Bandung Jakarta: Revisited~

I can't remember exactly when was the last time I went to Bandung. The first time was with my dad and the second was a UIA educational visit; our entourage was like more than 40 at that time. It was years ago that I can't clearly recall how Bandung was like but one thing that I remember about my first visit was Bandung has a temperate climate and at night people were wearing thick clothes..

I found that many things has changed there. The stuffs are more expensive and I can no longer bargain as low as I did back then. But still I enjoyed the trip very much because it was my first trip abroad with dear mommy and I was in Bandung as a working lady with her own moneyh! Yeah! I think it was fair enough to unleash the shopaholic in me hahaha I also thought that I'll shop till I drop in Bandung, and starting from January will focus on saving for 2013 trips (^^)/ O0o0 that might just be another excuse kan..

So since this is a very common destination, I'll just post the pics lah..

So paling best of course lah budak yang baru habis SPM... After SPM, I actually worked as a maid for almost a month and yes no oversea trip for me haha

I wanted to save some leave for this year's trips so I worked from 8 am-5 pm on the day of departure to Jakarta. I packed lightly, brought extra bags and when I arrived at the airport, the guy at the counter was yelling "Jakarta last call!! Jakarta last call!!" I was late!!!!

Spent a night in Jakarta and went to Bandung by train (^^) And our first stop in Bandung was Trans Studio!!! 

Well, my mom watched too much of the Indonesian TV shows.. She saw a program that featured Trans Studio once and made that her ultimate destination in Bandung and even promised to pay for our tickets and she did!! I love thrill rides very much but I don't know whether my cousins are on for it. They were excited and looking at the snaking long queue, I thought VIP passes would be a good idea.. Maka terbanglah uang ku seperti seagull2 di Australia

Trans Studio is not that big and only one of the ride was new to me. But i enjoyed every single time spent there (^^) my cousins were such a sport! Lagi best sebab VIP pass kan.. No need to queue (^^)/

Another part of Bandung that I haven't been to is Kawah Putih. The above is the paddy terrace that can be seen before reaching Kawah Putih. Actually, my uncle wanted to go to Tangkuban Perahu, but then the driver thought we wanted to go to Kawah Putih that morning since my uncle said he wants to go back to Cibaduyut to buy some leather stuffs afterwards. Silently happy ni the driver misunderstood hikhik because I went to Tangkuban Perahu twice already! 

It was raining when we arrived at the ticket booth. The worker there told us, it might not be raining up there so we paid for the tickets and used the Avanza to go up. At first we'd wanted to use the angkot. It would've been fun on the bumpy and winding road but since it was raining, it was not such a good idea.

Luckily, it was not raining on top and there were few tourist too!!! I like it very much. Looks very different from the other craters that I've been to. The lake was a vibrant turquoise coloured lake with thick mist all around. I was okay with the smell of sulfur but our little Sara coughed all the way back to Bandung after that.. Kesian...

Did a lot of shopping.. Sampai kena heret bag sebab berat.. 

Did my first paragliding in Puncak. It was about to rain when I started, it was very windy so it was a good weather  for Paragliding. Lucky!! (^^)/ The pilot and I glide on top of the platform for a few times and as we descend towards the landing point, he did some extreme maneuvers. He said I was too light that he can't do the more extreme ones.. I was like, "Me? Light????" o_0

And after that, we got stuck in jam for more than 5 hours because the road was closed. Only vehicles going up was allowed to move. Urgh! sistem yang menyusahkn!

And last but not least, nasi ayam penyet paling sedap di Pasar Baru. There was another restaurant in Ciwidey that served scrumptious food~ They have the most delicious sweet and sour fish and sizzled kangkong!!!!! (^^)

It's 2.20 a.m now~ And off to eat some cakes.. Lapar pulak...

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Melbourne CBD Part 2

Okay... Saya stress... I was uploading pictures for this post just now and I just noticed there were missing pics!!!! Argh! Jadi post ini akan kurang awesome! Kurang nerdy! (-_-") Anyway.. Bismillah~

So, the day before we went back to Malaysia, we chose to have a more leisure schedule.. Decided to go to Brighton beach to have a look at the colourful bath houses but we board the wrong tram and got to St Kilda instead. It was a nice day, so we just enjoyed our time strolling along the coast.

Bergambar di depan Luna Park yang entah bila bukak..

And below is the building next to it..

And then we went back to the CBD to catch the guided tour of the Parliament Building. It is such a magnificent building from the outside so we were intrigued to discover how is the inside. The Parliament Building is still in use and they do have weekly assemblies here but not during the touring day, of course.

I look so small standing in front of it...

So we were brought into the chambers and the library. Woho! Library dia sangat mengujakan sebab sebijik macam library dalam Beauty & the Beast!

This is the top view of the main chamber. Those shiny golden colour carvings are made from real gold ok!

Get a closer look of the angels.. Actually each of the angel symbolize the ministry of the parliament. I remember the Ministry of Education's angel was holding a book hehe Beautiful~

Then we took a tram to St Kilda Road to see the Shrine of Remembrance (^^) Okay, mungkin hari 2nd last ini sangat patriotik pulak heee

The Shrine of Remembrance was initially built to commemorate the men and women who served during World War I but now it seems that it is dedicated to all Australians that served the war. You can go inside and we actually did. I took very beautiful pictures of the interior but now I can't find them UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!

On top of that roof, there's actually an aperture that lets the sunlight shines inside. There was this room at the basement, with a statue of a father and a son in the middle that has this very melancholy aura to it, you know. There were words carved on the walls and they were very touching ones..

I took the pictures of all that and now it's all gone!!! UWAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!

Seriously, the room had this very solemn aura that I was so touched by those words.. Bergenang genang air mata ni bha membaca. Or.. maybe I'm simply just a world war-obsessed lady haha

There was this short video show about the Australian soldiers; the time when they were imprisoned by the Japanese in Singapore. Semangat bha tengok dari awal sampai habis haha

And you can also go up to the balcony. One side was facing this park and the outer CBD

And on the other side faces Melbourne City. Cantik sangat. A good place to stand on the last day, gaze upon the spectacular surrounding and keep it in memory.

Yah! Borneo \(^^)/ The others stood next to the word Malaya hehe

O ya, not only that the design is so classical, it is also made of quality granite.

Sooooo the next day kami pon balik lah... Hurm.. Yes I didn't go to QVM to shop tapi still, as always, aku akan balik dengan the most shopping stuffs jugak.. (-_-") I bought 2 sets of Corelle dinner set and 1 cookware set! Yosh!!! Gigih ok mengangkat....

Got myself a kangaroo and a koala!

And another souvenir... A tanned skin!

"Bos, Australia panas ka sampai itam?"

"Nda la.. Sejuk sangat sampai xsedar ada matahari.."

(^^)/ Yaw!

*In Sabah, everybody is bos :p

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Melbourne CBD (^^) Part 1

So we did our Great Ocean Road and the Grampians tour, went hot air ballooning in Yarra Valley, drove all the way from Melbourne to Philip Island then to Sorrento, crossed the channel to Queenscliff and finally drove back to Melbourne CBD...That left us with three days to explore the CBD.

After so  much trouble from finding our way to return the car (where I almost hit an old lady because I don't understand how the traffic light works) MR and I decided that we should just walk back to our hostel..

MR and I were so hungry so we had Indonesian food that evening and strolled a bit to get the feel of how Melbourne City was like on a Saturday

There was this guy who used water to make a very nice painting on Swanston street that evening. He calls himself Splash Baron and he even has his own facebook page. Quite famous (^^)

There were some youths breakdancing at the same street; a few blocks from the Splash Baron. And at that time there was this kid who was actually passing by with his parents. They were standing there, like MR and I, watching the dancers and suddenly the kid just dance his way towards one of  the dancer hehe sangat confident dan comel ok!

It was a cold evening so I thought some calories would give me some heat. So I tried the African sauce! PUNYA SADAP!

Then on our way to the hostel, we passed this park. Not sure of the name but we walked pass it almost everyday. Cantik ok benda itu. I'm not sure whether this is considered as fountain ka bukan haha macam shower jak kn :p

This is one of the cathedral there. I think this one is St Patrick and the one in front of Federation Square is St Paul.. And.. I was right when I said St Paul was built in early 1900.. Ok actually it started earlier la but the construction finished around that heee  (^^)/ I looked it up in Wiki. Thanks Wiki heee

So then, the next morning, the rest decided to go shopping at the Queen Victoria Market while I decided to start off a bit late and head straight to the Museum. So on top is the Royal Exhibition Building.. It is a UNESCO world heritage since it is one of the great exhibition building built in the 18th century. Actually there's a scheduled tour that cost around $5 but the timing was not right for me because I want to go somewhere else.. So I didn't see how it was inside

Right in front of the Royal Exhibition Hall is the museum. So I bought the entrance ticket and also a ticket to watch a short film in the IMAX hehe I just wanted to experience the world's 3rd largest screen :p

Sadly, the section about the aborigines was closed until 2013. I was there for that actually.. So I just stroll at the 'The Melbourne Story' section. There, it tells the story of how Melbourne was  opened by John Batman and there was the chronology of how Melbortne become of what it is today. There were quite a number of signage that has Batman on it in the city, so we were actually wondering who is this Batman.. Ingatkan ada kaitan dengan Gotham city or what haha rupanya the founder.. 

While waiting for the IMAX movie to start, I trudge to Swanston street with my growling stomach. Swanston street has a number of halal food restaurants but I like to eat the Briyani at this small shop just next to the Lord of the Fries. So, I sort of helped to clear up the table because I want to eat on it la kan.. Then I ate la kan, and took that bottled orange juice with pulp which cost $3 from the fridge. The worker said something to me when I took it from the fridge, but I can't hear him clearly. Maybe I was too hungry.. Then when I paid with 2 pieces of $10 note he returned one of it to me..

GG: I thought the change should be $7

Worker: No no.. It's only $10

GG: What about the drink?

Worker: That's free for you

T_T woho berjaya jimat $3 weyh! that's 3 x 3.2 =RM 9.60 \\(".) syukor!

Woho! Nampak pakcik itu?? Okay this is actually the Old Melbourne Gaol.. Sebotan Gaol itu Jail yah hehe The entrance fee is quite pricey but I think it's worth to visit. Not much of a picture-taking place. But I think the history, events and the stories of the criminals are interesting.. 

I was actually scared walking in there alone. There were only few visitors so I was in the cellars alone all the time. The cellars were small and each cellar used to house one convict at a time. They will be given a bible and placed in solitary to allow them to repent. The place has this eerie attribute to it that sometimes I had goosebumps and decided not to finish my reading haha One of such occasion was when I was reading this letter that a convict wrote to his parents before he was executed

These are the death mask of some of the convicts.. Sangat takot ok kalo tengok benda ni sorang2 di dalam bilik yang kecil and dimly lit! (-_-") dan sy bukan seorang yang penakot sebenarnya..

This is how it looks like outside the cellar.. Kena letak orang kan sy cakap baru bukan dari google image

This man, he was accused to have raped and murdered a girl. He was given death penalty and to his death he constantly said he was innocent and one day it'll be proven. And it was proven that he was innocent quite recently by modern forensic.. Kesian...

But the reasons why some of the convicts were prisoned kadang2 x bole blah ok.. curi kasot di England  pon kena penjara di Tasmania ok! And then baru di transfer pi Melbourne..

But there's one thing that I missed when visiting this place. It's the Watch House Experience. MR, SJ and RA went for it while I hurried for the IMAX show. It's a short visit into the watch house and you'll experience how it feels like to be arrested and locked up. They told me the guards were really strict and they really feel like they were real prisoners. 

Next will be the last part about Melbourne CBD (^^)

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2012 RECAP!! \(^^)/

I say, 2012 was awesome!!!!! So I'm welcoming 2013 WITH ARMS WIDE OPEN *dengan sora garau ala2 Creed*.. So before I start with my resolutions.. Lets just do some recap.. I do expect this to be a lengthy post heeee

TRAVELS

I guess 2011 was tough for me; trying to adapt to new responsibilities at work.. So I needed a quick getaway as a start and one evening, I just sort of merajuk because my dad only bought nasi ayam for my brother and that actually triggered the idea for the expensive 1 night stay in Gayana Resort in Gaya Island.. Duh! Spoilt brat!!! (-_-") But really.. I think it was not solely because of the nasi ayam incident.. I just want  to clear my mind and start anew.

Gayana Getaway

Then.. in February was my Beijing trip which is currently at the bottom of my 2012 best moments list.. I don't like to remember about it much because I didn't really enjoy it. Since I was joining a tour group, so I'd to follow the tight schedule and have to bear with all the shopping centres instead of enjoying my time at the main attractions.. Anyway,  I still enjoyed my time walking along one of the world wonders; The Great Wall of China yaw! And I learnt something new about myself too.. HAZIAH SALLEH HATES WINTER!

And in April, I finally conquered Mount Kinabalu \(^^)/ and I also walked the world highest via ferrata .. AWESOMENESS

And a week after that, I went climbing in Batu Caves. HH said, "Aku baru je jumpe ko last week kt Sabah,G" hikhik Actually, I didn't realize that both trips were so close together hehe maen join jak kan ;p

Then comes my first white water rafting experience in Padas River. Happy that I repeated it last weekend, 29 December; gave me a different experience altogether. Will blog about it later (^^)

Then comes our Sandakan trip to visit this fella hehe And we cruised along the Kinabatangan river and spent a night in a budget lodging there (^^)

Then comes our long-awaited trip to Korea.. This sure was a long wait. HH and I bought the tickets in October 2012, and suddenly it just passed... Korea is actually not in my wishlist but I did enjoy this trip very much. Will come back to Korea but maybe in 6-7 years time.. Still too many countries to explore! \(^^)/

And finally comes our Downunder trip. A long wait also; bought the tickets in December 2011!!! Australia has always been on the top of my wishlist. What allured me?? Everything about the continent; the wildlife, the nature and the people \(^^)/ and I love the trip so much that I know I'll be back soon.. Yeah.. soon! (^^)

And finally, as a closure for my 2012 travels was my family trip to Bandung (^^)/ Will blog about this after I finish my Melbourne trip.. Adeh! Slow btol la blogging di hujung tahun ni

EVENTS

One of the most important event for year 2012 is....

of course HH's wedding heee

Then Ricci and Fega's visit to my home in Labuan is also considered important. we had BBQ at the beach with my family and the two of them shopped bags of chocolates! And kalo dengan jijiyana, pastilah ada sesi bersukan! haha We played badminton too \(^^)/

 And one more thing that I consider one of the best blessings for year 2012 is watching my brother stand up again after a year full of turmoil in 2011 (^^) An event that taught me; every person deserve a chance.. Some things are worth praying hard for and worth waiting for.. while I'd been given the opportunity to witness the beauty of Allah's creation in different parts of the world this year, the best sight was when I saw my brother spread the prayer mat on the floor one evening, stood facing the qiblat and  started praying... 

Career

Though I'm very much into exploring and doing outdoor sports, but when it comes to career, I actually prefer to be in my comfort zone. But, in August, there was some sort of twist of fate and I was posted to another place to replace a colleague who'd  resigned. At that time, I was actually at a plateau. Where everything was in order and were under good control and suddenly I've to start all over again.. I was depressed for a few weeks but when I've adapted to it, I think this is how it is suppose to be (^^)

Currently, I'm feeling so lucky that I was chosen to be posted there. I'm learning a lot in daily basis and I'm lovin' it!

Pharmacist mode (^^)

Others..

Love..  I said I want to keep it for another year and I did haha New people keep coming in my life but it seems that I just haven't met him yet. Or maybe we've met, but it's still not the right time... So, for year 2013, my calendar is full until December; all are for my travels yah! So do not expect any wedding invitation for this year heee (^^)v


RESOLUTION

I want to keep this year's resolution simple and concise..

I want to make 2013 an even greater year for me than 2012! 
\(^^)/

yah! But first.. Kasi habis la post 2012 ko tu Haziah!!!!

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