Off we go to Western Australia!!

Ola!

It's been a while since i last wrote about my travel and holiday. This time around, i managed to get a 6 days leave for an adventure to the western australia!!Weehu!

Booked the flight from AirAsia in May 2014 for a trip in October 2014. The 5 months wait is unbearable i tell u!! In Perth, we stayed at an acquaintance's place in Bentley. So at least the 3 days accommodation is well sorted. Our rough itinerary:

Perth City (1 night) --> Busselton (1 night) --> Stirling range (1 night) --> Perth City ( 2 nights) --> KL

Rough breakdown of our expenditure on accommodation and transport. 

Flight tickets: RM 718.00 (including 20kg check-in luggage on the return flight)

Perth accommodations: AUD 100 each for the 3 nights

Busselton hostel: RM 359.95 for 4 people 1 night

Stirling range chalet: 687.95 for 4 people 1 night

Car rental: AUD 329 ++ for 6 days

Day 1 - touched down in Perth

We arrived at Perth airport around 6am. Quite early isn't it. Excited lah katakan. 

Luckily one of us has a friend in Perth, so he kindly picked us up from airport and brought us to his house near Curtin Uni to freshen up before we get started with our packed holiday itinerary. 

We had roti canai for breakfast as soon as we arrive in Perth in a cafe called 'Sarapan'.The taste is quite okay, considering it's RM12 per piece! Haha! So once we're full, got our comfy car, we're then headed to Caversham Wildlife Park. It took us about 30minutes to get there. 

On a side note, I really recommend the car rental we got our's from. Simple, no hassle, no hidden fee. Excess reduction down to AUD300. No booking fee, no extra charge for unlimited km, non-UK/NZ/AUS licence, and additional drivers. And the staffs are nice too! We got ours from here:BUDGET car rental 

Entrance fee for the Caversham Wildlife park is $25. it's not a very huge safari, but big enough to introduce you to the famous wildlife of western australia. I'm not an animal lover, so it doesn't excite me much, but the kangaroo and koala definitely got me interested!! 

lazing around,while being fed lying. Good life mate!

Dont u just feel like hugging is this fluffy koala??? 

We missed all the show in the safari but i don't really mind. hehe! Next up in the itinerary is The Pinnacles. So we headed off up north before lunch as it took about 2hrs to get there. It is within the Nambung National park near the Cervantes town. With the clear blue sky, it's definitely a perfect weather to go there! Oh btw the entrance fee for The Pinnacles is $11. You can choose to either walk around the area or drive and park whenever u feel like stopping and take photo. We chose the latter :)

Beautiful view kan?!

You may wonder what are those pinnacles actually are. So did we! What i know is it is an amazing lime stones standing structure, formed by some natural processes in the dunes. More info, Mr Wiki  has it all for u :) 

Still thinking that we need more dessert and dunes, we decided to head down to Lancelin Dunes for some sand boarding. But unfortunately, we arrived there at abt 5:30pm. It was getting dark and the sky looked gloomy already. A lady from the mart advised us to just come again tomorrow for sand-boarding. How sad!! So we just went to the dunes ourselves without the board. 

                          

White sand dunes. If only the sky was not so gloomy, it'd have been a spectacular view in the dessert!

By the time we reached home from Lancelin Dunes it was already around 8pm. Had a nice deliscious dinner at home, and cozy rest after the loooooong day before the roadtrip begins the next day. 

Will be continued..

andalucia parte III - Sevilla

**it's snowing outside..hati senangggg..haha

k our next destination was Sevilla. It was jst a 2++ hrs drive frm Malaga. Our stay in Sevilla was indeed one of the best!owh but here ws when the drama began. NOTE: dnt travel like us, main redah je..with no map at hand..depend solely on our gps..so sang gps ni pn bawakla ke our hostel..n to our surprise..the street was very narrow!n in fact too narrow for a car!no wonder bila kitorg masuk diz one paved street, no one gave us a weird look since it ws very normal there.

then kitorg jumpe diz one free space in front of a building..so we jst happily parked our car there la since it was super duper difficult to find a decent parking space near our hostel. dahla tuh,it was raining very heavily too!pastu we checked-in at Seville Inn Backpackers..met a group of msian students frm Cardiff there. Then at night, we watched a short performance of the famousFlamenco dance. after the show, instead of went straight to hostel, we wanted to get some food frm our car..terkejutnyer bila tgk the side mirror on the driver's side was severely broken n the there's a long scratch on the side too. adding to the shock, ade ticket saman worth 120euro skali!

Flamenco dance

our hostel area

Gitu-gini after calling the 24hr service, the tow truck came at around 12-ish midnight to get our car..communicate mcm ayam ngn itik dgn pakcik tu, when we showed him the ticket we was jst like ahhh wutever *sambil membuang ticket tu ke tanah*..apakah?but we're happy!haha!

k enough of tht, and now a lil bit of sevilla history. The legends tell tht Seville was founded by Hercules. tp x taula kan..After the conquest by the Moors, its Roman name, Hispalis was changed to Arabic name, Isbilya. Now Sevilla is one of the 4 largest cities kat spain if im not msitaken..correct me if im wrong. And was the second most important after Cordova during Moorish empire. Lepas kejatuhan Caliphate system, Andalusia was divided into almost 30 smaller kingdoms called Taifas or so called 'Party Kings' (muluk al tawa'if). The only strong state was tht of Sevilla founded by former governor Mohammed ibn-Abbad. During his legacy, Sevilla gained supremacy over other kingdoms including Cordoba.

All of these Party Kings were unable to work together due to complex political games n wars, so it really was a party for the Christians. So they had to pay heavy tribute to Christians kings present during tht time (Alfonso IV). By this time, an appeal was made to Almoravids (Al-Murabitun-the warrior monk) by some Taifas rulers(including Sevilla and Granada). Almoravids dynasty was of a Berber origin n very successful in establishing a kingdom in Maghreb (Morocco now). Almoravids ni was not very popular among the ppl coz they're said to be religious intolerence.

Then Almohads (Al-Muwahhidun-upholders of divine unity) from Cadiz pula conquered Al-Andalus and made Seville the capital of its kingdom. Almohads who were said to be somewhat more tolerant also restored the prosperity and relative peace of the region. Masa ni la terbinanya central mosque yg kini dah jd the largest gothic cathedral. Although the mosque was no more, an idea of its grandeur however can be seen frm the surviving spacious orange trees courtyard and its minaret with decorative brickwork. Minaret ni menariknya, has got no stairs..but shallow ramps! bkn sbb muezzin dlu malas naek tangge, tp bayangkn nk azan 5 kali sehari..naik menunggang kuda lg cpt kan..so sbb tu lg practical buat ramps je, xke bijak tu? n orange trees courtyard mmg very typical kat mosques in andalus, pastu ade small aqueducts utk salur air for the trees..pastu in the middle ade fountain 4 ablution..so mase ambil wudhu' tu mmg wangi jer..

the gothic cathedral n on the right is La Giralda tower or the minaret

tomb of Christopher Columbus inside the cathedral..he was unfortunately in exile after his death so his bones were everywhere..n the only thing in the tomb is his finger.

view of Seville city from La Giralda

Orange trees courtyard

La torre del oro (The Golden Tower) - built by The Moors at the banks of Guadalquivir river as a watchtower. Takes its name frm the gold tiles tht covered its exterior wall.

Sevilla was important dlu as a pit stop for any kapal yg nak gi Cordoba..they had to stop in Sevilla first (by the watchtower if im not mistaken) lebih kurang mcm "toll" laa..

Then after awhile, Almohad power started to decline and was captured by Alfonso's son, Fernando III. After their conquest that they demolished the mosque and built the cathedral, n also added a huge statue of Faith as a weathervane on top of the minaret. The name of the weathervane is La Giraldillo (now given the name of the tower as a whole)-it's still turning with the winds though as said by our tour guide.

.....to be continued

andalucia parte II - Malaga

We arrived at Malaga airport at around 7pm local hr..then went to pick up our car frm Auriga crown car rental company. They gav us a black volks wagen Polo edition. Initially ours ws something else (cudn't remember wut's the maker) but lps kitorg pujuk2 sket pakcik tuh die cair n bersempena dgn Krismas die pwn kasi r kete lawa tuh..hehehe Then we headed straight to hostel..tambah sesat2 dlm bandar 4 few hrs, Alhamdulillah we finally reached the desired destination. Sebernarnye plan nk tgk Flamenco dance tht night tp sesat lg dlm city so blk mkn maggi je laa^^

The only places we visited in Malaga were the Moorish Alcazaba, its beach, Malagueta and Picasso Museum. Picasso ni katenya was originally frm Spain tp stayed there until he ws 14 yrs old je kot pastu went abroad n never came back. Tp well, ada la jgk darah spain so they're still very proud of him. Under the Moors, Malaga ws considered to be one of the most important port. However King Fernando thoroughly ruined everything after his conquest, and after the full expulsion of the Moors, only very little of its ancient distinctions like gates remained. The terrace gardens we saw today ws frm the restoration done by the gov. Near the Alcazaba ade jgk the half-ruined Roman theatre tp tahla nmpk sign tp x nmpk pintu masok.

the fortress

garden in Alcazaba

a very fine view of Malaga city frm the top of Alcazaba

Picasso museum..utk org yg buta seni like me, agk bosan r

the man-made beach

When the Moors habitated Malaga, apart frm expanding territories, they also concentrated on expanding town on the existing Roman n Visigoth structures. Masa ni la Malaga improved their cultural, constructions n commercial activities. Tp in 11th century, adala rivalry between Moorish nobles families kat Andalusia ni...mcm2 kan? Then Malaga jatoh kpd one of the kingdom Taifas. Taifa ni means kawasan2 kecil coz masa tu Andalusia ni ws no longer under pemerintahan khalifah yg berpusat di Cordoba (ni citer nntilah) so they r divided into smaller taifas with local ruling.

Lps tu berlaku lg mcm2 kisah la which i'll elaborate more on later. The last taifa remained was Granada so Malaga stayed under different Moorish Caliphs in Malaga. Masa ni diorg bina 2 important monuments in Malaga iaitu Alcazaba n the palace, Gibralfaro.(tp kitorg x pegi pwn castle tu).

After Christians defeated the Moors, the Muslim town changed drastically into a Christian town. Mana2 Muslim families who participated on the defense were killed, exposed or sold as slaves.

Sedih kan.....=(

andalucia parte I

Modern Andalucia

jst got bck frm my winter holiday..adela jgk sket drama yg berlaku tp pape pwn tetap besttt!!we stayed in Andalusia for 8 days..2 nights in each stops i.e malaga, seville, cordoba and granada. A brief history of Andalusia;

The Andalusia name is referring to the Arabic Al-Andalus-center power of medieval Muslim-dominated peninsular Iberia. Muslims in Andalusia are referred as the Moors. Prior to this, which ws around the 4th century, Spain was under the Roman kingdom and had became a Christian country. There's quite a few architectural ruins with Roman influence tht we cn still see today like the famous Roman columns which ws also being re-used by the Moors later during their reign. After the collapse of the empire, Spain ws eventually fell under the Visigoth (Germanic). Well, there wasn't much progress in terms of civilization during the Visigothic yrs. They were said to be illiterate, selfish and bloody-minded.

Then aorund 711, Muslim troops under Tariq ibn Ziyad came to Spain through Gibraltar and with the assistance of Visigoths opposed to King Roderick, defeated the Visigoth kingdom in which King Roderic (the Visigothic ruler during tht time) ws killed. And it is said that the name of Gibraltar yg berbukit-bukau tu was given after his name i.e Jabbal al-Tariq. Certain sources also said tht Tariq who ws a Berber ws probably originally a Visigoth. The famous Tariq's address to his fellow armies which i quite like;

"Wahai saudara-saudaraku, lautan ada di belakang kalian, musuh ada di depan kalian, ke manakah kalian akan lari? Demi Allah, yang kalian miliki hanyalah kejujuran dan kesabaran. Ketahuilah bahawa di pulau ini kalian lebih terlantar dari pada anak yatim yang ada di lingkungan orang-orang hina. Musuh kalian telah menyambut dengan pasukan dan senjata mereka. Kekuatan mereka sangat besar, sementara kalian tanpa perlindungan selain pedang-pedang kalian, tanpa kekuatan selain dari barang-barang yang kalian rampas dari tangan musuh kalian. Seandainya pada hari-hari ini kalian masih tetap sengsara seperti ini, tanpa adanya perubahan yang berkesan, nescaya nama baik kalian akan hilang, rasa gentar yang ada pada hati musuh akan berganti menjadi berani kepada kalian. Oleh kerana itu, pertahankanlah jiwa kalian.”

The success of Tariq ibn Ziyad's troop in defeating the Visigoths marked the reign of Umayyad in Andalus. Umayyad dynasty based in Damascus sent in Governor to rule Andalus; the first one ws Musa ibn Nusayr (or 2nd after Tariq as said by some source) and the last one, Yusuf ibn Abd Rahman al-Fihri. Throughout, Muslim conquest had expanded to Cordova, Toledo etc. After Tariq was called back to Damascus by the Umayyad Caliph, Al-Walid b. Malik, he never had return bck to Europe n spent the rest of his life there in Damascus.

During the ruling under Umayyad Gavernor, so many interferences frm both internal n external factors had happened. Gangguan dalaman 4 example in between pembesar2 elite, the frictions were due to differences in opinion, ethnic n cultural background. Externally frm the remaining Muslims' enemy in Spain tht had never wnted to acknowledge Islamic ruling. Nonetheless, pemerintahan Islam terus utuh n berkembang in the entire Europe.

At around 750, Umayyad ws taken over by the Abbasids tht took control of the great Arab empire. Leaving Damascus, the capital of Abbasid empire was in Baghdad. Able to escape frm the Abbasid, Abd Rahman Ad-Dakhil travelled to Andalus and was self-proclaimed as the emir of Andalus continuing the reign of Umayyad independent of Abbasid influence in Bagdad. Abd Rahman I kingdom yg berpusat di Cordoba continued the caliphate system in governing Andalus.

......to be continued ^^

i luv holidayyyy

whoaaa...poor blog i abandoned u for quite some time..but im still alive though. touched dwn at klia on 22nd june..quarantined my self at home for about a week(as if!)haha..

then went on a trip with my girlss last weekend. tikamad, jan, dian, ainarus, wani, chepah, iffah, n ainabak..some r still missing but it was a blast nonetheless! luv u guys lots! we had soooo much fun k! thanks for the great time..may we'll still be in touch with each othr no matter wut we do in the future. u guys will never be forgotten!

the reunion surely gave a different feeling frm our highskul time..but not tht much..haha think we've all grown up? well, in a way, yess..but at some point, not even by an inch! at least datin is still all crazy. =p n most importantly, met jannatun aftr 2yrs!ker 3 yrs tah?!tenkiu sbb blk msiaaa yer jenny yer.. (^_^) activity kitorg tak byk..coz it ws raining quite heavily on our 2nd day there..n also coz we enjoy talk, talk, n talk so much we dnt mind to be confined anywhere as long as we hav each othr n fooood!hehe..reminiscing was a must la kan! laughing at our own silly past surely brought back the sweet memories. here's the talking pics to sum up our wonderful trip; (it goes frm bottom to top)

n this marked the end of our trip..til we meet again!

early celebration of tikamad's 21st!

the must-have multipurpose bag

family pic =)

jjang!

l.o.v.e

off we go!

eating time!BBQ

Getting cheap stuffs for the bbq..

there's still few ppl i miss tht i haven't met..hope to get the chance b4 sept..to whom it may concern, pls make some time.

cuti2 easter...

hurmm it's been a while haa since my last post..n i only hav 1 more week b4 the school opens..n then a month to go b4 my finals..scary mary dongg..!ok set those aside kejap..speaking of easter hols, i went to czech republic on the first week of the hols..so how ws czech eyh?erm it was alrite actually....haha not so convincing kn..well frankly speaking..prague ws good..so many interesting places to visit or shall i say, so many buildings to stare at?(right up: charles bridge)

we also went to olomouc n hradec kralove..well the trip as a whole ws more like visiting frens rather than a real sightseeing holiday..cz in olomouc n hradec which is not quite of a big city, not so much of sightseeing boel buat pwn..i spent most of my time in hradec in ila's n che nad's place..goofing around n makan!adela sikit2 jln2..n met the long lost classmate in olomouc..thanks to all czech ppl 4 the superb hospitality..!~

then on the 3rd weekend of the hols, 12 of us went on a trip to cornwall! it's in the southern part of england..sungguh best!!thankss korang!!we stayed in a very english-like cottage atas bukit by the sea shore at sennen cove. betape jakonnye rase tgk pantai di bumi england ni..cantek Subhanallah!! the weather..the scenery...perfecto!!

Eden Project

Senen Cove

trengganu?

backyard ;p

kek sedap! (^_^)

simba n frens~

owh cuti winter-ku

Whoaa..it's been ages since i last updated my blog!kenapelah malas ekk..hurmm..Actually i just came back frm my winter vacation..

Before going off to spain, i went to Cork first. Stayed at Laburnum's House..ade nad,mihah,adilah,aliya n wani. The journey frm Dublin seriously took me forever!Mcm nk gi tumpat! Anyhow, xde la kampung sgt Cork tu..hehee The town was a lilttle bit smaller than Notts je.

Left: The very healthy vacation u knw...cycling gitu!

Right: i seriously didn't finish 'em all








Now a preview of my madrid-barcelona trip..hehe

The bad luck bit:
1. Nad lost her phone..
2. We missed our flight frm Madrid to Barcelona!!
3. We rent out a 5 seaters car for a road trip to Barc..(n there ws 6 of us!) coz the 6 seaters is manual, and also coz we're under 23 so the othr company cudn't rent us theirs.
4. Me n Nad got into the wrong train on our way back to the airport to get Nad's purse. So a 1/2 an hour journey now became 3 hrs or so..:(
5. We stayed at the 6th/7th floor hotel with no lifts, owned by a lonely super-psycho old man n in a dodgy Barcelona area.
6. Almost became the victim of pickpocket!!Hisyh berani makcik tu!!
7. Didn't get the chance to go shoppping at Madrid FO =(

The lucky bit:
1. I checked-in at EMA jst 30++ mins prior to my flight to Dublin..pheuwh!Thank God i wasn't denied to be on board..kalao x,mau nanges x berlagu..
2. Alhamdulillah we arrived safely at Barcelona..after a 600km/6 hours journey..and along the way..we cud enjoy the spectacular panoramic view of the othr side of Madrid!haha!
3. Found Nad's purse n phone!!
4. Very2 lucky tidak terkantoi menyeludup 2 org in that Barc hotel..
5. Were right on time to catch our bus to Girona Airport...

The most frequent phrase we use: "Quanto esto?", "Hola!", "Perdon"
The most frequent meal we had: McD McFish and Maggi! (no idea who win between the two..haha)

Actually there's a lot more..but will write more about this action-packed vacation in Spain later yea..Owh dah kene start pulon exam.......Adios!~

tHe wEeKeNd in LonDon

A weekend away from Notts, and away from the loads(as if i hav any!owh yes i do actually..haha) is indeed a bless!Thanks to anisasmairinamaryamsuraiya!This was only my 4th time in London. 1-when first arrived in UK back in 07. 2-A day transit b4 flying off back 2 msia. 3-Thorpe Park..reason being:busy+miskin i suppose..huhu. Here's how the weekend went..

Friday
Had class till 5 but TGIF kan!Hopped in the train at 845pm..tergoda dgn the "buffet guy" so we got some drinks n pastries to keep the bellies happy for a while. Reached St Pancreas station at 10something kot..then headed straight to asmamaryamirina's fren's place in Edgeware Rd. Then dozed off!

Saturday
It was cold outside, but no prob, we were all wrapped up n ready to set off! First, we went off to Portabello Market. Mostly selling antiques stuff, clothings, and handcraft. Frankly speaking, i don't think it was a bargain..well mayb it is to Londeners but surely not to "org semi-kampung", like us Nottinghamians..hehe So the only thing i bought was a pink jumper. After a long walk down the endless stalls, we then decided to move to our next destination which was MSD hall...for lunch!

Man i felt so "Msia"!God the food was amazing!The price was reasonably quite high..Again, considering it's London we're talking about here where striking price is like a trend...n the kekenyangan n kepuasan we felt, it was soo worth it!haha. one keria=50p..adoiilaa..NMG stall pn jual 3 kuih for a pound..haha maka it forced me to forget indulging my self with pulut bakar n that keria..isk3..sob3..nvm!

And then..the seeking of theatre tickets began!Wicked, Zoro, Phantom of The Opera..all the best plays were either sold out, or selling at a price wayyyy out of our budget..So we ended up watching Blood Brothers with a price lil bit higher than our initial budget but yea we still watch it for not letting our selves down if the aim of coming down to London were unmet. It was in Phoenix Theatre. The play was great, we're satisfied n felt good coming out of the theatre. (or not coz "mereka dan keluarga mereka" whom names remain confidential tertumpah air matanya).

Before that, we stopped by at the Trafalgar square. hav no idea of the significance of all those lions wutever sculptures but we just snapped a few photos despite of the super-cold weather.
Then we went to Harrods. Since i need to save up for the upcoming winter hols, i didnt get anything except 4 the Krispy Kreme je yg mampu..lazat nyer,speechless. But then later, everybody got high frm hyperglycaemia. Then we dropped by at the Chinatown to kill time b4 the play.

Tup tup tup it's late already..so we rushed to hyde park where irina's mom stayed. It's a government apartment...I luved it!A typical British building on the outside at a high-end neighbourhood in d middle of the city with a simple but classy interior. Didn't feel like going back to my tiny lil room already after an overnyte there. Grrr! Well, wait for another 20yrs..n i'll be able 2 stay there at a price of only 20 quid pernyte!(insyaAllah...huhu berangannn!)hehe..

Sunday
We catched the 1045am train..and that marked the ending of our short trip in London...sob3.. BUT, our precious weekend was yet to come to an end..we continued our cuti2 in Notts pula..haha actually jst had lunch in Wagamama..Longed for Japanese food for quite some time already..but no sushi in wagamama..:( I went home feeeling sooo exhausted n threw my self in bed reaaaaaal early n woke up fresh the next morning!

p.s; u lagi pantas rupenya asma!hahaha!

iT's sTill abOut vaCaTion..

Enough to describe the trip isn't it? :p

**meynn the picture turns out blurr plak**