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.

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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!

Hopping to be Unrolled

My everyday work.

Yo September! We meet again!

Oh my God. It's already September? And then another 4 more months, it will be 2012! Time flies sooo fast man. Felt as though it is the first quarter of the year, without realizing we are passing through towards the end of 2011. Sigh.

Anyway, Selamat Hari Raya everyone. How's your Raya? My Opah (grandmother) has been unwell, so mom decided not to move around sangat and let everyone come to the house to see Opah. So, this year our house is like the kampung lah, tempat gathering mom and dad's siblings from Johor, Ipoh and Penang. We had mom's scrumptious Laksa Johor. Three days in a row. Hhhmm.

I never knew that celebrating Raya can actually leave a hole in our pocket. How did our parents managed man?? Dah la dulu-dulu anak-anak sorang je nak at least dua pasang baju kurung. My parents have 5 daughters, so imagine la. And of course, duit Raya for all their nieces and nephews. Both my mom and dad came from a large family, mom has more than 10 siblings and dad ada 8. So, anak-anak depa hang kira la betapa ramai.


Now I know la kan... but never in my life heard them utter any complains. At all. May God bless our mom and dad. *sayu*




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It's finally happening, I don't know where to start! 


Something that eventually will change my life.  


Will update again soon when everything is confirmed and all. Nak muntah pun ada.


and last but not least....

Happy Birthday Zaznuriah! 

See that instigram effect-ish? LOL. Addicted man benda ni. I have finally bought an Iphone and i'm totally hooked! 


Till the next post!

Gulp

Me: Ma, I think the date we're getting married is xx/xx/xxxx. 

Mom: Hah? Eh now dah we need to plan. You need to tell me now or else this this this. That that that nanti dah fully booked dah bla bla bla. And dewan semua kena tahu..... All my friends said this this... (non-stop talking for 15 minutes)

Me: Ok ma. Tak nak kawin la..

Penyakit TAKOTia NERVOUSa tiba-tiba datang.

Almari Baru

Raya advertisement that ACTUALLY made me WAILED  in the office today.

To my mom and dad, whatever you want in this world, I'll give it to you.

Perantauan 2010

My Ramadan and Raya in 2010 was a unique and memorable one. It was not at home-sweet-home KL, in fact it was actually a HOME to me back then. Not so much of bazaar Ramadan and kuih-kuih tradisi, but it was fun and interesting indeed with great companies around us.

These are my reflections of Raya and Ramadan in 2010.

  We were actually main-main hantar our picture to Berita Harian, kononnya nak salam di perantauan. Over sungguh.

Packed my bag, and off we (Sheena and I) to London during Ramadan. We arrived in London at noon, and managed to visit the British Museum before we had our Iftar.

Our new housemate of Hubert Road arrived just a day before Raya and because he had to stay at Malaysian Hall, we had Iftar with him there as well.

Malaysian Hall with Sheena.

It was also Adila's 25th birthday the same night; so right after Iftar-ing at Malaysian Hall, we had dessert at Villandry near her home.

The creme brulee was to DIE FOR.

 Adila and hommies were so sweet that they let us stayed at their house for Raya. Most of us didn't sleep and cooked for Hari Raya. Zeileen was the head cook of course, with her cute apron and all. We had lontong. I made this macam tak jadi terlebih kuning.

We also had ketupat and lemang ok. (Instant lemang pun sedap kot)

And rendang and kuah kacang by Zeileen and Adila. Ni memamg sedap la. 10 kali tambah kot.

Zeileen and her helper, Sheena.

Adila and Ammar di pagi raya . Double As. Nak kahwin dah depa. Alhamdulillah. Amin. ;)

Zeileen and moi. ;) 

Right after breakfast rendang ketupat at Chiswick, we went to the ambassador's house somewhere in.. Aiyo, I can't remember, but it would be somewhere where people like Jude Law and Leona Lewis would live kot. ;-p

Mak-mak datin sekalian.

 Chiswick hosts :)

One for the memory!

Fara and sister had Eid in London as well in conjunction of Alyaa's graduation ceremony.

During the second day of raya, Sheena and I flew to Paris for three days.

During the same week, Malaysian Culinary Association (if I'm not mistaken) hosted an event of Pasar Malam, where most restaurants in London opened up stalls selling their food. Some of the food were..ok je. But millions of Malaysian, Thai as well as British came and actually bought the tawar Teh Tarik just because.

Azizul obviously doesn't want to miss the food galoria...

Miss Marriam Bajunid and ehem. It was really good seeing her.

Sheena and her tawar Teh Tarik

Tak paham gambar ni.

Beraya with lovely housemates takkan dilupai. This was in Selly Oak, second week of Raya.

Last but not least, one picture with cousins all the way from Singapore, Kak Sasha and Naz Chia. At Nandos, Bayswater.

So what do you have in store for 2011? Bring it on!

Predictable Much?

10 things I just discovered about myself:

1. When I'm overwhelmed with something, rasa nak muntah. or bers.

2. I thought I'm not the confrontational type, but I am. 

3. Sometimes, I just can't curb my emotions in public. Mr. Z has a problem with that. Be it POSITIVE or negative. 

4. I'm not that affectionate. Huggy-huggy-kiss-kiss is just not me. Ada orang complain. 

5. I have minor OCD. Someone pointed out to me. Did some research, and yes I have OCD. That's my conflict right now.

6. People love my massages. I didn't know I have it in me. 

7. I drive very slowly. The car that I'm driving now doesn't deserved me.

8. I think I'm gonna hate wedding preparations. I thought I'm going to love it, but..CAN WE GET MARRIED ALREADY??

9. Organized. Even though I don't look like it because I panic easily.

10. Defensive.

Betol ke tak? You judge. :)