Dubai Detour - June 2010

In the spirit of SATC2 holidaying in UAE, we managed to sneak in a short trip to UAE as well during my assignment in Qatar. Terlupa nak blog about this. Better late than never I suppose.

So we went to Dubai. For a mother of all shopping trip. The summer sale was in full bloom by the time we touched down in Dubai. It's only an hour away from Doha via flight. Got ourselves a cheap flight on FlyDubai (UAE answer to AirAsia). As for the hotel, after studying the map of old and new Dubai, cross referencing it with the Metro station location, matching them up with the satelite images of all the major shopping malls and interviewing Dubai natives at the office, we choose to stay at Rose Rayhaan Hotel by Rotana. It's not just some hotel, it's the tallest hotel in the world! The room was top notch (not just because we were on the 68 floor) and we got a pretty sweet deal. After the financial crisis, luxury became murah dan meriah in Dubai :)

Like I said, this was a mother of all shopping trip. Dubai has just got every label, store, brand you could think of in this world. You name it, they got it. And they got it at discount sebab tengah summer sale. It's pure hard core sale pulak tu. For example, if TamaGucci is on sale, you could find the latest item at 50%. Bukan macam Malaysia, dah la item from previous 10 season, pastu discount 10%. Itu pun barang dah kena pijak-pijak. And, (kami sungguh bersyukur ke hadrat ilahi) while we were there, the Malaysian RM was pretty strong. So with the great exchange rate and loads of discount, the god of shopping is smiling upon us and sending us loads of credit our way. Ladies, warm up your credit card and ....(need I say more?)

Before I continue, may I say again this is a mother of all shopping trip. Did we visit the Ski Dubai? The Underwater World? The Aquarium? The Fountain? The dessert? I will simply say a polite No. Tidak. Nada. Nehi.

We did however went to Harvey Nichols, Bloomingdales, Galeries Lafayette, Saks Fifth Avenue, Agent Provocateur, Alexander Mcqueen, Hermes, LV, Gucci, Burberry, Armani, H&M, Dubai Mall, Burjunam Mall, Wafi City Mall, Dubai Outlet Mall, Mall of Emirates, City Center, Virgin Store (borong t-shirt, best gila), Souq Naif (twice, sampai dah bersila dalam kedai jual Abaya (gedik name for Jubah) and baring kat sofa dalam kedai jual segala mak nenek kain chiffon, silk and tah apa lagi). Walaupun ni mother of all shopping trip, kami masih lagi waras dan tak hilang akal. Most of the shop tu masuk nak cuci mata, sambil posing-posing poser aje. Then we had fun, having all of our small purchase gift wrapped! Hahahah memang dasar 'villager'!Tapi dekat Souq Naif tu memang hilang akal jugak la. Maybe sebab tak makan lagi. Tu la never shop when hungry, nanti semua nak beli.

For some strange reason, tah kenapa kitaorang gila terjal dalam Hersey's Chocolate World. We even took pictures to be printed on a bar of chocolate! (Ok ni lagi worst..) and tah kenapa aku gila happy nampak Reese ni, siap posing scandalous lagi. After second the picture was taken, it just dawn to me.. shit.. I must made the Bangla/Nepal/Pinoy in the suit a very happy person today. Kakak aku lagi best, "Eh haram la ambik gambar peluk-peluk, kang kena tangkap pulak". Tak terpikir pulak aku. Hahahahaha

And like I said, you name it, they got it. Siap ada kedai nama Klynn. (Klynn, sudahkah kau merasmikan present aku? On second thought, no need to answer that).

Ada jugak Miss June. Bila pulak akak design baju ni?

Well, somewhere during the 3 hectic days of window shopping, we managed to squeeze in, going up the tallest building in the world. Granted it was in the mall. Heheheh. Burj Khalifa - stands over 800 meters tall (Petronas Twin Tower is at 452meters) with over 160 levels, was techincally the tallest building in the world somewhere in 2008. The building was officially launched in January 2010 . We get to go up the observation deck which was on the 124 floor. You have to get tickets to go up. I shall not bore you with the facts and figures, have a look here for them. Unfortunately, the weather was not that clear. The sand storm was kicking in that weekend. So there was not much view, just hazy everywhere. Bila dah bosan, apa lagi... kitaorang la orang yang paling eager sekali kat gift shop kat situ. Heheheh.



A few tips on Dubai:

1. Check the weather. Try to come during cooler weather so that it's nice to walk around.
2. There's Metro (train) but it's not that extensive. You need to get around in taxi which could be pricey.
3. The shopping malls are HUGE! Get fit and wear comfortable shoes if you are going to rough it, so to speak.
4. The low cost terminal is super crazy and queeing could be hours. I just can't figure why. Do come in early.

Before we know it, it's time to go back. We promise ourselves that we should come back here and do all the tourist thingy properly. Siap simpan tu Metro card, konon nak guna lagi. Hahaha. Insya-allah, kalau ada rezeki lagi :)

Di Mana Kan Ku Cari Ganti

We got invites to watch the live recording of the Konsert Penghargaan P. Ramlee Di Mana Kan Ku Cari Ganti that was shown on History Channel 555..When we saw the line of artist that was going to perform, ni tak boleh miss ni.

It was on 24th Oct. On the same day of our flight from Bali. Kalah YB, rushing here and there. The concert were held at DBKL Auditorium. We parked at the basement.... somewhere near datuk bandar's designated spot. Rasanya kitaorg park kat pengarah pokok tumbang ke (something like that kot) punya spot. Hehehhe.

We were seated on the 2nd row from the stage. Ingat duduk tepi selamat la... rupanya ada pulak camera tu kat situ. Maka kena la buat game face sepanjang malam. Dah la dengan tak mandinya aku pergi. Pulak tu kitaorg duduk sebelah makcik yang super enthusiastic. Aku rasa banyak kali camera tu capture makcik tu. Memang berdoa supaya tak nampak batang idung kitaorg.

A few of the performance was good. Yang lain biasa-biasa aje. Ada yang kena a few take. Dah masuk repeat yang no 3, rasa macam nak nangis pun ada. Tak kisah la. I'm here to enjoy P Ramlee's work. Siapa pun nyanyi, tetap sedap. Pastu, curi-curi ambik gambar, tapi mostly goyang.

Below were the few yang elok

In the last picture, the girl in pink is P Ramlee's cucu. She did a great job on Bunyi Gitar. At the end of the night, aku cuma frust takde siapa nyanyi lagu ni:

Gelora by P Ramlee and Saloma (from Seniman Bujang Lapok, 1961)

Jiwa rasa gelora
Kasih pada teruna
Bukan kerna intan permata
Kerna budi bahasa

Kasih bukan paksaan
Sayang bukan mainan
Jiwa dan raga jadi taruhan
Ooooo pujaan

Rinduku padamu
Kekanda idamanku

Kekasih dikaulah
Oh! adinda puspitaku

Murni sungguh impian
Indah nian harapan

Jika tercipta taman kencana
Ooooo bahagia

Rinduku padamu
Kekanda idamanku

Kekasih dikaulah
Oh! adinda puspitaku

Murni sungguh impian
Indah nian harapan

Jika tercipta taman kencana
Ooooo bahagia
Ooooo kekanda

Ooooo adinda

7 Year Itch

7 Years and counting?...

-cartoons clips do not belong to me. It's the property of whoever that is mentioned in the clip and posted it to the net in the first place-

It's all about SPA

This is my third trip to Bali. Since I've visited all of the Pura and Gunung. I thot this should be a leisure and I'm a bum kinda of holiday. Since we didn't have anything specific to see in Bali this time around, we thought why not we do nothing but SPA aje. We ought to go to the mother of all Spa and spend on nothing but the best. And yes, we shall also eat nothing but the best Nasi Padang.

We booked ourselves into Vira Bali. Ingat dekat dengan Discovery Mall and Kuta Square. Well, to them dekat la kot. To us, we'd rather take the 5000 rupiah (RM1.75) taxi ride to the mall. The hotel is next to a church and rather quiet since it's far from the hustle and bustle of Kuta. I'm ok with it, but it would be better if there's a 24hr shop next to it. (Actually there's one about 70 meters away... tapi pada aku jauh tu). Facilities is great. Pool nampak cantik. Tak pernah sekali pun aku masuk. Bathroom is nice and TV mcm2 channel dapat. The folks at the reception are also very nice and helpful. Suka tanya depa benda-benda merepek meraban tapi depa layan jugak with a smile :)

So how did it go?

1. It rained most of the time :( I always picture Bali as hot and sunny. So the raincoat was the first thing I discarded while packing.

2. There's a major upacara right smack in Kuta. Aparently it has been going on for a month. Kuta has become machet total (gridlocked)! Grrr!!! I've googled hi and lo to make sure that there's nothing specific going on this time.

3. Spa was not as great as we pictured it. We wanted to try out this 2 particular Spa. We should have booked it while in KL. We just can't get hold of the actual Spa. Contact number semua takde. So we resort to check around. Most of the taxi driver would recommend us to go to Anika, which is charging in USD. Mahal gila. At those prices, Baik aku book myself into some 5 star hotel in KL and get the same treatment if not better. One guy suggested another Spa which resembles rumah atuk aku masa zaman perang dulu. So terima kasih daun keladi je la.

We ended up at Febri's. 5 hours spa for about RM210. Boleh la. Tapi tak best sangat pun. Most of the Spa around Kuta is already westernized and owned by Mat Salleh. Dah tak authentic. Semuanya service lebih kurang aje. They focus on volume rather than quality. The first day tu, we did an hour of massage at another Spa called Lemon ke Orange tah. A few doors from our hotel. Lagi la tah hape-hape. The beds were just separated by thin curtains!

I notice that Balinese do not have any qualms about personal space and nudity. Selamba aje tarik segala benda. At one point, my ass was really on display. Tah sape lalu lalang tu boleh nampak agaknya. Suddenly I kept on hearing the female voice that we would hear of parking vending machine. (The one that says "Please pay the ammount on display. Please pay the ammount on display"). I kept on hearing "Please look at the ass on display. Your ass is on display. Ass is on display. Ass is on display". Sialan.

Dah tu, nak mandi.. Boleh dia tanya, nak mandi sekali tak dengan kakak aku, sebab takde tempat nak tunggu. APAKEJADKEJADHAR?!. Kalau dia paham cakap english, akan aku jawab "I will not dignify that question with an answer". The last time I took a bath with my sister was when I was 6. And that was just because I was scared of 'Jaws' that would come out from the kolah, ok. Tuala pulak sesuai la untuk budak umur satu tahun. It's the kind, tarik ke atas bawah exposed, tarik ke bawah... you get the drift.

Ingatkan ni sebab Spa murah, it will not happen at Febri's yang nampak macam ada standard sket. Hmm hampeh. Sama aje. "Ya jangan malu-malu". Tengah kitaorg berkemban, berendam dlm jacuzzi ada pulak... jantan-jantan mana nak siram pokok. Boleh? Patutnya jantan off limit la kan. Tak paham aku.

And the mother of all horrors, out massage 'cottage' is out in the open ok. Aku rasa kalau orang nak mengendap nampak aje. Cuma dah tak kuasa nak tanya lebih lebih. Shower and bathtub semua kat luar. Memang ganguan perasaan. Aku rasa kalau malam mesti banyak nyamuk.



4. I was also looking foward to dine on the beach at Jimbaran. Unfortunately, hujan lebat la pulak. So had to eat indoors. But it was still nice. Plus, we ordered jagung bakar. Ada perisa pedas and manis. Nice. Pastu order Teh Botol. Tak boleh order Heineken ke Tiger kan.. so boleh la jugak poser-poser dgn botol. Hahaha so sad!


5. We got to eat Nasi Padang. Tapi pricey la pulak. Kitaorang asyik suruh taxi driver tunggu and we went to tapau. Agaknya kalau makan hidang lagi murah kot. Food dia memang pelik-pelik. Aku ada tanya this chikedis looking thing in a small packet, rupanya.. usus ayam. Usus ayam? Banyak la ayam yang dah kena sembelih.... sebab ada banyak packet. And banyak usus dlm satu packet. Aduuss...

6. Kitaorang beriya nak pergi Sukawati. Konon nak shopping. Tapi punya la jam, by the time sampai dah penat. Before that the driver also recomended that we should checkout Krishna. Macam Mydin. Jual semua souvenier Bali. The driver kept on saying,"Nyaman mbak disana.. lebih nyaman". Aku imagine.. dlm aircond.. cooling and tak panas macam kat Sukawati. Nyaman apa kebendanya. 5 minutes in the place, peluh aku macam dah aerobik 1 jam. The place is packed with people. Tah berapa bas yang datang. Nak queue bayar satu hal lagi. Adooiii.. I suppose if you are not in a rush ok la. Murah jugak la barangnya. We like it better at Matahari at Kuta Square. Lebih kurang je harganya. Bertenang sket tempat tu.

7. I wanted to go to Tanah Lot because missed it during the last visit. Disebabkan jam, almost didn't make it to catch the sunset. Nasib sempat. I don't remember that Tanah Lot had a lot of shops selling t-shirt and things, tapi skang ni dah banyak. Sempat jugak makan jagung bakar. Sedaappp.




8. We saw Kechak Dance again. Dah half way thru. Bagus la.. sebab aku malas nak tengok dari awal. The audience tak ramai. I still feel that the first Kechak Dance that I saw some 16 years ago was the best. This one, the kechak is small... but siap ada lighting effects tu. Hahahha dah advance la sket. Everyone was seated close to the performance. I kept on looking around to make sure that the Hanuman do not pull out something cheeky like sitting next to me. Mau aku nightmare seminggu!

9. Bali Slingshot. No, kitaorang tak naik. Tapi sempat la witness orang naik. Gila babas. I was already to shoot the people being slingshot, in a blink of an eye, the thing was catapult into the air. If aku naik, dah sah-sah la muntah hijau!



10. It was time to go back. We didn't know that we still had to pay airport service. Nama je dah pergi 3 kali. Kena la pulak tukar duit lagi. cilakak. Lain kali sila sediakan duit ok. 150,000 Rupiah ke per person.

We took MAS to and fro. Memang tiada tolok bandingnya MH! Makan sedap. Spacious. Pergi lagi la sedap kan food. Balik ni sebab catering dari Bali, ada sket kureng la. Tapi aku mmg cheesed off masa nak balik sebab semua orang tak reti nak beratur. If kata seat 30-44 board dulu, orang lain tunggu la. Ni row 20 dah masuk pastu sibuk nak susun-susun barang. Dah hold up semua orang. Kalau kata bodoh, marah pulak.

Till next time, Bali!