IDIOSYNCRASIES ~

'Ntah ape-ape lah.. Muslim tapi tandas takde paip!"  squawked the lady in her 50's. That was not the last time I heard someone complaint about how things are different from the way it is back home. Another country is labeled 'Tak best!' or the least would be 'Biase je..' because one failed to appreciate the difference of culture or even ignorant to why are things done differently in another country.

Well, personally I was also, sometimes, surprised by the difference but the things I encountered didn't really annoy me. Instead, I found it pretty interesting and some are even amusing and very pleasant to remember. here are some of my favourite

1. Everybody wants to sit on the 'Throne'

During our safari, we opted to camp instead of staying in a luxurious lodge to save budget. To me, the campsite is very decent; equipped with a dining hall and a clean shower facility and toilet. The queue for morning shower was not very long because it seem like most of the people there only take shower in the evening while Ray and I stick to our twice daily shower routine. But the toilet queue was snaking long!

 That morning, I went to the toilet before starting our Game. There were still people queuing for their turn to use the toilet. I saw the squatting toilet was vacant and walked myself there. Then I heard one of the Londoner that we chatted with the night before exclaimed, "Oh my God! I don't wanna die with this full bladder!!!" That's when I stopped and asked, "Would you like to use this one first?" pointing to the squatting toilet. "It's okay. I want to enjoy my throne" and we laughed.

We spent 3 nights there. And throughout that, I noticed only me, Ray and another Singaporean girl used the squatting toilet. The rest, who were westerners, sanggup queue panjaaaaaaanggg to enjoy the throne...

2. Preciousssssssss bog roll

My staffs sometimes asked me how did we cope with toilet that has no water outlet in oversea. Well, we always have this 'botol hikmat' with us and get some water from the sink before we enter the toilet. And the toilets abroad never seem to run out of toilet papers. So, everything was sufficient for istinjaaaakkk~

I just find it funny that when traveling in SEA, I'll be relieved to see the toilet but it's the opposite for the westerners. I was once offered a toilet roll by this European guy when I said, "I need to go to the washroom"
When I told him I don't need it because I have some tissues with me, he breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Pheeeww. This is actually my last~"

3. Spoon please~

When we were in Croatia, we went to a popular halal food restaurant at the center of the city. It was a fancy restaurant that was dimly lit but the price was actually reasonable. I ordered a local delicacy which I don't remember its name. But it was rice plus chicken with gravy that made it taste like butter chicken. When my food arrived, I tried to eat them with fork and knife (which were the only ones prepared on the table) and my attempt was to no avail

I called up the waiter and asked for a spoon. for  a moment, his eyes scrutinized our food and asked back with a puzzled look on his face, "May I know for what?"
"For my rice.." I answered in confusion.

His curiosity didn't stop there. When we entered the restaurant, he and 3 other waiters were standing near the entrance where there was a small bar. But after I requested for a spoon, these waiters stood at a far corner that could be easily seen from our table and we actually noticed their furtive glance.

"Aku je ke rase dorang tengah tengok macam mana aku makan nasi pakai sudu?"
"Kite pon rase.. Obvious sangat kot.."

And I still can't figure out how they can eat rice with fork...

4. "WHAT DO YOU GUYS DO IF YOU DON'T READ!!!!?"

I think it was a wise decision for us to hire a car transfer instead of using the normal public bus to cross between Montenegro to Bosnia. Although our bags were searched because the border officers were not familiar with Malaysian passports, we get to see the bay of Kotor from a hilltop and passed many beautiful villages along the way. We chatted with our friendly driver and even stopped to buy some Bosnian cherries.

Our driver was 3 years younger than us and at that time he worked 5 different jobs! Most of them were free lance and being a driver for the hostel was only to fill his pass time. Me and him had a lot in common in terms of hobbies; both of us scuba dive and enjoy outdoor activities very much.

"So, what else do you do? Do you read?"
"Yeah.. I read.. The three of us read.. Among the few Malaysians who does.."
"Why do you say that...??"

"Well, there was a study saying that Malaysian read an average of 2 books per year.. I read an average of 6 books per year at least.. That's good enough~"
"I read at least 12!"
Our driver went silent for a moment and startled us when he cried,
"WHAT DO YOU GUYS DO IF YOU DON'T READ!!!!?"

" Amboi.. die tak boleh terima kenyataan ade orang tak membaca kat dalam dunia ni hahaha"


5. This is halal~~

I really love meeting Muslims all over the world. It amaze me how we look different, speak different language but is united by one faith. But, there are times that our differences are a little hard to brain or digest... That you can't help to make face; a 'whateva~' face..

Like when we were in this halal restaurant in Amsterdam. We ate quite a lot there, since we still have a lot of spare money towards the end of our Eurotrip. I went to the toilet before we leave, while the rest of my friends went to the counter to pay their food. And when I went to the counter after that, after I paid, suddenly the cashier who I presumed the owner of the restaurant suddenly raised a glass of beer and said, "THIS IS HALAAALLL~"

I was of course surprised because I wouldn't noticed the beer if he didn't do that. Rupanya, before that my friends stared at his beer and made faces hahaha

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#1 April 2016

Bismillah...

Tersentuh...

After a few soft knocks,  I twisted the door knob and walked myself into the room without waiting for a permission to come in. The guy on the first bed gave me an impassive look and went back to looking at his phone. I moved to the next bed which was hidden behind the orange curtain.

There he was, sitting on the floor on his prayer mat. His hands raised in prayer. I paused and waited for him to finish. We chat a little. I asked him where is he staying,  who is coming to get him,  is he working or still studying and talked about my stuffs; the drugs...

It's easy to judge based on what is briefly written in one's social history. But,  I realized those few lines doesn't define his whole life. That's just one of his mistake that have made him ended this way. Watching him pray moved me. He is facing many uncertainties; he knows very well what he is put on is suboptimal. And there is chance for failure. Perhaps,  I wouldn' t know if that one particular prayer that I saw is more sincere than the hundreds that I've done.

Terasa...

When I was a kid, some kids teased me because my parents got divorced. It happened when I was very young so none of the other kids' parents were divorced (yet). My parents tried their best to raise me lovingly despite living separately. I never felt deprived of love at all in my entire life and I think I grow up just fine..

But,  I guess even at this age being someone who has a complex family tree is a taboo. I just dont understand and I feel it's unfair to be judged by what's not even my fault to begin with. Just because my family went on different courses in life, doesn't mean we are bad people. That was our fate,  that was our test. What matters is we went throught it just fine~

I almost ask,  "Do I look like I'm someone who was raised in a bad environment and surrounded by bad people...?" but I held my tongue because I haven't seen the person in front of me for months and I was happy to see that person.

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Gokyo Ri: Part III

Bismillah..

It took another 20 minutes hike from the check point to reach Namche Bazaar. Surprisingly, it looked more densely populated than Lukla. When we arrived, the entrance of the village was crowded with women and children doing laundry in a flowing stream. We  went directly to the teahouse to put our bags and have lunch. Luckily there was internet connection there that evening. We haven't been contacting anybody at home since the day we arrived in Lukla and SJ wrote on my timeline "Mane korang ni? Dah 3 hari takde citer.." so I posted a pic of us having early dinner at the teahouse

We spent the rest of the evening strolling around the village, looking for stuffs that might be useful for the rest of the trek. After all, Namche Bazaar is the last point to shop. I got myself a pair of knee guards because I left mine at home. Bijak bukan!? Bijak membuang duit~

As we wander into every nook and cranny of the village, we met a very nice family from Canada. Ada ibubapa, anak-anak dan atuk nenek ok! They only hike up until Namche Bazaar and will be going back to Lukla the next day. They did the hike just to have a feel of it since atuk and nenek are too old to hike until the base camp. Aku harap cucu aku bawa aku hiking begini satu hari nanti..Mudah2an masih larat hendaknya~

We stayed for two nights in Namche Bazaar because on the 2nd day of our arrival was the acclimatization day to avoid from getting altitude sickness as we move to a higher altitude each day. Basically, this means that we have to go to a higher altitude on the acclimatization day and then go back to Namche Bazaar to sleep. This method allows our body to get used to the high altitude that has less oxygen. So on that day we hiked to Everest View Hotel early in the morning.

There were many people going there for acclimatization. Some went very early in the morning that we met them on their way down when we were only half way up. Tapi.. Yang bikin down sebenarnya budak pergi sekolah. There is a primary school in Namche, but the secondary school is located in another village. According to our guide, the school is situated somewhere in the middle of all the other villages in the Khumbu region for convenience. So everybody in this area goes to the same secondary school, I presumed. The school kids' pace were slow but consistent so they didn't take as much rest as we did. "Kalau aku jadi dorang ni, mesti aku selalu ponteng!" RA exclaimed.

We didn't get to see the Everest on that day because it was too foggy when we reached the hotel. When it was time to descend, I started to have a throbbing headache that worsened when we reached the teahouse. I knew it was one of the sign and symptom of altitude sickness aka AMS (Acute mountain sickness). I tried to counter it by drinking a lot of water but that didn't work. It was the worse feeling ever; felt like my body was about to shut down. I've never felt so uncomfortable in my life before. I took out my medicine only to find that the amount of dexamethasone that I took before leaving the office was not enough for the whole AMS regimen and I chose to take Diamox instead. I slept and only woke up for prayer and dinner. 

That night I woke up several times to pee because of Diamox. And guess what, the teahouse actually switched off their water pump during off season and the tap water was running very slowly. And this tap was actually located outside the toilet, near an opening that was only covered with plastic and I don't know why on that fateful night, the main door was not closed at that hour. So there I was, shivering as the chilly Himalayan wind gnawed my skin while waiting for my bottle 'hikmat' to be filled to the brim~

And actually even at ~3440m we could already feel the thin air. Even a simple activity like solat felt laborious, I had to take a deep breath when I rose from sujud. Mula lah rasa oksigen nikmat terbesar yang tidak dapat dilihat oleh mata kasar~ syukur~ syukur~

Hello Abang Sudan~ (^^)

And after Namche Baaar... that was where the greenery start to be replaced by alpine shrubs and meadows and yeah everything seems to become more and more surreal as we go higher and higher...

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