tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-285038302024-03-08T04:20:25.188+08:00Life As It IsNurul Abidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004638889980810294noreply@blogger.comBlogger83125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28503830.post-1163932133874765292008-08-22T12:22:00.003+08:002008-08-23T12:18:11.790+08:00A Woman Over 30<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFAKWK_1Bjs6F6JgRSrb86BxDQL5FsbJLcWhlF12s0sbiqW_7b7i0M-X33KJh8ii6332TQojaeecMAagA6Rl210k73Vnryx4OHYBEWgcao5Ms1UZRibnDOfM-LYUwj5DKtAjfu/s1600-h/30.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFAKWK_1Bjs6F6JgRSrb86BxDQL5FsbJLcWhlF12s0sbiqW_7b7i0M-X33KJh8ii6332TQojaeecMAagA6Rl210k73Vnryx4OHYBEWgcao5Ms1UZRibnDOfM-LYUwj5DKtAjfu/s400/30.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5237562231892580370" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >A woman over 30 will never wake you in the middle</span><br /></div> <div align="center"><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >of the night to ask, "What are you thinking?" She</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >doesn't care what you think.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >If a woman over 30 doesn't want to watch the</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >game, she doesn't sit around whining about it. She does</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >something she wants to do. And, it's usually</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >something more interesting. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >A woman over 30 knows herself well enough to be</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >assured in who she is, what she is, what she</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >wants and from whom. Few women past the age of 30 give a</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >damn what you might think about her or what she's</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >doing.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >Women over 30 are dignified. They seldom have a</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >screaming match with you at the opera or in the</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >middle of an expensive restaurant. Of course, if you</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >deserve it, they won't hesitate to shoot you, if they</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >think they can get away with it.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >Older women are generous with praise, often</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >undeserved. They know what it's like to be unappreciated.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >A woman over 30 has the self-assurance to</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >introduce you to her women friends. </span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >A younger woman with a man will often ignore even her best friend because</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >she doesn't trust the guy with other women. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >Women over 30 couldn't care less if you're attracted to her</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >friends because she knows her friends won't betray her.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >Women get psychic as they age. You never have to</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >confess your sins to a woman over 30. They always</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >know.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >A woman over 30 looks good wearing bright red</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >lipstick. This is not true of younger women.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >Once you get past a wrinkle or two, a woman over</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >30 is far sexier than her younger counterpart.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >Older women are forthright and honest. They'll</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >tell you right off if you are a jerk if you are acting</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >like one! You don't ever have to wonder where you</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >stand with her.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >Yes, we praise women over 30 for a multitude of</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >reasons. Unfortunately, it's not reciprocal. For</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >every stunning, smart, well-coiffed hot woman of 30+,</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >there is a bald, paunchy relic in yellow pants making a</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >fool of himself with some 22-year-old waitress.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" ></span><em></em></div>Nurul Abidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004638889980810294noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28503830.post-63424344144461278462008-08-12T20:01:00.006+08:002008-08-13T06:16:42.483+08:00Orang Baru<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX_e5BIGUqIrFp9HeZt_W34JR0BnTX56FvZvqBKheXQp1az_Z_x2wcynRJqgYrSc0p6e_q-V8O1zknD7R0z6UgPk401AWO6IWMGaLIpkRdnQ0CeeNzPeLN3e_vi1Yt6qIilxsz/s1600-h/DSC02659.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5233611895827755698" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX_e5BIGUqIrFp9HeZt_W34JR0BnTX56FvZvqBKheXQp1az_Z_x2wcynRJqgYrSc0p6e_q-V8O1zknD7R0z6UgPk401AWO6IWMGaLIpkRdnQ0CeeNzPeLN3e_vi1Yt6qIilxsz/s400/DSC02659.JPG" border="0" /></a> <div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">Selalunya aku tak berapa ambil peduli dan tatak heran dengan the so-called auspicious dates ni but pada tahun ini tarikh <strong><span style="color:#ff6666;">08.08.08</span></strong> mempunyai makna yang besar buat keluarga aku. Seawal pagi Jumaat pada hari tersebut aku terima sms dari my brother in law di KK, kembar aku telah selamat melahirkan baby boy tempat pada pukul <strong><span style="color:#ff6666;">0720</span></strong>. Kalau sebelum ini kedua-dua anak kembar aku dilahirkan secara normal birth, anaknya yang ketiga kali ini dilahirkan secara <strong><span style="color:#ff6666;">Ceaserian</span></strong>. Ini setelah dinasihatkan oleh doktor kerana kecederaan di tulang belakangnya akibat jatuh 2 minggu sebelumnya. </span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">Tepat pukul 2125 malam pula, aku dan mak terbang ke KK. Sampai sahaja di airport, sudah tidak sabar untuk menatap wajah ahli keluarga baru kami ini lalu kami terus ke hospital walaupun waktu melawat sudah berakhir. Wajahnya saling tak tumpah dengan anak buah lelaki aku, Noah semasa kecil. Pada hari Ahadnya, kembar aku dibenarkan pulang. Dapat aku menghabiskan masa dan memandikan anak buah baru aku sebelum aku pulang ke KL pada malam harinya. Sempat juga dia kencing atas aku semasa menunggu air mandiannya siap. </span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">Buat masa ini, belum ada nama yang ditetapkan walaupun ada beberapa cadangan telah diberikan. My brother in law mahu mengekalkan nama Noah di pangkalnya. Jenuh perah otak memikirkan nama yang sesuai. Aku jokingly cadangkan nama <strong><span style="color:#ff6666;">Olympus Benji</span></strong> sempena dengan hari pembukaan Olimpik 2008 yang sudah semestinya ditolak mentah-mentah. But seriously aku proposed nama <strong><span style="color:#ff6666;">Noah Queshairy</span></strong> sementara ada yang cadangkan nama<strong><span style="color:#ff6666;"> Noah Naquiyuddin</span></strong>, <strong><span style="color:#ff6666;">Noah Ilham</span></strong> dan <strong><span style="color:#ff6666;">Noah Esfahan</span></strong>. Terpulanglah kepada the parents to decide. So for now we all panggil dia baby ajelah. Kalau ada sesiapa yang nak cadangkan nama untuk anak buah aku ini, you are most welcome. </span></div>Nurul Abidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004638889980810294noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28503830.post-21514614645473921412008-02-18T22:56:00.001+08:002008-02-19T00:51:41.183+08:00Hit The Road, Jack!<div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">This is not addressed to The BF. We are ok and going strong each day in spite of the distance. I am referring to a caller from mobile phone no. +019369xxxx. It all started last Saturday night when a text message from this unfamiliar number came in:-</span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"><u><strong>February 16, 2008</strong></u></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;color:#3333ff;">+<strong>6019369xxxx : Malam ni futsal tau</strong></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;color:#cc9933;"><strong>Me : Who is this?</strong></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong><span style="color:#3333ff;">+6019369xxxx : Ni orng putih ke..sorry la...! Sy orng malaysia tau</span> <em>(Eh, buat lawak yang tak lawak pulak!)</em></strong></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;color:#cc9933;"><strong>Me : Ni siapa? Klu x bgtau malas nak layan</strong></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;color:#3333ff;"><strong>+6019369xxxx : Name sy badrul..silap no la! U ni siapa?</strong></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;color:#3333ff;"><strong></strong></span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">At this point, aku malas nak reply coz I don't know anyone by that name. But w</span><span style="font-size:85%;">ithin the next 10 minutes, there were 3 incoming calls from the number. Aku just pressed button busy rejecting the calls followed by a text message.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;color:#cc9933;"><strong>Me : Tlg jgn call sy. Sy x kenal sesiapa nama badrul</strong></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;color:#3333ff;"><strong>+6019369xxxx : Ye la..sy tahu 2! Sy pun x knl awak, sy ni bkan suka ganggu org 2 pn kebetulan je</strong></span></div><div align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#3333ff;"><span style="font-size:85%;">+6019369xxxx : </span><span style="font-size:85%;">Sy nk tel awak skrg ni leh x! lpas 2 sy x akan ganggu awak tau k</span></span></strong></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong><span style="color:#cc9933;">Me : Untuk apa? Jgnlah buang masa awk. Sy x berminat</span>. <em>(This was the last text message from me)</em></strong></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;color:#3333ff;"><strong>+6019369xxxx : Ape la awak ni! Sy pun mcm 2 jugak tau..lgi pn bkan nk jumpa, cuma tel je salah ke</strong></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;color:#3333ff;"><strong>+6019369xxxx : Bleh la ye saudari..sy tel awak ea.</strong></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong><span style="color:#3333ff;">+6019369xxxx : Ye la sy ankat kaki la..sy ingat awak ni anak tan seri ke d'tuk</span></strong> </span></div><div align="justify"><em><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></em></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">Aku hidup-hidup ingatkan dia betul-betul dah angkat kaki but half an hour later around 11 p.m. he called. I ignored the call and let the phone rang until it stopped. </span></div><div align="justify"></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">Just when I thought that would be the last time I would hear from him......</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><br /><div align="justify"><strong><span style="font-size:85%;">February 17, 2008</span></strong></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong><span style="color:#3333ff;">+6019369xxxx : Askum</span></strong> <em>(An hour later)</em></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;color:#3333ff;"><strong>+6019369xxxx : Happy morning</strong></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;color:#3333ff;"></span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">Wah...sungguh persistent betul Mamat ni</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong></strong></span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong>February 18, 2008</strong></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;color:#3333ff;"><strong>+6019369xxxx : Hi happy morning, have a nice day pls don't get angrey! As a friend it normal. Las pls forget it k by. new friends. </strong></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">Honestly I don't know what was he talking about but I hope it means adios! But at noon, I received a picture message of a rose from him. ??????? </span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">Some people just don't get it. When someone says no, it's a NOlah! I didn't think I misled him or give him the wrong impression. Tang mana yang tak faham tu entahlah. Nak kena cakap NO in 14 different languages ke, baru nak faham! But </span><span style="font-size:85%;">I have to give him credit for his persistence though he is just wasting his time and money. Kalau aku reply makin galak pula dia, so I am going to continue ignoring his text messages and calls. Hopefully he got fed up and give up.........</span></div>Nurul Abidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004638889980810294noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28503830.post-10243313760966761792007-12-26T22:14:00.000+08:002007-12-27T01:23:56.907+08:00A Birthday Retreat<p align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color:#000000;">Aku mula merancang birthday retreat ni sejak awal Disember lagi dan insan yang diraikan tidak lain tidak bukan, insan yang satu, tiada duplicate - <span style="color:#ff6666;"><strong>MAK</strong></span>. I called it a birthday retreat because we actually 'kidnapped' Mak to a private retreat to a place called <span style="color:#ff6666;"><strong>Sekeping Serendah</strong></span> for a weekend. Mak was clueless all the way to <strong><span style="color:#ff6666;">KL</span></strong> from <span style="color:#ff6666;"><strong>Teluk Intan</strong></span> until my bro, <span style="color:#ff6666;"><strong>Shahrul</strong></span> made an exit at<span style="color:#ff6666;"> <strong>Rawang</strong></span> where we were already waiting for them. But still Mak had no idea it was to celebrate her birthday since her birthday is on January 1. My initial plan was to do it on December 31 so that we could celebrate it that night tapi kena buat a week earlier sebab the place was fully booked pula on that day.</span></span></p><br /><p align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color:#000000;">Sekeping Serendah ni</span> is a private retreat surrounded by lush greenery nature located in the town of Serendah. Ada 3 types of houses called sheds - 2 glass sheds, 2 mud sheds and the newest, 1 timber shed. Getting there was a bit tricky sebab memang tiada proper or visible signboards. Even some locals kat pekan Rawang and Serendah pun blur about this place. After passing through pekan baru Rawang and Serendah, kena melalui <span style="color:#ff6666;"><strong>Perkampungan Orang Asli Serendah</strong> <span style="color:#000000;">dan jalan tanah merah hingga ke pintu masuk tempat ini. Aku dah suspense masa melihat keadaan jalan dan sekeliling semasa menuju ke sini. Takut juga jadi kes tipah tertipu sebab bila tengok photo gallery in the website nampak tempat ini memang cantik. Bummer - there goes my plan for Mak's birthday. But as soon as we went through the front entrance, aku rasa lega ya amat sebab the place memang seindah seperti pics in the website. </span></span></span></p><br /><p align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">Masa mula-mula learnt about this place, memang dah teruja nak tinggal di glass shed tapi bila called nak buat reservation, fully booked pula. Time tu pula cuti sekolah, public holiday and that type of shed pula ada 2 aje. So, had to settle with the next best thing - the timber shed. It may be the most expensive but the biggest with 2 bedrooms. Staying at the timber shed banyak mengingatkan aku kepada zaman kanak-kanak. Bunyi insects dan lantai kayu apabila berjalan di atasnya reminded me semasa tinggal di rumah kampung Opah dan Tok aku di <span style="color:#ff6666;"><strong>Manong</strong></span>, begitu juga kelambu yang tergantung di katil. The last time aku tidur berkelambu ialah semasa Onyang masih hidup. Everytime tidur di rumah Onyang, memang wajib gantung kelambu. Yang paling menarik tentang tempat ini is all the sheds here has open-concept including the shower area yang berbumbungkan langit dan pepohon hijau. Everytime bersiram, memang paranoid juga tengok atas kut-kut ada Mat Skodeng menyorok di celah-celah pokok. Facilities here very basic and not lavish. Other than a fridge, microwave and cooking stove, there is no tv, telephone nor mobile network coverage here. Because there are only 5 sheds, memang boleh expect a lot of privacy. </span><br /></p><br /><p align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">We spent the day of arrival recce kawasan keliling, then spent some time at the waterfall about 5 minutes drive for brunch. In the afternoon, we headed to the <span style="color:#ff6666;"><strong>Serendah International Orchid Farm</strong></span> about 15 minutes drive. Ke sini juga tiada signboard langsung that we had to stop twice to ask some locals. Tempat ini terletak di atas bukit dan dari menara tinjau di atas, memang boleh lihat pemandangan pekan Serendah dan kawasan sekelilingnya. Unfortunately around this time tidak banyak orkid yang berbunga but <span style="color:#ff6666;"><strong>Kema</strong></span> and Mak beli a few to take home. </span><br /></p><br /><p align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxfXPJEpxls3eFJ-O0P7DJoMzC7Xkf_MximntXLWTqCDhGrXkxUU8vzzXYXoU1PTqaLhTXys5hS-dFBm1_RUXEBhz7Qm_aGFDibWdOO3w49t5XVgm27lhIudvSzyoWnTR3UzW5/s1600-h/desire.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5148273709945242898" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxfXPJEpxls3eFJ-O0P7DJoMzC7Xkf_MximntXLWTqCDhGrXkxUU8vzzXYXoU1PTqaLhTXys5hS-dFBm1_RUXEBhz7Qm_aGFDibWdOO3w49t5XVgm27lhIudvSzyoWnTR3UzW5/s200/desire.jpg" border="0" /></a>Mak's advanced birthday celebration dibuat pada malamnya. BBQ chicken and marshmallow by the pool side with simple dishes which we have pre-prepared and brought from home, hanya diterangi dengan scented candles. We had the pool all to ourselves. It was almost perfect if it was not for the cake yang melt sedikit masa on the way ke sini di siang harinya. Although rupanya dah terjejas sikit but the cake named <span style="color:#ff6666;"><strong>Desire</strong></span> which we bought at <span style="color:#ff6666;"><strong>Barkezin, Bangsar Village II</strong></span> memang sinfully sedap. It's a combination of white and dark chocolate with crunchy caramel almond. Tengok aje pic ni, tempting and cantik kan? A</span><span style="font-size:85%;">fter dinner, my youngest bro, <span style="color:#ff6666;"><strong>Rizal</strong></span> terjun ke dalam pool. Sorang-sorang dialah cepak cepuk berenang ke sana sini tengah-tengah malam. The rest of us jadi 'pemerhati PBB' by the pool side sambil continuing with our dinner and BBQ.</span></p><br /><p align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">The following day after breakfast, all of us spent the entire morning at the pool. Aku ambil kesempatan crash course belajar berenang from <span style="color:#ff6666;"><strong>Rizal </strong><span style="color:#000000;">starting from learning to float and within a short period of time, I can already do some short strokes</span></span><span style="color:#000000;">. I was either a fast learner or Rizal was a good teacher. Lepas ni, dah teruja nak pergi practice swimming di <span style="color:#ff6666;"><strong>Armanee</strong></span> which has a resort-like pool. By noon, we checked-out but already talking about returning to this place for a family gathering. This time, kena plan and book awal-awal for the glass sheds. </span></span></p><p align="justify"><br /><center><span style="font-size:85%;"><embed style="WIDTH: 450px; HEIGHT: 370px" name="flashticker" align="middle" src="http://widget-ba.slide.com/widgets/slideticker.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" flashvars="cy=bb&il=1&channel=144115188090465466&site=widget-ba.slide.com" wmode="transparent" salign="l" scale="noscale" quality="high"></embed><br /></span></center><br /><p align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">For those who are seeking for a short escape from the hustle and bustle of city life, this is just the perfect hideout for relaxing and enjoying the tranquility of the natural environment. Visit </span><a href="http://www.serendah.com/"><span style="font-size:85%;">http://www.serendah.com/</span></a><span style="font-size:85%;"> to find out more info and photos about this place. </span></p><br /><p align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;color:#3333ff;"><strong>What A Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong</strong></span><br /></p>Nurul Abidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004638889980810294noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28503830.post-89985870764774574042007-12-14T22:37:00.000+08:002007-12-17T07:19:49.338+08:00Jalan-Jalan Cari Makan @ House + Co<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">Lunch today was with my kakis from my former workplace. Venue this time was <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(255,102,102)">House + Co </span>at <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(255,102,102)">Bangsar Shopping Centre</span>. This place has become one of my favorite dining places since another friend introduced it to me some time middle of this year. Uniknya about this place is, it is located inside a shop selling furnitures, home decor and houseware. Dari luar nobody would have known there is a restaurant inside. From the interior decor of the restaurant, one would have expected menu dia mesti fancy international western menu yang sampai tergeliat lidah nak sebut. On the contrary, there are only 9 common dishes on the menu . I could even list them all here:-<br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(51,102,255)">APPETIZER</span><br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Edamame</span> - <span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">Japanese soya bean dusted in sea salt</span><br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,102,255)">SALADS</span><br /><br />Kurt's Grape & Pine Nut Salad</span> - <span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">Fresh crunchy vegetables, grapes and pine nuts tossed in light creamy dressing</span><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Caesar Salad</span> - <span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">Crispy lettuce tossed in a cheesy dressing topped off with croutons prepared in olive oil</span><br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,102,255)">SANDWICHES</span><br /><br /></span><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Tuna Walnut Pita</span> - <span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">Toasted whole meal pita bread stuffed with peppery tuna, crunchy walnuts, lettuce and carrots.</span><br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Beef Rendang Pita</span> - <span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">Toasted whole meal pita bread stuffed with spicy and tender beef rendang, lettuce and carrots</span><br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Chicken Pita</span> - <span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">Toasted whole meal pita bread stuffed with poached chicken and toasted pecans, lettuce and carrots</span><br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,102,255)">MAIN COURSE</span><br /><br />Nasi Lemak</span> - <span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">Fluffy basmati rice cook in coconut milk and served with sambal, acar, nuts, anchovies and choice of beef/chicken/sotong</span><br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Kim Lien</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">'s Kway Teow Soup</span> - <span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">Soft flat rice noodles served with prawns, poached chicken, bean sprouts and 'chai sim' in pipping hot chicken soup</span><br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Nyonya Curry Laksa</span> - <span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">Your choice of noodles served served in hot spicy coconut creamy gravy with poached chicken, prawns, bean sprouts, tofu and cabbage</span><br /><br />Prices range from RM6 - RM15.<br /><br /><center><a title="mosaic4736607 by Nurul Abid, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/90149446@N00/2115649511/"><img height="450" alt="mosaic4736607" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2407/2115649511_1ce2f02daa.jpg" width="450" /></a></center><br />Today, Roza, Elle and I ordered <span style="color:#ff6666;"><strong>Beef Rendang Pita</strong></span> and <span style="color:#ff6666;"><strong>Chicken Pita</strong></span> whilst Tress and Mel ordered <span style="color:#ff6666;"><strong>Nyonya Curry Laksa</strong></span>. The dishes sound plain but what make them special is the food arrangement and garnishing other than rasanya yang sedap. My favorite here is the <span style="color:#ff6666;"><strong>Nasi Lemak Sotong</strong></span> especially the sambal. The next time aku datang sini, I'll post a pic of the Nasi Lemak which has an equally interesting food presentation. 4 stars out of 5 for this place.<br /></div></span>Nurul Abidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004638889980810294noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28503830.post-89450549255748474582007-12-09T20:39:00.000+08:002007-12-13T21:22:37.219+08:00Walimatul Urus I<div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi45uTJH6uw9cuLtCedbikZnNPF5cRPZZIktN8NeGrnRbizderor3VHsD89CjW1EC6B-UlJ66YzIxgArKK0WA_aNuqelxY3JepB8sq2mwPEKKAvrEb8u9SWagXCjC7J9_cP4bdv/s1600-h/Tepak+Sirih.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5141972500235849298" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi45uTJH6uw9cuLtCedbikZnNPF5cRPZZIktN8NeGrnRbizderor3VHsD89CjW1EC6B-UlJ66YzIxgArKK0WA_aNuqelxY3JepB8sq2mwPEKKAvrEb8u9SWagXCjC7J9_cP4bdv/s200/Tepak+Sirih.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Sabtu lepas telah berlangsung sebuah majlis pertunangan di <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(255,102,102)">Teluk Intan</span>. Aku pulang pada hari Jumaat selepas kerja kerana tidak dapat ambil cuti kerana baru sangat mula bekerja di tempat baru. Awal pagi lagi, di luar dan dalam rumah, ramai saudara-mara dan jiran tetangga sedang rancak membuat persiapan terakhir terutama sekali lauk-pauk untuk dihidangkan untuk rombongan dari pihak lelaki dan para tetamu. </span><span style="font-size:85%;">Walaupun lauk-pauk catered tetapi hidang-menghidang dilakukan sendiri dengan bantuan saudara-mara dan jiran tetangga. Masih kuat masyarakat di sini berpegang kepada semangat gotong-royong dan bersepakat dalam hal-hal kenduri-kendara ini. Lauk-pauk yang dihidangkan kebanyakannya masakan kampung - gulai lemak nangka, rendang tok, kerabu, ayam goreng berempah, kacang botol dan sudah pasti tidak ketinggalan, sambal tempoyak <span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">(lepas gian aku makan sambal tempoyak!).<br /><br /></span>Hantaran bertemakan rona hijau sudah sedia tersusun di atas katil kecuali tepak sirih dan gubahan sejadah. Semuanya ada 11 hantaran dari pihak perempuan. Semasa sedang meneliti barangan hantaran satu persatu, terperasan pulak pada salah satu hantaran iaitu sebuah kek yang tertulis <em>Selamat Bertunang</em>,<em> </em>nama pihak lelaki di atas kek disalah eja - Erwin (pronounced as a<em>ir-wind) </em>menjadi Arvin. Perkara itu menjadi bahan gurauan - jangan pula tiba-tiba yang datang nanti a/l instead of bin....</span><br /></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">By noon, everything seemed to be all set to go, hanya menunggu ketibaan rombongan dari pihak lelaki. Then somebody asked, "<em>mana tepak sirih dengan gubahan sejadahnya?". </em>Bergegas salah seorang cousin aku ke rumah jiran yang sepelaung sahaja untuk mengambil barang-barang tersebut untuk melengkapkan hantaran. Anyways, upacara merisik dan perbincangan di antara kedua belah pihak berjalan dengan lancar, diikuti dengan upacara menyarung cincin merisik dan cincin pertunangan sebagai tanda janji telah dimeterai. </span></div><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">Alhamdulillah, majlis yang boleh dikatakan planned and happened in short notice telah selesai, kecildan sederhana tetapi tetap meriah. Tahniah kepada cousin aku, <span style="color:#ff6666;"><strong>Liana </strong></span><span style="color:#000000;">yang akhirnya telah ketemui in realiti</span> <em>jejaka dalam blues</em>nya, <span style="color:#ff6666;"><strong>Erwin</strong></span>. Didoakan semoga alam pertunangan ditempuhi dengan penuh kekuatan iman dan jiwa sehingga melangkah ke gerbang perkahwinan pada 1 Zulhijjah depan. </div></span><br /><br /><p align="center"><a title="Engagement by Nurul Abid, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/90149446@N00/2099250427/"><img height="450" alt="Engagement" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2415/2099250427_0bd6ac8d84.jpg" width="450" /></a></p><br /><br /><p align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:85%;color:#3333ff;">Background Song : Wanita Yang Kau Pilih by Rossa</span></strong></p>Nurul Abidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004638889980810294noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28503830.post-77856539588067229832007-12-01T08:29:00.000+08:002007-12-02T19:50:32.912+08:00Dr Sheikh Spotted Again!<div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY0ioVdOkwI-RR7pyhXOGlQxUbGPxKGhSe3sHgXn46fCFMy018b3kUbmzwpwjBTfx-TVo9F5FikjK-87P0Rbfwcf5od0FxG60blJPoNqr7O1uvutsNWM67PQhuH_tTyBX1LM9O/s1600-r/DRSMS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5139249946259187970" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbkF4OxWrCNy4kwW3fVo6IINweE2v_gOmzAD3Tx-UcgpR4DlUTLvmtDX8PB3alyZ4C4HrIKgQFr9kIO5lxqSA0MBPet8mtgMM4F933Q4IjAGN8tNXZfYNMceN43frO8NKad4IK/s320/DRSMS.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">On Fridays we get 2 hours lunch. Whilst the male colleagues go for Friday prayers, the females apalagi pergi galavanting, shopping ke or drive out lunching at places away from the office. I pulak took <span style="color:#ff6666;"><strong>Dee</strong></span> to <strong><span style="color:#3333ff;"><a href="http://www.rebung.com.my/">Rebung</a></span></strong> for lunch. She moved from Miri to KL when she joined my current employer 2 months ago. I got to know her when attending system training in my 2nd week of joining and we clicked instantly. Since she's kinda new here, I jadi ala-ala <span style="color:#ff6666;"><strong>Tengku Maria Sabri JJCM</strong></span> introducing to her places to dine in KL, pasni maybe <span style="color:#ff6666;"><strong>Ronda 360</strong></span> degrees jalan-jalan makan angin di tempat menarik di Semenanjung. I told her about Rebung etc etc. It must have been her lucky day as when were about to leave, <span style="color:#ff6666;"><strong>Dr Sheikh Muszaphar</strong></span> showed up. If it was not because of another car blocked my car, we would have left sooner and Dee would have missed the opportunity to meet Doc face to face. <em>Bukti ada hikmah di sebalik setiap kejadian atau ketentuanNya.</em> It was brief but we managed to snap a couple of pics together. Dee is on Cloud 9 these few days....On the way back to the office, I realized it was <span style="color:#ff6666;"><strong>Mokhzani Mahathir</strong></span> whom I asked to snap our pic. Absolutely cool public figures.....</span></div><div align="justify"></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;color:#3333ff;"><strong></strong></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;color:#3333ff;"><strong></strong></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;color:#3333ff;"><strong></strong></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;color:#3333ff;"><strong></strong></span><br /></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;color:#3333ff;"><strong>Background Song : Gembira Hidup Ini by Farah AF2</strong></span></div>Nurul Abidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004638889980810294noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28503830.post-80387899943363441722007-11-12T20:58:00.000+08:002007-11-12T20:50:02.398+08:00Untuk Sesuap Nasi....Is It Worth It?<div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR0n3vr3ya5KLOSuAhfy0y3ejrzp0N03WctEJ4XofwsD6sXNEx7ssC7u64ldUC3j-v53LfY0-AaE2Ntf_jhhoqwoaur9xuVGeViR0V0CcI1wdHmCsWICZ3ctZ5DgOhkHuOrloF/s1600-h/CandleHolder2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5131928630408654882" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR0n3vr3ya5KLOSuAhfy0y3ejrzp0N03WctEJ4XofwsD6sXNEx7ssC7u64ldUC3j-v53LfY0-AaE2Ntf_jhhoqwoaur9xuVGeViR0V0CcI1wdHmCsWICZ3ctZ5DgOhkHuOrloF/s320/CandleHolder2.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;">One of the personal things I never share in this blog is what I actually do for a living. Well, this summarizes is all.....</span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><br /><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;">It was never made to be a job, it's a vocation. A career. Like priesthood or the nunnery, you have to be selfless. before yourself, others first. You must be self-secured, composed and self-assured. You must have self-respect. You cannot be bought.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><br /><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;">Never fall in envy if others will be higher than you in kind. Never sob for there will be no word of compliment for you. You must never fail to teach, to bring forth the best in people. twenty-four hours a day work will never be enough. yet you still bear the burden of faults.</span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><br /><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;">Smile even if it pains inside. Be resilient and strong. Exude a fresh and happy disposition. Be the sunshine to all. And when all else fails....be the pillar of strength.</span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><br /><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;">Honor any information given to you. Keep it and know how to handle what others tell you. You must be trusted. Keep your doors open so people can see you. So people can talk to you. </span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><br /><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;">Never show you tears. Freeze them. There is never a day-off in your career. You must learn to bring your office problems to bed. Color it if you must, so your dreams will be interesting. You will never be served. You must be tireless. You will not rest.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><br /><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;">You will say "NO" when everyone says "YES!". When everyone actually wants to say "NO" but was afraid to say so. You chose a career that must sell and serve. So die if you must.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><br /><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;">In this career, you will never be king or queen. But, you will be the MAKER.</span></div><br /><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong>THOSE INTERESTED MAY WRITE-IN COMPLETE WITH DETAILED RESUME. </strong></span></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></strong> </div><br /><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:85%;">ANYONE?</span></strong></div></div>Nurul Abidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004638889980810294noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28503830.post-31342345462639318412007-11-11T23:12:00.000+08:002007-11-11T23:47:59.769+08:00Crossroad<div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">I was at a crossroad for several months before arriving to this decision. It was a decision made with serious thoughts and consideration especially when it was never my intention to make a career move this soon and I was quite happy with where I was. It was even more difficult when I told my boss my decision to leave 3 weeks before my intended last day. During those 3 weeks, I went through several sessions with my boss which lasted at least an hour each asking me to reconsider my decision. He approached some colleagues who were close to me asking them to coax me into staying. </span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">I am truly honored the things he was willing to do to make me stay and the high regards he had for me as well as the praises and compliments for my work during the last 16 months. </span><span style="font-size:85%;">I am also grateful that he has made an offer that at anytime I want to come back, there’s always a place for me there. But I have made up my mind and it was final. I could finally talk openly about me leaving a few days before my last day starting by sending an e-mail to my Sports & Social Club committee members a day before followed by a farewell note the following morning to colleagues and friends whom I worked closely with and interacted socially. </span></div><div align="justify"></div><center></center><br /><center><a title="Photo Sharing" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/90149446@N00/1965565761/"><img height="450" alt="mosaic4374400" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2217/1965565761_0a9830735b.jpg" width="450" /></a></center><center></center><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">My last day coincides with the last event I organized for the staff as the President of the Sports & Social Club. It was supposed to be done the previous Friday but since the MD was not around on that date, it was postponed to October 31. I personally took lead of this project and I decided to do it on a bigger scale and differently not only because it was the first joint celebration of Hari Raya and Diwali and I had a bigger budget to play with but it was my last contribution to the employees. Unlike the past festival celebrations with only catered dinner served, this time, there was Rangoli and Ketupat Weaving contests, door gifts for all employees and cultural performances namely Malay and Indian dances.<br /><br />I was the ‘<em>pengacara diva’</em> that night, something I have not done for a very long time. It was a memorable night, for me at least. After all has ended, I went back to my desk, the emotions started to kick in. I realized that I am going to miss a lot of things, the wonderful teammates who have been very supportive, my bosses who valued my individuality allowing me to speak my mind freely although my thoughts and opinions may differ from them and most importantly I found some great friends here. Friends who added color into my life - there was never a dull moment when we were together. I stayed at the office until 2 a.m., chatting with some colleagues, we hugged each other, there was never once we said farewell or goodbye. I packed my personal belongings and left some momentos to a couple of them.<br /><br />On my first day at the new workplace, I received smses from some former colleagues but this particular one from Roza cum my companion whenever we had to work late nights made me so <em>sebak</em> - “<em>Saya nak tujukan lagu ‘Tak Akan Melupakanmu’ ini untuk mak, ayah yang disayangi yang kini berada di kampung, buat cinta hati yang baru pulang dari bulan, juga salam mesra dan tahniah untuk sahabat yang paling cun dan tetap tabah walau tewas menganyam ketupat semalam dan juga untuk sahabat yang terhangat di pasaran dan akan menempuh alam persekolahan baru hari ini..dengan ucapan fahamilah senikata lagu ini, I luv u guys…”.</em></span></div><p><span style="font-size:85%;">Gosh! I miss them already....</span> </p>Nurul Abidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004638889980810294noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28503830.post-51252524235078155322007-10-31T15:18:00.000+08:002007-10-31T15:49:28.759+08:00Mushy Mushy Day<div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">Today is a special day. Ramai yang all dressed up, siap berdandan ke pejabat. Terlalu sibuk ke hulu ke hilir, tidak terasa lagi nak rasa mushy mushy. Tak tahulah malam nanti or sudah nak akhir-akhir nanti, kut-kut ada empangan pecah. Today is also a sad and happy day for me. Mereka yang tahu dan mendengar khabar angin datang to confirm the desas-desus dan wished me. Sejak dua tiga hari lalu memang dah terasa sayu dah...sob...sob</span> <div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><br /></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">Lunch hari ini pun special, kat <strong><span style="color:#3333ff;">Sakae Sushi</span></strong> di <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Bangsar Village 2</strong></span>. Sebab we all semua dah all dressed up for the big night tonight, apa lagi snappy sana sini. </span></div><br /><center><a title="Photo Sharing" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/90149446@N00/1807077667/"><img height="450" alt="Mosaic_Sakae Sushi" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2304/1807077667_2bdfb1ec1d.jpg" width="450" /></a></center>Nurul Abidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004638889980810294noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28503830.post-90778536881793642302007-10-28T13:12:00.000+08:002007-11-11T22:38:02.185+08:00Breaking The Silence<div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">How time flies......Pejam, celik, pejam celik, Ramadhan sudah lama ditinggalkan dan tidak lama lagi Syawal bakal melabuhkan tirai. Sudah lebih sebulan lamanya laman ini 'dormant' tapi ini tidak bermakna empunyanya juga 'dormant'. Malah hari-hari yang telah dilalui memang warna-warni samada berkenaan hal-hal kerja atau peribadi sehingga sukar mencuri masa memastikan ada paparan terbaru di laman ini. What I have been up to all this while? Sedikit sebanyak inilah yang dapat diringkaskan dan rated-U, sesuai untuk tatapan semua lapisan masyarakat. </span></div><div align="justify"></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:85%;color:#cc66cc;">Cerita Syawal</span></strong></div><p></p><div align="center"></div><center><a title="Photo Sharing" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/90149446@N00/1773326427/"><img height="450" alt="Raya1428_Mosaic" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2194/1773326427_08e9c9fef9.jpg" width="450" /></a></center><div align="justify"><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Tiada berbeza dengan tahun-tahun lepas, Syawal disambut dalam kesederhanaan dikelilingi oleh keluarga dan saudara-mara terdekat. Walaupun sederhana dan tanpa keluarga kembar aku yang beraya di kampung mentuanya di <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Tawau</strong></span>, tetapi tetap meriah especially ada anak-anak cousins aku yang bertanggak di rumah aku. Terubat juga rasa rindu kepada <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Ashin</strong></span> dan <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Noah</strong></span> dengan kehadiran mereka. Yang menariknya, Syawal tahun ini secara kebetulan didominasi dengan theme hijau, jadi theme tahun ini ala-ala lagu <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Zainal Abidin</strong></span> "Hijau' lah. Sejuk mata memandang...By the 3rd Syawal, aku sudah pulang ke <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Kuala Lumpur</strong></span> untuk memulakan tugas pada keesokan harinya. Ada banyak desakan tugas yang perlu dibereskan. Memang heaven pergi balik ke tempat kerja during the rest of the week kerana trafik tersangatlah smoothnya dan pejabat juga lengang. Dapatlah aku siapkan kerja dengan aman damai tanpa gangguan. </span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">Pada hari Ahad pula, aku lunch dengan <span style="color:#ff6666;"><a href="http://www.dirtypap.blogspot.com/"><strong><span style="color:#ff6666;">Dirtypap</span></strong> </a></span>selepas menerima sms darinya yang dia akan turun ke KL sebelum pulang ke Labuan. Kami bertiga termasuk rakannya, <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Mardi</strong></span> had lunch di <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Piccolo Mondo</strong></span>, <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Midvalley</strong></span>. Aku sebenarnya bekerja pada hari itu and should return back to the office, tetapi sebab terlalu leka bersembang, dekat 5 jamlah kami di situ. Harap-harap kali ini perancangan <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Dirtypap</strong></span> untuk bekerja di <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Semenanjung</strong></span> menjadi kenyataan. Aku doa-doakan sesangat. Adalah nanti mangkin buat teman aku jogging, kan Pap? </span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">Seminggu selepas Raya pula aku kena <strong><span style="color:#3333ff;">cold and flu</span></strong>. Feverish, badan rasa weak and achy and continuous headache. My nose was blocked with mucus making it difficult to eat or talk because I had to breathe through my mouth. Tapi tetap jadi iron lady, gagah perkasa juga pergi kerja. It has been over 2 weeks now and I have been to 2 doctors. Unlike the first doctor who only gave me Panadol for pain and tablets yang entah apa, the second doctor gave me more medication including antibiotics, Clarinase and Menthol Crystal. Now my mucus pun dah dried up, just have to finish the medication especially the antibiotics. Itulah aku, memang jarang sakit tapi kalau once kena, mesti teruk and lama nak recover. </span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">Yesterday, I had breakfast with <a href="http://www.zeynsthoughts.blogspot.com/"><span style="color:#ff6666;"><strong>Zeyn</strong></span> </a>at <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Bawang Merah Cafe</strong></span> in Subang Jaya. Both of us had Nasi Lemak and Teh Tarik. We chat about the normal stuff from one topic to another. After that, he tagged along with me going around <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Subang Jaya</strong></span> looking for queue stands to cordone the <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Rangoli Decor</strong></span>. I did not find what I was looking for but I settled with something similar, garden fences which I bought at <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Giant Shah Alam</strong></span>. Anyways, thanks to <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Zeyn </strong></span>for the <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Kek Lapis</strong></span> and <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Cheese Cake</strong></span>.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><br /><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;color:#cc66cc;"><strong>Office Buzz!!!</strong></span></div><br /><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:85%;color:#000099;"></span></strong></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">Sebab lain why my cuti Raya aku tidak panjang adalah kerana ada beberapa persiapan yang harus aku buat untuk aktiviti sampingan di pejabat. My additional responsibility sebagai <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>President Sports & Social Club</strong></span>, memerlukan aku turun padang untuk memastikan plan for our next activity berjalan dengan lancar. One of them was to decorate the office bersempena dengan the upcoming <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Diwali</strong></span>. Unlike last year yang lowkey, this year we went all out termasuk menjemput artiste untuk membuat hiasan <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Rangoli </strong></span>atau lebih dikenali sebagai <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Kolam</strong></span> di reception area. I was impressed to see how fast he finished such a complicated (to me <em>lah!) </em>peacock design in less than half an hour. Lihatlah hasilnya!</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"></div></span><center><a title="Photo Sharing" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/90149446@N00/1773486618/"><img height="450" alt="Rangoli_Mosaic" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2052/1773486618_2b269ebd08.jpg" width="450" /></a></center><center></center><center></center><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">On the way to the office after my rendezvous with <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Zeyn</strong></span>, I decided to stop by at <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Speedway Plus Karting Circuit</strong></span> where the <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>German Society of Kuala Lumpur </strong></span>organized a <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Go Kart Competition</strong></span>. Since my company ni is a German company, we sent 3 teams as contestants. Terasa macam kat German pula masa kat situ sebab majority yang attend and participate pun them. At that stage one of my participating colleagues qualified to go to the final. Mamat ni yang on that day itself diberi nama gelaran <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>"Mangkuk Tingkat"</strong></span> (tidak kena mengena dengan sebab dia qualify to final) ni kiranya macam Underdog sebab memang tak pernah masuk Go-Kart and dapat masuk final. Although minorities, we were the ones yang paling kuat bersorak and cheering for him. Yang paling best, si Mangkuk Tingkat ni dapat 3rd place! Riuh sekampung we all bersorak. We all yang ala-ala gadis litar masuk interframe ambil gambar masa penyampaian sijil dan medal. Tumpang glamour katanya...</span> <center><embed style="WIDTH: 450px; HEIGHT: 444px" name="flashticker" align="middle" src="http://widget-9b.slide.com/widgets/slideticker.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" flashvars="cy=bb&il=1&channel=144115188088566683&site=widget-9b.slide.com" wmode="transparent" salign="l" scale="noscale" quality="high"></embed> <div style="WIDTH: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: left"></center><br /><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;color:#cc66cc;"><strong>What's Next?</strong></span></div><p align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">Here is a sneak preview. Buah tangan untuk jemputan seramai 400 orang. Small and intimate. Belum boleh sit back and relax. Loads more needs to be done!</span></p><br /><p align="center"><a title="Photo Sharing" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/90149446@N00/1784676481/"><img height="180" alt="" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2403/1784676481_49fa24e863_m.jpg" width="240" /></a></p></div></div>Nurul Abidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004638889980810294noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28503830.post-55622163193725430582007-09-24T00:22:00.000+08:002007-09-24T01:34:50.630+08:00When Friends Meet - Get Well Soon, Mum!<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRHbVZl-NukSqmjSL4EqmKepDSbngovvWhABcleewiftJXP7Rbn114eef2fcWMliS5zgG8M1u_8Z3Xw7gtSfJ69Rz6hj-LXpYlietCeV9-sjXyuWWgp6HYXPLcMyayRmHr8mN_/s1600-h/Ramadhan+Buka+Puasa+Promotion+07.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5112694116133321426" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRHbVZl-NukSqmjSL4EqmKepDSbngovvWhABcleewiftJXP7Rbn114eef2fcWMliS5zgG8M1u_8Z3Xw7gtSfJ69Rz6hj-LXpYlietCeV9-sjXyuWWgp6HYXPLcMyayRmHr8mN_/s400/Ramadhan+Buka+Puasa+Promotion+07.JPG" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span>Sebenarnya sudah beberapa kali membuat perancangan berjumpa dengan beberapa rakan over dinner tetapi selalu sahaja tertunda atau terpaksa dibatalkan kerana jadual kerja dan peribadi masing-masing selalu clash. Alhamdulillah, sempena bulan Ramadhan ini, Jumaat lepas kami dapat meluangkan masa untuk berbuka puasa bersama walaupun tempat untuk berbuka beberapa kali bertukar dari <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Bangsar Seafood</strong></span> ke<span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong> Rebung</strong></span> dan akhirnya settled with <strong><span style="color:#3333ff;">KL Convention Centre</span></strong>. Initially, there were supposed to be 7 of us - Hazura, Helen, Stephanie, Kasuma, Mohar and wife tapi at the 11th hour, Stephanie had to take a raincheck. All of us used to be colleagues and have known each other between 5 - 7 years and after we went our separate ways about one year and a half ago, we still remain in contact.<br /><br />Aku tiba di <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>KLCC </strong></span>sejam lebih awal dari waktu berbuka untuk berjumpa dengan Helen for some private and personal conversation. Sempat juga menjengah sales di <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>I-Setan</strong></span> exclusive for its members. Setengah jam sebelum waktu berbuka, seorang demi seorang tiba di tempat yang dijanjikan iaitu di <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Exhibtion Hall 5</strong></span> of <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>KL Convention Centre</strong></span>. Walau terdapat a little mixed up with our reservation, alhamdulillah kami mendapat meja yang terletak berdekatan dengan tempat juadah yang disediakan. Cara hidangan adalah secara buffet dengan konsep gerai-gerai yang terletak di tengah-tengah hall. Juadah yang disediakan terdiri daripada makanan tempatan dan 2 gerai yang menyediakan makanan Jepun dan Arab. Aku menjamah sedikit sebanyak beberapa juadah dari lamb kuzi, murtabak, ketam bakar, mee goreng mamak, banana fritters, Japanese food amongst a few. Semasa makan, tetamu turut dihiburkan oleh lagu-lagu Melayu asli yang dimainkan oleh secara live oleh beberapa pemuzik di atas pentas. Tidak seperti di hotel, di sini tidak perlu bersesak-sesak dan bergesel bahu untuk mengambil makanan kerana jumlah meja yang available for reservation terhad membuat orang tidak ramai ditambah pula dengan ruang hall yang besar.<br /><br />Sambil makan, kami bersembang dari satu topik ke satu topik. Banyak benar yang diceritakan dan dikongsi terutama update each other tentang perkembangan some of our mutual friends and acquaintances. Ada yang bernasib baik, ada yang tidak, ada cerita sedih, ada cerita gembira dan ada juga cerita yang menjadi pengajaran termasuk berbincang tentang some business opportunities. Kerana terlalu leka bersembang, tidak sedar waktu sudah 10 p.m. iaitu the end of the buffet dinner. Kami merupakan tetamu yang terakhir beredar sementara pekerja-pekerja sudah mula mengemas meja dan clearing the food.<br /><br />Keesokan paginya, aku ke sebuah klinik di <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>PJ </strong></span>untuk membuat pemeriksaan kesihatan. Suatu yang perlu aku lakukan untuk memenuhi requirement pihak tertentu. Nasib baik semua ujian kesihatan berjalan dengan lancar dan selesai dalam satu setengah jam. Keputusan ujian akan diketahui dalam masa seminggu. Dalam itu sempat juga berkenalan dan bersembang dengan a few people yang membuat pemeriksaan kesihatan dengan tujuan yang sama. The main question we asked each other was when is the D-Day.<br /><br />By noon, aku bertolak ke <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Teluk Intan</strong></span> accompanied by my aunt. Sepatutnya kakak aku, Kema ikut bersama tetapi di saat akhir dia diarahkan ke <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>India </strong></span>atas urusan kerja. Monyok sahaja muka dia semasa aku singgah sebentar mengambil kek untuk Mak di condonya pada malam sebelumnya kerana terpaksa ke <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>India</strong></span>. Sebab utama aku pulang adalah untuk berbuka dengan Mak. Kebetulan pula beberapa hari sebelum itu adik aku menghantar berita Mak kurang sihat, muscle di bahagian pinggang lari semasa gardening. Walaupun sudah berjumpa doktor dan diberi ubat, masih terasa lagi sakitnya. Selepas ini, kalau dalam seminggu ini masih tidak pulih, aku bercadang hendak membawa Mak ke <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>SJMC</strong></span>. Tambahan pula Mak akan ke <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Kota Kinabalu</strong></span> seminggu selepas Raya ditemani Liza dan Kema untuk menjenguk cucu-cucunya dan meraikan their belated birthdays kerana kembar aku sekeluarga akan beraya di Tawau tahun ini. Aku pula tidak pasti samada aku boleh turut serta atau tidak kerana banyak perkara yang harus aku selesaikan. Harapan dan doa aku agar Mak akan beransur pulih by Raya dan dapat melawat cucu-cucunya, insyaallah.<br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div>Nurul Abidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004638889980810294noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28503830.post-17509893709209746732007-09-02T06:41:00.000+08:002007-09-02T17:13:44.236+08:00Turkey : Pamukkale - Ephesus - Cappadocia - Istanbul<div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Click on words bold in</span> <span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-weight: bold;">BLUE </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">for more information on the subject.</span></span><br /></div></div><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Semasa di <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">Istanbul</span>, aku mengambil keputusan untuk menggunakan khidmat travel agency untuk </span><span style="font-size:85%;">membuat arrangement melawat <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">Pamukkale</span> dan <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">Ephesus</span>. Memandangkan it was a peak season, I learnt that it is going to be difficult to get a ticket bus and lodging. Tambahan pula I only have limited number of days to cover all these plac</span><span style="font-size:85%;">es and couldn't afford to take a risk stranded disebabkan tiada tiket bas untuk pulang </span><span style="font-size:85%;">ke <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">Istanbul</span>. The travel agency arranged for everything </span><span style="font-size:85%;">termasuk lodging, lunch, transportation dan tour. </span><span style="font-size:85%;">Perkhidmatan coach percuma juga disediakan oleh syarikat bas untuk membawa passengers ke bus te</span><span style="font-size:85%;">rminal yang terletak lebih kurang 30 minit perjalanan dari </span><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >Sultanahmet</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> .</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSBCjFafNQaeey6h39cCgYuESOG1nnGFqkACdsIIOnvZ85hpgwUVpk0htvxgVzI5hu0EU1k0gpVBPTRBVaH6Npw8bagzBvIKYgUoCRqnFSwn4gCOVT-aO2PBU9-ZulSadoW_hq/s1600-h/DSC00772.JPG"><span style="font-size:85%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5102029101914160722" style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSBCjFafNQaeey6h39cCgYuESOG1nnGFqkACdsIIOnvZ85hpgwUVpk0htvxgVzI5hu0EU1k0gpVBPTRBVaH6Npw8bagzBvIKYgUoCRqnFSwn4gCOVT-aO2PBU9-ZulSadoW_hq/s200/DSC00772.JPG" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Perjalanan 1</span><span style="font-size:85%;">2 jam ke <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">Se</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">lcuk</span>, sebuah bandar yang terletak tidak jauh dari <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">Ephesus</span> menaiki bas e</span><span style="font-size:85%;">xpress memang amat sele</span><span style="font-size:85%;">sa. Bukan sahaja basnya bersih dengan tempat d</span><span style="font-size:85%;">uduk yang empuk, terdapat juga steward yang menghidangkan minuman dan</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> kek. Bas express tersebut berhe</span><span style="font-size:85%;">nti beberapa kali samada untu</span><span style="font-size:85%;">k meng</span><span style="font-size:85%;">ambil penumpang </span><span style="font-size:85%;">atau makan. Tempat-tempat perhentiannya k</span><span style="font-size:85%;">ebanyakkannya di kawasan R&R di mana terdapat foodstalls atau restoran yang turut menjual cenderamata. Even at </span><span style="font-size:85%;">wee hours of the morn</span><span style="font-size:85%;">ing tempat-tempat ini full of activity dan meriah. Perjalanan menaiki bas</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> bukan sahaja t</span><span style="font-size:85%;">erhad di darat tetapi juga merentasi <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">Sea of Marmara</span> dengan menaiki feri selama setengah jam. Kesempatan itu ku ambil untuk turun dari bas express ke dek feri. Walaupun tiada pemandangan dapat dilihat kerana malam memang pekat tetapi sekurang-kurangnya</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> dapat mengambil angin malam yang sebenarn</span><span style="font-size:85%;">ya sejuk h</span><span style="font-size:85%;">ingga ke tulang.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><div><center><embed src="http://widget-c7.slide.com/widgets/slideticker.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" quality="high" scale="noscale" salign="l" wmode="transparent" flashvars="cy=bb&il=1&channel=144115188086609351&site=widget-c7.slide.com" style="width: 400px; height: 320px;" name="flashticker" align="middle"></embed></center></div></span><a href="http://www.slide.com/pivot?cy=bb&ad=0&id=144115188086609351&map=1" target="_blank"><br /><br /></a></span><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.kusadasi.biz/pamukkale/"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-weight: bold;">Pamukkale</span></span></a><br /></div><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Setelah freshened up</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> dan menukar pakaian, dari <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">Selcuk</span> perjalanan diteruskan menaiki coach selama 3 jam ke<span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;"> Pamukkale </span>melal</span><span style="font-size:85%;">ui <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">Denizli</span>. Dari kejauhan sudah kelihatan suatu kawasan permukaan bukit yang memutih seperti dilitupi salji.</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> Coach membawa kami hingga ke atas d</span><span style="font-size:85%;">an dari dekat baru kelihatan thermal pools yang bertingkat-tingkat dan dikatakan mempunyai khasiat mengubati penyakit</span><span style="font-size:85%;">. Aku mengambil keputusan untuk melewati tinggalan sejarah kota <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">Hierapolis</span> di kawasan sekeliling termasuk tanah perkuburan golongan bangsawan dan theatre dahulu. Memang meletihkan memanjat bukit </span><span style="font-size:85%;">dan berjalan di bawah panas terik matahari. Dah pakai sunblock pun masih tak memadai, kulit tetap menjadi gelap. Sele</span><span style="font-size:85%;">pas itu, baru aku menghabiskan masa menikmati pemandangan di 'cott</span><span style="font-size:85%;">on castle' dan merendamkan kaki di dalam air. Airnya hanya suam-suam kuku sahaja</span><span style="font-size:85%;">, tidak sepanas yang aku sangka. Niat untuk berendam di dalam kolam terpaksa aku batalkan sahaja bi</span><span style="font-size:85%;">la melihat betapa ramainya pelancong yang membanjiri kolam-kolam di situ samada di <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">Ancient Pool</span> atau the public pool. Untuk memasuki Ancient Pool, ada bayaran yang dikenakan, kalau tak silap aku YTL10.<br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);"><br />Kusadasi</span></span></span><br /></div><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span>Penginapan malam itu adalah di <a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.hotelilayda.com/en/location.htm">Hotel Ilayda</a> di <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">K</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">usadasi</span> yang terletak tidak jauh dari <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">Ephesus,</span> tempat tujuan keesokan harinya. For </span><span style="font-size:85%;">a 2-star hotel and the room rate charged, the condition of the r</span><span style="font-size:85%;">oom and hotel service are beyon</span><span style="font-size:85%;">d my expectation. Memang highly recommended. Walaupun aku tidak mendapat bilik yang berhadapan dengan <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">Kusadasi Bay</span>, tetapi keesokan pagi, sebelum coach tiba, aku mengambil peluang berjalan dan bersantai di tepi pantai menikmati pemandangan laut yang bir</span><span style="font-size:85%;">u. Terasa macam</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> di Greece pula sekejap dan bertamb</span><span style="font-size:85%;">ah gelap lagilah kulit aku dek pan</span><span style="font-size:85%;">ahan sang suria.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.sacred-destinations.com/turkey/ephesus.htm"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-weight: bold;">Ephesus</span></a></span><br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRdyC5Q5Adxhe1iI3JWjLndLQr_AQiH2CWFUtlIY2bI-5Coe_S_qD1VxNFpnDsESMBkDU3U6_DmlUfRpqXpgJwR-O-PsSfvUacmT-5mmb0E_uNIQMf_GcDqESLRuaw0oXImJ3D/s1600-h/Artemis.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRdyC5Q5Adxhe1iI3JWjLndLQr_AQiH2CWFUtlIY2bI-5Coe_S_qD1VxNFpnDsESMBkDU3U6_DmlUfRpqXpgJwR-O-PsSfvUacmT-5mmb0E_uNIQMf_GcDqESLRuaw0oXImJ3D/s200/Artemis.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5105185640883715778" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Selain d</span><span style="font-size:85%;">aripada <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">Ancient City of Ephesus</span>, lawatan ke Ephesus turut termasuk lawatan ke <span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.sacred-destinations.com/turkey/ephesus-temple-of-artemis.htm">Temple of Artemis</a> </span>dan</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">House of Virgin Mary</span>. Kalau dilihat gambar struktur asal temple Roman ini, tidak banyak yang tinggal melainkan a column dan bongkah-bongkah batu yang bertaburan di sana sini </span><span style="font-size:85%;">yang menjadi peninggalan dan</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> bukti kewujudan temple yang disenaraikan sebagai o</span><span style="font-size:85%;">ne of the seven ancient wonders of the world (Wah! Kiranya setakat </span><span style="font-size:85%;">ini, aku</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> sudah melawat 2 ancient w</span><span style="font-size:85%;">onders of the world selain daripada Py</span><span style="font-size:85%;">ramids of Giza). Dikatakan kebanyakan bahagian dari temple ini telah diambil dan digunakan untuk pembinaan bangunan-bangunan bersejarah lain termasuklah <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">Me</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">dusa </span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">Heads</span> yang digunakan sebagai asas column untuk pembinaan <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">Basilica Cister</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">n </span>di <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">Istanbul</span> (refer to my previous entry on <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">Istanbul</span>). Tidak jauh dari kawasan temple nun di atas bukit ialah <a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.sacred-destinations.com/turkey/ephesus-basilica-of-st-john.htm">Gereja St. John</a> dan <a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.sacred-destinations.com/turkey/ephesus-isabey-mosque.htm">Isabey Mosque</a> tetapi aku tidak melawat kedua-dua tempa</span><span style="font-size:85%;">t ini kerana kesuntukan masa. Hanya melihat dari jauh dan mendengar sejarahnya daripada tour guide.<br /></span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtCJyxtJKMz-FPsvl05HocOV7-JrQ_TYTsUWJib9zPVsXKfYIN1KQsPcrtgxGqDQF_5dW2czsFxY_KQ6DU8Ni-_-mPa4RKufMmFHZIVTAmKbQzBOAYnqNRVf3kWSggZlYHnYPn/s1600-h/Virgin+Mary.bmp"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtCJyxtJKMz-FPsvl05HocOV7-JrQ_TYTsUWJib9zPVsXKfYIN1KQsPcrtgxGqDQF_5dW2czsFxY_KQ6DU8Ni-_-mPa4RKufMmFHZIVTAmKbQzBOAYnqNRVf3kWSggZlYHnYPn/s200/Virgin+Mary.bmp" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5105188810569580242" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://www.sacred-destinations.com/turkey/ephesus-house-of-the-virgin.htm"><span style="font-weight: bold;">House of Virgin Mary</span></a> yang terletak di Bul</span><span style="font-size:85%;">bul Mountain dikelilingi oleh pokok-pokok yang m</span><span style="font-size:85%;">e</span><span style="font-size:85%;">nghijau mewujudkan suasana yang cooling dan redup sememangnya melegakan setelah a couple of days berada di bawah terik matahari. Shrine di mana <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Virgin Mary</span><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);"> </span>dipercayai menghabiskan usianya ini is as important and sacred to the Moslem as it is to the Christians. Rumah ini sebenarnya kecil sahaja di mana terdapat prayer altar untuk </span><span style="font-size:85%;">pengunjung yang beragama Kristian bersembahyang. Di kawasan luar, te</span><span style="font-size:85%;">rdapat</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> bekas kolam air di mana upacara pembaptisan diadakan, mass area, prayer wall yang dipenuhi wish notes dalam </span><span style="font-size:85%;">pelbagai bahasa dari pengunjung serta holy</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> water dari water taps. Actually aku pun tidak tahu dari mana datangnya air ini tetapi menurut kata our to</span><span style="font-size:85%;">ur guide, the water runs under the shrine. Anyways, for Moslems - Awas! Jangan pula mengambil air dari sini untuk dibuat minum. Aku diberitahu di sini tiada public transport selain daripada teksi or kalau larat, cubalah berjalan kaki.<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje0Ly5OjUIBoHdSchwWb_tLiNdS32_qGQMUwlt8ICnD_DRltISgrfKlLE6BltbdPnmMkng_xQwJAZjh5YlBbGPFox7_VDD8uTQgiQquC3HecJa3R2MTEWAeKFr-rSxuvP8bmry/s1600-h/Ephesus.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje0Ly5OjUIBoHdSchwWb_tLiNdS32_qGQMUwlt8ICnD_DRltISgrfKlLE6BltbdPnmMkng_xQwJAZjh5YlBbGPFox7_VDD8uTQgiQquC3HecJa3R2MTEWAeKFr-rSxuvP8bmry/s200/Ephesus.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5105206419935493890" border="0" /></a><a href="http://www.allaboutturkey.com/efes.htm"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >Ancient</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-weight: bold;"> city of </span></span></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.allaboutturkey.com/efes.htm"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-weight: bold;">Ephesus</span></a> ini actually quite a huge place. Yup, your talking about one of the great Greek cities in the ancient time housing the largest amphitheatre in the world. Nak cover the whole place kena ada kudrat and energy untuk berjal</span><span style="font-size:85%;">an with good shoes especially when walking on the marble street under the hot blazing summer sun. We were briefed by the tour guide a little bit of history about the city</span><span style="font-size:85%;">. Sukar juga nak follow sambil trying to rel</span><span style="font-size:85%;">ate nama-nama dari sejarah Greek but as we went along visiting from one ruin to another, boleh juga faham. Among a few significant monuments di sini mainly <a href="http://www.sacred-destinations.com/turkey/ephesus-temple-of-hadrian.htm"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-weight: bold;">Temple of Hadrian</span></a>, <a href="http://www.ephesus.us/ephesus/celsuslibrary.htm"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-weight: bold;">Library of Celsus</span></a>, <a href="http://www.ephesus.us/ephesus/theatre.htm"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-weight: bold;">The Great Theatre</span></a><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">, <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">and what believed to be</span></span><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">the first indoor flushed toilet</span></span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">. <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">The Great Theatre </span>is still being used till to date for concerts, plays, gatherings and I was told that <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">Sting</span> once had his concert here. </span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">I had to breakaway from the tour group earlier because I was leaving for <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">Cappadocia</span> that afternoon, a slight detour from my original plan. I decided to go to Cappadocia the day before after hearing so much about it from a few travelers I met. </span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br /><br /></span></span></span></span><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.cappadociaturkey.net/"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-weight: bold;">Cappadocia</span></span></span></span></span></a><br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAja7GKCgFndHm25hdMHUI6AiLciL3j4Xvur1xWzdlZSacSUWYGgLATfnGc86PtwKYnlH2xHH5_gcjAd-nqrrUxEiZISxG6Qn-Enyfezkyli6Yk00z4xgZcf0qi6cLBhWuTace/s1600-h/DSC00781.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAja7GKCgFndHm25hdMHUI6AiLciL3j4Xvur1xWzdlZSacSUWYGgLATfnGc86PtwKYnlH2xHH5_gcjAd-nqrrUxEiZISxG6Qn-Enyfezkyli6Yk00z4xgZcf0qi6cLBhWuTace/s200/DSC00781.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5105269079213375266" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">Untuk ke <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">Cappadocia</span> aku menaiki overnight bus selama 14 jam melalui bandar <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">Nevsehir</span> di mana aku switched to a coach untuk ke bandar <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">Urgup</span>. Actually, one can also head to bandar <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">Goreme </span>kerana <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">Cappadocia</span> sebenarnya bukanlah sebuah bandar seperti yang mula-mula aku sangkakan tetapi sebuah kawasan yang dikelilingi a few towns termasuk <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">Goreme</span> dan <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">Urgup</span>. Kedua-dua bandar ini adalah bandar yang menjadi tumpuan pelancong untuk menginap sekiranya hendak melawat <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">Cappadocia</span>. Di sini, aku menginap di <a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.melishotel.com/scenes.htm">M</a></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.melishotel.com/scenes.htm">elis Hotel</a> yang merupa</span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">kan sebuah rumah Greek yang berusia 300 tahun. Hotel ini menawarkan bilik-bilik yang bercirikan Ottoman style, Greek style dan cave house. Pada mulanya aku bercadang hendak merasa duduk di dalam cave house tetapi aku ber</span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">tukar kepada Ottoman style yang terletak di hadapan swimming pool kerana rasa stuffy pula bila berada di dalam cave house.<br /><br />Pada hari pertama aku, I had the whole day to myself. Aku menghabiskan masa berjalan di sekitar bandar <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">Urgup</span> sambil melihat masyarakat tempatan menjalani kehidupan harian. Di suatu sudut berdekatan dengan masjid, sekumpulan lelaki-lelaki tua sedang duduk bersembang sambil menghisap rokok. Di sebuah lorong pula di bawah pepohon anggur, beberapa lelaki </span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">bermain boardgame yang seakan-akan mahjung. Aku mendekati mereka untuk melihat dari dekat boardgame tersebut dan as usual ditawarkan Turkish tea di dalam gelas berbentuk tulip sambil berbual dengan salah seorang daripada mereka yang boleh berbahasa Inggeris. Sememangnya sudah menjadi tradisi di Turki, tetamu dihidangkan Turkish tea which means 40-years of friendship. Memang sejak tiba di Turki, I have lost count berapa gelas aku dah minum but it doesn't matter sebab aku memang suka minum teh.</span></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br /></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">Keistimewaan <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">Cappadocia</span> ialah bentuk mukabuminya yang unik</span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">, terhasil daripada larva gunung berapi. Hakisan angin dan air beribu-ribu tahun lama membentuk chimney rock atau dikenali sebagai fairy chimneys. Cappadocia juga terkenal dengan cave houses dan rock churches yang menjadi penempatan Christians yang lari daripada penindasan Romans. Lawatan di sini benar-benar menguji ketahanan fizikal aku kerana banyak aktiviti mendaki turun naik bukit. Tambahan pula aku tidak memakai kasut yang sesuai menjadikan perjalanan aku lebih perlahan terutama sekali semasa menuruni cerun-cerun bukit. Yang menyeronokkan juga semasa lawatan ini adalah mencari dan meneka shapes yang menyerupai binatang, isyarat tangan dan sebagainya yang terbentuk secara semulajadi. Termasuk dalam itinerari di Cappadocia ialah lawatan ke kilang pembuatan pottery. Selain demo tentang cara-cara pottery dibuat, terdapat bilik pameran dipenuhi barangan daripada pinggan, pasu, bowls, jug air, dan pelbagai lagi untuk kegunaan harian atau hiasan.<br /><br /></span></span></span></span><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFfAmRlpxozB2MsejLMSTcZWTjcumO-Xb8FJXcOXs9j7SNV0dYf8c5NcIrxvsRJqQewzGB-ft1z2jFNMoQerERIUMSzacD615Pm5cY2Xt2ToCE684FKSQAl49NM27JUyaHRwa3/s1600-h/Mosaic_Cappadocia_01.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFfAmRlpxozB2MsejLMSTcZWTjcumO-Xb8FJXcOXs9j7SNV0dYf8c5NcIrxvsRJqQewzGB-ft1z2jFNMoQerERIUMSzacD615Pm5cY2Xt2ToCE684FKSQAl49NM27JUyaHRwa3/s400/Mosaic_Cappadocia_01.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5105232670775607058" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;">Bentuk-bentuk binatang & isyarat tangan di Cappadocia<br /><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Back in Istanbul</span></span><br /></div><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 51, 204);"><br /></span>Malam itu aku menaiki bas pulang ke <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">Istanbul</span> yang memakan masa 13 jam. Sebaik tiba di Istanbul, aku terus menuju ke Eminonu untuk berbaris mendapatkan tiket menaiki <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">Bosphorus Cruise</span>. Cruise bermula pada pukul 10.30 a.m. dari <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">Galata Bridge </span>sehingga ke perhentian terakhir</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> di <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">Rumeli Kavagi</span>. Aku bukan sahaja dapat melihat beberapa monumen seperti <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">Dolmabahce Palace & Mosque</span>, <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">Ciragan Palace</span> yang terdapat di sepanjang Bosphorus tetapi juga bangunan-bangunan dan rumah-rumah yang cantik rekabentuknya. Keseluruhan cruise took about 6 hours termasuk 3 jam menunggu di the second last stop - <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">Anadolu Kavagi </span>sebelum menaiki feri pulang ke<span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;"> Galata Bridge</span>. <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">Anadolu Kavagi </span>is a fishing village with loads of Balik Restaurants (Fish Restaurants). Masa 3 jam itu aku habiskan mendaki ke <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">Yoros Kalesi</span>, a ruined castle on the hill where from there one can have a great view of the <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">Black Sea</span> with ships passing by.<br /><br />Selepas checked-in semula di <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">Hotel Sultanahmet</span>, aku bergegas ke <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">Sirkeci Railway Station</span> untuk menyaksikan <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://www.istanbullife.org/whirling-dervish-ceromony-sirkeci.html"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">Whirling Devrish</span> </a>ceremony. Persembahan ini hanya ada pada hari-hari tertentu sahaja dan tiket boleh didapati di most hotels di Istanb</span><span style="font-size:85%;">ul. Just make sure it is bought in advanced sebab memang cepat habis especially during peak season. Semasa upacara ini, aku terfikir samada the whirling devrishes ini betul-betul berada di tahap ecstasy sewaktu mempertontonkannya kepada pelancong kerana instead of menjadi a religious ceremony, it has been commercialized. Adakah unsur mistik dan kekusyukan kepada pengamalnya? Wallahualam...<br /><br />Perancangan keesokan harinya was to do a little shopping di <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">Kapali Carsi </span>atau Grand Bazaar, beli barang yang dipesan Mak di <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">Egyptian Bazaar</span><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);"> </span>dan selepas itu buat Turkish Bath. Normally kalau pergi travel, shopping is not my main agenda and I will do this last depends kalau ada extra money to spare. Memang pelbagai barang yang dijual dan boleh rambang mata untuk memilih. I ended buying only a few souvenier items sebagai kenangan di Turki dan hadiah untuk adik-adik aku termasuk tulip-shaped tea sets untuk Mak. Selepas itu, aku ke Egyptian Bazaar untuk mencari lotus </span><span style="font-size:85%;">oil yang dipesan Mak. Mak menggemari bau lotus oil ini semasa melawat Cairo tahun lalu. Mahal juga harga lotus oil di sini berbanding dengan di Cairo. Sempat juga singgah di sebuah kedai yang menjual scarves sebagai hadiah untuk Mak and my sisters. Satu perkara yang aku notice, barang-barang di Egyptian Bazaar lebih murah daripada di Kapali Carsi. So, it's better to buy some items seperti T-Shirts, accessories, shawl dan souvenier items di Egyptian Bazaar.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;">Rancangan untuk buat<span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;"> Turkish Bath</span> terpaksa aku batalkan kerana kesuntukan masa dan aku harus bertolak ke airport to catch my flight back to <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">Dubai</span>. Nevertheless, I am happy with how this trip went and ended. Walau ada juga a few unpleasant incidents yang menguji keimanan aku tetapi banyak juga pengalaman manis yang memang sukar dilupakan.</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;">The People I Met</span></span><br /></div><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL69C3-U06YWazFA6VpJsyynQhbtBA-4pu9SCywb_g__75trl-2_tfGlw51IJjWfMRqnbaE_3BaLPsKmxli-J_gO7ELp7etEgTQIM0UB46A90eX0EMrKlWBEC2JVv7q83oL_3a/s1600-h/People+I+Met.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL69C3-U06YWazFA6VpJsyynQhbtBA-4pu9SCywb_g__75trl-2_tfGlw51IJjWfMRqnbaE_3BaLPsKmxli-J_gO7ELp7etEgTQIM0UB46A90eX0EMrKlWBEC2JVv7q83oL_3a/s400/People+I+Met.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5105442832115334962" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204); font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" ></span><br /></div></div>Nurul Abidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004638889980810294noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28503830.post-52908168074387306972007-08-22T08:04:00.000+08:002007-08-22T04:19:00.853+08:00Turkey : Istanbul<center><embed style="WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 320px" name="flashticker" align="middle" src="http://widget-2d.slide.com/widgets/slideticker.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" flashvars="cy=bb&il=1&channel=144115188086570029&site=widget-2d.slide.com" wmode="transparent" salign="l" scale="noscale" quality="high"></embed></center><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />My first experience travelling solo to the farthest place I have traveled to date did not just went smoothly but it surpassed what I imagined it would be. I hardly felt lonely but made more friends than when I traveled accompanied, I discovered a few things about myself and more importantly I found kindness in strangers.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">Aku rasa tidak perlu aku menceritakan sejarah dan latarbelakang tempat-tempat yang telah aku lawati kerana semua maklumat ini mudah </span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">didapati dari travel books dan internet. Aku rasa lebih praktikal kalau aku</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"> berkongsi my travel itinerary, travel tips dan pengalaman menarik sepanjang aku berada di sana buat panduan sesiapa yang ingin menjejaki kaki ke sana.<br /></span></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Di <a style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(51,51,255)" href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/destinations/europe/turkey/istanbul/">Istanbul,</a> aku menginap di <a style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(51,51,255)" href="http://www.hotelsultanahmet.com/">Sultanahmet Hotel</a>. At EUR30 for B&B, it is quite reasonable for a clean 2-bedded room with a sink, tv, hair dryer and a stand fan although the bathroom is unattached but it's just across my room. Tambahan pula waktu itu peak season, hotel rate lebih mahal dari biasa and kalau single traveler, memang expected kena bayar lebih sikit. The published rate at the frontdesk was EUR50 for single tetapi aku mendapat rate EUR20 cheaper dengan bantuan dari seorang local Turk guy I met yang kebetulan bekerja di travel agency. I was lucky to get a room facing the street with a view of a mosque across the street.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Malam pert</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">ama selepas membersihkan diri, aku keluar berjalan menyusuri the ma</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">in street yang menjadi laluan tram untuk meninjau kawasan berdekatan dan mencari makan malam. Belum pun jauh dari hotel, aku sudah dihampiri oleh seorang lelaki tempatan memulakan perbualan kosong bertanyakan asal dan nama aku etc. Aku ada terbaca mengenai perkara ini di dalam buku Lonely Planet : Istanbul di mana lelaki tempatan gemar mendekati foreign female travellers for very obvious reason (takkan nak cerita kut? Faham-faham sendiri!). We had casual conversation mainly telling each other a few things about each other. He insisted on paying for my dinner when I stopped at a food kiosk and w</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">e eventually took a taxi to <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(204,102,0)">Taksim</span> for a drink at a club. Taksim is supposedly to be a happening place in Istanbul sebab kat sini banyak clubs, pubs and bars tetapi tempat yang kami pergi ni ada a few patrons with a few scantily dressed girls dancing on the dance platform. Aku ni bukan jenis suka clubbing and loud music, so after an hour, I decided to call it a night and returned to my hotel.<br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjivUdlmKSHx5_VdJ1e4JKDpawvRQbUsnXEGlglOr-XqrDtuWcarvEBP53Kx95osKicLGoO7Feb1ToQeF3Th7VYEhmryvQbRJzETM1etuHLOHlfNOhmUWZVFlAMlucgqzClhSEp/s1600-h/DSC00372.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5101228902262275570" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; CURSOR: pointer" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjivUdlmKSHx5_VdJ1e4JKDpawvRQbUsnXEGlglOr-XqrDtuWcarvEBP53Kx95osKicLGoO7Feb1ToQeF3Th7VYEhmryvQbRJzETM1etuHLOHlfNOhmUWZVFlAMlucgqzClhSEp/s200/DSC00372.JPG" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">The following </span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">mo</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">rning, breakfast was at the terrace garden of the hotel. Just a simple typical Turkish breakfast - oliv</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">e, bread, homemade jam, hard-boiled egg and cheese. Dari terra</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">ce garden sambil menikmati sarapan, aku dapat melihat dari kejauhan Blue Mosque, hati sudah </span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">teruja dan melonjak-lonjak tidak sabar untuk menuju ke sana. Berbekalkan buku <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(204,102,0)">Lonely Planet</span> dan travel map Istanbul, aku mula menjejaki the main tourist sites bermula dengan <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(204,102,0)">Hippodrome</span>, <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(204,102,0)">Blue Mosque</span> dan <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(204,102,0)">Ayasofya</span> pada sebelah pagi dan for the entire afternoon aku melawat <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(204,102,0)">Topkapi Palace</span>. Kesemua tempat ini terletak just a walking distance from each other and from my hotel di Sultanahmet. Terdapat 4 monumen di <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(204,102,0)">Hipprodrome</span> iaitu <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(204,102,0)">Obelisk of Theodosius</span>, <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(204,102,0)">Serpent Column</span>, <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(204,102,0)">Rough-Stone Obelisk </span>dan <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(204,102,0)">Fountain of Kaise</span></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(204,102,0)">r Wilhem II</span> yang mengambil masa tidak lebih 30 minit to cover all of them.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />Seperti yang dis</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">arankan di dalam Lonely Planet, aku memasuki <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(204,102,0)">Blue Mosque</span> melalui pintu masuk dari Hippodrome kerana melalui arah inilah cara terbaik untuk truly appreciate the grandeur and beauty of the Blue Mosque. Memang asyik dan terpegun melihat keindahan masjid ini especially di dalam prayer hall. Rasa bersyukur kerana masjid ini tidak mengalami nasib seperti Ayasofya dan ter</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">us digunakan sehingga ke hari ini sebagai tempat ibadat umat Islam. Ada juga rasa terkilan sebab tidak dapat melihat dari dekat mimbar masjid dan <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(204,102,0)">Black Stone</span> dari Mekah kerana para pengunjung dibenarkan berada pada suatu had sahaja yang agak jauh dari mimbar. Tidak seperti masjid-masjid di Cairo, Masjid Biru malah semua masjid-masjid di sini berjaga dan amat bersih.<br /><br />Cara terbaik untuk melawat <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(204,102,0)">Ayasofya </span>ialah bermula dengan galeri atas di mana terletaknya floor plan menunjukkan lokasi potret mozek ikon-ikon atau peristiwa yang berkaitan dengan Christianity. Bukti Ayasofya pernah menjadi tempat ibadat umat Islam tidak ditunjukkan di dalam floor plan ini tetapi yang paling ketara kelihatan ialah medalions dengan tulisan kaligrafi Allah s.w.t., Muhammad s.a.w, Saidina Ali dan Saidina Abu Bakar dan <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(204,102,0)">Perpustakaan Sultan Mahmut I</span>. Dari tingkap berdekatan dengan kubur <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(204,102,0)">Henrico Dandolo</span>, one can capture a nice pic of Blue Mosque in a distance. Unlike Masjid Biru, b</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">ayaran masuk sebanyak YTL10 dikenakan untuk melawat Ayasofya.<br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgWH4ccBlYmw3GSjD6HEa9yWVXjSEJS-OQq8xVW83YfZ8AhsMSoaRyRPFO4Nf7UWmkFFUQnxml4WAJe-LVJYNbyWEdAD7nEBrSbDpCKOZhxwmjnvgQ0vTOPQHE1l9HF2eQRMMq/s1600-h/DSC00473.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5101230620249193986" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; CURSOR: pointer" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgWH4ccBlYmw3GSjD6HEa9yWVXjSEJS-OQq8xVW83YfZ8AhsMSoaRyRPFO4Nf7UWmkFFUQnxml4WAJe-LVJYNbyWEdAD7nEBrSbDpCKOZhxwmjnvgQ0vTOPQHE1l9HF2eQRMMq/s200/DSC00473.JPG" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">I spent the entire afternoon melawat <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(204,102,0)">Topkapi Palace</span> kerana kawasannya yang lua</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">s dan banyak artifak dan exhibits yang dipamerkan di ruang-ruang bilik di sini. Aku cuma terkilan seba</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">b tidak dapat melawat <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(204,102,0)">Sacred Safekeeping Room</span> yang menempatkan antaranya rambut, janggut, tapak kaki, pedang dan gigi Nabi Muhammad s.a.w. Aku dapati kerja-kerja baikpulih sedang dilakukan di ruang pameran itu dan ia hanya dibuka di dalam bulan Ramadhan sahaja. Bayaran masuk ke Topkapi Palace adalah sebanyak YTL10 dan untuk memasuki <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(204,102,0)">Topkapi Harem</span>, dikenakan bayaran tambahan sebanyak YTL10. Selepas letih berjalan selama beberapa jam, aku mengambil kesempatan berehat di taman di Courtyard 1 yang mempunyai rumput dan pokok yang menghijau. Tambahan dengan cuaca yang panas, nyaman dapat berehat di kawasan yang redup dan berangin as long as tidak duduk di atas rumputnya sebab memang tidak dibenarkan.<br /><br />Keesokan paginya bermula dengan lawatan ke <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(204,102,0)">Basilica Cistern</span> yang hanya 5 minutes walk from my hotel. Terasa sejuk bila memasuki tempat ini memandangkan ia berada di bawah tanah dan asalnya adalah tempa</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">t penyimpanan air. Lawatan di sini mengambil masa kurang dari 30 minit tetapi bayaran masuknya YTL10 which to me a bit pricy considering that there is not much to see except 2 medusa heads which formed the bases of 2 columns in here. Selepas itu aku berjalan mengikuti laluan tramway, berhenti sekejap di <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(204,102,0)">Sirkeci Railway Station</span>, recce tempat di mana performance whirling dervishes diadakan dan seterusnya ke <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(204,102,0)">Eminonu</span> a few minutes away, berdekatan dengan <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(204,102,0)">Galata Bridge </span>yang menghubungkan bahagian Europe dan Asia of Turkey. Di sini aku melawat <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(204,102,0)">Eminonu Yeni Camii </span>(Masjid Eminonu) yang mempunyai rekabentuk yang seakan-akan Masjid Biru tetapi lebih kecil saiznya. Di hadapan masjid ini ada banyak burung merpati and one can feed the pigeons here. Bimbang juga kalau-kalau terkena najis burung.<br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgusKHVnB7UR4oH_g1ER4b1IuNPUKjVoY-2HU7s8r8nYVaJivcae80pAHNuyE82vWBPGNFyE1PGsd99bkzJ56Ag_Xcldcfr7atBWExQUEs-Lqh0UMQdP0dg8z8ZTBXDWChF1HUZ/s1600-h/DSC00593.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5101233545121922578" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; CURSOR: pointer" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgusKHVnB7UR4oH_g1ER4b1IuNPUKjVoY-2HU7s8r8nYVaJivcae80pAHNuyE82vWBPGNFyE1PGsd99bkzJ56Ag_Xcldcfr7atBWExQUEs-Lqh0UMQdP0dg8z8ZTBXDWChF1HUZ/s200/DSC00593.JPG" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Di sebelah m</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">a</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">sjid ini ialah <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(204,102,0)">Egyptian Bazaar</span> yang menjual barangan keperluan harian, rempah-ratus, household items and utensils, pakaian, Pashmina shawls dan scarves, pokok bunga, jewelleries, barangan seramik dan macam-macam lagi. Di sini aku terjumpa sebuah kedai yang menjual scarves yang cantik-cantik dengan harga yang berpatutan. Memang sejak tiba di sini, aku notice scarves yang dipakai oleh wanita Turki memang cantik-cantik coraknya.On the way pulang ke Sultanahmet, aku menyusur</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">i lorong-lorong di sini dan melawat beberapa mouselum beberapa Sultan serta kaum kerabat mereka dan tokoh sejarah Turki. Memang banyak sampai tak terlawat tetapi aku sempat menghadiahkan Al-Fatihah di beberapa tempat yang aku singgah.<br /><br />Kaki pun dah lenguh berjalan sepanjang hari, jadi aku pun ke <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(204,102,0)">Sultanahmet Park</span> yang terletak di antara Masjid Biru dan Ayasofya untuk berehat sekejap dan grabbed dinner. Dalam perjalanan ke sini, sekali lagi aku dihampiri oleh lelaki Turki who introduced himself as Metin. Dia walked with me sampai ke Sultanahmet Park. Actually, bagus juga dia ada sebab tolong aku snapped pics dan cerita sedikit sebanyak tentang budaya masyarakat tempatan. Disebabkan hari tersebut hari minggu, memang ramai warga Istanbul beristirehat dan menghabiskan hari minggu mereka di sini.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">Semasa sedang duduk watching the visitors at the park, ternampak a few boys in costumes with their parents. Metin memberitahu aku yang kanak-kanak ni pergi upacara bersunat and for this occasion, they are dressed up in costumes of a king or commander. Memang adorable tengok a bunch of them all in costumes. Aku juga diberitahu, either on Saturday or Sunday evening around 6.30 pm ada performance pancaragam di sini tetapi aku tak berpeluang menyaksikannya because I had to check out of my hotel and leave Istanbul for <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(204,102,0)">Selcuk </span>that evening. So, that night I spent 12 hours in the bus making my way to my next destination. It was an interesting bus ride but I am saving it for my next entry.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />Next entry - <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(204,102,0)">Pamukkale</span>, <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(204,102,0)">Ephesus</span>, <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(204,102,0)">Cappadocia</span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%;font-family:Georgia;font-size:85%;color:black;" ><?xml:namespace prefix = o /><o:p></o:p></span></div>Nurul Abidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004638889980810294noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28503830.post-11559776639923858602007-08-20T13:28:00.000+08:002007-08-20T22:25:33.566+08:00I Am OK!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqjhHzZLYdqL4dbX-YxxEXJ8f2cYsrBM0HSVfM-XF7RAskpzhJI5hiwso0pv2wuqBr1pYtp4y3GiXpX1gRwR3uWKgNBxhMdo52VUgxJjEWz1diiKXzR5ud9iE4mo1JbuKu8M6D/s1600-h/footprints%20in%20sand(2).jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5100661494132800978" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqjhHzZLYdqL4dbX-YxxEXJ8f2cYsrBM0HSVfM-XF7RAskpzhJI5hiwso0pv2wuqBr1pYtp4y3GiXpX1gRwR3uWKgNBxhMdo52VUgxJjEWz1diiKXzR5ud9iE4mo1JbuKu8M6D/s320/footprints%2520in%2520sand(2).jpg" border="0" /></a><div></div><div></div><div></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">Hari ini genap seminggu aku pulang dari percutian selama lebih seminggu ke Turki. Entry mengenai Turki is still Work In Progress. Sejak pulang ke tempat kerja last Wednesday, banyak yang kena catch up including hundreds of e-mails yang masih belum dibaca. Nak sahaja delete all the e-mails in my inbox whilst I was away. Luckily internal audit scheduled today tidak jadi. Sia-sia sahaja aku kerja di office sehari suntuk on Sunday just to make sure all documents are in order for the audit. Lagipun, I am still sorting out my Turkey pics, all over 600 of them and selecting yang mana sesuai untuk tatapan umum of all ages.<br /><br />The first question asked by my colleagues when I returned to work - "how's your trip?". I must say it was wonderful. I am glad I went for this trip alone. Other than meeting a lot of people be it locals or travelers from other parts of the world, I had all the time to myself to sort out my thoughts and feelings about someting that has been bothering me. I may not be able to erase it from my mind or life but I have accepted the reality that this is what it meant to be. Hope things will get better, if it doesn't, I know I am still going to be ok.<br /></span></div><div align="center"><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"><strong>Menghapus Jejakmu - Peterpan<br /><br /></strong></span>Ku terus melangkah melupakanmu<br />Lelah hati perhatikan sikapmu<br />Jalan pikiranmu buatku ragu<br />Tak mungkin ini tetap bertahan<br /><br />Belahan mimpi terasa mengganggu<br />Ku coba untuk terus menjauh<br />Belahan hati ku terbelenggu<br />Ku coba untuk lanjutkan hidup<br /><br />Engkau bukanlah segala ku<br />Bukan tempat tuk hentikan langkahku<br />Usai sudah semua berlalu<br />Biar hujan menghapus jejakmu<br /><br />Lepaskan segalanya<br />Lepaskan segalanya<br /><br /><br /></span></div>Nurul Abidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004638889980810294noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28503830.post-31714864739073065662007-08-03T14:39:00.000+08:002007-08-03T15:17:40.489+08:00Turkey! Here I Come!<div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">Aku sekarang ni di <span style="color:#000099;"><strong>Dubai</strong></span>, transit for 9-hours before continuing my journey to </span><a href="http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com/go/Istanbul/index.html"><span style="font-size:85%;color:#6600cc;"><strong>Istanbul</strong></span></a><span style="font-size:85%;">. Dapat jugak aku mandi, bersihkan diri dan tukar pakaian sebab aku terus ke <span style="color:#000099;"><strong>KLIA</strong></span> dari ofis. So, kira sehari suntuklah tak mandi, tapi takde bau occay. Sebelum ke <span style="color:#000099;"><strong>KL Sentral</strong></span>, sempat lagi pergi hantar 3 kain ke tailor di SS2, PJ untuk dibuat baju hari raya. Kalau aku hantar lepas aku balik dari <span style="color:#000099;"><strong>Istanbul</strong></span>, takut dah lambat dan tailor tu tak nak terima pulak. Semalam juga, on the way ke tailor which was already late evening, aku terima panggilan telefon dari sebuah oil & gas company yang namanya dan logonya adalah dot.dot.dot.dot.dot. about a job opportunity. Menarik juga position tu tapi aku minta pemanggil itu e-mail job description for me to read and consider whether aku nak pursue or not. Di <span style="color:#000099;"><strong>KLIA</strong></span>, aku terpaksa buang Kaya yang dipesan oleh Liza because of the new regulation about hand-carrying liquid items. Ingatkan aku boleh check out my backpack kat <span style="color:#000099;"><strong>Dubai Airport</strong></span> tapi aku tak dibenarkan berbuat demikian after checked-in kat <span style="color:#000099;"><strong>KLIA</strong></span>. So, kempunanlah agaknya Liza nak makan Kaya, hanya roti Gardenia Jumbo size aje yang aku boleh bawa untuk dia. </span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size:85%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5094360532273815442" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7BTEVmVWejmiDP52fg2LPEPBGLi8nYqn00od9oqwO7NYJEs9pPv8zi18C2xMiT-nuuS9WCixWwq9TaPM2kDemQ0gSQf8tUNJxQHG7m1NnXm-hFFKphSuzQaZFEVOS9RW0wy15/s400/Turkey.JPG" border="0" /> </span><p align="justify"><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_VOMIyNOqXPo/RrLFU7vzX4I/AAAAAAAAAHs/bsClsho9a7I/s1600-h/Turkey.JPG"></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Back to my <span style="color:#000099;"><strong>Istanbul</strong></span> trip, petang ni pukul 2.30 p.m. (6.30 p.m Malaysian time) aku sambung 4 hours flight ke Istanbul. Aku akan berada di <span style="color:#000099;"><strong>Turk</strong></span>i selama 8 hari. Rancangan aku bukan sahaja restricted di <span style="color:#000099;"><strong>Istanbul</strong></span> sahaja tapi I also plan to spend a few days outside of <span style="color:#000099;"><strong>Istanbul</strong></span> covering </span><a href="http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com/go/Aegean/Ephesus/index.html"><span style="font-size:85%;color:#6600cc;"><strong>Ephesus</strong></span></a><span style="font-size:85%;">, </span><a href="http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com/go/Aegean/aphrodisias/index.html"><span style="font-size:85%;color:#6600cc;"><strong>City of Aphrodite </strong></span></a><span style="font-size:85%;">dan </span><a href="http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com/go/Aegean/Pamukkale/index.html"><span style="font-size:85%;color:#6600cc;"><strong>Pamukkale</strong></span></a><span style="font-size:85%;"> by bus. Hopefully, menjadilah...Trip aku kali ini lain dari yang sebelumnya sebab for the first time, aku mengembara berseorangan unlike my previous trips ditemani oleh keluarga dan rakan-rakan. Keputusan aku untuk ke <span style="color:#000099;"><strong>Istanbul </strong></span>5 months ago pun memang spontaneous and bila <span style="color:#000099;"><strong>MATTA Fair</strong></span> aje, aku terus book my flight tickets without telling anybody. Bila fikirkan balik, sometimes I suprise myself by my own actions tapi semakin dekat trip ni, I realize maybe being alone in an unfamiliar place surrounded with strangers is what I need to do right now especially after something happened recently yang membuatkan aku meragui kejujuran dan keikhlasan seseorang. Most importantly, maybe I'll discover more about myself, finding courage and overcoming fear to do things I thought I could and will never do.It's a bit thrilling actually and maybe after this I will look back and can proudly say hey! I have done that, been there etc... It may not be a big deal to some people but it is to me.<br /><br />Dalam hati ada juga rasa bersalah kerana tidak berterus-terang kepada Mak hingga saat ini bahawa aku akan mengembara tanpa ditemani oleh sesiapapun. Semasa di <span style="color:#000099;"><strong>KL Sentral</strong></span> menunggu ERL, aku called Mak again. Bila dia tanya pergi dengan siapa especially dia terdengar ada suara di belakang, dia ingat aku pergi dengan rakan-rakan. Aku tidak menidakkan atau mengiyakannya but quickly changed the subject. Bukan niat aku untuk menyembunyikannya daripada Mak tapi aku tidak mahu dia bimbang. Selama ini pun kalau aku travel dengan rakan-rakan pun dia melahirkan kebimbangan, apatah lagi kalau dia tahu aku akan berseorangan. I just told my siblings and told them not to tell Mak. Harap-harap Mak tidak akan berkecil hati dengan aku dan maafkan aku bila dia tahu perkara sebenarnya.<br /><br />I hope just like my previous trips, I will learn a thing or two from this trip, not only about the places I am visiting, the people I will be seeing etc but also about myself . If things go well, selamat perjalananku pergi dan balik, insyaallah, adalah entry about <span style="color:#000099;"><strong>Turkey</strong></span> ni nanti. </span></p>Nurul Abidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004638889980810294noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28503830.post-91706177401791434252007-07-22T21:01:00.000+08:002007-07-22T23:35:57.541+08:00Magical Fun Day<div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span>Last Saturday, the event that took more than 3 months of planning and prepration was finally executed. It's the largest event for my company's <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Sports & Social Club</strong></span> headed by yours truly since it involved not only our employees but their family members as well. This kind of event is commonly known as <strong><span style="color:#3333ff;">Family Day</span></strong> but as not to offend our single employees, we decided to name it <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Magical Fun Day</strong></span> instead. Our event took up the entire LG Floor of <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Cineleisure</strong></span>, <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Mutiara Damansara</strong></span> to accomodate nearly 600 people.<br /><br />Loads of fun-filled activities and entertainment were made available for adults and kids from Walk Hunt, game stalls, petting zoo and stage games with over 200 prizes given away on that day. Celebrity MC on that day, <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Naz</strong></span> of <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>My Australian Advanture</strong></span> tv program did a great job coordinating the stage games and the crowd entertained but what I noticed the most was his peculiar laugh. I am already considering him as MC for our <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Annual Dinner & Dance</strong></span> in November. </span></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span></span> </div></span><a href="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1182/870453418_ab9065b9e7.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1182/870453418_ab9065b9e7.jpg" border="0" /></a> <div align="justify"></div><div align="center"><span><span style="font-size:85%;">All photos are by <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Roland Hashim</strong></span></span></span></div><span><strong><span style="color:#3333ff;"></span></strong><div align="justify"><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">The finale of the day was watching movies <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Harry Potter</strong></span> and <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Surf's Up</strong></span> where 3 cinema halls was reserved for this. I am never a fan of Harry Potter, the book series what more the movies, so I opted to take a nap during the remaining one and half hour of the movie. After the movie ended, we revealed the last surprise to the employees and their families. We had placed lucky draw envelopes under the movie seats and I remembered the suprise look on their faces when we asked them to remain in their seats at the end of the movie and check for an envelope under their seats. It was absolutely thrilling.....<br /><br />I am relief this is over after sleepless nights worrying about the event. But I am thankful for the support and commitment given by my committee members in making realizing this event. Although there were some issues cropped up at the last minute especially from the Cineleisure Management who decided to impose some ridiculous restrictions and requests at the last minute at our expense, we managed to iron it out. Although this is over, I am now already working on the project timeline for our next event, <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Motor Hunt</strong></span> which is about a month away. Since I will be on leave for more than a week next month, got to leave some 'amanat' to my committee members to do the follow ups. We have unofficially informed the employees about this upcominng event and they are excited about it. Hopefully this one will be another success for our <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Sports & Social Club</strong></span>. </span></span></div>Nurul Abidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004638889980810294noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28503830.post-42120991123967253082007-07-13T14:40:00.000+08:002007-07-13T15:07:06.120+08:00IT Humor<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCpwf5m_YNu3c8oFAKe7pNzg9OU2HfHRjMCyyG5GVMUda_ogYa03qYebL40RYyfvE-VL0U6O9UjgVoHIvNePZf6dC10mDzKO_Csg1jkHRGKcu4gOXIcBihNCr19YV8RfqER2hF/s1600-h/B4+Computer.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5086574339233334530" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCpwf5m_YNu3c8oFAKe7pNzg9OU2HfHRjMCyyG5GVMUda_ogYa03qYebL40RYyfvE-VL0U6O9UjgVoHIvNePZf6dC10mDzKO_Csg1jkHRGKcu4gOXIcBihNCr19YV8RfqER2hF/s400/B4+Computer.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiABOmf1A8dfxSRtEYR5zgqHsYhSDfbm50UalCEHayGxgPfNYlNJODiH_-Nq8h4KCpRW1lZ4Mrw3Lrqs2DMFB_Fz0CSHzHbqjJ3MwBO1_xIfP-xCa1vmo0AcuhhIuSejrU25rkg/s1600-h/Stupid+Q.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5086574137369871602" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiABOmf1A8dfxSRtEYR5zgqHsYhSDfbm50UalCEHayGxgPfNYlNJODiH_-Nq8h4KCpRW1lZ4Mrw3Lrqs2DMFB_Fz0CSHzHbqjJ3MwBO1_xIfP-xCa1vmo0AcuhhIuSejrU25rkg/s400/Stupid+Q.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSTbIVDF9F6njw05lMwT4IxcFMkfZbvOJpx-NSltNt8BZVU3d4-GAK0w2QnsmbPXtT0u5502Ee-Z0E6bss6sZP7_jwuGHTqed-nkhCtR2Wnt1V6XzfRPhRCfzx10eUopg7_sLm/s1600-h/Power+switch.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5086574055765492962" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSTbIVDF9F6njw05lMwT4IxcFMkfZbvOJpx-NSltNt8BZVU3d4-GAK0w2QnsmbPXtT0u5502Ee-Z0E6bss6sZP7_jwuGHTqed-nkhCtR2Wnt1V6XzfRPhRCfzx10eUopg7_sLm/s400/Power+switch.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc5ztDaTSE2qzhjvUTqC7ITi_aco4PZCaw3mRpseiwRKsFHReJ-0oPiijNS5CuG1v1XhpnlpaPUESc58wUaeY1yVEU9JJTOSNpWzKAGTzeLgqkmAtU4epj91TavKkP4CxFeaM-/s1600-h/E-mail.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5086573785182553298" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc5ztDaTSE2qzhjvUTqC7ITi_aco4PZCaw3mRpseiwRKsFHReJ-0oPiijNS5CuG1v1XhpnlpaPUESc58wUaeY1yVEU9JJTOSNpWzKAGTzeLgqkmAtU4epj91TavKkP4CxFeaM-/s400/E-mail.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicvWtIU8fo2SxWAeYanIrui_sHLJsU07kMd8DhgxjeZlnH2N4-wNCpoOZ3tCVVaVWPTWRIvCAplNBlnMakMgiKTM91aST89uY-lzdquomAFE2l8G591wRvve0za_H6zLWCEtB6/s1600-h/Keyboard.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5086573703578174658" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicvWtIU8fo2SxWAeYanIrui_sHLJsU07kMd8DhgxjeZlnH2N4-wNCpoOZ3tCVVaVWPTWRIvCAplNBlnMakMgiKTM91aST89uY-lzdquomAFE2l8G591wRvve0za_H6zLWCEtB6/s400/Keyboard.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh92-7sec6Zshmpqw8lleNrQc7BPjCnIKKJLeoAKbVAVd8UVlbvCC7O2Y1004ec4THmUPGQ7hurv8BqPyiNLpGj0gH0Ha_LXQTqL-4DrGT8-cgHUcehxJVnM18St8a7QHAHJJuw/s1600-h/Password1.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5086572685670925490" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh92-7sec6Zshmpqw8lleNrQc7BPjCnIKKJLeoAKbVAVd8UVlbvCC7O2Y1004ec4THmUPGQ7hurv8BqPyiNLpGj0gH0Ha_LXQTqL-4DrGT8-cgHUcehxJVnM18St8a7QHAHJJuw/s400/Password1.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><div><div> </div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Nurul Abidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004638889980810294noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28503830.post-58282189144082638162007-07-11T22:30:00.000+08:002007-07-12T05:44:28.993+08:00A Noble Cause<div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">I got to know some time last week I have been tagged. Alamak....not again! But when I saw the purpose of this tag is for a noble charitable cause, I decided to do my bit - the least I could do. This project is the brainchild of </span><a href="http://bakpo.blogspot.com/"><strong><span style="font-size:85%;color:#ff6666;">Blogger Idham </span></strong></a><span style="font-size:85%;">where he will donate RM127 to </span><a href="http://www.darulizzah.enetmyne.com/"><strong><span style="font-size:85%;color:#ff6666;">Darul Izzah Orphanage</span></strong></a><span style="font-size:85%;">, Bangi on behalf of every person who completes this meme no later than <strong><span style="color:#3333ff;">August 26</span></strong>.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><br /><div align="justify"><strong><span style="font-size:85%;color:#3333ff;">The Rule</span></strong></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">If you are tagged, you need to write an entry related to the meme. At the end of the entry, you just need to tag as many person as you like. You will then leave a comment in their blog to let them know they have been tagged. And to include this message, "By doing this meme you are contributing RM127 to the Darul Izzah Orphanage". Then please copy and paste this rule somewhere in your entry.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">The meme is about completing at least <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>17</strong></span> out of the following <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>27</strong></span> sentences.....</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">1. A person is only as good as SHE OR HE GETS</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">2. Friendship is always UNCONDITIONAL ONLY WHEN IT STARTS WITH SINCERETY AT HEART</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">3. To love is TO ACCEPT SOMEONE WITH HIS OR HER IMPERFECTIONS</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">4. Money makes me WORK HARD BECAUSE "SEE #19"</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">5. I miss MY LATE ABAH AND ONYANG</span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">6. My way of saying I care is by BEING THERE DURING GOOD AND ESPECIALLY BAD TIMES</span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">7. I try to spread love and happiness by LOVING AND HAPPY WITH MYSELF FIRST</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">8. Pick the flowers when IT IS FOR A GOOD REASON</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">9. To love someone is to SHOW IT MORE THAN JUST SAYING THE 3 WORDS</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">10. Beauty is IN EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING, JUST FROM DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span><span style="font-size:85%;">11. When I was 13, what I remember the most - INAPPROPRIATE TO TELL BUT IT WAS A SIGNIFICANT MILESTONE IN MY LIFE<br /><br />12. When I was 21, I remember RECEVING MY FIRTS MARRIAGE PROPOSAL</span> </span><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><br /></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">13. I am most happy when THINGS GO MY WAY</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">14. Nothing makes me happier than KNOWING THAT I HAVE CONTRIBUTED OR PART OF SOMETHING GOOD</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">15. If I can change one thing, I will not change NOT ONE SINGLE THING</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">16. If smiles were AS CONTAGIOUS AS LAUGHTER, then I WILL SPREAD IT LIKE WILDFIRE</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">17. Wouldn't it be nice if we could BE LESS JUGDEMENTAL OF OTHERS DIFFERENT FROM US</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span><span style="font-size:85%;">18. If you want to have INNER PEACE, then STOP FRETTING ON SMALL STUFFS<br /><br />19. Money is not everything but EVERYTHING NEEDS MONEY<br /><br />20. The most touching moment I have experienced was WHEN MY LOVED ONES ABANDONED THEIR PLANS AND WHATEVER THEY WERE DOING TO BE WITH ME AT THE HOSPITAL AND I WAS THERE MERELY FOR A MEDICAL CHECK UP AFTER A CAR ACCIDENT<br /><br />21. I smile when MY HEART SMILES<br /><br />22. When I am happy, I SUGGEST YOU TAKE ADVANTAGE OF ME<br /><br />23. If only I don't have to BE ACCOUNTABLE FOR MY OWN ACTION, then SOMEONE ELSE WILL BE IN DEEP TROUBLE.<br /><br />24. The best thing I did yesterday was LENDING MY EARS TO SOME FRIENDS AND LISTENING TO THEIR PROBLEMS<br /><br />25. If I ever write a book, I will give it this title, "DAMSEL NOT IN DISTRESS"<br /><br />26. One thing I must do before I die is to live EACH DAY AS IF IT WERE MY LAST<br /><br />27. Doing this meme, I feel like "SEE #14"<br /><br />To keep the ball rolling, I am selecting the following bloggers to do their bit of "<span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Tagged For Charity</strong></span>". So folks, the ball is now in your court:-<br /><br />1. <a href="http://www.x-xis.blogspot.com/"><span style="color:#ff6666;"><strong>Bila Pena Menari</strong></span></a><br /><br />2. <a href="http://www.zeynsthoughts.blogspot.com/"><strong><span style="color:#ff6666;">Scusi! Sono Smaritto</span></strong></a><br /><br />3. <a href="http://www.shahrilaley.blogspot.com/"><strong><span style="color:#ff6666;">Shahril Aley</span></strong></a></span></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><div align="justify"></div>Nurul Abidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004638889980810294noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28503830.post-11444565611061041272007-07-01T23:39:00.000+08:002007-07-02T21:02:36.522+08:00The Week That Was<div align="justify"><span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Khamis</strong></span> lalu aku ke <strong><span style="color:#3333ff;">Rebung</span></strong> sekali lagi tetapi, bukan untuk 'mengintai' si <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Abang Astronaut</strong></span> tetapi untuk dinner dengan seorang former blogger, <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Dirtypap</strong></span>. Ini pun secara kebetulan apabila aku menghantar sms kepadanya minggu sebelumnya untuk bertanya khabar after he decided to put his blog "<span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Perjalanan Hidup</strong></span>" to rest dan memberitahu aku dia berada di <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Johor </strong></span>pada waktu itu dan akan ke KL a few days later for a seminar. So, we agreed to meet and this time, I invited <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Xis</strong></span>, <a href="http://www.xxis.blogspot.com/"><span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Bila Pena Menari</strong></span> </a>to join us menjadikan dia blogger yang kedua bertemu dengan Dirtypap in flesh selepas yours truly. From my office building, where headed to Rebung in Xis's car. Instead of buffet dinner, this time I opted for ala carte <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Nasi Goreng Kampung</strong></span> (spicy one) sementara Xis dan Dirtypap ordered <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Nasi Goreng Special Rebung</strong></span>. Pilihan ala carte sememangnya tak banyak tetapi yang menarik di sini nama-nama air minumannya memang unik, <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Janda Pulang</strong></span>, <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Mayang Sari</strong></span> and a few more tetapi aku dan Xis chose <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Syrup Sarbat</strong></span> with cinnamon whilst Pap settled with a more common drink, <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Iced Lemon Tea</strong></span>. Geram juga aku dengan mereka berdua ni tak adventurous mencuba buffet dinner. Yang seorang berdiet dan seorang lagi memang jenis tak makan banyak. Haiyoooo....Both of them skipped desert but I had <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>pengat</strong></span> pisang. Memang dah lama nak makan pengat pisang but everytime datang ke sini, pengat lain yang ada. It was a lucky night for Xis as Rebung played Kak Pah's songs that night although in between adalah suara-suara sumbang dari guests yang menyanyi karaoke till at a point we literally covered our ears...pitching lari ler....<br /><br />Soalan cepumas yang ditanya kepada Pap of courselah kenapa dia decided to put blog 'Perjalanan Hidup'nya to rest. Alasannya tiada apa yang nak diceritakan. Xis dan aku 'lectured' Pap kalau ya pun takkan sampai delete, at least change permission setting tu just in case tiba-tiba terasa nak sambung aktiviti blogging. Sayang effort yang dah dibuat menulis dan merias blog tu. Anyhow, rice dah jadi porridge, nak buat camna. Jenuh bersembang dan berbual dari satu topik ke satu topik, tak sedar waktu berlalu hingga hampir 12 malam. Cashier pun dah datang minta bayaran sebab nak tutup buku dan start serve nasi lemak panas (Pada hari Khamis hingga Sabtu dari pukul 11 p.m. hingga 2 a.m., di Rebung, nasi lemak panas dan teh tarik available at hawker's price - promote ler ni). We dropped by at <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>KL Sentral</strong></span> for Pap to pick up his bags and after Xis sent us back to my car parked near the office, aku menghantar Pap ke condo rakannya di <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Vista Angkasa</strong></span>. I felt sorry for Pap juga sebab perancangannya untuk menyambung Masters di UM dan move back to KL tidak kesampaian. Mungkin khidmat murninya masih diperlukan oleh penduduk <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Labuan</strong></span>....sabar dan tawakal aje Pap. Ada hikmah di sebaliknya.....</span></span></div><div align="justify"><span></span> </div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:0;"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><span style="font-size:0;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5082578714290724658" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl2mHO5mduf-U8CXObKvOVuk1y5G62R-4Ll9B2RXlxGgOd1_9xRvesAfWVUt7j7fJkTrwcmde-zDoF9aGWig4MGT5WoPqFvqjR49-clse3FyMTyBs4yfxfc0vW2Wll7m21awk-/s400/Wedding.jpg" border="0" /></span></span> <div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"><span><span style="font-size:85%;">On <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Saturday </strong></span>night, aku menghadiri wedding adik colleague aku di <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Brickfields</strong></span>. Another Indian wedding tetapi kali ini tiada wedding rituals, hanya wedding reception sahaja. Mula-mula tu bercadang nak pakai sari yang dihadiahkan oleh seorang rakan dari <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Chennai</strong></span> tetapi tak sempat pula nak menghantar sari itu untuk dijahit. Last-last pakai sahaja dress dan kebaya dari Thai silk yang sudah lama terperap dalam wardrobe. Nasib baik muat lagi though I have put on a couple of kilos. My colleagues and I car pooled from our office and arrived at the wedding venue, a hall in the compound of <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Buddhist Temple</strong></span> about 9 pm. Bila kami sampai sahaja, terasa overdressed pula sebab ramai juga guests yang dressed so casually in jeans and T-shirts especially Cha Ya Nun Alif. Isykh...macam tak hormat the host aje those yang do not bother to dress appropriately ke majlis orang. Anyways, selepas makan nasi beriyani yang sememangnya sedap walaupun aku hanya jamah sedikit sebab dah had dinner earlier, kami beredar dalam pukul 10 pm. On the way balik, ada pula yang suggest singgah di mamak for teh tarik. Hilang akal agaknya diorang ni pergi ke mamak in those attire!<br /><br />On <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Sunday</strong></span> pula, around 10 am aku dah ke <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>The Curve</strong></span> mencari buah tangan untuk housewarming a friend di <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Cheras</strong></span>. Dah terlalu lama tak bersua muka dengan rakan aku ni, hanya occasional phone calls dan e-mails sahaja menjadi penghubung. So, when I received an e-mail invitation from her to a housewarming at her newly built house, aku luangkan masa untuk hadir walaupun aku sebenarnya memang tak tahu jalan ke Cheras. So there I was making my way to Cheras based on the direction she gave, main bulldozed aje. I finally arrived at a 3-storey bungalow house, the one and only there and gave her a call just to make sure I was at the right house. Alhamdulillah, begitu murah rezeki dia sekeluarga, dari duduk di apartment, sudah mampu membina rumah bungalow. After a tour of the bungalow dan menjamah makanan yang sedap, siap ada sambal tempoyak yang dibuat oleh ibu mentua kawan aku ini, aku meminta diri untuk temujanji with Hazura di <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Dome</strong></span>, <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Subang Parade</strong></span>. We had casual chat over drinks about the latest updates and gossips continued with dinner at <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Gazebo</strong></span>. We all jumpa agak often juga tapi still masih banyak yang nak dicerita-ceriti. It was already almost 9 pm by the time we knocked off for the day.<br /><br />It has been an eventful week with too much excitement tetapi tidak sunyi dari dugaan dan kesedihan. Tomorrow is the start of another working week.....God knows what's in store for me....<br /></span><br /></span></div>Nurul Abidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004638889980810294noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28503830.post-16548526135483615212007-06-26T23:33:00.000+08:002007-07-02T21:16:50.400+08:00No Ordinary Luncheon<div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLtmW2kcYKN9toRu9kUc6gT0JP-KdV0qdQiiyXO95Xw1j46FrNpfYJ2epZZZ96l0VKC5EmFSsQ_KtvUQPH09m0A_lMVU6RVZOo4tH_o1GPBOW96jzR0A7c_ovKBmjrGton52xJ/s1600-h/frame4181254.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5080427982118087970" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLtmW2kcYKN9toRu9kUc6gT0JP-KdV0qdQiiyXO95Xw1j46FrNpfYJ2epZZZ96l0VKC5EmFSsQ_KtvUQPH09m0A_lMVU6RVZOo4tH_o1GPBOW96jzR0A7c_ovKBmjrGton52xJ/s400/frame4181254.jpg" border="0" /></a> <span style="font-size:85%;">Sememangnya kadang-kala aku dan rakan sekerja yang lain membuat perancangan makan tengahari in advance terutama sekali sekiranya tempatnya special sedikit dari kebiasaan. Pada hari ini venuenya adalah di <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Restoran Rebung</strong></span> yang terletak di Lorong Maarof, Bangsar kurang 15 minit dari our office. Restoran Rebung ini dimiliki oleh celebrity chef, <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Chef Ismail</strong></span> dan <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor</strong></span> (the latter name rings any bell?). Malaysia's first astronaut lor and recently listed as salah seorang daripada 30 lelaki yang digilai dalam majalah Wanita bulan Jun 2007). At RM28 for buffet lunch, harga memang berpatutan considering the wide buffet spread from gulai-gulai masakan kampung to the Malay traditional kuih-muih.</span></div><div align="justify"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC4eBF4odcg1ACaV1tbp9ZITvbjfglPv3g14M_1QSgV59DWYh6qV9LmsJdoOkck1VU8XdCGLDLxpB4-Vr1u3sXKhY8yoU7wBK4XyKcZ0_TmMu5cJDBl8oUqdbdz9TN8eb-by6m/s1600-h/frame7552922.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5080427677175409938" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC4eBF4odcg1ACaV1tbp9ZITvbjfglPv3g14M_1QSgV59DWYh6qV9LmsJdoOkck1VU8XdCGLDLxpB4-Vr1u3sXKhY8yoU7wBK4XyKcZ0_TmMu5cJDBl8oUqdbdz9TN8eb-by6m/s400/frame7552922.jpg" border="0" /></a> <span style="font-size:85%;">Kami berenam adalah pelanggan yang pertama pada hari itu dan yang paling mengejutkan bukan kerana personally disambut oleh the ever bubbly Chef Ismail himself tetapi siap dengan paluan gendang dan loceng oleh beliau. Sudah beberapa kali aku ke sini sebelum ini, tak pernah pula disambut sebegitu walaupun sudah beberapa kali berjumpa dengan Chef Ismail. Selepas kami mengambil makanan, Chef joined us at our table and had his lunch. Apalagi riuh meja kami dengan Chef yang sememangnya peramah, ditambah pula kami yang asyik melayan. Dalam bergurau-senda gelak ketawa tu, Chef sempat berkongsi perancangannya untuk restoran tersebut termasuk membuat cultural show with kampong style set up. Sepanjang kami menjamu selera, kami dihiburkan dengan dendangan lagu-lagu Kak Pah membuatkan aku teringat kepada seorang rakan yang amat meminati beliau. Kalaulah dia ada di sini, mesti dia enjoy the food and ambience sambil dihiburkan oleh penyanyi pujaannya.</span><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjio4IuLVQi6jUyzWFYRQA0s1dQLD8WRJT4b4Yinb_G04GH5DZIrzY1S1zvs5WObMnAwHIqcxsNwFJEmNojTXqBES1TVvmEhoI0trQa4JpvS0rsY4sOcpERtHl9lXrNzI1mNCzY/s1600-h/frame2107842.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5080413632632351970" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjio4IuLVQi6jUyzWFYRQA0s1dQLD8WRJT4b4Yinb_G04GH5DZIrzY1S1zvs5WObMnAwHIqcxsNwFJEmNojTXqBES1TVvmEhoI0trQa4JpvS0rsY4sOcpERtHl9lXrNzI1mNCzY/s400/frame2107842.jpg" border="0" /></a> <span style="font-size:85%;">We also unexpectedly berpeluang bertemu dengan Sheikh Muszaphar yang pulang bercuti for 3 weeks. Aku hampir-hampir tak mengenalinya sebab the last time I saw him at Rebung was before he started his training and he was much much fairer and berisi sedikit. Now a little darker and thinner maybe because of all the training. Selepas kami habis makan, he came and sat at our table dan peluang tidak dilepaskan untuk bergambar dengannya. There we were squeezing into the 3-seater sofa which was absolutely fine with us ladies (*grinning*). Sempat juga aku bertanya perkembangan terbaru and wished him all the best.<br /><br />Pulang ke pejabat, kami berkongsi cerita dengan a few colleagues tentang our encounter with Sheikh Muszaphar. Kebetulan pula salah seorang daripada rakan wanita aku was admiring him in the Wanita magazine the day before. She could only looked at us with her mouth opened and "green with envy’.<br /><br />Anyway, I will be going to Rebung again in a couple of days to meet some bloggers but that will be another story………. </span></div>Nurul Abidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004638889980810294noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28503830.post-534727892201503312007-06-13T06:49:00.000+08:002007-06-16T08:14:28.383+08:00Cuti D'Langkawi<center><embed style="WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 400px" name="flashticker" align="middle" src="http://widget-ff.slide.com/widgets/slideticker.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" quality="high" scale="noscale" salign="l" wmode="transparent" flashvars="cy=bb&il=1&channel=144115188085042431&site=widget-ff.slide.com"></embed></center><p align="justify"><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Destinasi percutian keluarga aku kali ini adalah ke pulau lagenda, <strong><span style="color:#3333ff;">Langkawi</span></strong>. Kami sekeluarga seramai 9 orang ke Langkawi menaiki pesawat <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Airasia</strong></span> dan tempat penginapan yang dipilih ialah <strong><span style="color:#3333ff;">Mutiara Burau Bay Beach Resort</span></strong> yang terletak lebih kurang 15 minit dari <strong><span style="color:#3333ff;">Lapangan Terbang Antarabangsa Langkawi</span></strong>. Walaupun terpaksa menunggu sehingga lebih 30 minit semasa check-in, itu semua berbaloi apabila melihat pemandangan pantai dan laut yang mengasyikkan dari beranda Burau Suite dua bilik sementara dua adik lelaki aku pula menginap di cabana dengan katil berkembar yang terletak bersebelahan.<br /><br />Walaupun ini adalah kali pertama aku menjejaki kaki ke Langkawi, aku tidak membuat perancangan untuk menerokai seluruh pulau. Tujuan aku ke sini lebih untuk merehatkan minda dan badan tanpa memikirkan soal kerja di samping meluangkan masa bersama ahli keluarga. Pada hari ketibaan, kami meluangkan masa berehat di cabana sambil melayan anak-anak buah aku berendam di dalam jacuzzi tab di beranda cabana dan bersantai di tepi pantai hingga lewat petang. Pada hari kedua selepas mandi laut di waktu pagi, baru kami ke beberapa tempat menarik di Langkawi menaiki kereta yang kami sewa dengan kadar RM100 sehari untuk 2 buah kereta Wira. Kadar ini jauh lebih murah dari kadar yang dipamerkan di lapangan terbang.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Tempat menarik yang dilawati ialah <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Langkawi Oriental Village</strong></span> di mana terletaknya <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Kereta Kabel</strong></span> dan <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Curved Suspension Bridge</strong></span>, lebih kurang 10 minit dari resort. Pemandangan sepanjang perjalanan ke atas menaiki kereta kabel memang menyejukkan mata dengan kehijauan hutan dara <strong><span style="color:#3333ff;">Hutan Simpanan Gunung Machincang</span></strong>, <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Air Terjun Telaga Tujuh</strong></span> dan sayup mata memandang, gunug-ganang, pantai serta pulau-pulau yang mengeliling Langkawi. Apabila melihat ke bawah, ngeri membayangkan bagaimana kalau kereta kabel yang kami naiki ini jatuh ke dalam hutan di bawah. Kebetulan pula kakak aku, Kema sebut pula mengenai peristiwa kemalangan di sebuah negara jiran di mana sebuah kereta kabel jatuh. Memang tak sayang mulut betul kakak aku ni!<br /></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Sewaktu kami menghampiri hentian pertama, aku terpegun melihat Curved Suspension Bridge yang merentangi banjaran Gunung Machincang. Seperti Gunung Machincang yang mistik, jambatan tersebut bagi aku seperti suatu ilusi dan fantasi yang mengingatkan aku akan filem Lord Of The Rings. Salah satu perkara menarik tentang jambatan ini adalah seluruh strukturnya disokong oleh sebuah menara tinggi yang ditanam jauh di bawah antara lembah gunung ini. Aku kagum bukan sahaja kerana jambatan ini dibina pada paras ketinggian hampir 700 meter tetapi juga bagaimana bahan-bahan binaannya dibawa ke ketinggian tersebut memandangkan tiada jalan dari kaki gunung sehingga ke puncak. Sebaik sahaja tiba di Hentian Ke-2, kami merintis jalan denai bertangga menuruni ke jambatan tersebut. Semasa berdiri dan meniti laluan ke hujung jambatan, terasa jambatan tersebut berbuai-buai walaupun angin bertiup lembut. Aku tidak berani melihat ke bawah tetapi sekadar menikmati pemandangan indah di sekitar. Terasa seperti di awang-awangan pula.<br /><br />Pada hari ke-3, pada sebelah pagi kami ke <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Padang Matsirat</strong></span> di mana terletaknya kawasan <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Beras Terbakar</strong></span>. Di kiri kanan jalan menuju ke kawasan ini, penuh dengan deretan kedai menjual pakaian, barangan handikraf, cenderahati dan ubat-ubatan terutama yang diperbuat dari gamat. Kawasan beras terbakar ini hanyalah sebuah kawasan kecil yang dipagari. Puas juga menguis tanah dari tepi pagar mencari beras terbakar tetapi hampa. Yang ada hanyalah beras terbakar di dalam botol yang dipamerkan di hadapan kawasan tersebut. Aku tidak lama di sini dan langsung menuju ke <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Kota Mahsuri</strong></span> sementara kembar aku sekeluarga membeli-belah di kedai-kedai tersebut.<br /><br />Selain daripada terdapat makam dan perigi Mahsuri, tempat Mahsuri dikatakan dikebumikan ini telah dibangunkan menjadi sebuah kompleks yang agar luas dengan replika rumah-rumah tradisional Melayu, mini muzium yang mempamerkan barangan artifak berkaitan cerita Mahsuri di samping kedai-kedai menjual cenderahati. Terdapat juga pohon kekabu yang lebat berdekatan dengan makam dan beberapa ekor burung di dalam sangkar. Aku sempat juga meminta seorang pelukis melakarkan potret aku di sini pada harga yang agak berpatutan. Kami langsung ke <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Pekan Kuah</strong></span> untuk makan tengahari dan membeli-belah di kedai-kedai bebas cukai di sini. Aku hanya membeli fridge magnet Langkawi sebagai kenangan dan coklat untuk dibawa pulang. Aku tidak lama di sini kerana bagi aku tiada barang-barang yang menarik hati aku untuk dibeli walaupun kulihat berpusu-pusu orang memborong pelbagai jenis barang terutamanya pinggan mangkuk. Kembar aku terus sakan membeli-belah sehingga malam baru pulang ke resort sedangkan aku awal-awal lagi sudah pulang. Pada keesokan harinya sebelum pulang ke KL pada sebelah petang pun dia sempat menyambung aktiviti membeli-belahnya di Padang Matsirat sehingga anak buah aku, Ashin merungut tidak akan mengikut Mamanya membeli-belah lagi.<br /><br />Di Langkawi juga aku terserempak dengan beberapa orang yang aku kenali. Semasa membeli tiket untuk menaiki kereta kabel, aku terjumpa dengan Khairil sekeluarga yang merupakan ahli rombongan semasa percutian aku ke Kaherah pada akhir tahun lalu. Lalu berlakulah adegan jejak kasih kerana sejak percutian tersebut, kami tidak lagi berjumpa. Aku juga terserempak dengan seorang mamat yang aku kenali di kedai <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Sony Style</strong></span>, <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Subang Parade</strong></span> semasa aku sedang membelek kamera digital di situ. Dia yang menyarankan aku membeli kamera digital jenama Sony berbanding dengan Canon dan Nikon, antara jenama lain yang dalam pertimbangan aku. Aku terima saranan beliau lalu membeli kamera digital <span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>Sony Cybershot T20 </strong></span>berwarna merah jambu. Sememangnya aku berpuas hati dengan ciri-ciri kamera tersebut dan hasil gambarnya. Kebetulan yang lebih mengejutkan ialah, mamat ni atau namanya Ouch tinggal di cabana bersebelahan dengan cabana aku. Peliknya kami tidak pernah bertembung di resort. Jemputan untuk makan malam darinya di cafe resort pada malam itu terpaksa aku tolak kerana pada waktu itu aku dalam perjalanan bersama keluarga untuk makan malam dan malam itu adalah malam terakhir aku di Langkawi. Memang kecil dunia ini....... </span></p><p align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8wA-c3eQKDeiGNkHM2uAQY95z3S5hhwOA-gZuPEyP2vpaRuo5GgjakpSIXdz-NiZotFofLO2aBAOb14akjQi_PKz1Mvyygmyqai0Bv4lRLq4tjUPQdn_8zwqX4xf77heJjvXC/s1600-h/Sony+CS+T20.gif"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5075314239436647554" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8wA-c3eQKDeiGNkHM2uAQY95z3S5hhwOA-gZuPEyP2vpaRuo5GgjakpSIXdz-NiZotFofLO2aBAOb14akjQi_PKz1Mvyygmyqai0Bv4lRLq4tjUPQdn_8zwqX4xf77heJjvXC/s400/Sony+CS+T20.gif" border="0" /></a></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">Walaupun ini adalah kali pertama aku menjejaki kaki ke Langkawi, tetapi pastinya bukanlah kali terakhir. Aku berhasrat untuk pulang ke pulau lagenda ini untuk melawat tempat-tempat lain yang menarik.....insyaallah.... </span></p>Nurul Abidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004638889980810294noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28503830.post-18024490039168398382007-05-31T03:59:00.000+08:002007-05-31T04:15:43.627+08:00Inspirational Quotes<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgydgr_m8rT1zaGbdu2LuLccESDsGQBHckuzzt5-gnHfydFRcFBxOve7-PrjTIZf6hgQKB_BGTSlvI4hssvjbfoB7CBvIEJ3jxEZAADUBh9K_p2ZFebe1yNbX_ACCrLRqoBopzA/s1600-h/Quote1.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5070449335414258914" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 397px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 413px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" height="406" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgydgr_m8rT1zaGbdu2LuLccESDsGQBHckuzzt5-gnHfydFRcFBxOve7-PrjTIZf6hgQKB_BGTSlvI4hssvjbfoB7CBvIEJ3jxEZAADUBh9K_p2ZFebe1yNbX_ACCrLRqoBopzA/s400/Quote1.jpg" width="361" border="0" /></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghlZA7GzYRN9wxYtSHmusHkaK43W2UA3iufaAl4tYAEg0koOSxy8MTxpHrB-v-leJX4W-AneMcBlnNWgPN6aqLIaxkzYNhWIMRrnlNn5ngSRcnSAhSe0CLiPCIJiuT-ABizNAc/s1600-h/Quote2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5070447505758190802" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghlZA7GzYRN9wxYtSHmusHkaK43W2UA3iufaAl4tYAEg0koOSxy8MTxpHrB-v-leJX4W-AneMcBlnNWgPN6aqLIaxkzYNhWIMRrnlNn5ngSRcnSAhSe0CLiPCIJiuT-ABizNAc/s400/Quote2.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpJzHHFb6Dcf5G85ELssFiBLI2G2VLjUebc5zIgCuQWJiODUl0mMyvwMUIzr7bg14C-sj6rNwvKArAVIYuxriz2IiJqd5mUxXj8uhTLYJqNdysXa64vfG82MDB-Q74ytSX1_g4/s1600-h/Quote3.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5070446569455320258" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpJzHHFb6Dcf5G85ELssFiBLI2G2VLjUebc5zIgCuQWJiODUl0mMyvwMUIzr7bg14C-sj6rNwvKArAVIYuxriz2IiJqd5mUxXj8uhTLYJqNdysXa64vfG82MDB-Q74ytSX1_g4/s400/Quote3.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBgzZakbIQU8P_MNqSMRdb8y_0VaBAEX7XeclKBofWIo2LZ1BAlJMZkbDEHwQokPIs5IvzhZCwAQoaoCiFV96y7esx_22DBWcCqqR3Nmw_RN8wcRMJQ2wmdw0SbETP-G6w6Pzv/s1600-h/Quote4.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5070446457786170546" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBgzZakbIQU8P_MNqSMRdb8y_0VaBAEX7XeclKBofWIo2LZ1BAlJMZkbDEHwQokPIs5IvzhZCwAQoaoCiFV96y7esx_22DBWcCqqR3Nmw_RN8wcRMJQ2wmdw0SbETP-G6w6Pzv/s400/Quote4.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiucqyXMN8QC57-cJhQDw_oRpwhRZ4RpoEiIXa3ooZLVkOlu2z3VMfK0hYH0gf1_zMd6ueLm77yrAGWnZLhcwCFA5epYF-H77puJPXuze31oYbAGO0ofkrULGcErqoVkdjl8fuo/s1600-h/Quote5.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5070446307462315170" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiucqyXMN8QC57-cJhQDw_oRpwhRZ4RpoEiIXa3ooZLVkOlu2z3VMfK0hYH0gf1_zMd6ueLm77yrAGWnZLhcwCFA5epYF-H77puJPXuze31oYbAGO0ofkrULGcErqoVkdjl8fuo/s400/Quote5.jpg" border="0" /></a> </div></div></div></div>Nurul Abidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004638889980810294noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28503830.post-70364182124273211232007-05-26T16:43:00.000+08:002007-06-16T08:20:13.174+08:00Kebaya Day<div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong><em><span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong><em></em></strong></span>Kehadapan sahabat kami yang dikasihi dan diingati selalu<br /></em></strong><br /></span><em><span style="font-size:85%;">Gadis ayu jalan berlenggang<br />Sungguh manis memakai kebaya<br />E-mail ini untuk mengundang<br />Ke jamuan kami di kafetaria<br /><br />Bukan gunting dalam lipatan<br />Sekadar memberi peringatan<br />Bukan majlis besar-besaran<br />Sekadar ringkas kecil-kecilan<br /><br />Sungguh harum bunga hiasan<br />Harum lagi bau kasturi<br />Jangan lupa jika kelapangan<br />Jumpa di sana jam 12 tengahari<br /><br />Yang mengundang<br /></span><strong><span style="font-size:85%;">Elis, Nurul & Roza<br /></span></strong></em><br /></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO4yguUSMPLjZw9BiWqO9C7hMRRVoZl1EN_F324M1WPGQ3MCjptxTDA79lJpP0FHmiUX3OV0To1REmGrp3HkDUmYiHQqKt_XbqzcvRnlQjiuMJpPVhp3VPUiA5_KweA1e1dyPN/s1600-h/KebayaDay.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5069043201776254082" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO4yguUSMPLjZw9BiWqO9C7hMRRVoZl1EN_F324M1WPGQ3MCjptxTDA79lJpP0FHmiUX3OV0To1REmGrp3HkDUmYiHQqKt_XbqzcvRnlQjiuMJpPVhp3VPUiA5_KweA1e1dyPN/s400/KebayaDay.jpg" border="0" /> <p align="center"></a><span><span style="font-size:78%;">Finalists Ratu Kebaya (boleh?)</span></span></p><p align="justify"><span></span><span style="font-size:85%;">Pantun di atas adalah hasil nukilan kreatif rakan sekerja aku, Roza Lawa sebagai undangan eksklusif kepada rakan-rakan sekerja untuk hadir ke majlis makan-makan yang diadakan pada Jumaat lepas bertempat di 'Sky Garden' my office. Segalanya bermula dengan satu pakatan dengan beberapa rakan sekerja untuk memakai our best kebaya on a Friday. Plan ni dah beberapa kali tertunda kerana ada yang kata nak kuruskan badan supaya boleh fit into their kebayas dan ada pula yang hendak menempah kebaya baru. Kebaya pink yang aku sarungkan tu dibuat untuk Aidilfitri tahun lalu.<br /><br /><span>As the D-Day approached and excitement built up, timbul pula rancangan untuk mengadakan a small party over lunch to celebrate a few occasions, personal and work-related. Menu asal pada mulanya hanyalah pulut kuning beserta rendang tetapi apabila at the last minute we decided to invite a few other colleagues, a few more dishes were added including fried meehoon yang ditempah dari food court, chocolate muffin yang dibuat oleh Roza dan cupcakes yang aku tempah dari a fellow blogger, P-nut siap dengan names of a few of our colleagues on the cupcakes. Nasib baik Pnut dapat buat on short notice dan dapat personally deliver the cupcakes to my office. </span></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtxfikC6n9YxzWerM_XGLPcG9z2XHk8m55ppjmhSLrYekMZ9ZdS_RKiu5ynQ5I42aJ0JBP2pYFI7S3eJ3ynxysVnOlgzzmMjDueNzBIHIULXbdEYopCJtpTLcm22ByI2VpVP1b/s1600-h/Img_0178.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5068880293666716722" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtxfikC6n9YxzWerM_XGLPcG9z2XHk8m55ppjmhSLrYekMZ9ZdS_RKiu5ynQ5I42aJ0JBP2pYFI7S3eJ3ynxysVnOlgzzmMjDueNzBIHIULXbdEYopCJtpTLcm22ByI2VpVP1b/s400/Img_0178.jpg" border="0" /> </p><p align="center"></a><span><span style="font-size:78%;">Ocean 11<br />(Not in the pic - Shearnilicious, the photographer)</span></span></p><p align="justify"><span></span><span style="font-size:85%;">Pada hari tersebut, kami yang all dressed up in our kebayas awal-awal pagi sudah ditegur oleh other colleagues yang curious mengapa a bunch of us memakai kebaya. Tambahan pula dua rakan, Joyce dan Roza sememangnya tidak pernah memakai kebaya di ofis. Tepat jam 12 tengahari, we set up the table at the 'Sky Garden'. 'Sky Garden' ni is an open air area at 24th floor of our office building with a spectacular view of KL city skyscrapers and the view gets better at night. Memang sesuai untuk majlis seperti ini. All our invitees started to come a little after 12 walau ada yang sedikit kelewatan disebabkan kerja dan meeting termasuklah my lady boss yang sememangnya sporting dan turut memakai kebaya at my request. Kesempatan get-to-gether seperti inilah we talked about other than work dan memandangkan inilah member-member office yang 'sekepala', majlis makan memang meriah dengan usik-mengusik, bergurau-senda dan gelak ketawa. </span></p><p align="center"><a href="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/202/514694745_763f016227_o.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/202/514694745_763f016227_o.jpg" border="0" /></a><span><span style="font-size:78%;">From left (clockwise) : Elis Cun, Roza Lawa, Syamsul, Adeline+Jonaes,<br />Adeline, Elis Cun+Anne, Jonaes, Yat, Lin, Joyce, Rozita </span></span></p><span><span style="font-size:78%;"><p align="justify"></span></span><span><span style="font-size:85%;">Majlis ended when the lunch hour ended but some of us were still hype from the excitement continued to pose and snapped pics in the office. So vain, kan? Anyways, we the hostesses were so glad that everybody had fun. We received thank you notes from our friends for organizing this event.Aku rasa walaupun sesibuk mana atau sestress mana pun bekerja, such little little things yang dibuat to create a little fun and excitement at work boleh membuatkan tempat bekerja a fun place to be. All work and no play, makes Jack or Jill a dull boy or girl.<br /></span></p></span><p align="justify"></p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk06D7gYp_MMcLTCqBbd_XWbHnGMJdj6Oh0y_yGbf-QxrfxARdcVXHLOgOqpg4kIbIBMjJ_ir1Zu2b2RpMaKkeOKdMPA6M9A0_jc8ugezNXUiCrvjVvxYUb8pQFMqCS-oYv2c0/s1600-h/Img_0205.jpg"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5068833753401097250" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk06D7gYp_MMcLTCqBbd_XWbHnGMJdj6Oh0y_yGbf-QxrfxARdcVXHLOgOqpg4kIbIBMjJ_ir1Zu2b2RpMaKkeOKdMPA6M9A0_jc8ugezNXUiCrvjVvxYUb8pQFMqCS-oYv2c0/s400/Img_0205.jpg" border="0" /> <p align="center"> </span></a><span><span style="font-size:78%;">From left : Jonaes, Anne, Roza Lawa, Shearnilicious</span></span></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">Definitely this will not be the last but the beginning of more to come. We are determined to do this more often and are already planning to have the next one in July. Hopefully it will materialize, insyaallah.... </span></p><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:0;"><span style="font-size:0;"></span></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:0;"><span style="font-size:0;"></span></span></div>Nurul Abidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004638889980810294noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28503830.post-9021139033763609102007-05-05T23:45:00.000+08:002007-05-06T00:34:35.682+08:00Soal Hati<div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJvX3o0JtgQ6jNYeQgtEukO-CCeQHncUfdQ33t2maKU0Ke53H6HM2TSUzC_XNIULAheuibKfTQ7bOeoUHF60KZtL1lGyoPQlBAoFLlQ5523vW2Y8ETyK1xg2E9iC4HFDT9ZBUg/s1600-h/Hearts.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5061113656627395266" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJvX3o0JtgQ6jNYeQgtEukO-CCeQHncUfdQ33t2maKU0Ke53H6HM2TSUzC_XNIULAheuibKfTQ7bOeoUHF60KZtL1lGyoPQlBAoFLlQ5523vW2Y8ETyK1xg2E9iC4HFDT9ZBUg/s200/Hearts.jpg" border="0" /></a><span><span style="font-size:85%;">Sebelum ini aku tidak pernah endah untuk mengambil tahu siapa gerangannya. Tambahan pula kesibukan kerja sudah cukup <em>to keep my mind occupied</em> daripada memikirkan hal ini. Namun baru-baru ini <em>a remark made by a friend</em> sewaktu kami bersama, walaupun berkias sudah cukup membuatkan aku tergamam. Dia kulihat terpaku dengan muka yang merah padam sebelum dengan pantas meminta diri dan berlalu.<br /><br />Sejak itu dia mengelak dari bertemu atau melarikan pandangannya bila bertembung, seakan malu . Mungkin dia sudah dapat mengagak isi hatinya yang sekian lamanya terpendam bukan lagi rahsia padaku. Pada mulanya aku fikir perubahan sikapnya mungkin imaginasi aku tetapi seorang rakan turut merasakan perubahan pada dirinya, lebih banyak berdiam dan menjauhkan diri.<br /><br />Separuh daripada aku berharap dia terus berdiam diri daripada menyatakan isi hatinya kerana jawapanku bakal mengecewakannya. Tetapi jikalau dia memberanikan diri bersemuka denganku, aku harus berterus terang dan menolaknya dengan baik. Mungkin itu lebih baik agar dia berhenti berharap dan tidak terus dilambung angan.<br /><br />Sememangnya tiada cacat-celanya dia di pandangan mata, tapi sudah puas hati diselami jika dia boleh kuterima lebih dari seorang teman. Namun tiada sekelumit pun rasa tertarik apatah lagi cinta kepadanya melainkan hanya sebagai teman biasa. Angkuhkah aku atau cerewet memilih? Tidak sekali. Ini soal hati. Memang sukar diduga dan dipaksa. Mungkin benar walaupun seseorang itu memiliki ciri-ciri dan budi pekerti yang diidamkan dalam pasangan, tetapi kalau tiada <em>chemistry</em> hati tidak akan terpaut juga walau sesempurna manapun si dia.<br /><br /><em>Either way</em>, aku harus bersedia menghadapai kemungkinan reaksi dari dia. Aku masih mahu dan boleh meneruskan persahabatan tetapi jika itu sukar baginya untuk menerima, aku redha.<br /></span></span></div><span><span style="font-size:85%;"><div align="center"><br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#3333ff;">Semoga Kau Mengerti By Gya Anandini</span></strong></span></span></div>Nurul Abidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004638889980810294noreply@blogger.com11