SEOUL : SOUTH KOREA, A COMPLETE ITINERARY FOR 7 DAYS

Tuesday, May 29, 2018

"With the coming of spring, I am calm again."

Spring is my favourite season. Most Malaysians love cold weather but as someone who doesn't really like cold and love beautiful sunny day, spring is my favourite. I love spring even before I discover how nice a day in spring really is. Spring days are not really hot and not really cold, it's somewhere in between. I find that just like the quote, it has a calming effect.

And for the spring this year, I'm grateful for the opportunity to travel to Seoul for some soul searching ( read: #seoulsearching )

My trip to Seoul was for 7 days, and again I travel solo.

WHY SEOUL?

1. It is known that Seoul is safe for a woman to travel solo.

I met a few women who came to Seoul alone. We share the same opinion that Seoul is safe. Even walking at night is safe enough.

2. K-Beauty

The world knows that Koreans view beauty a little bit from a different perspective. Their beauty regime is way advanced. When I had breakouts in December last year, I adopted the famous Korean 10-step skin care routine. Although I did not stick to the routine religiously, it actually worked and my breakout only lasted until around February this year. This trip was really an opportunity to stock up my skin care products.

3. Running Man/K-Drama

I don't have to elaborate, you know. Song Joong Ki, c'mon. *drooling

Now we're done with the reasons why I wanted to visit Seoul, let's move on to the itinerary and this time, I'll provide Seoul's complete itinerary for 7 days. YOU CAN ALSO DOWNLOAD THE PRINTABLE VERSION HERE.

 For each destination, I also provide the stop, exit and where you can find halal food and prayer room.





Now, I'm back at home writing this post, I suddenly miss Seoul again. I truly love the shopping experience. I was going insane for buying a lot of things and I totally get it why women love Korea. I also have so many good things to say about how convenient and accessible the subway stations are.

Which part of the city that I love the most, and why?

Gangnam/Apjugeong. Because Gangnam is entirely different compared to Insa-dong or Jamsil. Plus, most people in Gangnam/Apjueong know or at least they understand basic English. Communication is really easy in these particular neighbourhoods.

Will I be back?

Of course. I will be back just to shop, really. Besides, I didn't get to wear hanbok and visit the theme parks so I will do just that if I were to visit Seoul again.

 Where to stay?

My Airbnb (click the link to get MYR105 credit voucher) is in Hongdae neighbourhood. In my personal experience,  I really like Hongik ( also known as Hongdae ), Sinchon and Ewha University neighbourhoods. Probably because of the youth vibe as they are located within university area. My friend who stayed in Ewha told me that her neighbourhood is really safe and there are always food stores open at night. 

 Till then, tadaaa.
P/S: I also would like to use this opportunity to wish everyone a happy ramadan al-kareem.








FLYING SOLO

Emotional Journey

Thursday, May 03, 2018


I don’t know about other people, but in my case I always feel emotional whenever I fly international especially if I fly solo and the emotion is even stronger when one of my family members drives me to the airport.


When I’m writing this, I am on my way to Seoul. I am sitting at the airport lounge waiting for my flight to depart at 2.50pm. Yes, I fly solo again. 


My first experience going solo was last year, the night before Eid/Raya Aidilfitri, the most festive Holy celebration in Malaysia. It also marked the first time I celebrated Eid-il fitr without my family. I still remember that night like it was the back of my hand. It was the last day of Ramadhan and the airport was crowded. I was still ok when I was breaking fast with my brother. My brother had asked me countless of times about my feelings flying alone for the first time to Istanbul to meet our youngest sister. And every time he asked my answer was that I didn't feel anything, neither was I excited nor scared. Nada! As the flight time was getting closer, I did feeling a bit anxious, due to custom and immigration check up. As I departed, I was feeling nervous as I was scared I would miss the connecting flight. I already missed my family even before I departed from KLIA. I was homesick even though my feet were still at my homeland.



The same happened before my flight home. I was very okay when I arrived at the Ataturk Airport. I was very calm when I arrived at the airport despite having to bid farewell to my sister the night before. My emotions were still under control when I passed the immigration. But as I was alone at the waiting area with my pink luggage, as I was watching all those people with their family and friends all the emotions came rushing to me at the same time. I started crying because I already missed my sister. I mean she’s the youngest one, all of us somewhat feel overprotective over her. I shed more tears when I remember I had around TL 100 left in my purse and I was regret I didn’t give all of the Lira to her. I have to admit that I was utterly alone and jealous over other people around me who got to travel with their family and friends. I felt a hollow in my heart like I never felt before. It’s hard to express those emotions with words but trust me, those emotions were not pleasant.


Despite my countless of times flying solo domestically, they were not the same as being in an 6-hour flight with strangers and none of them knows you. Though I never thought I would travel solo again but here I am, sitting in a corner, alone. There is a family of three sitting next to me. A couple and their baby. As I'm watching them laughing and playing with their baby, I get a feeling that I am having a repeat of what I felt last year. Yes, the same hollow is starting to make an appearance again.


Flying in a group doesn’t stop my emotions from jumbling altogether. In a recent year, I made a visit to Yogyakarta with my mother and brother. As usual my father didn’t join the trip since he had a heart attack. He is afraid he couldn’t stand the pressure in the cabin. My father doesn’t like travelling to be honest unless it’s a family vacation. He never told us any place he wishes to visit until we told him we would visit Borobudur. To our suprise, he mentioned that Borobudur is one of the places he wants to visit. Knowing that, I felt sorry because I couldn’t bring my father along. As we hugged our goodbye in front of the entrance of international departure, I vowed to bring my dad to any place he likes in the future.


Back to the present, whatever emotions I feel right now, I know it won’t last and even though it is so heavy to contain all these emotions in my heart, I know I won’t stop becoming a lone wolf in my journey. There is a phrase saying that “this world is my oyster, the road is my home and I know that I’m better off alone”. I guess I’ll stop here this time. I need to get moving to find my pearl. Ciao!

BANGKOK

Of Tom Yam Kung and Mango Sticky Rice

Sunday, February 11, 2018


I love Thai dishes. Out of countless Thai dishes available in my home country, tom yam is my favourite and mango sticky rice holds a special place in my heart. In my attempt to have a taste of the authentic sticky rice, I flew to Bangkok last November to find the famous sticky rice in town.

Ok, no I was kidding it was not for sticky rice. I was in dire need of vacation and since I was short in fund, we decided to go to our neighbouring country. That’s all.

This time around we flew with Malaysia Airlines after finding a pair of return tickets through Traveloka at only RM400++.

Day 1
We landed in Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Bangkok exactly at 5 pm. Right after collecting our luggage, we bought a local sim card from DTAC booth located just outside the exit of the arrival gate.
The cheapest airport transfer in Bangkok will always be the Airport Link at only 35 Baht per person to go to our Airbnb Apartment in Petchaburi Road. From Petchaburi station, we walked for around 30 minutes before finally reached the RCA I-House.

Day 2
Besides searching for authentic Thai food, the star attraction of our visit was the sunflower farms in Lop Buri. Early in the morning when local people are rushing to go to work, we joined the hectic by rushing to Hua Lamphong train station. We took the MRT from Petchaburi station to Hua Lamphong to catch the train at 9.25am. The train was not really punctual but the delay wasn’t too long either. Upon arriving at Lop Buri station, we were approached by a man informing us that he could bring us to sunflower farms at only 200 Baht per person. Since my research through Fie's blog told me that was the standard rate hence we jumped in to his minivan in no time. 

The journey to the sunflower farms took us about 15 – 20 minutes. Our first sunflower farm was errrr well I certainly did not know its name, to be honest. When I ponder back what we’ve done that day, it was silly of us to just trust the man to chauffer us around. The farm has got two separate fields and the flowers are definitely taller than anyone of us. It got a wooden swing and a few visitors were taking turn to get their picture taken.

Then we moved on to the second location which was of course sunflower farm again. The scenery around us was pleasant to view. It was miles of never ending sunflower farms on our left and right side.

On our second stop, we were charged with 10 Baht per person for entrance fee and the farm owner/employee allowed us to walk into the farm between flowers.


There was a stall selling sunflower seeds we call it kuaci (ku-ah-cee) and some drinks. The woman there gave us a few bananas for free. I bought some kuaci to bring home before headed back to the town.

 *Our guide, Mr Pancha was a very nice and friendly man. If you want to have him as your guide in Lop Buri, you can contact him via phone/whatsapp. I personally think his minivan was the most comfortable drive in Lop Buri. It was air-conditioned and you don't have to get at the back of a truck. 



Day 3
The third day was miserable. Really. Prior flying to Bangkok, I have to admit, I didn’t have time to sit down and the trip was planned one month before. I was very busy at work and even weekends didn’t allow me much free time due to handling the department alone. In my original 6 days in Bangkok itinerary, the plan was getting to Thonburi train station and ride the train to Kanchanaburi. Simple as that. I know train to Kanchanaburi was available twice a day. But due to the exhaustion the day before, we woke up late. Funny, we arrived at Thonburi exactly 10 minutes after the morning train after hitting some traffic. SO LUCKY.

Oh by the way, I have to mention here that the easiest and most convenient mode of transport to reach Thon Buri is by taxi. Thon Buri is located at the other side of Bangkok and other mode of transport available will have you taking the BTS Skytrain and express boat.

We were so lost and didn’t know what to do so we just sat around, eating our packed meals while googling the nearest attraction: to the Wat Arun we go.

After Wat Arun, we spent our afternoon strolling Chatuchak Market and bought some souvenirs.



I will continue my Bangkok story for Day 4, 5 and 6 in my next post. Stay tuned.




ISTANBUL

My First Experience as a Solo Female Traveller in Turkey

Saturday, July 15, 2017


I celebrated my first day of Raya in Istanbul. Yeah, tick off another list in my bucket lists. To be honest, Turkey was never in my plan before 2014 because well, I never knew someone who had visited Turkey until I watched Fazura in Manisnya Cinta di Cappadocia. Not even Lisa Surihani in Istanbul Aku Datang could pique my interest to visit Turkey. Nope.

Later in the year 2015, I learned about a Muslim warrior who conquered Constantinople from Byzantine named Sultan Mehmet al Fatih. Whenever I read about the history of Ottoman Empire, I always stumbled upon Constantinople but only in 2015 did I knew that Constantinople is now known as Istanbul.

In 2016, my little sister went to further her studies in Istanbul. I used this opportunity to plan my trip to the city and decided it would be great if I get to celebrate my Eid in Istanbul. After a careful planning and changing the itinerary every single day, I finally landed in Istanbul on Raya morning. Goodbye rendang and my Mak Long's kuah kacang. Will miss you dearly and here is how my FINDING FATIH JOURNEY started.



As soon as I landed in Istanbul, the first thing I did was finding the metro station. From the exit door, you will see Metro signboard on your left side and it will lead you to the lower ground. Bear in mind, you have to buy Istanbul card (Istanbulkart) which is just like our Touch n Go. #tip, if you see a stall selling Istanbulkart at the airport, just buy it cause I didn't and that was my biggest regret of the day. (More regrets later, just keep reading.) I knew I could buy Istanbulkart from the machine but a man who helped me buying the ticket bought 1 way ticket for me which cost me about TL 4 instead of TL2.50 if I use the Istanbulkart.

My first destination would be my sister's school which is located somewhere in Umraniye, Istanbul (Never heard of it? Yeah, me too. Just imagine going to Section 2, Shah Alam from KLIA). So from the airport, I have to take the metro to Yenikapi and then change the train to Uskudar. Here was when this story became interesting.

Most of Turkish do not know how to speak English. At Uskudar Station, only 1 out of 6 security guards could point me how to go to Umraniye. I was told to take Bus No 52B which is supposed to depart from Point 1. But no, no signboard to show me where Point 1 is located at. All I saw were signboards Point 3 and 4. After 10 minutes walking here and there looking for Point 1, I gave up and decided to use my offline Google Translate. So I asked a nice looking man (who looks like he's a nice man, not a scammer) and typed "Do you speak English?" Though he didn't know how to speak English, luckily his friend did. God led me to the correct man. Alhamdulillah.

I told them I didn't have Istanbulkart and asked them where can I get one cause as far as I know you cannot ride the bus without it. He told me there was no stall/machine selling it there. What??? Then he added that I could ride the bus with them and he would give me his card since he is serving the army so he doesn't need one. Not only he gave me his card, but he also reloaded the card with TL10. I wanted to repay him but he sincerely turned it down. Wow so nice aaa, but why was he being so nice to me, a complete stranger? That got me so suspicious but I knew I had to choose either to stuck at the station or follow him and I chose the latter. (I urge you girls, don't follow my footstep. I was lucky this time, but next time?)

Later on we introduced ourselves and we even became Facebook friends. Batuhan indeed is a nice guy. He told me that he was very exhausted from his trainings in the army. Since he is from Samsun, he's not very familiar with Uskudar/Umraniye. Even though we had to change buses a few times plus a missed bus, at the end he safely sent me to my sister's school. I was grateful I met a nice guy like him in the middle of Uskudar where anything could happen to a solo female tourist like me. I hope God would repay him in any way I couldn't. Hope he would enjoy the Maggi cup I have him because that's the only thing from Malaysia I could give him. That or the baju kurung my mom sent to my sister. Aherher.


I'm 25 but you cannot call me Kak or Aunty

Sunday, June 11, 2017

Today, I am 25 years and 1 week old. 

In my family, birthday is not something we celebrate. That’s why it’s not really a surprise I forgot that last Sunday was my birthday, really. Though I forgot that it’s my birthday, I did something out of the ordinary on that day.
I only slept for a couple of hours the night before which was not unusual for me but the fact that I did not sleep after my Fajr prayer was something I rarely did. Since it’s Ramadhan, I wouldn't want to miss sleeping after Fajr but last Sunday, I suddenly felt so energized and started doing laundry early in the morning. So not me.
It was until my parents wished me a happy birthday that I remember, I had lived my life for two and a half decades. What a journey, really.

Looking back, there were so many things I’ve achieved and yet there are still so many things I have yet to achieve. I'm working to achieve everything in my list before I turn 30, more importantly before I finally rest in peace. I feel content with everything I have today.


Being 25, I don't feel young anymore and I don't feel old either. It's such a mixed feelings because now you have so many people who are entitled to call you "Kak" and even kids can call you "Aunty" (please don't).

Last year, I remember my goal was to further my studies somewhere in UK. I did applied and received the offer. When university's information booklet came to my house, I cried hugging it knowing I wouldn't be able to go because of my financial situation. Somewhere deep in my heart, I blamed fate for my humble background. I thought if I was born into privilege, I would never had to worry about continue my studies in the UK. I forgot that if my parents were well off, I may not be this content.

I feel sorry for my parents. They worked hard for more than 25 years to feed their kids. I'm still trying to convince myself that something good will come out of it. Maybe it's best for me to build a career and climb the corporate ladder first then only continue with studies when my financial is more stable. I hope I can cross "attain a master's degree" off my list before I turn 30. Amen.

 25, I hope I will be extra extra wiser.

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