Hora Hoorey

Didi and friends telah menjadi penyanyi kegemaran Luqman semenjak dua menjak ni. Dia dah bosan dengan Upin Upin, so now nak kena cari benda baru. Thomas and friends macam x sesuai sebab kadang-kadang script dia ada yang macam nak WTx pon ada. Huhu. Lagu Hora Horey menjadi salah satu lagu kegemaran Luqman, tapi aku tak de la nak cerita pasal lagu Hora Horey tu. Sebenarnya, tak tahu nak cerita apa. Tengah bosan-bosan tengok phone. Tv pon x de cerita best. Luqman tengah take a nap. Huhu

Towards the end of my third internship experience

People kept saying

What? Intern lagi?

Haha. Yeah. And I survived!

Exploration drilling office is not as happening as before. Its ambience is a little bit tense with a well being spud in a month time. And towards the end of the year, too many meetings need to be attended by my bosses to discuss on the strategic planning of the near future businesses. And I? Left alone without any proper official guidance from the supervisor. But, that is the reality that I have to accept. I am no longer a secondary school student that needs to be spoonfed the whole time. It is the time for me to be independent on searching what I really want to do and need to do. Or else, the whole three months time allocation for internship purposes will be wasted.

The inputs I gathered all these times are all from fellow colleagues and the subject matter experts. They are truly helpful and knowledgable in their expertise and I am grateful having them as my seniors in the industry.

InshaAllah if things go according to the plan, I will join the company in June and complete the seeding program in 2017. I can't wait to finally enter the world which the employees hate the most, can't wait to deepen my knowledge into that area. I know it sounds too ambitious but I need to develop my passion from now to be able to love my work soon. I do not want it to be the waste of my lifetime. Things have to be beneficial for me and nation and the niat is obviously Lillahita'ala.

Pray for me, readers!

Iklan kecantikan

Tak tahu lah ni jatuh tahap mengumpat ke apa, tapi tetap jugak nak meluahkan perasaan.

Recently, slot akasia tv3 akan ditaja oleh sesebuah syarikat produk kecantikan demi melariskan barang diorang. So, setiap kali iklan, mesti keluar muka duta produk dok promote. Aduhai... Ni yang tak syok ni.

Satu, gelak 3 harakat.
Dua, tertonggek-tonggek.

Tak tahu nak cakap apa. Macam... Perlu ke????? Dah tentu-tentu la ramai yang tengok drama tu mak cik mak cik kan. Tak payah lah buat iklan seksi sangat macam nak attract orang lelaki. Eeeee geli laaaa. Seriously tak boleh nak terima.

Iklan tu harganya mahal walaupun airing time dia short. So, hasilkan la iklan yang berpiawaian tinggi sket, yang lebih berilmu. Senang kata, yang lebih sopan dan bertepatan dengan segenap lapisan masyarakat. Kang cakap bertepatan dengan syarak, kata ada je orang india dengan china gak tengok. Kang kata nak bertepatan dengan syarak, sifat hiburan tu sendiri dah salah, so baik tutup je tv, fokus tazkirah maghrib. Whatever it is, the main point is, IKLAN HARUSLAH TIDAK MENYAKITI MATA PENONTON, BAIK SECARA FIZIKAL MAHUPUN TIDAK.

Kalau anda sukakan hiburan pon, biarlah hiburan itu sesuatu yang after-effect dia tak terlampau negatif. Ni kalau dah sampai iklan pon menggeletis, commercial value produk tu pon entah ke mana, imej duta pon ke laut, yang tinggal? Cemuhan je. Hurm..

Just my 2cents. Orang kata nak bersuara guna air liur je, tak yah bayar. So, I pon merepek la sesuka hati. Hihi.

Old.

Sometimes we just wanted to be remembered, not always, but maybe during happy moments. But, things won't be as what you could have wished for always. As time passes, new people come, old people say farewell.

So, never take things too deep in a relationship, be it a friendship or even family bonding. No one could commit to a single person the whole life. Later, you may be forgotten and that is reality.

Appreciate what's in front of you.
Don't look back.

Perkara-perkara yang tak digalakkan ketika berada di dalam kenderaan awam

Semenjak menjadi penghuni sementara dalam kawasan bandar, aku dan rakan-rakan turut menjadi pengguna setia kenderaan awam. Padang Jawa - KLCC menjadi destinasi harian kami. Pelbagai ragam dapat dilihat and I learned about the do's and dont's while using public transports.

1) JANGAN KENTUT

Benda ni terpaksa di stress kan kat nombor satu of dont's thingy. Eeewwww apakah?? Dah kenapa nak kentut dalam aircond area yang ada orang? Haip... Dah banyak kali happened. Pernah sekali tu, aku terus pindah gerabak. Wengg la. Tahan je la. Nanti keluar train, kentut sangat lah. Menggangu gugat kestabilan emosi betul.

2) MAKE SURE BAKI KAD RAPID / Touch n Go MELEBIHI KADAR MINIMUM YANG DITETAPKAN

Haaa macam mana nak tahu berapa kadar minimum? Ni apa yang kawan aku cakap la. Let say you board from KLCC. The last station would either be gombak or kelana jaya. Make sure baki kad melebihi harga klcc-kelana jaya. Tapi tak tahu lah teori ni betul ke tak. While writing ni pon aku tengah terfikir. If we have rapid card, it will cover STAR's station too. So paling jauh would be ampang, petaling, sentul kot. So, tinggi nye minimum? Hurm... Better tanya kaunter tiket untuk info lanjut. Kenapa aku cakap ni? Sebab, orang-orang yang tak cukup baki and stuck ni membuang masa orang belakang. Again, emo.

Kalau touch n go, rasanya kena ada lebih dari rm2. Kalau tak kena tangkap, lepas je nk jalan. Tapi kalau ada pak cik ktm or pak cik polis bantuan jaga depan scanner, ha sila lah ke kaunter untuk membuat bayaran lanjut.

3) JANGAN BERKUMPUL DI DEPAN PINTU MASUK

Aihhh dah kenapa la nk semak je depan pintu lrt or ktm tu? Jalan je la tengah sikit. Banyak lagi ruang, banyak lagi orang boleh masuk kot.

Ha macam tu lah hari-hari dok mengomel dalam hati.

Teringat masa intern 2013 dulu. Dari cheras station, kena naik STAR. Tapi kalau pukul 7.30 pagi, memang padat macam sardin. Ada sekali tu, aku insist gak nak masuk sebab dah lambat. Aku nampak masih ada ruang lagi untuk aku berpijak. Bagi aku tak de ruang tu kalau depan pintu tu ada kasut semata-mata. Masa masuk tu, aku dengar la ada minah ni mengomel. Time tu dalam hati macam "eeee sorry la akak. Saya kecik je. Tak bergerak pon akak kat tengah tu masa saya masuk."

4) MANDI PAGI

Dah bangun pagi tu, mandi la... Yang nak jugak naik public transport tak mandi pagi tu dah kenapa. Aku ni dah la pendek. Kot kau tu tinggi, obviously bau tu boleh tersebar kot kalau kau pegang handle atas tu. Haip...

5) BERATUR DAN JANGAN MEMOTONG BARISAN

Bayangkan kau elok-elok dah beratur tunggu ktm or lrt. Tiba-tiba orang potong barisan dari tepi or tengah. Nak jeling pon tak guna sebab orang tu ignorant sangat. Menyampah okay. Cuba la bertimbang rasa sikit. Semua pon nak cepat. Tapi, tak kemana kot train. Kalau semua boleh beratur, inshaAllah ada je tempat dalam train tu. Ada pernah sekali tu aku geram, memang aku letak je tangan dekat tepi pintu train tu, tak kasi orang potong dari tepi. Menyampah.

Haaa, rasanya tu je la kot. Dah nak sampai  Padang Jawa dah ni. Hehe. Conclusion nya, jadi lah pengguna yang berhemah. Kalau anda menyenangkan orang, orang pon akan menyenangkan anda.

My weekend in october

It has been three weeks since I started my on job training program. What have I learnt so far? I am not sure how to answer that question to be honest. Everything seems vague. I just got back from ROE training back in INSTEP. Yes, I went there for the second time for almost similar training I had in April. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this time's visit where I clearly saw several procedures happening at the land rig. The knowledge and experience, I shall thank UIDA and PETRONAS for giving me such opportunity. I even learned  the way to make bees go away, okay? Haha.

On 10th October, the Malaysia's Prime Minister officiated 'Hari Sukan Negara'. Although I was not directly involved, I was happy to see the reactions from fellow Malaysians towards this event. The news reported the scenes from all states in Malaysia, and everyone seemed happy and active in their participation. What did I  do? I just sat at the pavilion and watched my sister playing hockey for her IPG hockey tournament. Some teams were okay and some were not. So, of course la ada part 'sayur dan mensayurkan' happened. Hahaha. The first day of the tournament ended at 3 pm and we headed to d pulze in cyberjaya for early dinner. Susah sangat nak decide makan apa, last last I suggested The Chicken Rice Shop. Haaa melantak masing-masing sampai dah tak mampu minum air dah. Alhamdulillah...

And today, I woke up to the sound my nephew made. That 1.5 years child would never fail to wake everyone up so early in the morning. Bak kata ibu, "orang tahajud dia tahajud, orang breakfast dia breakfast.  Puas dodoikan dalam buaian satu jam. Dia tidur 5 minutes je". Omelan ibu is never ending. Thats how lively my nephew is and the feel of being home is always felt whenever  and wherever my nephew and mother are at.

Tomorrow, the daily routine of an routine has to be continued. Ya Allah, permudahkan urusan kami... Amin..

My 2 cents for Dr S

Dear Dr S,

I am sure this does not reach you. If I ever dare to convey this to you, here are my 2 cents about what is happening right now. I know I am being seperti anjing menyalak bukit, not relaying the message through the right channel and just memekik tanpa hasil.

First, it has been a while since I sabarkan diri looking at your mismanagement on this program. I know you have to handle a lot of things. Plus, to align it with Petronas is burdensome too. Petronas has never failed to make things complicated at the very end and acts like they have not done anything wrong. I am speaking based on my experience as well where Petronas has never said anything on my recruitment status after few months of graduation, yet I heard they took non scholars into a job  exactly after a week of interview finished.

Back to your mismanagement again Dr S, I just could not brain on why you still insisted of not sending any email to us even after we personally requested it just to officiate this sudden call. Are not everything has to be written, for recording and also for legal purposes? Say, if we all claimed that we did not even get the message, are you not in trouble by then? (I know you can counter it back by presenting the text messages on whatsapp or phone). But still, why on earth you do not inform us anything before hand and just jual nama kitorang tak pergi briefing hari Isnin to PCSB?

I think this kind of communication skill, you as a lecturer should have known better. Or else, I can suggest to UTP to allocate you into a management course taught by David Marshall. LOL.

Just imagine, IF and only IF, my coursemates did not ask the officer about our internship status, we could have been going selflessly to the tower and registered ourselves for internship on Monday. You never told us about them postponing the date of internship. Also, for the briefing, you have never told us anything too.

Please Sir

If this kind of situation keeps happening in future, I suggest to abolish this course forever, so you do not have to sakit kepala handle kitorang and Petronas. Being a guinea pig is not okay, trust me! Everything is uncertain. I am 24 and does not secure my job yet.

I hope this kind of thing won't happen again in future. I think every job has to be done sincerely, so the result will be fruitful. If you make things easier for everyone, eveyone will do the same for you too, inshaAllah...

My girlfriends dah kahwinnnn!!!

Minggu kahwin sedunia la last weekend. Semua orang nak kahwin. Dalam kalangan classmates UTP, ada 4 orang kahwin, so ada 4 majlis. Satu kat utara, satu kat selatan, dua kat klang valley. Dua hari sabtu, dua hari ahad. Sebab dah belajar jadi VIP hari tu, kali ni, tak nak la jadi VIP. So, I attended dua majlis only. Satu ahad, satu sabtu.

Hari Sabtu, I went to Felda Ulu Tebrau di Ulu Tiram, JB. Sampai kenduri pon dah pukul 2 lebih, perut memang menyanyi lagu keroncong zapin bagai dah. Lapar weh. Keluar rumah dah pukul 9 pagi. Sekian pulak nak sampai johor tu kan. Itu lah majlis kahwin pertama yang kitorang makan dua kali. Alhamdulillah nasi minyak and lauk sedap and orang dah ramai beransur pulang, so tak la segan sangat nak hulur pinggan lama kat mak cik mintak tambah nasi. Hehe. Masa tu Saidah pergi solat Zohor. Kitorang helped ourselves lah. Datang je Saidah kat meja kitorang, terus mintak kek kat atas pentas. Haippp tak senonoh punya kawan. Hahahhaha. Tapi, siapa pulak nak makan kalau bukan guests kan... Kitorang tolong untuk tidak membazir je. Hehe. Usai makan dan bergambar, the boys ajak g JPO. Aku pon jakun sebentar la. Tapi tak bernafsu tengok price tag beribu. Hahaha.

Dah pukul 6.30, perut pon lapar lagi. Shafik ajak makan mi rebus kat zz sup tulang. Meraban cari restoran tu. Haha. Waze ke laut, google map pon ke laut. Akhirnya kitorang jumpa jugak la kat tropika apa ntah. Sedap alhamdulillah... Dorang melantak mi rebus tulang. Sebab aku loser tak reti makan tulang, aku order mi rebus daging je. Sampai rumah dah pukul 12 malam. Thanks guys bawak aku jalan-jalan. Hihi.

Hari ahad pula, reception Ashraf dekat Dewan Perdana Felda, KL. Sebab kan formal dinner, nak gila-gila pon segan. Dah la duduk depan high table pulak tu kan. Sopan-sopan je makan. Kesian ekor udang tu aku tak habis buang kulit sebab takut terketuk pinggan. Haipp... Second time attend formal dinner kat hall. First time masa Malam Selingkar Kasih form 5 dulu. Nevertheless, kitorang enjoyed the night jugak la. Emcee of the night tu nyanyi sedap gak. Tapi dah macam gila mic dah aku tengok. Banyak gila lagu dia nyanyi. Dari satu ke satu. Dah macam free concert je ha.

Buat shima, saidah and iliyas yang baru berkahwin and ashraf yang dah 3 minggu kahwin, good luck in your new life, jaga hati pasangan elok-elok. Semoga berbahagia sampai ke syurga. InshaAllah...

Untuk aku? Tak pe lah. Long way to go. Hahaha. Doakan yang baik-baik ye.

NB: Al fatihah untuk mereka yang terkorban dalam insiden crane tumbang di Mekah.

Nilai-nilai murni dari animasi mahupun drama

Okay, apa motif kau tulis benda ni weh?

Hurm... Actually, recently ada la sempat nak berdebat pulak pasal interest masing-masing tengok naruto dan korean drama. Masing-masing pon ketegaq, nak gak menangkan naruta dan kdrama masing-masing.

Aku pon tak paham la apa yang korang suka sangat tengok naruto/kdrama tu.

Kononnya, naruto pon memberi sumber motivasi. Siap ada link blog post lagi.

So aku counter la,

Drama pon ada pengajaran dan motivasi. Just penonton kdrama pemalas nak menulis. Cuba penonton kdrama pon tulis motivase yang dorang dapat dari kdrama tu, sama je benefit nya

So, ko tulis la?

Hurm....

Tu lah. Nak menulis pon malas. But I'll try, yeah?

Dalam lagha tengok kdrama, dalam banyak-banyak storyline yang sama pasal cinta, sebenarnya ada je kdrama yang berkualiti. Cerita pasal politik yang corrupted, pasal isu kekeluargaan yang rebutkan harta, pasal bagaimana media memanipulasi berita atas sebab-sebab yang kita sendiri tak jangka dan macam-macam lagi la. Kadang-kadang isu yang dibangkitkan tu 'eye opener' jugak.

Salah satu cerita yang aku suka recently is pinocchio. Pinocchio ni sindrom orang tak boleh cakap bohong. Kononnya wartawan yang ada sindrom pinocchio ni tak boleh pergi jauh sebab mesti akan ada satu tahap yang pinocchio ni tak boleh sampaikan. Kiranya, konsep berita sahih tu sendiri dah violated. Sebab wartawan yang menyampaikan tak semestinya menyampaikan perkara yang betul. Bila tengok cerita tu, kita belajar la jangan percaya media bulat-bulat. Selidik dulu cerita sebelum nak share. Application dalam real life? Facebook. Sekarang ni memang zaman fitnah. Orang share cerita entah apa-apa kat fb senang je, tekan je butang share tu. Lepas tu. Bagaikan skim piramid, orang lain pon share, dah cerita tu widely spread. Persoalannya, betul ke cerita yang di share tu? Kalau melibatkan manusia, tak ke jatuh fitnah dan aib? Hurm...

Okay, maybe ni semua lebih kepada pengajaran instead of motivasi. Tapi pengajaran atau pun motivasi, both masih di kira sebagai perkara positif, bukan?

Dah banyak sangat kdrama aku tengok, dah banyak genre, dah banyak storyline, sampai tak ingat dah yang mana. Storyline favourite aku is cerita action mcm 3 days, bridal mask, city hunter. Kalau cerita medical related, good doctor and yong pal. Kalau cerita cintan cintun yang best, autumn in my heart, secret garden, and the time we were not in love. Cerita yang ada idol, aku x minat sangat sebab rata-rata cerita yang ada dorang ni sangat typical dan kebudak-budakan. Mesej kurang.

Main point kat sini is, tak kesah la cerita tu cerita apa pon, kalau penonton tu pandai menilai, pandai mengambil pengajaran apa yang patut, rasanya tercapai je objektif penulis skrip tu. Tapi, kalau yang tengok tu sekadar nak tengok 'crush' or 'bias' dorang, memang tak jadi apa la. Bagi cerita berilmiah macam mana pon memang tak kan dapat apa-apa benefit.

Untuk cerita melayu, aku harap penerbit boleh variasikan lagi cerita. Buat cerita-cerita yang 'mendalamkan air', means yang ada mesej la. Cukup-cukup lah cerita cinta tak kesampaian, hasad dengki sana sini. Ingat kehidupan kita ni berkisar tentang tu je ke. Banyak lagi benda yang anda boleh deliver kat penonton tau. Tak perlu lovey dovey pon tak pe.

Buat penonton, jadilah penonton yang bijak. Whatever cerita yang korang tengok, tengok dengan bijak. Bukan membuta tuli.

Actually nak tulis lagi. Tapi tak de idea. Tak pe la. Next time la.

Kau yang kahwin, Aku yang VIP

Cuba korang bayangkan betapa YB nye korang kalau dah kena attend banyak majlis dalam satu hari. Mana nak kejar masa nya, mana nak kejar peta nya, mana nak kejar kepochi nya, bergambar la, makan la etc.

Suppose aku tak dapat pon nak attend semua majlis. Tapi dah rezeki, kawan nak tolong bawak kan, lets lah!

Tunggu punya tunggu, konon nak gerak pukul 11, tapi pukul 12 baru gerak dr KL Sentral atas sebab musabab yang tak dapat dielakkan. Sampai batang kali je dah pukul 1. Tp surprise gila pengantin dah hilang hantar hadiah balik rumah. Pengantin dah siap makan kot. Hebat-hebat. Usai makan, kitorang pon bergambar macam biasa. Geng drama, dah kahwin tu, senonoh senonoh sikit. Jangan tengok drama banyak sangat sampai lupa lauk dalam periuk tengah atas stove, eh? Hahaha.

Journey to the second destination agak mencabar. Nak sangat ikut cakap waze. Ha sampai bercalar bumper bawah kereta. Waze bagi jalan estet. Jalan halus gila. Bengkang bengkok. Dok berzikir je semoga selamat je. In a meantime, kawan-kawan lain dah tunggu sekian lama  aku nak datang. Pengantin pon dah tak tahu nak buat apa. I was so VIP. Aku sampai je, terus semua habiskan sesi bergambar and chow.

And aku? Teruskan perjalanan ke third wedding of the day. Sampai kem wardieburn dah pukul 5.30 petang. Abang askar pon kata dah habis majlis, tapi kitorang insist gak nak masuk. Just sempat ambil gambar dengan pengantin dan dayang-dayangnya. Sempat jugak KLMJ and menjejak kasih.

Pukul 6.30 kitorang terus gerak ke kem sungai besi untuk our last majlis iaitu open house rumah panglima medan barat. Makan kambing sedappp. Tak sangka terjumpa iman kat situ. What a small world betul.

Sampai je rumah atikah, sambung pulak chit chat sampai ke pagi dengan Atikah dan Aqiedah. Lepas tu, pengsan tidur tak sedar apa. Penat habis dah.

Pengajarannya, jangan nak paksa diri sangat ke sana ke sini. Tak naik pangkat lagi, tak nak attend semua. Pergi mana mampu je. Nanti dikejar tak dapat, yang dikendong berciciran. Rancang perjalanan anda.

Untuk shikin, thanks for the day. Next time boleh repeat lagi kegilaan kita. Hihi

Carrot cake dan pizzaraya kami di Seri Iskandar

Kalau dah namanya raya, tak sah kalau tak de rumah terbuka kan? Setiap minggu, memang penuh je dengan undangan rumah terbuka mahupun majlis perkahwinan. Kelas kitorang pon tak nak kalah hokay? We all pon ada makan-makan raya jugak.

Untuk pertama kali, tembok kemalasan aku untuk baking terrrpecah... Haha. I did a promise long time ago to bake carrot cake for my girlfriends, tapi asyik je postpone. Since dah ada good cause ni, buat je la. Oven, mixer, scale sume dah ada. So tinggal beli barang je la dekat tesco.

Resepi apa eh yang berjaya sangat tu? Resepi google la. From allgoodrecipe website. Simple je resepi nye. Kena pandai adjust la kandungan gula tu. Kalau tak, memang kencing manis la.

Sambutan memberangsangkan dari rakan sekelas cukup membuatkan hatiku lega dan terhibur. Ternyata my second attempt on this  have succeeded. InshaAllah, nila mood rajin tu datang lagi sekali, boleh je buat cake lain, sebab gula,  minyak memang ada lagi. Hehe.

berjaya buat chicken pie yang memang delicious sampai menjilat jari, while saidah buat kuih raya cornflake madu yang crunchy. Shima sangat berjaya menjadi 'chicken' helper yang tangkas melakukan tugas. Hahaha. Best sebenarnya nak masak nak baking ni. Rajin tak rajin je masalahnya. Haha.

Buat rakan-rakan, Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri. Maaf Zahir dan Batin. Kalau terkurang terlebih tu, mintak halal la ye.

Raya dan kahwin dan soalan cepumas

Kalau dah masuk musim raya, mula lah start orang nak ajak makan kenduri kahwin diorang. Sampai satu hari tu, dua tiga kenduri kena attend. Kalau lah aku berkereta, nak jugak rayau semua kenduri tu. Nak pinjam kereta family and bawak kereta tu sendiri, memang tak kan lah mak aku nak bagi. Dia sanggup drive kan jauh jauh dari bagi aku drive sorang sorang. Tak percaya katanya. Hurm... Tapi kang kalau bawak, aku yang rasa bersalah tiba tiba mak aku tersisih bila aku gelak tak ingat dunia dengan rakan taulan yang turut sama menghadiri walimah tersebut. Apa apa pon, I am happy that ibu is willing to take me here and there. At least, ibu boleh berjalan. Tak lah duduk rumah je kan.

Raya kan sebulan. So every weekend tu ada je aktiviti makan. Dalam beraktiviti makan tu, ada juga lah orang yang suka menyibuk tanya soalan soalan cepumas ni. Soalan yang korang sendiri sedia tahu. Bila nak kahwin? Bila nak ada anak? Bila nak tambah anak lagi? Bila nak kerja? Bila nak habis belajar? Hurm....

Secara jujurnya, aku malas nak jawab soalan bila nak kahwin tu memandangkan aku single dan tak de calon lagi. Soalan tu macam pressure plak. Dah la kengkawan semua ada yang dah beranak pinak, aku ni pulak 24 and single. Mula mula macam don't care jugak, tapi bila tengok gambar-gambar dekat laman media sosial, timbul rasa cemburu. Siapa tak nak kahwin weh? Memang la dekat mulut cakap tak nak kahwin la, tawar hati la, tapi jauh di sudut hati, aku ingin gak disayangi seadanya. Tapi, bila fikirkan indahnya saat berkahwin, nightmare aku pasti datang. Sebab tanggungjawab sebuah perkahwinan tu amat lah besar. Kalau tak kena gaya, boleh karam weh. Hari pertama pasti indah, tapi bila anak pertama lahir, time tu la semua ujian datang. Ni semua aku just observe sebagai orang luar je lah. Pandangan dekat tentang hidup anak buah aku and juga cerita-cerita mereka yang lebih makan garam tentang kehidupan. Duit ke mana, anak ke mana, masa ke mana, ibadah ke mana. Allah... Ujian tu Allah datangkan bagi mereka yang mampu menghadapinya, kan? Semoga kita tabah...

Maybe Allah tak datangkan jodoh aku lagi sebab aku maybe masih belum bersedia untuk memikul tanggungjawab tersebut. Apa apa pon, aku hanya mampu berserah dan berdoa agar Allah pertemukan aku dengan suami yang mampu membimbingku ke syurga. Takut juga dengan realiti sekarang. Aku yang tak berapa nak baik ni, macam mana lah jodoh aku tu nanti kan?

Dengan soalan bila nak kerja pon menjadi satu masalah jugak. Aku ni dah la pelik sikit. Dah habis degree dah, and degree tu dipanggil master. Lepas tu, aku sambung lagi another master. Sudahhhh... Soalan seterusnya is, lepas ni nak sambung phd pulak ke? Aihhhhh. Kot la aku ni CEO Petronas, boleh jugak aku jawab. (maybe CEO Petronas pon tak berapa sedar situasi aku. LOL). Aku ni sambung master sebab orang tu offer nak masuk drilling department ke tak. Tu je. Boleh je nak decline and tunggu offer kerja department lain. Tapi, aku malas dah nak menunggu sebab scholar petronas ni macam dah dianak tiri kan. Entah bila kala pulak aku nak dapat next offer. So aku accept la untuk sambung master. InshaAllah lepas habis master yang ni, aku masuk lah kerja. Tang bab phd tu, kalau petronas suruh, boleh jugak. Tapi kalau dia x suruh, aku pon tak ingin heh. Tak tau la, kot ingin plak nanti, aku accept la kalau ada opportunity tu. Boleh duduk oversea lagi sekali. Hehe.
Sorry lah kalau liku hidup saya ni membuatkan anda curious pulak. Hihi.

So masyarakat sekalian, kalau musim raya tu, baik cerita pasal makanan je kalau kau tak de soalan selain dari tanya bila orang tu nak kahwin nak anak nak kerja bagai. Sesungguhnya topik makanan itu lebih enak didengar. Kalau nak cam hiruk pikuk sikit, cerita pasal drama tv ke, kenangan masa silam ke, isu semasa ke, apa-apa je lah yang boleh bagi orang selesa. Setiap manusia pasti ada masalah dan reason mereka sendiri. Tak perlu lah jadi burung belatuk, memecahkan wall of privacy orang.

Sekian dari yang tengah berangan nak pelamin cantik tapi rasa membazir.

😀

Women. Career or family?

Recently, one of my best friends once asked me to write on this topic. But, I said I was quite busy with assignments and stuffs, which is true. At the same time, while dedicating myself to do the never-ending assignment, I also procrastinate. Hence, this post is written.

When people are grown up, the conversation topics becomes more serious, and complicated. We come to a point where every thought and view is crucially examined in holistic perspective.  An argument grows bigger and branches to next arguments, so the comment thread becomes longer in-line. Everyone in the group converses with their individual points, so do I.

I just texted my senior who was also my not blood related sister. She was very dear and we opened up to any sort of conversation. Like today, we talked about her new life as a mother. She was, at one point felt a huge burden in completing house chores while dedicating herself as a mother to a newborn daughter. It came to her anger when the husband just had his rest after coming back from work. Guess what I think, he is not the only one who acts like that. I think most of men would just sit and relax once they reach home. But, one thing to realise MEN, you are not the only who got tired. With your wife dalam pantang, plus kena jaga anak, masak, kemas rumah semua, she is more tired than you. So, TAKE NOTE! Now that the maternity leave is over, she has to continue teaching and the husband is working on the ship at the ocean. What I can do far from here is to pray for both of them. I hope my sister can be strong in this obstacle.

A woman is really a super human (I know this is exaggerating). I am not sure if you have watched a video about this job interview or not. In that video, the interviewer described the job scope, but he also stated that the employee would not get any pay check. None of them figured that the job described was the work of a mom, who would take care of the welfare of the household. Yet, a mom would do it diligently at her best.

With advancement of the technology in this world, the social needs are also changed. People would want to have the best of everything, in term of career and personal development. Same goes to women. Women nowadays would demand to be in a high rank position, be it in the company or even nation wide. Everyone is in hunger for acknowledgement, therefore he or she is trying to get better and receive higher salary.

However, for a woman, how high you are going to be ranked socially, you are not exempted to be ranked in the family. The responsibilities of being a career woman and a mother are two different fields of task. This act reminded me of a strong woman I met back in Warwick University. She came all the way from Malaysia to talk with us, Petronas scholars in an engagement session. After years of having hardworks as an engineer, she finally decided to change her department to Human Resources just for the sake her family. Being an engineer made her a busy woman that she had less quality time with the family. Though the pay of being a technical expert is so much higher than being non technical department, she is willing to give up that. She prioritises the family first. She inspired me on how she managed to succeed in both equally important worlds. I wish I will do the same in future if the time comes. 

But since I am neither a wife nor a mother, I guess, I will keep climbing the career ladder till I find what I really want to achieve. Of course, through the right way la. Not that I want to tergedik-gedik dengan boss, so that boss favours me and naikkan my pangkat just like that. I don't fancy such strategy to be honest. If I am deemed fit to be there, I'll be there. If not, I'll make my own way to get the best for my own self.

NB: post dah lama jadi draft. Tak pernah habis. Now dah bosan. Tak tahu nak tulis apa. Sambung this post pon macam tak de idea. Haha.

The end of our Japan trip: Tokyo day 2

Dah nak sampai penghujung dah jelajah musim bunga kami... Nak buat apa eh kat Tokyo ni lagi? Souvenir dah beli... Ohhh, tak makan sushi lagi.

Kami bangun pagi semata-mata untuk pergi ke Tsukiji Fish Market. Datang jauh-jauh beribu batu untuk pergi pasar ikan. Kau hado? Hahaha. Tsukiji Fish Market ni antara fish market terbesar di Jepun. Jauh jugak lah kami meronda di dalam pasar tersebut. Pasar ni open to public pukul 9 pagi ye. Kalau datang awal pon, nanti pak cik guard tak kasi masuk. Mata kami memang tertumpu kepada variasi hidupan laut yang dijual. Dari yang selalu nampak sampai ke yang tak pernah nampak. Ikan tuna kat Jepun gemok belaka okay? Nak angkat seekor tuna gergasi kena guna tenaga 3 orang lelaki. Nak siang ikan tu pon ada caranya yang tersendiri. Semua pelancong memang amaze la, siap ambil video lagi. Terkesima dengan keunikannya.

Then, kami pergi ke another pasar. Sempat juga lah aku membeli souvenir untuk classmates di situ. Pemadam daruma (ninja) dan sushi. Nak beli t-shirt sehelai seorang, tak cukup kaya. Pemadam je I mampu ye, kawan-kawan.

Konon dah selesai tengok ikan, nak makan ikan la. Plannya, nak makan sushi unlimited. Sampai ke Ginza kami jalan kaki cari restoran yang dimaksudkan. Pengunjung boleh makan sushi tanpa had dengan bayaran 3500 yen. Chef sushi tu buat sushi guna banyak nasi, ingat perut aku mampu ke? Gila. So, nak makan pon guna strategi. Makan hanya sushi mahal seperti fattiest tuna, medium fat tuna, abalone, eel, whale (okay, sorry la tak menyokong kempen Save the Whale ketika itu. Aku dah kena 'tarbiyah' dah oleh kawan aku yang merupakan pencinta haiwan. Janji tak buat dah. Huhu), and ada a few seafood lagi. Tak ingat sangat dah. Semua tu raw eh. Ada a few je yang grilled. Nasib baik la semua boleh makan seafood mentah. And yeah aku tak rasa loya. But then, bila keluar je dari restaurant, terus makan ubat muntah tu, takut terkeluar pulak semua isi perut. Dah bayar mahal, tapi stay untuk 5 minit je, mana boleh. Hahaha

Perut pon dh stuffy, kepala dah fikir pasal KAIN je. Ha ye, kain. Kain cotton jepun. Nippori is actually a textile town. Sepanjang jalan tu kedai kain. Kami masuk ke gudang tekstil Tomato dan mencuci mata... Wehhhh, rambang mata okay? Semua kain rasa nak beli. Tapi, berpada-padalah sikit nafsu tu eh. I bought dua pasang for me, sepasang for my mom, and sepasang untuk adik perempuanku yang dari awal memang gila corak bunga poppy. Harga? Actually sama je dengan harga kat Malaysia, tapi corak yang dekat Jepun tu tak ada la. Orang kata ada 100 yen sepasang. Yes, ada. Tapi, tak cantik. So, x payah la beli kalau tak cantik. Membazir je kang. Hati memang berat nak tinggalkan Tomato sebab rasa macam tak habis pusing lagi. Tapi, apa nak buat, sudah-sudah la tu, Nabilah...

Dari Nippori, kami bergerak ke Odaiba. Odaiba ni macam new city of Tokyo la. Futuristic sikit nampaknya. Apa yang ada di Odaiba? Macam mana nak pergi Odaiba? Semua jawapan tu boleh google sendiri eh? Hahaha. Apa yang boleh di share kat sini is, perjalanan ke Odaiba tu sendiri, scenery dia cantik gila. Kami lalu bawah the Rainbow Bridge. Actually, niat utama ke Odaiba is to see a big Gundam Robot. Yes, Robot. Robot tu setinggi Diver City Tokyo bersebelahan robot tu. Tinggi gila weh. Siap ada show lagi. Masa show tu, robot tu tukar-tukar warna. Yes, aku memang acted macam budak-budak la masa first time nampak robot tu. Hahaha.

Again, disebabkan operating hours mall tu until 9 pm je, terpaksa lah kami beredar awal. Sempat jugak lah melihat pemandangan the old city of Tokyo di seberang Rainbow Bridge. Nampak juga lah Tokyo Tower yang sibuk sangat nak tengok semalam tu. Haha. Oh, kat Odaiba ni pon ada Colloseum macam dekat Rome tau. Tapi, tu hotel la. Also, ada The Statue of Liberty macam dekat USA.

Usai bergambar, moh le balik kemas bag. Esok nak balik Malaysia dah.

See you in future (kalau ada jodoh dan wang), Japan! Mana tau boleh honeymoon betul-betul masa hanami dengan husband (doakan eh? Amin....). Hahahaha. Ok, dah. 

Tokyo day 1. Pheww... Ayam dan itik sudah berpisah (Everyone can speak and understand english)

Apa eh terjadi pada hari pertama kami di Tokyo? Lupa pula. Ermmm... Ermmm...

Ohhh. Since it was Sunday, we first went to Harajuku. Konon nak tengok la cosplay. Hurm... Haram. Mana ada. We do not know the famous spot.

Keluar je dari Harajuku station, kami ternampak ramai orang berbondong-bondong bergerak ke satu arah, dan kami yang memang agak kehairanan ni pon ikut la. Jalan punya jalan, ohhh dah sampai Meiji Shrine ke... Tak sangka la pula. Meiji Shrine is an old temple. Kebetulan masa lawatan kami, ada dua buah perkahwinan tradisional Jepun sedang berlangsung. Memang popular habis lah those two couples sebab tourist memang beratur ambil gambar mereka, termasuk lah yang tengah bercerita ni. Hehe.

Kebiasaannya, mereka yang bertandang ke shrine ni membawa hajat. Mereka berdoa di kawasan utama and membeli plak kayu. Plak kayu tu, mereka tulis doa, and gantung di hadapan pokok besar.

Selesai berlegar-legar di Meiji Shrine, kami pon beredar. So, we ended up walking past Champ Elysee of Japan. Tapi, since aku anti sikit Paris, meh aku tukarkan perbandingan tersebut kepada Oxford Street of Japan. Ramai gila orang weh. Kitorang yang tak tahu hala tuju ni, berjalan je sampai lah masuk ke Takeshita Street. Banyak juga lah kedai-kedai menjual pakaian di sepanjang Jalan Takeshita ni. Nak beli, tiada size or maybe menjolok mata pula. So, akhirnya mampu beli t-shirt cenderahati berharga 1000 yen sehelai, dan juga  3 bag kitkat teh hijau berharga 200 yen sepaket.

Seriously tak tahu dah nak pergi mana. Nasib baik lah adik Kak Sureena muncul. So, Hanafiah la yang jadi tour guide kami di Tokyo. We went to Asakusa from Harajuku Station. Asakusa ni pon ada temple jugak. Tapi, kami tak lah eager sangat nak pergi temple dia, just nak tengok suasana di sekitar temple tu je la. Kalau pergi Asakusa, tak sah la kalau tak ambil gambar pintu gerbang yang terkenal tu. Tapi, ramainya orang... Tak terkata. Sibuk semuanya nak bergambar di tempat yang sama. Kami pon bergerak ke hadapan dan sempat mengambil gambar tanglung besar tersebut. Banyak juga gerai souvenir sepanjang jalan tersebut. Ada yang mahal, ada yang murah. Tapi, tak perlulah boros berbelanja kan? Boros tu kan amalan syaitan. So, we stopped at the end of the street and had our free green tea served by the locals.

Perut pon dah lapar ni... Nak makan apa eh?

Lets eat Okonomiyaki! Okonomiyaki ni... Hurm... Cane eh nak cerita? Macam... Murtabak pon ada. Ada telur, ada seafood, ada kubis and carrot. Sebabkan ada Mije (kawan Hanafiah) sekali, so Mije la yang buat kan. Kami yang tourists ni tengok je. Haha. Tak cukup satu, order dua okay? Hahaha. Lagi satu dish tu, tak tahu apa nama. Monje? Lebih kurang jugak la bendanya.

Then, dah kenyang, balik hotel dekat Ikebukuro untuk check out. Next, nak check in dekat Nippori pula. Selesai solat semua, kami pon keluar semula untuk melihat suasana di Shibuya. Shibuya crossing memang sangat terkenal sebagai salah satu crossing yang sangat sibuk di dunia. So, ramai pelancong datang, just untuk melihat kemeriahan tersebut. We head to Starbuck just to capture the moment from the top. Kalau ambil gambar dari jalan raya, mana nak nampak kan?

Nak shopping pon, kedai dah tutup pukul 9 malam. Nak buat apa lagi kan? Alang-alang tu, kami pon pergi lah ke satu station ni, untuk melihat Tokyo Tower.

Sedih. Tak nampak pon. Viewpoint pon dah tutup pukul 8.45 malam. Sebab dah hampa bercampur sedih tak dapat tengok Tokyo Tower waktu malam, kami pon pulang ke hotel dan berehat. And for sure untuk dinner jugak lah.

Bunga biru di Hitachi Seaside Park, Ibaraki.

Semalam merah jambu, hari ni biru pula. Kami meneruskan jelajah di negara terbit matahari ini ke Ibaraki. Untuk sampai ke Ibaraki, kami perlu melalui Tokyo. Sempat juga lah melihat suasana sibuk di Tokyo ketika kami meninggalkan bagasi di loker berkunci Ikebukuro station.

Ibaraki and Tokyo are connected with good transport system. So, we opted the quickest way i.e. Limited Express Hitachi rather than Joban Line. However, there is something different for Hitachi Line. You have to book the seat in advance. We did not know that at first, and just walked through the whole length of train just to find the sign for non-reserved seat but failed. Apa lagi, bila dah gelabah, berlari la ke kaunter JR and terus book seats. Sempat lah juga kami board the train sebelum berlepas. Sebenarnya, boleh je naik tanpa reservation ticket. Tapi, kalau ada orang datang, then you have to move la. Leceh la kan.

Perjalanan mengambil masa satu jam setengah. I think I slept tru je kot sepanjang perjalanan. Sebab tadi dah bangun awal kan dari Fujisan. Ngantok kot. Haha. Sesampainya dia Katsuka station, nampak terus dah sepanduk Hitachi koen tu. Kami pon terus menghala ke perhentian bas yang tertera di sepanduk untuk menunggu free shuttle bus.

Harga tiket masuk ke taman bunga tersebut ialah 400 yen. Kami hairan jugak kenapa lagi murah dari taman-taman yang sebelumnya. But, don't care lah. Rezeki kami lah tiket kali ini murah, kan?

Nak sampai ke kawasan bunga biru dari pintu gerbang utama itu bukan dekat eh? Ada la hampir 1 km berjalan kaki kot. Ramai nye lah pengunjung yang melawat taman tersebut. Sesampainya di kawasan bunga biru tersebut, cuaca pon mendung dan gerimis pon turun untuk beberapa ketika. Tapi, sebabkan dah datang jauh, tak kan pula tidak mahu bergambar kan? Thanks to this water resistant phone, masalah itu dapat diatasi. Heh? Hahaha.

Ada satu loceng dekat atas bukit bunga biru tu. Pengunjung beratur panjang untuk gegar loceng tu. Tak tahu apa significant loceng tu. I was also involved to ring the bell. Haha. Saja menggedik kan... Usai bergambar, kami pon menuju jalan pulang. Sempat jugak lah melihat gelagat photographer pro ni ambil gambar. Terduduk, tertonggeng lah ha. Hahaha. Rata-rata yang datang ke taman ini ialah keluarga yang datang bersantai. So, ramai lah anak-anak kecil Jepun yang comel-comel dilihat bermain sesama mereka.

Nak cari jalan keluar pon sampai sesat, okay? Hahaha. Fail gila baca map. Map dekat taman tu dah la tak de tulisan rumi. Dah macam apa je la kami match kan tulisan  jepun di map tangan dan tanda arah yang terpacak di taman tersebut. Aih... Tak mesra pengunjung global betul.

With the same transport method, we went back to Tokyo and got ready for next destination i.e Yokohama. Yokohama and Tokyo is not that far. 40 minutes by local overground train, I would say. It was suggested by my good friend to go to Yokohama at night to see the picturesque trading town. Memang cantik la. Tak dapat dinafikan. I met my high school friend, Yuki and Yuho in Yokohama. They treated us for dinner that evening. We were touched by their welcoming heartful gesture when eating soba. What funny of us when eating soba was we ate hot soba with fork and spoon. Suppose, cold soba is more common and they eat with chopstick. But it was total failure when it came to me. I could not handle the chopstick. LOL.

Burppp. Alhamdulillah for the rezeki today. I could finally eat the meal tanpa rasa loya. So, selamat lah mi soba itu di dalam perut kecilku... We head back to our hotel near Ikebukuro station and doze off.

Ada berbaki dua hari lagi di Tokyo ni. Nak pergi mana eh?

Shibasakura Festival

Kalau dah namanya perempuan, perempuan jugak lah kan. Wanita dan bunga berpisah tiada. The next taman bunga yang kitorang pergi selepas Kawachi Fuji Garden is Shibasakura Festival. Warna bunga kali ini ialah merah jambu. Kalau dilihat secara dekat, bunga ini macam bunga yang tumbuh dekat longkang je. Hahaha. Moss Phlox? Tak ingat nama species dia. Tapi, memang bunga ni biasa dilihat la. Shibasakura ini memang ditanam dengan sengaja di kawasan yang sama, berlatar belakangkan Gunung Fuji pada setiap tahun. Jutaan pengunjung akan datang ke festival ini untuk bergambar dan juga menikmati pemandangan yang Subhanallah, indahnya... Harga? Sebab kan kami beli pakej dari Kawaguchiko station, kami bayar 1000 yen kalau tak silap. And, that includes a return shuttle bus fare. Jauh jugak lah perjalanan ke situ. Hampir sejam rasanya sebab sempat lagi tertidur. Haha.

Sesampainya kami di sana, amaze jugak lah tengok ramai sangat pengunjung. Tapi agak hampa sebab puncak Gunung Fuji dilitupi awan. Cuaca agak mendung dan tidak panas sangat. Kami berjalan mengelilingi kawasan tersebut dan mengambil ratusan gambar untuk dibuat kenangan. Pada mulanya, memang sanggup nak tunggu lama-lama sampai awan beredar, tapi sebab lama sangat, macam tiada gaya pon awan tersebut nak berlalu, kami pon give up.

We left the festival and walked to Kawacguchiko Lake. Actually ada banyak tasik tasik besar yang boleh anda lawati di sekitar Gunung Fuji. Tetapi, sebab waktu lawatan kami di Gunung Fuji hanyalah satu hari, kami hanya sempat melawat Tasik Kawaguchi sahaja.

Cubaan untuk melihat Gunung Fuji di view point yang paling indah gagal sebab masih dilitupi awan. Sudah separuh circumference tasik sudah kami lewati, tetap juga lah gagal. Siap panjat bukit yang ada tokong orang mati kot, konon-konon nak dapat pemandangan yang sering dilihat di kaca skrin komputer kami menerusi jalur lebar internet.

Akhirnya, kami pon beredar dan beransur pulang dari tasik tersebut dengan menaiki bas. Sebab memang dah tak larat nak jalan kaki. Rasanya, waktu riadah dekat UTP yang selama dua sem tu (duduk dalam bilik je) dah macam sama dengan jumlah riadah (berjalan) 10 hari di Jepun. Jauhhhhhh... Seperti yang dikatakan dalam entri sebelum ini, pekan di Jepun memang tutup awal kan? So, kami pulang ke Maisan Cafe and Lodge, solat, masak mi segera, and sambung tengok Kill Me Heal Me. Apa yang lagi mengejutkan, kami dapat seorang roommate baru, lelaki yang tak friendly langsung. Better tak yah ada kat situ je. Semalam tidur tak de nak tarik tirai. Hari ni tidur, kena tarik tirai and pakai tudung. Lena ke tak? Who cares? Dah penat seharian berjalan, memang tidur mati la. Hahaha.

How do I arrive at Mount Fuji?

Mount Fuji. Gunung Fuji. Epal Fuji? Ada kaitan tak? Hurmmm...

From Takayama Station, we wanted to go to Mount Fuji. Dah google direction dah. Google kata nanti ada interchange for a minute. We were like, 

"Ehhhh, logik ke?"

So, berbekalkan uncertainty tersebut, kami singgah di Nagoya Station dan bertanya di kaunter pertanyaan JR dan mendapat route baru iaitu ke Gontemba Station. Route dia memang tak de lah interchange satu minit tu. Tapi, memang kampung habis la. Entah celah mana la kitorang sampai. Dari nampak Mount Fuji tu dalam bullet train, sampai hilang Mount Fuji tu dari pandangan.  Dalam kepala...

"Asal macam familiar eh Gontemba ni?. Ada apa eh?"

Rupa-rupanya ada Gontemba shopping outlet. Free shuttle lagi dari Gontemba Station. Tapi, sebab takut lewat pula sampai Mount Fuji, kami tidak tunduk kepada nafsu membeli-belah tersebut. Dari Gontemba station, we boarded a bus (1410 yen) to Mount Fuji. Perjalanan mengambil masa selama satu jam. Again, pon tak tahu lalu mana. Nampak pekan, nampak kilang kuning, nampak tasik, nampak pine trees forest. Dalam hati memang berdoa lah betul destinasi bas ni. (Nampak sangat tak yakin cakap mak cik tiket bas tu berbahasa inggeris. LOL). Lama kot dari Takayama nak sampai Fujisan. Dari pukul 7 pagi kitorang keluar dari Ryokan Murayama di Takayama, pukul 4 petang baru sampai Fujisan.

Sesampainya di Fujisan Station, kitorang pon berbondong-bondong lah tarik bag, berjalan sejauh hampir 1 km ke Maisan Cafe and Lodge. We were greeted by the humble owner before she left for personal matters. Keadaan bilik? Awesome. What a tidy and cosy space she has. Selesai solat jama', we walked back to see Mount Fuji to our very own eyes. Memang jelas dan nyata lah gunung yang selalu disebut-sebutkan tu di depan mata. We stood by the viewing point at 5th floor of a building. Kalau ada pasangan, memang nampak romantik la tempat tu untuk minum petang sambil menikmati pandangan Mount Fuji. Dari situ pon boleh nampak amusemant park Fuji-Q Highland.

Apa nak buat pon tak tau. We went down to the 3rd floor just to buy snacks to eat while looking at Mount Fuji. Nak buat benda lain pon tak boleh, sebab pekan Jepun ni mati awal. Pukul 6 dah tutup semua benda. So, kitorang pon melepak je lah situ, konon nak tengok sunset. Rupa-rupanya sunset belah lain. Nampak oren je lah. Balik je lah Maisan Cafe. Tengok Kill Me Heal Me lagi bagus. Haha.

11 june 2013 The adventure continues...

Remember when I said that we missed our luggage in fiumicino airport back in rome? After several depressing calls and quarels from both side (alitalia and us), the bags were found at florence airport after being transitted in venice with a rush tag. We smiled... Phewww... Alhamdulillah now that we got the luggage, everything would turn back on track, we hoped. We headed to pisa with a great hope. We needed to do some rushing walk to pisa tower and took a cab to the airport for paris flight.

We thought of getting a good flight which however turned me down due to strike in France. The air traffic controller and also SCNF train were on strike, so all flights inbound and outbound paris were cancelled and airport would only re-run services on 14th june. We were completely screwed for this journey. Trips began with excitement, now the mode was getting more adventerous and we were totally off-budget.

Pisa airport was totally ridiculuous as the wi-fi could only be accessed at a specific point. You have to pay 4 euro per half and hour use with additional 1 euro for registration fee. Obviously, with msi monitor and slower internet connection, those 30 minutes would not be enough for us to re-plan our trip. So we added another 4 euros in a hope that we could find an alternative mode of transport to getting to paris. The clear option we had was to board a train. However, due to technical difficulties, the train was not bookable and we were left with driving option instead. As Ammar was the only experienced driver among us, he ought to agree to the new plan B. We asked all car rental companies at the airport about a car going to paris but none gave a good response since they dont have a french car and such option would cost us a huge amount of money which we could not afford to. Out of them, only Avis gave a good treatment to us. Thanks to Ms Lora, we got a black Fiat Punto with a fee of 192.38euros. Though we could find a cheaper option with other companies, at least Avis had offered us a cheaper option, i.e to return the car back at the border. She said we could board a train at 1130pm in Turin which was almost 3 to 4 hours driveway from Pisa. She gave us a webpocket for use in car to book the train in advance. With a big hope, we drove all the way up to north region of Italy. The green scenery captured our eyes, we drove through 87 tunnels only to get there hopelessly. The only direct train that we could board could only depart at 730am on the next day. We tried to bought the ticket at porto susa, but there was no self kiosk for international route and the customer service desk was already closed at 9pm. Even when we tried to purchase the ticket online, the ticket could only be bought after 8am. Referring to the news in on eurolines website, there would be a possibility that the train would delay or be cancelled too due to the strike. Even when I checked the train to get to Gare de Lyon for the second time, the train was not available anymore and we were left with another option i.e to getting to disneyland which would cost us an additional of 40 euros. It was not about the money that we cared so much, but it was the time that we concerned. We didnt even know what would happen next in Paris. The strike might affect the flight we had, scheduled on 14th June to Geneva. We had a lot of guessing in disguise situations for the trip and could not afford to loose that much time to something uncertain. So, with heavy hearts, we had to forget all disneyland fantasy and eiffel tower and proceeded with a new route. Now we had to bear the lost and additional coat for the trip, but... What to do, things happened for a reason and we thought it positively and took it as a new opportunity to appreciate natural places such as Lake Como, Lugano and St Moritz.

No one could ever feel happy for a cancelled trip to disneyland. I was so excited for the fun rides as it was my first to go to disney parks and studios, now that this happened, I should be keeping the ticket and come within 6 months to redeem the entrance.

However, the good side of this re-scheduled journey was we got to stay in a caravan with a front awesome lake view. Furthermore, we went to swiss miniature which covered replicas of local switzerland historical and cultural building.

True, every cloud has a silver lining and we got to different 3 places within 2 days with 3 car rental changes; Avis, Europecar and Hertz.

13 June 2013 - St Moritz, Swissminiature, Lugano, Mont Blanc

Though angan-angan nak main hotel hollywood ride dah ke laut, kebahagiaan kami tidak tersekat. We were ready for St Moritz. Pak cik Roberto yang bekerja di Europa Camping once made this joke "St Moritz, Lugano... Do you have more expensive places to go?" Menurut celoteh pak cik tu, those two places memang kawasan orang kaya-kaya. We just go to take photographs and enjoy the sightseeing panaroma. That morning, Atikah prepared us curry and chicken flavoured instant noodles for breakfast. After getting stuffy, dengan perasaan gembiranya kami meneruskan perjalanan ke St Moritz. Perjalanan mengambil masa selama 2 jam setengah dengan distance about 120km. Suppose kalau kat Malaysia, 120km tu boleh buat sejam je. Tapi, since jalan kat Switzerland ni berliku-like especially apabila mendaki gunung, tekanan kuat ke atas accelerator kereta bukanlah sesuatu perkara yang diidamkan kami though Ammar dah lama nak feeling2 drift Ferrari kat Switzerland. 

The route to St Moritz memang berliku-liku. Memang sepanjang perjalanan tu, semua dok berzikir je supaya selamat sampai. Mana tak nya, kereta sewa kecil je, tapi dok lenjan macam four wheeled drive. Kesian la fiat punto tu kan... Tapi mata dan hati sangat happy la bila tengok keindahan alam di sekeliling kami. Macam berada di alam fantasi la orang kata. Subhanallah... Allah itu cantik dan suka akan kecantikan. Hebatnya ciptaan alam; gunung ganang berpuncak salji, padang hijau yang luas, awan putih di langit biru dan udara yang nyaman.

Seperti biasa, bila x de benda nak buat, people tend to sleep in the car. Buat co-pilot, though macam mengantuk, kena la jugak tahan sebab kang ke laut pulak pilot bawa kereta.

Sesampainya di sebuah tasik biru di pertengahan perjalanan, everyone awoke and terus keluar tangkap gambar. Macam-macam pose lah semasing kan... Yang bajet ayu, yang melompat, yang cover macho, semualah.

Dah puas bergambar tepi tasik, we continued the journey menempuhi jalan yang berliku dan mendaki selekoh tajam. Since St Moritz ni destinasi tangkap muat, tak de homework pasal attraction kat situ pon yang dibuat. So, teragak tengok tempat tu lawa, kitorang pon singgah. And again, we stopped nearby a lake. Kat sebelah kiri ada church and pony horses and sungai biru yang mengalir terus ke dalam tasik, kanan ada hotel, depan ada tasik dan gunung. Memang cantik.

Dalam perjalanan menuju ke heidi hutte, kitorang terjumpa satu butik prada yang besar, siap ada tangga prada lagi. Daki punya daki, tiba-tiba dah ada kat puncak gunung. Kira satu level dah dengan cable car yang bawa orang ski kat puncak tu. Sempat juga lah kitorang main buaian atas gunung, feeling bollywood kejap. Nasib baik tak de selendang je. Kalau tak, dah abes semua orang berdancing.

Since tak jumpa-jumpa heidi hutte and kononnya nak tengok pemandangan pokok pine, dengan kuasa penunjuk arah yang terletak di tangan co-pilot, I decided to use the right route untuk turun dari gunung tersebut. Malangnya jalan tersebut tidak menepati piawaian and still under construction. Sebabkan jalan yang sepatutnya telah pon ditutup, dengan arahan GPS, kitorang pon lalu unpaved road. Tanpa disedari, kitorang terjumpa seekor kancil yg sedang memandang tepat ke arah kereta. Lama kancil tu tenung. Orang kata bijak macam kancil sebab kancil ni lincah and sukar dilihat and ditangkap. Alhamdulillah rezeki kami dapat jumpa kancil liar seekor...

Makin dalam kami tempuh, makin pelik laluan unpaved route tu. Dah namanya unpaved route, suppose kuda and hiker je yang lalu. Ni kitorang belasah naik kereta, dah sepanjang perjalanan tu berzikir hebat... Bila dah jumpa jalan besar, tiba-tiba jalan tutup pulak. Agak-agak la nak pusing jalan tadi balik, kan? So, Ammar pon cabut tiang penanda construction to make a space for the car to go through. Menghela nafas lega la masing-masing... Pheww. Taubat tak nak masuk such road dah.

So we finished ekspedisi St Moritz in the morning and went back to the cabin for lunch and power shower. Wujudkah istilah power shower ek? Haha. Sebabkan panas waktu summer, I showered la. Tak de guna air panas pon. Actually to have hot shower at that camping site, you have to purchase a token worth 70cents which lasts for 5 minutes. But, you can switch on and off the power while soaping your body. The concept is economical and energy saving. Ammar by then tempted to go into the small beach by the lake. However, by second thought, he denied that urge to retain energy to drive for the rest of the day. After loading our stuffs, we said goodbye to Uncle Roberto and thanked him for having us.

The clock showed 1 o'clock in the afternoon which meant that we were a bit behind the schedule. We were supposed to depart to Geneva during the second half of the day. But I already told Ammar to bring us to Swissminiature. Dah macam redha tak pergi pon sebab dah lambat. Tapi dah Ammar cakap boleh pergi and still had time, we went.

The student price to get into Swissminiature is 13 franc. We spent about an hour and half visiting all 112 miniatures symbolysed buildings all over Switzerland. I was the only one who was a little bit too excited with this theme park. I remembered when I was at Brussels, I persuaded everyone to bring me to Bruepark which displays buildings in the whole Europe.

Finished being a child, Ammar dropped us at Lugano railway station and he drove Fiat Punto to Como like ferrari. 45 minutes drive had then become 38 minutes because of that. We had to return the car back in Italy to avoid huge sum of money as crossing the border of the country. I just couldn't accept it as they are obviously under the same company and under the same European Union. Why don't they charge the same rate to return the car at different location eventhough under the same administration. Haihh. I think Italy and Switzerland would never be a good friend in term of public transport as the fare across the border was too expensive. (Only my plain blind accusation. LOL).

Drama swasta petang tu sikit je la. Ammar sempat catched a train at 6:50 pm from Como tu Lugano which costed him only 8.50 euro. Of course, we shared the price la bila dah total up semua budget. Bajet nak buat surprise kat kitorang sebab mampu sampai awal than expected, tapi tak jumpa pulak. Hahaha. We thought he would be late, so we actually sempat berjalan-jalan sekitar Lugano and naik the funicular. Last-last Ammar buat-buat merajuk pulak sebab tak tunggu dia naik furnicular. Sorry Ammar. Hehe.

So, the next rent car was metallic grey Mazda 2 which costed us 180 CHF, with full covered insurance. Off we go to Geneva!

Having said that, we actually returned to our original plan, i.e. be at Geneva at particular date. We drove all the way to Geneva from Lugano at dusk and the scenery along the highway was pretty spectacular. Kalau dah namanya senja, memang dah pukul 9 malam lah. Yang penumpang, tetap lah terlena. Yang memandu, tetap lah gagah. We stopped at autogrill aka RnR la where Aqiedah had deep interest in. Tak tahu kenapa. (Obviously dah lupa, sebab masa entri ni ditaip pon dari yang dah kahwin pon, anak pon dah boleh berlari la, nak katanya lapuk nya cerita ni. Hahaha). From this point, the co-pilot had changed, i.e from Nabilah to Aqiedah.

Aqiedah berusaha membaca map though it was her first time. Nabilah and Atikah slept at the back while aqiedah stayed awake to entertain Ammar. Hati Ammar dah tidur, tapi Ammar dengan degilnya meneruskan perjalanan kerana perjalanan itu sememangnya mencabar dengan keadaan geografi yang bergunung-ganang. Sesiapa yang minat Initial-D, memang korang akan minat la route ni. Kitorang yang dah tertidur kat belakang ni siap terjaga lah balik demi keselamatan bersama-sama. Kitorang perasan kot kereta dah ke kiri ke kanan. Aishhh.

And the next day i.e 14 June 2013 already started. That means, dah seharian jugak lah Ammar ni bersengkang mata. Dalam kegelapan malam, when I actually checked the map provided by the rental service, memang kitorang tengah melepasi sempadan tiga negara. Kejap masuk France, kejap masuk Switzerland, kejap masuk Italy. Tak tahu lah sistem highway tu macam mana, tapi memang macam tu la nampaknya di atas map.

We finally stopped at a border of France and Switzerland. Ammar memang out terus bila enjin kereta mati. He slept for two hours at the back seat. Mula-mula Atikah duduk at the other end of the car. Mamat tu bila dah pengsan tak ingat apa dah. Bajet tidur kat katil rumah sendiri la konon, sampai tersepak Atikah. Atikah terkejut, terus duduk dekat co-driver seat. Berhimpit lah sikit kitorang kat depan. Tapi, tak pe lah. Sekejap je pon.

Tak lama kemudian, Fajar pon menyinsing, tanda masuknya waktu Subuh. Sebabkan in the middle of no where, memang facilities pon tak berapa nak friendly la. Ada ke dia kunci toilet atas gunung tu. Damn. Nasib baik lah stok air mineral ada. Guna je lah apa yang ada. Sejuk wehhhh. Menggigil-gigil berwudhu'. Bila selesai berwudhu', baru lah perasan yang kitorang sebenarnya berada di hadapan Mont Blanc. Puncak Mont Blanc tu masih bersalji lagi, so memang sejuk lah.

Usai berehat, we drove through the Mont Blanc tunnel sejauh 12 km and paid 41 euro toll. Keluar dari tunnel tu actually dah France. Pernah dengar nama tempat Chamonix? Haaa bawah dari exit tunnel tu, bandar Chamonix lah. Actually, we confused jugak ada dekat negara mana. Jalan depan sikit dah Switzerland. Tadi, masuk Italy, pastu rasa macam kat Switzerland. But, yeah. Pemandangan memang snagat awesome. Nampak Chamonix di lembah Pergunungan Alps, air terjun semulajadi dalam suasana pagi yang berkabus pada ketinggian 1420 m dari paras laut. Subhanallah... Selesai bergambar, menggedik di depan Mont Blanc Tunnel, we continued driving to Geneva Airport where we actually needed to change our car (again).

Upon our arrival, Ammar sambung tidur. We, the girls boarded onto a free shuttle bus to Geneve Airport (we actually parked at car rental parking). Kononnya nak mandi la. Tengok-tengok kena bayar 15 CHF, memang tak ah. Semua just salin baju, cuci muka je. Nanti sampai Lucerne baru mandi (hati-hati tengah mengomel). Selesai Ammar pon bersiap beberapa ketika, we walked to Europcar counter to settle for next car. Menyirap pulak rasanya dengan unfair treatment yang diberikan. We were like the first customer registered there, yet we were last to be served. Katanya system down. Heh??? Inefficient pulak kakak ni. Nak pinjam web pocket je pon. Awat yang complicated nye pon tak tau. Walaupun dah bengang tunggu sampai sejam tapi apa pon tak dapat, Ammar pon tak mampu nak marah. Penat drive pon tak hilang lagi. 

So, bermula lah perjalanan sebenar kami yang mengikut schedule asal. Pusing-pusing Switzerland! 

Ramadhan1436, we met again!

Alhamdulillah. We met again!

Ramadhan this year is different from last year. That means it has been a year since I graduated. Last year, I fast for almost 20 hours. This year, InshaAllah I will fast for 13 hours.

Preparation? Nothing much though. I hope Ramadhan this year will bring me closer to Allah, closer to my family, and closer to my true friends. What is more that I could wish for except His blessing.

Woke up to a very peaceful morning. Having a very good sleep that I wish class will start later.

Waiting for the class to finish so I can go home.

Excited to do more good deeds to attain reward from Allah.

Lets sail this Ramadhan smooth.

InshaAllah.

Time to purify our hearts.
Guide me, Allah.