Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Tanah Abang, Jakarta

Salam and howdy uollz?? Tim is back in the house! It’s good to be back. Can’t believe that I’ll be missing Malaysia this much after only a mere 3 days in the neighboring country! Ngee……..

Okay, let’s talk about my recent trip to Jakarta, Indonesia. It was a sudden request from my friend, in early of June. She needs somebody to accompany her to buy her wedding stuffs in Jakarta. She can’t go with her fiancé, coz it’s not very appropriate ya know..Why Jakarta? Well, I have no idea myself. But many people have said that we can get a good quality of fabrics and cheap wedding goodies in Tanah Abang, Jakarta. As for me, I just need a vacation! Jalan-jalan cari makan, (sight seeing and food quest)

Since it was an unplanned trip, I didn’t allocate any special fund in advance for shopping spree or luxury, so I try to keep it as low budget as possible. I took the night train on Monday to KL Sentral and arrived at midnight. Couldn’t get any sleep as the guy next to me was snoring like nobody’s business! Dang! Then, I spent a few hours again at the 24-hours McD outlet while waiting for the first shuttle bus to LCCT, which is at 3.30am. Accompanied by my non-stop Big Bang playlist on my mp3 player, a book from L.M. Montgomery, a cuppa coffee, and a box of fries and nuggets, 3 hours seems like a short period of time. I try to get some sleep in the bus, but I’m not really good at taking short naps. It makes me dizzy…Arrived at LCCT at 4.30pm, went looking for my friend (she took the plane from Penang earlier) and then continue to doze off in the surau for another hour. We took off with the morning flight to Jakarta at 7 a.m, and landed safely at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport after 2 hours. My friend suggested taking the local town bus to Tanah Abang as we carried only 1 bag each. Haha! We did! I can’t remember when was the last time I took the local bus in my own town..

Arrived at Tanah Abang, but we had to walk quite a distance to the exact mall. There are so many malls here, I’m still confused what’s the difference between each of them. But we choose to stick to Tanah Abang Mall Block A and B., which has approximately 7 to 8 levels each! We had our lunch here, and then continued our journey by walking to find a budget hotel near the malls. I almost gave up, not because of the fatigue, but because of the uneasy feeling, and the staring from people by the roadside! Actually Tanah Abang is slump area (err, not sure if it’s the right word) or we called it as ‘setinggan’. Not that I’m being judgmental, but I really felt cautious all the time, hugging by beg tightly while looking for the hotel. Nothing like when I was in Bandung few years back, I just loved the place so much!  It felt so comfortable to be there.



Finally we reached Nusantara Hotel, ask for a room, and quickly check in without hesitation. Haha..the hotel was alright I guess. It’s a bit old, but clean, secure, and within our budget. So our journeys starts after we showered and finished our prayer, off to the mall for a quick scan and target which floor we should come back for the next day. That night, we went to a restaurant called Sate Padang just across the street from our hotel. We had murtabak, oxtail soup, and nasi padang. The taste was okay, but I’ve had better ones in Bandung, and even Malaysia! Of course, I wouldn’t dare trying the food sold by the road side..NO..NO..NO..



I only bought a few items like some scarves, blouses, and a sling bag. Oh, I bought a bangle too which I loves so much! But honestly, I don’t think things here are that cheap. I think Bandung is far better. But my friend, yikes! She was like a mad girl buying fabrics from every store she laid her eyes onto. Yes, I did help her to pick the fabrics for her solemnization ceremony, but when she keeps on buying stuffs which is not related to the wedding, that she thinks she could sell, I just gave up! I really did! I even stop talking to her coz she was so carried away! But she didn’t really care you know, making me waiting like zombie for 1 hour when she said she just wanna go grab a pair of prayer cloth, but end up with countless bags of fabrics again. Hahaha..I vowed to myself this is the last time I would go shopping with her! hahaha...

Well, we manage to find a salon near our hotel and went there after Maghrib prayer for a massage and hair treatment. It was damn cheap! Less than RM30! But then again, it’s no 5-stars service either. I guess it was okay. We didn’t go out for dinner, I was so exhausted, plus I couldn’t really digest the food there. It was dry, without the soup or gravy. So we end up eating instant noodle and instant Mochachinno! I went straight to bed after dinner.

On the last day, we had our breakfast in house. The usual mihun goring, nasi goring, telur goring (all Indonesian style) and banana. Off we go to Tanah Abang again, my friend continued her crazy shopping, and I end up yelling at her coz we had to check out before noon and she hadn’t pack her things yet! Haha..We had our lunch at another mall called Thamrin City, I dragged my friend to come here coz I insisted on buying a sling bag here, and of course she’s not very happy with that. I know she wanna continue her shopping spree at Tanah Abang.  Hihi…We took the bajai (tri-motorcyle) to get back to the hotel and then took a taxi to the airport. From only 1 bag, my friend ended up with 3 bags, 2 boxes, and 2 plastic bags. As for me, I still manage with 1 bag. We were quite early to arrive at the airport, there’s nothing to do but wait, read, and doze off a little. I had a conversation with a nice Philippine guy named Ep, sitting next to me while waiting for our flight. He’s going back to S’pore after a holiday in Vandung. Well he’s kinda cute, but I didn’t ask for his FB or neither did him. Hehe..Our flight was at 8.30pm, we arrived LCCT at 10.30pm (Indonesian time). When we passed the Malaysian Custom, the nightmare begins for my dear friend…she had to pay taxes for her stuffs! Hahaha…she was in an argument with the officer, and I choose to back off, I mean I’ve already reminded her about the taxes, but still she’s confident it’s gonna be okay. Well, I guess she’s wrong this time. After much argument, she paid RM70 for the taxes.





I went to the surau to get some sleep. We wanted to take the 3.30am shuttle bus to LCCT but my friend’s cousin was kind enough to drives us instead. My friend had to leaves some of her stuffs with her cousin, and travel back with her 2 bags. Hihi…It was actually so funny thinking about how determine she was! But still, I hope she will have a wonderful dress made out of the fabric she bought. I was very sincere when I agreed to accompanied her, even though there’s some bitter part included. But hey, friends fight all the time,  kiss and make up, right? Till next time….tata!

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Monday, May 30, 2011

Intermission : Relationship with your God

Salam and hello! I'm off to Jakarta soon, no doubt next month's travellogue gonna be all about Jakarta, Indonesia baybeh!! So until then, I would like to leave you all with a fantastic post I came a crossed recently. It made me felt so humble, so please do share it peeps. It's never too late to make an effort, so let us try to be better Muslim everyday, Insyallah.

XoXo,
Tim.


I've talked a little bit about the importance of having a strong relationship with yourself, but essentially the most important relationship we will ever have is our one with God. He is the only one that we can truly rely on to be with us throughout everything, no matter what. It makes sense then that this relationship is one that we should nurture to ensure it stays strong and lasts (beyond) a lifetime.
One of the best opportunities to connect with God is in our daily prayers. The thing is though, to actually connect with God when we pray takes more than actually praying. It requires focus, concentration and preparation; we need our heart to be present.
As Muslims, we pray 5 times a day; however doing something this often, combined with the hustle and bustle of daily life means that it's a potential slippery slope from prayer being a connection to our Creator to an autopilot action that our minds disengage from.
Each prayer that we disengage from is a wasted opportunity. Your prayer is a conversation with God. He wants you to talk to Him. He listens every time we talk to Him. Don't miss that wonderful opportunity to connect with God again, to forget this worldly life for a few minutes and to wholly connect with the Almighty.

* One way to resist auto-pilot in your prayer is to change it up a bit.
Before you pray, choose the verses from the Quran that you want to recite, and make sure you know the meaning of it in your own language. You could make it a habit to recite different verses with every prayer
* Pray as soon as you can
When the time for prayer starts, pray as soon as you are able to. Don't leave it to the last minute - if you leave it then you'll more than likely be worrying about praying to get it done with, rather than connecting with God. If you pray as soon as you can, then you can take your time and really have a present heart.
* Read the tafsir of the verses you are planning to recite.
If you understand the bigger meaning behind those words, it will be easier to engage your heart with what you are saying
* Start your day with Fajr
Seriously, Fajr (the morning prayer) kicks butt. It's awesome. Praying when everything around you is still and quiet, when the sun has barely risen, when it's just you and God - that is the best way to start a day.
* Think about how grateful you are and all the blessings God has given you.
Before you start praying, you could list off your own Blessings & Loves in your mind and thank God for all of those things. How could we not focus on God, once we realise all that He has given us?
* Concentrate when you make wudhu' (ablutions).
I'm sure this is another wisdom behind ablutions before prayer - it prepares us not only physically but mentally as well. Instead of jumping straight from watching TV to trying to connect with God, we've got wudhu' in between to ease us into it. Think of it as a warm up - athletes always stretch before they play a game, and we too need to prepare ourselves before prayer.
* When you're finished prayer, don't move on straight away to something else.
If you had just caught up with your best friend, you wouldn't jump up and run off when it came time to say goodbye, would you? No, you hug each other goodbye, you talk about when you are going to catch up again, and you say how nice it was to be able to spend this time with them.
So likewise, don't jump off your prayer mat and rush to watch TV or make dinner. Talk with God a bit more - tell Him what you're doing until your next prayer to Him, ask Him for help or strength to make things easy. Thank Him for listening and being with you. Show Him your gratitude.
These are just a few things you can do to turn off that auto-pilot during your prayer and to put the controls back in your hand. It can be a challenge, but remember this:
On no soul does Allah place a burden greater than it can bear. [Surah Al Baqarah, 2:286]
It is possible to turn every single prayer into a connection with God, we just need to have faith and try.
Do you have any tips for turning off auto-pilot in prayer?

Sunday, May 15, 2011

CAMERON HIGHLAND, PAHANG OR PERAK??

Salam..What’s cookin’ ya’ll? How come I didn’t smell anything smokin’ lately?? (Err, please excuse my Jenny-From-The-Block slang. Okay, I know, it’s pathetic). My weekend has been extremely boring lately. I anticipated chilling with my girlfriends; instead I end up home alone watching Big Bang Parody on YouTube (which is excellent, by the way). Either they were really busy or they were trying to avoid me. Haha! At one point, I even thought of going for blind dates, with ANYONE, I don’t really care! Not that I’m being horny or anything (yikes!), I just desperately need something to kill the time until Monday comes. I’m now 30 and single. I lived and worked in a laid back small town. The main highlights here are either super cheap family stores or the Sunday market. Most of my friends are either married, or working in KL and Selangor. I mean, let’s face it. I can easily fall into depression in no time! Thank God I still have Anuar Zain and Big Bang to keep me sane, at least for now. The thing is, I can listen to them non-stop 24-7, but sadly they can’t listen to me. One way relationship doesn’t last long, you know. Aiyyoo…my life is so in vain la..It’s about time to go for that deep soul searching again…

Our travelogue venue for this month is, Cameron Highland in Perak. Grr…Can you feel the chill?? I’ve been here a few times before, but what I want to brag here is my D.I.Y vacation back in 2009! It was actually my 10th years college reunion gathering. I was one of the volunteered committee for this project and my task was to collect money & allocate the budget. At the beginning, the committees were very ambitious. But slowly we (they!) just lost the drive and the whole thing almost got canceled. Here I come to save the day! Hehehe…(Pls vomit anywhere convenient, at your own risk..)

You see, people started to bank-in money in my account, yet the person in-charged hasn’t even decided on the venue yet alone make reservation for our 2D1N event. Can you feel the pressure on me now?? I’m always very nervous with other people’s money. I don’t know why. I can’t sleep thinking about it. So out of no where, I just stepped in, drag a friend with me, and DRIVE to Cameron Highland for the first time. With the budget that we had set earlier, we went to a few places that we (read: I!) had searched earlier in internet. Finally, we came to Marina Chalet & Home Stay, located in Kg. Sedia, Tanah Rata, Cameron Highland. It’s located on slight hillside, surrounded by bushes of flowers and big old pine trees. It was homey and welcoming, nothing like the fancy chalets or resorts. The person who greeted us was of course, the chatty Makcik Marina herself. We were captivated by the host and the place in an instant! After much discussion on how to organize the rooms between married couples with children, married couple without children and the ‘soloist’, we end up booking ALL the rooms they have! Well, minus the log cottage build just near the entrance. It was just too ‘public’ for us. Hihi..
 The room rates ranged from RM130 (2 x queen bed with bathroom, front area), RM120 (1 x double bed with bathroom, private area), RM60 ~ RM80 (home stay style rooms with 2-4 single beds, sharing bathroom) and RM60 for the log cottage (mattress & pillow with small bathroom). (Note: room rates on 2009)

 Other than Marina Chalet, there were a few other home stays available in Kg. Sedia settlement. One has different charms from another. We have children playground, waterfall (What? Swimming? Are you crazy? It’s freezing peeps!) and the Surau just across the street from our chalet. The best thing was, we get to enjoy the strawberry and vegetable farms, which is just a walking distance from our chalet! How convenient was that! I’ve stayed in apartment in Brinchang area, which is the peak of Cameron Highland. Man, the place was crowded. There were too many people so you can’t really enjoy the experience. We definitely enjoyed the privacy we had in Kg Sedia. The place was totally ours! Do enjoy the pictures below.

waiting for our strawberry ice cream..shedappp uollz!

crazy time

yeah..walking & hopping!

Strawberry farm, walking distance from Marina Homesstay

@Marina Homestay

@Marina Homestay..Daebak!

Klik Klik

the early birds..

Registration..

BBQ time

Ladies..

Gents

Marina Homestay-in front of our room

Our gathering's banner!! Awesome rite?

Marina Homestay

Marina Homestay Cabin
Contact: Pn. Marina
Tel: 6054911295 @ 0169884433
http://marinachalet.blogspot.com/
Additional service: BBQ, Breakfast, Karaoke, etc.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Kg. Sg. Hj. Dorani, Sg. Besar, Selangor.

This place was made popular via an Islamic-theme Malay soap drama ‘Nur Kasih”, aired on TV3 back in 2009 (watch here: nurkasihtv3.blogspot.com). Kg. Sg. Hj. Dorani is where Adam (hero), Aidil (Adam's big bro), Nur (heroin) and Sarah (Nur’s little sister) spent their childhood. They meet again at this beautiful village as grown ups. The scenery was so mesmerizing, portraying closely the mood of every scenes of the drama. Romantic, sad, happy, well basically the venue really compliments the whole drama! My bff suggested spending a night at Dorani Bayu Resort (http://doranibayuresort.blogspot.com) which is a floating chalet facing the sea. 

    Well, not the open sea but more to the estuary actually. She had booked a room with the best view (so they say) which was only available after waiting a few months for it. Mind you, it’s not cheap. 1 night stay (meals excluded, only coffee & soaps) cost us RM160. But of course, I still agreed to it. We often goes to the beach or big cities for a getaway, so a trip of ‘balik kampung’ would definitely be a change and exciting. Hey, come to think of it, I hardly say no to any of my friend’s suggestion. See how kind I am! :0

So, we began our journey on Saturday morning. My bff drove her car and another friend joined us from KL at the resort. Approaching Hutan Melintang, we were greeted by a beautiful scenery of the green paddy field, bright blue sky with fluffy white clouds. How delightful! 












It was a smooth drive (I wasn't the one driving though), however the signboard to Dorani Bayu Resort was not very clear especially for a first timer like us. We had to make a few U-turned here and there but we managed to reach the place safe and sound. It was a hot day, with blazing sun above us. Luckily the strong sea breeze cooled us off. There are 3 types of rooms available here; 1. floating chalet 2. dorm type 3.apartment type. This 'port' is a meeting place for anglers. Usually the men will leave their wife and kids at the resort before going for their fishing trip during night time. Here, they also offers paintball, archery, motivation camp, street soccer, and others. But we didn't try any of it as our main purpose was to enjoy the Kg. Sg. Dorani itself.

Floating Chalet

To our room








Outside Lobby

Lobby













Our room was the furthest of all the floating chalet terrace. We were so tired but had to drag our stuff (read: self!) to our room. But the view was superb! The room was comfortable and clean too. We even have our own small balcony facing the sea and the mangroves. Oh! Yes. There's also mangrove (not mango, okehh..) trees on the right side of our chalet.  It was indeed the room with the best view. 
Our Sanctuary 


Ajie at the balcony
Mangrove trees













What we did here:
1. Window shopping at Sg. Besar town – well known for their wide variety of tudung, kain ela, baju kurung, etc. They sell very cheap if you buy in bulk. Me only bought a pair of black Arabian jubah. 
2. Hunting for traditional crackers and Natta de Coco jelly – The small and traditional industries are very active here in Sg. Besar. There are many shops selling traditional goodies operated from their own house. I bought 3 container of Natta de Coco jelly with different flavours for RM10. Ajie and Kiera bought a few types of crackers too.
3. Cross country at Kg. Sg. Hj. Dorani – This village really wowed us! We were so captivated by the scenery. Green paddy field as wide as the ocean, nostalgic kampong houses on the sides of the road, local fruit trees here and there. Sudden thought of the drama scene where Adam told Nur that he had fallen in love with her, under the big tree near the paddy field. It was so romantic!  Hihihi..What else can we do here except cam-whoring! Yippie! BTW, you can also experience the kampong life yourself by joining the Home stay programs here.  Tourist shouldn’t miss it.
4. Window shopping (again) at the night market in Sg. Besar town. My friend Ajie, bought a weird looking hair band for me. ;) 



5. Dinner at Nelayan Restaurant, Dorani Bayu Resort - The food was tasty but there weren’t any special menu we could choose. Just the usual Seafood Tom Yam, Grilled Fish & Prawn with tamarind dip and Fried Squid.  
 

6. Bed time stories – We spent our time with girl talks and exchanging pictures from our cameras. You could actually hear the sea waves while lying on the bed. Oww..the sea breeze was soo refreshing!
7.  Sun rise & Cam-whore – Woke up a bit late, but managed to catch a glimpse of the sun rise from our balcony after our Subuh prayer. Nice. Forgot to snap the picture though. We then took a walk along the shores and mangrove trees. Cam-whore time! I did read somewhere that you can search for cockles or clamps during low tide. Unfortunately it was high tide so we couldn’t get our hands dirty.  By this time I could see a few men already started pulling their fishing thread.
 

 

Since this resort is quite far from food stalls or restaurant, we only had Maggie noodles and 3 in 1 coffee for breakfast. We checked-out before noon and drove to Bagan Noh Omar (BNO) to try the prawn noodles for our lunch. It was just so-so. Not to die for. But then again, the view was nice. We also had cold coconut jelly for desert, which was HEAVEN on a hot sunny day!

8. The star of the day: MENTARANG!! (a type of clam). We managed to find this creature sold just by the roadside. I never tasted it before, so I bought 1kg of it for RM20. Kiera bought 2kg  (or was it 3kg??) because her mom loves it so much. (Verdict: I didn't like the taste. It got mushy once you cooked them.
Packing mentarang for us
 
This is the 'mentarang'
















Overall, we really enjoyed the getaway. It was simple, light and easy. Try it yourself, peeps!



Till next time, 
XOXO.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Intermisson

Helloooo…Happy February everyone!! I'm gonna blog about my previous trip to Sg. Dorani, Selangor but let's have this intermission first okay. :) Gosh…it’s the second month of the year already yuollz. How time files! Err, what’s my 2011 goals again? 

1. ATV (All Terrace Vehicles) ride - Done on 01.01.11. Okay, good start.

2. The Biggest Looser Asia – Has been diligently dieting & mildly working out. However, the result is still not satisfying.

3. Style Me Right - Got few ideas to transform my boring style from Hana Tajimaa and Jana (UK) blogs so I bought some new clothes recently. Sadly I’m still not comfortable wearing them due to my XXL size. Uwaaa….

4. Fly me to the moon – Haven’t bought any flight ticket to anywhere yet. It’s so difficult when you do not have the right ‘kaki’ to go for travelling. Must grab 1 fast! Sabah~Korea~Makkah~New Zealand..bla..bla..bla..

5. Say no to Acne – This is my biggest enemy of all time! I’ve been battling with it since I was 12. It got better for a while when I entered university in 2001 (thanks to Dal-T). Now it’s back. It’s a never ending battle! Just purchased a new skin care (again) on last Saturday. We’ll see how it goes. :(

6. Stock Exchange – I’ve decided to forget about my MLM biz for awhile, bcoz I have doubts, and I don’t like it. I’m waiting for the ‘drive’ again. Apart from that, I make sure to stash away a portion of my salary into ASB and Kak Juju’s kutu scheme. Hehe..I think I’m on the right track. But I need MORE…$$$$$$. Rob a bank maybe?

7. Ukhrawi – I am a practicing Muslim, but am I good practicing Muslim? There are so many loops and holes. I need to nourish my ‘foundation’, ‘interior’ and ‘exterior’. Dear Allah, pls have mercy on me.

8. Soul mate – O! Darl..where art thou? It’s February already, and I’m gonna hit 30 this year. Please reveal yourself FaSt!! Ppalli oppa!! **sigh**

Ok, panic attack. Gulpp..Help..S.O.S..
Daisypath Graduation tickers