22 Mar 2014

MATTA Affairs

Salam semua...I'm back. So how are you guys today. Yeah still praying for MH370 and it becoming so mystery than ever.

So, me and 2 of my mates from Europe trip last year when to Matta Fair last Saturday. We have been wanting to go to the fair since last year, our vacation destination is.............Turkey. Well we decided to go there since, my friend Asma wants to go there and it cost less than Europe, yap, we are broke.

So, after a long discussions in our Whatsapp group, we decided to go in September, as October there will be Raya Haji. In addidition, my other mate, Maria will be celebrating her birthday in September, so where else to celebrate other than in Turkey?

Our plan is simple, we didn't bring any money with us at all, so we just go around and surveying the price, when we found the right one, meaning cover places we wanted to go and of course cheap one, maybe we will get package, if not, perhaps we will buy the plane ticket and go on our own.

First we planned to meet at McDonalds in the mall opposite PWTC, and when I reach there, the mall is on renovation, so we decided

So, we went from Hall 1 to Hall, the price becomes higher and higher as we when from booth to another booth. At first we when to a famous Muslim's travel agent and the price is around RM 4200 for 10 days and with wifi bus...interesting....then we when to other booth that offer ferry ride and the price has gone up to RM 4800. My mate, Asma really want to see the "wheeling dance sufi" thingy in Konya and we learn that it was not included in all the booths, we have to fork out extra pay for it. We do knew that for the balloon ride in Cappodocia, we need to pay for ourselves, which is around RM 600 per person.

So, for every booth that we went, most of the itineraries are the same, whether you go to Istanbul-Istanbul or Istanbul-Ankara. Most of the flights are MAS and Qatar Airways. For the flight tickets, the price displayed is not the real price, I was so please to find out Emirates to Istanbul is just RM 1600, but guess what, it was sold out already. Now left plane tickets with the price amount from RM 2200 to RM 2800.

After 3 hours of surveying, we stop to analyze all the brochures and find out the best one. We need to analyze the dates, the place of interest and of course, the price. So after praying, we decided to take the go to the 3 finalized booth before make decision again as some of the booth we are not sure whether does it cover with ferry ride, or do they know the wheeling dance thingy.

Then, we meet again the booth and asking more specific question, whether the bus has wifi, their experiences and what additional charges that we need to pay. So after when we went to the cheapest one, it turns out that they didn't cover the ferry ride and the RM 4200 is basic and adding up we need to pay for RM 5700 which is way over our budget, but luckily we manage to get Turkish ice creams of mango, chocolate and vanilla which are so yummy. Then we went to the second booth and we are still not convinced. So, on our way to go to the last booth, I saw this big orange booth with Turkey price around RM 4200, so we stop there.

So we stay there quite some time, we ask the real price and what else cover...so overall we only need to pay for RM 4700, which is the cheapest so far. So after all the questions, we decided t choose this one. The deposit is also cheap and so our mission is accomplished. It was 4.30pm and we are so hungry and decided to go to Ikea for lunch and my friend wants to buy something there. In the end, we went home around 9pm and it was a long day and satisfying as we are one step away to fulfill our dream.

So for now, I have something to looking forward to and please wake me up when September comes!

Praying for MH370

Listen attentively...

Find a Turkish guy....

Decision ....Decision....

Yummy Turkish Ice creams...

1 Mar 2014

I sea-food

Hi guys, sorry I've been absent so long. The truth is I really doesn't have the mood. It is like I'm having "lazy-post syndrome" and I'm trying my best to beat the disease. Wish be all the best in the world.

So, again, I was assigned to supervised the centres in Sabah and again, it was taken away (sob sob) this year. So this is another entry of me having last blast in Sabah and eating the freshest (is that a word?) and cheapest seafood ever.

So me and my colleagues, the guy who will be taking over Sabah was there for me to show him around. So our first stop is Sandakan. So we stayed at the hotel near the centre so it means we can't rent a car. After the centre visit, we (when I said "we" I mean me) decided to go to Kampung Buli Sim- Sim for the seafood. We took a cab and it cost us about RM20 returns, yeah I know it is expensive but we have no choice, I mean we didn't know how to get there using public transport.

So when we reach it is already 6.30pm and it is almost dark. There are many restaurants there and we choose the happening one. It is actually situated in the water village, so when we go through we will see the living area or other people's kitchen. So we are seated at patio near the sea and it is low tide and I can see somebody walking around in shallow water. So we order fresh coconuts and ususlally for prawns, I love steam prawns and eat them with soy sauce, chili and garlic, but because we will be having it in Kota Kinabalu, so I thought we should try butter prawns, oyster soup and kangkung belacan. It butter prawns were delicious and you can feel the freshness on the first bite itself. The oyster soup not bad and the oysters are as big as the bowl spoon. So, as the night comes to end, we just feel full already and fight on who should finished up all the meals. So bye- bye Sandakan and welcome to KK.

In KK of course we are going to Kampung Salaut seafood, and there we ordered steam prawns,nyonya steam fish and sayur sabah ikan masin. The specialty of Kampung Salut, they have this papaya pickle that is so good. I wonder where they get it?

So overall, I guess my seafood adventure ends here. Of course I will eat seafood here but it will not as good as in KK and Sandakan. Actually, there is a saying that they taste of seafood in Sandakan and Kota kinabalu is different because the different sea, as Sandakan is near to Sulu Sea while KK in South China Sea, I can't feel the different my colleague does. Well, maybe in the end, if I really craving seafood, I will fly to KK or Sandakan or Tawau, they said the seafood also good there.

P/S: If you would like to read my another goodbye to Sabah, click here:
http://whatever-lahno.blogspot.com/2010/12/i-will-miss-you-sabah.html

I will miss this view...

So here we are...

Best steam prawns ever...

Fresh coconut...

Yum-yum...

Butter prawns....


Nyonya steam fish...not sure what fish is it...

Chasing Aurora Birthday Trip: Finland, Sweden + Norway

Salam semua.... How you all have been doing so far? I hope you guys are in the good health and bless with your families and friends. Yap...m...