The Future Is Not Mine To See...

Bismillah...

Have you ever found someone with whom you click in an instant and feels like you could be best friends forever?

And it surprises you that the two of you are often thinking about the same things... That it felt awkward that the same words are expelled simultaneously that it made you laugh when you thought about it again of how that had happened...

It would also be lovely to have someone with whom you could do a lot of things together...

I think, at this age we handle heartbreaks differently now...

It's really easy to surrender to fate.. Like I would tell myself that some things are meant to be and some are not.. And then get on with life..

Someone like I mentioned above crossed my path... O how I wish he is mine to keep... But I guess it's not meant to be...  So I will tell you; when I saw his smile in front of the surau 2 years ago, I didn't have butterflies in my stomach... nor did my heart skipped a beat... Tapi aku rasa laen... Aku rasa tenang...

But perhaps he-who-doesnt-know is not mine to keep...

But still I'm grateful that there are times that he had made me very happy... Jadi aku rasa kisah kami tamat... hahaha habis suda siri dari 2012 ni :p

Sekian...

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Preparing For Africa!!!!!!!!! \(^^)/

Bismillah....

When this post appears on my blog, I'll already be in Africa InshaAllah... I don't want to leave this blog dormant for too long.. (Padahal selalu suda kan..) So I thought I would write a little bit about how the idea popped out, what I'd to go through while waiting for the time to come and my rather nerve wrecking preparation...

I haven't mention about us not having any flight ticket by the end of our Tasmania and NZ trip, have I? Well, that was actually unprecedented. We always have tickets for the next trip after every trip... So, we were anxious.. We already got the destinations in mind but we haven't even got the dates although we know by the second month post-travel all of us will have withdrawal symptoms.. MEROYAN~

Ini contoh2 withdrawal symptoms.. Snatch travel quotes from FB and put it on my pic.. Obses dengan diri sendiri sunggoh...

How I end up choosing Africa... INTUITION~ A CALLING~

Really it was! Woke up one weekend and thought it would be cool to try visit a continent that we haven't been to. I quickly check on Zimbabwe then Kenya and finally Tanzania... Made the decision in that instant and searched for 2-way ticket to Tanzania.. And Voila! RM 3300 all-in via Qatar airline!

Send message in Whatsapp Group "Korang Tanzania, RM 3300 2-way.." And got an immediate reply from RA and voila! Bought 2 tickets within 2 hours after the idea popped...  We're actually not that well-off that we could just decide like that.. We've learn from the past that we will eventually get the money needed for our trip when we are more objective. Already having the ticket gives the motivation.

I know most travelers will do the budgeting first before buying the ticket. But doing it the other way around works for us.. And of course lah within the interval we have to work hard and fast on the itinerary to try reduce cost as low as we could.

For this Safari trip, I spent much time searching for ground travel agents in Tanzania. I emailed at least 15 companies and read perhaps thousands of reviews and even contacted the clients to make sure the reliability of the service.. So I finally opted for Lindo Tanzania Travel since the manager gave a very good impression from his helpful and quick response to my emails and the price is quite low compared to other companies but not too cheap though... hehe

And one thing you should prepare yourself with is the immunization with yellow fever vaccine. Well, it is actually not a compulsory requirement by the customs however  to be on the safe side, we took it anyway. Because it is recommendable to those who board transit flight. If the health officer ask you to produce the vaccination book and  you don't have it, you might need to take it then and there. From the forum that I read, it might cost around $50. Mine was RM 90 since I did it at a government facility. But they'd asked for my passport, the ticket and my work pass. RA had it for RM 350 because she got it at the GP.

The vaccination was rather taxing because I'd to come 4 times just for that single injectio (^^") seb baek semangat aku berkobar2! And then there was some problem with the Foreign Telegraph Transfer. Luckily, the tour manager was okay when I asked for his ID and Alhamdulillah it's finally all settled~


One of the most useful Safari tips that I got form the internet...

Don't wear anything blue!!! It'll attract the Tse Tse fly and mosquitoes!


Hurm. doakan keselamatan kami.. Dua gadis di Benua Afrika!

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Iceland Part 1

Bismillah...

Iceland has been in my wishlist since my undergraduate.. I don't remember how that came to be but I always thought it would be cool to go to the farthest land from home. The hardest part of this leg of the trip was to decide which part of Iceland that we would like to visit. The attractions are abundant and they're scattered all over Iceland. We finally decided to go for the East side since it's quite variety over that side; Waterfalls, Icebergs and Glaciers...


I say, Reykjavik airport is one of the most unique that I've ever seen. Impressive architecture and you can see art displays like these statues below. And I remember there were Viking proverbs written on the walls as we walk towards the arrival exit.

So like I said, all the way from the airport to Reykjavik, the scenery were volcanic rocks and moss that made me think, "So where are all the beautiful landscape shown on the internet!!!!!!!!!???"

It looks like as if there are no other living creatures other than those on the bus. And when the view of Reykjavik town looms from afar.. phew~ What a relief! It's very small for a capital but considering Iceland's population, the size is just nice to accommodate all the essentials. The first building that I saw was a huge IKEA outlet and I was like "HOLLA SCANDINAVIA!!!" (nda apalah blom sampai pon kan... sudah dekat..) and later found out that almost every single furniture in Iceland is IKEA's! We even developed a habit of checking for IKEA logo on every item we encounter; the bed in our room, the closets, the make up table, the utensils at the restaurants...

I had a bad gastritis when we arrived. I had a bad headache and was nauseous... Percayalah, baru aku tau tablet MMT tu sadap masa di Iceland because I never taste it before (^^")

We arrived in the evening and I still remember how torturous it was for me who was ill to wait for Maghrib which was at 11 pm.. And I've to wait for Isya' which was at 12.30 pm and Subuh at 2 am.. Of course lah aku tertidur dan lambat sket~ Aku x bole imagine orang yang puasa masa ni!!!!! 21 hours man!!!!

And malam macam dusk jak... Nampak lagi tu Matahari ok!

We booked our rental car with Thrifty. I went for the pick up because they needed my international driving licence. Gagah kan aku x pakai sweater... Nampak gumok sebab horizontal stripes and thick long john inside *perlukah explain??*

Masa ni lah aku nampak, muka Icelanders semua sepattern, macam Chad Micheal Murray hahaha

So about the car rental; we used the Car Trawler to get the best deal. Actually, we booked a compact car, Chevy Spark but we were offered an upgrade to Chevy Cruze for an additional 5 Euros per day.. So, why not?? (^^)

We also took the weather protection to be on the safe side.. Well, the roads are well paved, yes, but there are some attractions that have gravel roads and the weather could suddenly change so we prepared ourselves with all the protections needed. We don't want to pay thousands for scratches, do we??

Like what the CMM look-alike said, "Better be safe than sorry,"

I didn't drive of course.. I was too weak.. So I sat at the back, and just stare out the window and literally jumped out of my seat when the rocky scenery slowly turned into yellowish hilly area with waterfalls cascading down from the top!

Maaf lah kamera kampung...

It was like the landscape evolved from rocks to all these...

Notice those purple plant?? Oho do not be deceived by it's vibrant colour. That's lupine. Although, from my opinion, the lupine is one of the contributorto Iceland's rare beauty, it is considered an invasive plant and is endangering other plant species that is native to Iceland...

Our first destination, Skogafoss

Bha nanti la aku sambung....

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