Barcelona - the city that never sleeps

Okay back to the Spain updates. Tunggang langgang sudah ceritaku. Lantak lah. I need to speed up the updates coz as soon as Adilah is back, I will no longer have a laptop :( Babe, me misses u so much. Hold on okay? When the service centre dah bukak I'll send you right away..

Our flight from Madrid to Barcelona was at 12.50pm. We didn't go anywhere that morning. Stayed in the hostel. Lepak2. Borak2. So how come we missed the flight? I dunno..Takpelah..what past is past kan..

potential reason terlepas flight - camwhoring kat hostel tuh!

I realised that we cudn't make it when we are in the Metro and when the clock struck 12. Konfem tak smpat. We were running like hell to the airport. Nak cari kaunter RyanAir yg tersorok tu satu hal lagi. Seriously like another version of Amazing Race! And the snob RyanAir officer denied our beggings. Logic la pun dah pukul 12.20pm at that time. I was so mad at myself coz I think as the "organizer" I was the one who is responsibled to make sure all was fine..huu..

Anyway we spread out to find options to get to Barcelona. By hook or by crook we need to get there since our flight back was from Barcelona. The flight - of course costed us hundred euros - reject. The train - costed us 106eu - reject reject. So we were left to 2 options. Either to take bus or to rent a car. After considering the pros n cons and after bertawakal, we rented an Audi C4 car. Luckily the company accepted drivers under 23 y old! Who was behind the wheel?? Yours truly la, Alhamdulillah I've experienced left-hand-side driving when I went to Southern Spain last year..

After stuffing our bags into the oh so small bonet and stuffing ourselves into the oh not so big car, we departed from Madrid airport at around 1.50pm. Only God knows how nervous I was at that time. Nasib ada navigator. he he..My target was to reach Barcelona ASAP and to drive as minimal as we could in dark. Cuakksss okayhh...Out of the 6 hours journey, we only stop once. Itupun less than one hour coz I insisted on doing so. Terpaksa menjadi kejam coz I was so tired and I'm afraid my eyes and body couldn't tolerate the pressure anymore..

The journey was okay. At times, I sped off. Tak perasan laaa =P Especially bila suasana senyap sunyi dan terdengar keruhan org tidoq...wahhh sungguh menggegar iman. At one time I reached 170km/h but not for so long la...Most of the time it's only 140-150km/h saja. Itupun annoyed by the alert signal by the navigator..Tapi saya sentiasa berdoa dan berselawat okay semoga semua selamat. Dah lah bawak anak orang kann..hihihihi. On the way, Mihah received text from Alya saying they found my phone. Alhamdulillah..one not so good thing happened, one good thing came :)

Ceria je semuaorangg..padahal...hehehheh

Reached Barcelona airport and took Metro to our so called hotel. Again, something silly happened, coz I left my purse in the car so Fiqah and I went back to the airport. Seriously percutian terpenat seumur hidup neh!

The accomodation? Truth be told, I booked the accomodation and it stated as HOTEL. Very very deceiving okay. It turned out to be a very creepy room with a creepy hotelkeeper in kinda creepy place. Dahlah Fiqah and I were kinda lost in our way to find the hotel. We were guided by a random guy who claimed to be Muslim whom initially we thought to have bad intention towards us. Siap dah pesan kat fiqah awal2 cakap kita jerit kuat2 kalau ada apa2 jadi..hihihiih..But all was fine. I didn't even thanked him properly coz I was so nervous!

Okay onto the next day..we had to leave the place early before the pakcik hotel realized they were 6 of us (coz we booked places for 4 only! not a big deal pun actually tapi dia yang pelik lebeh!) The first stop was La Sagrada Familia. It looked gigantic in the picture but in reality...alah biasa-biasa jer! And the place was under construction and we didn't get to enter the place.

tangkap dari luar pun jadi laaaa..

We toured around Barcelona. Went to the Picasso museum. But what do you expect from we people yang tak berapa nak appreciate the arts. Tengok sikit pastu mengomel2. Huhu..Went to the so-called Bohemian market-tak-berapa-nak-market-sangat..

had lunch at the restaurant. and had the Paella - the local food. Jadilah merasa makanan tempatan kan...

Later that evening we went to Port Vell..

Makcik kot ungu and pakcik seluar ungu. awhhhh so sweettttttt...

captured by Malaysians we met there. thanks kakak2~

water..me likey!

the ships? kah

in front of the Maregmanum shopping complex.

We walked along the La Ramblas..shopped for souvenirs and went to the area at Placa Catalunya, again, the shopping areas. Maximised our tour as Fiqah and I had only one day in Barcelona coz our flight was early in the morning the next day..

Hard Rock Cafe Barcelona.

Went back to the creepy-hotel-4-tingkat-tangga-tinggi-tapi-sempit. I slept only for 1-2 hours and stayed up the rest of the nite coz I'm afraid we'll miss the bus to the airport. It takes about 1.5 hours to Barcelona Girona (ala ala LCCT lah gituu). Luckily all was okay. Sampai2 pun elok2 je before the bus departed.

At 8.45am, I departed from Girona airport to Bremen :)

All in all, I see Madrid & Spain are very different from the Southern Spain places I went last year. But generally from my observation people from Madrid is much cleaner and pleasant looking rather than Barcelona (selambe je jadi judgemental kan) The places of interest in Barcelona spread out unlike Madrid....Barcelona city sangat meriah thruout the nite okay. Tak tidur agaknya mereka itu...

p/s : excuse the grammar and ayat tunggang langgang. laju2 je type malas nak proofread.

Free Palestine

Do you all know what is happening to our fellow Muslim brothers and sisters in Palestine? I am sorry I have to admit I've never really bring up these issues in the blog as my knowledge about it is quite limited and I don't know how to put these into words.

The least we can do, is to pray to the All-Hearing Almighty. He listens. He always do.
But are we doing our part enough?
I urge myself and whoever came across this post, to recite the Qunut Nazilah if that the least we can do to help them.

For more info on Qunut Nazilah, visit : http://salwasaleh.blogspot.com/2006/07/qunut-nazilah-4-ummah.html

For a clearer version of the Do'a, visit : http://www.scribd.com/doc/2677255/Doa-Qunut-Nazilah

For some info on bits and pieces of the Palestine issue, I like the way Ustaz Hasrizal put it into words. Simple yet deep for a person like me. Do visit : http://saifulislam.com

For statistics, some history on Palestine, visit : http://ifamericansknew.org

There are a lot of infos out there and it's just one click away for us. It depends on us whether we chose to stay as ignorants or start doing something to help them. Palestine is no longer an issue exclusive to Muslims only. It's becoming an humanity issue. Thousands of people have been killed without mercy.

كلمتهم وزلزل أقدامهموسلط عليهم كلبا من كلابك يا قهار يا جبار يا منتقمياالله ياالله يااللهاللهم يا منزل الكتاب ويا مجري السحاب ويا هازم
الاحزابﺇهزمهم ﺇهزمهم ﺇهزمهوانصرنا عليهم

Ya Allah,Sesungguhnya kami meletakkan-Mu di batang-batang leher musuh2 kami Dan kami berlindung dengan-Mu daripada kejahatan2 merekaYa Allah,Leburkanlah kumpulan2 mereka Pecah belahkan dan kacau bilaukan persatuan merekaGoncangkan pendirian mereka Dan hantarkanlah anjing2 kamu kepada mereka Wahai tuhan yang gagah perkasa Wahai tuhan yang penuh raksasa Wahai tuhan yang bersifat murka Ya allah Ya allah Ya allah Ya allah, Wahai tuhan yang menurunkan kitab, Wahai tuhan yang mengarakkan awan Wahai tuhan yang menewaskan bala tentera al-ahzab Kalahkan mereka Kalahkan mereka Kalahkan mereka Dan menangkan kami ke atas mereka.

my first London trip

I wanted to update but I've been busy sorting out things. But here goes my journey. Mind you it's gonna be LOONNNNNNGGGG post :-)

On the nite of 23th Wawa and I departed for Bremen airport as our flight was at 6.30am the next morning. That was my 2nd overnite in airport within 2 weeks. Thank God Bremen airport was all fine and very very comfortable. Not too cold, comfortable chairs to sleep on and even the staffs are nice! So 5 stars for Bremen Airport!

Wawa all hyped out. Excited nak jumpe boypreng ke? hee..and Oh see those two guys in red at the back? They are the staffs who are very polite and helpful coz they helped us to remove the bags when they are cleaning the floor. Tak macam Dublin airport okayh!

comfy couch. Nak tido pun selesa!

We reached London Stansted at 6.50am (time diff. between UK & Germany is 1 hour). Took EasyBus to Victoria Station (which costed 9 pound) and went to put our bags at the hostel - Piccadily Backpackers since we are still early for check-in. We then moved on to one of the biggest agenda to London - MAKAN BESAR MALAYSIAN HALL.

We took the Tube to Bayswater station (which I think is the nearest to Malaysian hall. tapi diorang kata ada lagi dekat. yeke?) The area is surrounded by Halal restaurants and souvenir shops which clearly promotes discount for Malaysian. Nampak sangat tu area Malaysian duduk kan! The total of Halal restaurants at that small area is enough to defeat the total of Halal restaurant here in my place (Cork)! Ciss betul. Even the Subway are halal..seronoknyeeee...

Muke busuk tetapi excited kerana berada di Malaysian Hall..hehehhe..after a plate of rice (pantang nasi telah terbabas2...arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh) and SAMBAL IKAN KELI YUMMMEEYYYHHHHHHHH, and tahu masak apatah..heaveenn..

After Malaysian Hall, we moved on to our next agendas - which is to visit the stadiums of the famous football clubs - Arsenal & Chelsea. We went to Fulham Broadway first since Alep is a big fan of Chelsea. But much to his disappointment, since it was Christmas eve, everything closed earlier. Even the shop there! So we could only settle with pictures around the stadium. Tapi the stadium is so small compared to Real Madrid's stadium!

player tambahan. hwahwahwa..

The next stop was to Arsenal stadium. I'm a little fan of Arsenal by the way! hehe..but by the time we reached there, it was dark already. The stadium was definitely bigger than Chelsea's stadium but we didn't stay there longer due to some complications. Takpe takpe, one day I'll be revisiting London okay. (eh tapi lepas ni nak masuk UK ada Visa camneee????)

Emirates Stadium..

Arsenal

Later that day I met up with Fiqah and went separate ways from Wawa. Selambe je blah camtu dari Wawa. Didn't even have proper goodbye with her :( Sorry Wa! I joined the rest of them at Millenium hostel (if I'm not mistaken) near the Kensal Green tube. Initially it costed about £10 per pax for an 8 bed-8 person per room per nite (berapa banyak per daa..) but since Me & Fiqah were seludup-ed into that room, we only pay around £7 per pax per nite.

On the 25th, there were no public transports operating at all, except cabs la kan. So most of us were up very late. Later that evening we called cabs and went to Hard Rock Cafe at Old Park Lane. Since the currency were almost 1 : 1 (pound sterling : euro) we all went crazy and nearly bought the whole store (exaggerrated kasi nampak menarik sket. haha) I took the opportunity to collect points from my All-Access card from them.hahhaa...

almost everyone has the paperbag!

Then we walked across the Hyde Park (ke? tak ingat la) and Kensington Garden, to, again the beloved Malaysian Hall. Sanggup tu meredah taman demi taman demiThis time around, I had sambal paru plak...ahhhhhhhhhh wreennnddduuuuu nak makan sambal paru..(ejaan gedik on purpose)

We went back home straight away to prepare for the big day tomorrow. Acey cey...

Honestly, this is my first boxing day ever. My imagination was : cam kedai2 semua longgokkan barang cam kat pasar malam takpun bazar malam raya kat Parit Sulong. Orang sesak2. Himpit2 tolak. Payung tercabut smua. Hahaha...kampung sangat imaginasi. Okay. Over. I know.

Turned out..actually all the shops are still located at where they are. Cuma ikut la ada a few shops bukak awal, ada bukak lambat. The earliest to open was Debenhams, and since that the only shop that we know what they sell, we joined the crowd queing up to enter the shop as soon as it opens. And FYI, we reached Oxford St as early as 5.30am in the morning!! Solat Subuh pun kat McD okayh..semangat tuhhh..

awal2 sampai. ehhh tak de orang pun. tak jadi boxing day kee..

*sepi* hahaha..we walked along the street to locate favourite shops. siap intai2 dari luar tengok baju segala.

queing up in front of Debenhams.

sekali guna flash keluar muka tak mandi semuaorang. hahaha..mandi okay,muka ngantuk laa..

the queue outside Selfridges & co. this queue is especially for those who has plenty of monayy to invest on Gucci, Prada and segala whatnots itu. kalau tengok yang beratur tu mostly yg mata sepet2 ja..manyak luit aa..

My team (Me, Aimi & Fiqah) decided to see what lies behind the yellow paperbag of this store and went in to get one too. hahahhaa...feeling kayo tapi beli barang murah2 ajo...tak kuaso den nak beratur beli beg mahal2 tuh. mau tak makan tigo bulan aih..

We walked almost 12 hours and joined the rest later that evening. Bertukar2 pengalaman. Ada yang jatuh kaki kena pijak. Ade yang tergolek jatuh tangga. Ade yang hilang purse. Ada yang tanak shopping sangat tibe2 balek siap beli trolley bag isi barang penuh segala. We ended that nite at Malaysian hall (AGAINNNN) for a dinner.

The next day I went separate ways from them as my flight was at 9pm. They are going on UK Road trip while Fiqah has to catch up her train back to Notts at 12.30pm. I decided to go to Oxford st again just to check up things and for the 5th time, went back to Malaysian hall for lunch/dinner and stayed there from Asar until Maghrib. Bought few last things without realising that my luggage has been expanded to the max. I took tube to Victoria bus station where I kept my luggage earlier and took bus to Gatwick airport from there. Thank God all was good with my overloaded, nearly exploded bag.

Reached Dublin that nite. Took a cab since it was a bit late already to take bus (queue at the immigration took up almost an hour) and the cab fare COSTED ALMOST THE SAME AS MY FLIGHT TICKET WHATTHEFISHHH. Besides, I was phone-less and might have problem to get to Moon house should I take the bus so fine lahh...pasrah jelah...

All in all, the London trip was enjoyable! I love London by the way despite the bad comments I heard from a few people. Altho it's a bit pricey to move around London, I think it's fair enough la. You can go to almost everywhere with the tube. Costed £5.30 for a day ticket. Halal food takyah risau la, that's not even a problem pun..For accomodation, you can get as cheap as £10 per nite. Kalau susah2 tido Malaysian hall sudeyh (if you are student la)...around £7-£8 je..

Eventho I almost went bankrupt, but I am happy to have bought things for the family and friends at a very good price. Takyah susah2 nak shopping before balik summer nanti. hihihi..

heavenly keli. hahaha...with teh tarik skettt..

tapau kueytiow goreng mamakkk. kueytiow i misssss!!!!!

on the bus to Gatwick.

sunshine at Dublin the next morning. The much needed sunshine. Gila mandom gi German ngan London susah nak jumpa matahari..

Barcelona - London - Berlin
secara tiba-tiba menjadi pengumpul Hard Rock Cafe. apakah?

up next - Germany & Barcelona updates.

Back in Cork

Salam Maal Hijrah to all..(hope it's not too late)

I've reached Cork last night. I guess that's the end of my winter trip..a lot of bittersweet memories. Those that I will treasure forever :)

The house is still quiet. Only Wany and I are back, while the others are still elsewhere around the world berjalan2.

I'm going to update about my journey from time to time and there are going to be a lot of pictures so bear with it okayh?? However the updates are gonna be slow as I'm still juggling between settling down and starting out new life. Plus MACBABE IS SICK. Terribly sick that I can't even switch it on. I'm on Adilah's laptop by the way. Sedih :( The service centre is closed until 5th of January. And I think I, too on the edge of falling sick. Entah mengapa..banyak benda nak pikir kot..Haih..

Stay tune people, marathon updates are coming :P

Broken

Salam all..
I'm leaving for London tomorrow
And am going to sleepover at Bremen Airport tonite
Another sleepless nite to go...haiyoh T_____________T
The 4th sleepless nite throughout the holiday
The balance in the account is reducing....
Semakin hari semakin sunyi
Oh daku bakal miskin teruk T__T
Macbabe nye screen nak ganti lagi T___T
Okay lepas ni kite puasa shopping 5 bulan ehhhhh...
Puasa semua2...sampai lah duit masukk

See u all again next week. Tak sabar nak balik Corkkk (jarang dengar ayat2 camni kuar)
Doakan gwe slamet2 aja ya..

Madrid -DAY 2

On our second day to Madrid, we visited Santiago Bernabeu stadium (home stadium for Real Madrid) and toured around Madrid city..

the Metro station at the Stadium

It costed us 15euro for the entrance fee and the tour took about 1++ hour. It's not a guided tour and according to my friend who have been to Old Trafford stadium (of Manc. Utd) Santiago Bernabeu stadium wasn't as good as Old Trafford at all!

the first stop they asked us to go to the top of the stadium..

then we entered the exhibition room which houses the medals, piala (?), pictures and segala whatnots about the team. One of the exhibition room (there are 2 if I'm not mistaken) even has the pictures of other sports as well.

....onto the grand stand and the player's seat..

..to the changing room..with no player's jersey (they have it in Old Trafford!). but they have a nice jacuzzi. but a very small one. i wonder how they put all 11++ people into that one tiny pool

the second last stop before the Real Madrid merchandise store was the press room..

the stadium..

We stopped by to buy our lunch at the Halal restaurant we went the day before - Mr. Shawarma. That's the only Halal restaurant that we could find at Madrid (malas nak tanye2 orang sangat) Went back to our hostel for Zuhr/Asr prayer and continued our journey to the city..

At the city, we continued our shopping spree and closed the day with a night walk around the city..

...errr...forgot the name..sorry >.<

muka2 kepenatan~

Madrid-DAY 1

Here's a bit and pieces of my travel trip for this winter holiday. However, some details might not be included since my memory is so the very weak. So I'll just update to the extent that my mind can recall la yeh..Plus, I haven't gathered the pictures from other cameras so there are nothing much that can be showed for the time being...

From Cork to Dublin, we took the last bus straight away to the Dublin Airport..

Us @ McD

Since we arrived a bit late, we didn't get comfortable place to sleep. So we settled on a very limited space area..

I only realized I've lost my phone when we were preparing to check in the next morning. Only God knows how stressed I was at that time...but for the sake of not ruining the holiday mood, I gathered myself and tried to remain calm throughout the day..

We arrived at Madrid at 11++ in the morning. From the Barajas Int'l Airport, we took Metro to our hostel. Bought the 2 days ticket which costed us 8.40eu per pax. On the first day, we visited places of attraction like Royal palace, Placa de Espana, Plaza Mayor, and a few other places. There is one whole stretch of road called Gran Via, a heaven for shopaholic...

the lorong to our hostel

We stayed at Luiz Velez Student hostel. The place is a bit dodgy but everything was fine throughout the stay. The staff speaks English and were very helpful. There are kitchen and computer with internet. The distance from the Metro station to the hostel only takes about 4-5 minutes. There are also one supermarket owned by the Chinese peeps and the prices of the things are very cheap!

masih berkeadaan ceria dan excited

cubaan meniru statue

baru dapat idea nak pasang timer..

Royal palace

alolo..comel ke tu..

peeping?

penat, tapi masih mahu bergaya..

Setiap yang berlaku pasti ada hikmahnya...Cliche kah?

Salam all..
Halo :)
Just arrived on the Deutschland today.
Left Spain earlier this morning with thousands of bittersweet memories
I drove from Madrid to Barcelona!!! (600++ km in 6 hours!) coz we missed our flight to Barcelona
Never thought I could do that...
I met Wawaaaaaa alreadyyyyyyyy~
Pictures will be uploaded soon. Tunggu....

And the best thing is, they found my phone already :)
She's in Dublin now, and Wany will claim from the bus office once she got back in Ireland
Thank you Allah, thank you everyone :D

`

my phone

Hola..
Salam all..
I´m in Madrid
Bad thing happened on my first day of travel
I lost my phone at Dublin (not even outside of Ireland)
I am phoneless :(
Sedih...

Vote Vote Vote lah yerr

Hi all!

I would like to ask a small favour from all of you...

There is no more lovely, friendly and charming relationship, communion or company than a good marriage.

Jadi....marilah ramai-ramai mengundi abang saya dan tunangnya yang tercinta merealisasikan impian mereka for a beach wedding.....

log in to www.lovemedo.com.my and register for a voter..


kalau nak lagi senang click here -> http://www.lovemedo.com.my/registration/voter


Fill up some simple questions.......heheehe...i know i know...a bit hassle kan...senang je..


Ok then bleh lah vote the video of my brother and his beloved..

Second row, the fourth couple -> Redza Yusoff & Diah Kamarul Baharin..

and......here's the video

Okayhh....thanks all! Thanks in advanced!!!!

p/s : sorry, the words are a bit kelamkelibut. this is a scheduled post that I drafted a night before I go for my holiday trip. Sambil mengumpat sambil update blog..ohh sungguh tak bleh concentrate. hihihi...