Forgive and Forget

Forgive, but should you forget?

Was listening to Omar Suleiman's lecture (tajuk di atas ini) and I feel like sharing some of it here.

When a person harmed himself (committed a sin), and then he seeks forgiveness from Allah, Allah will forgive him no matter how many times he did it again, as long as he seeks for Allah's forgiveness.

During the conquest of Makkah, Hatib was forgiven by Rasulullah s.a.w although he did something that can be considered as treason, just because he told the truth to Rasulullah s.a.w.  

However, in another story, there was one guy, Abd Ghurrah, who fought against the muslims during the battle of Badr and became a captive.
When he met Rasulullah s.aw., Abd Ghurrah said "ya Rasulullah, I was made to fight against the muslimin. Please forgive me and I swear I will not fight against the muslimin anymore", and with that Rasulullah s.a.w forgave and released Abd Ghurrah.
Then, in the next battle of Uhud, Abd Ghurrah was captured again, and this time when Rasulullah walked to him, he said "Ya Rasulullah, I promise I will not fight you again", believing that Rasulullah s.a.w. will do the same as he did previously. Unfortunately for him, Rasulullah s.a.w didn't do the same.

Rasulullah s.a.w. said, "A believer does not allow himself to be stung at the same hole twice". Meaning, being merciful is different from being naive.

There is a difference between forgiving and forgetting. A believer should not be naive. However, a believer should never let evil fills his heart. For example, if you fill your heart full of grudge, there will be less space in your heart for Allah's love.

And then... teringat there are people who just won't stop talking... Keep on telling me to forget what the person who wronged me did and move on, just because I refuse to speak or listen that guy's voice, or even look at him, and I also refused to be associated with him. I already cut all ties with him because enough is enough. Just because I did all those, doesn't mean I have grudge against him nor I haven't forgive him. I forgiven him not because he deserves it or not. I forgiven him because I want Allah to forgive me for the sins I've done, and I think that if Allah can forgive anyone who seeks forgiveness, why can't I, a human just forgive people? I mean, I'm in no position to say "I'm holier than thou". (nobody can say that!)  Plus, I don't want to be dragged by it. I know that Allah is just, and He will deal with the "share" later on. Not my job. And these people, kalau ikut logik mereka bahawa tak sanggup pandang orang tu maknanya kita berdendam, habis tu Rasulullah s.a.w. berdendam dengan Wahshi la when he couldn't even bear to look at him?  *rolls eye*

Fun fact, a person who has been wronged, even if the person who wronged him had been forgiven by Allah, he still has the right not to forgive that person who had wronged him. But of course, forgiving other people for the sake of Allah is better for the heart. God is all merciful and just.

Wahai bawangs sekalian, why should I get myself into that situation again? I refuse to put myself in harm. erggghhh people's logic. I'm bising-ing right now because of these people yang tak reti diam. Eh, korang dok geli lipas lah, tikus lah, apa lah tu takpe pulak. When I felt disgusted with the person who wronged me tak boleh pulak? Lipas tak salah kot! Lipas lalu je... and beranak pinak........ and then they fly..................

To be honest, I'm fine, and I think that I've been doing great lately. Alhamdulillah. I will not stop learning, and I will protect myself from the people who would harm me and others.  Ganbare jibun.

Life Really is Like Coffee

These past 7 months have been hard for me, but I'm lucky that I have my friends here with me. They have been very supportive and helped me a lot in this journey.

I did the biggest mistake of my life: giving away my trust. I don't trust people that much. Although I'm quite friendly with people, I don't really open up to people that easily. yep. biggest mistake in my life. 

I just can't understand how a person could say, "I've never lied to you" yet he was lying to you at that time? don't tell me that I'm the person you trust the most if you still lie to me. This is just something that I couldn't grasp. 

As much as I hate to admit this, but thanks to that liar, I've found a greater purpose in my life. 

I don't know why I relied too much on him to gain knowledge of Islamic Sciences. The truth is, I gained wayyyyy more than I did when I relied on him. My time now is just full with learning things. 

Alhamdulillah, I'm still following the classes that I joined before the incident. In fact, dah bertambah join kelas lain-lain juga. Somehow the 2017 tragedy turns out to be my spiritual turning point. I've met so many amazing people throughout this journey. I befriended a retired lecturer from Indonesia (she used to teach at a university in Boston) who is always chasing after knowledge as if there is no tomorrow. She's amazing. It was refreshing to meet people who are always positive and don't cloud you with their dramas. 

Since I don't have to allocate my time for meaningless outings anymore,  I now spend my Sunday nights at Buku Jalanan Chow Kit. I'm a regular volunteer there now. I teach kids aged 7-12 there. Being surrounded by these positive, selfless, incredible and inspiring people there is just the best thing ever. 

When Allah took away something from you, He will replace it with something that is much better. MashaAllah. I am grateful for this. At first, I thought that the incident was the worst thing that ever happened to me. but you know what, now I think it is the best thing that had ever happened to me because it leads me to this wonderful journey. I'm glad that Allah answered my prayers. Alhamdulillah.

Life is like coffee. It might be bitter at first, but the aftertaste is just wonderful. 

p/s: I've lost 12kgs since then. So much win!*flips hair*  *flips hijab*

BFF Japan Trip (part 1)

Since I'm stuck in the lab due to the rainstorm, let me share about my trip to Japan last May. 

My Japanese best friend was getting married on May 29th so I booked a ticket to Japan last November. Return trip for RM1K. Not bad la kan? 

I decided to go on May 20th, jalan-jalan first as a foreign tourist this time, then go to the wedding on the 29th. From May 20th to the 24th my BFF tagged along~~~ trip with bestie ler ni. 

We departed from KLIA2 around 1am. We both reached Osaka around 8 am (Japan time) and I straight away went to the JTB counter to buy an internet data simcard. You can choose 1 week or 2 weeks plan. I bought a 3GB, 2 weeks plan sim card for about ¥4000 (roughly around RM160). There are so many kinds of options. You can rent a pocket wifi as well but since I'll be travelling alone later on, I chose to buy a sim card instead. There are also prepaid sim cards being sold at the vending machine near the international arrival gate (north gate). If you walk out from that gate, it will somewhere on the right. Note that in Japan prepaid sim cards are rare. You might be able to find them only in the airport and some 5 star hotels. 

Then, we went to the bus stop right outside of the terminal and bought tickets to Osaka Uehommachi (Sheraton Miyako Hotel). I bought a one way ticket while Shamin bought a return ticket (it is cheaper to buy a return ticket) at the ticket vending machine. 

It took about an hour from Kansai International Airport (KIX) to Osaka Uehommachi by bus. It was my first time ever riding a bus from the airport in Japan. I usually go to the airport by train or car. We booked a studio apartment nearby Osaka Uehommachi station via airbnb for about RM80/person/night. Yes, of booked it a month before la. Otherwise we won't be able to find an affordable place that is really close to the station. That place is so convenient. There is a shopping mall at the station and don-quixote ドン・キホーテ at a walking distance. don-quixote is a chain store that you can find almost anywhere in Japan that sells so many things at reasonable prices. There are also duty free don-quixote stores such as the one at Dotonbori in Osaka (the glico man. I'll explain later). Dotonbori is just a few minutes from the apartment that we stayed by the way.

Ok, back to the station, we had to find a big coin locker to keep our baggage because it was too early for check-in. There are usually so many coin lockers available at train stations, however, due to the Ise-Shima summit that will be held a week later, all lockers at big train stations were sealed for anti-terrorism measures. Ise-Shima is in Mie which is about 2 hours from Osaka. So we had to drag our baggages to the subway, hoping that there are coin lockers available near the subway station. We found one. Unfortunately, only the small ones were left. I had 2 suitcases. One is for my kimono and its essentials, and the other is for my clothes.  My clothes suitcase and Shamin's couldn't fit into the small coin locker, so we only kept my kimono suitcase there and brought the others together with us to Kaiyukan. We bought a Osaka Kaiyu ticket at the station master for ¥2550. Why we chose to buy it:

1) unlimited entry to Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan, 

2) unlimited ride of Osaka municipal transportation network (subway/new tramlines/city bus in Osaka City) 

3) unlimited train ride of your choice (depending on your travel plan) which come in one ticket at a discount price!

cited from: http://www.kaiyukan.com/language/eng/kaiyu.html

On our way to Kaiyukan, we got off at a station to change trains and we found 2 empty big lockers. Alhamdulillah!!! We stopped went out of the gate, kept our luggages at the locker and got back into the station. 

LEGA!

We finally reached the Kaiyukan!!! Enjoy the photos.

Yes, I brought Neko chan along. Tak tertinggal this time.

This was like the upper part of the aquarium. The aquarium consists of a few floors and it most of the aquariums were not separated. So, in this aquarium set, what you see now is the upper part. There are birds there. If you go to the lower floor, you'll be able to see the creatures that live under the water. Faham ke? If you can't understand it, then I might have to take writing classes la. (for my thesis).

This is the penguins area. There were so many penguins yet the area is so small! I got upset by watching this. Imagine the penguins. I bet they're depressed. Educational purposes... but still... 

seals. I think they're weddel seals. I couldn't find the information board. 

After Kaiyukan, we went back to Osaka Uehommachi, to our apartment. It was a tiny studio apartment but it was enough for us. Then, after taking a break (we were already exhausted) for about 2 hours or so, we went to Dotombori (the famous glico man sign) for dinner. yes, we had takoyaki and warabi mochi for light dinner. we eventually went to saizeriya to have our actual dinner -mushroom pizza and anchovy pizza. saizeriya is a family restaurant where poor foreign students like me go to have a fancy dinner (sob sob). The pizza costs about 400 yen, and its size is like a pizza hut's personal pizza, or bigger a bit. Saizeriya is also the place where you can order a drink bar (all you can drink station) for 200 yen. they have many kinds of teas and soft drinks there. i love this place. 

After that we decided to go to Osaka castle. We thought the castle ground is closed but we were wrong! as we walked towards the castle, nak tengok sedekat boleh, we saw the gate to the castle was still open and there were people going in and out of there. We were so tired but we just kept on climbing the hill towards the castle. 

Kerja gila you might say.

Then, it was time to go back to the apartment. We went to the bus stop and found out that the bus that we were about to get on was the last bus of the day! phewh! lucky! 

Next morning (day 2), we went to Universal Studios Japan!!! 

IT HAS BEEN 3 MONTHS BUT WE BOTH STILL CANT GET OVER IT!

WIZARDING WORLD OF HARRY POTTER! OMG! WE ACTUALLY WENT THERE!

even the JR train has hermione on it!

the train only cost us 510 yen to USJ. We bought our USJ tickets at JTB in AEON mall Shah Alam so we don't have to buy it in Japan. Malas nak pikir. 

yes. we went there. we reached universal city station around 7.30 am, bought breakfast+lunch (just tuna mayo onigiri) at the lawson nearby, went to the gate and lined up. there were already so many people there. 

When the gate opens at 8.30 am, then you'll learn that even the Japanese wont line up properly, some would even cut lines. *smh* it was annoying. 

Anyway, we into USJ and we were running as if we were chased by velociraptors -towards wizarding world of harry potter. we wanted to take the time ticket before it runs out so we had to go there fast. 

When we reached Hogsmeade's gate, we asked the staff there where can we get the time ticket? She said "oh, the time ticket counter is outside, but since you're already inside here, welcome to Hogsmeade". 

We cried. WE CRIED! I'm not a crying type of person but, setting our feet in this magical place is a dream come true for both of us. 

we were like "now I know how Kpop fans feels like when they go got to see their idols".

It's a magical place. It was just like how we imagined it to be. It was like a dream. I'm not even gonna explain it. Just check out the photos la. 

Hogsmeade

Hogwarts Express~~~

Getting ready for the Hippogriff's ride. They lent us clips for our hijabs. So thoughtful of them. 

Choir time. 

Beuxbatons Academy and Durmstrang Institute. They were not so popular with the crowd. My BFF and I were the only 2 people who got really excited to see them. 

Hogsmeade again~~

We got our butterbeer. It's so yummy. Still not over it. 

We were in there from 8.30am- 1pm. Forbidden Journey of Harry Potter was a really good ride. Its a 4K3D ride. It really does make you feel like you're riding the broomstick. 

Then we had no idea what to do anymore. everything else out there in USJ was just meh for us. We lined up for 2 hours before giving up for the Jurassic Park ride (we would have to wait for another 1 hour if we continued). Back to The Future ride was fun. Hello Kitty park was fun for my BFF, but a horrifying experience for me. I don't really fancy mascots. 

Anyway, we stayed until the night parade, then we got back to our apartment. 

On day 3, we went to Kyoto. 

train fares:

9-chome station to umeda (osaka station. 2minute walk to the JR Osaka station)= ¥210 

osaka station to kyoto = ¥560

Once we reached Kyoto station, we have our lunch first as we were pretty much starving. We didn't have any real dinner after USJ so yeah... 

Thank God for halal ramen restaurant near the station. Ayam-ya is a chicken based ramen restaurant 5 minutes from Kyoto Station by foot. Theres even a prayer room inside it. 

¥720 for spicy shoyu ramen. Free upgrade to large size. Yup. I was able to finish it sampai licin! 

After lunch, we went back to the station and bought a one day bus ticket. = ¥500

1st stop: Kiyomizu Dera. It's a famous temple in Kyoto. Full of people. 

¥400 entrance fee. I wish I could come here in autumn. It would be so beautiful with momiji.

2nd stop: Fushimi Inari Taisha. The famous shrine with thousands of Torii (gerbang merah ni).

3rd stop: Gion. Yeah... I don't have any photos in Gion since it was my 3rd time there. Gion is famous for geishas. My bff spotted a geisha. Lucky her. There, we had a halal wagyu-don (wagyu beef rice bowl, ¥850) at a restaurant called Narita-ya. Im not a meat person but it was soooo goood. Theres even a BBQ Naritaya there. (Naritaya has another branch in Tokyo). 

On day 4 (last day in Japan for my BFF), we went to Nara. 

Train fare:

uehommachi to nara (Kintetsu) = ¥560 

In Nara, the deer roam freely. You can feed them with deer rice crackers that are sold almost everywhere there for ¥150. 

a very nice deer

Nara is a really nice place where you can just walk around, pet the deer etc. We even had the chance to see Todaiji from the outside.

Todaiji. Largest wooden building in Japan

We went to the shotengai area (shops and market) near the station. As we walked through the old houses, we found Naramachi mechanical toy museum. Its a must visit place. Its quite a walk from the station so nobody actually go there. The toys are awesome! Love the basic mechanical mechanisms used in the toys! There were some wooden puzzles there and I had the chance to solve them. I even taught the guide some Malay words- which my BFF scolded me for.. There was one puzzle that made me feel like an idiot as the solution was really simple... so I taught the guide "macam orang bodoh"..

heheh

After that we went back to Uehommachi station as my BFF will be taking the bus from there to KIX. 

We bid goodbye and I got to the train, heading to Nagoya. 

balik kampung :)

-I'll share part 2 soon. If I have the time to write la.

Jalan-Jalan Ipoh & Fraser's Hill

I've been busy these past few months so I haven't got the time to write. It's already July and now only I got the chance to write this.

2 months ago my labmate and I decided to go for a short trip to Ipoh on 2nd May(Monday). (labour's day on the 1st (Sunday) so the holiday was carried forward to Monday). Labmate and I have never been inside Kellie's Castle before so we decided to go there la. I want to take some photos as well la kan. It has been quite some time since I took Goku (my camera) out. 

We googled some attractions in Ipoh and we found out about the Mirror Lake. It's not really a tourism spot because it is actually in an active quarry area... Since there were only two places that we want to go in Perak, we decided to go to Fraser's Hill on the way back. -just because both of us had never been there before. 

So, on the morning of 2nd May, we start our trip from Sri Petaling's BHP. I brought some books with me to be read (out loud okay. out loud. like a story teller gitu) in the car and labmate brought two thermos of homemade lattes. Thank you! Thank you! You were such and angel!

were

Half way through, I stopped reading because labmate got sleepy by my monotonous reading voice, bad pronunciation and really boring story (the BM in that book was so good, I had trouble reading them. -same goes for high level English books la. I think I read too much scientific materials. Maybe I should balance it with some pure literature stuff la kan). Not long after that, we reached the Mirror Lake in Ipoh. 

At first, we thought that we got lost. Then we asked the quarry worker there and he showed us the route. Yes, we actually had to go in an active quarry area. 

rasa macam in a movie

We went into this cave and when we reached the other end, this was the view:

photograph courtesy of labmate

It was quite windy at that time so I couldn't get "the mirrored image" photo. But this one bolehla~

I really need to brush up my skill. This shot didn't do any justice to this place.

 On our back to the car, we found this pond. Labmate sent a photo of this pond to his sister and then she said "do not touch the water. It might be acidic". (she works as a water analyst if I'm not mistaken)

It looks nice though

Then, we went to Batu Gajah straight away. We skipped lunch because non of us were hungry yet at that time. It was really hot and sunny. These are some of the photos that I shot. 

We reached Kellie's Castle!

I love the carvings

On top of the building

I like this one too.

Harry Potter-ish (I don't think many would get this)

Around 2 pm we left Kellie's Castle and off to Fraser's Hill! We passed Empangan Kuala Kubu Baru and this is how it was at that time

DRIED!!

It was really scary to see the dam dried out like that. To the people who got annoyed by me when I turned the tap off while you're scrubbing your hands with soap, this is why I did it. 

Back to the drive to Fraser's Hill. On the way there, it started to rain heavily with thunder and all. Our sights were quite limited due to the fog and rain. The road had a lot of corners and it was very narrow. It reminds me of a horror movie and it was quite a thrill for me.

It was around 5 or 6pm when we arrived there. We were tired and hungry. We stopped at a mosque for Zuhur and Asar prayer.  It was already quite dark when we reached there. The rain was so heavy, even with a really big umbrella my clothes were soaking wet. I didn't even bring a jacket along because I didn't expect it to be that cold.

Then, we had our dinner at a cafe nearby the mosque. By then, the rain already stopped. Alhamdulillah. After Maghrib prayer, we decided to jalan a lil bit around this clock tower (tower?).

Bad photo. I know. But at least theres a photo la...

I think we left around 8pm. The road going back home was even tougher because it was dark and foggy. We actually had to stop at a mosque at KKB because both of us got motion sickness after that curvy road ride... I usually don't get motion sickness but I guess my brain just couldn't figure out that I was in a car, moving on a curvy road because it was dark.

We finally reached home around 12 midnight due to the traffic. 

It was really an interesting experience.  I had so much fun. 

p/s: I still haven't continue reading that book ever since. Yes, I forgot to bring neko-chan along...

Caving at Batu Maloi Cave

I have submitted my research proposal!!! woohoo!! Finally! Now I can have a lil bit of fun before proposal defence! 

Last Saturday, I joined a caving activity held by Kaki Rayau Official.  -a group started by some UiTM students a long time ago. Thats what I've been told la. 

One of my lab mates asked me if I'd be interested. Since my mom said I should have fun dulu after I wrote my research proposal, mestilah nak pergi! Moreover, I've never done caving before. 

My friends and I left UTM jalan semarak around 7am. Once we reached there, the head of the group checked the attendance and then we had breakfast while our guide gave a briefing. 

There were more girls than the guys! Most of them were actually fixing their make up (touch up their lips with lip gloss, etc) while waiting for our guide to come. I was and still am amazed by these girls.

attendance, check!

Right after breakfast and briefing, we went off to the cave! It was just a short hike before we reach the entrance of the cave. The interesting part about this cave is that it is a talus cave -formed by boulders. Not the usual limestone cave. Another interesting part of this cave is the river and waterfalls inside the cave.  There are 25 checkpoints. checkpoints 1-5 are partially dark and 6-25 are total darkness zone. 

At the entrance. Head lights, on!

The track was as what as I imagined it would be. I really enjoyed it. Climbing, jumping, crawling and so on... it was such an adventure!! We started the journey by crawling under a huge boulder. 

This is how the entrance was like

We even had to abseil right after that. It was scary but fun at the same time

This was not as scary as I thought it would be

Then, we had to walk to the other side of the boulder by crossing a tree's root. I've seen some photos of it on the internet and it looked so scary! But it was not as high as I thought it would be. hahaha. 

It was super slippery

Then it was more climbing. The boulders were really slippery so it was quite hard for me to get a grip even with my shoes. 

Yep, river in the cave

The track was 70-80% wet. Even though it was a very sunny day, we were okay as we were in the water most of the time (plus, we were in the cave). It hasn't been raining for about 2 months there, so 3 of the waterfalls in the cave dried out. 

So when we went out of the cave, there was this boulder... I climbed it, fell, hit my right knee and my left foot got stuck in between the boulders. Nice one ili! And thank you, my dear lab mate for not counting how many times I fell this time. (lab mate has this weird habit counting how many times I stumbled, fell, etc). Lab mate got scolded by the girls who were still waiting to climb the boulder. "Why didn't you grab her?!! She was right behind you!". Thanks girls, but I can handle myself. It's okay to fall and get injured sometimes. I'm used to it ;)

can you see the red circle? that was where I fell 

(this photo were taken by one of the members seconds before I reach that red circle)

Can you spot a triangle shaped space between the boulders in the photo below? Its one of the way to  go to the other side of the boulder. I climbed a boulder on the photo's right instead. 

getting near to a waterfall

After that we had a short hike to go back to our starting point. We had the chance to see Batu Maloi on the way back. Batu Maloi is a gigantic boulder which people believed that it is alive (a long time a go) because it seemed to grow bigger in time. The truth is, it was due to soil erosion. I don't have the photo of the rock though... 

Group photo, at the exit of the cave

The track was not as long as I expected which made me hungry for more!! But it was a very fun, thrilling and adventurous trip. I don't know about other people but I had so much fun! We had lunch at the starting point (provided), then we jumped into the small dam nearby. Yeah... swimming after food is never a good idea but we had fun anyway. hahaha. 

We cleaned up and all, and went back to KL. Singgah Seremban kejap konon nak makan cendol, cendol dah habis! oh well, theres always next time.

from left: my lab's assistant research officer, ex UTM student, me, lab mate

Thanks assistant research officer, for driving us there! 

FreeCanteen SJK(T) Segambut

Crazy 2 weeks! Most of the things I did these past 2 weeks didn't went well. My juniors and I had to redo our experiment for the 3rd time because the industrial burner decided not to work. When we call the technician to come over, all he did was switched it on and the burner works. 2 weeks ago, last Saturday and Tuesday the technician had to come here...

me: what's the problem with this burner?
technician: nothing is wrong. Theres no problem.

My dear industrial burner, please work on the day we have to do our experiments. The water-in-diesel emulsion fuel won't stay stabilise for a long period of time..... Every time pun kena mix balik.....

Besides the moody industrial burner, so many things went wrong. I have to submit my research proposal by next week but I'm still unable to write it. -writer's block (scientific punya writer's block. this blog boleh je tulis sikit). Maybe because I was so immersed with my lab work, I hardly socialise with other people, stayed in the lab from 7.30 am till 11pm reading scientific papers etc.
(Don't worry, I have a food angel with me in the lab. He provides me food in exchange of annoying me the whole day and night)

Since I haven't done much with helping others recently, I decided to join FreeCanteen program at SJK(T) Segambut today. I knew about it yesterday and decided that I should go there for a change of air. This is not the first time I joined a program hosted by Syed Azmi, but this is my first time joining the FreeCanteen program. -just distributing food to the pupils.

Primary school children are so cute!!!! I got there at 7.30 am and got to see the children at the field (PE class). They're so small yet so energetic! I wish I still had that energy. I played basketball yesterday evening for an hour pun dah pancit... anyway, since it was such in a short notice, there were only 7 volunteers there including me. But Alhamdulillah all went well.

So, we helped the canteen workers to prepare nasi lemak for the children (coz nasi lemak is their favourite). No no, we don't help to cook it but we helped making it become nasi lemak.

Dugaan orang puasa. Bau nasi lemak yang wangi itu amat tempting XD

I didn't expect the recess time to be that hectic because the number of children tak ramai. Once the recess bell bunyi, the kids lined up, Azmi gave a briefing and then tiba-tiba tak menang tangan dah! hahahaha. But we managed anyway.

Primary 1-3 recess time. Some of the parents actually came during recess time everyday. Wow.

A Maybank staff distributing water to the children.

All of them got a really cute tiger paw fan from Maybank.

The teachers checking their pupils makan or not. 

So, today is not as productive as I hoped it would be, coz I slept from 12 to 2pm... yet I still can't write my proposal. I'm doomed!!! Even writing this does not help my writer's block. This Saturday is gonna be hectic as well. Have to attend my best friend's engagement ceremony in the morning at Puncak Alam, a friend's wedding at PJ in the afternoon and then go to the lab to write my proposal...

I need a good cup of coffee. My barista/food angel went out somewhere so, no coffee for me tonight. Food pun. T^T

Jalan-jalan Kota Bharu

It's CNY and I have 9 days off. I want to do something (other than helping my mom at her booth), so I decided to go to my friend's wedding at Kota Bharu. She lived next to my room at KK12, UM (zaman foundation). I went to her room everyday. Kacau orang. 

I even learned to kecek kelate just for this short trip tau. I ended up cakap loghat utagha in the car..... I'm not even orang utara. My brain automatically thinks that foreign accent = loghat utagha. Its not funny, brain.

No, I didnt buy the ticket early. I bought it quite at the last minute so it was quite pricey. -CNY, orang balik kampung lahh.  

I took the 13:40 flight to KB from KLIA2. My friend who's also going to the same wedding picked me up from KB airport and we went to the wedding together. + 2 seniors of ours.

pengantin!

a photo with my neko chan, of course.

So, after the wedding, my friend and seniors had to go to another wedding (they went to 4 weddings that day). I already planned to take a taxi and go back to the town all by myself. But my lab mate (who was attending a wedding nearby) decided to pick me up at my friend's house and go to the town together. My lab mate is a kelantanese. so dia macam nak jadi guide lah. Tak bagi jalan sorang2, bahaya katanya. Ye la ye la. Anyway it was fun jalan2 around kota bharu with a local. 

First stop: Masjid Muhammadi. The masjid negeri. I love the architecture. This mosque is now in my favourite building list. 

such a beautiful building.

From the mosque, my lab mate asked me "do you want to go to Pasar Besar by car?" 

I said, "No, it's just 2 km away from here. Why do we need a car? It's not that far". 

"2km is far!" my lab mate replied. But we ended up walking anyway. hahahhaha. 2km is not that far. Jalan 2 orang, borak2, laaagi tak rasa jauh.

As we were walking, we passed by this beautiful museum. It was closed, unfortunately. 

Right next to the museum is the ceremonial palace. Cant really see the palace though. At least neko chan got to take a photo on a cannon.  

We walked and walked, then I saw a clock tower at the roundabout and decided to take a photo of neko chan there. 

We even walked toward the Kelantan river side. There is a tower there and we decided to climb it. 

-spiral staircase. I hate spiral staircase. Still hate them. (entrance fee: RM2 for adults, RM1 for children). I don't even know how high the tower was, but this was the view from on top of the tower. It was very windy. My lab mate was like "mana ada angin macam ni kat KL?". my reply: How would I know? In the morning, I wake up, go to the lab. Petang, I go back home. Duduk dalam bilik.

After jalan-jalan around that area, we went to the stadium and had nasi kukus for dinner. I heard the stadium gonna be pink soon. I saw some of the walls dah turned pink. Then, we went to the pasar malan near parkson. Not as meriah as it used to be. sob sob. 

After that my lab mate brought me to a teh halia shop somewhere at Kampung Sireh. Teh halia biasa was good. There was also teh halia telur puyuh. egg in tea? erm... no thanks. 

My flight to KL was at 22:55. The timing memang cun la. By 10pm dah sampai airport. Went straight to the departure hall... and my lab mate actually waited at the airport till I boarded the plane which was around 11 pm. takut flight cancel. aduhaiii. At that time I was like "takkan la cancel". Then, today I heard a news about 2 flights cancelation at Langkawi airport. My lab mate was right lah, just in case flight canceled ke, nak naik teksi malam-malam, sorang-sorang gi hotel? Scary tuh.  

But alhamdulillah, flight tak batal pun. Dapat je duduk, I fell asleep. When I woke up, the plane had just landed at KLIA2. Exhausted but I had so much fun!! 

Thank you Hanun for picking me up at the airport! See you next month at your wedding!

Thank you lab mate for showing me around Kota Bharu! See you next week. In the lab....