i can't go to sleep yet. and it passed midnight already. yesterday was crazy. yesterday i was supposed to go straight away to my anthropology class but i was so tired i had to skip it. i was planning to take only one course because i only need to take one since the technical elective is not offered in summer. but i realized that i was going to miss two classes which are worth two weeks of classes according to the standard fall/winter term. so nasri registered for me anthrop when i was in malacca since i didn't have internet access back there. now i am torn between cultural studies and critical theories (csct) and anthropology. i'm not really interested in anthrop but apparently anthrop has a lot of advantages, such as no assignments or quizzes, just midterms and final. on the other hand, i need to attend tutorials for csct which requires me to be an active audience by engaging in the discussions, which is so not me and there are essays that i have to write, which i suck at big time. but i think the course is very interesting, so i insist on going to the tutorial and lecture today, to see how it would be like.
it sucked. there were two students who i thought were the TAs giving a presentation on... ipods? okay i know that they showed some ads on ipod and they talked about ipod but i could not really get what their points were. One thing for sure i know that 98% of those people in the class hate apple and its products.
they talked about the advertisements having hidden messages targetted to all of us, making us want to buy their products and how that creates a consumer culture that i thought was being treated negatively by most of them. well i'm not saying that i'm on apple's side or anything, it's just that the reaction that they created or perhaps would like me to create in regard of this issue is just so sharp. it's weird that you talk about public manipulation but at the same time you are actually manipulated by these huge corporates as well.
if the product succeeds today well i guess it's because they implemented strong marketing and that people just love the design or features of the products. i think almost everyone realizes that apple imposes lock-in effect on its consumers. it's not really that convenient to use as well. you can't drag and drop. you have to use itunes. you lose your old playlist when you sync your ipod if you don't have the songs in your laptop anymore. though there are some softwares that you could download to prevent this, but isn't that just tedious.
but people still buy them. so it's the choice of the consumers themselves. so why? hahah. wow...
and they also seem to hate mcdonald's. don't bring your kids there then. educate them, that it's not really healthy. we the consumers are actually the driving force for the success of these businesses.
though i found that i am not on the same page as most of the people in the class, i found it interesting to observe my classmates' reactions on these provoctive issues. i might drop anthrop. but i might drop csct as well. cause i can't speak my mind out. everytime i tried to do so, my stomach rumbled like i was having diarrhea and would probably shit in my pants in just any seconds. help?
so yea i skipped my anthrop class that night, i went straight away to bed. i did buzz my mom on ym before i threw myself on the mattress but she didn't answer. so i left a message for her saying that i was so tired that i needed to sleep. i woke up that night at around 1.30am, that was when i read the blood-rushing news from my mom's message on ym. she said she was admitted into an emergency ward where she had a laser surgery for her bleeding nose. i cried the instant i finished the whole sentences, written in three lines.
i immediately buzz her and found that she was online. and she told me everything. she said she was on her way back home after buying cats food, and she noticed that her nose was bleeding. again. her nose bled like 2 or 3 days ago but it was only for a few minutes and then it stopped. but this time it didn't stop. she was using a small towel to to wipe the blood but not long after that, the towel got soaked with blood. she had to pull over and she said people were just driving pass her, not offering any help. wow malaysians. congrats. luckily after a while there was this young guy driving a van stopped by and helped my mom.
he had two bottles of plain water and poured it onto my mom's head. you know how people say if you're having nose bleed, you should put a cold towel on your forehead to stop the bleeding. that was what the guy was trying to do i guess. and it didn't work. so he called my dad using my mom's phone number. and the guy waited for my dad with my mom.
she said that time, there was already a lot, like seriously a lot of blood flowing out of her nose. she said she thought was going to...ehem. it was painful and she couldn't really breath through her nose cause it's like a bloody waterfall and a lot of the times she couldn't help herself from swallowing the blood. it was terrible she said. i couldn't imagine how it would feel like either T_T
then my dad arrived and took her to normah hospital with his car. she was rushed into an emergency ward and that was around 5pm msia time. and that was the time when i was using the internet coin machine in gatwick, it was 1 pound/2 euros for every freakin 10 minutes, since i really wanted to talk to mom before i board on the plane, i inserted some leftover euro coins that i had after my european trip last time, and it surprised me that 20 euro cents topped up my time credit an extra 10 minutes. my luck i guess. so i had another 20 minutes extra i guess for less than 1 pound or 2 euro. but mom didn't answer me. little that i knew that my mom was actually at the hospital that time. i thought she went for her aerobic session already.
at around 7.30pm in kuching, she woke up and she saw the doctor. she was told that everything's settled. she then istighfar a lot and thanked God that she was still there. and she said suddenly she cried. the nurse asked her why did she cry and she said, she's worried about her daughter who was on her way to canada, and she didn't know if she's there yet... T_T
my brother stayed with her that night because she was only allowed to go back home on the next day. well actually my brother and his friend called harris. they brought their laptops and played games while keeping mom accompanied. harris' family was also being so nice. they paid mom a visit at the hospital right after they heard the news. straight from workplace, and still could meet my mom with smiles on their faces eventhough their stomaches are all empty waiting for dinner. My gratitude to harris and his family.
the cause of this, my parents thought it was because of this health product that they were taking, called alpha lipid. this product contains colostrum which is the pre-natal milk produced by mammals which helps build immune system for babies. somehow, studies have shown that colostrum is also beneficial for adults that it could fix adults internal systems such that the possibility of getting rid of most common diseases is almost unity. i did read on the internet about the side effects, most them are minor like flu, headache or the worst would be diarrhea. but nothing about heavy nose bleed.
it was recommended by my aunt who's having resdung for all of her life, and since she used the product, her nose and eyes were not itchy anymore, she sneezes much lesser than she used to. and she said she had a friend who was diabetic and was taking insulin who got cured by this product. yes cured as in no more diabetis. she has become a normal person.
hearing that. from my own aunt. who had no previous bad history with us. mom and dad were conviced to take the product and give it a shot. who knows, mom won't have to push needle into her flesh every night anymore after taking that thing. i'd be so happy for her if that's the case. however, a hope remains a hope for me. and for my parents as well i guess.
the colostrum might have increased mom's metabollic rate that her body got so hot that the blood vessel in her face got too dried and then leaked. if it was a regular nose bleed, the blood vessel that was cut would have been small, so the bleeding would stop in a very short period of time. but the blood vessel that was cut that day was a huge one. that explains the profuse bleeding.
my mom didn't want to take product anymore. it's not only expensive, a small can, maybe around half a liter can, costs almost RM200, it also costs my dad RM3,300 for the surgery.
alpha lipid people. i emailed a few of the sabah sarawak representatives. no replies. haha.
toot toot tooooooot.
i'm just grateful that she's okay now. she said she's feeling weak these few days. well she lost a lot of blood. i interrogated my brother on ym on this. he said it was pretty bad. and she feels pain everytime she swallows. doctor said it was because of the tube that they had to put in through her throat, it might have caused minor cuts in there.
i felt like a part of me died that night. i couldn't think. i couldn't focus. and i found out that i had an essay due in two days. and i haven't bought the textbook and read the assigned readings and stuff. it was mind-torturing.
and i was relieved when we were told today in class that the deadline is extended till next tuesday.
thank God. my mom is safe.
was this how my summer in canada began
Time
moves so fast i hardly recognize myself anymore. out of shape. far beyond my reach. too long kills me, too short makes it even harder.
i love this place. i don't want to leave. my granparents are so cool. watching atok spitting fierce words to his goat really made my day. listening to nenek's rant on this and that.
"lahabau punye kambeng, aku kate jalan pegi la jalan!"
"mane ayam hawau ni, cukup lahanat! aku sesah kang, potong terus sumbat lam peti sejok."
"nenek cekop ayam tu masa dia tengah makan."
"kiraikan le sotong tu punye gule kalau tanak gule."
"nenek ghabe je la ghambutan atas pokok, ape nak pakai galah."
ha... i am going to miss them. i'm so happy that i make them proud.
"dak alin belajau kat kanada. amek enjenering."
and last night,
"daddy bukak kan ghambutan ni, kuku akak pendek sakit nak kopek."
"boleh..." he put down his cigarette, kopek rambutan banyak2 for me.
:( i'm feeling sad...
Gading Gading
Aku sudah pun menjejakkan kaki ke menara gading.
Tetapi kali ini, aku menjejakkan kaki ke Gunung Gading.
Huahuahua.
Gunung Gading National Park. Another national park besides the other famous one, Bako National Park. My main objectives were to conquer the summit as well as to spot a Rafflesia, the largest flower in the world.
Both objectives failed to be achieved.
There were eight of us that day; 5 guys, 3 girls, 2 cars and a haunted forest. Hahaha, I said haunted because... I'll tell you the story later.
Upon arrival, we paid the entrance fee which was RM5 per person (student rate). It's RM20 for a group of 5 students. Then, we went to another building for registration I think, and we were given a photostatted map on an A4 paper.
We found a Rafflesia even before we started our journey through the trail! But made of stone though. Hahaha. Yeah, just replica.
And a tragedy struck my girl friend. Half of her left shoe outsole came off. I saw one of the guys chewing gum so I asked him to put it onto the sole to put the shoe back together. Hahaha. We then headed to the entrance of the trail.
At the entrance, we had a dua recitation before stepping into the jungle. And we went on until we found out that the trail was now diverging into two. And before that, Muni, the one with the outsole coming off just now, her right shoe outsole came off completely. One of the guys who is also sort of my cousin let her use his slippers. We then carried on with the walking.
Muni's shoe hahah
I told them that the right one would bring us to the gading summit, and the left one would bring us to another summits cause that was what I saw on the map board at the registration office.
They believed me. So we took the right one, and I suddenly felt that that was the wrong way. My friend quickly made a smart move. By calling the office, and my feeling was right, we should have taken the left one. Luckily we had not climbed the extremely ascending stony trail too far yet.
We kept on going and after a while, we had to stop because Muni was already so tired that she needed to sit down for a while. We stopped a lot because the trail was very steep and it was quite challenging as well. There were greenish rocks which I didn't dare to step on cause I was afraid that it'd be too slippery. I didn't want to get injured. There were tree roots which could cause trekkers to trip.
After walking for almost half km (maybe), we found a huge rock sitting on top of a few other rocks, and we could hear a stream of water underneath the huge rocks. The place is called Batu Apek or The Old Man Rock, I forgot to read the legend on the signage. Haha.
Batu Apek
I love the tree behind me, so gagah
Waterfall no. 7
The higher one
The lower one
Guys praying
Girls praying
Sorry bout the guy interframing
Awesomeness
So off they went, and we girls went down with the foods and sat on a huge rock. We had our pre-lunch (cause it was not noon yet) on the rock and then enjoyed the cold water. The water was so cold I had to get into it slowly and I was already shivering when half of my body was in the water.
Gathering my energy to fight the coldness
Staring at the beauty of God's creation
We then climbed up the rocks to get to the larger waterfall which was higher than our starting point. And not long before we went to the large one, the sky started to grumble and we looked up the black sky, and light rain started to pour down on us. We quickly got back down and pack our foods and got back on the gazebo.
The larger one
Showing some moves
A few minutes after that, the light rain turned cats and dogs. We played in the rain, and had our lunch while waiting for the guys to come back. We were a bit worried about the guys cause the trail would have been slippery because of the rain now. We just waited there, sitting closed to each other as we found that all of us were shivering.
Raining
Playing in the rain
Hahah I love raaaaaiinnn
I found that weird but I didn't feel frightened or anything. After about 2 and a half hour they left, they finally made it back. We asked them how was the summit and they said they didn't even get there because the thunder was worrying them. I was like, oh? Lucky I didn't join you guys :D
By that time, the rain had stopped so they went off to the large waterfall. Mirah wanted to go there too but I was hesitant. Cause I was shivering like crazy. It was damn cold. Hahah.
But I finally decided to go back there. And I definitely didn't regret my decision. It was fantastic. I don't know how to describe it, there was just this feeling of excitement and happiness when I got myself under the waterfall. I couldn't stay there for long though, cause the pressure exerted by the falling water was very strong i felt like being beaten and slapped by water.
We finally got to the large one
It was fuuuuunnnnn
We then performed Asar prayer and then packed up our stuff to get ready and head back. I am very thankful to have friends like them. The fact that they care so much about prayers instead of just ignoring the responsibility, hoping to qada' the prayers once we got home just made me feel so thankful to have them as friends. Thank you God for blessing me with my friends!
The sight of them praying was just so... subhanallah wallahuakbar
The walking on our way back was much less tiring and lengthy. One of the guys had a leech on his stomach. I began to worry a lot cause I hate leechessssssssssss T_T
My cousin tried to comfort me by telling me not to worry and all. Hahaha, oh God...
We passed the Rafflesia trail and didn't take it because it was already late and we had to go back home before the sun came down. So there you go, two of my main objectives. Both unfullfilled. Hahaha.
Well thankfully I didn't have one on me when we arrived at the entrance. We then sat on the road cause one of the guys said he had some stories to tell. He then said, there was a reason why they didn't get to the summit. Cuan, one of the guys told us that he actually thought that they had walked enough to get to the summit, according to the map as he was the map holder.
There were like a few times that they felt like they had seen the summit by noticing a bright area up ahead, but everytime they were about to reach the bright area, they found out that there were more trees, as if they were walking endlessly, where according to the map they had actually walked long enough.
Cuan started to feel uneasy about it, as if something was playing around or something like that, he did ask the other guys to go back to the waterfall where we were waiting for them a few times. After quite a while, the thunder forced them to return.
On the way back to the waterfall, my cousin saw women with brown clothing and long hair in the river not far down. So he yelled to the others, "come on guys we're almost there, there are people bathing in the river down there."
After they reached there, Razi, one of the guys asked Safwan my cousin, "I thought you said there were..."
"It's okay, don't...", he cut off immediately. Razi understood right away and kept silent.
I read on the signage about the legend of the waterfall; it is a place where 3 princesses used to take bath. So I told them, maybe those were the princesses! Mirah then told them, the guys should have brought at least a girl with them in order to avoid being disturbed. She asked them was there at any girl during their trip to Gunung Santubong (which I missed cause I couldn't wake up early heheh), they said yeah there was a girl with them during that trip. "That's why you guys were not disturbed".
She also told us that before we get into any waters, river, lake or whatever we should check first if we could go in there or not. How to check. Check your reflection, she said. If you couldn't see your own reflection on the water, don't jump in.
Hahaha I said, oh really? I never did that. Didn't even check just now. Muni agreed. Mirah said she had checked for us. Sounds creepy to me. Mirah also told us that she heard the voices of men, just like the ones I heard. She also thought that the guys were about to arrive in a few seconds but they didn't. I felt relieved a bit, at least I was not the only one who heard those voices.
And you know what, just now when I was writing on the princesses part, my laptop suddenly got stuck and restarted on its own. Now how creepy is thaaaaaaat. Hahaha. Man...
We even got lost during our way back. My parents were already calling a few times cause I was supposed to go home before Maghrib as we were going to have a Father's Day dinner at Buntal. (seafood, yummy). It was weird because we thought we took the right turn and all but it appeared that we took the wrong road, which was a much longer way back home.
Out of a sudden I sound superstitious now eh?
Creepy.
I had fun, despite the creepy stuffs :)
Netherlands to Southern Spain
*Okay I've added the pictures, I apologize for the super delay, I was spending my time with my family in the first few week as if I'd never see them again, hahah and then the router smoked crack, and then friends started to ask to go for outings and so on. So, yeah, enjoy the pictures :D
Another white village, this one is a bit huge
Oh wait, I think this is Arcos
This is Seville
From inside the car, at a roundabout
Yesterday was amazing. After a hot tour in Seville or Sevilla in Spanish, (and I was wearing 2 pieces of shirts. Stupido.) I had one of the best evenings ever in my whole life. But Sevilla tour first, we went to some of the main attractions. Firstly, we went to a huge old church which was once a mosque, but after the Christians conquered Sevilla, the mosque was turned into a church. Some of the Islamic attributes and characteristics could still be seen on the structure, except that it has human structures and crosses on top of the dome and towers.
La Giralda Minaret, it's one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites, a place for the bilal to call for prayers.
The other side of it
That thing is beautiful
The dome
My jaw dropped when i first saw it
There were also horse carts like in Bruges, but the horses didn’t have like a plastic that’s like attached to the cart and the horse’s ass which would contain their shit whenever they would shit. Thus, Sevilla lost another mark because of that (previously lost mark was because of the weather) cause the absence of the ‘portable toilet bowl’ has caused the whole city to smell like shit (most of the time) cause the carts are all over the place. *sigh*
There was also an old castle, okay to be honest, I think this trip is pretty lengthy I’ve mixed up the names of the places and landmarks. I think the castle that I mentioned just now was called Alcazar, but if I’m not mistaken, alcazar means castle, so any castle would be called alcazar, and there are a lot of castles in Spain! Gosh. People said there’s a garden inside, but the admission fee’s quite expensive and the garden would be quite similar to the one at Granada which we would also visit next. So I decided not to go in there.
It was so hot that day we had to give up early, most shops were also closing down cause it was pass their siesta time, which is the napping time for Spanish people. It’s like a culture there, shops are closed down at around 2pm-6pm for them to take a nap, cause it’s so hot? Sounds like heaven! I miss long sleeps. I’ve had sleeps that were unsatisfactorily long ever since the final exams. And travelling is freaking tiring, I have to admit. Money flows like a river. Oh well…
Okay then I went to the, what’s it called eh? Plaza de España. Yeah hey hey hey. This place is cool. My head suddenly gets stupid, I’ve run out of idea how to describe it, I’ll just show you some pictures. Down here.
And then we headed back to the car and drove to our hotel for the night, and in the evening, aunty asked me if I would like to come with them to find some sunflowers, I was like, naaaak. So we took the car and headed towards a yellow field that we spotted from far away. We then reached this place where nobody would have thought of going to cause the road to that place was kind of hidden.
And it felt like I was in a dream. A huge hilly land of blooming sunflowers. The flowers were all facing the same direction, which was coincidently towards where we came from, so all I saw was sunflowers, thousands of them I bet all smiling at me. Aunty said the flowers are all facing sunrise and yea I think that could be true cause it was almost sunset that time so the sun was right behind those flowers, slowly getting swallowed by the horizon.
Isn't that just breathtaking?
There were so many of them
It's kind of dark because it was sunset
Wish I could jump and land on them, but then I'd probably be chased away...by dogs, if i were lucky enough
*sighs...*
One of the best things that has ever occurred in my life *inhales with a smile*
On the next day, we went to Merida, which houses the oldest Roman city in Spain. There were a lot of roman ruins in the middle of the city. We were like walking around the city and would then unexpectedly found some ruins. And they were like scattered around the city. There was also a roman bridge which has a garden under it. It’s really nice, I like it there. But I don’t really like the hot weather. Hahaha.
I like it
The Roman bridge
Look at this beast, so cool
This is at the square
A bird with its nest spotted on top
One of the ruins in the midst of the town
Still standing
Not far from the ruins
This was taken behind the fence, need to pay to get inside actually
Another view
Cool eh?
And so we went to Cordoba next day. It was uh… let’s just say that I had a bad start of my day, so half of the day was spent with a gloomy aura. I lost my appetite to see new things, and the mezquita failed to attract my attention that day. So, I don’t know, it is undeniably a great architecture that combines Islamic and Christian features. But there were just some facts or words that were used to describe stuff, oh well I was having a bad day already that day, I don’t know it just turned out to be not as great as I thought it’d be like. Just have a look at the pictures la, adeh…
I love all the details
mezquita cathedral, i guess that's another minaret
The view is really nice but it was so hot
That's how the interior looks like, the red and white stripes
The mihrab, which faces southward which I think is not right
Different influence in the mosque-cathedral (reminds me of physics, wave-particle duality, mosque-cathedral duality, hahaha)
That is just so beautiful I tell you
More stripes
Another ceiling design, it's so spectacular i feel like want to be an architect
The integration of different elements
It would be an honor to bring this wall home hahaha
And today, phew, this is tiring. I want to sleep! Today, we went out early. Like I mean it, really early. Hahah at around 5.30am cause we didn’t book our ticket for La Alhambra. And when uncle called the people at Alhambra, the earliest booking available is only on Sunday’s afternoon onwards, which is like the day after tomorrow. And we have to catch our flight to Stansted so we can’t go on Sunday! And so we were told to just come by tomorrow and walk-in purchase the tickets. So that explains the early start of our day today.
L a Alhambra, or Alhamra’ if it’s written in Arabic (I have no idea where the ‘b’ comes from, I guess it’s a Spanish thing), is situated on top of Sabika Hill. There are oh well, the typical thing, gardens, gardens gardens and nice beautiful views. Aaaa I need to pack up, and then go to sleep, might not be able to upload lots of pictures tonight. But please check out this entry again later on, will update it again. And I owe you guys the journey from Brussels to Arcos (which is before Seville).
Stay tuned.
(Though I think nobody really reads my blog. Mbahaha. It’s okay, I just love talking to myself)
Adios amigos, Buenas noches.
From Toronto to Amsterdam
*Edited, posted some more pics here
And so I thought my flight was on Monday, but I just found out on Saturday that my flight was actually on Tuesday. So my plan to go to Royal Botanical Garden with Alyssa and Nasri had to be cancelled, cause I need to pack up and all (I’m packing for home too).
Initially I wanted to bring home all my baju kurung cause I want to bring a new one this time. It seemed that I couldn’t fit in clothes that I would need for travelling. So I had to repack and bla bla bla, why am I talking about packing stuff? So lame. It’s just that I have to keep my check-in luggage to be under 15kg *sigh*
Okay so the trip to the first destination, Gatwick airport was quite long. I kept on falling asleep and once the foods reached me, I automatically woke up hehe. I felt, cam best, heheh cause we were served first since we requested for muslim foods. So ape lagi melantak la kan.
Then, when we reached Gatwick, we had to go to the other terminal by bus since the train was not in service. We then took EasyJet flight to Schipol Airport, Holland. There, we waited for a couple of hours for the arrival of Nasri’s parents.
We then took a cab to our hotel in Lisse, The Golden Tulip Hotel. One room for the women and one for the guys. The only expensive hotel of this trip I guess. I think uncle chose this one cause it’s very near to Keukenhof.
By the way, Keukenhof is a dutch word ( I think, I’m pretty sure it is) which means Kitchen’s Garden. I was told by aunty that Keuken means kitchen and hof means place or something like that. It’s called so because the place was initially just a garden where herbs and a few plants were planted and the owner would go to the garden to pick these stuffs for use in the kitchen, thus the name Keukenhof.
Haaa.... so many pictures. For more pictures, check out my facebook or if you're not a friend of mine, then you can't see them, sorry :P
It then expanded and today, there are a lot of sections where each has different exhibitions by different companies. I think there were at least 90 plus exhibitions (sorry if I’m wrong, my memory just sucks) and what’s interesting about this place is that it is only open for 6 weeks, the period which those flowers are in bloom. Main attraction was tulips of course.
If I came down there like, right away after I had my exam, I might get the chance to catch the whole field full of blossoming tulips, each row with different colours T_T, unfortunately I didn’t. Rugiiiiiiiiii waaaaaaa. Maybe I have to come again next time then.
There was like a huge land area right opposite the hotel I was staying at which had the remaining of tulips. The only things missing were the tops. The beautiful flowers. I was lucky that there were still some tulips that were not chopped off yet, if not it would really be a waste to come all the way from Canada. And did I mention the steep admission fee that they were charging us? EU13.50 bhai. Would be happier if I could see all of them.
I read on the internet that they chopped off the tops on purpose to strengthen the bulbs so that next year those flowers would still be healthy and would still bloom, I guess. Correct me if I’m wrong.
Okay I’m writing this while I’m in this hostel in Ronda, Southern Spain. I’m just not sleepy yet, and before I forget everything, I might as well write something on the beginning of my trip. This is one cool hostel, it’s located in a small village (one of the white villages, called Cartajima *pronounced kartahima*) right in the middle of some hilly terrains, amidst trees and huge rocks. The view from here is just spectacular. I’ve never thought I’d step my feet on such a place like this. On my way here, the view was amazing. We took the way which passed the national park which looks something like the scene in Lord of the Rings.
Cartajima's church
Cartajima's restaurant and bar down there
Church's balcony
One of the stairs in Cartajima
Another white village that can be seen from the rooftop of the hostel
Lemons are common
Aunty even said that this place looks similar to New Zealand. Since I’ve never been there yet, I was so stunned with the beautiful view, really, this is like my dream okeyh! I was like thanking God every second in the car (we rented a car by the way) for giving me the chance to see this side of the world.
I saw like a signboard that has a symbol that looked like a cow/ goat and I was like, mane lembunye, I don’t see any. And right after I said that I saw one on a huge rock, looking at the sky. And I spotted another one sitting on the grass, and then another one. And not long after that, there was a herd of them crossing the road!
Rockish
Mbekkk
Jalan raya yang agak menakutkan
Sharp turn
Okay, I’m skipping the days after at Lisse!
Back to day two, we went to Amsterdam on the next day (after Keukenhof) (sorry for the distorting the chronological orders). And so, the place that was popular of two things; legal weed smoking and sale, as well as the red light district.
One of the canals
At the square
Bicycles
Red light district, behind that row of bulding
Bikes bikes bikes
I love the buildings
The night before we had a dinner with uncle’s friend who is a local, and he gave aunty the direction to the Chinatown cause she was eager to go there. And he was like, just walk straight from the central lalalala then you’ll reach the Chinatown. Just keep on walking but don’t walk too further cause you’ll get to the red light district.
Aunty was like, I don’t have a problem with that. And he replied, you don’t but I’m not sure about these kids (pointing at both Nasri and I). We just laughed and grinned. So, the plan was not to get to the red light district. But then, we had a slight change in our plan and we decided to take another path to get back to the hotel.
Aunty was trying to get us out of Chinatown through a shortcut, but we accidentally reached this place where there were girls being displayed through the glass in shop houses, also spotted a signboard that said “sexshop”. So yeah, we accidentally entered the red light district area :D we were like, oopssss :D
It was kind of disappointing. The girls are not that cute or beautiful. Gemok je. Siap ade yang tua da berkedut weh! I was like euw? I read on one of the brochures that taking pictures are not allowed or you’d get into trouble. But with those girls? I wouldn’t even bother to take their pictures la. I don’t know if they keep the hot ones for night time display haha.
Well if you didn’t or couldn’t find the red light district, the whole town itself is already polluted, I personally think. Yea so they don’t really have cars. They have a lot, I mean it, a lot! Of bicycles, it’s their main transportation I guess. The roads are all so narrow, I understand why they wouldn’t even give a damn about owning a car.
Less air pollution you say? Heh. Not really. It’s even worse, weed smoke is like everywhere. I hate it. Smells like, I don’t know, some people describe it like skunk pee. Whatever it is, I just hate the smell. Nice view, nice buildings, lots of canals, though the roads are pretty narrow, but bad air ambience.
Weeeeeed
And the souvenir shops, I don’t know why are they so proud of their red light district. There were like mugs with penis as the handle, keychains that replicate penises, penises are just everywhere. As souvenirs? It’s just so wrong! Hahah.
There was this souvenir shop that sells cannabis lollipops. I wanted to try one so I asked him, how does these taste like? He was like, well, like weed. Duhhhhh? So I asked again, would you get high if you eat it? He said, depends. Some people take two or three of these and then *gestured with his hand*, just fall asleep. So I decided, hmmmmmm no thanks then. I love me. It would be great if they could make them out of some artificial flavour that mimics the taste of cannabis. But come on Linda, that's Amsterdam. Tak main la artificial okeyh.
So then we went back to the hotel, took our bags, and hopped on the bus and train to Antwerp, Belgium. We were greeted by the beautiful central station, and the hostel that we were staying at was just like 5 minute walk from the station. And there was this Indonesian restaurant called Waroeng Ayam Goreng! Quite expensive, for a set of fried halal chicken and white rice cost EU8.50. But there were like 6 pieces of chicken so, yea it was not bad. The best thing that I liked about the restaurant was the sambal. It was phenomenal. Well for sambal lover like me who hasn’t had sambal for quite some time. This one is a killer!
The next day, went around Antwerp or in Dutch, Antwerpen which means something like hands being chopped off? Hahah, I’m not too sure about the history cause I heard the owner of the Indonesian restaurant telling the history of the name of the city, but since I can’t really understand Indonesian when it’s spoken fast, so all I caught was the word Tuhan marah maka dipotongnya tangan, lalalala. Gitu la :D
Antwerp
Uncle was like repeating ten times, this is the first european castle!
Felt like I was lost in the medieval time
The shopping strip, I had to talk myself out of shopping T_T mahal weh
Kudaku lari
A very old church
Adeh... cantek la
the buildings, i just like them all
I guess the hand that was chopped off by god?
Okeh this is funny. There was a group of students who came to us and asked us to write Belgium is a world country in Malay language. And they were like, can we take picture please *excited faces* I felt like a celebrity for 5 minutes :D
I liiiikkkkeeee
Brabo fountain
Cobble stones, old churches, cathedrals with remarkable carvings are typical here. Okeh, ngantok, will continue later!
11:53pm local time Southern Spain GMT+1
*Posted from El Faisan Hotel, Arcos, Southern Spain 10.53pm local time
Some New Stuff
So. Holidays are here. I have no idea what to do while waiting for my flight on May 12. I've just moved in to a new room, which is right next to my old room, and i tell you, this is waaaaay bigger than my old room. It's unbelievable how I could actually survive in that little cage. Spending $20 extra per month is worth it. Money flows like a river this month. Since I've moved in to a larger room, I've decided to get myself a desk, and I got a corner desk which cost me $45, includes the delivery charge. That guy was so nice. Still looking for a chair, hoping to find an office chair.
The transferring process
Since there was sort of an empty room at one corner of my room, and since I already own a wii console, I finally decided to buy one. Though used one, but the owner said it works great, so I don't mind. It's an HDTV and I got it for like $50. It's not here yet though, expecting it to be delivered today. I just want to see my handsome Link, please, not another stupid seller this time. I'm on holidays!
View from the door
Turn right a bit
And another not so new stuff, a bag that looks like a giant shoe. Ebay has victimized me. Pourquoi? Pourquoi ebay! I just love the bag, it's cute. Most people seem to agree with me as well.
My huge shoe
It's made of leather-like material
I actually changed the lace, that's a real shoelace. Have an extra pair.
It's function, f(x) = ln (zy cos x)
Just discovered how to actually make full use of this thing, besides being just a mere music player
And in less than 2 weeks, I'll be leaving Canada. For a while. Talking about Canada, my grades come into my mind. Thankfully, I didn't fail my math. Instead, got a lucky C+. I think that's hilarious! That's like, almost B-. Hahaha and I thought I'd have a flunk this time. Thank you God.
And I'm just so proud of my French. I should live in Paris. Or Quebec. Mbahahaha.
And thank you God.
Okay I'm so hungry, but I'm so lazy to make pancakes.
