Germany - Danke!

The dar after our Koln trip, I had my much needed rest. After what had happened for the past few days..I really need to get a good and long sleep..

On my 4th day in Germany, we went to Berlin. It took about 4++ hours to Germany from Osnabruck (connecting in Hannover) Berlin is the capital city of Germany. Went there with Iz (wawa's housemate) and Iman too (my ex-colleague at Chi Dim Sum Cafe. heheh) Initially it was all sunny and very bright when we reached Berlin. I was so happy since I was kinda depressed to have been deprived from seeing the sun (Alaaa..tak bleh la berboyfrenkan Edward Cullen macamnehh..hahahhaa)

gambar wajib. bukan gambar gedik..tapi gambar di platform keretapi. Hauptbanhof Berlin is gigantic okayh! Ade la dalam 5 floors kot lebih kurang!

From the train station, we walked to the Brandenburger Tor (nama kat German ni smua nak burger burger. haha) The Brandenburg Tor (gate) is a triumphal arch and the symbol of Berlin. It is located on the Pariser Platz and dates back to the 18th century when it was loveliest of Berlin's 18 city gates, and is the only one that remains today.

at the National Museum of Deutsch, on the way to Brandenburger Tor. Saje je nak enterprame..

taking pictures with the statue and the acting statue. heheh..Brandenburger Tor was the gate behind us.

Had lunch at a Chinese Restaurant coz that's the only nearest edible restaurant that we can go at that time.

in the restaurant

an attempt to take pictures with the TV Tower at the back but failed! hahaha..

We arrived at the Checkpoint Charlie quite late...Checkpoint Charlie was the name given by the Western Allies to a crossing point between East Berlin and West Berlin during the Cold Warthe (a state of conflict, tension and competition that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies from the mid-1940s to the early 1990s)

former East-West border

Tried to find the Berlin wall that the63s guys went and conteng2 but failed. Hahaha..we went around the area almost one hour but failed to find any walls that can be conteng-ed or even can be touched. Most of them are separated by fences and they don't really look like a wall that can separate 2 fighting countries (aiyohh...macha..logik sket laa..that was like...30-40 years ago lahhhh)

Since we couldn't find any contengable wall, we decided to head back to the train station. On our way back, we saw this one things that looks so tempting to be tried and it costed us only €1.50 per ride! So cheap one!! So we decided to try..

kasihan budak2 ini...takdapat conteng dinding..dapat tengok pun jadilah. *sigh*

Honestly, I am not very that adventurous type of person. Even in Gold Coast, Zack had to kinda convince and force me to go on those rides that involve heights and speed. Gayat weyhhh..But I wanted to try this one thing so much so decided to give it a go. But I held on Wawa's tube all the way down. Sian kau Waa..dapat kawan penakut macam neh! hehehehe..

anak sapelah yang menjerit lebih tuu.. *sigh*

maaf malas nak rotatekan. haha..sila sengetkan kepala..

After the snowtubing and a short walk at the christmas market, we finally headed back to the train station. However, our train was at 4.25am! And we had about 5/6 hours before the train so we went into McD for "shelter" Luckily it was opened until 2.30am. After 2.30am we had to move to elsewhere and decided to stopby at the pharmacy. Haha...berjalan di farmasi at freaking 2.30am buat apakah??? And because the guard doesn't look so welcoming, we had to move, again and decided to go to one of the Kebab restaurant..until is closed again at 3ish am. Kasihan si perempat berempat lol. The last resort, we went to this one small area which is less colder than the outer hall of the train station...

At 4am we went to the terminal area to wait for our train. Can't wait to get inside the train and SLEEP! hahaha..

sejuknya Ya Rabbi....pakai bubble ke..badan penuh penebat haba kee...tetapppp sejukkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

Yeayy..train dah sampai..(cey tipu je)

tahap mengantuk dilangit kesembilan..

Arrived Osnabruck at 8ish in the morning. Took a bus straight to Wawa's place and had a beauty sleep after that..

In the evening, we were getting prepared to go to Bremen Airport to catch our flight next day..

bergambar kenangan bersama katil Wawa..

dapur dan bilik air Wawa

jakun tengok vending machine besar2...macam2 ada..apa mau? syampu? air coke? ubat gigi? err..kondom?

So Tata German! Thanks Wawa and friends!

Danke! Tschüß~~

Germany - Wilkommen

I've been busy entertaining Jims these few days (ceyhh..sorry Jims I pinjam u sebagai alasan. hahaha). Plus Adilah is back..and I may have to surrender this laptop to her by tomorrow. Bye bye to the internet connection :( Lepas ni daku layan Gym Ball je lah...Dah lah fon pun takde :((

I departed from Girona airport at 8.45am and arrived Bremen airport at 11.00am. Was quite worry coz I know nothing to speak in German except Wilkommen. And to know that one single word doesn't help at all kot kalau sesat ke ape. So I searched for a public phone and called Wawa and was relieved to know she was on her way...

Wawa picked me up at the airport and we went to the Bremen city. My first impression on German was - it looked similar like Zurich - but a livelier version of Zurich. I was impressed to know the amount of halal restaurant in Bremen itself. Banyak! Dan murah okay!!! A small pizza will cost you around €2.50. In Cork, the smallest pizza u can get (in Dominos la) will cost u €5! Tak aciiiiiiii.

Bremen Hauptbanhof

After lunch, we went to the factory outlet in Bremen. Wawa ni memang kijam oo...Wa sampai2 sudah dibawa ke factory outlet. To name a few factory outlets there were Esprit (the biggest. paling heaven. paling merosakkan purse. haha), Adidas, Nike, and...Lindt (the chocolat!)

Went back to Wawa's place later that nite. Took about 1++ hour from Bremen to Osnabruck..

Le Crobag. Choco Sahner Kakao yummyeeehhhhh

The next day we took train to Cologne (Pronounced and spelled as Koln in Deutsch) In Germany, the main mode of transport for travellers and most of the peeps is train. They have express train, not so express train. Everywhere also train train..huhu..Cologne was a small yet a very nice city. Aaina, Wawa's friend from Hannover tagged along with us on that day.

the dome near the train station

at the platform

Our first stop was Lindt chocolate museum. In that museum, they told us the history of chocolate from A-Z and even made comparison on total of chocolate consumption in some countries around the world! Costed us €5 to enter the museum using the student card..

was raining almost all the day in Koln..

total chocolate consumption. Mine was holding Ireland and Wawa was holding Germany. Wahh..kalah Ireland ni..

we get to taste the waffle dipped into the hot chocolate. damn deliciousss..

mencapai chocolate besar...mahu~~

After the museum, we toured around Koln city to the Hard Rock Cafe. Wawa..kite tak tangkap gambar kat HRC Cologne ehh???? And went for a lunch at the Kebab restaurant nearby.

Towards the later of the day, the crowd was getting bigger. At one point, I was separated from Wawa and Aaina. There I was. Phone-less (my phone was and am still in Dublin, remember??), speak Deutsch-less and clueless. The rain was getting heavier and I went for a shelter at this one small place. Time tu terpijak pulak lopak air membasahi kasut Adidas baruku yang baru dibeli semalam (hahaha..perlu ke??) I was hoping I could see a glimpse of Wawa or Aaina from there but was to no avail. I searched my own way to the Hauptbanhof (luckily the sign was big enough for me to find) and headed straight away to the public phone.

The problem was...I don't have Wawa's phone number! So I called Mihah (who already reached Cork at that time) to get Wawa's number in her phone (coz I contacted Wawa using Mihah's phone when I was in Spain) Thank God I have this small ability to remember some phone numbers! Before Wawa came to "get" me, I met Kak Haizum and her sister & bro in law! Hilang sedikit rasa nervous + nak nanges. Hahaha..

We had dinner in Nordsee before we took train back to Osnabruck...

Wawa and Aaina..

Yummyeehh prawn!

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.

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.