag kakak aku dah selamat pecah tayar ok. So bila tarik bag tu, macam tarik lori satu tan.

The train ride is two hours. I snap perhaps thousands of pictures along the way. By noon, we are in Paris. The train stopped at Gare du Nord (Nord = North). If you're heading towards Venice, Italy, it's Gare du L'est (East). This I learnt from The Tourist.

The Eurostar train ride was amazing! Best gila. Though the coach is not as luxurious and romantic like the one in the movie, the seats are still cozy and comfy. We bought the ticket online and print out the ticket from the kiosk at St Pancras station. Pretty easy. As long as you buy way in advance, ie like a few months in advance, you might get the chance to get the cheap fare like we did. We paid 81 pounds for 2, 1-way ticket. So it's about RM400++.

 At first masa nak check in dah risau that our bag are too big to put into the carriage. Tengok2 orang lain punya bag memang macam circus troop! Tapi berat gila babi ok bag kitaorang. Nasib la ramai orang nak tolong angkatkan bag tu letak atas shelf at the end of the carriage. Tapi muka semua orang memang menyesal la lepas tolong angkat bag kitaorang! Hahahaha. Masa sampai Paris, ada group of boys.. students kot, yang tolong angkatkan semua bag kitaorang letak atas platform. Serious shit kalau kena angkat sendiri, turun dari train, sah2 aku tergolek jatuh bawah train. So since dah atas platform, boleh la tarik slow2 macam kura2, till kuar dari station. Terus ambik cab, straight to Hotel. Actually hotel tu kalau jalan mcm 500 meters downhill gitu, takde la jauh sangat. Tapi dengan bag yang berat, tak sanggup la kan.

We booked ourselves into Holiday Villa. As in Holiday Villa yang ada kat Malaysia tu. The hotel is near Cadet Metro and ada McD and Supermarket nearby. Hidup la kita orang. Atas ni picture taken from our room's window.  Then we met Malik the guy behind the reception, who was super excited when he found out that we are Malaysian. I think he was Morrocan or Turkish. Sibuk pulak nak practise Selamat Tengahari, Apa Khabar bla bla bla. When we told him that we want to go and have lunch, he brought us to this Turkish/ Moroccan restaurant yang actually dah habis lunch service, tapi sebab tu member-member dia, tak kisah la.. depa kata jom makan.

What was on the menu? Cous-Cous. Hahahahah. This is our first time with cous-cous, so muka pun jadi pus-pus. Pada aku sedap aje. Kakak aku la tak lalu. Check out her face. The roasted chicken is to die for ok. Melambak pulak tu serving nya. Wash it down with Mint Tea. Sedapnya. Then for desert, diabetic induced baklava! Baru la engine warm up sket

So off we go to the Metro and our first stop is the Grand Palais Royal - Lourve Museum. Or Musee du Lourve. Dah penat posing maut, kakak aku suggest marilah mengukur Champs de Elysee pulak. So we took a loooooonnnngggg stroll from Lourve all the way down to Champs de Elysee. It was the start of spring, so pokok2 semua togel-togel lagi. Tapi Parisian is already out enjoying the sun. All over Jardin de Tulleries, semua orang dah mode baring-baring on the grass sambil cuci mata. Unfortunately, the sidewalk, rumput pun tak tumbuh lagi, ada pasir aje. Sudahnya, kasut aku berdebu macam pekerja construction.

Along Champs de Elysee ada pulak orang bagi free sample Miss Cherie Dior. Berapa kali kitaorang pusing-pusing untuk dapatkan free sample tu. Ended up with almost 30 vials! Hahaha tak payah beli. Then ada pulak Sephora. Macam la tak pernah jumpakan. Eh, masuk jugak. Aku pun tak ingat beli apa. But I did came out with a paper bag.

Sambil posing-posing lagi, tetiba nampak cahaya kegembiraan, dari seberang jalan. Wah apakah itu? Itu ialah



Dengan pantas, kitaorang pun lintas. Sebelum tu, ramai pulak yang dari tanah besar tetiba hello hello kat kitaorang. Rupanya, memang certain outlet (do we call it outlet) ada quota imposed. They will check your pasport before any purchase and if dari tanah besar toksah la mimpi nak borong banyak-banyak ye. So depa2 ni akan hang around the place to look for volunteers to buy them the bags. Apa ke gila.

Wah, saya terpegun or if you will, terpempan di dalam kedai itu. Semuanya macam tiba-tiba rasa mampu nak beli. We went around the place just to enjoy the atmosphere and admiring the beautiful things that we can't afford. Whilst browsing, one of the sales assistance named George, came to us. Kitaorang tak panggil pun, agaknya dia dah bosan nak layan geng bukit yang datang dengan kecoh macam nak beli ikan.

My sister already had in mind apa benda dia nak beli. Aku je la yang masih menengok2. Kononnya nak beli Speedy.. but it's just not me. So George suggested something else. Which I fell in love almost instantly (not with George) but the bag. Si George of the Jungle, pun lagi nak tokok tambah. "I think this bag is really suitable for you". Ye George, I think so too.

The cashier desk was swarmed with geng bukit, so George suggested that we go upstairs. Lo and behold, kat atas was meant for a different kind of clientelle. He asked us to have a sit while he sorted out our purchases. So duduk la kitaorang amongst the French taitai who is from head to toe, clad in LV (enjoying her champange no less).. and this Arab dude who just ordered esppresso. George takde pulak offer tah goreng pisang ke air sirap ke kat kitaorang, but we were enjoying the ambience still.

Kejap lagi, George pun datang dengan our credit card slip, sign kat situ je. Tak payah susah2 nak bangun. Ha ambik kau, bag besar gedabak sorang satu. Fear not, George shall help with our bags (tapi dia tak nak tolong angkatkan bag Sephora aku... hahahha) Angkat la pulak bag2 tu turun escalator and send us to the door, but not before pointing to us the nearest Metro from their shop. George V Metro (of course!). Lepas au revior au revior, kitaorang pun kuar la kedai and pergi Metro tu. Which is dekat gila as in like 10 steps away. I swore I skipped those 10 steps. Gembira gila hutang kredit card makin banyak :)

Sampai hotel, with one look at our shopping bags, Malik said "Oh you went shoppping already" Oui!

Later that evening we went out again, to visit Lourve. On Wednesday, it is open till late at night. Besar gila tempat ni. Manage to catch a glimpse of Mona Lisa. Quite nice jugak pergi malam, orang tak ramai sangat. The place is so huge, you actually need more than a week to really enjoy the place.

I wanted to see Naploean's Apartment. Sesat la pulak. Ya rabbi nak pengsan ok. It's from one wing to the other. Disebabkan dah sesat, banyak la section tak dapat tengok. We didn't get to see Venus de Milo, but I did catch Madonna on the Rocks ie yang dalam Da Vinci's code tu.

The museum memang beautiful. Aku mesmerized dengan paintings on the ceiling. Almost every room has one. But yes, after a while penat la kan. Dah la tak paham semenda. Most paintings are from depiction in the bible kot. And tah kenapa some section, keep on showing exposed boobs, boobs, boobs and more boobs. OMG.. it's like porn.

Malam tu terus tido tergolek tak ingat apa sampai esok.