The week I fell in love with Morocco-Part 8- Fes

Fes was wonderful...but you definitely need a guide to gain the benefits of this wonderful city. I don't think any guide map would help you find your way..

Khalid II was our guide in Fes- recommended by our driver Khalid I.

We started out by visiting the previous Kings official palace followed by a tour in the souk...
If you thought pasar malam was crowded you haven't seen anything until you visit the souks in Morocco...

It is a maze whereby you could go in one entrance and come out another without knowing how to get back to your original point.In the meantime the lanes are so narrow and there is constantly a donkey passing by carrying goods...chickens running around and people shoving you out of their way...a true experience indeed...

The locals know the souks in the back of their hand which was very impressive....it is a truly medieval city.

After Fes, we visited Rabat and Casablanca which was more of what you expect any normal town would look like with the modern buildings...this could have been because there was more of a British/French influence in the architecture.....
The only place which we thought was interesting to visit was the mosque in Casablanca...but parts of the mosque was going through renovation but it was nice to visit it nonetheless..

Alhamdulillah, during our trip we had visited the main mosques in the cities we visited in Morocco which was interesting in their own way.

Morocco has been the BEST place I have visited in my life so far because of the group of friends I went with were good travel companions and our guide Khalid was so welcoming in showing us the beauty of Morocco. Morocco is soo full of culture and most importantly trekking in the Saharan desert was a humbling experience for me...I truly felt closer to God by being close to nature in its purest form...

When you lie down and watch the vastness of space,the stars moving before your eyes, the sun setting and the sunrise one can't help feeling the greatness of Allah in creating this world and all that comes with it...To some people this may sound corny but I really felt humbled by the whole experience...

If one ever wants to be close to God just experience what is around us..the sky...flowers...the earth...and by going to Morocco I truly felt that....

The week I fell in love with Morocco-Part 5-Driving around Morocco

After the Saharan trip we were exhausted due to the lack of sleep, the heat and the camel trek...it was fun but it was already halfway through the trip and we had been travelling to a different place every day.

But we were all still smiling....

The itinerary was to drive to visit the fossil factory and then have lunch at Minalt. But we were running late since we had spent longer than anticipated chatting and taking pics with our dear friends at the Auberge D'Nord.

So we visited the fossil factory and was given a tour by the Tribolite guy...he showed us the craftmanship that went into transforming the fossils found in the mountains into furniture pieces for homes and hotels...The fossils pieces varied in sizes and form

The products from these fossil pieces ranged from tables, fountains to chess pieces ..a certain type of skill is required to extract the fossils into these beautiful pieces...

If I owned a mansion I may have been tempted to purchase the pieces but fortunately I do not so didn't have to spend unnecessarily.

The guy mentioned the factory exported to places like Canada, America, UK and Asia....so if anyone is interested and has a huge mansion or hotel development definitely worth checking this out.

Since we were running late we didn't visit Minalt and set of for our three hour journey towards Fes. We were knackered so slept most of the way but we did stop for a few restbreaks visiting some street stalls and enjoying the scenery of the High Atlas mountains. The scenery was greener and even cooler...

Along the way we stopped at the stalls located beside the roads. The set up was similar to what you'd see if you were driving along the roads in Malaysia. Families set up these stalls with the collection of fresh produce picked from the farms that day.

I tried the sweet grapes and fresh figs...before this I had only tried dried figs but the fresh figs were delicious...

After feeling refreshed from the figs and grapes we continued our journey to Ifrane. As Khalid called it-it is the Moroccan version of Switzerland. The scenery is a change from the sand dunes and rocky mountains we were used to previously in Morocco. The scenery on the way to Ifrane were of pine trees, horses and green luscious mountains. At this point my camera battery had run low since we didn't have time to charge our cameras since we had spent the night in the desert the night before. So I couldnt'take many pics.

Khalid took us to one of the ski resorts and we passed one of King Morocco's holiday residences. In Morocco due to security reasons, you're not able to take pictures of the buildings or its surroundings. The Royal residency was HUGE....from the outside we could see a golf course, vast garden and not to mention the huge mansion...that was just from the outside..so you can imagine what other treasures you would find once you get inside the royal quarters...

In the winter, Northern Morocco can get very cold and snow. There is a ski resort which local or people abroad can come to ski....

It was a very long day---so by the end of the day we were looking forward to reach Fes for a comfortable bed and a shower ---life's little comforts which we take for granted....

Our hotel was in the centre of the Fes square near the Blue Gate. People had warned us that Fes is known to be the hotspot for getting your goods stolen and there are many professional beggars around. So I was a bit apprehensive walking in the square that night as we went to get some dinner.

Its a bit of a culture shock when you walk in the old Fes medina for the first time. The alleyways are narrow and people are constantly coming and going running various errands...riding the donkey, carrying shopping goods for the market or just looking for a place to eat. Some of the local people were rough--there were some old women and young kids who would just push you to get you of their way... Imagine if that happened in the tubes during rush hour in London---there would be a riot starting but over in Fes--it seems to be a normal way of life...

In the souk , there were loads of restaurants/cafes which sold pretty similar food around the same prices. Since we were going to meet our Fes guide the next day we just settled for a cafe nearby our hotel.

After dinner, we headed straight back to the hotel and got some rest before our next adventure day continued the next day...

The week I fell in love with Morocco-Part 4 -Saharan desert

The Saharan desert---before the trip I had my own preconceptions of what it would be like riding a camel in the desert. Alhamdulillah the experience was truly magnificent and had exceeded all of my expectations.
When Muhammad picked us up from Erfoud we drove in a 4*4 car....Muhammad didn't say much and had put on nasyid music which fitted in well with the scenery as we drove along the desert...at first the view was of rocks and dust but as we drove further into the desert we started to see the sand dunes which looked calm and somehow unreal...and just like pics from a postcard.

The video below was the moment where we saw Auberge d'Nord -our checkpoint before we rode on the camels.

A few people who have been on camels had varying stories of their experience...some said the camels were smelly and would spit on you. Some said sitting on the camels would be uncomfortable and not as nice as riding a horse...As you can imagine after hearing all these stories, I was prepared for the worst.

When we arrived at the Auberge d'Nord, we prayed and had our last shower for the day since there weren't any toilet/shower facilities in the desert. We met some girls who were working at the Auberge and they were kind enough to allow us to use their rooms to pray and to get changed. Amazingly we managed to communicate between my broken French, English and sign language. Its amazing how humans can still communicate even though we don't speak the same language.

After drinking mint tea, the time arrived for us to get on the camels......all of us didn't want to be the first to get on but Hanisah ( who was most scared about the camels) decided to overcome her fear and was the first to get on. She did fine...and turned out to be the one who was most comfortable with the camel riding out of all four of us...

Once all four of us were on the camels , our Berber guide Hammi led us to our camps in the desert. The ride to the tent lasted around 90 minutes but it didn't feel long at all, in fact it was so peaceful as we rode in the desert with the slight breeze keeping us cool in the heat of the desert.

We chatted for parts of the ride but there were occasions where all of us were silent as we rode and enjoyed the beauty of the desert and watch the sun sets down.

It was dark when we arrived at the campsite. Hammi helped us with our bags and we reached the campsite which was well laid out. As Hammi prepared dinner we chilled in the middle of our camp site which had mattresses laid out in order for us to sit. We prayed Isya' together in the middle of the desert which was truly beautiful...I felt close with nature and God..it is a feeling which I will try to treasure throughout my life.

As Hammi waited for our dinner to be cooked, he came to chat with us in the night...at first Hammi appeared nervous---who wouldn't be with four girls against one guy right?
Hammi was youngest than all of us in the group so we considered of him like a younger brother...we found out that he was born in the desert as his family were previously nomads. However, after he was born his family decided to settle down. His love for the desert grew as he grew older and became a guide for these organised tours. His English was good considering he had never formally learnt English. He learnt the languageafter two years by merely being with tourists on the desert tour. That is a practical examle of how we can learn a language through on the job training.
For dinner, Hammi cooked us tagine-Berber style with chicken, potatotes and chilli which we ate with some bread. It was a simple dish but so yummy especially as we ate further into the tagine to discover the chicken which could only be reached once you reached the middle of the dish.

After dinner, everyone was more relaxed and Hammi tried to tell us some Berber riddles which I can't remember now but it was entertaining at the time.He then decided to show us the wells which were located outside of the tents in the middle of the night. These weren't wells like the ones you might think but more pool of water located underneath the sand i.e. like an oasis.
I tried the water and it was soo cooling and refreshing....no amount of filtering can replicate the natural state of oasis water.

It was summer so sleeping in the tent would have been too hot so we decided to sleep outside in the open space watching the stars....
I have never been interested in astronomy except for watching programmes on how man landed on the moon. But that night, learning about the Big Dipper , the North star and Cassiopeia were amongst some of the stars we saw, I realised at that moment how lucky I was to have the chance to see it in its entirety. While Nabiha and I were chatting we would spot several shooting stars throughout the night...I could not sleep that night as the views were amazing as the stars moved and changed positions.....Even the bright moon was shining brightly down us and changed as dawn approached....

I understood why the desert people didn't want to leave this place as it was so peaceful and if you treat environment kindly, the environment will be kind to you.

As dawn approached, I managed to take pictures of the sunrise...we had intended to walk up right at the top of the sand dunes but the view from the tent was sufficient enough.We were quite tired but the views were spectacular and we tried to savour the moment as long as possible as we had breakfast at our campsite. Hammi entertained us with his art of making mint tea. Basically mint tea is a combination of good chinese tea, good silver teapot, boiling hotwater, sugar and lots and lots of fresh mint tea.

Hammi wanted to take us to visit a nomadic campsite which was 500 m from our campsite. We thought it wouldn't be that far but after taking account of the soft sand and the numerous camel droppings (which looked like little cadbury buttons) it actually took us longer to get there than we thought. We ended up walking by foot but it still took us a while to get to the camp. There wasn't anything significantly different to the nomadic campsite tour site from our own site...they were just normal people with families ..the only difference is the families do not stick to one place...but the who does nowadays...i guess we are all modern nomads in one way or another.

Before the day became hotter we got ready to set off back to Auberge d'Nord on our camels...I decided to sit at the back of the group this time so that I could take more pictures. However the camel I had on the way back weren't as comfortable as the one I had the day before but that was a little price to pay for the pics I got to take....As we rode back..I felt a tinge of sadness as it may be a while or it may be my last time that I get to experience the desert life...it was truly magnificent...

Hammi gave us a parting gift which was a traditional Berber water cooler-which kept water cool and kept us cool during our long drives..







We were knackered (mainly due to the lack of sleep from the night before), however our trip continued as we headed towards Fes. Before we met up with Khalid our driver, we were picked up by another driver to drive us to Minalt where we would meet Khalid. We were entertained by a taste of Berber music which I absolutely loved as you can hear in this video.



Overall, the Saharan desert is truly a magnificent experience despite having to rough it out for the night it is worth it when you get to watch the stars, experience riding the camels and watching the sunset and sunrise in the desert.

Next stop--Fes...

The week I fell in love with Morocco part 3-Valley of Todre Gorges -village of Rissani-Erfoud

In day 4, after a good night's sleep we continued our adventure to visit the valley of Todre Gorges--the shape of this valley is constantly changing due to the weather. Last year , heavy floods took place which had affected the shape of these valleys even further.
Driving through the valley reminded me of the Grand Canyon and would be a rock climber's dream. Maybe I'll pick up rock climbing as my next hobby--who knows.. :)

We spent a good hour just walking along the valleys and watching local families gathering for their day outing in the Gorges. Imagine u could say that u're just popping out for the day to spend a day in the Gorges... there aren't many places you could say that except for places like Morocco.
The water was very clear and cooling--we even saw a few kids jumping in for a morning swim.



We drove to the top of the valleys in order to see a panoramic view of the Todre Gorges..it was breathtaking to see the mix of oasis where there were signs of agriculture in the form of the desert and greenery.

We then continued to drive to the Er-Rachidia region which is on the edge of Erg Chebbi which is the largest sand desert in Morocco.

During our drive we stopped to see the vast number of well dunes along the desert. When I looked at the well dunes it reminded me of the story of Nabi Yusof a.s when he was thrown into the well by his brothers. We were already hot being out there in the desert in the blistering heat for a few minutes so I do not know how Nabi Yusof a.s must have felt being stranded there for days alone before he was discovered by some merchant travellers.

After a long ride on the road we finally reached the village of Rissani where we were greeted by Hafidz-the most well dressed Berber guy I have seen with his cool orange scarf and not forgetting his slippers made of goat fur....Loved it! He was our local guide in Rissani.

Firstly, he took us to the Mausoleum of Moulay Ali Cherif -a descendant of I-Hesn d Dakhl and considered to have been the founder of the Alaouite Dynasty of Morocco. An interesting fact about him was he apparently had 400 wives (I kid you not...this is what Hafidz told me)--talk about being a player right?!

We then headed to visit the Kasbah in Rissani where we met Rashid- a businessman who owned a family carpet business. He visits families living in the Saharan desert who still follow the craft of making handwoven rugs. He was very hospitable to us serving us mint tea and showed us an array of exquisite rugs....Nabiha and I ended up purchasing rugs for us to take home. I look forward to having the rug in my room back home. :)

After a long day--we were then picked up by Muhammad who wouold take us to Auberge d'Nor for our camel trek to our tents that night in the Sahara..This was the part of the trip which I had been looking forward to the most...

So if you're interested to find out what happened stay tuned for part 4. :)

The week I fell in love with Morocco-Part 2 -High Atlas Mountains-Ourzazate-Tinrhir

On day 3, we set off on our road trip through Morocco- our journey started from Marrakech and headed towards Ourzazate. The route took us through the High Atlas Mountains. An hour into the drive, I started to feel dizzy and a bit sick...the morning's breakfast felt as if it would come out again.. it wasn't a nice feeling....

I really wanted to enjoy the scenery as we drove up into the mountains but the dizziness wasn't going away. It reminded me of the time when I was a young girl travelling with my family to balik kampung before highways existed and there were endless country roads which were continuously winding throughout the whole journey. I used to get carsick easily and had to take pills to make the journey more bearable. As I got older, I managed to control it by listening to music and sitting by the car window in order to distract me from feeling dizzy. The car-sick feeling came back to haunt me in the Morocco trip...but I tried to control it and having the fresh air as we drove up the mountains instead of the air cond unit helped me.

Morocco's roads leading up into the mountains were very well maintained...there weren't many potholes as one would see in places like Malaysia. This was because you don't get big trucks travelling frequently along these roads...Most of the mountain people (Berber) still used transportation such as donkeys and horses which meant roads were generally well maintained.

Once I overcame feeling car-sick, I was able to enjoy the views of the mountains of Morocco. I felt truly blessed to be able to witness God's creation of nature and beauty and felt humbled on how small and insignificant we are compared to the mountains that we saw in Morocco. Those of you who appreciate nature would hopefully be able to understand that feeling.We visited the Kasbah near Ait Benhaddou where films such as the Kingdom of Heaven and Gladiator were filmed. The kasbah are villages in the mountains which often have a row of craft shops which are made by the Berber people. We visited the craft shops and I even managed to try out the desert style of wearing a scarf.

We continued driving towards Ourzazate and went for our first Hammam experience. I didn't know much about Hammam before this except that it was similar to a Turkish bath. The Hammam experience was more than that -we received a body scrub by the lady at the Hammam followed by a Moroccan style massage and oils. The body scrub and massage was a different style than what us Malaysians are used to so it was definitely an experience. Would I want to do it again? Probably not. I think I prefer the Malay way of spa treatments.

After hammam we felt tired and famished and stopped over for lunch before heading to Tinrhir. Before we reached our hotel , we passed by the Atlas Studios which is where movies like the Mummy was filmed. We didn't go inside the studio but from what we could see it looked as if it was a larger production house but not as big as Universal studios of course. I can understand why Morocco would be an ideal film location because the mountains and desert has so much to offer.

We reached our hotel in the evening called Kasbah Linmani -which had an entrance that looked very similar to a jail door so for the rest of the trip we referred to this place as the Jail. Inside , however, the place was nothing like a jail. Overlooking our rooms we could see the rocky desert- a taste of what we would experience as we drove towards the Saharan desert.The meal at the hotel was included but in terms of the food we had tasted elsewhere it was so-so...

The next day we headed further into mountains to discover the Todre Gorges which I will write about in part 3..

The week I fell in love with Morocco-Part 1 -Marrakech

For those who know me in person, I love travelling be it with family or friends.
When I was at university, I could only afford budget holidays to Europe travelling to short haul destinations on a limited budget staying in cheap hostels. Although it was often on a tight budget, for me it was always the company which made the trip memorable and enjoyable.

Since I am planning to go back home soon, I wanted to visit Morocco which has always been on my wish list for a long time. When I was a student, a trip to Morocco was out of my budget range so the trip has always been postponed. Alhamdulillah, I am now working and I have been able to save some money for this once in a lifetime adventure trip.

Planning for the trip
Before the trip, my travel buddies and I had a few key places which we wanted to cover:
Marrakech, Fes, Casablanca and camel safari trip to the Saharan desert. This helped us decide on our itinerary.

Initially, we wanted to travel around Morocco on our own in order to save costs but after discussing the itinerary and travelling arrangements we felt it was more economical and more time efficient if we opted for a tour package.

For those of you who are interested in travelling to Morocco and would like to go for a tour package here are a few tips which you may find useful:
1. If you are a Malaysian, you will need to get a visa before you can book tours or flights to Morocco. Getting a Moroccan visa in the UK is pretty straightforward...their office is near Paddington and visa forms are provided there. All you need to provide is four passport photos, a provisional flight and hotel itinerary ,your passport, proof of right to stay in the UK and visa fee of GBP 18.34

2. Tour packages do not include flights so if you know when you would like to visit Morocco try to book the flights as early as possible in order to get the best deals... I went during late summer which was hot but bearable-similar to Malaysian weather but the ideal time to visit Morocco is springtime as it's not too hot and the scenery in the mountains are greener.

3. There are many websites offering tour packages to Morocco. Many of the websites have a set itinerary but a lot of these companies are flexible so if the set packages do not fit with the length of time or the places you want to cover --email the company directly for a tailored itinerary. Most of the time, the companies will try to accommodate your itinerary within your own budget.

4. Shop around for the best tour package deals...it can vary significantly. We emailed about four or five tour operators and the packages varied from 300 to 800 pounds for the exact itinerary so it is worth spending time in getting the right tour package.

5.Many of the tour packages require deposit payment in advance of the trip. Make sure you know exactly what you are paying for. We had all our accomodation, entrance fees , transport costs included in the tour.

6. The local Moroccan currency is MAD (Moroccan Dirhams). You can't buy MAD abroad so you should either take some cash and change at the bank or money changer at the airport or use credit/debit card. Note : there are a lot of ATM machines in Morocco but not many moneychangers so either change your cash at the hotels/airport ; otherwise pay by card but beware you may incur high commission charges.

Day 1&2 -Marrakech

The aerial view of Morocco when we landed was breathtaking...we could see the stretch of the desert and sand dunes followed by occasional riads with outdoor swimming pool. We were excited about the trip just by looking at the view from the plane.

We met our driver Khalid at the airport---I was quite apprehensive before the trip about meeting our driver...Various people have told me that one should be wary with Moroccan men and not to be taken for a ride/conned by them. But alhamdulillah when we met Khalid for the first time we knew that he was a good man and that we would be safe with him.

On day 1, we stayed at Riad Omar which is near the famous Djemma el-Fna square. Riads are houses which have been turned into inns and has a courtyard in the middle which can be occupied by a fountain or any other water feature. It brings natural light into the building. The rooms in Riad Omar were basic and small but it had its own quirky charm. I loved the tiles and architecture of this building. Since the square was nearby we decided to check out Djemma el-Fna. The square got busier as the evening went on...there are various things going on in the square..mainly catered for tourists. One could see snake charmers, storytellers, henna tattoists and various food and drink stalls. We were told before the trip to try out the orange juice--and it was amazing...the BEST freshly squeezed orange juice I have ever tasted and all for just 3 DH a glass. We walked around the square for a bit to enjoy the busy atmosphere before heading for dinner. We walked along Avenue Mohammad V to see the Khartoubia Mosque-largest mosque in Marrakech which looked splendid at night.
As we were all hungry we saw the sign of KFC and jumped for joy...for those of us in the UK we haven't had spicy KFC fried chicken for at least a year so seeing the sign prompted us to go for a KFC night. Even the KFC in London doesn't have the KFC spicy fried chicken. After dinner, we headed back to our riad for a good night sleep to explore Marrakech the next day.

On day 2, we met Rashid our local guide with Khalid. We visited the Bahia Palace built in the late 19th century. Initially, Si Moussa (grand vizier of the sultan) used the palace for his personal use at the end of XIX century, this palace would bear the name of one of his wives. It has a large courtyard and surrounded by rooms intended for the concubines. The architecture represented Islamic and Moroccan style and is closely resembled to the architecture which we would later see in Fes.

Our next stop that day was the Saadian Tomb which dates back from the time of Sultan Ahmad al-Mansur (1578-1603). The mausoleum comprises the corpses of about sixty members of the Saadi Dynasty and outside the garden his soldiers and servants. The tombs including those of the soldiers and servants were made of marble which strikes me as odd as I thought gravestones would only have tombstones but these were more extravagant as the tombs were made of marble. We saw this again when we visited King Hassan IV's and Mohammad V's in Rabat. Wallahualam -this may be the Moroccan culture.

After visiting the tombs we did a quick tour around the souks which is the largest in Morocco and the Menara gardens before attending Friday prayers at the Khartoubia mosque. Visiting the souks was a bit rushed so we didn't really shop around. We visited a carpet centre in the souk which was way overpriced and so maybe it was a blessing in disguise we didn't shop there as we found better and cheaper bargains in Fes.
We then headed for Friday prayers at the Khratoubia mosque..the mosque was simple inside but looks magnificient at night.
After prayers, we went for our first taste of Moroccan cuisine. Khalid took us to a small cafe restaurant which served couscous and tagine. On Fridays, it is tradition for Moroccans to eat coouscous...I guess it is the equivalent of Brits eating Fish and chips on a Friday. It was the best couscous I have ever tasted and chicken cooked in tagine with prunes was the best we had out of all the other food we had in Morocco that week. Khalid entertained us with his display of serving us Moroccan mint tea which is a must after every meal as it helps relieve the feeling of being bloated after a heavy meal like the one we had.

After a hearty lunch meal, Khalid took us to the Marjorelles gardens which was owned by Yves Sain Laurent-it is a unique garden surrounded by cactuses and buildings with bold colours..the colour blue and yellow was most prominent.

We spent at least an hour there doing various photoshooting opportunities especially for my travel buddies who had lots of fun posing for the camera.


It was a long day as we had covered a fair bit around Marrakech--and we were looking forward to just relaxing back at our 2nd riad which was Terraces des Oliviers. This was one of the best riads we stayed in during our stay...the rooms were massive and the architecture in the buildings were just exquisite..what I love about the riads are from the outside it looks plain but once you get inside it surprises you. There's always so much light coming through the courtyards which brightens up the whole place. We spent the whole night chilling at the Riad since we had a long day drive the next day--it was a good decision because we were well rested for the journey ahead.

Easter weekend in Cornwall

This could potentially be my last Easter break here (if all goes to plan).

There is still one part of the UK which I have not yet ventured which is the southwestern tip of UK in the county of Cornwall....

Cornwall is known to have one of the most beautiful beaches in the UK and is a popular spot for surfers. But I didn't really know much about the place apart from it's local dish which were Cornish pasties...

Eight of us- Edgware Road and d Bayswater crew with Zharin joining us from Liverpool decided to do a road trip to Cornwall for the first time. Ezro (chief organiser) booked us a nice house in the Cornish resort with the aim that we could use the facilities provided in the resort to relax.

While we were 'rockbanding' at no.53 we came up with a number of places worthwhile visiting using the tourguide leaflets Najlaa and Farhan provided for all of us.

And so we were ready to set off:

Day One:Tintagel-Padstow

Everyone surprisingly woke up on time (even Bobby!) and we managed to set off on our road trip on time. There wasn't much traffic (luckily) and we reached our first destination Tintagel Castle (supposedly the birthplace of King Arthur)

Being the jakun people that we were, all of us were asking "mana castle nye...?"-even when we were walking up the steep steps we were still wondering where was the castle..we soon realised that what was left of the castle were just ruins....but the views were breathtaking...

The photo session got underway and we were all clicking away -Bobby had his video cam recording our antics along the cliffs which will be turned into the Cornwall movie..Zharin had his ever loving camera 'glued' to his hand whilst Farhan was trailing behind us sketching in his sketch book to capture the wonderful scenery....

The rest of us were there to soak in the fresh air and sea breeze of the Atlantic Ocean....

We spent probably about 2 to 3 hours there but it didn't feel that long at all because of the sunny weather.

By the time we finished covering Tintagel, all of us were thinking about fooood.....and we walked around the Tintagel village to check out the local delicacies...we saw this cafe with a long queue which is always a good sign....

It was a cafe (probably an old house) with a garden at the back....it was surreal because we were having pasties and Cornish cream tea ( scones with clotted cream and jam with earl grey tea) at the back of a garden on a nice spring day playing with the local cat which looked like the bigger version of 'Millie d cat'...

Next on our itinerary for the day: Visit Padstow
I heard from colleagues that Padstow was famous for its seafood restaurants e.g. Rick Stein's and Jamie Oliver's restaurant are a few chefs who have had an influence in the restaurants around Padstow. A few are highly rated and appear on the Michelin Guide to the best restaurants...

We only had time to have the Rick Stein's Fish and Chips-mine was ok but the guys had the Dory fish which was yummy...

In the evening, we headed to our accomodation which was a house in the Atlantic Reach resort. It was like driving through Pleasantville as all the houses were identical except for the variation in pastel colours found in each house.

It was a self catered accomodation so we headed out to the village to stock up on our groceries...Najlaa and I had our grocery list which will feed the troops for the next few days...It's one of the things I miss living in a house with lots of people. After cooking dinner for the troops , it was time for Ginrami Card session...it's been a while since we all played cards so everyone was a bit rusty. It didn't take long for everyone to bring out the competitive streak...and we ended playing until 2am in the morning -such an addictive game...

Day Two:Newquay
We visited the Blue Reef Aquarium which had received top ratings in the reviews but we were disappointed in what we found. The entry tickets was nearly ten pounds but we didn't think it was value for money since there wasn't much collection to see and the place ain't that big. Nevertheless we made the best of the situation. Personally, Newquay was my least favourite town since it was too crowded and full of groups of people on hen-dos and stag-dos so a bit of a rowdy crowd. The rest of the day we went for a drive to find the nicest beaches around the area but we ended up driving more than we intended. By the time we reached back to our place it was getting late and Najlaa and Farhan became the chefs for the night with Farhan's speciality thai green curry and najlaas ikan goreng masak sambal cili-yummy!

Day Three:Penzance-Landsend
The itinerary for the day was busy since we wanted to cover as much area of Penzance and Landsend as we could...

First stop was St Michael's Mount which over the years had been a monastery to a family home under the National Trust in the present day. If you were lucky , you could spot dolphins swimming around the island at high tide...
When we visited, it was low tide but the views were still amazing. There is a conspiracy theory that Cornish people are descendants from the pirate family but it has not been proven and not widely admitted. But you couldn't help wonder that Cornwall would have been the perfect spot to smuggle things since its strategic position in the mainland.

Second stop was the open air Minack theatre. We heard the views are amazing but we didn't realise that it would be extremely amazing. We saw there was a soft sand beach called Porthcurno Beach. This is one of THE most beautiful spots I have seen in my life. The weather was perfect and we hiked up along the cliffs to reach the beaches. By the time we got there the high tide had come in but we sat for hours enjoying the view. A moment I will remember for a long time...

We then headed to Landsend which is the most southern tip of the UK mainland. I didn't like the commercial aspect of the place as we entered the area. I don't think you need to have outlet shops and amusement area to attract people to Landsend...the natural beauty of the place should be enough to attract people to the area...

By this point, we were pretty tired but we wanted to make the most of the trip so headed to St Ives for dinner-there was a range of restaurants to eat but parking was a problem and the roads aren't the most user friendly roads for a MPV van...we ended up getting take-away: pasties..again!

Day Four: Eden Project-Bude-Sandymouth Beach-London

This would be our last day in Cornwall. Once we checked out-we headed to Eden project-which is a charity with a vision of educating people in ways in which we can look after our environment and ensuring we can have a sustainable future. It was interesting especially the tropical biomes and mediterranean biomes that have built up a typical environment which we can expect in a certain climate. In the malaysian section , they did a good job because it was very similar to us being back in a kampung except animals were missing like the rooster and monkeys..
Unfortunately the weather wasn't pleasant as we got caught in some heavy rain which cut short our trip around the area...

We headed for Bude since some of the guys wanted to buy some souvenirs in the form of scones and clotted cream.... we then headed for Sandymouth Beach which was the rockiest beach we found so far with its huge pebbles..it was high tide so we didn't see any sand. We saw some brave surfers who tried to hit the waves but the waves were too rough and cold for them-the mission was aborted... I respected them for even trying to hit the waters though because it was freezing!

It was then time to go home....the trip was extremely enjoyable : a combination of good company, good weather and breathtaking views....
The trip was complete with our theme song-Lenny Williams -'Cause I love you' which entertained us in the van with the extremely corny lyrics.

Weekend with Will

Ivy and I finally got our act together and planned to finally go up to visit Will in Glasgow. Will is my ex-colleague from HCW who is now running his own family business there.
All three of us are no longer working at HCW but through the power of Facebook we've all managed to still keep in touch with each other.

I took advantage of the BA airmiles I've clocked up to fly there- we flew from City airport which is convenient especially if you are flying to the airport from work. (note to self: book flights from City compared to Stansted or Gatwick which is too far....)

Will was the perfect gentleman as he greeted us from the aiport without us having to wait long at the arrivals area. By the time we reached his flat it was running pretty late so Will gave the grand tour of his place.
Both of us were well impressed-he found a lovely flat which characterised the Glaswegian architecture with the Victorian-style houses and tiles. I wanted to take pictures but I don't want to embarass him :)
Of course his place was full of his IT gadgetry, his surround sound system and even rockband! But we didn't get a chance to rock out that weekend......busy enjoying the scottish scenery.

It was nice to have a long chat that night-I'm glad he has toned down in the boozing but still being the Will we knew all that time ago....(sarcastic yet never failing to entertain us)

In advance of the weekend, he was apprehensive on how he was going to entertain us and show the best bits of Glasgow especially for Ivy who had never visited the place before. We wanted to bring Ivy to Edinburgh but it was rugby weekend and we would have been spending most of the time in traffic.
Instead, we decided to go for a day trip visiting Loch Lomond & Loch Fyne just outside Glasgow. Will drove us up to visit a village called Luss- our timing could not have been better as we saw a Scottish groom getting married that day as he arrived - we felt like we were gatecrashing but they didn't mind as they posed for the cameras as they arrived.


Next stop: We visited the National park and took some amazing scenery-the beauty about Scottish scenery is it is always changing in the season -it is now winter coming into spring so we could see a range of colours coming through which was amazing.

Lunch: We headed to Loch Fyne Restaurant which has a couple of chains in London but this was the original one. Fresh oysters are farmed in Loch Fyne which is facing the front of the restaurant. The restaurants in London of this nature can sometimes appear to be posh so I was pleasantly surprised the Scottish chain had a more homely feel to it without compromising the taste in the food.
The speciality of the restaurant are the fresh oysters and mussels. I've only had oysters once previous to this but I was totally loving the oysters we had that day-so fresh! Will showed me the best way of eating the oysters- slightly loosen the oysters from the shell-squeeze a bit of lemon and put on a bit of tabasco and let it just slide in your mouth without chewing it-amazing!

After the amazing lunch-we drove onto Inveraray -a maritime village. I'm not sure what it is about looking out to seas and rivers but I just love the sea breeze and looking out onto the sea-it has a very calming effect on me. My dream house would be one that overlooks out into the sea where you can just walk out to the beach at anytime. All the worries of the day will just flow away as you take in the views.....-wishful thinking! hehe

To drive back to Glasgow , Will took us onto the ferry back to Greenock. As it was dark by then we couldn't take in the views but it sure was cold! We didn't stay up at the ferry too long before heading back into the car to stay warm hehe.

All of us were pretty knackered by the end of the day, but we decided to head out for dinner as Will showed us the nightlife of Glasgow in the West End. We went for drinks at the famous Ashton Lane -this is a little alleyway with cool and quirky restaurants and pubs.
We then headed to Spuntini- an Italian tapas restaurant which had recently opened there. Many Italians moved to Scotland and settled there which explains why there are so many good Italian restaurants in Glasgow. I really liked the concept of the restaurant-good choice of tapas that night...we were stuffed with the choices.....

The next day, we decided to have a look around the Glasgow city centre-so many things have changed since I was last there about ten years ago. There was another shopping centre called Buchanan Galleries which is a bit like Westfield. Glaswegians definitely know how to shop-it is the 2ndmost popular destination in the UK for shopping....
We went for brunch at Princes Square which is my favourite spot in Glasgow -with its cafes to chill out....

After walking around the city centre it was time to fly back down to London-Will was great and a true gentleman who looked after us the whole weekend........ Thanks! :)






Scotland will always have a special place in my heart since my teenage years was spent in this place. Recently , I found out that my secondary school-Bearsden Academy in Glasgow is about to be demolished....

http://www.bearsdenacademy.e-dunbarton.sch.uk/news/default.asp?storyID=14

Sad but true but things move on and the school is in need for refurbishment.......

Into the new year 2009

My first blog for 2009....

I spent New Year's Eve morning servicing my baby car.

My baby car will be three years old end of this month which also marks the end of my final payment for the car....woohoo!

Three options for the car:

a) Sell it and buy another car when I go home

b) Trade in the car for another one-(not sure to what though)

c) Keep it and ship it home

I'm not yet sure what I want to do....everytime I think of selling it/changing it I feel sad because it had so many memories with it...I'm a sentimentalist if there ever was such a word...

I took Aliza and Ninie to Portobello Rd in the morning to check out Hummingbird Bakery for a girlie morning coffee chat with cupcakes...but we were disappointed that the cafe was closed....

All was not lost, however, because we discovered another cafe called Humble Cafe for some humble pie---it was yummy! I'll definitely take a short drive there again....

Then it was back to work-more of a short afternoon of checking emails and calling my peeps back home before heading home.I wasn't planning to do anything for the NYE countdown and would have been content to stay in and watch the fireworks along the Thames on tv rather than freezing out in the cold along the riverbank.

But as usual when I don't plan things...something impromptu will come up.

I decided to join No.53 peeps for Hakkasan dinner which I hoped wouldn't come to the same bill total as last time....it was less pricey than before and it is a once in a while treat and the food is definitely first class.

The whole evening was thoroughly enjoyable with good company. We headed back to wait for the countdown and watch the fireworks from Primrose Hill. I think this year was a better NYE countdown than last year's - Despite the bitter cold weather , there were plenty of fireworks on display and beautiful lanterns flying up into the sky.

The next day, Nazlin invited me over with a few other mates for a New Years Day Turkish lunch since her mother in law was in town. It was a delicious meal especially trying out salma (rice stuffed in vine leaves) which I love but it was my first time to try it home made which was amazing.

It was nice to catch up with old mates since we are all spread out all over London and don't meet up often.

Even my close friend Omar said we don't meet up often enough especially since he's moved nearer to my area...So to make amends...I visited his new place which was a typical batchelor's pad and met his flatmates.

We then headed to the movies to watch our first movie for the year-Australia. I wanted to watch Slumdog Millionaire especially after watching the trailers but it doesn't come out here until the end of the month.

Australia was an epic movie starring Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman-it was a good movie but you have to be in the right mood for it. It's not something you want to watch if you're expecting a movie with a lot of special effects, unpredictable plot or twists in the movie.

It's a good movie with great acting by Nicole Kidman..so-so acting by Hugh Jackman but my favourite character was Nala the aboriginal kid who became the narrator throughout the whole story.

The cinematography of the Outback was breathtaking and makes you just want to get on the horse and hit the Great Outback.

I recommend it if you want to watch a good old classic Gone With the Wind type movie for a three hour movie...

So get comfortable in the cinema... :) This was my favourite song in the movie as the characters sat around the campfire. It is by Iron and Wine "Such Great Heights"

All in all it has been a relaxing start to the New Year.

Any resolutions? Well no resolutions but to be happy and better myself as a person:

Workwise-I wanna aim for promotion to have a more secure future when I go home (it's gonna be a challenge especially after talking to other execs in my position)

Personalwise- Try to be less naive and be more wary of people who take me for granted.

This past year, a few people have disappointed me in their actions and at times have cause misunderstandings between certain people I know.

People sometimes misunderstand me and make certain assumptions about me-but if they're not willing to know the real me then I'm not going to impose it on them.

I will also try to think about my actions /words first before judging/making my assumptions about them until I know them well enough. Sometimes first impressions are deceiving and all is not as they seem.

Despite that, I am still blessed to have people around me near and far who are there for me during the good and bad times....

Let 2009 bring me closer to my goal.... Bring it on!

Winter Wonderland

Christmas arrived and went…This year we decided to do a joint Xmas lunch roast turkey with all the trimmings, wild rice salad, roast lamb and bread and butter pudding for dessert.
The No.53 crew had seen Jamie Oliver in action in his Xmas special and we were attempting to recreate the Jamie Oliver Christmas taste….

I stayed over at No 53 over Xmas Eve to help with the preparation, however, I don’t think I did much since Fazly had already prepared the roast lamb and Ninie and Najla were already preparing the stuffing for the turkey.

The Jamie Oliver Xmas show was interesting because there were a few things we didn’t realise in roasting a turkey. Firstly, the stuffing is made of bacon which is mashed up with lots of herbs and sage. We replaced this with mince meat instead.

In addition goose fat is also used….we replaced this again with our halal meat fat. The turkey feast is actually quite fattening if you think about it…even the roast vegetables is cooked using the turkey fat produced during the roasting process. The turkey fat is then used to make the gravy along with mashed vegetables and chicken stock.
Since most of the preparation was already done, we ended playing Rockband2 for the rest of the night. Previously we had an issue with the drum pedal (due to over playing perhaps??!!) which broke halfway during our session. This was replaced by a wooden pedal which Bob the Builder had made for our group.

The next morning, the roast lamb had been cooked overnight and the turkey was ready to go in….all 7kg of it! It was massive and with the stuffing it looked even bigger….
Whilst waiting for the turkey to cook, we chatted upstairs and there was a good atmosphere all round….i think probably more relaxed than Hari Raya (obviously!...we weren’t heading out to go for Mass/Church kan?!)

After about three and a half hours , the turkey was ready along with the lamb, wild rice and pudding. It was time for the carving to begin! Jamie Oliver made it look so easy but well done to Fazly, Ninie and Azril for carving the meat because it was a hard job to do…especially when we do not have the sharp carving knives like Jamie…..

We finally sat down for our lunch …and it was absolutely delicious especially the gravy which was amazing with the meat! And pudding with custard to end the meal was a great ending to a great feast…everyone helped out which was fun and enjoyable.
Once all the clearing had finished mainly consisted of Areel who did most of the dishwashing (bless him for volunteering) it was time to have fun….

We started out with Lips (karaoke game) and one of the kids who came to the house beat us all with her rendition of Bleeding Love –Leona Lewis where she scored over 1m points…..We comforted ourselves by thinking that the only reason she won was because her voices has not yet broken…(hehe u can tell we are all bad losers…hahah!)

We then moved onto the party game Cranium. Cranium is a game of various tasks which the team has to perform: it can range from game of charades, humming/whistling a tune, brainteaser questions or word puzzles.

My team (Jiden, Farhan and me) came last but we were just unlucky on the night with our dice throws, difficult tasks ( how is anyone expected to sculpt a california sushi roll using purple plastecine?!).

Areel, Najla and Aliza’s team were just lucky on the night and good guesswork by the girls. The highlight of the night is Areel performing Shakira’s song using the lyrics “Whatever…whatever…” and the girls still managed to guess correctly.
The last game of the night …was of course Rockband2….everyone had a go at playing it which was fun……Overall it was a fun night with good food and of course good company!

Will put up pics later...