Gwyneddian in KL!!!

Gwynedd is the name of our boarding house back in Atlantic College, UK. The house witnessed the start of our friendship. We fond to each other and had each other's back. Noon and I. Two Asians girl that stayed, laughed, cried and made memories together in the house of Gwynedd. (Oh, please pronounce it as Gwyneth, it's Welsh after all).

At first, I thought I could not make it. Luckily Noon sent her flight schedule on whatsapp, so I knew I could still welcome her on Sunday afternoon. And the good news was later added when Dr Sonny (MSc Drilling Engineering program manager) announced that we would not have classes until Tuesday. That would give me pretty solid time to spend with Noon. Yeayyy, Alhamdulillah.

Sunday

Since I am not from KL and rarely tour around as a tourist in my own country, I don't have a definite plan for the day. Last time, when Yuki came, I was with Azhar and he drove a car. We went to the National Mosque, Islamic Art Museum, cendol stall, night market and Putrajaya. For Noon, I have to make a walking tour. Idea? Could not think much of Central Market which I doubted to be that fancy to be visited. LOL. So, worst come to worst, I could still depend on the tourist information centre, that was what I thought when I was in KTM to meet Noon at KL Sentral. So, I met her at KFC, grabbed a touristy map of KL and started our tour.

We first head to Masjid Jamek. Masjid Jamek is the first mosque built in KL, so it becomes the oldest mosque of KL built by a British architect. I was not sure what should I explain to Noon when we came to the mosque, but I felt hurt when there was a so-called angelic volunteer condemning me on not explaining anything to Noon. It is not like Noon is a complete foreigner that does not know anything about Muslim's life. She even watched me praying and we had some chats on some religious matter back in AC. Yeah, I admit I should have said something for 'you' to see, right? Condemning people in a mosque, is that a good Islamic practice that you are trying to show? Hell, no! But, yeah thanks to 'you', you opened my eye that such people do exist in real world and thanks to you, I survive in making poker face that do not resemble my anger inside. Then, you get a condemn from Noon outside the mosque area, asking on why were you that serious. You mentioned nothing new to her, she admitted.

We walked to nowhere and arrived at Jakel Mall just to get air-conditioned. Apparently, there was a promotion going on, but I could not still afford it. LOL. A student is still a student after all. Haha. we had chicken biryani for lunch and surprisingly walked passing through Jalan TAR. We later arrived in Merdeka Square with guidance of google map. It was my first time arriving at the square by foot. Usually, I will be in a car passing through that area. So, it was quite a new experience for me to be there too.

We both stopped by at Panggung Bandaraya and decided to watch the MudKL theatre showing at 3 pm. MudKL is the longest theatre ever shown in Malaysia. It is shown twice i.e. at 3 pm and 830 pm daily. The price is RM 45 for Mykad holder and RM 60 to non-Mykad holder. The shows is about the history of Kuala Lumpur. We wondered around Merdeka Square just to kill our time before the show started, and realised that there was quite a carnival going on there. It was 'Hari Unesco Sedunia' and they were all waiting for the Deputy Prime Minister to officiate the ceremony.

Later, when we finished watching and even being on theatre stage for a dance, we went to KL Gallery. We paid RM 5 to see a 7 minutes show illustrating building models of current and future KL city. The ticket is actually a voucher for visitors to spend at the cafe or even to buy gifts from the shop.

We walked to Central Market and Noon bought two hippies pants for RM 60. I do not know if it is a good bargain or not. Never, even in a dream, dared to buy that kind of pants. Haha.

Tuesday

We planned to meet for lunch. It was Asyraf's birthday. We bought banana chocolate cake for him. We supposed to surprise him with that, but since we came later than him, the surprise was not truly a surprise. But.......

We ate, laughed and shared stories, updating about our current life so far. Someone is getting married very soon, someone is happy with works, some are still struggling with studies, but life is good, overall. The portion of food served at Madam Kwans' was pretty big, even for a man. I had nasi lemak, and struggled to finish the whole plate, could not even eat the banana fritters that were served after.

So... Madam Kwans' staff brought the cake and sang the song out loud. We joined singing awkwardly and when the cake was served, everyone laughed. The cake was half sized. Hahahahha. To our defence, since we are celebrating a 25th birthday, which is half way to 50, we give you a half sized cake. Later, when you are 50, we will surely buy you a whole sized cake. Hahahaha.

KLCC is a pretty tall building with 452 meters height. Since we had nothing much and nowhere else to go, we decided to bring Noon to the skybridge at level 41 and observation deck at 86th floor. The view is scenic. We can see KL with 360 degree view. It was my third time at skybridge and first time at the observation desk. 86th floor is just two floor lower than the top 88th floor, which means we are pretty at the top of the once tallest building in the world. I took a photo of the president's office with the tip point of the tower.

Enough seeing the top view of KL, we went to Tasik Titiwangsa to see the lateral view of KL city. Actually we did not know what to do and just sat at the bench by the lake and chatted for a while. Azhar was so funny that he wanted to post his first ever instagram post but did not know how to do it. Novice, we say. Hahaha. We even met his nephew, Anas just to kill some time before picking up Aliff at Dato' Keramat LRT station for dinner. Luckily it was raining, so we did not stop for durian tasting. I do not like durian that much, I admit.

We went to NZ curry house in front of Wangsa Walk to introduce Noon to murtabak, roti naan and chicken tandoori and lamb soup. Chit chat was continued until Azhar drove us to KL Sentral. I hate to be parted again with Noon, but it has to be done.

I assume, by the time this gets posted, Noon is already in Thailand. I love you, Noon. Thanks for making times to come all the way to Malaysia. I truly appreciate your presence here. Sorry for not being able to go to Thailand. I guess, I should blame political stability in both countries for that. Hahaha. Jk. So, whatever you want to do, do it right. Good luck for your future endeavour. Lets see each other soon!

Instep: Ku sangka kau gah, tapi rupanya kau biasa.

Tepat jam 8.30 pagi, tayar bas zulkama pon bergolek meninggalkan kampus pendidikan UTP. Sepatutnya gerak pukul 8 pagi, tapi ada la segelintir manusia yang cakap dulang paku serpih, mengata orang dia yang lebih. Eh??? Sesuaikah peribahasa tu? Apa-apa je la kan. Haha.

Perjalanan mengambil masa lebih kurang 9 jam termasuk waktu berhenti rehat dan makan tengahari. Sepanjang perjalanan tu, kadang-kadang karaoke, kadang-kadang tengok movie. Tapi, most of the time, TIDUR. Apa nak buat kan? bangun-tidur-bangun-tidur, tak sampai-sampai. Kalau naik flight, dah boleh sampai Mekah dah aku rasa. Sempat juga aku menyuarakan pendapat serba kaya, untuk UTP ada helikopter sendiri or charter yang boleh transfer at least 30 penumpang untuk ke Terengganu. LOL.

Sesampainya di Merang Suria Resort, aku pon kejarkan toilet dulu. Haha. Sanggup tak minum air banyak, sebab tahu RnR bahagian pantai timur tak berapa nak sedap hidung membau. LOL. The boys terus bersukan kat depan bilik, main bola tampar. Aku? Tengok je la. Lepas tu kutip bola sekali sekala. Then, the girls pergi pantai untuk bergambar. Melompat-lompat. Agak tak senonoh la untuk calon mak mertua nak tengok. Tapi, sebab mak mertua tak de lagi kan, who cares? Hahaha.

Hari kedua trip ni diteruskan dengan lawatan ke instep. Tapi, macam ada miscommunication here and there, our visit were not welcomed that well. Ramai sangat yang sepatutnya ada, tak de plak at last minute. Tak pe la, harapkan Kak Ain je la untuk showed us around. 

We first entered the simulation room yang ada stand pipe, choke manifold, BOP control, driller joystick and a few screens yang tunjukkan readings of everything la. Maybe we are quite a large group to be handled by only a person, macam kelam kabut sket la. Ada certain yang betul2 dengar, ada yang main2 dengan manifold etc. Nak try simulate a situation pon tak lepas. Such a waste.

Habis berlindung dalam control room yang air-conditioned, kitorang gerak ke drilling land rig. Mula-mula macam amaze gila la tengok BOP besar gabak, tapi lepas tu gerimis mengundang pulak... Kak Ain tried her best to explain everything starting with circulating system. She switched on the system, pastu dengar la bunyi bising machine kan. We were not allowed to take photos there due to safety reason. Tapi, kalau dah namanya degil, degil juga la kan. Kadang-kadang kitorang curi-curi gak.

We climbed up to see the mast, drilling hole, dog house etc. Sempat pulak la diorang ni buat jokes nak masukkan aku dalam BOP plak. Ceit. Naga 100 rig ni okay la. Not bad. Tapi, kalau semua machine tu switched on, sure macam real lagi. Boleh nampak exactly how it works kan. Tak pe, youtube ada. Youtube tu lecturer bagus kot. Tak payah nak hire lecturer ribu riban.

Our tour ended at 1130 am. Kitorang disajikan dengan sedikit kudapan oleh pihak instep. Balik je resort, semua lena. Tak mampu nak tahan mata dah. Bilik masing-masing air-conditioned pulak tu, lagi best la tarik selimut, Sharp at 3 pm, we headed to warung poknong untuk makan sotong goreng tepung. Apparently, warung ni pernah disinggahi team Jalan-jalan Cari Makan TV3. So, memang agak popular la. Warung bukak pukul 330 pm, kitorang sampai 340 pm, line beratur panjang gila. 

Selesai makan-makan, kitorang lepak tepi pantai. Dyaa, housemate aku kat Newcastle pon join. Tetiba, drilling crew terlebih sebatang mawar pulak. Haha. Aku dan Dyaa jalan-jalan Paya Bunga Square just untuk cari Chicken Cottage restaurant, tapi TAK JUMPAAA!! Tapi dalam google map, wujud kot. Pelik gila. Last-last, makan kat Tappers je. 

Kuala Terengganu ni ada sungai. Kalau dia buat banyak lagi pokok yang ada lampu warna warni macam dekat i-city Shah Alam tu, confirm cantik gila. Sempat la aku ambil gambar kat Kampung Cina dalam sambil-sambil jalan-jalan cari makan tu. Though it was a short hangout, terlepas la rindu borak-borak dengan Dyaa ni. Lama gila kot tak jumpa. Masing-masing update pasal life masing-masing.

Hari ke-3? Tak yah cerita la. Kitorang balik UTP je pon. Beli keropok lekor sampai dua kedai, masuk je bas, tidur tak bangun-bangun. Semua GONE. Sampai je UTP, semua terus bersiap-siap nak balik rumah. Report? Hantar hari rabu, kan? So, lets ENJOY!!

Kyoto yang sangat tradisional

I woke up with uneasy feeling. Macam malas nak pergi jalan pon ada. But, dah datang jauh-jauh, gagahkan jua lah. So, our plan for the day was touring Arashiyama and Kyoto. So, from our nearest  subway station (Matsugasaki), with a day pass worth 600 yen, we went to Kyoto station via Karasuma Line and changed to JR Sanin Main Line to Sagaarashiyama Station. Since dah ada JR pass, all JR train memang boleh hop on hop off sesuka hati la. 

The day was overcrowded with people that it worsen my health. We first head to Arashiyama to see Sagano bamboo forest. The scenery is breath taking, the place is tourist friendly. There are a lot of traffic officer that guide the tourists to the attraction places. The trishaws are everywhere carried by strong men and even women. Actually, tak tahu sangat pon apa yang ada kat sini selain dari pokok buluh ni. Dalam google image, memang wow gila ah. Tapi bila kitorang sampai, ada gerimis sikit, and pokok selain pokok buluh pon banyak. Aishhh, tak tahu nak buat ambil gambar angle macam mana bagi tak nampak pokok-pokok yang tinggi gemok tu. Plus, ramai orang pulak kan... We walked till the end of bambo path untuk cari a great spot, but failed. Arashiyama ni sebenarnya cantik sangat, tapi we missed to see Togetsukyo Bridge and scenery along Hozu River. Aku pon tak berapa sihat, so tak la recommend the others to see pon. Tapi, if you have extra time, you can have a check at this link untuk tengok tempat mana lagi boleh pergi.

Next, we went to Fushimi Inari but couldn't take that much decent pictures since they were a lot of visitors. We managed to take photo with a couple wearing kimono and yukata. Fushimi Inari ni sebenarnya kawasan keagamaan. Tapi, none cares much of it except the locals la. Kitorang memang jalan sebab nak ambil gambar gate oren ni je. Ketidaksabaran itu menjadi faktor utama kenapa we all did not have that much pictures being in between the long gates. Sudahnya, lalu shortcut, tunggu tengah-tengah or hujung gate untuk ambil gambar. Bear in mind, kalau peak season (especially golden week), tak payah berangan nak ambil gambar yang tak kena photobomb. Path ni one way sahaja ye untuk smoothen the traffic.

Tummies were empty. So, on our way to Kiyamuza-dera, we stopped by at Japanese noodle restaurant. They ordered udon with tempura. Hungry and I didn't feel very well, so I skipped my meal.  Tak tahu lah allergic bau apa, tapi memang as soon as entering the restaurant, memang terus rasa macam nak muntah. Tangan dok tepis-tepis bau tu dari lalu kat bawah lubang hidung. I even slept at the table while waiting for them to finish eating. We went to 7/11 right after that and I waited outside since still rasa nak muntah bila bau ready-to-eat food yang terjual kat kedai serbaneka tu. They bought a bottle of vitamin C drink and a comb of banana. I chewed banana half bit, and drank three quarter of the bottle. The ill feeling got worst that as soon as I stood, I felt like vomiting and quickly ran to a nearby tree to throw everything up. I could not resist that to happen. Masa tu dah tak fikir orang sekeliling dah. Habis semua yang di makan dari pagi tadi, sampai lah pisang, semua hilang. Perut memang kosong. And surprisingly, bila dah muntah, I could walk straight and rasa sihat. Sebab actually, dari pagi tu memang jalan macam nenek kebayan, bongkok-bongkok je. Tak tahu lah apa yang tak kena. 

We went to the drug store to search for paracetamol. Nak harapkan boleh nama ubat pon, apa pon tak boleh, everything is written in Japanese letter. Bajet aku super genius la tetiba boleh faham, kan... Luckily, there was one translator that can speak English, so she translated our needs to the pharmacist who worked there. Memang la kalau Jepun tu, Jepun gak la. Advanced sangat in most aspects. LOL. They claimed that they never got feverish, so no paracetamol was sold out, ever in Japan. Heh? Seriously? I am not sure siapa yang cakap ayam itik sekarang ni. It was either us yang tak conversed and explained well, or diorang yang memang tak faham perkataan fever tu. So, in the end, I was prescribed with ubat orang mabuk (sebab muntah-muntah lepas bau soy sauce or even miso soup, I am not totally sure), and ubat untuk simptom-simptom demam. Layan kan je lah. 

So, we went to the hostel and rest. Plan nak pergi Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion) tu pon tingal harapan je la. Tapi, makan jugak lah maggi malam tu though dah kena tegah. My taste bud wanted to taste something spicy, So, I ate mamee curry chef yang sluuurrrpppy sangat tuh. Sebab rasa macam dah sihat, so berkobar-kobar lah arrange itinerary for the next day, i.e. to Takayama. So, check the next post!

Osaka, the first welcome.

Things happened as we planned. Alhamdulillah. We arrived at Kansai Airport at 1022pm on 2nd May and stayed overnight at the airport. Don't worry, it was not that inconvenient though. The seats are comfortable enough, except that if you got to share with someone who snored at the end of the long seats, you would be zombie throughout the night.

Our second day started with eating nigiri bought from lawson convenience store. At first, konon macam kena cakap ayam itik, thanked Allah the store was ready with that kind of problem. They even produce a list of translation for nigiri ingredients. We validated our JR pass at JR office and head to Osaka for sightseeing. We went to Osaka Castle after buying a day pass for Osaka. 

We got to also watch a grading ceremony for local martial art named 'Aikido'. Kitorang tak tahu pon ada apa at this one building, so aku dengan muka selamba pergi la masuk jenguk apa yang ada. Tiba-tiba ada seorang mamat ni (which actually a coach) approached and cakap datang la pukul 10, event start by that time. So, we walked away and came at respected time. And, to my own surprise, ada je a few foreigners yang dah kahwin dengan japanese women yang join this martial art. Anak diorang cantik dan handsome okayh? Wonder if I could find a potential husband bermata biru. (Cehhhhh, berangan)

Since Kobe is quite near to Osaka, we went to see Kobe Port Tower in Kobe city. There is nothing much in Kobe, except the large mall connected to Anpanman museum. Singgah Kobe pon sekejap sangat and we did not know pon nak pergi mana actually, so we ended up jalan-jalan dalam mall.

We had lunch at Osaka train station, Since then my stomach started feeling uneasy. We stayed at the hostel for the rest of the day since I got sick. I puked in the bin, and apparently the bin was leaked, so as the plastic covering inside. LOL. So, while waiting for my friends to buy medicine at the convenient store, I slept and woke up because of the wetness. Ewwww, I got up and told the host if I could have new linen for the bed. and she went nagging for the rest of the night at me. Haha. Not that I asked for that to happen? LOL. I did not know why I was like that. Pretty mysterious. I took shower and slept early for that night.