JKT-BDG TRIP PART 2

AFTER PART 1

Bandung, well..what can i say..a haven for shoppers. 

Friday 1st March 2013:

we arrived in the evening, just enough time for us to have dinner. after hours on the bus from Jakarta, i couldn't care less if they served me fried biawak (lizard); i'd still eat it and claim that it's delicious. one of my mistakes when i went on this trip was not stocking up on food/snacks because i completely forgot that we'd be on the bus most of the time. so during the bus ride, i was hungry and all i could do to shut off the hunger was to sleep. 

when we got to the hotel, my roomate and i saw a pamphlet advertising massage services. we decided to call two masseuses to our room; and they told us the normal charges are 60,000 rupiah per person which was 20 ringgit. but after much coaxing from the two ibuks/masseuses; we settled for a special package that cost us 80,000 rupiah per person, equivalent to 27 ringgit. BUT IT WAS THE MOST HORRIFYING THING I'VE EVER HAD I DON'T KNOW WHY WOULD ANYONE WANT TO GO FOR A MASSAGE. suffice to say, i swore to myself never to put my body through the agonising experience again. i woke up with red marks all over my body especially on my back, so did my my roomate. that was when i found out they used coins to scrape our backs to "buang angin".. oh the horror. 

Saturday 2nd March 2013:

woke up with a headache even after the buang angin massage; and got ready like a zombie. our first stop was to a volcano crater named Tangkuban Perahu. it was named as such because of the shape like a capsized boat. well.. that's a freaking big boat if you ask me. but unfortunately on the day we arrived in Indonesia we learned that the volcano was showing some Sprite; thus we couldn't go up due to the sulfuric content in the air. but we did get to take pictures at the foot of the volcano for about 10 minutes before we were ordered to go down -.-

the beautiful scenery on the way up. macam kat forks siotttt

saw a pakcik riding his horse up to the mountains (eh..volcano).. gagah perkasa!

taken from one of my colleague's camera

Right after the 10 minutes visit to a volcanic crater which took 2 hours of a bus ride, we went to our next destination which was the famous SARI ATER HOT SPRING. coupled with the hot sunny weather, i am still bearing the brunt of it with a sun burn. 

it was pretty relaxing if you minus the extremely sunny weather. here these ice cream dudes will offer you a foot massage if you buy their ice cream.but...nothing comes free. and sadly that was what happened to a couple of my Korean colleagues because they didn't know, and proceeded to buy EVERYONE ice cream. they got ripped off and ended up having to pay 8 ringgit per ice cream, and there was about 30 of us! that made it RM 240! so guys, be careful with your purchases/services, make sure you double check/confirm whatever that has transpired from your transaction.

SEE..MANA TAK KENA SUNBURN :\

fact: the source of the hotspring was from Tangkuban Perahu Volcano. 

should have sat here instead -.-"

after the stop at the hot spring, it was SHOPPING TIME!!!

first stop..PASAR BARU! there were so many textile shops i almost pengsan right there and then. but i came out victorious! managed to get a beaded lace and silk chiffon for my solemnization dress, plus some border lace for the shawl, and all was below 300 ringgit! oh my god. aside from that i managed to buy telekungs for myself, my mum and my future MI; two sejadahs for hantaran and some gorgeous indonesian batik for my mum and i. 

taken from my roomate, nurul's camera. see that white shopping bag? that was only HALF of what i purchased. 

the environment was crowded, hectic, noisy and vibrant. since i was so pumped up over shopping i didnt really mind. :B

after Pasar Baru, the tour took us to other shopping destinations in Bandung, but by then i was already losing my interest; since i managed to get what i came here for. HAHA. some places named Grutty, at the Cihampelas walk, and TOKO TIGA. ok, i bought 3 pairs of skinny jeans there, and two polo shirts for ayah and Faliq. but that was it. wouldn't say it was worth it though. Some items at Toko Tiga looked fake, and the Grutty place looked quite dodgy (just my two cents).

Dinner was awesome though, it was at this really nice old bungalow converted to a restaurant. 

Praoe Sea Food. 

ok fine. the picture didn't do justice to the food. BUT IT WAS REALLY GOOD!

i like the patterned tiles :)

ok. galok sangat tu. nampak sangat tourist. 

came back to the hotel with a full and happy stomach. TIME TO SLEEP AND PACK!!

END OF DAY 2!

to be Continued: PART 3

The Surprises in Life

Last weekend a friend of mine got married. to a man she got to know less than a year; but he seems like the right man for her. Alhamdulillah.

her experience has taught me a lesson. Life is always full of surprises. 

her story begins when she was dating this guy ever since they were both in high school. so if you add up the years, a 9 years relationship. the only way to go is to get married RIGHT? you've been with this guy for 9 years, so the rational thing to do is get married. however, fate clearly had a different plan for both of them. They planned for a simple engagement, but somehow it ended with a huge argument between both family members. all because of the disagreement over the date of the wedding. 

things took turn for the worse when the guy had a change of heart and started seeing another girl. my friend was suffice to say, broken hearted and seemed to be depressed for quite some time. But alhamdulillah, eventually she somehow found the light at the end of the tunnel, found back her faith and came out as a stronger person. 

Within months after, she met a guy through facebook, who turned out to be a mutual friend of her bestfriend. They got to know each other, dated, and within months, the guy came to see her family to ask for her hand in marriage. 

The rest as we say, is history. :) 

As simple as that, if you have found the right one, you dont need years to get to know him/her, you just know :)

Subhanallah,Allah's mysterious ways. My friend finally got the lovely happy ending she deserved. But it also made me wonder that even after all these years of being together, it does not guarantee you a happy ending in marriage/etc. Sometimes these people in your life serves as a lesson in order for you to find yourself again, or come out as a stronger person. :)

Allah is great indeed. 

JKT - BDG TRIP PART 1

Two weeks ago i had the opportunity to go on a trip to Bandung courtesy of the Company. And since i am in the midst of preparing for my wedding, it was indeed a blessing  that i was given a "FREE TRIP TO THE CAPITAL OF FABRIC" so i can get some kain for the wedding :) aside from asking for tips and reading up on what to buy from various blogs, i managed to get an estimated figure of the fabric's price per metre and what other items i can get from the major shopping haunts. (awesome how technology and social media eases the burden for you).

i started with a list of what to buy in Bandung/Jakarta (since my group will make a short trip to ITC Mangga Dua in JKT before heading off to BDG):

1. Telekung (for the hantaran, for myself, for my mum, for Faliq's mum, for ANYONE)
2. Sejadah 2 Pcs (for the hantaran)
3. Kain Nikah (consists of Lace, Chiffon, Lining, and border lace for the veil)
4. Kain Reception (I have no idea what to buy kept thinking a beaded chiffon, but i didnt know how many metres i should buy, i will explain later what has become of the dress -.-")
5. kain for the twins, and ibu (preferably shantung silk because i read that it's cheap there and Ibu loves Shantung)

so prior to my trip Jaja (my housemate) pesan for 9 m of Chiffon so she can make 3 sets of skirts. so back to my list now i have an added item making it 6 items altogether. and then Eza (my uni mate who is now my colleague, asked if i can get her brownies so now i have 7 items that i MUST get in Bandung)

it's been so long since i've been on a plane, pergi Jakarta pun excited lebih..considering my last trip was to Melbourne and that was 2 years ago!

so what happened was:

1st day: Jakarta

We arrived at Noon. with a party of 30 it was pretty hectic + chaotic to get everyone under control plus the Jakarta Sukaerno-Hatta Airport is quite crowded when we arrived. it so happens that we arrived on the same day as a group of Jemaah umrah from indonesia, HO MAI you can imagine the crowd and how PENING it was.

as we waited for the bus to come i noticed that Indonesians in general are very well-dressed. well, they dress better and more kemas than us Malaysians. we tend to be very slouchy, selekeh; wearing slippers are a norm  even when you're on an outing (which i know sounds snobbish tapi memang selekeh), baju kadang-kadang lari colour dgn tudung -.-"

i didn't realize Jakarta was going to be a little bit hotter than KL. aku pegi pakai two-piece punya top plak -.-"

As the tour included Jakarta AND Bandung, right after we arrived we were taken sightseeing all around Jakarta. some places we managed to visit/squeeze in our very tight schedule was the Monumen Nasional or MONAS as the Indonesians call it. it was also my first time berdepan dengan peddlers yg stalk kau sampai kau jadi rimas. the trick is "unless ur interested to buy then by all means talk to them, if you haven't the slightest interest, don't touch don't even make any eye contact".

so that's me and my roomate Nurul at MONAS. the peak was said to be made of Gold. 

afterwards the tour guide brought us around Jakarta, some stopped at the Church and some stopped at the Mosque. i was more intrigued to see the crowded city with slums and skyscrapers next to one another.

didn't get to catch a glimpse of their train. pfft. but here's a view from the Bus as we trudge along slowly on the highway. the traffic jam was crazy i don't know how we managed to get to our destinations. Last stop before we head to Bandung was the shopping place ITC MANGGA DUA. it's one MASSIVE shopping centre housing anything you can think about, from baju to luggage. the inside is crazy shit packed. my first try at haggling in Indonesia. Managed to get a LV red handbag Knock-off for Syanaz for RM 60 and a top for myself. as we were only given 1 hour (SIAPA LA BOLEH SEMPAT SHOPPING 1 JAMMM???) i didnt get the chance to buy much pun.   

and then..we're off to BANDUNG! 

colour palette for ze wedding

Choosing the theme colour for the wedding can be pretty tedious and taxing. Your mind starts to work overtime, thinking whether the colour will suit you, how the decorations are going to be like, what will the rest of the family member wear, etc. 

At first i decided on Tiffany Blue, then i realized the colour may vary and sometimes people would often mistaken Tiffany Blue for Teal or Turquoise (See, i'm overdoing it, IT'S THE SAME COLOUR FOR GOD'S SAKE). Then i decided best would be providing a colour palette within the same hue, so that it'd be easy for everyone else, meaning, they don't have to get THE right colour, but any colour within the same family is fine :) 

so this is my colour palette :) Aqua with grey for the groom.

i'm going to Bandung soon for a company trip, so might as well start looking for materials for my wedding dress. (HOMAGAD). it's pretty weird that I've always dreamed about getting married for so long, and now that i'm actually planning for the wedding, i'm in a numb state of mind, maybe the body is still not over the shock of getting married soon. :| 

after searching on the internet for inspiration, I've finally decided on the design for my dress :) 

cute isn't it? :) it's whimsical, cute, fun, and all that summed up for a magical wonderful beautiful wedding dress

Have yet to meet the tailor; to see if she can make this, or if this dress is suitable for my size (FYI: yours truly is a short and petite LADEYHH). Then i need to go through the tedious process of finding the perfect material for the dress; Tulle Skirt, laces, and such. Not so worried about the solemnization dress though, since i'll be wearing it for less than an hour :) But i really hope that my Reception Dress will turn out PERFECT. 

Wish me luck!! 

2013 HARROOO

Last week we celebrated the coming of 2013. The last hours of 2012 was excruciatingly unkind to me. After buying two tubs of Baskin Robbins ice cream (1 pint of jamocha and 1 quart of Chocolate), I thought i'd spend the new years eve scoffing down my ice creams and become a hermit in front of the tv, despite getting a few invitations from friends to celebrate the new years with them (because i was too lazy to drive). 

Ayah somehow seemed determined to kick me out of the house and made sure i went out. His ploy, when asked about what's for dinner, "I thought you're going out. We're not going to have dinner". And other similar tactics that drove to venture out of Bangi anyway. So i decided to go to Nina's house. By account, it should take me 45 minutes from my place to her house in Setia Alam. However, due to my useless navigation skills and even more useless Google Maps GPS, i got lose and ended up taking the longer route. And to make things worse, i got stuck in jam along with New Year revelers who wanted to celebrate it at the gaudy I-City. 

Guess how long i took to reach Nina's place? Guess la Guess la...2 FREAKING HOURS. By the time i reached there the food was almost finished, caterer was starting to pack up, and party was over. GREAT. But on the bright side, i still get to see my close friends, and spent the countdown talking over our sleepover party of three. :)

Since i never accomplish any of my resolutions during the previous years; i'm just going to list down things i look forward to doing in 2013:

1. Getting married. YES. i know this sounds cliche but who wouldn't be excited? After so long, i can't believe i'm getting closer to this life-changing experience. Le Sigh. 
2. Becoming a better Muslim (i pledge to try my best to pray 5 times a day, finish reading the Quran before i get married, and just be a BETTER person on the inside)
3. Moving into a new place with Faliq after we get married. I've had enough of the traffic jam in Subang, and I'm pumped up on starting over in a new place.
4. Living life to the fullest and not giving a damn about how much money I have in my bank account. Okay that's a lie. i will still live life to the fullest, but i will also bear in mind about how much money i have and how much i have to SAVE. 
5. Travel places! 2012 was a freaking bore because i didnt get to go anywhere. was supposed to go to singapore for the foo fighters concert but Dave grohl had a flu and concert was cancelled. We could still go but all my friends were completely disheartened and my renewed passport was wasted. So this time I'm just planning to go places that are near, Bandung (Company trip), Singapore (to find stuff for the wedding) and Bangkok maybe (with the girls).
6. Manage my finances properly. 2012 saw my financial condition crashed and burn like hiroshima because i didnt give a f*** about it. i spent like nobody's business, created a whopping debt on my credit card; and now i have to start picking up the pieces and be more responsible towards my finances. 

Happy new year everyone. 

The last hours of 2012 with the lovely ladies in my life :)