A Paris I Went To

Assalamualaikum,

Yesterday, 25/6/08 my brother & I went to Paris for a day. We went there in the morning and went back home to Dublin at night. We spent nearly 8 hours walking around the city either by Metro, RER or walking itself by buying a 1 day ticket. The longest distance we covered by foot is from Champs Elysees to Pont Neuf which is around 5km. Now I'm having blisters on the ball of my foot.

In Paris, we did what tourist with not much money to spend do, sightseeing. We went to:

1. La Defense - a modern skyline of Paris and where an enormous hollow cube like La Grande Arche is located.
2. Arc De Triomphe - a very huge arch in the centre of Paris. This and La Defense are in an axis.
3. Champs Elysees - where we saw the Grand Palais & Petit Palais
4. Place de La Concorde - a very large square where The Obelisk - a gift given by Viceroy of Egypt to King Louis-Phillips - was situated.
5. Jardin des Tuileries/Grand Couvert & The louvre - a very-very long garden and a very-very long building. This is the longest distance that we walk since we started walking from Champs Elysees.
6. Cathedral Notre Dame - we reached here after we got lost for 10 minutes after exiting the Metro Station. Here we just took photos of the front facade. Too tired to explore.
7. Eiffel Tower - the last tour destination. We went straight to the top floor. Which is 276m above the ground. Here we had a commanding view of Paris. It was so beautiful to see the whole city lay out before your eyes.

All in all, I can say that Paris is indeed a beautiful city with excellent public transport. Oh yes, not to forget a clean river.

Dublinia

Assalamualaikum,

Setelah seharian berkurung dalam rumah kerana cuaca yg terlalu 'windy' dan hujan, semalam saya ke bandar. Kali ini saya berkunjung ke Dublinia, Dublin Castle & Trinity College Dublin sekali lagi. Di Dublinia, saya dapat melihat asal bandar Dublin dari zaman Viking. Boleh dikatakan Dublinia ini serupa muzium tetapi yang interaktif. Ada barang yang boleh ditulis, dibaling, dibuka, ditekan dan sebagainya. Menarik sekali. Dublinia ini asalnya tapak gereja. Malahan di sebelah Dublinia ini adalah Christ Church Cathedral.

Di hadapan Dublinia
Di jambatan yang menghubungkan Dublinia dengan Christ Church CathedralChrist Church Cathedral

Setelah hampir sejam berlegar di dalam Dublinia dan sekitar Christ Church Cathedral saya berkunjung ke Dublin Castle. Di sini sebenarnya hanya tinggal 1 menara asal. Menara ini sebenaranya sebahagian dari 'fortress wall' yang mengelilingi asal Dublin.

Dublin Castle

Kucing yang besar sekali yang dijumpai di taman bersebelahan Chester Beatty Library

Di Trinity College saya berkunjung ke bangunan-bangunan yang terletak di bahagian belakang. Juga padang di situ yang ketika dikunjungi sedang diadakan perlawanan kriket. Saya juga berkunjung ke Book of Kells (kitab Bible yang dekoratif & berwarna-warni. Wujud sebelum kedatangan Viking) & Long Hall, iaitu perpustakaan tertua (400 tahun) kerana sekarang sedang dilakukan proses pemuliharaan. Perpustakaan ini 2 tingkat dan semuanya diperbuat dari kayu (alangkah bagusnya kalau saya ada perpustakaan seperti ini). Maaf gambar untuk Book of Kells & Long Hall tidak ada kerana tidak dibenarkan mengambil gambar.

Setelah selesai di Trinity, saya berkunjung sekali lagi Grafton Street. Saja menjamu mata. Sempat juga masuk ke Brown Thomas. Kedai umpama Gardens tetapi dalam skala 1/10 saiznya. Di sini saya puas masuk semua kedai, Prada, Guess, Louis Vitton, Chloe & entah apa-apa lagi barangan berjenama lain tanpa rasa diri ini dipandang semacam kerana tidak berduit. Kalau di Malaysia, jangan harap la nak berdiri depan pintu kedai sebegini. Terfikir juga, jika masyarakat merasakan nilai mereka diukur dengan memiliki barang-barang berjenama, alangkah ruginya mereka. Kerana sesungguhnya Allah menilai setiap manusia itu dengan tahap takwanya. Moga diri ini menjadi orang yang bertambah ketakwaan padaNya.

Sebelum balik sempat singgah di Clarks, membeli kasut yang tengah 'sale'. Di sini adik saya kata Clarks umpama Bata di Malaysia. Tetapi masyarakat Malaysia umpamakan Clarks itu kasut yang berjenama. Saya meminati Clarks kerana itulah kasut yang saya pakai masa kecik. Sungguh selesa.

My 4th Day In Ireland

Assalamualaikum,

The day start with a gloomy weather and it has been raining non-stop from morning until now. The sky is grey, in contrast to yesterday's sunny weather. Today I'm cooped up in the house. I'll be freezing & wet if I decide to go out.

So I took the opportunity to finish Ketika Cinta Bertasbih 2. I find the novel not as touching as I hoped for compared to Ayat-ayat Cinta. But the storyline is good though. Now I'm on to my second novel, Bohemian by Imaen. So far so good.

My 3rd Day in Ireland

Assalamualaikum

[1] Commencement

In Ireland they don't call it convocations or graduation. It's called Commencement. The term came to Dublin University through its founding scholars in the late 16th century. The term signifies a step from one level of responsibility to another in the disputation thus student being commenced.

It was a sunny day indeed. The ceremony was over in 1 hour and it was all conducted in Latin. The registrar will call up to 5 names to come up to the stage before the Chancellor and she will give out the certificate to them and says 'Congratulation' and something in Latin. Once they got down someone will give them a very big envelope to keep the certificate and also other significant documents along with it. The hall where the ceremony was conducted was quite small compared to Malaysia Universities. I guest all the building were the original buildings built 400 years ago.

In the square facing he hall where the Commencement took place
Inside the hall

[2] City Exploration

After the commencement my brother had to go for Friday prayers behind the university. So I went exploring the city centre with 2 sisters who are my brother's friend. We went to Grafton Street. It was lovely. Oh yes, Clarks shoes is on sale. You can get 50% off which translate to RM150 per selected shoes. Got to get one of those. But that'll be later.

And then we went exploring Temple Bar, because one of us wanted to go to Hard Rock Cafe to look for t-shirts. My brother met us there and then we went to lunch at Medina, an Indian Muslim restaurant famous for its Briyani.

In front of Hard Rock Cafe, Dublin, Ireland
The river we passed over to get to Medina
The glorious food!!! Seriously when you're away from home, this will be the thing you'll savor.

After a day, we all went back home happy. My brother & I, stopped at Jervis to buy some groceries at Tesco. The we went home to Rialto on a tram. I'll upload all pictures later on. See you readers later.

I'm in Ireland!!!

Assalamualaikum,

Flying Off to Ireland

Assalamualaikum,

I'm in the plane right now flying to London. From there I will take Aer Lingus to Dublin, Ireland. I took 11 days of unpaid leave just to be there. Currently just boarded the plane.

From Kuala Lumpur at 10.05 am, I will reach London at 4.15pm. From Heathrow, I will then take a flight to Dublin at 7.10pm and will reach Dublin at 8.25pm. My brother will pick me up at the airport.

And now, I'm going to enjoy my flight, sleep, read some books, walk around the plane until it touch down at Heathrow. From then on, I will enjoy 2 weeks of holiday in Dublin, London & Paris.

See you readers in 2 weeks time. I'll be back on 3/7/08.

So Many Books

Assalamualaikum,

Final preparation before departing to 'somewhere' I bought few books. Few books that cost me RM250. That's my book stock for the month of June actually. And 2 books will be my gift to my husband-to-be during the akad nikah ceremony.

Apalah kan, orang lain bagi jam ke, bagi cincin ke, saya bagi buku pulak. Well, I have to give him something back after 'sarung cincin'ceremony later on, but I cannot for the love of God waste my money on something that he doesn't wear. So finally after nearly 1 hour browsing through books, I bought 2 for him. Why book do you ask? Well, he is a PhD holder in Arabic Language so he loves reading. During the early stage of our relationship, he gave me a book. And I know he has loads of books, so why not add more to the collection. Furthermore, that is the only gift for my-husband-to-be. The other gifts is intended for his family.

What do you guys think?

It is not to be...

Assalamualaikum,

The dreaded call came when I was in the middle of reading the Qur'an. Seems like it is not to be..
Seems like I'm not getting married at the intended date & time. Problem arises not on my part, but on my fiance's part. Legal matters that is (I cannot disclose what it is). I don't feel sad. The turn of event is what I've always anticipated when I decide to chose him. Only Allah knows why. I take solace in my prayers, fasting & reading the Qur'an.

All in all, I will be away for 2 weeks starting 18/6. I'm going somewhere to de-stress (all this turn of events is making me depressed). I'll be back on Malaysian soil on 3/7. Hopefully by then everything will turn out all right. Amin. To You Allah I turn.

I Love Entertaining Them

Assalamualaikum,

I love entertaining telemarketers when they call me. Just now, one of them called me concerning about promotion package called Evolution Card in relation to TM Streamyx. I listened until the end and when finally the person asked me,

"Do you have a credit card?"
"No"
"OK. Thank you for listening"

Haha..seems like she was disappointed for not making any sales with me. But it's true, I don't have a credit card. I only have a prepaid card.

Bunga Telur

Assalamualaikum,

Sedang belek-belek bunga telur kat kedai Sayangku (dekat dengan ofis), saya tanya harga nya pada tauke kedai.

"Ni satu berapa?"
"Ni satu RM 1.90, saya bagi you RM 1.50 la".
"Ni susah tak nak buat?" tanya saya.
"Ini bunga you tak payah buat, China juga buat. Kalau you nak buat sendiri lagi mahal kos la".

Teringat dulu suka tolong kawan-kawan buat bunga telur sampai bersengkang mata. Sekarang zaman ekspres ni, beli siap aje. Tak payah susah-susah dah.

Stress..Stress..Stress

Assalamualaikum

[1] Petrol naik harga.

Tengah malam ni harga petrol akan naik dari RM 1.92 kepada RM 2.70. Dalam tidak mahu turut serta gerombolan-gerombolan manusia mengisi tanki kereta masing-masing di stesen minyak, saya buat juga. Mujur tidak lama menunggu di BHP walaupun kelihatan begitu banyak sekali kereta-kereta di SEMUA stesen minyak. Bukan apa, tanki kereta memang dah nak kosong. Terbang RM 50, tapi takpe boleh tahan 1 minggu. Minggu depan baru isi minyak petrol ikut harga baru (dalam hati menyumpah-nyumpah seranah kerajaan).
Di samping mengumumkan kenaikan harga petrol, harga elektrik pun naik juga. Ha! Ni kena jimat elektrik juga ye. Takde orang dalam bilik, tutup lampu & kipas. Kalau ada aircond, kurangkan penggunaannya.

Walaupun demikian, kerajaan juga telah mengumumkan rebat tunai RM 625 untuk setiap kenderaan persendirian di bawah 2,000cc. Pembayaran dibuat semasa pembaharuan cukai jalan. Emm..tak faham sangat la. Cukai jalan kereta saya cuma RM 72 je. Dapat banyak tu juga ke atau RM 625 tu?

Tapi yang pasti harga barang selepas ni mesti naik, sebab kos pengangkutan naik. Beras dah naik harga dah. PM suruh ubah cara hidup, masalahnya Pak Menteri, kalau harga barang semua naik, kami rakyat marhaen ni nak ubah cara hidup macam mana lagi? Lain la kalau kos perubatan percuma, di mana penginapan di hospital tak perlu bayar, cuma caj rawatan Dr. saja, ataupun cukai kereta dikurangkan, tak la terasa beban sangat bayar ansuran bulanan kereta.
Adui la hai..stress sungguh!!!

[2] Stress nak kawin nih..

Tinggal lagi beberapa hari saja menjelang 15/06/2008 (Ahad). Saya akan menikah pada waktu tersebut. Masalahnya banyak benda tak setel lagi ni. Harapkan baju nikah je dah setel. Itu pun manik sikit lagi tak jahit. Yang lain-lain kena minta tolong budak-budak ofis & kawan-kawan la gamaknya. Macam mana la tak kelam kabut kan, tunang nya pun baru Ahad lepas. 2 minggu je tempoh.

[3] Stress nak bercuti

Nak cuti ni pun stress juga. Lepas nikah tu, insya'Allah 2 hari kemudian saya akan bercuti ke Ireland selama 2 minggu. Masalahnya bos dah lulus dah 7 hari pertama. Yang lagi 11 hari cuti tanpa gaji ni, dia tak luluskan lagi sehingga dia berbincang dengan Project Manager. Bos juga minta saya sediakan pelan rangka kerja untuk 3 minggu sempena ketiadaan saya supaya dia boleh pantau kerja anak-anak buah saya. Waktu makan tadi dah bincang-bincang dengan Project Manager agar dia setuju dengan kehendak saya.

"Please, pretty please boss, I nees this holiday so much. Stress sangat dah keje ni...Bos dan staf lain dah bercuti Hari Keluarga hari tu, saya tak dapat ikut"

CSI 2

Assalamualaikum,

[1]

Rupa-rupanya watak Eric Delko dalam CSI Miami masih hidup walaupun ada hilang ingatan. Apapun Calvo dah mati. Buat sakit jiwa je watak dia tu.

[2]

Another 2 weeks, insya'Allah ;-)