The end of 2012

Alhamdulillah atas segala nikmat dan rezeki yg Allah bagi utk tahun ni. It was a great year for us. Banyak benda yg tak terjangka dapat dicapai, banyak jugak benda yg dapat dibeli. Eventhough ada sedikit rasa terkilan dan jauh hati dgn the current employer, esp dr segi my career advancement, tapi Insya Allah ada hikmah disebaliknya. I just think maybe jugak ni petunjuk dr Yg Esa for me to plan with my future career. Takpe rezeki ada kat mana2, cuma nk kena rajin cari jer. ;)

Ok lah, Malas nk kecek banyak.

So what did we do during boxing day? We reminisced boxing day sale in our rooms. Almost most of my london friends buat status kat fb/told me yg diorg semua rindukan london/boxing day sale kat london..Boleh borak berjam2 bila duk ingat balik kisah lama kat london dedulu.. Hhahah so nampak sgtla kan, apa yg london dah buat kat kitorg ni semua!! :D and the day after boxing day, we had Firedrillss!! (U know what, Someone climbed down 13flights of stairs with her prada & ferragamo pump!! Tersangat posh! dan seriously Jeles giler.. The pump tersangat lawa dan unik okeh!! Patent leather and the colour changed with sunlight...tengok bow kat shoes tu sj pun dah boleh meleleh air liur.. Not to mention her prada!! :( owhh haruslah bersabar menahan napsu.. Not good... Not good... Not good... Hahahaha :p

btw during xmas sale i replenished my half-year stock. Dapat box yg cantik pulak tuh! Yeay!! And also bought new shoess! Sbb bercita2 nk lawan my hubs' shoes collection la kononnya! (To my hubby,, i will only stop buying new shoes if i can get the ferragamo classic pump, Then u will officially win! Aci tak?!) hahaha sabar cik wan... Sabar... Sabbarrrr.... :p

The Big Bad Wolf Experience

My friends had been talking bout the Big Bad Wolf (BBW) booksales since last year. I didnt go last year, why? because we just came back from the UK and had brought home bundles of books, ignorantly thinking that it is ridiculously impossible to get cheap books in our homeland...

but this year we went. 

not once

not twice

but thrice!! hahaha :p

  

our very first experience with the BBW was last Monday. 

and we find that the big bad wolf is super awesomeee!!we can get quality books super cheap, from as low as RM8: much much cheaper than the marketplace in the amazon or even my fave 2nd hand bookshop back in london!!! weeehoooo!!!

with plenty of books and every section is nicely labelled. 

and my husband had fabulous time. 

his eyes hysterically lit up the moment we enter the hall looking at tonnes and tonnes of books..well, he literally ran from one isle to the other. :p he went beserk the moment he saw the price tags.. hahahaha yes, he is a big fan of books. okay, actually he LOVES books. when we were in london, he can spend hours and days browsing the amazon website looking for rare books/the hidden gem, or updated his books' wishlist every few hours. he bought home several text books which (according to him) is not available even in the University libraries. so it is not a surprise when the adrenaline rush pushed him to the BBW booksale at 9am  after his night shift (and without shower! hahaha), shopping for books for 3 hours then went home for some quick lunch and shower before going back to the BBW again at 2pm for another dose of BBW. super crazey kan? hahahaha :p

the plus points for us: convenient location (5-10minutes drive from my house!)

large hall and airconditioned.

most of hubby's kind of books are aplenty! maybe not many malaysians read his kind of books kot. errr not even his wife! hehhehe :p

so what are our catches?!

tadaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!! :p

 

which equals to..... 

1 big trolley of books

 or a few boxes of books 

that make it a total of 71 books!!! hahahahahha :pp

20 books for me

and 51 books for him.

 

the free gifts that we got: bookmarks. hehehe :p

so now we have new problem..

 

  

this is our current bookshelves.

so buku2 baru beli tuh semua nak sumbat celah mana???

ayoyoyoooo!!

owh well...

kudos to the Big Bad Wolf,

goodbye kinokuniya,

and hello ikea!!!! ;)

Mariott Executive Apartment Bangkok.

Baru balik bercuti bangkok.. The best vacay of the year.. Memang betul2 relaxing.. 1 week before bangkok, kerja bizi teramat sangat.. Pernah sampai tahap jumpa mrhubby 30minit je sehari utk 3 consecutive days. sedih jer kan.. Memang pulun kerja gila2 punya, balik umah dah dekat pukul 9.30mlm pastu dgn mrhubby kerja shift malam lagi, pukul 10 dia dah ke tempat kerja... Dahla first time pegi bangkok, seminggu tak jumpa hubby, kerja mcm org gila for the past few weeks, rumah macam tongkang pecah, kerja kat opis bertimbun, dgn sleep and rest deprived lagi tambahan pulak dah lama tak pegi holiday... Mmg a very good combination of reasons lah utk berholiday.. tapi memula kitorg pikir, kitorg akan pancit habis lah, memandangkan penat kerja tak hilang pastu tetiba kena travel holiday lagi..sure flat dan tak bermaya jer bila kat bangkok.. tp bila sampai sana, bila dapat hotel yg memang super fantastic, hilang segala macam jenis penat dan memang perghhh relaxing habis!!! :p kira memang kitorg enjoy habislah holiday kalinih...

view from our unit. 

So entry kalini just nk bg review hotel jer dulu.. For us it was the best hotel that we ever been to. Sampai tahap tanak balik umah sebab superduper cosy and comfy!!! Oh yes, we stayed (well, actually we LIVED) in Marriott Executive Apartment in Sukhumvitt Bangkok. ;)

The name says it all. It was an apartment, hubby punya kerja la ni-pergi berdua tapi siap amik apartment, dia yg book kan. Memula pikir macam membazir, tapi bila sampai dan lihat sendiri hotel tu, terus jatuh chenta! it was a very wise decision indeed. :) hubby book studio suite, tapi dapat free upgrade to 1bedroom suite, sbb mrhubby adalah mariott member. Alhamdulillah lah kan, rezki pengantin lama nak berhanimun.. (bluek!!) Hehehhe :p

1bedroom suite. Bilik besarrrrrrr, bathroom super besarrrrr dan paling best sbb cukup lengkap dengan living room, dining table, a kitchennette complete with crockeries dan jugak washing machine dan dryer!!! The apartment reminds us of our old life in london, but obviously it is in  a much bigger scale than our old Barking home...

working area. 

dilengkapi dgn vacuum cleaner dan iron+ironing board.

our comfy bed!!! ;)

and the spacious wardrobe!!

the kitchen was simply fantastic!

semua ada. crockeries, kitchen utensils, hood+hob, oven and microwave, coffee maker, toaster, kettle as well as dishwasher!!

in fact, the fridge provided is much much bigger than our current fridge!

our "survival kit".... hehehe  :p

dining table for 4 , and the entrance to our bedroom!! oh yes!! they provided us with 2 sets of tvs - in the living room and in the bedroom as well! 

the best part: washing machine and dryer (and also ladder+ torch light and umbrella!!) we were so spoilt!! :p

look at the user manual!! so thick, and well organised!! 

bathroom. 

(p.s: look at the shower - it is so big, and directly on your head! best giler mandi, rasa macam mandi hujan!! Bathtub pon ada, sangat besar dan dalam.. Best berendam esp bila time balik travel penat2...)

Dan seluruh bilik-dapur-toilet ber-airconditioned!! takyah nak pikir pasal bil letrik pulak tuh.. heheheh :p

Locationwise: Sgt strategik. within walking distance (15mins walk) to the BTS (overground train) station. kalau malas, ada complimentary tuk-tuk service to/from the station and shopping mall (The Emporium). We all naik tuk-tuk free je spjg kat sana, siap ada lambang mariott lagi. Hehehe :p


simply the best vacation ever. thanks to Mr Hubby, you have spoilt me rotten!!! :p

Ermmm... Tetiba rasa dah takmo duduk terrace/semi-d lagi dah. Nakkembali ke zaman one-bedroom apartment pulak, like the old london days.... Aiyark... Manusia mmg tak pernah puas!! Hheheh

Trip to Medan

I just came back from 5 days trip to Medan. actually this is more towards business trip, to accompany the students and take care of their welfare. I would say that the trip was successful, considering the VERY limited funding that we have. It was my first (enjoyable) trip with the students (minus my hubby, and 2 other lecturers' spouses.. hehehe!)

Upon arrival, we had been given a very warm welcome at the airport, were brought to a famous Sunda restaurant for soto sunda and after checked in at the university's hostel (the hostel was impressive, with laminated flooring, airconditioned and equipped with mini bar - all for just RM 40-80!!), we were brought to the Dental Faculty, where the dean and his deputies (and yummieh Indonesian lunch) were already waiting for us. We were shown around the dental school, and i chose not to elaborate further about their facilities here. ;)

During the second day we joined the faculty for a community service at one of the village- 50kms from the city. it happened to be a mega community service-there was even a community services for the villagers utk berkhatan free- sponsored by the governor.  we went to the village under police escorts-with police sirens wailing all the way throughout the journey! earlier that morning, we even had breakfast at the governor's (impressive) house!!! The community service was totally different from our usual practice in malaysia, whereby during the occasion dental treatment were given to the community-eventhough without proper sterilization of dental equipment-only the Almighty knows how many cross contaminations occured between the patients,and on behalf of the patients, I secretly prayed that none of the patients are Hepatitis carrier or even worse, HIV virus carrier... :(

The third day was our visits to the local hospital and clinics as well as to do some shopping! :p Never that I thought my students were so talented if not because of the cultural show dinner that night. They performed zapin, an almost perfect performance-considering their Islamic school backgrounds and without going to a proper class or having the experts teaching them on how to dance!!

We went to Simalem, a new resort overlooking the Lake Toba on the fourth day, had lunch by the river with crystal clear water and went on top of a hill for a breathtaking view of Lake Toba (the place reminds me of the view in Land's End in the UK)...  After lunch, One of the female student went missing for nearly 40minutes (the longest 40minutes of the trip!), even the Indonesian lecturers and local peoples were worried, and went all out searching for the student (they even managed to borrow a buggy car from the resort to search for the her).. to be honest, we were more worried of orang bunian/makhluk halus - since the resort is very very new and located on top of a hill in the middle of a jungle! luckily the students managed to find her on top of the hill (some of her friends had already started crying- and i was more than worried thinking about the possibilities of making police reports, going to the malaysian consulate, facing her parents and also answering to our higher university management!!).. and after the incident everybody behaved at their best. :)

The fifth day was totally dedicated for shopping at Pasar Petisah before we catch our flight home at 3.50pm. All in all,I hope the students enjoyed the trip and new experiences as well as I did, and hopefully they will be more thankful with what they have in our faculty and country.


P.s: we snapped too many photos, making it difficult for me to choose the best photos for my blog at the moment. Hehehe will upload some in my next entry, maybe. :)

Trip ke Kuala Selangor

2 weekend lepas kitorg buat trip ke Kuala Selangor pulak.. memula tu plan bukan main ingat nk ke Perlis-Kedah-Penang, tp sebab cuti yg makin menipis dan most weekends pun nak kena kerja membanting tulang jugak, so terpaksa cut short buat day trip je ke K.Selangor. sedih btoi! hehehehhe takper... takper... november ni kita travel puas2!! ;p

trip ke kuala selangor ni actually lebih kepada trip jalan2 cari makan dan jugak utk restock seafood. dah lama my colleague suggest pergi sana utk beli fresh seafood tp sebab ingatkan K.Sngor-KL ni adalah jauh, so ada sedikit perasaan malas nak pergi.... hehehe tapi kalini gigih jugak kitorg redah dan utk lebih kemeriahan membeli belah, kitorg ajak sekali my SIL's clan to join the trip. :)

turun dr umah cheras pukul 7.30pg, pukul 8pg dah smpai umah SIL. lepas bfast etc bertolak ke k.sngor pukul 9 and surprisingly dlm pukul 10.30 dah selamat sampai! kereta pun tak banyak, maybe berkat kitorg lalu LATAR kot!! kalau tau camni punya dekat dah lama pergi sana shopping seafood!! :) first destination haruslah ke Pasar Pasir Penambang - mcm hilang ingatan seketika memborongggg sakan!!! mmg dasar shopaholic! pilih ikan pun boleh rambang mata!! hahahahaha :p

mcm2 jenis udang ada. fresh2 belaka

seafood semua fresh!! price wise slightly cheaper than KL, tp jauh lagi fresh dari ikan2 kat pasar2 KL tuh!! puashati beb! dan masa beli seafood ni semua, pekedai dah tau kitorg dr kl, so diorg terus letak crushed ice terus dlm bag plastik ikan tu  semua utk preserved the freshness - apa tak nampak kl nyer, masuk wet market dgn kasut converse and handbag coach?? seriously overdressed! lolz :p

spoilt for choices!!

  

i bought udang kara/udang galah. seriously besar. kalau tak silap rm40 per kilo,tp kitorg beli half kilo jer. esoknya balik kl terus buat masak lemak udang galah. fuhhh!!! yummy! :p

 

paling fresh dan paling value for money : ketam! besar2 dan berat2. berkilau2 lagi kulitnya- membayangkang betapa freshnya ketam2 ni semua. RM20 jer per kilo!!!  giler murah!! sampai meroyan beli ketam! :)

 

ikan siakap RM17 perkilo, siakap saya beli ni RM15 jer. besar dan fresh. ikan merah RM20 per kilo. 

  

RM 7 per kilo. even ikan kerisi ni pun segar bugar! kitorg buat goreng kunyit biasa je, tp hasben makan sambil duk puji cakap sedap dan isi ikan tu manis- first time org puji saya goreng ikan sedap! heheheheh :p

 

binatang bercengkerang yg ditangkap: lala - buat masak serai bercili, kepah belum masak lg dgn kerang - dah selamat buat sambal kerang makan dgn nasi lemak. fuhh!!

 

 RM7 perkilo. segar2 jugak, so far masih terselamat dlm my fridge.

 

2 ekor ikan bawal yg besar2. seekor dah selamat kitorg bakar dgn rempah ikan bakar, seekor masih terselamat dalam fridge.

  

udang kecik pun beli gak. dah banyak terkorban dalam pasta carbonara saya. :)

sotong pun besar2 dan fresh. semua sotong2 ni tengah pregnant-ada telur. RM16 per kilo. semalam buat sambal sotong guna 3 ekor jer boleh buat makan 2 org sampai kenyang. 

 seafood ni semua kitorg letak dlm coleman. pastu singgah 7eleven beli ice utk penuhkan ice box. balik kl dah midnight, tp ikan2 semua still segar bugar, ice pun still intact! 

  

paddy field in sekinchan

dari pasar ikan, kitorg lunch di Selera Rimba - kita makan food autentik - landak masak rendang dgn pelanduk goreng bercili dan ayam kampung goreng. will blog bout it soon at my other blog. :) selesai melantak, terus ke K.Selangor again utk buat aktiviti pelancong pulak. hehehe

  

kitorg naik tram utk ke Bukit Melawati! hehehe

  

muka2 eksaited. hehehe

 

siap duduk di 3rd row tuhhh!! hahahaha

 

first time, jakunness. hahahaha 

perigi beracun di Bkt Melawati

  

view yg cantik dan meriam api di puncak bukit

the map

 

rumah api di puncak bukit

  

Makan Diraja

 

Muzium Sejarah Daerah K.Selangor

 

dan penghuni bukit yg setia... :)

  

the monyets

perhentian tram yang ada menjual...

 FREEZE magnet! canggih tak? hehehe

lepas pusing2 bukit malawati, sebab panas terik, kitorg pekena cendol bakar pulak. cendol bakar ni memang happening, siap ada drive thru okeh!!! will blog bout this too soon!

dari cendol, kitorg ke Pantai Jeram for an early seafood dinner by the beach... melantak seafood tak hengat punya! :P

dari Pantai Jeram, kitorg patah balik ke Kg Kuantan utk tengok kelip2 pulak.. 

 

  

muka2 eksaited tgh tungguh bot. RM50 per boat.

kebetulan masa kitorg pergi baru lepas hujan gerimis, so ditakdirkan rezki kami malam tuh, kelip2 keluar dgn banyaknya! cantik giler!!! naik sampan dalam gelap, dgn diterangi cahaya kelip2 je kat tepi sungai.. mmg unik! unfortunately snap pic tak nampak, dan takboleh guna flash sbb nanti kelip2 mati.

 

di atas sampan. budak kecik ni takut sampan terbalik, pastu siap ckp lagi ada buaya kat dlm sungai! isk isk iskkk... hehehhe

trip tengok kelip2 makan masa dlm 20minit. dari Kg Kuantan, kitorg terus bertolak balik. pukul 11 mlm baru sampai umah cheras. exhausted!!

...welcoming november with warm heart - travel, travel and travel.. at least to 3 different places ;) yeay!!