Trip to Singapore & JB
The late update was due to the Israel attack on Gaza right after our trip.


It has been in our plan for a while to visit Singapore and coincidentally By's motorbike buddies had a plan for a ride to Johor for Nasi Beriani Gam Batu Pahat and Mee Rebus Tulang in Johor Bahru.



Tailing the ride heading South



We were the only ones traveling by car :p



One of the rides


The first stop was Nasi Gam Beriani Batu Pahat. Well, funny story...since we were traveling by car, we were a little behind than the motorbikes. There are 2 famous Nasi Beriani restaurants in Batu Pahat and we confidently went to one of them, yeah..the wrong restaurant apparently. Since we were already there, we just ordered. The 'GAM' Nasi Beriani was already sold out so we just had the normal Nasi Beriani. And masyaAllah, no wonder it was so famous. I could just eat the rice without any chicken or lamb, it was that GOOD. No picture was taken, since we melantak first and just forgot the rest :p. When we met back with the group, the restaurant they went to had no Nasi Beriani left. Bukan rezeki diorang.

After that, the group wanted to go to one of the bikers' house to take some pictures with all the bikes lined nicely in front of his new bungalow. We as the ones traveled by car, didn't really think that we could contribute. So we went to Taman Rama-Rama instead, located just near the Batu Gajah Exit.


















We were back together with the group after the short visit to Taman Rama-Rama Melaka. When you travel with bikers, you should expect a lot of stops as they don't actually have to rush to anywhere. The ride itself is their objective, heheh. So when the group stopped at R&R Machap to lepak2 and relakskan kekebasan bontot masing2, we brought Nufayl to the playground to kill the time.





















We reached JB's famous Mee Rebus Tulang after Maghrib. The restaurant has a few pondok with Japanese table. I felt comfortable since I can sit freestyle, heheh.. and let Nufayl play on his mattress while we were eating. The 'it' thing about the Mee Rebus Tulang is the amount of fat you can taste when you suck the all the fatty thingy from the bone..hehe. I only took a sip (they provide straw for your conveniences :p) and right after that I couldn't handle it no more. By had the honor to finish up my portion.















We separated from the group after kenyang..hahah. Spent the night at Tok Abah's apartment in Taman Desa Skudai and prepared for our journey to Singapore next morning.

At 7 am, we departed from the apartment and took the 2nd link and alhamdulillah the road was smooth with no traffic jam at all. Maybe it's due to the fact that we have to pay RM 10 for the toll.

The first stop point was Mustafa Center, a 24-hour everything-you-can-get shopping complex. The place is so crowded with selling items left and right we hardly managed to breath. I bought a new pair of Polo Club shoes in exchange of my current RM 8.99 Giant brand shoes that I have been wearing for the past 5 months. Bought some chocolates too even though the price difference is not that much. We also bought a pelampung for Nufayl's splash-splash time at Tok Abah's swimming pool apartment, a new Crocodile belt for Tok Abah and Turkish Delight for Mak Tok.








Orchard Road was the next target. It was hard to find a parking spot so we had to park at a hotel nearby. The road was busy busy busy with people walking, felt like I was in New York for a while if it was not for the heat. The real objective was actually to find this specific restaurant that By had went to when he was out-stationed to Singapore 2 years ago. It was the famous Ayam Penyek which was located in a shopping complex.












Went to a masjid for solat jama' Zohor & Asr, then had a look at Sentosa Island. Apparently, it is quiet big but we decided not to entertain ourselves due to the big crowd and long queue. Personal note, only visit this kind of place when it is not during school/public holidays.

By had bought online tickets for Night Safari 3 days before. We kindda anticipate the place with big crowd after peeking at Sentosa Island, but I didn't realize that the situation was pretty much a disaster.

The gate to the Night Safari only opens at 7 pm so the big crowd just lingered around outside the gate. We had some ice creams first and by the time we were ready to get in we were been pointed to a looonnngggggggggggggggggggggg queue that was already there since, I don't know..last month? Should we know that the queue were that long, we would not be spending our time having ice cream and what not.

It took us about 30-45 minutes to get in (Bear in mind, we were early birds). Then there were 2 options, whether to see the Animal Show first or take the train for the Night Safari. We opted for the Animal Show, but wait...we still need to queue for that. That was another 30 minutes down the drain until we got our spots at the auditorium. Since it was around Maghrib, we were afraid that Nufayl would get cranky and all, so we recited some doa' with hope that he'll be fine. Throughout the show, he was doing ok with not a single cry.

The show was so-so, not as magnificent as I imagined it would be. Semua animals baik2 dan tak membahayakan like ferrets and a boa. Ok, there was a hyena and a wolf...but I was not impressed. Bawak la keluar cheetah ke lion ke jaguar ke ..baru la mencabar...ceh. When it ended I was like, "laaa..itu je ke.." and I was nearly fainted back then trying to pull Nufayl's stroller in the sea of people.(By had to hold him since he didn't want to sit in the stroller).

Then it was time for us to ride the train to explore the Night Safari. And yes, still have to queue for another 1 HOUR...1 HOUR! You just imagine ye, when it comes to times like this..all you have is patience. People from all over the world was there (from India, Japan, Africa and yes..Malaysia) and they do have different culture. Not all of them were well behaved and know the concept of queuing. Some of them push, tried to cut the line and some did smell badly. However, I was touched by this Indian guy who told the Night Safari staff to let us go first because we were carrying a baby. But By told that it was ok since there were many other couples with babies besides us and it wouldn't be fair for them. But I was told to sit near the entrance with Nufayl and By would call us when our time comes. The train riding was ok, it was raining but we got to see the animals up-close in the wild. It was like going to a zoo but with train and little light. Nufayl didn't enjoy it since it was pretty dark, so his parents je la yang ugaa-gaa-gaa watching the animals...heheh.
It was not worth our money to go there during school holiday. The experience actually traumatizes me. Maybe if we go there during normal days, it won't be that bad.




















We left the Night Safari around 10.30 pm. Then we dropped by at Mustafa Center again for more chocolates. Lupa pulak ramai sanak sedara nak kena bagi souvenirs. Chocolates are great gifts :). We reached at Tok Abah's apartment around 2 am.

We attended Zaid and Manihah's wedding on Saturday. This was a reunion session for me since I met some of my friends that I havent' seen for almost 7 years. Then went to Angsana to buy nothing..hahah. Saje boring-boring takde keje. My mum used to have a shop there but that was long time ago.

We attended another wedding on Sunday. It was Kak Asma' and her brother Zaki. Unfortunately the 2 newlyweds and their spouses weren't there yet. Make-up lama sangat kot..heheh. We had 2 more weddings to go to that day. Both weddings were in Kluang so Nufayl met his mbah and mbah lanang (tok and nenek from By's side) on the weddings..











posted by Hana' at 1/24/2009 01:24:00 PM |

BOYCOTT ISRAEL CAMPAIGN

-Tagged by Aliya-

Here's what we should do. It's simple:
List down 5 of the products from the list below that you are boycotting,
and then list down 5 of the products that you will try your best to boycott,
and finally list another 5 of the products that you find it hard to boycott,
and tag 5 others.

This tag is to get everyone to read the list below carefully and identify which products affects your life and the lives of the Palestinians most! You can also compare your list with your friends and see: if they can boycott one product that you haven't been boycotting, why can't you start to boycott the product too?


5 products I have already boycotted :

1. McD (Already McD-free for almost 2 months, lama la tuh considering I lap Filet-o-Fish oh so very much)

2. Tricon Global Restaurants, Inc. @ YUM! Brands, Inc. that owns KFC, A&W, Long John Silvers, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell (So far tak kebulur pun kalau tak makan KFC atau Pizza Hut. Nak try Radix Fried Chiken bila pi Kedah nanti..heheh)

3. Starbucks (used to love its frappuccino when I was at the States but then vanilla cappuccino bought from Pasar Malam Gombak tastes the same, cheaper some more).

4. TESCO (Went there once and borong 4 packs of Pampers for Nufayl (murah mak nenek harga dia), dah tobat dahh....).

5. Carrefour (Pegi Giant pun ok hape, sapot Malaysian company some more)



5 products I will start to boycott (Kira dah janji la ni kalau dah letak kat sini):

1. Coca-Cola (I don't actually consume coca-cola itself, but need to cut-off Sprite, Fanta and Nestea that I sometimes enjoy. Banyak je Malaysian brands for soft drinks such as Zippie and Chills).

2. Danone (segala coklat dan biskut2 yang sedap dan menggemukkan tu dah tak boleh makan dah la ye, takpe...biskut raya Nor'aini pun boleh..).

3. Maggi (Mee Sedap and Mee Rusky are not that bad).

4. Johnson & Johnson (Other brands kan banyak, ada Anakku, Pureen, Pigeon).

5. Kotex (Tak jenguk lagi market for alternatives. Laurier, boleh kah?).



5 products that I find hard to boycott :

1. Nestle (Pretty hard to find substitute for Nescafe. I don't think there's any substitute for this one at all. Takyah langsung minum la macam tu. Love Kit-Kat too).

2. Intel (All my computers/laptop are Intel, at office and home. So, camne tu nak tukar?).

3. StarWorld (Of News Corporation) (--> 70% of what we watch on tv expecially on american sitcom/comedies. Need to find another method to laugh at other people without feeling guilty...heh.).

4. Disney (This is mostly related to Nufayl's source of amusement...(and sometimes his mother too)). Change to Upin and Ipin instead?.

5. Nokia (Still use the old and CHEAP hand phone since 3 years ago after coming back from Malaysia. This hand phone doesn't even have ring tone yang berlagu-lagu ok. I'll just wait for this one to go kiok, then I'll shove it into the dustbin and buy another brand. Kalau nak tukar je, that phone will go back into the market. Kalau nak buang the still-functioning phone sekarang, membazir itu amalan syaitan la pulak. So, tunggu la kejap until the end of its life cycle since the damage is already done.)


"Each riyal, dirham …etc. used to buy their goods eventually becomes bullets to be fired at the hearts of brothers and children in Palestine. For this reason, it is an obligation not to help them (the enemies of Islam) by buying their goods. To buy their goods is to support tyranny, oppression and aggression."
Syeikh Yusuf Qardhawi, fatwa on boycotting Israeli and their supporters' products


I tag YOU!

posted by Hana' at 1/21/2009 09:41:00 PM |

Ramadhan 2008

Found this entry under 'draft'. Lupa pulak nak post. :p

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Ramadhan 2008

The first Ramadhan with Nufayl was surprisingly very relaxing. I opted for the option of doing Tarawikh at home since I can take my own sweet time while Nufayl slept soundly. Alhamdullillah, Allah made it easy for us. Usually after iftar, I would go upstairs to our bedroom, turn on the air-cond, pray Maghrib then proceed with nursing Nufayl while reading the Quran. The sound of kalamullah always made him drowsy and he would sleep right away. For that whole month, my tarawikh was rarely interrupted by Nufayl. But mysteriously, seconds after I'm done with tarawikh, he would wake up. He is indeed a 'Nufayl' from Allah.


The Night Before Eid

This year it was our turn to celebrate Eid at my hometown, Guar Perahu (yeayyyy!! :p. It was not that I don't fancy celebrating Eid in Kluang, but women over there are not encouraged to go to the mosque for Solat Sunat Aidil Fitri, which what I love most about Eid). As usual routine at home, mak will invite all our relatives for a small tahlil ceremony on the night before Eid.


Venue: Living Room
Event: Ammar was the imam, and Tok (the looking at the camera still wanted to join the jemaah even tough she can't walk very well)

After the tahlil, we went for a huge makan-makan which I forgot to take the pictures. But alhamdullilah, food was abundant; ketupat, rendang, nasik daging, lemang, mee goreng, pudding cocktail semua ada. All of us went for buffet style and eat on the floor since the dining table was all covered with food for 30 people. I think it is important to have this kind of event and feel close to your big family.

And always, afterward bebudak were having great time playing with firecrackers!


Venue: Outside the house
Event: Bebudak sedang mencucuh bunga api, lepas tu buat bulat-bulat dengan bungi api tu...



Raya 2008

The morning of first Eid always trills me. You would see everyone busy with getting ready for Eid prayer, but not before having a quick breakfast of our traditional ketupat and rendang.



Venue: Dining Area
Event: Mak, Abah, Farhan, Ammar and By were having breakfast before heading to the mosque.



Venue: Inside the Masjid
Event: The last time both of us were here, it was the day of akad nikah. Now, 2 and a half years later, we have Nufayl joining the group :)


Venue: Ground floor of Masjid Guar Perahu
Event: Paparazzi sedang skodeng Ammar from the 1st floor






Venue: Main praying area of Masjid Guar Perahu
Event: Tahlil after solat sunat Eid Fitri



Venue: Corridor of Masjid Guar Perahu
Event: Makan-makan dalam dulang. By comel je makan dengan budak-budak..hahahah


'Ugagaga... ugagaga, Nufayl"



Venue: In front of our home in Guar Perahu
Event: Our little family standing in front of rides of our big family yang balik kampung for Eid.





Tired Nufayl laying on his first toy, Tiger, the white lion.



A little father-son bonding time.


Bebudak bersuka-ria di luar rumah walaupun cuaca panas terik


Di dalam rumah pun masih bergumbira.....kids....



Sementara mak bapak dah terbongkang kepenatan.



Family Picture



Sessi bermaaf-maafan


Dan juga sesi orang dah kawen kena bagi duit raya kat orang belum kawen...ngeheheh



Dan sesi laga-laga hidung...




posted by Hana' at 1/17/2009 01:13:00 AM |