Reminiscing about my days in Amsterdam

Assalamualaikum,

Hai apa khabar semua? I sihat-sihat je. Cuma ada sedikit blues sebab kena tinggal dengan suami. hahaha. Eh, jangan salah sangka pulak. Kena tinggal sekejap aje sebab dia outstation. Berapa lama tu taktau lagi. Sebulan, dua bulan, or maksimum 3 bulan la. Hopefully jangan la sampai 3 bulan, sebab 3 hari pun dah bikin pusing dibuatnya. hukhuk. :(

Semalam Am ada share gambar-gambar dia masa transit almost 8 hours kat Schipol Airport. Sempat la dia pergi jalan-jalan dekat Amsterdam city. Wah teringat balik masa I pun pergi sana sorang-sorang back in the Year 2012. I ada cerita pengalaman tu dekat SINI. Dua-dua pegi sana as a solo traveller. I think we should make a point to make it there together one day. 

Okay, perlu lebih gigih kumpul duit! :p

Amri, Amsterdam, January 2015. 

Amirah, Amsterdam, September 2012
p/s: pipi kurus lagi oiii time ni. T__T

Amsterdam ni takde la banyak beza sangat pun dengan European cities lain yang I pernah singgah. Lebih kurang sama je kalau tengok dari segi keseluruhannya. But I have no idea why, every place I visited will give me that emotional touch yang buat I rasa nak pergi lagi kalau diberi peluang. Doa la Allah panjangkan umur and murah rezeki untuk sampai lagi kat sini. 

Eh, bukan sini je, tapi seluruh dunia. InsyaAllah. :)

Serene and beautiful city, isn't it?

Rindu. The city and the person as well. Eceh. :p

Okay cukup la tu dok layan blues pagi-pagi ni. Looking at these photos made me feel like going there again. There are a few more countries in Europe that I really want to visit macam Spain, Greece and Portugal. Belom ada peluang lagi buat masa ni. Maybe one day mana tau ada orang sponsor pi sana. hahaha. Best oo berangan tak kena bayar pun. Free aje. :p

Okay conference hunting starts now!!

Sekarang ni I busy sikit marking final exam scripts students course yang I ajar sem ni. Total almost 300 scripts. Oii pening kepala sungguh macam-macam pe'el menjawab soalan yang I jumpa. Dari yang excellent dapat full marks sampai la ada jugak dapat kosong, mendidih jugak otak ni haa nak kena mengadap. I will try to help as much as I can, tapi kalau yang betol-betol tak perform tu tak dapek den nak nolong. huhu.

Okay I better get back to work now. See you soon!

Tata.

Solo travel experience in Amsterdam

Assalamualaikum semua,

Tadi masa dok survey ticket untuk balik next year sambil-sambil google tempat yang menarik untuk pegi  ehem.. honeymoon (amboi tak sabaq-sabaq nampak hahaha), I bumped into an article about travelling adventure. And it takes me down the memory lane where I had the adventure to travel on my own. Yes, I once had chance to become a solo traveller. And I survived. *Proud*

Kisahnya sebab I cari cheapest ticket for my London trip, and bila dah murah, haruslah kena transit kan? For my case, I kena transit di Amsterdam selama hampir 24 jam. So, dalam tempoh 24 jam tu, I merayau sorang-sorang di tempat yang sangat asing bagi I. If you know me well, I'm the type of person yang sangat cepat panic kalau ada masalah. hihi. :p

So, the moment when I arrived at their airport , I said to myself, I have to be confident, brave and don't get panic very easily. I am all alone, I really need to survive on my own. Masa tu dah pukul 10 malam, berbekalkan duit 40euro je dalam purse, tu pun yang tunang I bagi lebihan duit dia masa dekat London, I have no other choice but to take their public transport to go to the hotel that I have booked in earlier.

Mula-mula I nak naik taxi tapi takut pulak kalau kena charge mahal, and I tak sempat nak withdraw duit lagi time tu. I just knew that I have to catch a train from the airport, and then pegi central station at the city, and from there I kena tukar naik tram pulak untuk sampai ke hotel. And that was not easy especially when you are at a strange city, during midnight.

Masa dekat airport okay lagi sebab semua orang cakap English, announcement pun ada dalam English, sekali bila dah naik train, the announcements were in Dutch. Danggg!! I started to get panic. Serious masa tu I taktau nak stop dekat mana sebab tak paham apa dia cakap. Lepas bertawakkal, I beranikan untuk approach a complete stranger, asking for direction. 

Bila dah sampai dekat central station, it is almost 11pm and there were not so many people around. Sunyi gila weh dekat situ. With only a piece of floor map in my hand, I kena cari tram station pulak. Aduii, nak tanya orang I tak berani sebab dah malam, takut orang ingat I sesat sorang-sorang lagi bahaya. Kaunter pertanyaan pulak dah tutup. 

So I explored the new place where I don't read or understand any single Dutch word. Bila dah jumpa je tram yang betol, driver tu bagitau yang tu tram terakhir beroperasi untuk malam tu. Phewww. Bayangkan kalau terlepas yang tu? Huwaaa tak sanggup bayang. Mau aku menangis kat situ jugak. 

I bagitau dia yang I tak faham Dutch and I need him to let me know bila dah sampai hotel. Dia siap bagitau yang I kena jalan kaki agak jauh dari tram station ke hotel. Hoii mencabar gila dah la aku tengah letih heret beg dua bijik. huhu. Lepas setengah jam perjalanan, I pun sampai dekat station berdekatan dengan hotel. I got down the tram and I stood there for a couple of minutes, not knowing which direction to go. 

Masa tu dah almost midnight, and there I was, standing alone at a completely strange place. I took a deep breath and started walking following my trusted instinct until I saw a young couple. I asked them for direction and I was lucky because they were also heading to the same place. Masa tu I bersyukur sangat, I silently thanked Allah for helping me when I was about to feel lost.

After about 10 minutes of walking, finally, I arrived safely at the hotel. Fyi, Amsterdam is a place where drugs is allowed to be taken everywhere. The moment I stepped into the hotel, bau weed (ganja) memenuhi segenap ruang. Tak busuk tapi tak wangi. Ha, taktau cemana nak describe. Mula-mula pening jugak, but I got used to it after a while. 

Lepas dah selesai urusan check in apa semua, I masuk bilik, feeling extremely exhausted but at the same time I felt relieve because I survived that night. I sleep shortly after that, knowing that I have to go through another challenge exploring the city on my own the next day.

Keesokan harinya, things were a little bit easier because the surroundings are a lot more safer during the day compared to at night. I had fun strolling down the street along Amsterdam city. Lepak makan sandwich dekat tepi canals yang sangat tenang, jalan dari satu kedai ke satu kedai, explore kedai makan yang best-best, tengok orang busking dekat dataran yang penuh dengan burung merpati dan macam-macam lagi.

Deretan kedai cenderahati yang sangat panjang.
Kat sini boleh dapat segala macam barang yang murah-murah. :)

Clock tower. In the middle of the city.

Salah satu daripada berbelas-belas canals di bandar Amsterdam.
Sangat tenang.

Ha, binatang ni bersepah-sepah dekat sini.
No lah. tu replica je. They look real, don't they?

Ada couple tua dari Hungary yang baik hati tolong ambik gambar.
Dah kata jalan sorang-sorang. Haruslah tak banyak gambar sendiri. hehe.

Binaan bangunan yang cantik. Very Europian.
Jauh dari pengaruh binaan British.

Antara bangunan yang cantik lagi

Orang naik basikal di mana-mana.
Kecik, besar, tua, muda, lelaki, perempuan. Semua naik basikal. Comel gila!!

Lagi deretan bangunan yang cantik.

The museum. Tapi I tak sempat masuk pun.
tertarik dengan bentuk bangunan yang indah.

Seriously, Amsterdam is a really beautiful place that everybody will never get bored exploring the city treasure. I promise myself that I will get there again with my beloved ones. Cuma mungkin tak sesuai bawak budak-budak. Why? You find it why. hehe. :p Last but not least, remember about this ENTRY, I mentioned about wanting to go to this one place. After a long tiring walk, I made it there!!

Look at me, dah macam pokok krismas dah beg depan, belakang, kat tangan lagi. hahaha.
Borong sourvenirs je sikit-sikit. :p

My upcoming short trip to London

Assalamualaikum semua,

Dah masuk hari ke-6 bulan Syawal ni still rancak berhari raya ke? Esok lusa ni mesti banyak open house nak kena attend kan? Sambutan kat sini pun tak kurang hebatnya, jemputan open house tak putus-putus tau. Seronok sebab dapat makan sedap-sedap. hehe.

Dalam dok sibuk-sibuk berhari raya ni, I pulak dok sibuk plan trip untuk conference presentation di London dalam 2 minggu lagi. Itula padahnya bila last minute baru nak buat bookings, dari flight ticket sampai ke acommodation, semua pun nak kena fikir serentak. Sedikit serabut, tapi alhamdulillah semua dah selesai. :)

So, kesimpulannya nanti I akan balik ke Malaysia pada 7 September 2012, and come back here on 23rd September 2012. 17 hari total perjalanan, seminggu di UK, seminggu di Malaysia. Selebihnya dalam kapal terbang atau kat airport. hahaha.

Well, I haven't really decided on what am I going to do there other than attending the conference. Probably the same common things like what other tourists would do. Lagipun masa terlampau singkat, so tak banyak sangat tempat yang dapat pegi. Yang mana tak sempat tu, kalau ada rezeki next time aje lah pegi nampak gayanya. :)

Haaa, ada satu benda nak cerita ni. For this upcoming conference trip, I will fly to London via Amsterdam. Masa on the way pegi tu okay la sebab transit 2 jam je dekat sana sebelum outbound to London. Tapi!!! Tadi I baru perasan masa on the way balik tu I akan transit almost 23 jam dekat sana. Meloncat la kejap! Apa aku nak buat 23 jam dekat sana haa??? Sorang-sorang pulak tu. Tak sanggup ai nak tawaf airport tu 23 jam tau!!!

Sudahnya, I browsed through the internet, booked myself a hotel for one night, and looked for interesting places around Amsterdam city. hahaha. I think I should start learning a little bit of Dutch. Kalua tak nanti nak beli sandwich seketol pun tak reti. Hadoiii laaa!! Takpe-takpe, anggap je la ni rezeki nak jalan-jalan Amsterdam kan? Kalau saja-saja nak pergi tu memang tak la ye dak? :)

I think I should go find this place. So cool!
[photo courtesy]

~I amirah~