Hershey's Special Creations: Almond Crunch
11 hours ago
Semusim Di Barzakh by Hadi Fayyadh
September 3, 2017
I just started to read again, slowly. Alhamdulillah :) Thanks to all lovely ladies to keep on sharing reviews on books that encourage me so much to read (and make me jealous a bit to think how amazing you guys are to always be with books haha).
To write reviews on Malay books, it makes me think thrice either to write in Malay or English. Adoi. Anyway, let's check this book out.
What Should We Know About Traveloka and KL2017?
August 25, 2017
Well, what is trending in Malaysia right now?
Most Malaysians know it right? Yep, exactly. The 29th SEA Games and 9th ASEAN Para Games are currently held in Malaysia. Most events are held around Kuala Lumpur. Despite the fact that sailing was held in Langkawi, to make these events to be easily remembered, they are branded as Kuala Lumpur 2017 - hence the hashtag #KL2017. :)
1. Gold sponsor of KL2017.
I am sure you guys realized Traveloka is stated on most banners of KL2017. It is one of sponsors! To be exact, one of the proud Gold sponsors for this KL2017. Haaa, to those who wonder what is the difference between Platinum, Gold and Silver sponsor... they are actually categorized by their sponsorship - Gold means RM 3M to RM 7.5M. Wow.
To those who are not familiar with Traveloka or simply have no idea what is Traveloka, let me give you rough idea about it. Traveloka is a platform to get one of the best hotel and flight offers for our travel trips. It is currently getting stronger around Southeast Asia.
2. Official online travel partner for KL2017.
As the official online travel partner for KL 2017, Traveloka offers a lot for visitors to travel and explore our beloved country, Malaysia - not only for foreigners but for us, Malaysians as well. Malaysia is really truly Asia, this is actually our own advantage to fully use Traveloka to plan our next trip around Malaysia.
Hello, Malaysia is the latest and on-going promotion (book till 31st August 2017) that we should not missed, especially those travelers who are currently planning their trip. Can you imagine Traveloka offers up to 40% hotel and flight discounts? :O
Honestly, I just enjoyed a good price and experience with Traveloka few days ago. My uncle and aunt were going to perform their Hajj, they need to check in at Tabung Haji Complex Bayan Lepas by 1 am. So basically the rest of us planned to stay a night at a hotel close to the complex. We chose Hotel Seri Malaysia Penang as it is located just 5-6km away and we are frequent guests of Hotel Seri Malaysia, so we are familiar with its standard and style.
To my surprise, the price offered by Traveloka was RM150 for a family room (3 persons) while the hotel itself charged RM 200+ for that specific date. The room rate is usually around RM 160 - RM200 - it depends.
Awesome. :D
3. Other Traveloka's offers for KL2017.
If you have the chance to watch any live games at Bukit Jalil, why not drop by at Traveloka booth there?
I really want to join the other Malaysians at Bukit Jalil or any other venues. I am an athlete myself :D Seriously I love sports and activities involving our body so much. Other than to cheer for our national team there, maybe this can be my second chance to meet KJ in person. :D However, I have other priorities to do this month so I am cheering in front of the television! :)
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| #talldarkandhandsome :D :D |
It is said that Traveloka organizes few contests there (like photo-booth and placard contests) and who knows any of us may win the prizes. I have been told that the prizes total worth of RM 200 000! Since I can not be there right now, you guys have one competitor less, hehe.
Anyway, for people who stay far away from Kuala Lumpur (like me), no worries guys. We still have chances to win something from Traveloka! Wohoooo.
How?
Go to this link http://travelokakl2017.com.my/. and next to the home button (on top of the page), you can see 'contest'. "Predict The Winner, Be The Winner!" The contest is as simple as ABC. You can read the instructions on the page itself. RM100 travel coupons are offered! WOW. RM 100 means so much to me, honestly. :)
Ahaaaa, to those who want to watch any live-streams and would like to keep updated with KL2017, you can simply stream the videos on the same link. This is very helpful Malaysians who are staying or currently abroad. I had problems myself to enjoy live sport events (like Thomas Cup etc) when I was in Czech back then. So, this time, to those Malaysians out there... you have no excuse to say you have no idea how to keep updated with this event as I have told you :) :)
Simply click on the link I mentioned earlier and you can access YouTube and Facebook Live for KL2017.
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Let's cheer for our national team and our country!
#KitaJuara #BangkitBersama #KL2017
All the best, athletes of Malaysia!
SS, Perak, Malaysia
170824
6 Things I Need to Consider Before Booking An Accommodation
August 24, 2017
Accommodation is very important thing to plan if we want to spend the night properly and comfortably, but based on the budget as well. I know that there are so many websites showing the best price for any hotel / hostels, but so far I will check booking.com, hostelbookers.com, airbnb.com.
So, what are the criteria I am looking forward for the accommodation?
1. Am I travelling alone?
If I am on my own, I would definitely choose hostel (female dorm) that I can cut cost and have the chance to mingle with random travelers.
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| Example of dorm. |
Female dorm vs mix dorm?
- It is a bit hard to find hostels with female dorm instead of mix room. Some people don't mind sharing room with opposite gender but I am not that person (no matter how open-minded I am).
- It is not that I did not consider at all, I had actually... but to think about all consequences, I made up my mind to spend extra money for a room for myself instead of mix room. That's what happened when I solo-traveled to Zakopane, Poland few months ago.
Obviously, it can cost 2-3x the price but I did it for the sake of my safety, inner peace and my faith.
2.1. If not alone, am I travelling with my family?
If I am going with family, Airbnb / a hotel room / a nice hostel room with en suite bathroom will be my preferences.
- Toilets - you know, parents they really care about toilets and I don't want to burden them with all necessary attire just to go to the toilets if we shared them with other travelers. My parents are getting used to keep the toilets dry, but sometimes it is hard to take wudu' (ablution without spilling water here and there).
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| Toilet in Italy. |
- Kitchen - I love the idea of Airbnb when there is a kitchen (if I rent the whole house / apartment) so that my mum can cook. Well... once again, parents are from different generations, they are not familar with Western restaurants and actually they just don't feel good eating in places that are... well, you know why.
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| Kitchen - some Airbnb owner will provide few food for free. |
I have my reasons / firm belief of going to restaurants and I've checked with many sources especially Fiqh Luar Negara. So, if I am travelling with my parents, I respect their decisions and well, who does not want to eat mum's home-cooked meals, huh? :D
2.2. If not alone, am I travelling with my friends?
We usually look for Airbnb, so far. Other than that, we will book an entire room for hostels.
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| King bed. |
3. Refering to point 1 and 2 - check the location.
Again, it also depends with whom I am travelling. Of course, with family I prefer somewhere closer to any bus / train stop or in the city center (although it will be a bit pricey).
- If we are travelling by car (road trip), as long as they provide free parking spaces and close to any public transportation stations, it should be okay (trust me, ticking parking spaces will filter out a lot of choices huhu). Any supermarket nearby is a bonus.
- Consider Uber to travel around if needed.
- Also consider if the stations nearby provide lifts / escalators. I seriously will minimize stairs for my parents unless it is beyond my control (unexpected renovation etc T__T)
4. Reviews.
I usually refer reviews before booking a place to stay, well I am sure all of us did. :)
Sometimes, I will personally ask friends to recommend any hostels they've tried. So far, I have good experiences with most places I have stayed. Ask them so that you always have low expectations of the places. Check reviews in hostelbookers, hostelworld, airbnb, booking.com, Trip Advisor, Google maps.
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| Good reviews :) |
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| Free food! |
The things I would focus from the reviews are:
- strength of the WiFi
- cleanliness of the toilets / rooms
- sound-proof rooms etc
5. Price.
This is usually the thing to filter after gathering few choices around the city we want to stay. I usually love to cut costs, but it depends on the situation (especially refer to point #1)
For Europe, I will put a limit of Euro 20/person/night when searching around. Usually the accommodation I have been to will be around that price. The cheapest I've got in Europe is around Euro 10-15. This applies to Airbnb as well, okay?
I have never been on a proper trip around Asia yet. So, I am sorry I can't say much.
Oh yea, another points to note:
- Always check for extra costs - like cleaning fees and service fees. Booking.com usually give cheap price but some rare occasion, the owner of the place will charge you extra cleaning fees
- If you are willing to pay security deposit, feel free to do so. For me, I will avoid that.
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| The bowl closer to the glass wall is called bidet - check here on how to use it. |
6. Before booking a room, always check the main website for that place.
For example, if you found any interesting place to stay, please check its own website. I had few experiences that if you contact the place directly, the price is way cheaper or they are doing some promotions. Well, no harm to check, right? If website is more expensive, you can just return to those booking sites and make reservations. I don't have trouble with all sites i have mentioned earlier.
This idea is similar to booking flight tickets. Of course I will use all the search engines but I will check the websites of the airlines afterwards.
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Please feel free to add anything you will consider before booking any rooms.
I would love to read yours. :D
Mind sharing your tips to book any accommodation in Malaysia / Asia? Please, kindly drop any comments. <3
SS, Perak, Malaysia
170818
Few Hours Before Leaving Singapore
August 23, 2017
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| Meet the famous Merlion. |
Done with the tour at about 12pm. Some of the tour mates need to leave for other plans or to catch any flights. After saying goodbye to each other, only about 7 people stayed with Dani to listen to more stories and finally we had lunch together.
1. Amoy Street Food Center
Dani brought us here. It is like a food court with varieties of food (at least affordable one for me). Halal Muslim food is located in the first 2 rows and the rest is Chinese food.
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| It was lunch hour - expect many customers yea |
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| Kuewtiaw Tomyam. |
The tomyam costs S$ 4 and I bought fruit juice for S$ 2.
Here, I learned that Singaporeans also reserve seats (we called it 'chop meja') like the Malaysians. HAHA. They will put some invaluable items on the table to show that someone is reserving the seat - it can be cards, tissues etc.
It is a bit funny to be the only one who can understand Malay as Dani can share some inside jokes in Malay and I can relate it. She said that Singaporeans learned many trending words from us.
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| Lovely Dani and I :D |
After lunch, I requested Dani to show the nearest MRT station so that I could proceed with my plan which was to see Merlion, Esplanade and Helix Bridge. I was lucky enough that Dani offered to walk with me to those places. Ya Allah, terharunya rasaaaa.
I am thankful to meet this girl so much. Thank you Dani for taking me around and sharing the stories behind these attractions. :)
2. Merlion
Lion's head with the tail of fish. It was introduced by Singapore Tourism. Why Merlion? We can relate it to the name of Singapore and previous name of it.
Mer - means sea. Singapore was once a fishing village called Temasek.
Lion - comes from the name Singapore = lion city.
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| Merlion's back. |
Singapore loves feng shui a lot. It means to harmonize everyone with the environment. Merlion is positioned facing Marina Bay Sands with lots of merchants buildings at the back - it is believed that continuous flowing of money between these buildings will keep the economy grow.
3. Esplanade - Theaters on the Bay
Marina Bay is where we can expect most of attractions in Singapore. The same goes to this Esplanade. Although the building honestly looks like a durian, but it is actually the shape of microphone.
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| Esplanade |
I asked Dani if we can go inside. And she said, she was actually planning to take me inside. Not to the concert hall, of course. Just to the observation deck to enjoy the view of Marina Bay from a higher place.
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| There you go :) |
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| This plant attracted Dani so much. Hehe. |
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| The smallest banknote for Singapore is S$ 2. There was banknote for S$ 1 before. but it was totally changed into coins (with this 8 edges shape). |
4. Bugis Street
Done with these two places, it was time for me to go back to my hostel and pick up my backpack to return to Johor Bahru. Dani was really nice to accompany me around Bugis Street to catch few last-minute fridge magnets and even sent me off to Arab Street - where my hostel is located.
Ya Allah, thank you so much for introducing me to this kind lady. :D :D <3
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| Welcome to my cafe :D - haha we found this on our way back. |
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| Bugis street - where you can find all souvenirs at cheaper price. I can see few offers like 24 keychains = S$ 10, 4 T-shirt = S$ 10, 6 fridge magnets = S$ 10. Walk around, I am sure you can get the better offers :) This can be a reference price. |
5. Masjid Sultan
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| Azan can be heard on the street as well. |
Masjid Sultan is not the oldest mosque here (maybe second or third). Located very close to Kampong Glam makes it the famous landmark there. It was once demolished and reconstructed to occupy the increasing number of Muslims. During the war, it became a shelter to people with different religions.
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| The clean ablution area for women. |
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| The praying area for men. |
The mosque is open for visitors (I can compare this to mosques in Malaysia like Putrajaya or any masjid negeri). I had the chance to pray there twice as it is very close to the hostel. Very comfortable and my mum would love this mosque!
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| In front of Masjid Sultan is this famous restaurant. I was full when I passed it. So, can't say much about the food as I did not try it. |
6. Bussorah Street | Kampong Glam
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| Bussorah street with Masjid Sultan at the back. |
It is named after a place in Iraq and now becomes a pedestrian mall. We can see restaurants serving international cuisines here - especially Lebanese, Turkish, Arab food.
7. Singapore-Johore Express Terminal
It was finally the time to leave Singapore for Johor Bahru. Since I had to catch a bus back to Amanjaya, Ipoh at 11pm... I estimated 3-4hours for the journey to cross the border.
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| The bus terminal. |
Through out my journey around the city center, I used EZ-link card (that works exactly like our Touch n Go) for all public transportation. I have surveyed few alternatives to go to JB and decided to try the cheaper route (take MRT to Kranji --> then Bus 170 all the way to Larkin Terminal = cost less than S$ 3. But, Dani recommended Causeway Link 2 bus for few reasons - more convenient, faster, more buses. It costs S$ 3.30.
It was good enough as I had about S$ 3.60 in my EZ-link card so I can use all money inside before leaving this country. :)
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| I can see many public houses along the way. |
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| CW2 bus - here in this terminal, we need to queue up before buying tickets and walk straight into the bus. The queue was long enough as it was peak time - people from Singapore were going back to JB. |
Here, I met a kind girl, Somala... she lives in Tampoi and works part time in Singapore. She helps me a lot to cross the border. I found it so cute when she shared the moments she teased her family on her future plan. Take care, sweet girl :)
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| Goodbye Singapore, till we meet again :) |
Alhamdulillah for all kind people I've met through out my journey in Singapore. Even in Larkin Terminal, thank you so much for those people who help me a lot for directions and thank you for the free food.
I would love to go to Singapore again. So, officially my Asia's trip started with this Singapore trip :D Where's next?
p/s - I really need to plan well to cut costs everywhere. Jobless right now. Haha
p/s/s - And I need to complete writing posts of Europe Trip 2.0. T__T
p/s/s - And I need to complete writing posts of Europe Trip 2.0. T__T
SS, Perak, Malaysia
170818
Part 3!
11. Sacred tooth.
This new temple is know as Buddha Tooth Relic Temple. It works as museum as well.
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| Temple surrounded by giant concrete buldings |
Relic = physical remains of a saint (in this place, it is a tooth).
It is said that Singapore is given this sacred tooth from Myanmar and the temple was built to house the tooth relic. Outside this temple, I've been approached by a Singaporean Chinese uncle and he said it is uncommon to see a Muslim girl with hijab entering a temple.
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| The other entrance. |
Yep, it is uncommon.
Some people said it is haram to enter these places. I once watched Ustaz Azhar Idrus's video on this and he said you can enter but never do anything like they do to worship the idols. Since the tour is explaining about the temple, I grab this chance to listen and to see with my own eyes how it looks like inside. Always remember the verses in Surah Al-Kafirun, one of them is:
"For you is your religion, and for me is my religion." - 109:6
I've been to all those places, but alhamdulillah seeing them myself makes me more grateful with my own faith, my belief to Allah.
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| Chinese love continuous flowing water like this. |
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| They also believe crystal as a good source of inner energy. |
12. Clan Association
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| The 'office'. |
It was originally founded to help immigrants from China. Well, just imagine you are in a new place, somehow you may need help to settle down there - in terms of places to stay and jobs. Nowadays, other than helping for social welfare, this place also helps Chinese to send items to their family back in China and also to trace the family root.
13. Singapore's Last Water Well
Before the mountains were cleared for land reclamation, people in Singapore relied on water well as a source of clean water. The clean water was kind of limited, but people back then was clever enough to find underground water. This well was used to provide water around Chinatown and transferred with the help of bullock-drawn carts.
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| The other wells need to be abolished for development. This one remained there for the sake of history for younger generations. |
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| It is located at Ann Siang Hill Park. |
As most of us know, water in Singapore is imported from Malaysia. There is a contract between these two countries but it seems like the agreement will end in 2061. Singapore is now a global water research to find solutions for failed negotiations for 2062 and beyond.
Right now, there are 4 sources of water there:
- Mostly from rainfall - collected in artificial reservoirs (like Marina Bay - if you study the map of Singapore, you can see a lot of reservoirs)
- 30% imported from Malaysia
- Reclaimed water - recycle water from wastewater
- Seawater desalination
14. Malay is the national language.
Honestly I did not expect this as I thought the national language is Chinese or English.
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| All four languages are used widely there. Even on any announcements so far that I can remember. |
To Singapore, Malay is always the lingua franca especially when it is surrounded by Malay-speaking countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei. :)
15. Interactive wall mural.
The wall is brought alive via an application called LocoMole. There are steps shown on the wall and we can aim the phone on the wall for more surprises. They can be footnotes and even videos.
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| Painted by Yip Yew Chong (13 April 2017) |
The mural shows the history back then on how immigrants left their countries for Singapore (as it was a new trade center) by ships and boats, waving goodbyes to their families. Basically this wall tells you stories about most of things I have shared earlier :)
16. Telok Ayer and Land Reclamation.
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| Telok Ayer Street. |
Telok Ayer Street was named after Telok Ayer (Water Bay in English).
On this street, we can see Thian Hock Keng temple - one of the first temple built as the seafarers and immigrants arrived to Singapore. This temple was originally located very close to the coastline (means the water of the sea was just few meters from the temple). After few years later, land reclamation started to begin (that makes Singapore a bit bigger than before).
Land reclamation by British was done by clearing all mountains. So, Singapore does not have any mountains left. For this reason, Lee Kuan Yew wanted all buildings to have nature plan inside. Every meter square of land used for construction, the architect need to make sure the nature is replaced in the buildings (horizontally). When I was there, I can say there are huge trees almost everywhere - very helpful to provide shades.
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| Dani and our tour-mates. |
Chinatown has been declared as heritage sites and cannot be abolished. It is said that Singapore only has 200 years worth-histories so at least with the conserved and preserved Chinatown, it helps to bring back history to Singapore. Otherwise, the only things we can see there are concrete sky-scraping buildings.
In conclusion, I believe I made the right decision of joining this free walking tour. Instead of just taking pictures of buildings with no ideas of what they are, this tour helped to enlighten me the history of Singapore... basically a bit of history about my own country as well. Malaysia and Singapore was together before we separated in 1965.
I am thinking of joining any free walking tour in Malaysia very soon. :) InsyAllah.
SS, Perak, Malaysia
170818
Let's continue with Part 2 :)
6. Coolies
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| Kuli = coolie - a statue at one end of Smith St. |
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