updates since 24/7

im back in malaysia since the day i turned 22! owh how old i feel and how uncomfortable i am in this very stinky cyber cafe. theres no internet connection in our house in kajang, and thats where i would be for this whole week.

lots of nice things happened since i came back home, kakak drove all the way to kajang from johor to celebrate my birthday! i would really love to upload some nice pics of what we did but as i said, i am stuck here..

mom wanted dim sum so we went to eat at this chinese restaurant in equatorial hotel, unfortunately, the person we called did not mention that they only served dim sums for lunch..so we just ate normal food of steak and sandwiches,but i ate the buffet...haha...reminds me of my childhood days when mom would bring us there for breakfast and lunch as she was busy with work in bangi..

anyway..can i update on that later? seriously...trhis place is soo stinky!!..
huhu

but probably ill not update for quite some time...maybe in 2 weeks..maybe in a month...im not sure yet...t

take care!i miss the comfort of internet at home,..wuwuwuw

.....

happy birthday to me =(

if someone prays....

ive been complaining about my cough for the last month, which was very bad i might add. The reason why my cough continued even more than my other friends who suffered the same episode was that i come from a family who has asthma. The doctor who checked on me the other day told me that even if one does not have asthma, but have family members who do, they will have a prolonged coughing episode...i see~

First of all, i would like to apologize AGAIN for not updating my blog as frequently as i used to. hey, even my room is messy nowadays. argh...

anyway...i was watching evan almighty while half studying with my eyes closed yesterday. Ive watched it before, but had nothing better to do as i sat in front of the idiot box.actually, Evan almighty was found not to be suitable for the muslim audience as it contained scenes nearing to blasphemy and the likes. but then again, theres this saying that goes, take what is good and leave the bad, and that is what i did when i watched this particular movie.

if any of you watched it, you would probably have heard this line that i would like to share with you:

If someone prays for patience, you think God gives them patience? Or does he give them the opportunity to be patient?

If they pray for courage, does God give them courage, or does he give them opportunities to be courageous?

If someone prayed for their family to be closer,you think God zaps them with warm, fuzzy feelings? Or does he give them opportunities to love each other?


it means alot doesnt it, see, i told you not all that is bad IS bad. anyway, that night, after quite some time of not doing so, i opened my Quran and flipped to the last page that i had read before. i had finally reached surah Yaasin after so long, and so that night, i read the verses with a bottle of water in front of me as my habit when reading the quran. (not for any purposes, but just my throat gets parched easily). As i recited the last words one by one, i was getting ready for a bout of cough, and gulped down to the last drop the bottle of water in front of me.

Guess what, until today...my cough which had been torturing me for one month ..has finally gone away as the last droplets of water that night entered my throat. can i say its a miracle, maybe.....

i prayed to God to make me well, i complained to Him not to make me sick, not to burden me especially at this time. I fretted and frowned at every cough, every sneeze, every high temperature. I talked to Him every night before i sleep that if he could just make me well again, i would pray to him with even more zest.everyday i would tell him i would appreciate it very much if he took my painful cough away..and then i stopped to think...

IF I PRAYED TO BE CLOSER TO GOD, DO YOU THINK GOD GIVES ME CLOSENESS....OR DOES HE GIVE ME THE OPPORTUNITY TO BE CLOSE TO HIM~

thats deep~..you see, i have based my whole life on this particular sentence, that everything happens for a reason..no matter how bad that something is..i guess its true..hmm, this is kind of an abrupt entry as im still finding my momentum on blogging! hope you liked this, toodles...and i am coming back to the blogging world! =)

when was the last time you did something spontaneous

dear diary,

its been one week since i wrote anything, fresh out of ideas i might say.

i was walking back home from my sunday morning jog, which is now a walk because i cant run more than a few miles before starting to cough, argh, really a pain in the butt, me cough..cant even go do proper workout.

anyway,during my walk back home...

i felt ive been living the same old day in and day out...

whens the last time i did something spontaneous

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME I REALLY LIVED~

the cat in the hat

There was an old woman who lived by the sea
She ate lobsters and crickets for dinner
And for breakfast, its beans coladas and pea

Her house was at the tip of a cliff
Her smile was uneven, much needed a face lift
Her scarf was red and well used
But she always, just smiles, and laughs and mused

The old woman had a cat who lived in a hat
Who lived with her while catching live rats
He slept and snored on the window sill
And kept by her side when she was ill

The cat worried if his owner died
What would he eat, would he have survived
And purred day in and out by the womans bed
Until one day, she gasped and coughed..and then she was dead..

Poor old cat cried tiny kitty tears
He is now alone, as he had always feared
His fur was dirty from no human touch
All he ate was mice for lunch

One day as he strolled through the garden of weed
He stumbled upon a giant apple seed
As he patted the dust so that he could see
the seed grew and grew into a tree

On top of the tree was an old woman whos smile was uneven
And put out her arms to the now purring cat
Who took up her cat with her to heaven
ANd remained the same furry creature who lived in her hat

~ex
libris

arent we all under the weather...

Recently there seems to be an epidemic not only in my house but i guess a lot of people here and everywhere. EVeryone seems to be sick, and if not sick, is already showing signs of getting the same sickness.

Its really terrible to be sick, but people say that when sickness comes, sins float away. So, in reality, we should be happy to be sick i guess, but it really is hard to be happy when your nose is blocked and your throat is swollen like a bee right.

A wise man told me the trick to not feeling sick is to fight back, when your body feels the most weak, that is when you act as if you feel nothing.

i went out to jog today, but i kept stumbling over my own feet because i didnt feel up to it. Both me and my friend felt like 2 dizzy homo sapient who just happened to stroll down the dusty hot road. Along the way, we bought hot fresh milk, maybe it would soothe our dizzyness. As we walked slowly, we stopped talking for awhile, both immersed in each others own thoughts of dizzyness.

Still not content with the hot milk, i stopped by the local grocery mart and bought myself tons of ionic drinks, having high hopes that these would help. But as the day would turn into night, i would probably go see a doctor later in the evening.

This post means nothing really, but just wanting to say im sick!haha...nah~its not that, i just want to wish all the others who are sick to get well soon~

Mom told me this story of a muslim doctor, captive in a dark cell with other prisoners of war. ALl they had was mountain water trickling inside their dark cell. The doctor tried to cure the sickness of everyone who was in the cell with him with what he had...and all he had was water. He made them drink lots of water day in and out, he bathed their wounds with water, and he made sure that everything he did, included the treatment with water.

With the blessing of God, all under his care became well again, and one day they were set free after months of being captives. After regaining his freedom, he did a research on using water as a healing remedy. I dont remember exactly, but i think it was mentioned in the quran or hadiths about the power of clear water, untainted by any other contents. And at last, his research proved to be fruitful, as water indeed had may i say a miracle healing property.

Thats why all of us today are recommended to drink 3L of water a day..

ok, so thats what im trying to do now...ive stocked myself with more water than ever..hopefulle id get well soon...

maybe prove the miracle of water too =)

anyway, get well soon everyone....may the holidays be happy and not like as if stuck in a prison where everyone seems to be in a foul mood

want to read something beautiful~

purity is half of faith

alhamdulillah fills the scales

subhanallah and alhamdulillah fill that which is between heaven and earth

prayer is light

charity is proof

patience is illumination

Quran is an argument for OR against you

Everyone starts his day

And is a vendor of his soul

either freeing it or bringing about its ruin~~

hadith # 23

JOGJAKARTA-SOLO 2009

(a very tanned hand from the travels i must say!)

Im back from a really fantastic vacation from my accounts that is. EVeryone has been telling me that Jogjakarta had nothing much to offer, but for me, the 5 day holidays with 9 crazy lunatics was worth every single cent. The 5 days of total relaxing holiday was what i needed to get away from the hustling life in jatinangor for awhile, and it did me good. But coming back to the comforts of my room, from the hot sun of jogjakarta, yupp,its true what they say... sometimes theres no place like home!

I have been thinking of finding myself a travel log traditional type of notebook, where i can record my travels. But i havent been able to find a really nice one, something like abangs leather bound notebook. Anyway, for this travel, i used my expense record in my handphone to keep track of what i have been doing. IT helps a bit, but a travel journal would be even better.

These entries are going to be very very travelly, so sorry if you get bored about it...!This entry is an intro, so bear with it ya





ok, first things first, the essential things to bring during a 5 day travel. from left.

1. make sure you bring a bag fit to travel that can ACTUALLY fit stuff in it! I finally found the best bag to travel, which was given to me by my aunt from one of her travels to Greece, i think. It has lots of useful pockets in it, and can be turned into a side bag, handbag and back pack. very versatile.

2. always bring along toiletries to freshen oneself anywhere at anytime. sunblock, wet tissue, hand sanitizer, face spray, hair comb,hair serum..haha...very gurly, i know!but it IS essential i say!

3. Bring a camera that lasts the whole day and night (which mine only lasts for half a day, hence the lack of photographs)

4. NEver forget to bring your handphone, eventhough sometimtes you need to get away from all those gadgets

4. its not in the picture, but i bring along my hat wherever i go because it is definitely hot!

5.SUNGLASSES! --to shade oneself..and to look HOT...muahaha

6. I recently bought a mini telekung, which is a tad bigger than the palm of my hand..very,very useful..one of the most practical things i bought in my life, seriously

After finishing my osce remed on friday, i ran home, and....SLEPT!!
huhu
but i did finish packing a good hour before going to the train station.
our kijang was really late and we had to employ personal vehicles at the last minute..that was cumbersome for everyone, so sorry..
but at last, we reached the train station in time, and after crossing the railway track, in and out of coaches, we finally settled into our blue seats ..all 10 of us.

those on the trip:





ok...actually this entry has been in my draft for ages, around 2-3 days. but i have been busy wrecking my mind thinking of something to weasle my way out of the 2nd judicium. I just dont understand why we have to go and dont they understand that we are not only troubling ourselves, but troubling our parents as well...yeahh, mom said, they are just a sadistically set of people...aint nothing we can do about it, they live on other peoples sadness.

Dont want to spoil my mood on writing about my trip now, so i guess ill go back to the vacation part.


DAY 1 ( 27.06.09)

The train ride was for 8 hours, and it was extremely cold in the coach. I bundled myself with layers of warmth, woken up time to time by some passing freeze. Luckily, i survived the cold train ride unscathed and we arrived at the train station in jogjakarta at 4.30 am.
The air was cool, as we unloaded our bags into the RUMAH UMNO,which we would be staying in for the next 4 days, 3 nights. The big house was not luxurious, but good enough to accommodate us backpackers. WE rested for an hour, some took a bath, 1 person didnt (hee)...and by 7, we were of again to travel the ancient city.

The aim for today was to finish all the temples, or candis. I felt that it was very interesting to look upon such great architecture, the richness of the past, which one day could collapse at any moment. The day was extremely hot, as we climbed the first temple, CANDI BOROBUDUR. The view was astonishing, miles and miles of ancient stones merely stacked upon each other with nothing much to hold them together. Any large earthquake could easily dismantle the ancient temple as had more than once happened. I took lots of pictures, definitely, as we scuttled around the large temple. We spent around 2 hours there before proceeding to other temples. The next two temples were much smaller, Candi Pawon and Candi Mendut. Candi Mendut was nice because it had this large tree where we children swung like tarzan from timbuktu. These temples had various buddhist influence, and beside Candi Mendut was a newly built buddhist monastery which we did go in, only to take some photos. A friend of mine took a really beautiful photograph from her slr, which i would like to congratulate her on, and wish that she would enter the photo in any competitions!i do!






The next was Ratu Boko, which isnt actually a temple, but a place for the princesses to take a bath. ermm..may i say, it was an ancient ground for bath tubs. I absolutely loved the scenery here, but unfortunately, my battery died on me upon reaching this scenic place. but, ill ask from some other friends, probably youll see it on my facebook. The whole landscape was large, and we got lost once, (following someone la...i wonder who laa)..=P..But we managed to get back to the right area, and we spent a lot of time there, taking in the natural beauty of the past.

As we spent a lot of time there, by the time we went to Prambanan, we couldnt get in. But the sun was setting and it was magnificent! I do wish i could post the pictures here! later, i hope.

Lastly, after a tiring day visiting all the temples, we went home, took a bath and went out for dinner at Mang Engking. (im not quite sure how to spell it). But this restaurant is in a castle, very interesting i must say! The seafood was normal, but maybe we paid for the ambience.

All in all...it was a good day spent..

EXPENSES
Car petrol 20 000
Borobudur entrance ticket 16 000
Personal stuff 28 000
6 000
Candi Pawon and Candi Mendut
entrance ticket 3 500
Lunch (nasi baker) 11 500
Any travel expenses 10 000
Candi Brambanan and Ratu Boko
entrance ticket 25 000
Dinner at Mang Engking
–palace seafood… 57 500

total= 177 500

_________________________________________________________________________________

DAY 2 (28.06.09)

I was eager to try out nasi gudeg after my lecturer told me that it tasted good. Unfortunately, never trust anyones taste buds except for yourself...true! It wasnt good at all, i barely touched mine, what more looked at my friends dish which contained an exotic bird head and rice...ahaha..



Today, we went to the train station to check out our options to Solo before proceeding to the Kraton which is the palace in Jogja. The palace grounds was large, very asian oriented monarchy. It is considered the little brother of Solo as the royalty first started there. Kraton closes at 2 pm so, we had to go there first thing.






After the palace, we visited Brambanan again, this time my camera still had batteries. But you should really see it during sun set, awesome! I bought this really nice purple had for a good price and am extremely satisfied with it.(yeayy!!)

At brambanan, we took a mini train around the compound while looking at other temples around it. By the end of our 2 day trip, i reckon we could ace any history test on the temples in jogja!









WE went back home to rest for lunch, again eating nasi bakar which is really good and cheap. Situated just at the corner of where we were staying, definitely should try. After having rested, we went to Amplaz in search of civilized shopping! (sorry ma friends, we had to check out the mall didnt we!)..fortunately for me, things were expensive and not to my liking so i didnt spend much.

VEry restful and unhurried day, enjoyed it!

EXPENSES

Car rental (2 days travel) 160 000
Breakfast-nasi gudeg, ayam suwir 12 500
Car petrol day 2 20 000
Kraton entrance ticket 3 000
Personal stuff 7 000
40 000
10 000
20 000
70 000
130 000
Mini train at brambanan 5000
Lunch –nasi bakar again 10 000
Dinner @ pastello ---
ambarrukmo plaza (amplaz) 25 500

TOTAL = 513 000

___________________________________________________________________________________

DAY 3 (29.06.09)

Today we woke up earlier than usual because we are going to SOLo! hurrayy!
The train to Solo is called pramex, costing very cheap and the trip is only 1 hour.
WE were kind of lost at what to do, i felt guilty because i lost the list of things to visit in Solo. We took a beca from the train station and went around town, as we arrived early in the morning, nothing was opened much. So we went to mcd, where 2 friends went to find a large car to rent. We ended up getting thiS reALY really large mobile fitting all of us.




First stop, Kraton Kasunanan. This palace was unique because it had a lot of western influence as it is the big brother of the royalty in Jogja. There were many gifts from athens, greece, the british and a lot of european countries. In solo, it is known as kasunanan because it is bigger than the royalty in jogja. in jogja, it is known as kasultanan..see the difference right..
The palace grounds were unique because you had to take off any sandals or slippers to step on the special sand taken from the samudra sea. BUt if you wore closed shoes or a sandal with a back strap, then it is allowed. THe belief is that if you go bare footed on the sand, it is a sign that you were blessed and may hinder from any rheumatism.






Theres this really beautiful carriage that i liked, pure white..but as usual, my camera died on me again!!
In the middle of the palace is a well, believed to be used for health by the king.





The trip was then proceeded to the next palace known as Puro Mangkunegaran. The thing about this palace, is that he is actually one of the kings nephews, a knight in his title. He succeded to make a kingdom of his own in Solo, and thus the royal family still lives on in the palace until now.

This palace is somewhat like a mansion of a rich man. Full of marbles from italy, chandeliers from france and furs from the sumatran jungle. The tour guide said that there was a generation of the kings where he became very rich because he charged a lot of taxes from the local people, therefore enabling him to buy all those luxuries.

One interesting object in this palace, is when the tour guide mentioned the ancient g-string and the chastity belt for the king and queen. It is worn so that they wont you-know with other people outside the blood lineage. It closes their private parts, and is locked by a key, held by only 1 person. Unfortunately, photography is no allowed inside the palace itself.
The tour guide, even showed us some lulur and traditional herbs sold by the women of the palace, believed to be used since ancient time for beauty and health.






The whole mansion-type palace was very aspiring, because it was a new monarchy, a lot of the furniture still were from the 20th century. There are pictures of the king who is only 59 years old and his family. one of the family married a malaysian.

Oh, did i mention, that the movie PUTERI GUNUNG LEDANG was filmed at this palace, and there are pictures of tiara jacquelina as well.

From all the palaces, we did what we always do best...visit temples..the next temple on the list is called Candi Sukho. A unique thing about this temple is that it is known as the temple for pronography!! What!! believe it or not..

The story behind this temple is that the people who built it believed that sex is sacred, something like karma sutra, and filled the temple with 18 above carvings for the sole prupose of sexual education...hmm,peculiar eyy... but true.

This candi is a long way from solo town, so we had to travel more than an hour, passing the Bengawan Solo, which is the famous river in solo, drove through impossible hilly roads and finally reach the top of the cold cold mountain.



Everyone was hungry as we got of the mini bus, so we all ate pop mie and drank hot coffee...sadly, my camera aint working this time either...(and i dont think i can buy a camera this year because of **^&*&^ FK who forced us to stay for judicium 2, so i have to waste my *&^&*^ money on flight tickets!!!!argh!!! )..
the temple was shaped like a pyramid, very unique from all the temples that we saw. i believe that it had some egyptian influence or so, as the temple was like an aztec temple.
A funny thing happened there, when we were all posing to take photographs, my friend went to ask some mat salleh for help..
so she was like, ok, you have to press this button and get this view and etc etc...
suddenly the mat salleh said : photonya mau smua atau gi mana....ahaa!!never underestimate the power of a language barrier i say!

FRom the top of the mountain, we went back to the town, it was nearing 5, so Pasar klewer which was a cheap place for batik was already closed, we had to go to this place called KAMPUNG BATIK, and the stuff there is freaking expensive.. all i got from solo, was an expensive tshirt, which after much running around, i finally got the cheapest they had to offer.

We went back to Jogja on the same 1 hour train...along the way, we stopped at the WRONG STATION!..but had time to cover our shame and went back in the train before it started to move.haha...but we reached jogja around 8, just in time for dinner after a really really long taxi ride.

EXPENSES

SOLO-train pramex 7 000
Personal stuff 6 000
25 000
Beca transport 7 500
Breakfast @ McD 34 000
Kraton Kasunanan
entrance ticket 5000
Puro Mangkunegaran 10 000
Lunch—pop mie
Candi Sukhoh 5 500
Car rental 50 000
Train back 7 000
Dinner –
phuket (8.30 pm) 29 000

TOTAL = 134 700

____________________________________________________________________________________

DAY 4 (30.06.09)

our last day in JOGJA..i would personally vote this day as one of the best days of my life! haha
I ABSOLUTELY love the beach and to the beach we went!!
This beach is called pantai krakal...its so stunningly beautiful, at par with the beaches in Bali! TO get there, is a tiring 2 hour drive up a hill! But, once you get there, it was worth it! I loved it! WE had the best times there, the water was as clear as the sky was blue...the waves crashed upon each other like neptune with his crown..The rocks beneath our feet were like stumped glass, sharp, but pleasant to our senses...

We sunk in our happiness, seeping in the sun that burn pleasurably on our already tanned skin. We even opened our own spa with sand massages! how about that!

After more than an hour of swimming, everyone lazed on the sand while playing uno..ahhh, c`est la vie....~

From the sun scorched waters of the sea, only a minute walk lead us to the public shower rooms. at first, i didnt exactly wanted to take a bath in a place like that, but we had no choice..BUT, once i took a bath in the cool natural mountain water, it was definitely a pleasantly clean experience...



EXPENSE

gas 20 000
lunch 15 000
other 10 000
train 175 000
travel
car back 160 000
house
for 3 days 45 000

TOTAL = 380 000

GRAND TOTAL = 1, 250, 000

a very budget holiday!