Across the Land

Lunch in Tawau-is always as I remember when we get here, will be fish head soup with grilled fish. Fish soup of Tawau is different from that in the West Malaysia. No spices. Tried to google about the one we ate but info is not available. It doesnt warrant any particular attention, I think.  The fish they use is called Ikan ikan putih here. The taste? Well..maybe it should be like that but I would have improved on it, given the chance. Haha. However, I like the grilled fish, grilled the bugis way. Dont forget to eat with thinly cuts of unripe mango or sour mango. A real treat of a bugis meal. All below rm25. Kalau balik Tawau, mesti masuk ke Wallace Bay, sekarang Kg. Harapan untuk ziarah adik ibuku.  Setelah hampir 2 jam menaiki bot, sampailah di kg Wallace Bay. Hari ini, penumpang tidak ramai. Dan inilah satu2nya bot yang berulang-alik sekali sehari ke Tawau dari Wallace Bay. Dapatlah saya berjumpa dengan bapa saudara saya dan isterinya serta seorang lagi mak saudar...

Day 10 - Day 12, December 2016  in IRAN Day 10 will see us at Kashan, Iran, 3 hours ride from the airport. Bijan came to pick us up at 6.30 am but there is not enough space for all the luggage so we left 3 large ones at the airport. (Flashback at Kashan, Iran on Day 10 of my trip. Fb is not allowed in Iran so I wasn't able to post many photos. We used instagram instead). From the IKA, it took about 2 hours to reach Kashan. The major attraction here is the historic house of the affluent Tabatabei family, built for 10 years in 1880's. The present generation lives in Europe. They were carpet businessmen. The house has 40 rooms, 4 courtyards, 4 basements and 3 windwards. We also visited the Fin Garden which is the oldest garden in Iran. It is listed as a World Heritage Site by Unesco Day 11 at Esfahan. The phone camera couldn't capture the real beautiful blue color of this persian crafts. So intricate, and so detailed. They are worth the p...

DAY 3 - DAY 9: NOV 2016 IN ISTANBUL, TURKEY Day 3 . We're now on our way to european Istanbul after spending the day at Uludag Mountain area and the traditional village Cumalikizik.  Day 4 : Eyyup, Fatih.  Visited the grave of Abu Ayyub Al-Ansari and the Mosque. The place was crowded and I lingered long to remember what I had read about him.   The tombs of the sahabah. The wall of the Constantinapole. The birth of the Ottoman Empire. The Cinar trees. Then we walked towards Balat and Fener but stopped by the bank of the Golden Horse to enjoy the view across it. Day 5 : At the touristic area of sultanmehmet. Killing the time till zuhr to pray at the Blue Mosque. Thought of going to Aya Sofia again but the fee deterred us. So we visited the Cistern and I left with a few unanswered questions. Then we walked to the grand bazaar and spice market and whatever in between but not so tempted to buy as i did back in 2012. Designs changed. Shops closed. Prices increased. ...