I wanted something badly

and it was too much for me to handle.

Suddenly I realised, it was a perfect time to let it go

So I slowly walk away

and breathe.

Coffee never tasted this good :-)

Location : Bukit Jalil Hwy, 57000 Kuala Lumpur, Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur,
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Solo trip, Japan: Osaka and Kyoto (II)

22 & 23 Jan 2012

Nishiki Market - Food Market in central Kyoto : Lumayan

  

Mahu berjumpa Geisha

Hanami-Koji area

Yasaka Shrine

Wedding Ceremony @ Yasaka Shrine

Maruyama Park

Melalui laluan jalan kaki yang penuh kedai jualan utk ke Kiyomizudera Temple

Kiyomizudera Temple

Lucky?

Reflection of Kyoto Tower

@ Murin -An

 

Amazing Landscape, Peaceful feelings

Cantik kan...

No photos allowed - Sanjusangendo

Suka sangat hotel ni - Hotel Anteroom

 Next Morning - last stop before heading to the airport

Entrance: Fushimi Inari Shrine

God of rice and Commerce

Walking through countless red Torii

View from train heading to the airport

Kyoto - Osaka - Home :)

Why i Need my Morning Coffee

Like this quote ha..ha..ha.. :D

When travelling with someone, take large doses of patience and tolerance with your morning coffee  - Helen Hayes

Solo trip, Japan: Osaka and Kyoto (I)

21 Jan 2012

Long overdue photos - Japan trip during winter and CNY holiday

Going up @ Umeda Sky Building

Lumi Deck - specially reserved space for lovers in the 173 meter high

skyscraper

Sakura or cherry blossoms in winter?

Pink

Osaka Castle - worth a visit but not the Osaka Museum unless u can read japanese

Heading Kyoto, the orange train is the metro

Capsule Hotel @ http://9hours.jp/

My loyal partner, my camera :)

Looking for food for dinner



Lights

 

Inside the capsule - Nite :)

Perfect Sweetness

It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude - Ralph Waldo Emerson

I realised that things have been good.

I was rushing back to the hometown last weekend as my uncle is sick and admitted to the hospital. After hours being stuck on a plane, apa lagi jet lag pun muncul tetapi mengagahi jua. Arrived mom's house and immediately hop on to big bro car and sleep for another two hours journey (feels like sleeping on the plane though). Selesai semua dan pulang semula ke rumah emak. Semua ada. Riuh rendah. Celebrated bro in law and nephew birthday together with father's day - combo style. I woke up late on Sunday. Kelam kabut bangun. Terus teringat akan pesan mak malam tadi untuk sesi masak memasak. Surprisingly bila bangun, breakfast ubi rebus sambal hijau ikan bilis dah tersedia. Wah :) Mak pulang awal dari kedai to join us cooking. Meriah. Raya pun tak dapat berkumpul seramai ini. Mak sekarang bukan sahaja ditemani oleh dua orang adik lelaki saya, tetapi juga menantu dan sesekali bakal menantu menjengah menghantar makanan. Alhamdulillah. Tidak lah tertunggu-tunggu emak untuk saya pulang. Teman berbual pun ada :)

Oleh kerana tahu akan mengambil cuti yang panjang di waktu yang crucial, I tried hard to complete everything. Work like mad. Juggling my own time. Pagi, petang, Siang dan malam. In between NZ and Italy/Swiss trip investor juga sempat menjengah. Saya mencuba sebaik mungkin menyediakan dan menjawab segala persoalan dari investor dan juga auditor. Meninggalkan department, hati ada sedikit risau. Dengan dua project baru in hand, saya request dan prepare apa yang patut. Tapi saya percaya, mereka boleh survive tanpa saya, (but i made myself available 24/7 mostly on whatapps and emails - just in case). Saya selalu fikir yang terbaik untuk company. Oleh itu, cara kerja saya ialah dengan memastikan company tidak perlukan saya. Maksudnya saya boleh diberhentikan pada bila-bila masa kerana company akan survive tanpa saya - everything in place dan in order. Sesiapa yang menggantikan saya hanya perlu menyambung kerja saya dengan mungkin lebih baik lagi. Tiada back lock, tiada apa yang perlu di sorok-sorok. Alhamdulillah - they made it without me. We survived. Bangga saya dengan mereka. Leadership through Empowerment :)

The world does not stop just because I'm on leave - Firefly

Being able to take time off and realising my dreams, I'm grateful. Jika sepuluh tahun lepas, ia kelihatan mustahil. Terlalu banyak limitation - terutamanya masa, wang dan kerja. Tetapi saya realised kerana tak punya banyak masa - saya lebih hargai masa (fokus, priorities dan tidak membazirkan masa dan energy pada yang tak perlu). Kerana tidak punya banyak lebihan wang - saya berbelanja yang perlu sahaja, ikut budget dan target. Kerana kerja yang umpama air hujan, saya tidak libatkan diri dengan politik kerja, cuba tidak procrastinate dan cuba delegate. Secara tidak sedar, kerana mahu meralisasikan impian, saya cuba menjadi yang lebih baik. Saya tahu ada manis nya di hujung sana :)

Begitulah. In the midst of everything, the sweetness is just perfect. 

Good Night, Sleep tight beautiful people.

When i Was 5

Happy moments with the balloons, strangled himself and finally fall asleep - lil nephew Hariz

When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life. ― John Lennon

Heading Home

6 &7 June 2012

Decided to just rest at the hotel and check out late at 11am. Took a bus number 31 to Zurich HB train station and took a train to the airport which only about 15 mins for CHF 6.

Melepak di Zurich airport sampai boring and now after 6 hours arrived Dubai Airport for transit to KL dan teruskan melepak. Ada four hours to kill. Flight depart at 3.55 am for another seven hours.

Then i'm back home. Mixed feeling and exhausted. It has been 10 days - Gracias Italy and Switzerland.

Thinking of my next trip. Ke mana ya?

Location : Airport Rd, Dubai,

Switzerland: Mt Pilatus, Luzern

Mount Pilatus

5 June 2012

Early morning heading to the train station for Mount Pilatus at Luzern. Arrived Luzern we bought Golden Round Trip Pilatus ticket at SBB ticket counter for CHF 98.20 per person.

Boat departed at 10.40 am and arrived Alpnchstad after 90 minutes. Then we took one of the steepest cable train in the world for 40 mins and arrived Pilatus Kulm at 2132m / 7000ft. It was freezing cold, really cold but we continue climb the stairs towards the platform to view the mountain and yes its worth it. Sejuk nya tak dapat nak dikatakan.

Then we had a good simple lunch of vegetarian spaghetti and baked potato. Licin. Itu pun dah cost us CHF 23 tapinya the golden tix inclusive of CHF 10 voucher that redeemable at the restaurant, so belasah je.

We took cable car for about 30 minutes to decent back to the entrance. I think kalau yg gayat boleh kecut perut. Then we walk a bit to catch a bus back to Luzern train station for 15 mins.

We walked around to look for Luxemburgerli - looks like macaron. A stranger that we met, recommended us to try it. Found it - 100gms cost us CHF 12 and you will get about 12 Luxemburgerli. Rasanya...emmmm manis sekali.

Location : Zwinglistrasse 12, 8004 Zurich,

Switzerland : Zurich

Heading Zurich

4 June 2012

Train delayed and we have to changed train and finally arrived Zurich. Surprisingly, we can enter Zurich without any passport checking at the train station. We asked around for direction coz no more google map :( As we are a bit terpinga-pinga, an old man asked us if we need help. Wah. I realised that even though we cant read their signage, the people speaks english and more pleasant compared to Italianese. Its freezing cold here and i only have one jacket to cover me up.

Finally arrived at hotel and we have to climb the stairs as our room at level 4.  Mak aih. Patah pinggang. Rest for a while before heading back to the street. No line for calls or sms. So we have to purchased internet @ CHF 10 for 3 hours from the hotel.

Kebab cafe's are easy to find and its expensive. I'm aware that cost of living in Switzerland is high - one bottle of coke is CHF 3 = RM 10. Our dinner that night je dah CHF 33. Purchased return ticket to Luzern for tomorrow at CHF 46/pax which is not very smart because if we purchase online earlier we can get 50% discount... sigh.

Zurich - different  from any of the cities in Italy. Two words perhaps describe Zurich - Pleasant but Costly :) Lots of boutique and shopping mall around the train station. Bus and train depart precisely on time. Clean and structured road. Tidak ada peminta sedekah atau penjual jalanan. Decent clothing by the locals and everything seems calm and relax.

Hmmm... two more nights and i'm back home.

Location : Zwinglistrasse 12, 8004 Zurich,

Italy trip : Milan

Duomo

3 June 2012

Arrived safely at Milano Centrale train station and checked in hotel which about 700 km. As we do not have much time to be spent at Milan, we make a move back to the train station to take metro M3 (€1.5) heading Duomo and Galleria for window shopping.

Lots of designer butique are here and it may hurts your pocket :) We are hungry and my feet hurts badly. Tried to keep myself together and continue walking and window shopping.

Finally found kebab house (yeay) and pack our dinner and heading back to hotel. Slept early as i'm extremely tired.

This morning, heading Corso Buenos Aires for shopping but unfortunately, shops only open at 10am and our train to Zuerich is at 11.10 :( However on our way back to hotel, managed to purchased perfume for myself as the shop opens early. Yeay! Happy.

Somehow i cant help to think Milan city was a little bit of let down. Maybe because of my own expectation - Milan should be upbeat, trendy and high fashion city. Maybe we went to different places. Oh well.

We almost missed the train as they changed the platform and the announcement was in Italianese. Pheww.. lega.

Now rest in the train heading Zuerich for almost 4 hours (€19 second class cioach). I hope i can rest my eyes for a while.

Goodbye Italy, Hello Switzerland.

Location : Zwinglistrasse 12, 8004 Zurich,

Italy trip : Verona



Verona from Roman Theatre Museum

2 June 2012

We arrived Verona yesterday evening feeling tired and exhausted. Penat yang melampau = Penampau. Checked in and rested for a while. Feeling hungry forced us to find food for dinner.

I accidentally slept here while waiting for the train

Have no idea what to eat we walked around and somehow i felt that Verona more advance from the rest of the city but not tourist friendly. Busy road and confusing signage.

We asked a guy from pakistan for halal / kebab cafe and surprisingly its just walking distance. We ordered one beryani chicken curry and coke. Cost us €8 for two of us. Jimat kan. The serving was huge. Even two us makan tak habis.

We decided to rest and start early tomorrow. Badan dan kaki terasa rasa sakitnya. Ya lah. Sedar tak sedar 5 jam pusing pusing Venice.

We started our day visiting Roman Arena (€6) and continue walking to Casa di Giulietta - Juliet House and ended with Roman Theatre Museum (€4).

Google map certainly make our journey easier eventhough kadangkala salah juga.

Now inside the train heading Milan. 11/2 hrs journey and second class coach cost usd 13 per pax.

Location : Via Enrico De Nicola, 3, 24047 Treviglio Bergamo,

Italy trip: Venice

Gondola ride :)

1 June 2012

Had enough time at Florence and now heading Venice (Venezia S.L station). Second class train ticket  - usd 54 departed at 2.25 pm for 2 hours.

One of the things that really challenge me is to carry our own heavy bag. This time, we have to walk a bit more, about 1.4 km from train station. Tapi tak pe. Sabar.

Street at Venice is like a maze. Small and unstructured. We asked around for direction and a Father (old but wearing orange frame glasses to match with his orange pants) help us all the way until at the door step. I think he also lost coz we have been walking round and round.

From our hotel we can listen the music plays by the street musician. As we go out back to the street I'm amazed with the ambiance and the buildings are really old. Its different from all other city that we went earlier. Lots of bridge and no vehicle on the street as they only use water taxi or own private boat.

We bought a map €3 and having difficulties to read the map. Suddenly realised we can use google map from our phone since we are connected to the Internet.

I really enjoyed walking through the street and along the river. We paid €80 per gondola which expensive but its once in a life time kan.

Now, waiting for our train to Verona at 4.50 pm which cost us usd 13 for second class for one hour journey. Tired but feeling a bit sad as the trip will be ended soon :(

Location : 30135 Venice,

Italy trip: Pisa and Florence

Leaning Tower

31 May 2012

Woke up early to catch train to Pisa Centrale station at 7am.  Second class ticket cost us usd 28.5 per pax, we have bought all our tickets earlier online at italiarail.com (which a bit expensive as they are travel agent but the navigation on the web is much easier compared to trenitalia.it ) The journey should be 2 hrs 30 mins but we arrived late (the train stop couple of time for long period due to some problem).

As we already late, we have limited time at Pisa. Nasib baik ticket from Pisa to Florence is an open ticket. As such the time is more flexible. You may hop in the train at any time as long as at the same day.

Put our luggage at the station (1 bag €4 ), bought €1 map and we walk towards the Leaning Tower for 25 mins.

The whole area called Field of Miracle whereby 3 historic building are next to each other : Grand Romanesque Cathedral, Campo Santo and The Leaming Tower.

Our original plan was to go inside the leaning tower (€15) and climb the 294 stairs but we don't have much time and the queue was long.

Florence from Piazza Michaelangelo

Back to train station, pick up our bag, validate our ticket at the green and white box and off we go to Firenze (Florence) Santa Maria Novella Station. One hour journey cost us usd10 per pax for second class seat. Walk to our hotel and took a power nap. Tired.

Took map from the hotel and walk again heading Piazza Michaelangelo (tempat tertinggi di Florence). Boleh tahan menapak jauhnya dari hotel sebabnya tidak kejumpaan bas no12 itu. Menaiki tangga dgn sabarnya and finally the hard work is worth it. View kota Florence yg cantik. Terdapat juga patung David hasil karya Michaelangelo.

Jalan pulang menyusuri the old bridge along Arno river. Sepanjang jalan melihat-lihat bangunan bersejarah dan singgah di kedai kebab for dinner. Kedai bag kulit juga banyak di sini, buatan penduduk tempatan katanya.

Sedang melihat-lihat, saya di tegur oleh seseorang. Katanya kerana dia mendengar saya berbahasa seakan indonesia. Cerita punya cerita, menurutnya dia ada bersama-sama wartawan media dari Bernama TV yang meninggal dunia untuk misi kemanusiaan di Mogadishu, Somalia tahun lepas. Katanya sebuah klinik telah dibina atas nama beliau. Dia ingat nama beliau. Saya yang tidak ingat. Aneh kan, kami berjumpa di Itali.

Kota Florence adalah kota lama, penuh bangunan bersejarah dan agak santai.

Location : Sestiere Cannaregio, 49-53, 30121 Venice,