Across the Land

This is our second trip to New Zealand since 2001 when the children were kids. This time we just concentrate on the south island mostly around the area nearby Queenstown. And this time, the itinerary were planned by  Daughter 2 since the mother had no time for it. Daughter 1 is incharge of the food. We read a lot of blogs and reviews to get views and tips. However, the father being the Finance minister and PM did the major work and decision, booking of flights, motorhome and immigration requirements. Admittedly, my contribution was secondary, not as much as before.

The trip to Lombok was planned at the last minute, 2 weeks before. I got the travel agent's name while searching and reading blogs on Lombok trips. His quotation was cheaper compared to others since he has connections with the Indonesian travel agents. Next time, I might as well use the the Indonesian travel agents when planning my Indonesian trips. Communications are now easier with whatsapp social media. I told them I just need transportation with driver-cum-tourist guide. Do ask what kind of vehicle they offer and if it is new and has aircon. The charge was rm450+/pax for 4D3N which only cover the southern and western part of Lombok. This included meals too (can't remember whether 2 or 3 meals a day). If you order drinks other than plain water, you pay it yourself. Actually, we need more than a week to discover the whole of Lombok as there are quite a lot to see and do if you really want your airfare to be 'berbaloi' and you are not going there again. In any travel...

It has been a year since our trip to a small part of Europe and I havent done with the story yet.  Sudah basi ceritanya . Looking at the pictures we have taken, a lot of them need to be thrashed out, to save the computer space. Just keep the best ones. And there are sooo many travel blogs and posts talking about them, your post just remains there.. for your eyes only. I know that apart from me, even my children havent finish looking at the pictures we had taken. And I dont know how long it will stay on blogspot. I will just add some pictures here with captions to remind me of those memories.  I like to look at them in a better context rather than them got stashed away in the less interesting i-photo albums. My fb post, " A city a day: It has been a loong day: from Cordoba to Seville to Malaga to Bergamo to Milan. Finally, we check into the hotel in front of Milano Central Station after paying almost €100 for the taxi fare (huhu) from the airport. By bus, its just €5 a pe...

It has been a year since our trip to a small part of Europe and I havent done with the story yet.  Sudah basi ceritanya . Looking at the pictures we have taken, a lot of them need to be thrashed out, to save the computer space. Just keep the best ones. And there are sooo many travel blogs and posts talking about them, your post just remains there.. for your eyes only. I know that apart from me, even my children havent finish looking at the pictures we had taken. And I dont know how long it will stay on blogspot. I will just add some pictures here with captions to remind me of those memories.  I like to look at them in a better context rather than them got stashed away in the less interesting i-photo albums.

It has been a year since our trip to a small part of Europe and I havent done with the story yet. Sudah basi ceritanya . Looking at the pictures we have taken, a lot of them need to be thrashed out, to save the computer space. Just keep the best ones. And there are sooo many travel blogs and posts talking about them, your post just remains there.. for your eyes only. I know that apart from me, even my children havent finish looking at the pictures we had taken. And I dont know how long it will stay on blogspot. I will just add some pictures here with captions to remind me of those memories.  I like to look at them in a better context rather than them got stashed away in the less interesting i-photo albums.

"The enchanting, ancient market town, whose history pre-dates the Roman occupation, was originally built around its river, the Stort..."

The most romantic accomodation we had ever experienced.  The pictures speak a thousand words. The English countryside is beautiful in this season Fortunate for us to choose this place over London I found out that they have walk trails throughout the Essex County

We have just got back from the Malaysian school holiday long trip to Ireland, UK, Spain, Italy and Greece; which was from the 31st May to 15th June, 2014. The plan to go was taken after our umrah trip in February and tickets were paid  before my trip to Vietnam in late March. My daughter who studies in Dublin arranged and created the travel framework that covers the length of stays in each city, booking of flights, buses and trains. She was also responsible for the itineraries in the Spain and Ireland trips. My other two daughters here in Malaysia prepared the itineraries for the Italy and Greece trips. I was in charged of the accomodations and train schedules. My husband was forever the Big Boss and Finance Minister. It was agreed that the main transportation costs would be shared equally as my daughters are already working and have saved. All bookings were under the Big Boss's name and thus, any monetary transactions were done with his credit card. Confirmed documents would be...

Alhamdulillah..pada januari 25 dapat lagi ke tanah suci selepas 3 tahun berlalu. Kali ini membawa ibu mertua yang kepingin sangat melihat Kaabah lagi. Ini janji kami setelah tidak dapat mengikut kami menunaikan haji pada masa tu. Tidak sempat mengarang panjang kerana perlu membuat persediaan untuk trip yang lebih jauh pada Jumaat ini, insya Allah

Another trip to HCMC? Yes, atas ajakan kawan sekerjaya. Kali ini mengikut tour group dengan bayaran 1500 untuk 3 hari 4 malam pads cuti sekolah bulan Mac. Nanti says ingot semula nama tour agensi yang baru beroperasi ini. Saya pergi konon hendak membeli belah dan melawat tempat2 yang tidak pergi pada dua lawatan yang lepas. I found out my shopping craziness had gone down. Tidak berapa sangat hendak membeli bila ke bazaar Ben Tanh tu atau ke tempat shopping yang lain. Makanpun bukan makanan vietnam sangat. Terkilan tidak dapat merasa sup pho tu lagi. Atau sayur bunga tu. Apa boleh buat, makanan telah ditentukan oleh tour agent dan rakan-rakan. Lain kali pergi dengan keluarga saja.

It has been a long time since my last post. Work has kept me from updating my blog. I have been on two trips and has been working on the drafts. I don't have enough time to select and edit some pictures, hence the delay. Now, we are planning on another long distance trip in June for the whole school holidays. Air and ground tickets have been bought but proper itinerary needs to be documented to produce a smooth  and enjoyable vacation. We decided to make a trip to a small part of Europe before my daughter comes back for good in August. Please pray for our safe travel and back. Thank you. Thank you for reading and visit me again.

It has been a long time since I wrote my last post. I'm a slow writer and not a very good one. After SPM is over, I went back to school to update the files and did stock check. Updated the profile information in HRMIS. Sent the PBS exercises to be printed for the 2014 first few weeks of school. I also attended the wedding of my husband's niece at Villa Sangkot, Ulu Langat and sending-off-the-bride ceremony at Putrajaya during the weekend. She is the third child and youngest girl in the family of six, 3 girls and 3 boys. It will be many more years down the road before another wedding as the 4th child is only 16 years old. Then off we flew to Tawau for our annual visit to my hometown. This time with three children in tow. Their last trip was 2 years ago and they had missed their grandma's kampung. A recommended Bernama article related to shopping in Tawau can be read at the end of this post. Along the Highway on the 2nd day, watching the sun went down over t...

A weekend trip to Penang on Independence Day, to get away from the little stress of work. :)) A FINE MORNING along Gurney Drive

It is about 3.30 am, the 4th of Syawal today and I have just woke up from my sleep about half an hour ago. There was a blackout in my MIL's house last night that made me go to sleep early. I was thinking about the dish I cooked yesterday and perhaps going to do it again today for our raya guests.

Waking up early on Monday, 27th May was our third day in Scarborough. We didn't go to Hillary Harbour up north as I wanted to. My husband decided to breakfast at Karrinyup shopping center..cant remember what his reason was for going there. We were early and it was barely opened. Since we won't have kebab for breakfast as we want to try it later at another outlet at Broadway, we settled down with some pastries, and definitely some hot coffee for me. Soon, we were on our way to Nedland Broadway Shopping Center to visit Kongs Oriental grocery store for the Golden Baronia nougats. It is aud$4 cheaper here than in Freemantle which my son bought at aud$30. We haven't tasted any australian nougats before, so, we didnt know how many packet to buy. The one I have tasted is the turkish nougats at the hotels and they didnt go down well with my taste palate. The Australian nougats are very nice and I regretted not buying more. The Mondo Nougat is more expensive and according to ...

Freemantle was the western gateway to Australia and still retains much of its old charm. It was said that, many of Fremantle's old buildings have been painstakingly restored and claimed as "one of the best examples of a victorian port streetscaape in the world". Oh, well.. So. after having leftovers for breakfast (we tapau the extra grilled chicken from Dianella the nite before and croissants from the Oscars), we set off to Fremantle port down south on the 26th May. Our original plan was to visit Karrunyip Sunday Market at 7 am but have to forget about it because of MM sleeping time hehe. So, the first place we went to was E-Shed market which opens 3 days a week, Friday to Sunday at 9 0r maybe 10 am. Since we were early, parking was easy. The market was located near Victoria Quay. It is very quiet as compared to the Fremantle Markets which is bursting with people. I prefer the latter to the former as regards to the things they have and sell. E-Shed sells cheaper souveni...

It's has been more than a week since I came back from Perth. There were 9 of us, all in the family, including my 4-month old grandson, MM going on the 3-day trip. If you ask me whether that's enough, I tell you it isn't. For a first timer to Perth, I must know Perth quite well in order to plan the places we wanted to go. For that I need the google map where I plotted the directions from one place of attraction to another. Included were the places where where we would be having the main meals, lunch and dinner. Or else, we would have wasted our short precious time. I realized (after the trip), having pamphlets containing thematic maps and lists of things to see and do, should help me better in future trips. It was all there on the map. My mistake, because I have forgotten the maps, thinking the internet infos and the gps gadget were enough.

The trip has not been a very happy one but it feels good that I have experienced another late fall-early winter, a season that I start to love. The weather in late May was cold in the morning but quickly followed by quite warm weather as the day progressed (between 10 and 22 degrees). When the dark set in, the temperature dropped to a point that we had to put on our thin jackets. It did not rain the three days we were there except in the early morning when we depart for Kuala Lumpur. Significant rainfall in winter is one of the  characteristics of the mediterranean climate after a dry summer. When we went to Istanbul in late fall last year, it rained almost every day we were there but the vacation has been wonderfully great.

It is almost a week since we came back from Singapore school excursion which was organised by the BM society and Nature Club. Time really flies. We set off on friday afternoon in two buses after the school cross country event had finished, with 88 people including 8 teachers. I was late by half an hour and the bus started to roar as I reached school at 12.30. He he.

I went back to Tumpat for 2N3D last week. I brought back with me the 3 gadgets that I couldn't part with for even a day, and some books to be marked. Only a daughter joined us after much persuasion for the reason that she is a very good company to her grandmother. And I'm not..