S601 - Singapore

Salam

Since everyone quite busy with works, and we really missed spending time together, so we decided to have a short trip to Singapore!

This trip is quite last-minute yet we still manage to have return flight ticket, hostel and USS entrance ticket booked in less than MYR500! I always be in character of kedekut person when in comes to let's budget our trip session, I will always opt for things with lowest price. Hihi. We bought our USS ticket using MasterCard promotion which only cost us MYR167 per person and stayed in high-rated hostel located at Little India area which cost us MYR113 for two nights.

We took an early morning AirAsia flight to Changi Airport to make sure we can spend the most time in Singapore. That is my first experience departing from KLIA2, excited! Unfortunately KLIA2 turn out our day to huru-hara and very miserable when they last-minute chance the departure gate 45-minutes before boarding time and even worst the new gate situated on the other side of the airport. Dah rasa macam join Running Man when we had to run catching the flight. Luckily we manage to board the flight. Or else, tak kan are lah cerita Singapore.

We arrived Singapore around 9 in the morning. We bought One-Day Singapore Tourist Pass which cost us SGD20 (include SGD10 for deposit) for unlimited mrt and public transport ride. Recommended for tourists. We took our first mrt trip to Little India to drop our luggage at the hostel and have light lunch at the Muslim restaurant next to the hostel.

All of us claims ourselves as adventurous and explorer tourists! So we decided to explore the city centre on our own without any tourist map as guidance. My friends did google places to visit in Singapore earlier. We first stop at City Centre station and walk all the way to Esplanade Park. Sangat jauh ye. And start our selfie and group photo session!

*at Esplanade Park, with Esplanade building and bridge and the ferris-wheel as background*

*the pagoda*

*the city centre view*

After the far and hot and not so breeze walking journey, only we get to know the nearest mrt station to the attraction hub is Raffles station. But, we redha and just enjoy the walking. 

*picture of us on a bridge on the way to Raffles station*

We continue our so-called explorer trip to Merlion and Marina Bay for light show which start on 8pm every night. And had our dinner at one of the muslim Swedish restaurant at Bugis area and surprisingly the dinner cost us MYR400 for 5 persons. As a budget traveller, i will opt to pay the dinner using credit card so that we won't realise that we are running out of cash. Tsk.  

*the Merlion. Combination of Mermaid and lion, i guess*

*the beautiful Marina Bay*

Thats all for our sight-seeing stories in Singapore.

Now, comes to our exciting and fun stories at Universal Studio Singapore. This will be my second time coming here and i always have a picture of crowded and long queue in USS as that is what i experienced during my first trip coming here.

Alhamdullilah, it turn out to be the other way round. We only need to queue for less than 5 minutes for each ride and managed to complete all rides by 4pm, waited until 430pm for the parade and i am really excited for the parade because elmo come and shake my hand! And of course after i call 'elmo' out loud few times. 

Oh ya, based on my experiences in USS, we did plan our day in USS. Each of us will have what she want to have in USS. I chose to have a picture with Marilyn Monroe! I told my friends, "Kita tak boleh balik selagi saya tak dapat ambil gambar dengan Marilyn". And i did it!

Basicly, i already shared lots of my experience in USS from my previous USS post.  

Time to say good-bye to USS and Singapore.

Till then, wsalam~

S600 - Umrah 2014 Part 2

Salam

Let's continue my last-minute umrah adventure.

We arrived at Mekah around 8pm and straight away checked-in at Hotel Umm Qurra. Have a quick rest and then went to Masjidil Haram for tawaf, said and bercukur. MashaAllah, the Kaabah is so beautiful, just a bit crowded as someone told me that it was school holiday season in United Saudi Arabia. Most of parents bring along their kids here for umrah. Plus, praying area is quite limited as there is massive construction in Masjidil Haram. Can you see the hanging tawaf area in the picture? That is the temporary place for pilgrims using wheelchairs.

*picture taken from Masjidil Haram roof top*

Our team lead arranged few trip around Mekah-visiting places where pilgrims perform Hajj. Since we been here before and the places haven't change that much, ayah decided not to join any of the trip. He prefer to spend as much time as he could in Masjidil Haram since we only stayed in Mekah for four days before return back to Malaysia. I only join the first trip to Jabal Rahmah because i wanted to pray for jodoh. hihi.

*picture of us at Jabal Rahmah*

*view of Jabal Rahmah*

During Hajj, there is a moment where all Muslim will be staying at Arafah for a least one night. We visited Malaysian staying area in Arafah. There is a huge signboard showing all the facilities provided in Arafah.

*the sign board at Arafah*

View of Masjidil Haram during Subuh. This is during our last day in Mekah before return back to Malaysia.

View of Kaabah and tawaf area after Subuh prayer. Did you see the crane? InsyaAllah they targeted to complete this project by 2020. I been told that they will extend the mosque for 500m radius.  

Alhamdullilah we safely arrived Kuala Lumpur the next day morning. And be back in office on the following day.

Till then, wsalam~

S599 - Umrah 2014 Part 1

Salam

Alhamdullilah, I'm back from Umrah weeks ago. I was a short and unplanned trip, yet it will be the most memorable Umrah trip. We went there on our own, without travel agent or mutawif. It sounds risky and challenging kan going their without mutawif, even I am not truly confident of this idea at first, but Alhamdullilah everything is okay.

We (read as a group of 14 great companion) departed from KLIA on 23rd March mid-day. Transit in Dubai for two hours, and reached Jeddah before Maghrib. This is view of dessert Dubai from plane. I never been to Dubai before, and unfortunately our two hours transit is not enough for us to walk around - sight seeing around Dubai city. Maybe I could plan another trip just for Dubai perhaps?

We took a bus from Jeddah to Madinah. I slept all the way until we arrived Madinah. We stayed at Al Haram hotel which is just few meters away from Masjidil Nabawi. I rate this hotel for five-stars!

Since we just have approximately three days in Madinah, we tried to grab all the opportunity visiting Raudhah and performing prayers in Masjidil Nabawi. Picture of Raudhah (Green Dome) taken from outside Masjidil Nabawi and Raudhah area had been set with green carpet. Everyone would try their best to have the chance performing any solat sunat on those green carpet, including us!

It us inside Masjidil Nabawi, while waiting for our turn to visit Raudhah. Can you see how beautiful is the interior design of the mosque? Masjidil Nabawi even have roof that can be open. So high-tech kan? Sigh. I don't have the video/picture of the roof to be shared. 

This is the view of Masjidil Nabawi's crowd after Isyak. Millions of Muslim from all over the world came here to perform prayers. And even little kids follow their parents to be apart of the jemaah. Subhanallah. How not to fall in love praying at this mosque if you could lively see all this good things happening here?

Our tour lead arrange a trip around Madinah city - visiting Quba' Mosque and Date farm for first-timer performing Umrah. We then travel to Mekah by bus. The journey took us around 5 hours. Luckily I'm not sleeping all the way to Mekah this time around, so sempat lah enjoy the journey and sunset view.

Till then, wsalam.

S598 - Surabaya, Indonesia

Salam

After spending 3 full days in Bali, we continue our holiday trip to Surabaya. Journey from Bali to Surabaya took us almost 8 hours. For our Surabaya trip which we will be going to Mt Bromo to be exact, we book a tour package because we dont have any idea how to travel to Mt Bromo from Bali. The tour package cost us IDR 1,585,000 per person which include transport and one night stay at Mt Bromo.

Mount Bromo is an active volcano.

The tour agent pick us at Ubud on 8 am and drove us to nearby jetty in Bali which took us almost 3 hours from Ubud. Then, we took one-hour ferry ride to Ketapayang Jetty, Surabaya. And finally 4 hours car ride to Mt Bromo. What a long long journey kan? Took us almost 8 hours in total..

We stayed at Bromo Permai which situated on the peak of the mountain which I'm not really sure the name of the mountain, but I'm confident it is not Mt Bromo because we can have a view of Mt Bromo from our hotel. Our hotel located slightly higher than Mt Bromo. So cool. We arrived the hotel around 6pm and wind is really really cool. As cold as winter season. Im shivering on my way to the hotel room cause i didn't bring any thick clothes to keep me warm except my cardigan.

We had slices of pizza and hot chocolate for dinner at the hotel restaurant for dinner. We need to sleep early that night because we had to leave the hotel room by 400 am the next morning for sunrise at Mt Bromo.

So, around 400 am the next morning, the tour agent drove us to the peak of one mountain nearby Mt Bromo for sunrise view using a super cool jeep. Unfortunately, we arrived there a bit late, and the car park on the peak already occupied by other tourist, maybe because it is on weekend.

It's okay. We just stopped by the road on our way down heading to Mt Bromo. However, we can't even see the sunrise because the weather is not that good that morning.    

*while waiting for sunrise by the roadside*

We continue our journey to Mt Bromo. I'm really excited to see and experience the environment around Mt Bromo because it is totally different from typical Indonesia or Malaysia environment. I feel like I'm far far away from Indonesia or Malaysia. Hmmm, i have feeling of being in Tibet while walking up to Mt Bromo. I haven't being in Tibet before. Just the view of people wearing winter clothes, 4WD jeep, horses, cold wind sounds soo significant with Tibet. Haha. Suke hati je bust judgement sendiri kan?

There is no trees, no houses, there is nothing around Mt Bromo area. Except a temple on the foothills of Mt Bromo and this temple still remains since hundred years ago tho been swiped by Mt Bromo volcanic lava, the temple still stand strong till today. 

*the temple*

*standing at Mt Bromo peak*

*can you see the volcano mouth?*

*this not volcano, just an ordinary mountain beside Mt Bromo*

Journey to Mt Bromo will be our most memorable moments to be shared because not everyone chose to visit volcano to be a part of holiday trip.

Till then.

Thank you.

S597 - Bali, Indonesia

salam

after months planning for a holiday trip with friends, at last we decided to go to Bali, Indonesia during our Chinese New Year holiday! We stayed at Kuta and Ubud. 

Our flight to Denpasar (Bali) from Kuala Lumpur took us about three hours. During our two-days stayed in Kuta, we had hired a tour driver for a cost of IDR 900,000 including airport fares which is quite reasonable because the tour driver can suggest us good Muslim restaurant for lunch and dinner plus he can help us to plan our two-days itinerary in Bali. 

On the first day, we went to Tanah Lot. We can see beautiful scenary of the sea from the cliff.  

                                      

                                     

Besides being a tourism attraction, this is a place for Hindu to pray. Everyone to wish to enter the temple, need to wash their faces using the Holy Water, wear flowers given and put some rice on forehead. Tourism can simply walk across the sea to the temple because the water level is not that deep.

*On their way to the temple for prayers*

After that, we head to Dreamland Beach. To be honest, this beach is soooo perfect, except the weather is quite hot. So, we just ignore the heat and took lots of photo as the beach scenery is so beautiful which we can't get as such back in Malaysia.  

Then we went to Uluwatu Temple for Kecak Dance and sunset view. On the way for Kecak Dance, we passed by Uluwatu Temple. It situated on the edge of the cliff. The can have nice view of the blue sea from top of the cliff.

The Kecak Dance starts at 6.00 pm daily and this is a-must-see dance in Bali. This dance tells us an Indonesia legend story.

We had our dinner at Jimbaran beach that night. They served seafood; ikan baker, lobster, calamari, etc. And the feeling is just like having our ikan bakar at Kuala Perlis, Malaysia.

The next day, we went to Ladang Kopi. We can find Kopi Luwak here; which is a famous coffee in Bali. Maybe because im not a coffee-fan, thus I can't find any excitement drinking coffee here. This is how they process the coffee; from coffee beans.

Besides Luwak coffee, they served various type of coffee and tea here; Roselle, Vanilla coffee, Arabica coffee and many other type of coffee which I can re-call now. Hihi. They will give one small-cup for each flavours as a tester for each group.

We had our lunch at Kintamani. A buffet-lunch. We can actually see a beautiful volcanic view from this restaurant. Unfortunately, it is raining that day, so we can't see any of the view. 

After lunch, we proceed to Rice Terrace Field. In Indonesia, they had their paddy field in form of terrace. This is one thing that we they are different from us in Malaysia. 

After having a tiring time climbing the terrace field, we straight away continue to Ubud, Bali. We arrived Ubud around 6 pm. 

Since our hotel in Ubud situated in the middle of Ubud city centre, we just spent our one-full day walking around the city centre; searching for souvenirs, have a visit to Monkey Forest and spent our night at Starbucks.

The next day, we continue our journey to Surabaya which I will share later in my next post.

Till then, wsalam.