The Aquaventure Adventure

As mentioned earlier, dear SRB had a sudden urge to bermandi-manda di waterpark so last Saturday, off we went to Aquaventure in Palm Jumeirah. It.was.a.load.of.fun. Sakit badan for 2 days after that though.

The thing that I love the most about this place is how they use flowing rivers and uphill water escalators to transport you from one slide to another. So you don't have to leave your tube ever in order to enjoy all of the slides. Just sit tight on your tube, enjoy the scenery and the flowing water will bring you to the slide of your choice. Awesome gilerrr! And unlike Sunway Lagoon, the tube rent is included in the entrance ticket so you don't have to really guard your tube and bring it everywhere you go to avoid tube-theft (we experienced this once in Sunway Lagoon before, cisss!) coz there are lots of them and you can just grab them from wherever, whenever you want. Coolness!

The Rapids ride is my favourite coz it felt exactly like white water rafting but without having to worry about tercampak keluar from boat or terlanggar batu2 sungai and what not. Besttt! We had our picture taken during one of our Rapids ride and the outcome urkss, seriously, my face couldn't look even more cacat than that hahah! But since SRB wanted to buy the pic for kenangan, ok fine, but I will make sure that it's not revealed to the public - ever! =p

The most famous water slide in Aquaventure is of course the 100 feet high, 45-degree slide, appropriately named the 'Leap of Faith'. Now, in case you guys didn't know, SRB and I are most definitely NOT a fan of any activities involving plunging ourselves down from great heights (but at least I'm all good at cable car rides, unlike some pakcik, *uhuk*SRB*uhuk* =p). Hence nope, we did not make this 'Leap of Faith' ahah! My life motto is: only do things that you enjoy, so if you don't enjoy jumping off a cliff, don't do it - as simple as that hehe.

What's cool about this slide though, is when you slide down, you don't simply plunge into a pool of water. You will slide through a shark-infested pool first (oklaa it's actually a big fish tank hehe), then only you 'gedebushhh' into the water. I don't know about you, but if I were to do this 100-foot plunge, I'd be too busy being scared shitless that I wouldn't be able to notice let alone be mesmerized by the view of shark, stingrays or whatever colorful fishes they have in that tank hehe.

First you slide down here...

...into the shark tank...

...then continue some more, then straight into the water.

Standing at the balcony right across 'Leap of Faith', memang boleh dengar different kinds of screams. Some were screams yg buat2 takut, but some were definitely in the 'scared shitless' scream category hehe. Lagilaaa we taknak naik bende ni eeee! So amek gambar and senyum kambing jelaa ye hihi!

Dear SRB made a promise that before leaving Dubai for good nanti, he'll do the 'Leap of Faith' plunge. Well, your words babe, not mine. Don't you even dare thinking of nak tarik I sekali nanti dear, tidaaaaaaakkkssss!

Central Perk

Central Perk is now in Dubai, y'all! Woot woot!!! =D

Found this place while driving around town one weekend, during one of our jalan-jalan, cuci-mata-mansions excursions. For the non-fans out there, this might not be a big deal, but for a huuuge Friends fan like me, this is very very exciting!!! I mean, of course it's not exactly where the casts actually sat and shoot the scenes, but dapat gi to the cafe franchise pun jadilaa kan?

The famous orange couch - again, not exactly the same, but I applaud their effort in finding the one that looks similar enough to the original couch.

Inside the cafe - very different from the Friends set, but it does look cozy and inviting for lepak2-sambil-minum2 sessions. The cafe menu includes a variety of soups, salads, sandwiches, pasta, pies, muffins, coffees and smoothies - menarik. And they also have breakfast sets as well, so we definitely gonna come here again soon for our weekend brunch.

Being in Central Perk that day somehow made me thought of one of those silly quizzes that will determine 'Which Friends Character Are You?' Hahah toye I know, but I think I am more of a Monica; the non-OCD version of her lah kehkehkeh! Dear SRB is definitely a Ross, no question about it hehe. But wait a minute, Monica and Ross are siblings. Ok ok, I take back my words. I am not a Monica, I am definitely more like the beautiful, fashionista Rachel (AS IF!) hahaks =p

Someone Else's Life

'Chris boiled with indignation and resolved there and then that he would never have another drink - ever. Just to make her look stupid. The human spirit is a powerful, powerful thing, and there's very little that it can't achieve, especially if it's out of spite.'

When it comes to domestic arguments, yesss, I found this to be very very true theeheehehee...

Paul and Bradley

Paul McDonald (AI 10) and Bradley Cooper - nak dekat sama kan?

Or am I the only one who sees the resemblance? And the only one who thinks Bradley Cooper is HOT? Hellooo, piercing blue eyes peeps!

But anyway, all the more reason to support Paul on American Idol this year bebeh! Besides having a one-of-a-kind voice, one-of-a-kind dancing style (some people found his erratic movement on stage irritating, I found it adorable), he also looks like the hot & macho Bradley Cooper =p. What more do you want?!! Hehe.

And oh, can't wait for Hangover 2!!! (I think I have to send you a reminderrr, here it is...)

Roti Canai Satu!

Dear SRB,

I had some rangup roti canai with kari sambal for lunch.

Like you always say (even though I hate it), terbaik dari ladang bebbb =p

Jangan jelesss muahahaha!

P/S: Since when do people start saying 'terbaik dari ladang' ni? Where did the phrase come from? It is becoming irritating, just like that over-used 'tau takpe' phrase.

Around Palm Jumeirah

At dear SRB's Christmas/New Year holiday party a few months back, I met one of his colleagues, an Egyptian who, interestingly, used to live right across the street from the Pyramids of Giza but has never, in all his life, really been to the pyramids (if you look at the map, there is actually a large residential area next to the pyramids). And I thought, whoaa, that's like 'taking things for granted' at a whole another level dude! Now that I think about it, arrgghhhh sangat jealous aa plak, especially since we had to cancel our Egypt trip due to the unrest there recently and don't know when things will be stable enough for us to be able to go there and see the pyramids ourselves!

Aaanyway, since then, we sort of made a vow not to take things for granted here and to make the time to explore the tourist spots in Dubai, as many as we can. So as a start, last weekend we drove up to Palm Jumeirah, parked the car, then took the Palm monorail around the island. Since the monorail is elevated, we could get a good view of the Palm as the train cruises along the island's trunk.

It costs 15 dirhams per person for a one-way ticket and 25 dirhams for a return one. Quite expensive for just a 20-minute ride, but oh well, everything's here memang expensive, so terpaksalah live with it. But I wish the monorail track is built higher so we can get a better aerial view of the palm-shaped island, macam view from helicopter hehe.

But I guess this is the next best thing to the much more expensive helicopter ride, so let's just enjoy whatever that we can get, huh?

The Atlantis Hotel

Aquaventure (the waterpark in Atlantis Hotel)

Luxurious villas on the fronds

Jumeirah Beach

After seeing the view of Aquaventure, dear SRB suddenly got excited utk bermandi-manda plak so this weekend, Insya Allah, we're gonna go have some fun in the water bebehhh woohoo!

The Terrible Privacy

"I seem to have lost a number of friends in the last few years. I don't mean that I've fallen out with them, in any dramatic way. We've just decided not to stay in touch. And that's what it's been: a decision, a conscious decision, because it's not difficult to stay in touch with people nowadays, there are so many different ways of doing it. But as you get older, I think that some friendships start to feel increasingly redundant. You just find yourself asking, 'What's the point?' And then you stop." -- Maxwell Sim

Talk about the harsh truth, huh? Hmmm...

*Put one hand under the chin, stare into the distance and ponder*

The Evil Laugh

**Major vanity alert**

Didn't know that I sound like an evil witch who eats children when I laugh muahahaha!

Definition of a Trophy Wife?

So enough about the trip to Istanbul (did I hear somebody say, 'Thank God!'? Hehehe!) and back to real, ordinary life now.

Dear SRB's in Iraq since last Monday and will be back later tonight. I, on the other hand, have been spending my time at the mall; watching movies (I love going to the cinema on weekdays when the place is practically empty but lately most of the movies I saw kinda sucked! What's happened to Hollywood?), sitting at the Kinokuniya cafe for hours reading & observing other people (when you're alone in a mall, you can't help but sit and watch other people), eating fast food (not good, I know, but it's the easiest to order, you don't have to think that long since you're already familiar with the options) and drooling over ridiculously expensive products (handbags, shoes, jeweleries - the usual women's best friends) without any intention of buying them, unless 'somebody' is kind and generous enough to buy them for me *hint hintttt* =p.

Is this the true definition of a trophy wife or what? Hahahahah!!!

I wish I can say that I've been hitting the gym a lot during my free time (I have nothing but free time now hihi), but no, that would be a lie. Please, share me some tips to make/force myself to go to the gym and exercise?

In case you're wondering, I do spend my time doing productive stuff as well, I am not that useless thank you very much hehe. Let's just say that our house has never been more organized and immaculately clean like it is now, ever since I became a housewife chewahhhh! Excuse the 'masuk bakul, angkat sendiri' expression there hehe. But to those who know me, you know I am a very tidy person kan? =p

Oh, dear husband got his driving license right before we went for our holiday so now we're renting a car, a Honda City, to move around while deciding which car to buy. I don't know, I feel like we need to have a 4WD here in order not to be seriously bullied on the road on a daily basis, but heard that 4WDs require higher maintenance than sedan cars and not sure if we (read: the husband) will have enough patience for that, so we'll see how.

And also since SRB has passed his driving test, it's my turn now to start taking driving classes in order to get my license, but sangatlaaaah malas since I kinda got used to be driven, by cab drivers mostly, that I think I might have lost some of my driving skills already by now. Plus, driving classes usually start at 7 AM in the morning, adoiiilaaa!

Right...gotta go now and do what all housewives do in the evenings - deciding what to cook for dinner tonight theehehehe. I'm sorry my life is such a cliche =p

The Other Mosques

Our last day in Istanbul was spent cruising along the Golden Horn, a short river that separates the Old Istanbul and the New Istanbul (better known as Beyoglu), and visiting a couple more of historical mosques.

The Eyup Sultan Mosque is erected by one of the Ottoman sultans next to the tomb of Abu Ayyub Al-Ansari, the flag bearer of Prophet Muhammad SAW. Abu Ayyub is said to be among the last survivor of Prophet Muhammad's trusted companions (when Prophet Muhammad SAW first arrived in Madinah after his Hijrah from Makkah, he stayed in Abu Ayyub's house for seven months while waiting for his mosque to complete).

Abu Ayyub joined the Muslim army during a battle against Constantinople despite his old age at the time. Halfway through the battle, Abu Ayyub fell ill and his last wish was to be buried under the walls of Constantinople. The Muslim army fulfilled his request when they managed to reach the Constantinople walls and buried him there.

Being inside the sacred burial site, goosebumps all over beb!

The Suleymaniye Mosque was built on the order of Sultan Suleiman, the longest-reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (he ruled for 46 years). Sultan Suleiman was known to the Europeans as 'Suleiman The Magnificent' due to his vast military empire, and to the Muslims as Kanuni or 'The Lawgiver' as the reign of Suleiman was regarded as the period of greatest justice and harmony in Ottoman history.

We took a wrong turn when trying to find this mosque and ended up walking into a totally different mosque at first. Well, you can't blame us. As you can see, most mosques in Istanbul looked the same, with the blue umbrella-shaped dome...kan?

By this time, kaki dah rase nak tercabut, perut pun dah lapar giler. So once we found a decent restaurant, we ate our last Turkish dinner dengan sangat lahapnye, in a total silence due to the kebuluran tahap naga hehe.

Inside the Blue Mosque

The Sultanahmet Mosque or better known as the Blue Mosque for the blue tiles adorning its interior walls was built during the rule of Sultan Ahmet I. The Blue Mosque was commissioned by the sultan when he was just 19 years old (he ascended the throne at the age of 14). He even 'turun padang' during the foundation digging process and worked with his velvet handled digger. Unfortunately, he died just a year after his masterpiece was completed, at the age of 27 and was buried outside the mosque.

The interior of the mosque - I was completely mesmerized and in awe...

While in the mosque, I was also fascinated by this one tour guide, a Turkish guy, who explained the history of each feature of the mosque (judging by how he kept pointing to different things inside the mosque while talking) in fluent Japanese to a bunch of Japanese tourists. His Japanese was very very good, complete with the intonation semua, it's unbelievable! If you didn't see his face, you'd think that it was a Japanese talking to his Japanese friends.

It's weird but cool at the same time, just like if you see mat sallehs speak fluent Malay. You just can't help but stare at them, which was what I did to that Japanese-speaking Turkish tour guide. Yeahhh, staring is rude, I know hehe.

The Presidential Palace

Dolmabahce Palace - the largest palace in Turkey and home to 6 Ottoman Sultans in the 1800s. When Mustafa Kemal Ataturk came to power, it became his presidential residence during summers. Ataturk spent his last days in medical treatment in this palace, where he eventually died in 1938.

We were not allowed to take pictures inside the palace, but I gotta tell you, it has a very luxurious interior, the kind that you couldn't stop yourself from saying "Waaaaahhh" out loud, very impressive, that I wonder if Sultans in Malaysia have the same kind of extravagance hmmm...

P/S: Dear SRB got what he wished for in this palace. He finally got to see the 'royal toilets' hahah!

A Day on the Bosphorus

Cruising along Bosphorus, the strait that separates the European side and the Asian side of Turkey...

The wind was definitely face-numbing, but the scenery was quite breathtaking...

The ferry stayed for about 3 hours at the last stop, a sleepy fishing village called Anadolu Kavagi, before making the return journey. So we got off the boat and joined the rest of the crowd walking up a steep road to see the ruins of a medieval castle perched above the village. Penat gilersss actually but since I saw a group of very very old people managed to do it just fine, I didn't complain much at the time even though I was starting to see black spots hehe.

Then we made our way back down to the village and had the most delicious grilled seafood for lunch. The only thing that's missing was kuah asam huhu! Oh, how I miss ikan bakar Jalan Istana huwaaa!!!