Coming Home

Sedar tak sedar, dah almost a month I'm here and tomorrow it's time to pulang ke kampung halaman before coming here again for good. As much as I'm sad to leave dear husband alone, I'm also super excited to come home bebeh! I miss the food (I just cannot stomach any nasi beriani or nasi mandi anymore. Me want ayam penyet!), miss my little niece, miss my family & friends, miss my own bed, my own house, basically I just miss the familiar people and environment. Camano gue nak dok sini lame2 ni nanti? Huwarghh!

Yesterday did the 1st inspection of our new place - everything looked okay, just need some minor touch-ups here and there. So now it's time to borong barang IKEA, wait for the delivery, then we're ready to move in, I mean, SRB's ready to move in first hehe. You'll be okay right, dear? If you bosan sorang2, you can just walk over to Dubai Mall and spend all the time you want in the electronic shops =)

And here's a little preview of the place we gonna call home for the next couple of years. Do come visit us nanti, you gonna love it too!

The Travels of Ibn Battuta

Ibn Battuta was an Islamic traveller, born in Morocco, who is known for his travels and excursions that lasted for a period of nearly 30 years and covered almost the entirety of the known Islamic world and beyond, a distance readily surpassing that of his predecessors and his near-contemporary Marco Polo - said Wikipedia. Hehe.

Now, how do we honor a great explorer and inspiring scholar like Ibn Battuta? Here in Dubai, they built a shopping mall, no, make it the world's largest themed shopping mall, called Ibn Battuta Mall that is uniquely designed to celebrate his travels. I think it's an awesome idea - you can learn about some of the countries visited by Ibn Battuta while browsing for new clothes, shoes or handbags.

The way they designed each wing to portray the country is really amazing that you'd feel like you're actually there, travelling together with Mr. Battuta. Plus you get to give a cool answer when people call you in the mall, like; "Where are you right now?" "Oh, I'm just cruising around Andalusia." Or "I'm now walking through the streets of Tunisia." Macam gempak lah konon kan hahah!

Since this place is like a museum in a mall, it is perfect for a couple like us who have different interests; he likes to learn about the history and origin of things, while she likes to do what every other woman likes to do - shopping. So while he entertains himself with some fun facts about how ancient people in Egypt observed the motion of stars, she shops for souvenirs and other things she doesn't really need. And then later, he provides her with a summary of all the new things he learned. It's a win-win-win situation. And it's among the reasons why this is my favorite mall here so far =)

Itsy Bitsy Spider

I miss playing & singing with lil niece...huwaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!

Favourite Things

Favorite past time at the moment - sitting by the bench, watching the musical fountain show.

I hope I never get tired of this =)

Favorite possession at the moment - THANKYOUSOMUCHDEARILOVEIT!!!

Will try not to be a spoiled wife =p

Burj Al Arab

Burj Al Arab, or 'Arab Tower' is one of the iconic towers in Dubai that stands on an artificial island and connected to the mainland by a private bridge. Chewahhh, I sound like some lame-ass host in a travel channel plak hahah. This hotel is filled with all kinds of luxury imaginable that people say the return of investment could be 100 years - gilo!

If you are a guest there, you'll have a helicopter waiting for you at the airport to bring you straight to the hotel, you'll also get a private chauffeur to drive you around in a Rolls Royce, furniture made from 22 carat gold and if you're not afraid of heights, you can play tennis on the helipad (Andre Agassi once had a tennis game with Roger Federer there). I'm guessing since takde net surrounding it, bola memang jatuh kat dalam lautlaa jawabnye hehe.

People also say that celebrities appear there on a daily basis, so if I'm ever gonna be a professional stalker, Burj Al Arab should be the place to start =p

Souk Madinat Jumeirah

Today, our unofficial tour guide (Ejam & family) brought us to a place called Souk Madinat Jumeirah. Souk means market, so here the names of shopping areas mostly start with Souk; e.g. the place I'm gonna show you in a bit - Souk Madinat Jumeirah, the place where we're gonna live later, Insya Allah - Souk Al Bahar, dan sebagainya.

Souk Madinat Jumeirah is basically Dubai version of Pasar Seni/Central Market. But like everything else in Dubai, its design and settings were so elegant, very detailed and just jaw-droppingly magnificent that I could not turn off my jakun siren at all while we're there. Felt like I was being transported to another decade, like in zaman Ali Baba or something. I just LOVE the Arabic feel of this place.

Malas nak citer banyak, plus otak pun dah lembap due to high level of 'couch potato'-ness recently, nak construct a full sentence pun took a lot of effort hehe, so I'll just let the pictures do the talking now...

Souk's indoor

Souk's outdoor

Gotta come here again and experience the night life plak nanti. The restaurant by the river looks too romantic to resist hehe~

P/S: Cik Kirah, aku tak naik sampan to tour around this place tadi sebab nak naik dengan kau nanti tau!

Bliss

Bangun pagi, buat laundry, fix myself a big breakfast...

Put my feet up, relax and enjoy the daytime movie marathon...

At this very moment, life is simply beautiful =)

A Day at the Beach

The weather was nice today, so we decided to go for a walk at the Jumeirah Beach. The beach was awesome - it's very clean (unlike our PD), with white smooth sand, stretched out as far as the eye can see!

I can't wait to spend my days here, doing nothing but chillaxing, reading books sambil mencuci mata (most shirtless mat salleh here got real 6-pack abs bebeh =p). But first, gotta buy one of those comfy portable folding chairs and the 'pasar tani'-sized payung hehe.

It's just too bad that we're not gonna live right across the beach (we've decided not to take the sea view apartment), if not, memang confirm I'm gonna be a professional beach bum hehe. But if everything goes well (please pray for us!), Insya Allah we're gonna get a waaaayyy cooler apartment peeps! Details will be shared once things are confirmed =)

More pics can be seen here

Raya di Perantauan

After 5 years of celebrating such meriah and elaborated raya with families, we're now back to celebrating raya di perantauan again, just like during the good old student days. Never thought that this could happen, but here we are, trying to make a living in the land of superlatives - where you can find the tallest, longest, biggest, shiniest and brightest of everything chewahhh.

Aaanyway, back to the Raya story. On Raya eve, I prepared the customary raya meal - nasi impit segera, kuah lodeh (believe it or not, it was my first time making it myself. Usually back home, saye memang tidak terlibat in the preparation of raya food, saye makan sahaje =p), kuah kacang (thanks to mom's frozen kuah kacang mix - tinggal tambah air je beb hehe. Buat from scratch, gue belum sempat belajar lagi hahaha!), sambal ikan bilis, lemang segera and ready-made serunding daging.

Di pagi Aidilfitri, got a lift from SRB's Alam Shah senior to go to sembahyang raya and jamuan raya at the Malaysian Trade Centre (Matrade). SRB accidentally met with his senior, Ejam, who has been working and living here for the past 3 years and whose wife happens to be my SIL's good friend, during one of the iftars in Matrade earlier. Since then, he and his wife have been kind enough to be our unofficial tour guide, introducing us to the best eateries and driving us around the city to explore the malls as well as for some sight-seeing (saw my first camel here during one of our 'expeditions').

Banyak varieties gak the food for the jamuan raya, which was organized by the Malaysian community here called MY-UAE (most of the AJK are veterans who are working with Matrade). So merasa gaklaa all the normal food that we usually have during raya open-house back home.

After that, went to Ejam's uncle's place for another makan2 session. His uncle works for the Emirates Airlines and he & his family has been living in Dubai for about 18 years now. And after that, went to Ejam's place pulak for another makan2, with a special dish by the wife, Eti - lamb kuzi (pergghhh, masyukkk bebbb!). And perrghhh, memang banyak kali makan beb.

Around 8-ish in the evening, we went back to the hotel, happy, full and ready for some webcam sessions with family di kampung halaman. And that's how we spent our first day of Aidilfitri in Dubai. I must say that we had an awesome time, surrounded by great food, great people and interesting conversations. Of course, it's not quite the same as having your family around, but it was nice getting to know new people here, especially fellow Malaysians as well.

Second day of Aidilfitri and perhaps the rest of it - back to exploring the malls bebehhhh =p