Island Getaway - Phuket, Thailand

May 30th - June 3rd, 2013 (5 Days 4 Nights)

End of last year, MAS had offered 50% rebates to redeem enrich points. We took the opportunity to redeem some of our points and got 6 return tix to Phuket (2 tix for nenek and cik nah). Then we bought an infant tix for Harraz.

During matta fair, we bought the 3D2N package from triways, which cost us RM399 for adult and RM360 for child. This package includes all; accommodation at 3* hotel, airport transfer, muslim meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner), town tour, and Phanga Bay - James Bond Island tour.

The journey started in early morning on May 30th. Our flight was scheduled at 930am. We drove our own car to KLIA and parked the car at the long term parking. We were charged RM159 for 5 days parking.

We arrived in Phuket at 945am (local time). Phuket time difference is -1. Our tour guide came late! 1 hour late! From the airport to Patong town, was about 45 minutes. Most of us slept through out the journey. We checked in at Arman Residence. The hotel serves halal food and have free wifi ☺. Ramai jugak orang M'sia duk hotel nie... 

After having lunch at the hotel, we went for the town tour. Our stops include Karon viewpoint, local silk screen t-shirt shop (they sell really cheap tshirts here!), cashew nut factory, bees farm, and monkey school. Later we had our dinner at Kusuma seafood, which is quite famous among Malaysians.

On 2nd day, we went to Phang Nga Bay for a long tail boat ride to James Bond island. Hayl was eager to mandi laut here. Tapi takdak sapa pun mandi kat sini! Takat main2 dkt gigi air je la... After James Bond island, the tour continued to other small islands.

James Bond Island

Next stop was at a fishing village, Koh Panyee. It is also known as Muslim floating village, due to the predominantly Muslim population. We had our lunch here at Panyee restaurant. After we got back from the island tour, we made one last stop at Gems gallery. Nak beli, tapi org ramai sgt, lama nak tunggu!

On the 3rd day, we checked out from Arman residence. We had arranged for a transport with the same travel agent, Phuket BlueSea travel and tours to transfer us from Arman Residence to Dusit Thani Laguna in Bang Tao. On the way to Laguna, we made quick stop at Jungceylon Mall (sempat la makan eskrem Baskin Robbins) and Harley Davidson outlet. We had our lunch at BangSanDuan Muslim Food. They serve the best tomyam! We even went to this restaurant again on our way to the airport before flying off the next 2 days.

Dusit Thani Laguna. Haha! This was the much awaited relaxing beach holiday, dedicated for our boys. Lepas dah penat berjalan sana sini, naik bot bagai, masa utk relax pulak! The boys were so looking forward to swim at the swimming pool and play at the beach.

Dusit Thani is situated in Laguna, West coast of Phuket. There are 7 hotels in the Laguna area. They have a shopping village as well, called Canal village. To find halal food here, we need to get to the Bang Tao town. It is about 5-10 minutes drive. Taxi costs 800 baht for round trip. The taxi driver took us to Sakeenah Restaurant. It is situated next to the Bang Tao mosque. The food are good and cheap :)

Days spent in Dusit Thani just to ourselves, attending the kids. They played at the Kids' Club, feeding the fish at the pond, and Hayl even tried to play petangue ;) We glad we made the trip. So, next trip... where to???

Awesome Weekend at Limastiga - 26th-27th April 2013

Last weekend, we got the opportunity to stay at Limastiga. Thanks a lot to my high school seniors (abang2 and kakak2) for inviting me and my family to join their escapade :) As some of us know, Limastiga is always fully booked! We secured our booking in November 2012. It was an awesome weekend, very enjoyable! Sampai hari nie pun masih tersenyum sorang2 bila teringat moments kat sana.

swimming pool

karaoke room

All of us (picture credit to abg yop epoi)

Europe 2011: St. Moritz, Switzerland

June 3rd, 2011
Lugano (CH) - Tirano (IT) - St. Moritz (CH)

We arrived in Lugano at 8:10am. Quite train station, not so many people. It was still early, and our next ride, Bernina Express bus would only depart at 10am. We had our light breakfast,  croissants and hot chocolate at the train station.

at Lugano train station

Lugano town seems calm and quite, not so much of activities. It was friday, wondered where were those people?

Our breakfast

After a while, few people started gathering at the parking lot. All of us were to board the Bernina Express. As expected, the bus arrived on time. It was a panoramic bus, with the large windows for easy viewing :)

Our ride to Tirano

The road in Lugano town were so small (the bus route). Only one way vehicles can pass at one time. Hence the frequent honks used. The houses were too near to the road. If the bus window can be opened, I could just touch the building wall along the road ;)

The scenery throughout the bus ride was breathtaking! Awesome views! We passed by Lake Lugano, Switzerland and Lake Como, Italy.

Lake Como

The 3 hours bus ride ended at a small town called Tirano. Tirano is located at the border between Italy and Switzerland. From Tirano, we boarded the Bernina Express train. It has panoramic coaches, and popular with tourists. The train connecting Tirano and St. Moritz, our final destination on that day.

The Bernina train ride was the highlight of our Europe trip. The journey crossed the Swiss Alps from south to north. For us, it was once in a life time experience :)

view from the train on top of the Alps

"Ospizio Bernina is a station on the Bernina Railway line between St. Moritz inSwitzerland and Tirano in Italy. Hourly services operate on this line.
It is the highest station on the Bernina Railway and also on the entire Rhaetian Railwaynetwork. Nearby is the Bernina Pass." - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ospizio_Bernina_(Rhaetian_Railway_station)

"The Bernina Pass (el. 2328 m.) (Italian: Passo del Bernina) is a high mountain pass in the Bernina Range of the Alps, in thecanton of Graubünden (Grisons) in eastern Switzerland. It connects the famous resort town of St. Moritz in the Engadin valley with the Italian-speaking Val Poschiavo, which ends in the Italian town of Tirano in Valtellina. The pass lies a few kilometres east of Piz Bernina. A lower pass is located west of the Bernina Pass, at 2,253 metres.

The Bernina Pass is crossed by road and rail, with a popular tourist train, the Bernina Express operating year-round betweenChur and Tirano. The train crosses the lowest pass at 2,253 metres (at Ospizio Bernina) - it is the highest adhesion railwayroute in Europe." - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernina_Pass

After about 2 hours journey, we arrived in St. Moritz. We checked in at Bellaval hotel, which was situated just next to the train station. It was summer, daylight was longer than night but the shops were closed early. We didn't get the chance to shop (selamat duit!), just literally window shopping! We roamed around the small town. Our famous malaysian shoemaker, Dato' Jimmy Choo was going to open an outlet in St. Moritz.

 

Lake St. Moritz

We spent one night in this beautiful resort town.

The next morning, we continued our journey, another city awaited to welcome us. ZURICH!!!

Europe 2011: Milan, Italy

*** oh my! berkurun lama baru nak continue update our travelogue!

June 2nd-3rd, 2011
VE. Mestre - Milano Centrale (ESI-R 9710)

Woke up early to catch the train to Venice Mestre train station from Santa Lucia station. VE Mestre is located on the Italian mainland, where Venezia Santa Lucia is on the island of Venice. Our train to Milano was scheduled to arrive at 8:32am. As usual, the train arrived and leaved on the dot! After about 2hrs 20mins journey, we arrived in Milano Centrale.

Inside view of Milano Centrale

We checked in at Hotel Garda, located about 7mins walked from Milano Centrale. It was one-night stayed so we need to pay upfront. The hotel gave 10% discount for paying in cash. After checking in, we straight away went out. Our target was to get to San Siro stadium, home of AC Milan. We took the metro, and the nearest metro station to San Siro stadium is Lotto Fiera. From the metro station we had to walk about 20mins to reach the stadium. Jauhhh!!! It was not a lucky day because the stadium was closed for a private function! Penat betul jalan jauh2 camtu! So, just snapped few pictures outside the stadium, bukti dah sampai! hehehe...

Mr. Ayah in front of the San Siro Stadium 

Next stop was Piazza Del Duomo and nearby the famous church is the Galleria Vittorio Emanuelle II. You can find LV, Gucci, Prada, and other luxury goods' shops here. Back and forth kami mengukur jalan. Keluar-masuk, turun-naik almost all shops just to feast our eyes.

the crowd at Galleria Vittorio Emanuelle II

Ramai betul umat manusia di sini. Along the street penuh, crowded! Pelbagai gelagat dapat dilihat. We had early dinner at one of the diners along the street. Had seafood spaghetti (againnn) and coffee while watching people on the street :)

view from our table

seafood spaghetti

The next day, early checked out from the hotel to catch our train to Lugano, Switzerland!

Europe 2011: Venice, Italy

May 31st - June 2nd

Our next stop was Venizia (Venice). We took a flight via Easyjet. Easyjet ni adik-beradik Air Asia jugak la, low cost carriage :) But instead of kena berjalan ke aircraft, there's a bus service that will took us there. For those who paid for Speedy Service, they were seated separately from the rest. Hence, masa bas berhenti dekat aircraft, they were allowed to go down first and choose their seats. We touched down in Venice early morning, took a bus ride to Piazzale Roma. It is the main island of which the main attractions are. Bus ride is the cheapest way to get to the island, Eu10 for 2 people.

In Venice we checked in at Hotel Guerrini, very close proximity with Venice St. Lucia train station. So far, part of our plan was to find hotels nearest possible to the train station. Hotel Guerrini ni not bad juga, rated 3 stars. Ada free wifi, breakfast included and reasonable price too. Upon checking in and freshen up, we took our breakfast (in exchange with our last day breakfast which we will miss due to early morning train) and later started our Venizia exploration.

With the city map in hand, we walked around to find a halal takeaway restaurant which was said to be nearby our place. The restaurant said to be serving halal kebab as commented by a fellow Malaysian online. Pusing2 jumpa la restaurant tu, which was not far from Sofitel Hotel. Unfortunately, it was closed! The review was done in 2009 anyway. We then continued walking to Rialto. On our way, we found 3 more halal takeaway restaurant/shop. Bought ourselves a grande kebab for Eu4.50, cukup utk share 2 orang.

Walking around Venice can be challenging because of the uneven surface and narrow roads. Alternatively, you can always use water bus (Eu1.05 per ride) or water taxi (mahal!! cost varies on destinations). But it gets easier if we know the tricks and routes. Always use the "bus station / pier (spelled Per in Italian) as your navigation point. Contohnya, kalau nak ke Rialto, we follow the Per Rialto sign printed on the walls. Be alert since some of the signs are only hand written.

Rialto is one of the main attraction where rows of shops offers wide range of souveniors and stuffs. Rialto bridge was said to be the first bridge connecting two major islands in Venice where the Grand Canal flows under it. One thing yg kami perasan, penjual kat sini tak berapa suka kita pegang2 nak belek2 barang or baju dia. Kalau nak, bagitau diorang, diorang akan ambik utk kita. Price varies from one shop to another. Take your time to really browse for the best deal.

Some of the local crafts are Murano Glass and ball mask yg mcm dlm cerita2 Italian lama pakai, ala2 dlm movie Casanova tu. Be careful kalau nak beli Murano Glass ni, some are fake made in China. The best way is to get it inside a Murano Glass shop itself, which bersepah kat Venice ni. Cuma harga dia takde murah mana pun. Some shop boleh ship anywhere.

San Marco / St. Mark Square is another major attraction. Huge chapel, clock tower dgn bell tower yg jadi tumpuan utama tourist semua kat sini. Kalau kita naik either one of the towers, we will be able to see Venice from aerial view. Nak naik bell tower ni will cost you around Eu8 sorang. San Marco itself has a lot to offer. Souvenior shops and cafe along the sidewalks pun ada mcm2. However, the price around here is a bit on the high side. Maybe because of point of attraction dia jadi overpriced. Close by to San Marco there is a shopping district. You can find labels like LV, Chanel, Zegna, betul2 within the area. Hard Rock Cafe pun close by.

Another very important point about San Marco is the Tax Refund Office is also here. Generally, for any purchase more than Eu150 within the same store is entitled for tax refund. Range will vary between each EU country. Banyak membeli, banyak la dapat tax refund. You can opt for cash in return or to be credited to your credit card.

On our 2nd day in Venice, we just repeated the same places. But we used different route, Sestiere Cannaregio to get to Rialto, which was much easier. With this route we found Disney store which was just around the corner from Rialto bridge. Didn't get anything for the kids here because we planned to go to the Disney store at Paris Disneyland ;) Since it was our last day in Venice, we bought few souvenirs and pasta ingredients at Rialto. Later for dinner, we had seafood pasta again. Never get tired of pasta and pizza whenever you are in Italy!!!

Europe 2011: Departure - Roma, Italia

May 28th- Departure

After a very long and detailed plan, mostly done by mrs. mama, the day has finally come. Air tickets were redeemed since Dec 2010 from Malaysian Airlines Enrich points collected over the years, cukup la nak dapat 2 return tickets to Europe on Economy class. On Friday, the day prior to the departure, dapat call from MAS office informing the flight that we were supposedly to be boarding to Rome directly was overly booked. Mula-mula suspense la juga, since we have confirmed our flights since December last year. We were informed by MAS Office that we will need to reroute to Amsterdam with an upgrade on Business class, and from Amsterdam to Rome on Economy via KLM. Siapa nak tolak rezeki with the free upgrade?? hehehe...

Upon checked in at KLIA, then we were informed the changes was not reflected in the system and the tickets were need to be reissued. Mana la orang nak tau! MAS Office did not informed us regarding the reissuance of the tickets. We let the lady to do the necessary which took about an hour. Hati dah berdebar, suspense takut we won't be able to board the flight and all the arrangements have been made. At last, Alhamdulillah we got everything sorted out. So, pengajarannya kat sini, lain kali kalau orang dari MAS Office called for any last minute changes, clarify whether we need the tickets to be reissued or not. Nasib baik juga la MAS Office emailed flight itinerary and we got it printed out. At least it was being documented.

Finally boarded MH014 to Amsterdam. It was a long hours flight, but luckily we had a good rest and meal on board. Tido all the way, since we departed at midnight senang je nak tido ;)

Day 1 - May 29th (Rome, Italy)

Sampai di Schiphol International Airpot, Amsterdam in the morning. It was around 7am, the weather was kinda cold. Airport was busy considering its still early. Penat berpusing cari gate and ticketing counter to ensure that we get our boarding pass for next route. Amsterdam to Rome was a very short flight, about 2 hours journey. Time difference with Malaysia about 6 hours later (GMT +1). Same for both Amsterdam and Rome.

We boarded the 9.40am flight and landed at FCO around noon. Took a train to Roma Termini. Leonardo Express costs Eu14 per person, while the local train is Eu8. We bought the Eu8 tix but boarded the Leonardo express. Nasib takde org check ticket :D But nama je express, the train ride was worst than our komuter! hmmm...

Sampai Roma Termini, the aircity platform agak terkebelakang jugak. So have to walk and drag the bags agak jauh. Boleh je nak lalu ikut dlm building, but since tak tau... terikut la jalan luar. From Roma Termini we just walked to the hotel, Mari 2 (not recommended!, sila cari hotel lain yea...). After checking in and freshen up... we went to the Colosseo. It was just 2 metro stops from Roma Termini. Daily metro tix costs us Eu4 per person, with unlimited access to Metro, bus and tram. Nearby the Colosseo, is the Roman Forum. We didn't go in. Malas nak menapak! The weather was hot! Mrs. Mama siap berpayung bagai! Btw, Rome city is dirty!!!

Italy Cup - Inter Milan-Palermo
Kebetulan hari kami sampai Rome ada Coppa Italia Final between Inter Milan dgn Palermo. Penuh bandar Milan dgn fans from both teams. Berarak sambil menyanyi merata tempat.  Mula2 takut gak, kot la ada gaduh ke apa nanti, maklum la finals. Tapi they were very supportive, takde la mcm nak provoke each other team. In fact masa kat Colosseo, ada yg siap ambik gambar sekali.

Palermo fans

Fountain de Trevi
After walking around Colleseo, Roman Forum dan sekitarnya, we took the Metro to Barberini, the nearest metro station to Fountain de Trevi. Since Hard Rock Cafe is within the same stop with Fountain de Trevi, we decided to make a quick stop at HRC Rome to get our HRC shot glass. Dah alang2 sampai, apa salahnya tambah collections. On our way to Fountain de Trevi, we decided to have dinner at one of the restaurant by the road side. It was a bit fancy. But the food were damn good! Fountain de Trevi, as expected full of tourists. We didn't throw a coin, and didn't go down to the fountain. Please be careful around this area. Byk review pasal pick pockets. Keep all your belonging close to you. Kat sini kami snap2 pictures, then we walked to the Spanish Steps. Mr. Ayah was having allergic reaction, and by the time sampai Spanish Steps, he couldn't take it anymore so we rushed to Spagna metro station and went back to our hotel. That ends our day 1 in Rome.

Fountain de Trevi

Day 2 - May 30th

Vatican City
The following day, we checked out from the hotel, dragged our luggages to the Termini Station and stored our luggages there. Cost about Eu4 for the 1st 5 hours, Eu0.60 per hour for additional hours not exceeding 12 hours and Eu0.20 upon the hours. Kita boleh store up to max 5 days kat situ.

Dah simpan semua bags, we queued at the Eurail Aid office to book our reservation seats for train Venice-Milan, Milan-Lugano, and Basel-Paris. The Eurail pass we got months earlier will not guarantee us a seat if the train we need to ride requires a reservation. For Basel-Paris, the seats were fully booked. So, we have to reroute our journey to Bern, and take the train to Paris from Bern. Luckily from Basel to Bern, the train doesn't require any reservation.

Eurail pass - bought in March 2011

After settled with the reservations (which costs us in total Eu72), we took the daily Metro tix and off to Vatican City. Since Termini Station ni kira their centralized station, so senang la nak access public transport. Along the way to Vatican City after the Metro ride, we encountered with lots of agents yg offer tix to access Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum etc. Some were friendly, some were a bit pushy. Buat tak tau aje. It is about 4 blocks walking distance from the Metro station.

Vatican City was really busy. Queue nak masuk the museum and Sistine Chapel was long!! We decided not to go in since our interest are not really into history and all sorts. We just took a stroll around Vatican City and snapped few pictures. There were so many people around this area, and that time of the year the weather is really HOT!!

From Vatican City we walked to the nearby old fortress, Castel Sant' Angelo. But there was nothing much as we walked around the fortress. Around that area there were rows of tents with locals selling stuffs around, ala2 mcm flea market. Towards the end, we stop for a slice of pizza. Kat sini when you're talking about a slice of pizza, the portion is huge!! Most of the time kami share aje.

Spanish Steps

Lepas dah tak tau nakpi mana, we went to Spanish Steps again, since the day before tak sempat nak explore kawasan sekitar coz terpaksa rushed back to the hotels due to kegatalan melampau from the allergy reaction. Spent the day until bosan at Spanish Steps. Via dei Condotti pun dkt sini je, here u can get Gucci, LV, Prada, Salvatore Ferragamo, etc...

Via dei Condotti

Since we have checked out from the hotel yg tak best tu, after we finished our ronda2 around Rome, we picked up our bags at Termini Station, headed to the Airport that very evening. We spent the night at the airport!! Thing we never did before! Sejukkk malam tu! Sakit2 badan tahan sejuk! Ramai jugak org lain tido kat airport. An interesting experience but we will not repeat it again, unless terpaksa. The reason why we did was because our flight to Venice is at 6.50am in the morning (check in at 5am after the door to terminal 3 open). Apart from tak nak spend time kat hotel tu, we dare not risk early morning taxi that may cost a lot (40euro kalau tak silap).

Next, Venezia....

The 13th International Symposium of Victimology

Location: Tokiwa Uni, Mito, Ibaraki, Japan

Duration: 23-28 Aug 2009

Mr ayah was given the golden the opportunity to present a paper which was co-authored with Dr Gaboury entitled "Establishing Human Trafficking Centers Globally: Humanitarian & Economic Perspectives during the abovementioned symposium.

Stacey, mr ayah & Dr G

Parallel session no.5, slot no.1 (Human Trafficking I), which was the 1st to go. Dr. G decided to let the student to present, which mr ayah and his colleague Stacey did. Alhamdulillah it went smooth. Stacey did the 1st part, and mr ayah did the next portion of the paper, which is the proposed solutions/conceptual proposal. Stacey is a CJ major in her Sr. year. She helps a lot for our paper. Tak sangka ramai lak yg berminat nak bertanya, tapi due to time constraint, the chair allows 3 Qs. Semua nak tuju kat mr ayah lak tu, tapi Alhamdulillah boleh la jawab.

mr ayah in action.. hehehe

The paper looks into human trafficking in the perspective of economy and humanitarian, yg mana the research focus on the economical aspect of a country that contribute to the push & pull factor of human trafficking activities. The establishment of human trafficking centers globally would be the workable solutions to address both reactive and proactive measurement to stop the crime. The centers would be best deployed at regional and sub regional level, since every region/country have their own unique issues and challenges regarding human trafficking.

muka lega dah abis present paper

Mr ayah would like to thank beloved mrs mama for the great support and understanding. Can't really do it without your support & patience. To all family members and friends for the prayers and encouragements. Special thanks to Dr G, for giving the opportunity and advices during the preparation of the paper. (Siap offer nak jadi SV kalau nak buat PhD nanti tu. Ada la dekat 10x dia ulang)

InsyaAllah we are working towards to publish this paper in one of the journals later.

If only mr ayah can share this with Arwah Ayah.. Ayah, this is for you...

Heading to the Land of the Rising Sun

Present Location: KLIA
Destination: Tokiwa Uni, Mito, Ibaraki, Japan

Mr ayah skrg ni tgh tunggu flight nak ke Jepun. Alhamdulillah, at the very last minutes the management bagi approval utk ke sana. Tujuan trip kali ni utk present the paper yg mr ayah prepare masa buat MSc dia dulu. Mr ayah is the co-author of the paper with his supervisor. The paper was accepted by the International Symposium of Victimology few months ago, cuma opis mr ayah je baru bagi approval utk pegi.

Terasa pressure gak nak present paper kat International forum ni. Sure ramai Prof2 yg cerdik pandai standby nak critic nanti. Sure ramai expert2 dari seluruh pelosok alam ada nanti. Dah la kena time bulan puasa ni. Mr ayah punya session will the the 1st slot of parallel session #5 in symposium, since ada 8 parallel session lain. Awalnya... Hopefully all will go well.

Tiap kali dtg KLIA ni sure terasa sentimental. Dah la sejak balik dari US, dah 5-6 kali ke KLIA ni sebab tugas luar. Kat KLIA ni la last dgn arwah ayah. Everytime lalu the exact same spot lepas turun dari escalator nak masuk departure, sure pusing blkg tgk atas. Still terbayang2 lambaian dia masa nak pegi US dulu. Pejam celik Dec 2007 dah lama dah berlalu.

InsyaAllah with all the doa' from the love ones, hopefully the presentation in Japan ni went well.

Mr ayah dedicate this presentation for Almarhum Ayahanda, Hamzah Mohamed. Al-Fatihah.

Jenjalan US 2008 - Atlantic City-DC-Baltimore

Atlantic City-DC-Baltimore (April 3 - April 5, 2009)

This would be the first time siri Jenjalan US ni without mrs mama and littleman. Mr ayah went along for the trip with a few friends.

- besarnya kasino Pakcik Trump ni...

The trip starts on a rainy day in Atlantic City. Too bad it was foggy, so tak byk la gegambar yg clear. But at least I made it to Atlantic City.



The main purpose of the trip is to see the Annual Cherry Blossom Festival in DC. MasyaAllah punya la ramai manusia masa tu, sampai nak naik Metro pun payah. People come from all over the places for the festival. Byk la gerai2, and ada gak la parade. Cherry Blossom or Sakura was sooo beautiful. Dah la merimbun je sana sini.

On our back to CT from DC, we decided to make a quick stop in Baltimore, MD for a while.

- me: Excuse me, sir..
guy: Waddup, Yaw! I ain't got no time, man.

All in all, it was a fun trip, but it could have been better if mrs mama and littleman are around. I miss both of you.

See you soon...