The Hague, Netherlands - May 2012 - Part II

Scheveningen

There's a beach near den Haag. So one fine day it was a holiday and it was sunny. We took the tram till end of it's line and came to the beach. It was overlooking the North Sea. Coolness. Literally. Sejuk ok, though the sun was out. Not many people as it was quite early. There's a long pier with interesting shops and eating places. We had an earlier lunch at a seafood joint. A lovely break from eating kebab... kebab and more kebab.

Madurodam

Another attraction here is a miniture park called Madurodam. It's a the next stop after my office if not mistaken. It has small scale of everything in Netherlands... from Schipol airport, to the duct, to the AJAX stadium. Kids would love this place. We sort of completed the whole place in like 30 minutes and dah penat. After making endless joke about being Godzilla around the miniture buildings, we were out of there. Hahah tak senonoh.

Cooking session with the team

One my 3rd day in the office, the team suggested that the whole bunch of us should go out and do something. The do something .. is going to this cooking place, where we are going to cook our own dinner. Exciting at first, the jet lagged just sets in. And I don't bloody trust myself with a knife or anything to do with fire! And bugger I thot I would be good at this, rupanya mcm terbanggang ok. We always see all those cooking show that seems so easy - aku pun boleh buat tu... Naah... not when you are with people you just met pastu ngantuk gila babi. Nak pecah telur pun malu2 kucing... (ok maybe that's just me). The menu looks doable (tapi ingredients all in english, some of it I have no idea what they are), so I ended up with goreng telur dadar aje. Hahahahahahahahahhahahahaha. They were all looking at me sideways... "I thot Malaysians all cook at home". (Not this Malaysian apparently). Turns out semua orang sangat terror. Even the guys! Malu akak yo! It was fun actually. We had  pumpkin soup, shrimp, lamb (i had tuna steak instead sbb lamb tak halal kan) pesto, guacamole, chocolate pudding (which I think had rum in it.... tapi aku tawakkal je la). We also had creme brulee. Aku sepantas kilat nak volunteer memblow torch the sugar! I'd put the pictures of everyone so engrossed in cooking, but nanti kang this will be traced back to me, so I put the picture of what I prepared je la.

The creme brulee (aku tolong pukul telur and heat the milk I think).. and burnt it to death

The disgusting looking turd... hahaha pesto in omelette by Moi 

Keje baru

This year marked my 3rd year being in the support team. So tibalah kita di hujung persimpangan... there's always the option to stay, but normally this is the window that everyone is waiting for to move to other role.

Setelah drama2 yang merepek meraban.. (maybe this is all in my head), tepat 1st April - I joined a new team. What a date.. 1st April. Macam April fool pulak.

So the whole of April, I was in zombie slash cicak kudung mode, completing all of the handover while trying to grasp all the new info from the new team.

Basically, hari-hari macam nak pengsan ok. Itu lah sebabnya takde masa nak blog memblog. My boss and other colleague are all based in a different continent. Aku sorang aje yang nganga kat sini. There are days that is nice sebab no one to monitor you. But there are days yang rasa nak hantuk kepala kat dinding sebab nak bertanya semua orang jauh.

At the moment, I have 1001 things to learn. And trying to adjust my working time. Hopefully things would be will be ok. Anyhoo the new job did bring me to Europe  for the most part of May, untuk handover (kononnya)... hheheheh. Will blog about the trip soon.

Little Pocket of Happiness

Looking at how sux (to quote Penny Hartz, if I may) the year had kicked off, these little pocket of happiness have been keeping me sane (in no particular order):

1. Happy Endings (season 2 just got better)
2. Penny Hartz  (..Ding!) and Max Blum
3. Barney Stinson
4. My Ipod playlist
5. Winning 1 million Deal or No Deal on iPad.
6. Discovered an 'aMahzing' blog - hollywoodspinster
7. Visit to bakeries...for one of these bad boys. Yummeh!

..so what's your current pocket of happiness?

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?

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 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.

Bandung Lagi - 23 to 25 July 2011

Aku kembali lagi. With a Vengeance!

Hahaha. Katanya dah tak nak datang lagi for the next 5 years. Tapi 2011 menyaksikan saya kembali lagi ke Bandung untuk kali yang ke-4 since 2007. I'm here with Ija and Rosli. If you are looking for suggestion for a cheap trip, please read elsewhere. We book ourselves on MAS flight, check ourselves into the Premier Lounge before boarding and stayed at a decent 4 star Apartment Hotel in Bandung. In total, we paid about RM600 per pax for the flight and 3D2N stay at the hotel.

We stayed at Grand Setiabudi Hotel & Apartment  along  Jalan Dr. Setiabudi. Which means near Rumah Mode :). The rooms are small. Luggage kena letak luar. The room that we stayed in ada 2 bilik, 1 with queen bed and the other with a single bed. Ada living room and small kitchen. Kitchen masak maggie and buat milo je la. Ada small dining area juga. Just nice for the 3 of us. Lupa pulak nak snap photos of the room sebab by the time ingat, bilik tu dah macam kapal karam.

To me acceptable la, sebab naik MAS which you don't have to worry about food and baggage charge etc.Tapi excess baggage, tetap excess baggage. Apakah! MAS hari tu serve cous-cous and daging masak apa tah. Sedap!

And we also got ourselves a driver for the whole day for 500K. Mahal kot, coz I heard someone manage to get 3 days for just 1 Juta. I have totally lost my bargaining skill. Or perhaps yang dapat 1Juta for 3 days tu, actually cewek-cewek yang muda belia yang senyumannya mengoda. Senyum kitaorang ni tak laku dah. Hahahah.

Highlights of the Trip:

1. Hotel's Buffet Breakfast

Plenty of choices and sangat sedap. My favorite as always is the bubur nasi with assortment of condiments and sup. Ija pulak hilang akal dengan segala unidentified sambal. There's also selection of continental breakfast. Setelah membelasah segala fruit juice, fruit, toast, omelets and bubur, sambal, keropok, tempe, wedges, yogurt tah apa lagi.... mari pergi melabur. Baru bersemangat nak kick off the day.

2. Joyride on Angkutan Kota

Wheeee.... sekarang dah expert sket naik Angkut. Plus our hotel location is perfect for Angkut to go to Rumah Mode. It's about 500 meters (ke?) from Rumah Mode and its going downhill. Nak jalan boleh jugak but dangerous sebab banyak kereta, motor and tah apa lagi. So baik naik Angkut. Nak lintas ke rumah Mode tu memang tahap gila. Kalau nasib baik, polis ke jaga dari Rumah Mode tu will stop the traffic and help us cross the street. Nak balik pulak kalau jalan kaki naik bukit so baik tak payah. Jauh sikit kalau naik Angkut and it will stop across the street. Nak lintas tu as usual sangat mencabar, so pandai-pandai lah ye. Trick aku selalu lintas dengan orang local. Heheh.

3. Benar-benar Hilang Akal di section kain di Pasar Baru

Aku rasa aku dengan Rosli memang dah kena sampuk hari tu. Kena sampuk dengan brother kat kedai kain. Sekali dia tebar kain tu, seribu kali mata kitaorang rambang. Aku rasa dia memang letak dadah dalam teh botol yang dia bagi free tu. Sudahnya, aku beli 5 kodi kain, Rosli beli 3 kodi. Kain kaler oren pun nampak cantik. Padahal kat Malaysia lagi murah! Rosli lain kali, sebelum masuk kedai kain kita kena ingat baca doa banyak-banyak. Jadi macam Ija yang dah taubat. Langsung tak nak turun floor kain tu. Sudahnya kena tunggu kitaorang sampai 3 jam! Dah tidur dalam cab, pun kitaorang tak jumpa lagi jalan pulang. Apa dah jadi dengan kain 5 kodi aku? Entah.....  nak hantar pergi jahit, tak hantar-hantar lagi. Sighhh

Check out hasil rampasan perang kitaorang. Siap kena panggil potter tolong angkat barang. Boot kereta tu penuh gila!

Then, on to more exciting activity iaitu memeriksa hasil rampasan perang

4. Makan - makan
Got the chance to try out places yang tak sempat nak try. Discovered a very interesting name for a kuih. Aku gelak non-stop. Ni la rupa kuih tu. Macam karipap-karipap cinta kan?

Cuba teka apa nama kuih.. or kue tu dari menu ni

Then kitaorang ada juga try Sundanese food. Ok la.. pedas campur manis-manis.

Nasi dia bungkus comel-comel macam ni

Pastu lauknya mix and match sesuka hati. Ni mix of tempe, ayam and tah apa lagi.

5. And... the mother of all highlights:

Sebelum aku cakap apa dia. Ini adalah sedikit nasihat dan juga peringatan untuk diri sendiri. Apabila anda dah shopping non stop dari pagi sampai petang, kalah orang menoreh, kalah orang bajak sawah, please take 5... if not take 30. Kerana apabila penat... jangan terkejut kalau ini berlaku

Ok gambar ni cilok from Facebook Rosli. But notice anything funny? Look closely on bahu Ija..tiba-tiba ada no 3... Percaya tak, dalam sibuk pilih-pilih baju, ada orang tu lupa nak bayar! O... M... G! None of us perasan till dah kuar dari kedai tu. Boleh tu ala-ala tak bersalah letak baju atas bahu... pastu jalan kuar selamba. Masa bayar tadi cashier tak perasan, masa keluar pak guard tak perasan. I suppose yang lagi kelakar ialah muka kitaorang yang panik. Aku dah terpikir yang worst je...ie kena tangkap plak masuk jail. Nasib selamat balik

To Rosli and Ija, I had a great time! Thanks for everything. Ke mana kita lepas ni? Jakarta or Surabaya? Apa-apa pun, tolonglah bantu kawan korang ni supaya jangan excess baggage lagi!!!