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Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Day 2: Luxembourg

Hari kedua bersama Volkswagen Transporter dan merupakan hari pertama kami memulakan perjalanan ke luar Germany. Destinasi adalah Luxembourg. Sebuah negara kecil yg terletak diantara Germany, France dan Belgium. Estimated time by driving dr Raunheim adalah kira2 3 jam. Time bertolak lebih kurang pukul 8.30 pg. Maka kami target utk tiba di Luxembourg pukul 12 tghari.

Hari ni masih lagi huru hara dgn kendalian Transporter dan penggunaan Garmin si navigator. Mujur la hari Ahad, jalan2 adalah lengang dan manusia pon sukar kelihatan dijalanan. Maka walau berapa kali pon cik HB termatikan enjin kereta atau tersilap simpang dan membuat illegal u-turn, xde lah kami stress sgt.

Pada masa yg sama, kami dok pelik kenapa la si Garmin asik memberi arah yg bukan melalui highway dan laluannya adalah pelik2. Turun naik bukit, masuk town keluar town, masuk hutan keluar hutan, sampai ada jalan2 yg kami lalu mcm org x guna aje...menambahkan lagi suspen kami yg dah mmg gabra. At last dek kerana was2 ngan tunjuk arah yg diberi sbb makin jauh jln makin jauh dr laluan highway, cik HB pon tgk balik setting Garmin.


Antara views sepanjang perjalanan

Laa...patut la! Rupanya setting adalah shortest distance, dan bila shortest distance maka laluannya adalah jln2 short cut yg pelik2. So bila cik HB tukar setting ke fastest time, baru lah direction menunjukkan laluan highway. Nasib baik la ada instinct that there´s something not right here. Kalau x sampai sudah la kami dok lalu jln2 kampung dan x tau la pukul berapa sampai Luxembourg.

Campur tolak masa berhenti utk toilet, gas and kopi, kami sampai di Luxembourg lebih kurang kul 1 tghari. Tak berapa sure dgn availability parking kat Luxembourg City, kami parked at the first car park kami jumpa, yg kami kira x berapa jauh dr tourist attraction centre. Tapi sebenarnya agak jauh jugak la kena berjalan. Dan pulak tu terlupa nak bawa buggy. One thing salah estimate, lupa nak bawa sekali bekalan makanan yg sebenarnya dah siap packed kat dlm kereta.

Luxembourg mmg indah. Suasananya aman, segar dan x crowded. Tak tau la samada ianya disebabkan hari Ahad (kedai2 semua tutup) atau mmg begini suasananya di Luxembourg. You can walk and walk in the area and be amazed with the historical buildings and architecture.

View in Luxembourg

Peserta rombongan...hehehe

Tapi after couple of hours, nabilah dah start cranky. I knew she was tired and hungry. It was my mistake sbb lupa nak bawa bekal makanan sekali dan buggy. Tu pon nasib baik dlm beg ada air, coklat dan waffle. At last we all decided nak patah balik ke kereta, makan dulu then cari car park yg lebih dekat.
Nabilah yg terpaksa didukung

Dah makan semua, kami pon bergerak dgn Transporter menuju ke centre. Tapi malangnya 2-3 kali round pon xde parking kosong yg asalnya masa mula2 kami sampai byk yg kosong. Pusing punya pusing sampai dah naik bosan, we decided to end our trip in Luxembourg and bergerak ke Homburg, rumah Iu & arif, tempat kami nak menumpang bermalam pada hari itu.

Kami sampai di rumah Iu kira2 kul 6 ptg dan being Iu, dia dah siap masak mcm2. Ngan nasi beriani, ayam masak merah, acar, bingka gula hangus, puas sungguh kami makan mlm tu (sampai lupa nak snap gambar makanan!)

Terima kasih byk2 Iu & Arif atas layanan yg diberikan....

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Day 1: Wertheim Village - Designer Factory Outlet

Actually Day 1 dah merupakan Day 4 Kak Ti & Abe Lan kat Germany. Tapi sy mula kira as Day 1 as the day kitorg start sewa kereta. Diorg sampai hari Rabu dan and the first day tu sy dah bawa jln2 ke Ruesselsheim. The 2nd day ke Frankfurt & the 3rd day ke Darmstadt. Which sy malas nak elaborate sbb selalu sgt dah sy bawa tamu2 jln2 ke tempat2 ni dan sy dah cerita pon dlm blog ni.

Day 1 tu kami masih berada dlm Germany. Destinasi yg dirancang adalah Wertheim Village - a designer factory oulet yg terletak kira2 1 jam dr Frankfurt.

Kenapa ke sini?

Shopping la...apalagi! (bunyi cam byk duit je...hahaha)

Mula2 terfikir nak jugak ke Heidelberg, destinasi perlancongan popular di Germany dan terletak lebih kurang 1.5 jam dr Frankfurt. Tapi day 1 ni kami terpaksa berhati2 dgn masa sbb anak buah dr Ireland akan tiba di Frankfurt pukul 4 ptg on that day. Kalau ke Heidelberg at least kena la spend masa lama sikit nak sightseeing, baru berbaloi.

So shopping lagi appropriate...walau masa singkat, sekurang2nya sempat la jugak mencari apa2 yg patut dan selamat la jua duit sbb shopping dlm masa yg singkat....hehehe.

The thing was, pagi tu kami menerima kejutan yg sedikit sebyk mencacatkan agenda percutian kami. Actually, Kami dah booked online 7-seater Peugeot 807 seminggu sebelum tapi pagi masa cik HB pi collet car kat Europcar, yg diorg bg adalah Volkwagen Transporter. Mcm bas mini ok! Diorg kata all sorts of family car or MPV yg setara ngan Peugeot 807 semua dah xde. Even diorg check kat Airport pon dah xde vehicles jenis berkenaan. Ok, fine, diorg kata diorg x charge extra for bigger vehicle and siap bg winter tyres lagi (winter tyres adalah mahal actually) tapi yg mengganggu plan, sy dah booked parking kat Paris yg designated for car below 1.90m. Dah siap bayar 15 Euro ok. Transporter ni nearly 2m! And cik HB dah ler jarang drive kat jerman ni, tup2 nak kena bawa kenderaan besar, tak panik ke member?


Ni la Transporter nya


Tapi the situation was - Take it or leave it!

So amik la walau gabak sekalipon. Haru biru la jugak masa cik HB mula2 drive. Dah la manual, besar, pulak kalau kat Raunheim ni byk jln2 kecik yg 2-way. Dan hari ni bukan setakat hari test drive tapi hari test memahami Garmin si navigator. Sekejap2 silap masuk simpang. Garmin kata lgi 200m baru enter, nampak simpang sebelumnya dah masuk! Haih...

Kami sampai Wertheim Village dlm kul 12 tghari. Nasib baik parking xde masalah. Best Wertheim Village ni ( sapa suka shopping or byk duit, mesti buntang biji mata tgk items kat sini dan harga yg ditawarkan). Sy ngan cik HB xde la shopping sgt pon. Tapi sy dapat la sneaker idaman hati yg harganya adalah within the budget. Then set ramekin Viners berwarna biru yg pon dah lama jadi idaman. Kami bercita2 nak dtg sini lagi sbb apparently ada bus service dr Frankfurt ke sini. Kena simpan duit dulu...hehehe.


In front the entrance


Ada parade hari tu so sempat la sikembar bergambar ngan minah2 tu


Kalau Bally kat Malaysia, sy nak masuk pon x berani. Kat sini siap test2 semua lagi...muahaha


Teringin gak nak tangkap Furla satu...tapi dah order Coach...wahai hati sabar la ye.

Hanya 3 jam di Wertheim Village then kena berkejar balik ke Frankfurt sbb nak jemput Ngoh di airport.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Back Home

We just came back from a long trip to some parts of Europe with my BIL and his wife. And this morning, they already went home to Malaysia. Rasa mcm nak mem blog about the journey now while it is still fresh in mind and there are hundreds of photos to look at and to be uploaded. But I have to give priority to cleaning and laundry since tomorrow we are expecting guess from Aachen.

So blogging and facebooking has to wait lorr...

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Tak Sabar...

In less than 24 hours, my brother-in-law and his wife will be arriving in Frankfurt. Weeeheeeee!!! Tak sabar nak tunggu kedatangan diorg.... Sabtu nanti, anak buah cik HB, Ngoh dr Ireland pon akan sampai. Tak sabar jugak nak pi jln2....

Tapi cuaca cam x best aje minggu ni. Suhu dropped sampai negatif balik. Terpaksa la pakai balik berlapis2. Kesian kat diorg nanti nak bawa pi jln time sejuk2. Harap2 cuaca next week cantik, no more snowing, no more freezing cold weather but with bright sun and blue sky.

On the trip matters, I think I'm done with all the arrangements. Accommodations dah booked, car booked, car park pon, places to visit pon dah listed down lengkap ngan details, check-list utk brg2 nak dibawa pon dah, tapi kena go thru once again nak tgk kalau ada apa2 perlu ditambah or dikaji semula. Semoga semuanya berjalan lancar.

Ok, now kena bergerak utk aktiviti mengemas rumah. Byk sungguh la habuk walaupun mcm baru je dusting. Twins pon suka sgt buat sepah merata2 rumah. Haih...

Monday, March 8, 2010

Tag: 8th Photo from the 8th Folder


This is a tag from Liza

These are the rules:

1. Go to your photo files…Select the 8th photo folder.
2. Select the 8th photo in that folder.
3. Post that photo along with the story behind it.
4. Then challenge 8 blogging friends to do the same!

tajuk folder : Raya 2009

insan di dalam photo : saya and Liza - situkang tag....just nice, gambar dia lak yg keluar...:)

tempat kejadian : Raunheim Bahnhof

tarikh : 20/9/2009 = 1 Syawal 1430 (Hari Raya Pertama Aidilfitri!). Kitorg masa ni tgh tunggu train nak gi solat raya kat Pejabat Konsulat @ Frankfurt.

insan yg tiada di dlm gmbr tapi sebenarnya ada di tempat kejadian : Huish...ramai...ada cik HB, Matt, Kak Liza & Cik Dee, Dylla & Md Nur, si kembar Nabihah & Nabilah dan jugak baby Liya yg still dlm perut mama dia...hehehe

saya menge'tag' : 8 worang yg bertuah...
1 k. dalia - sy tau anda mmg suka buat tag, kan? kan?
2 Jalak -jika anda ada masa yg senggang nak layan blog, sila buat. Xkan x reti camna nak buat tag lagi kot?
3 Iu - yg sudah pasti ada byk koleksi gambar2 menarik, kan? kan?
4 Nana - alasan utk update blog, boleh?
5 Durra - jika anda x busy
6 Ayin (zaireen) - meh la layan tag!
7 Dalina - aku harap ko masih suka buat tag walaupun aku tau ko sgt sibuk
8 Shahida - sempat x nak buat tag?

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Birthday Cik Dee

Khamis lepas, kak liza buat makan2 sempena birthday cik dee. Sbb tau pon dah last minute, sy x sempat nak cari hadiah, cuma buatkan kek harijadi yg segera. Kalau ikutkan cik dee, rasanya dia x kuasa nk tiup2 lilin tapi sbb sikembar mmg excited about birthdays dan saja nak provide ´wow´factor to the girls, kitorg letak lilin byk2!Lilin ari tu berjumlah 15 btg...cik dee kata ok la tu...dia mmg baru 15 thn...hahahaha


Nasib baik la Liya kecik lagi, kalu x Liya pon mesti nak sibuk2 tiupo lilin jugak!


Tiramisu and kek segera


Cik dee dpt hadiah dr awie


Bila kak liza masak, maka diet sy pon hancuss sekali...haih

Lepas makan, kita bawa Liya jln2 dlm hutan Raunheim tapi dia layan tido daa....

Monday, March 1, 2010

Siapa yg salah?

Her name was so beautiful - SYAFIA HUMAIRAH

Unfortunately, her life was not as beautiful as her name. At 3 years old, she died because someone so heartless had murdered her so brutally. And perhaps long before her death, she had suffered more than we can imagine, living with some hot-tempered guy who is not even related to her, except that he was her mother´s boyfriend.

It is such a disturbing news to me. For those who doesn´t know what I´m writing about, please read it HERE. Just last year, there was a kid - a girl about Syafia´s age if I´m not mistaken also being abused to death by her mother´s Nigerian boyfriend.

And this time it happened again.

The mother said don´t blame her for the daughter´s death. Don´t judge her for all the wrong things happened in her life - the convicted husband, the bullying boyfriend, the child out of wedlock....

Then blame whom?

The husband for making crime and ended up lock in the jail?

Her family for not taking care of her and her kids when the husband is locked in the jail that she had to turn to some guy looking for love and ´protection´?

The society for not giving moral support and financial aid for some unlucky wife/mother?

The boyfriend?

I don´t know...i know we shouldn´t judge people...but I can´t help myself wondering....how could this happen?

How could she not know or notice that the boyfriend is a threat to her kids? Don´t just tell that the boyfriend was nice all along then on that particular day he just snapped and beat a child to death? Or was she so ´blind´that she couldn´t see it?

There´s something not right here....

That is one thing...

What about living together without being married? I mean, didn´t her family know what was going on or they just don´t bother to check out?

*sigh*

Syafia´s death is the end of her suffering. But to me her death shows the instability of our Malay-Muslim society today.

How many more news like this we would hear?

Orang kata `Jangan jaga tepi kain orang´.....tapi mungkin juga kalau kita jaga tepi kain org (dgn niat baik ok!), sekurang2nya kita boleh menyelamatkan keadaan sebelum terlambat?