Buang Tabiat: Verangan

Assalamualaikum. Annyeong.

Images courtesy of here.

 Located in Takinoue Town; 2 hours away from Asahikawa, Hokkaido. 

This park is easy to reach. Lots of guided tour available, as well. Best time to visit is suggested in mid May; in which during the Pink Moss Festival is held. 

I dream of the pink moss park ever since Ms M told me about its existence. This is one of the place she wished to go...and somehow, has become my wish place too. 

We're planning to visit the Land of The Rising Sun; spring next year. Can't say more about the upcoming plan with the girlfriends & boyfriends since we haven't purchase any flight ticket yet. Once the ticket part settled...immediately akan masuk gear 5 untuk rangka itenerary. Insha Allah, amin!

p/s Before that; next station will be to one of my most favorite country. Rangka jadual cuti sendiri adalah sangat puas hati & mencabangkan lebih banyak bunga² chenta. Ngek.

eryantierdabdulkarim

CutiCuti: Bye Johor until next time!

Assalamualaikum. Annyeong.

It's been excessively hot these past few days. Since last week. I can't bear the heat sometimes I stayed in the office right after Zuhr' prayer. The fan at each gerai at the cafe didn't help much. Alhamdulillah, after days of whining about the sweltering weather Allah let the rain pour yesterday evening. Continued until late last night. 

Anyways, I've been meaning to update about my last day in Johor. My first getaway in 2013. Insha Allah, many to come later. But I was too exhausted after coming back from work. Poyo. This morning I managed to find my time to update; fortunately.

Ms. A left for Kolumpur by bus early in the morning. So there were only Bunda & I left in the room. We purposely woke up a bit late for I didn't plan any activity to do that day. I don't know but honestly, there's nothing in my itinerary related to exploring Johor except for JPO. 

Had lunch at the restaurant located on the first of floor of the hotel's building. I forgot the name but it has got something to do with Le Safron I think. Bunda spent her time at this restaurant the night before; watching the last episode of Janji Shirah. A TV3 drama she followed from the start. Never missed a single episode of it. And we were forced to accompany her!

Tersengguklah dua-tiga kali di sana. Ngantuk. To make us stay, Bunda let forced us to order drinks & snacks. For God sake, we were already full due to the heavy dinner hours before that. I even had to visit the loo right after we came back from Spice7. Overloaded!

Paid RM15 nett for the breakfast buffet. The menu: Nasi Lemak, Fried Mee/Mee Hoon, Chicken Curry *which I think was reheat from last night menu*, orange juice, guava juice & hot drinks (coffee, tea). Bunda said ignore the price immediately after I frowned upon seeing the menu served. 

"Last night, the waiter was so nice to me. He allowed me to watch the drama. So today we give back what we received. Breakfast on me". 

Fine. Captain voiced out her arahan, I don't think I was able to disobey. Furthermore, memang kau cari penyakitlah kalau mau menapak cari kedai makan lain dengan perut kosong nyanyi dangdut kan Bie. 

To justify the RM15...I decided to consume everything served. First, nasi lemak. Followed by the fried mee. And later the fried mee hoon. Perut tembolok gajah ntah mana aku simpan semua makanan tu. No wonder I gained few kilos after coming back from the holiday. Selalu berazam, makan berpada² time bercutian. But so far memang fail ke laut. Right to the drain the resolution went.

Because it's still early, I suggested that we should go for some sightseeing around the city. I took a brochure at the hotel's reception. Stating places of interest to visit in Johor Bahru. I opted for the mosque & palace before proceeding to City Square Mall. 

Took the taxi from the hotel to Sultan Abu Bakar State Mosque.  The appearance took over the English Victorian architecture; with some minor Malay influence. The mosque situated on a hill overlooking the Straits of Johor. This mosque got its name after the Sultan Abu Bakar; who ordered the construction. Nothing much to see here. It's an old mosque currently undergoing some major reconstruction. 

Classic window. Very the feel dulu².

The ablution area located opposite the entrance.

Belakang masjid ada ciri moden di situ. Yang ni memang confirm baru jak recently built. Buat majlis resepi kahwin area macam ni pun best...luas & open. Hoi stop verangan please!

After the mosque, we walked to the palace. According to the taxi driver who drove us from the hotel, the palace is just a walking distance from the mosque. And since khidmat superwalkertapaki memang sudah biasa aku applied, jarak 1km tu macam petik jari. Riak? Bunda agreed to walk as well. Jalan punya jalan; dengan cuaca mendung angin nan ado bertiup...jalanraya bersebelah selat hence muka jadi cepat melekit...sekali sampai tepi palace; ada big signboard

"No Entry. Men at work". 

Memang paling hangat asrama Bunda punya jelingan. After walking for merely 2km! Nasiblah si bulky Blackie ndak ku hangkut sekali masa tu. Nico was in Bunda's bag jadi memang ndak da aktiviti snap sambil berwalkertapaki. Mau juga aku snap muka istana yang tutup due to construction work tu tapi peluh jantan telah mengalir aku serius penat gaban. Apalah pakcik teksi tu langsung ndak tau palace tu tutup!! Since Bunda started complaining about her sore foot, we decided to just take a taxi in front of Johor Bahru Post Office to City Square Mall. 

Right after we alighted from the taxi, perut terus berteriak mau makan di Ayam Penyet Ria. Ha ndak gila ayat orang tembolok. Habis sudah semua breakfast aku bertukar tenaga; guna masa walkertapaki tu. Jadi perlulah isi tenaga kembali. 

Favorita! Lele @ ikan keli Penyet!! It wasn't easy to find ikan keli in KK. Kalau ada pun, saiz cinonet. Besar lagi tapak tangan aku. Memang makan ndak da ampun ever since we arrived Johor Bahru. Tolak pasir batu jak aku ndak telan. Mulut munching non-stop. 

Tegar sungguh impian untuk pigi mall ni for the second time. Semua gara² these Korean shops lah! Bought few things at NR corner. The prices are slightly cheaper in the West compare to Sabah. 

After City Square, we went to the opposite building. The newly built Johor Bahru Sentral. It is link to the CIQ Immigration. Convenient enough for those staying in Johor Bahru & intended to visit Singapore at the same time. From CIQ boleh naik CW1 bus to Woodland. We didn't spend much time there, tengok kedai apa yang ada. Nama pun baru so ndak da sangat yang menarik jiwa. We then went back to Tune Hotel by taxi. Lepas solat & touch up bagai...off we departed for the airport.

Senai International Airport; the Air Asia drop luggage counter. As we arrived 2 hours early than the departure time, aktiviti isi perut bermula sekali lagi. Masa ni malas sudah mau bergambar bagai. I bought a slice of blueberry cheese cake from SR for tea. Tapi hangkut masuk food court sebab Bunda menjamu laksa di situ. Speaking of "eat like I care about the weight scale".

Masuk boarding area...sayup jauh di luar tingkap aku nampak awan hitam berkupal² datang. I told Bunda our flight definitely going to be delayed due to the weather. And not long after, announcement was made. Memang delay sebab kapal dari KK pun ndak dapat take off. Strong wind. 

After the incident flying with easyJet from Schipol to London, aku memang ndak ambil port part berkeluh kesah kalau flight delayed disebabkan cuaca. Biarlah sampai berjam lambat janji aku ndak naik roller coaster di atas sana. Ngeri ok! Daratan langsung ndak dinampak, tapi kapal naik turun. Most valuable experience ever! Three bored-hours waiting; we finally boarded the plane. Arrived KK town ten minutes past midnight. No turbulence whatsoever...landing sangat smooth. Alhamdulillah, aku tidur super lena during the two hours flight. 

Standing proudly before the handsome Bee! Kenangan terindah di USS. 

My trip to Johor Bahru & Singapore came to its end; finally. Too many sweet & bitter memories created during this getaway. Nonetheless, I cherished them to the utmost. Praying for more trip with Bunda. 

Ouh, the ticker indicates another three months to go! Ngeh. Sila stop segala aktiviti online shopping Bie...focus in saving. Two trips in three months time! Memang melampau. 

eryantierdabdulkarim

CutiCuti: Singapore Day 1 - Universal Studios Singapore, Sentosa Island

Assalamualaikum. Annyeong.

According to my plan, we were supposed to look around Sentosa Resort before entering USS. Since the theme park opens at 10a. That is; IF the coach departed from Johor as scheduled. But we could only plan, Allah determined everything. 

Nevermind that...I have set my foot upon USS ground, eventually. Be grateful for there are still people who don't get the chance to go. Selamat tiba pun salah satu rahmat...not to forget, the bright sunny day. Alhamdulillah.

 Hollywood zone. The first part to be seen upon entering.

Standing before the Hollywood alley.

Left turn at the end of the Hollywood road. We're greeted by the characters from Madagascar. Didn't take any pictures at this section though. Except the one above. Ngek.

Yippie! The Far Far Away Castle. Finally, beautifully standing before my eyes! It would be super great if we could stay until the Hollywood Dreams Parade...where the castle will be lighted with colorful lights. 

Photoop moment. We were there just in time...Shrek & Princess Fiona went out of the castle to greet their fans. 

At the main door of the castle. We queued for less than ten minutes for the Shrek 3-D film show. 

A little bit of introduction before entering the theater. Reward to those who have seen Ogre? Why Gingerbread looks so sad? Pinocchio locked & chained in a box? What did Shrek do to save his beloved wife & friends? 

The twenty minutes show is indeed entertaining. The physical effects that synchronized with the film make it more enjoyable. Moving chairs. Water sprinkle everytime Donkey sneezes. Wind blows. Spiders crawling at the feet. I enjoyed the show. Bunda was so into the show; reacted to every effects. 

It's time to enter the Ancient Egypt. Ready to meet the Mommies...

But the queue for the Revenge of the Mommy roller coaster ride was ridiculously long...we skipped the idea to ride. And luckily met these fellas. Is that Anck-Su-Namun; Imhotep's long lost love? 

A photo with the trademark at every zone is a must. Albeit the scorching sun, posing perlu maintain senyum lebar.

Sci-Fi zone. Meet my darling Bumble-Bee. Standing so sexy up there. Love love!

Bunda's favorite hero in Transformers. Optimus Prime! It's a robot. It moves & listened to instructions from the staffs. Cool, huh! 

Queuing for more than forty minutes for the Transformers: The Ride. A ride worth my waiting time!  Recommended big time! Seriously! And I didn't complain at all although the line was way too long. 

Brilliant way to entertain the bored us. The path leading to the departure area are filled with Transformers thingy. They made it look like we're in their ship. That's the sparks we have to protect in order to protect the earth. 

We proceeded to the New York zone...and found the Sesame Streets' famous characters were performing in front of the 'library'.

We met so many characters & that made us happy visitors! I never expected I will have the chance to meet Shrek, Fiona, friendly Ernie...let alone Elmo! I didn't care if I have to chase him all evening in order to get a photo together.

Hahaha come to think of it; I was either the first or the second in queue each time a character appeared for photoop session. Buruk perangai; mesti terkinja lari ndak ingat dunia. 

Lights, Camera, Action hosted by Steven Spielberg. The stage is set up to show how special effect in a movie were made. In here, the scene mimics a major hurricane hitting New York City. 

Sold for $3 each. Shedap!

Took out our bakcpacks from the locker...and it's time to bid goodbye to USS. We will visit again soon. Insya Allah. And that time I already know which ride to go first. Definitely the Mummy's ride. Never the Galactica. Be it the Cylon nor the Human ride. Yeah, I am that chicken for such ride! And also what shows to watch. We accidentally skipped quite a few exciting shows. Rugi! But for Lost World, we purposely skip the zone. 

Out from USS, there is this shop selling candies. Most colorful top vision. Varieties of candies decorated the tree outside this shop.

We rode the Sentosa Express from USS to Vivo City Mall. And later rode the MRT to Aljunied; the nearest station to our hotel in Geylang Road.  It is only 10 minutes walking distance to reach the hotel from Aljunied. 

 ****************************************************************************

Surau @ prayer room at Universal Studios Singapore is situated at the Sci Fi section. Near the Battlestar Galactica-Human entrance. Refer picture below; with the yellow box. If u're coming from the Transformers area, it would be on ur left side. U could take ur ablution at the toilet nearby. 

But please keep in mind; the surau has no partition for man & woman. It's rather small too; could only accommodate few people at a time. I didn't perform my solah here as it was a bit crowded when I went there.

As we finished exploring the theme park at 530p & still have few hours more to perform our jama'; thus we decided to straightaway go to our hotel. Since Bunda & Ms A seem to be out of energy; I forgo the idea to stroll around the resort area. Insya Allah, next time I will take my own sweet time to do the leisure walking. 

I also found a passable spot to perform solah in the theme park. The tent where we took picture with Shrek & Fiona; is secluded from the crowds. Not many people pass the pathway. The tent is behind the building situated opposite the Far Away Castle. Next to the small fountain surrounding the frog statue. Maybe there are few other spots but this is the only spot I managed to scanned. And it passed my own piawai. 

eryantierdabdulkarim

CutiCuti: Johor Bahru to USS by Odyssey

Assalamualaikum. Annyeong.

Johor Bahru to Universal Studios Singapore by Odyssey Coach!

We woke up pretty early that morning. Excited for the trip. It's been my wish to visit Universal Studios Singapore. Well at the very least, to take a photo before the infamous revolving globe at the entrance area of the theme park.

Alhamdulillah. Dream came true. And to top it up, I went there with Bunda. Double bliss.

Always fall in love with the morning skies...sunrise never failed to amused me. As Tune Hotel is situated near Danga Bay, the view from the lobby was pretty awesome. 

But Odyssey let me down that morning. Not good for first impression. I didn't know who to blame nor did I know where to put the blame. We were told to gather by 715a in front of the hotel entrance. By 730a, there wasn't any glimpse of coach at all. People started to get bored by 8a. I could hear all sorts of griping & complaining. Bunda started to 'throw her tantrum' as well. I pitied those parents with little kids. Hours of waiting with nothing entertaining; definitely wasn't a great idea for them. 

The buses finally arrived quarter to 9a. Again, silly thing happened. As if they've just started running the business, everything seem too chaotic for me. We were asked to fill in the form for seat booking during the time we exchange the voucher to boarding pass. By logic they should already have the number of people who will board the bus. But two buses weren't enough to accommodate number of people waiting. After so much dillydallied, we finally departed from Johor at 10a. 

Fortunately, the immigration processes at both checkpoints didn't take long. 

For less than twenty minutes, we arrived at Johor Bahru CIQ. The coach driver dropped us here (picture above) & waited us at the exit point. We can just leave our backpacks/foods etc in the coach since we're still in our country; and there's no baggage screening at this point yet. Next time, I would like to try to go to Singapore by car. Insya Allah.

On board the coach; crossing the causeway to Singapore. I can see the city from here already. Adrenaline pumping up more. Poyo!

The driver dropped us once more at the side of the road & we had to walk to Woodlands immigration building. This time, we have to bring whatever things we brought from Malaysia. They will be screened before we left the building thus it is best not to bring any prohibited items with u. 

Everything settled at one go. Down from the escalator, coach is already waiting for us at the parking bay. The upside of taking chartered coach instead of public bus, perhaps. Since we entered Singapore on the weekend, traffic was a bit slow. We only managed to arrived Sentosa World Resort at 11-ish. Despite the hassles earlier, I thanked Allah for we arrived safely. 

Out from the coach. This is how the basement looks like. We got on the escalator pointing to Universal Studios. Anyway, for those going back to Johor on the same day, u will need to be at the parking bay where the driver dropped u during arrival...15 minutes before 7p. 

The escalator will take u to this view. Tadaaaaa...USS' revolving globe before my eyes! Truly a dream came true it is. But first thing first; I warned myself. Before the jumping with joy kinda poses...let's find the most important place. Lockers room! We have super heavy & huge backpacks with us; exploring the park wouldn't be great with them. Yes? And photos will not look good either. 

Typical me, I did my own research where the lockers room is situated before the trip. I downloaded the resort's map; sekian! From the escalator, the lockers room is behind the globe. Next to Hershey's shop & Universal That's A Wrap gift shop. As we have three backpacks, we chose for the big locker. I don't know about the rental fee for the small lockers but for the big ones; it cost us $20 for a day. U can also opt to rent it for two or four hours. Rate is cheaper.

Time to pose...and pose...and pose. Ignoring the grumbling tummy. We only took light breakfast at the hotel hence explain the famished tummy. Cik Err was here! Finally! A photo of mine before the globe.

And another pose...albeit the sea of people, I managed to have my picture taken with no stranger in it. Makaseh Bunda.

A must enter place for hunger people like us. For Muslims, there are only two stalls with Halal sign available. They situated next to one another. From the entrance, take right. The stalls would be on ur left side. I had nasi lemak with chicken for early lunch. While Bunda & Ms A had mutton briyani. Don't question the price; it's in the theme park remember. Tourist spot. 

View from inside the so-called food street. Unique concept with numbers of stall selling variety of foods to choose from. 

Brilliant effort...instead of using polystyrene or plastic material which obviously is non-degradable, Singapore opted for a greener world. It's a biodegradable product! Talk about conserving the environment for future generations. 

Done with our meals...we entered the theme park. Hooray! The awaited moment had arrived. It's weekend thus the crowds. 

Anyhow, it's a wrap for now! Stories & pictures inside USS will be updated in the next entry. Insya Allah.

eryantierdabdulkarim