Letters to My Mother

 

Once upon a time, people wrote letters. Like, actual letters. Where you had to sit down on a chair, whip out a piece of paper, and write down your thoughts with a pencil or pen. More shockingly, people always spelled words correctly and used proper grammar.

But wait, there’s more! Once you’ve completed the task above, you would then insert that paper which you have folded carefully, into an envelope, write the recipient’s address on it, place a stamp on the top right corner, and then find a postbox to deposit it into.

Then as the days go by, you would start to wonder if the letter had reached your intended recipient, be it a family member, a friend, or a pen pal! (more on this later). And back then, it might take anything from three to seven days for a piece of mail to travel a couple of hundred kilometres across the country.

I, myself, used to write a lot. And it was an absolutely wonderful surprise when I found a bunch of letters that I had mailed to my parents still neatly kept and preserved, some time ago.

Read the full article HERE

UBAH Begins At Home!

In just mere hours, Malaysians will be going to the polls to elect a new government. But let’s face it, a lot of what we go through in our daily lives, all the antagonistic inconveniences, come from our very own attitudes and mindset that no politician can alter overnight. Yeah, I know, “change begins with us” is such a cliché, but it’s also true. 

“Indeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves.” (SURAH RAD; QURAN 13:11) 

So, here’s a list of things to take note of as a reminder for — first and foremost – myself, and everyone reading this. May we become better people (irregardless of who wins the election), Insya Allah. 

1. Use the indicator when making a turn while driving. It’s there for a reason. 

2. Never give “duit kopi”. Ever. Broke traffic laws? Own up, apologise and promise it won’t happen again. Keep our wallets in our pockets. 

3. Don’t use facilities meant for the disabled just because they’re not utilised when we’re there. Even at the masjid, some regularly park at OKU parking spaces although hundreds of other vacant spots are available merely metres away. 

 Read the full post HERE

Jalan-Jalan Korea 2019/20

Just realised that this post was still in Draft! Anyway, it was a last minute decision, but we actually ushered in the new decade in Seoul, Korea earlier this year. And what a memorable trip it was! It was my third time in the South Korean capital, but this was by far the most memorable.

And when I say last minute, it was really a last minute deal. We were planning to make the trip in March 2020, but Tia dropped the news that she would be busy during the school holidays, so we had to scrap the idea. That's when we decided to make the trip earlier than intended and booked everything just days before the departure date. 

And you know what? If things didn't work out the way it did and we had booked the trip for March anyway, we would have been left scrambling for refunds instead of enjoying a winter sojourn seeing how a global pandemic eventually unfolded some time in February. Alhamdulillah. 

I might update this into a longer write-up one day, but in the meantime, here are videos of our awesome trip!

Jalan-Jalan UK 2019

Here's the video!

Jalan-Jalan UK 2019: Aidilfitri Edition

The plan was actually to go somewhere else. Somewhere in the Southern Hemisphere. But the universe, and the fact that I was outvoted by the fam, brought us back to the UK this past mid-year school holidays. Of course this was the second year that the holidays coincided with Ramadhan and Syawal, so we did have to be sure we wanted to celebrate Raya in a foreign land. In the end, we were REALLY sure : )

We also did a couple of different things this time around. I booked Qatar Airways for the first time ever, after reading the good reviews. And I also booked our hotel room by searching on FB for a Malaysian-run homestay or Airbnb. Both turned out well... with a couple of surprises.

So the flight and transit from KL to Doha to Heathrow all went well. The Doha airport of course looked and felt new. They looked all prepared for the World Cup deluge in 2022.

At the Doha Hamad International Airport

From Heathrow, with our Oyster cards all topped up, we decided to take the Tube to get to our accommodation. It's been some two years since our last trip, so we were all super excited lah. But unlike most of our other trips during Autumn/Winter, it's sunnier and warmer this time around (although it did return to form during the latter days).

After a train change, we finally arrived at Queensway. Ah, Bayswater. The sights, the smells... how we've missed thee. As we approached the building of the accommodation just around the corner from Whiteleys (that's currently under renovation), we saw the Malaysian flag, and the Grand Plaza Apartments, managed and owned by Felda. So yeah, they probably sublet a couple of units to the Vista London folks to run it as their own rental business.

There's also a Malaysian restaurant here called Selesa

We left our bags there, since it was still around 9am, and headed out to, where else, Hyde Park! Oh yeah, it was also our anniversary, and the first we're celebrating in London. Chewah!

Another special anniversary for us :)

A beautiful day, huh?

We also headed out to Covent Garden for some shopping and just to enjoy the street performers and unique stores and stalls.

We went back to the hotel to check in, and yeah, the room was as advertised and shared through Whatsapp. It's bigger than the average London hotel room with a kitchen, nice size bathroom and a big bed with one sofa bed. A good deal, I must say. That same night was of course the UEFA Champions League final! We watched the game in the room, and as you might have heard, Liverpool won their 6th title!

I was confident of us winning vs Spurs that I had already made arrangements for us to go to Liverpool the next day to be part of the Trophy Parade. Woohoo!

You can read my story on the parade HERE and watch the video HERE .

The following day, it was time for a bit of sightseeing and a lot of shopping of Liverpool stuff at the LFC store! And oh, it was definitely colder than it was in London. Both wifey and Tia quite like the cold, but can't really stand it, so we always had to get indoors where it was warmer : )

We then took the train back to London, and waited for the announcement on when Hari Raya Aidilfitri was. Malaysia would celebrate it on the 5th of June, but we received news later that night that the UK would be welcoming Eid on the 4th! Sehari untunglah. Hehe.

So the next day, it was time to get all dressed up for Hari Raya! The "sebak" feeling was a bit more than usual as we played the Takbir Raya that morning. We had also brought some food to be cooked and yes, we had lemang and chicken rendang!

And here are more of our Raya snaps. Go #TeamRayaBayswater!

Later on that day, we hung out at Westfield London as Tia was meeting a friend there. And we had Lebanese cuisine for lunch. Definitely a different kind of Raya this year.

#SixTines !

And oh, dinner at our favourite Bayswater restaurant, Noodle Oodle!

The next day, we revisited some of our favourite London spots. And the weather was quite lovely too.

And we also headed out to Camden, which was apparently Tia's first time ever!

Fish and Chips, of course, my favourite thing to eat now. poke!

And it was indeed the first time for all of us when we took the train out to Bath! It was also a trip I bought tickets for well in advance, so the fare was rather reasonable (yes, this is an official tip: always buy train tickets in advance for better rates!)

We reached Bath close to noon and we were blessed with another day of good weather! The High Street is near the train and bus stations, so it was really easy to explore the shops.

But we also went straight for the highlight: The Roman Baths!

From Wikipedia: The Roman Baths complex is a site of historical interest in the English city of Bath. It is a well-preserved Roman site once used for public bathing. The Baths are a major tourist attraction and, together with the Grand Pump Room, receive more than one million visitors a year. Visitors can tour the baths and museum but cannot enter the water.

What a great and enlightening tour it was! We were famished after that and we were lucky to find a burger place that served Halal meats. So sedap!

We continued walking after that and stopped by Bath's famous landmarks, the Circus (which is a historic street of large townhouses, not an actual circus), the Crescent and the Jane Austen Centre.

Another highlight was the Fashion Museum, which Tia absolutely loved! Ah, what a day it was.

On our final day, we still had time for one last shopping spree at Westfield, although this time around, we had to endure the London rain while getting there.

Then it was time for us to return home. A glorious week indeed filled with awesome memories.

I had my favourite almond croissant literally every day!

Some of our London loot

The flight home though gave us a bit of a drama. There was a long delay on the tarmac at Heathrow due to technical issues, and we arrived late in Doha and missed our connecting flight to KL!

They got us seats on the next flight, but it was some 6 hours away! But they ushered us to the very nice lounge, so we had a comfortable nap and some breakfast as well. Our holiday had an unexpected "extension" but really, we had no complaints, having had the time of our lives the past one week. And yes, we'll be back...