I Miss London

London. A place where I used to go every other weekends. 

Jangan panic. Not go every weekends from KL (gile ke?) but every other weekends from West Midlands, a place I called home two years ago.  The journey from Birmingham to London takes 1 and 1/2 hour.

OMG! Has it been two years? So cepattt.. Sigh. Rindu nyaaa..

My housemate and I (Sheena), whenever we are bored with our lives in Brum, we would head out and take the first (cheapest) train from Birmingham Moor Street station to London Marylebone (via Chiltern Train). Of course we prefer the fast Virgin Train which will take us straight to Euston Train station in just an hour, but that's only ... when we have extra to spend. Those were the days when every penny counts. Hahah.

The things we did in London:

1) The Cranberries concert at Royal Albert Hall. OMG that was one hell of an experience. I never thought I ever watched this band up close and personal. They are like... the bomb. 'Linger', 'Zombie', 'When you're gone' and many more. Best gileee.

2) If we are ever in London on Saturday, we never failed to singgah Portobello Market (near Notting Hill) just because. Before we depart back to Brum, we just had to indulge ourselves at least for a cuppa of Red Velvet from Hummingbird. Sedapnya tidak la terkata. The soft and moist texture of the cake and the sinful creamy cream cheese. Glory glorrrrryy. Apart from Hummingbird, there are many many more things to do at Portobello. Vintage lovers, say hello to your world!

3) During our depression days, and when we missed Malaysia so so much, the food, the kekecohan of being around Malaysian people,    we just loved going to Malaysian Hall cafeteria. We were there just to eat their roti canai (breakfast), Sup ekor and sambal belacan (lunch) and have their scrumptious teh tarik (supper). A lot of people said that Malaysian Hall's food sucks and all that, but I just don't care. I felt safe there and in a way, it does felt like home. 

It may sound..what? Sup ekor? Teh tarik? The little things that we love.

Zaman students at MSD (Malaysian Student Department)

4) Harrods. Should I elaborate?

5) Oxford Street. I miss Selfridges (of course!), my favourites which are H&M, Zara and..... Primark. Nothing beats Primark's leggings. 

6)Museums and art galleries. London has the best museums in the world and we've only managed to see the British Museum and Tate Modern. The National Gallery, National History Museum, etc??

Andy Warhol exhibition at Tate Modern

7) West End! I've seen Wicked, Chicago and The Legally Blonde, but the best I've seen was Wicked of course. I cried buckets kot. Don't mind watching it again. But Billy Elliot and The Lion King are next in my list.

There are many many more of London's must-do and must-see pictures that I have in my laptop but those are memories and it will be kept as memories. Cute English cafes that serves original English scones with clotted cream, tea, the fish and chip, Camden town, Borough market, frozen yoghurt, smoked salmon and egg benedict from Patisserie Vallerie, yada yada yada. Banyak sangat la and it won't do any justice if you don't try all of these yourself. 

Which you can come with me next year FOR FREE. 

Yes, ladies and gentlemen. In 2013 we are going to London and Paris for F.R.E.E! 

Mr. Z and I insya Allah! 

Want to know how you can go for FREE? 

Contact me at : 013-2033763 (24/7 on whatssap)

rashida.rafar@gmail.com

Constantinople Dream - Part 2

It was the last day of 2010, woke up and had that 'wet burger' for breakfast, (wow, 'healthy' giler la kan) and head to town to meet the boys. It was already towards the end of our trip but haven't finished covering the 'wajib' historical places in Istanbul. 

First stop for that day was Hagia Sophia, the major cathedral when the city was still 'Constatinople' before it turned into a mosque under the Ottoman Empire. I learnt about this when I was 17, that a church was turned into a mosque after the conquest of Constantinople. The carpets of the mosque were removed and the white plaster covering the mosaics of the cathedral were also taken out. This is to show to tourists the events that had happened in Hagia Sophia/Aya Sofya especially about the conversion. And yeah, I did noticed the differences between the mosque and the church, but since the conversion of the mosque was before the museum, the structure looked more a mosque than a church. That's just my point of view. I was inside Aya Sofya for more than an hour checking out old paintings and snapping away pictures. 

The prodigious structure of Aya Sofya

It was Friday and noon, so that means Friday prayers. We went to the Blue Mosque. The boys and Dalia went for Friday Prayers, as for myself (Aunty Flow) waited for them outside the Blue Mosque and just listening to the serene sounds of the Surah that were recited in the prayer. Such peaceful serene feelings. 

 The Blue Mosque

Were given a bowl of free sweet porridge at the Blue Mosque. Delicious. Of course, at that time we were hungry.

Ekmek by the roadside 

And had bigger lunch nearby; at the district of Sultan Ahmet.

And the last location we visited was the palace of Topkapi which was the primary resident of the Ottoman Sultans approximately for 400 years. It is now converted into a major tourist attractions in the world(under UNESCO) and it contains important legacies; amongst are the Prophet Muhammad's sword and cloak. 

We end our Istanbul vacay with watching New Year fireworks at the Ortakoy and eating... Midye Dolmasi, the famous Turkish delicacy!

Happy 2011! (At that time la)

 Yum!


I will definitely come again for more Turkish adventure!

Constantinople Dream - Part 1

This post was supposed to be here ages ago, but I had no mojo writing it. So here I am now, jotting it down in my blog entry because I miss the place so much.

I MISS ISTANBUL. No kidding.

Before I left to UK for my masters, I never thought I would step my foot to Istanbul as I thought it was not part of EU countries.  (Boleh tak? Ignorant is not a bliss this time) In fact, I thought it is part of middle-eastern countries. Gile bodoh saya ni. I always dreamt of going to Paris, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Rome, Venice, etc and if you can see from the list, these places are mostly 'glamorous' places (if you know what I mean) and these are the typical places that will appear in any love films almost every time. 


 The typical berangans that I would have after watching the film..

1. Kena propose in front of Eiffel Tower

2. Naik gondola in Venice

3. Petik anggur at a vineyard in Italy.. oh and have scrumptious lunch there. Pastu naik kuda.

4. Sesat at the dark alley in Rome (in a small Smart car for two)

5. Eating tapas and Paella near Gaudi while learning Spanish.

Yada yada yada. Clearly Hollywood has invaded us me. Poyo. 

Anyway, Istanbul was lovely. Lovelier than all of those glamorous places I mentioned above and I'm not kidding. Went to Istanbul just few days before I departed to KL for good. It was supposed to be just the two of us (Dalia and I) but the two boys decided to come along. (Zanif and Fizan).

We made arrangements to stay with Dalia's Turkish friend, Ozge who is Dalia's coursemate's sister. She was extremely pretty, striking sharp features she has. I was speechless looking at her, apatah lagi the boys. Oh, and we met her housemates as well. Three beauties in the house yaw!  

Meet  Ozge Ozturk - she's half Cypriot- Turkish

 Ozge picked us up at the train station and we went straight to her house somewhere in Capa, dropped our luggage and started our adventure for food . It was 2 pm at that time and winter. Dark and gloomy it was, and we were damn hungry! We went to Taksim Square by taxi and Ozge brought us to this restaurant (too hungry to jot down) in the middle of Taksim Square..Oh what a feast we had.

I was too hungry to jot down the names of the food, so I just ate whatever Ozge recommended that was good. And it was GOOD. The best was the dessert (the last picture), Türk Sütlaç - Turkish Rice Pudding. Yum.

After the feast we walked a bit around Taksim and found out that Taksim Square is probably the most important square in Istanbul. It's sort of like a huge transportation hub where taxis and the main metro station are located. It's a hot spot for tourists for shopping and going to the bars or pubs, international fast food chains such as Pizza Hut, McDonald's, Burger King are also there if you've had enough of Turkish food. Taksim is also a favourite place by the locals for public events such as parades, New Year celebrations or other social gatherings. It will always be full of people any time of the day. It really reminded me of Oxford Street in London.

Our real adventure started the next day.

I loved visiting old universities, and Istanbul University is one of the oldest university, not just in Turkey, but in the world as well. Established in 1453 and this university has produced famous academicians from all around the world. The architectural buildings of Istanbul University was just mesmerizing. It's old, stout (in a good way!) and the moment I stepped into the compound of the university, oh my God, I just froze for few seconds. The whole scenery that was in front of me just knocked me off my feet. Ahaha. Masya Allah.

The tour around the University

Hours after sightseeing at the University, we were hungry of course. So Ozge brought us to this place somewhere near the Bosporus bridge called Ortakoy. The cafe only serves Kumpir which are baked potatoes (Turkish style, not the Brit style) with 100 or more types of fillings and condiments. Interesting right?

The journey to lunch!

What we had! Yum.

After we're done and our tummy had been filled with good food, we walked around a bit at Ortakoy area and we noticed that the area was more relax and calm comparing to SultanAhmet and Beyazit area. Pretty much could be that those places are mainly for tourists but Ortakoy is not so bad either. It's still a tourist area but more relax. Back in the days in the history, many 'sultans' made Ortakoy as their summer residence. They have their mansions and palaces (now transformed into luxurious hotels) overlooking the straits where they can have the best view of Bosphorus and enjoy their tea cups on their hand. According to our friend, Ozge, Ortakoy is a village that is most probably envied by other districts in Istanbul because it is near the Bosphorus bridge. Bosphorus is also known as Istanbul straits that form parts of boundary between Asia and Europe. How cool is that! Normally, they will be cruises services for you to take to see parts of Asia and Europe every half and hour, but since it was winter, cruise services were only twice a day. Such a bummer but I thought the more reasons to come back here.

Next up, after all the sightseeing and camwhoring, we decided to go back to Beyazit town (near the University) and indulged ourselves with some shopping spree. The Grand Bazaar! The four of us were very much looking forward to go to the Bazaar since the first day. Not to do that much shopping,  but just to see what they have in store. 

And these are the things that we were jakun about:

 The art and crafts. Turkish signature.

The belly dancer's costume. Bought one for myself! 

 Table runners, cushion covers yada yada. Mom would love this. From laces to silk.

 Many many types of Turkish delights! I don't fancy Turkish delights so much, but the ones that I ate here were exceptional!

 Sweet rice pudding. Many types of them. 

Not forgetting the spices. The best. Bought saffron for Mom for her beriyani rice. Mind you, saffron is expensive in many parts of the world especially Malaysia. It can be as expensive as RM 1000 for 1 kg? Depending on which type. I bought the best one for quite a cheap price in Istanbul.

For Mr. Z? KIDDING! 

Anyway, we were there at the bazaar till quite late, not that we did massive shopping, but we explore the whole of the bazaar from one end to the other. From Turkish carpets to gold! Yes, they sell big chunk of gold at the bazaar. We had dinner at the bazaar and straight for nargileh (shisha). We had our nargileh somewhere at the Sultanahmet district just across the blue mosque. There's this cafe with pretty lights and they only have nargileh and Turkish tea. The whole stretch of the place are meant just for nargileh. The apple tea was delicious. I had three cups!


What a night we had. The boys were hungry (the girls pun apa kurangnya), so Ozge invited them over for a quick bite at Capa because there are some street cafes that were still opened at that time. It's like mamak plus fast food. We had Islak (Wet burgers) and it was damnnnn. Islak only costs 2 lira, so that should be around RM 5. It's a combination of beef patty and bread dip with special red sauce that was made out of tomato paste. It was the bomb and at that time I wasn't thinking about diet or anything else. Just that!

It doesn't end there my dear friends. Right at the bottom of the street before Ozge's house, there's is one seafood restaurant that closes late at night. And in front of the restaurant, there was a bar that sells stuffed mussels. The bar serves not drinks but that. Fizan and Zanif ate lots of them. I gave up because my stomach couldn't take any food anymore, but after 15 minutes I gave it a try. Not bad. The stuffed mussels are called midye dolmasi. It is one of the most popular Mediterannean street food. The stuffings are spiced rice with raisins and we must squeeze some lemon before we eat it. I thought it was interesting. It's an acquired taste but you'll get used to it if you eat more than three.

Thirty minutes after Turkish street food indulgence, I was already on my way to lalaland. The boys went back to their hotel and probably they were also in deep slumber. What a long day but it was productive for us.

Stay tuned for part 2 where I'll be covering the historical area of Istanbul!

Turkish Delights Peek

Hungry much? I am now.

Wait for my post on my adventure in the land of two continents. Europe meets Asia.

Roma Roma Italia

Shall I write about Rome now? I've been delaying my post and it has been 10 months since the Roma trip with Sheena and her mommy. But lost my laptop in March 2011, so I was a bit disheartened to write anything in my blog,  ALL my precious pictures pun hilang bersama-sama laptop itu jua. Gone baby gone.

Tapi takpela. Maybe that laptop wasn't meant for me. God lent it to me so that I could do my dissertation in peace and now that I have gotten my Masters, He took it back. Maybe someone else who needs it the most bought my laptop for a cheaper price ke..who knows.. Redha je. 

So, anyway, thank God for facebook, I still have some of my pictures. The best ones, because the best ones are selected to be put in FB kan? LOL. 

Ok, here goes.

********

I went for a very short trip, a last minute one as well, to Rome with Sheena and her mommy, during Christmas holiday and right before our graduation ceremony in December 2010. My parents could not attend my graduation, so they gave me permission (and some mools) to go to Rome. So, bought tickets from Ryanair and off we went. Ryanair wasn't the best flight. Bumpy rides all the way and it was pretty scary. I prefer Easyjet.

We went off as early as 2 am, we took a bus from Birmingham coach station to Stansted Airport in London. The journey to the airport was 2 hours. Our flight is at 7.30 am, so being really careful and me being 'all-panicky' sebab takot terlambat, we decided to arrived at the airport as early as possible. Arrived at Rome airport two hours later, hungry, took the coach to the main train station, Stazione di Termini and tadaaa.. sampai sudah. Our hotel was just in front of Termini. Very convenient. Pandai Sheena pilih.

So, we were hungry when we arrived. Checked-in to our hotel, washed up a bit and went straight down to find food. ITALIAN FOOD mamasitaaa! As I totally love love love italian cuisine, I was actually looking forward for any meal time throughout the whole 'adventure' in Rome.


1) The Food
I just love italian food. I've always dreamt about going to Italy and just eat eat eat and eat. All sorts of pastas and pizzas, assorted flavours of gelato and tiramisu, you name it you got it. I gained 10 freakin kilos kot. Ok, exaggerate sikit, but I did gained weight because it was winter at that time, so my appetite memang tengah menggila. Sheena and I went luna-bolognatic as we passed the side walk cafes and restaurants. If you hate dislike foodies, hang tok sah nak mai sini.

 

 Different types of pizzas

Spinach ricotta cannelloni. Lip smacking

 Cheese and tomato ravioli

 Half-shaped pizza. The filling was spinash and cheese.

 Some Italian tapas - All sorts of eggplant recipes..Yum!

Lasagna

All sort of pastas

Super rich super thick hot chocolate!

The famous Tiramisu 

Gelatismooo

Aiyayai! Diet ke laut.

2) The Collosseum

We went to Colosseum right after lunch, later in the evening. We took the metro to Colosseum and walaa.. One of the seven wonders of the world was right before our eyes! 

The Colosseum is probably the most famous trademark of Rome, as it is known as the greatest amphitheater of antiquity that was built 1920 years ago. The Colosseum is so huge that it could around 45,000 spectators. This is where the ancient Romans gathered to watch bloody combat between gladiators, and battles between men and wild animals. Imagine lions or tigers againts humans? *shudder* In the battle, it is also in the event where they threw people to the lions! During those times, to see big gigantic men being killed by animals was very entertaining to the ancient Romans.

Imagine this..a type of sport that has lion in it? I'll pass..  

(Pic by Google Image)

 Surreal..

From different angle..

We didn't go in, so posing kat luar je..

Aunty Jhan and moi..

One for the memory!

So, when we were there, we didn't do much pun because it was really cold and our energy drained out because of the journey that we had to endured from the UK. We took pictures, ate some Italian chestnut; bought it at a stall by the roadside and decided to head back to the hotel.

Pretty chestnuts. The taste was a bit bland comparing to the ones I've had from Malaysia's pasar malam.

3) The Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain

It was ok-ok aje, but our main focus was not the spanish steps or any historical artifacts/monuments there, but...the shopping streets located near the Spanish Steps. We were there not to buy, but only to cuci mata. Most of the designer goods there are a bit expensive than other major European cities. But suprisingly, Dior was a bit cheaper. Not that I bought any. The designer boutiques can be found at Via dei Condotti and Via Borgognona, the two connecting streets that provide all the haute couture such as Gucci, Prada, Bulgari, Ferragamo, Armani, Fendi and all the adik beradiks. Oh oh, if you like Toywatch, then I could say the price is way way cheaper than Malaysia and even UK because Toywatch is designed in Italy.

Tak dapat beli, posing pun jadi la.

 

The mighty Fendi

 

It was intresting to see LV's revolving steps in the boutique. We were a bit jakun (no surprise there!) but not jakun enough to get one for ourselves.

Last but not least for that night, the Trevi Fountain. There were so many people there during the night and we couldn't get a nice spot to sit. I was excited at first, but after seeing so many teenagers looting around the area, it was bit of ermm.. sore eyes. But we did what normally tourist do; took pics and threw some coins in the fountain. Ikut orang je. One friendly pakcik told us while we were there, if you throw coins in the fountain, you'll come back to Rome. So cute la pakcik.

Ingat hot la tu? Ahaha. The fountain was beautiful.

The fountain is just 15 minutes walk from the Spanish Steps, so it is best if you combine the visit altogether. Built in the 18th century, and it is -undoubtedly- the most famous fountain of all fountains in Rome. As according to the history, Trevi Fountain was built as an ending part of an Aqua Virgo, one of the eleventh Roman aqueduct there is since 19 B.C. Macam ala-ala empangan-ish; mainly from Salone Springs, which is 20km from Rome, and supplies water to Rome city centre including the fountain.  

So thick and rich

We ended our night with a glass of thick hot chocolate. It's yummy but Milo lagi sedapplaaa.

4) Vatican City

Few days before I came to Rome, I purposely watched 'Angels and Demon' just because to get a glimpse of Rome and Vatican City. Just to provoke some excitement and arouse myself for this trip. So, we went to Vatican City, and... and it was nothing like the one I watched in the movie. I was too quick to judge at that time so we explored a bit more. We people-watched and walked around the town city. There were some funny-cute looking guards in their own costumes uniforms at every entrance of Vatican City. These guards serve as bodyguards known as 'Swiss guards/soldiers' and yeah this might make me sound like some jakun, but their uniforms are so cute.

The only photo I could get of the Swiss Guards.

We went around for a while hoping to see the Sistine Chapel, Raphael's Transfiguration and Leonardo da Vinci's St Jerome, but we couldn't because it was blocked for some renovation. 

Last-last pi mana? MAKAN!

We ended our Vatican trip with a great lunch and yummilicious gelato!