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!!!

In Loving Memory

Am back from the lovely city of Istanbul. After 8 days of wearing 4 layers of clothing and 3 layers of socks, I was ready to go home to the warmness of Dubai. Dear SRB on the other hand, was very reluctant to leave; he said goodbye (literally) to the street, the trams, the shops, etc so many times, it was borderline cuckoo theeheehehe.

But yeah, Istanbul is a very enchanting city (maybe more so since we went there during winter and somehow winter always adds romance to everything) and now that I'm back at home, am starting to experience the usual post-vacay blues and am missing everything about Istanbul, while I sort out this huge pile of dirty laundry *sigh*.

Along Istiklal Cadessi, the city's most popular strolling, shopping and snacking street...

Treasures of Anatolia

The Aspendos Amphitheatre - a Roman theatre in Antalya province of Turkey which was built during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, or better known as the Roman Emperor whom Maximus a.k.a Russell Crowe served as a general to, in the beginning of the 'Gladiator' movie (What we do in life, echoes in eternityyy!) hehe.

The Rock Houses of Mardin - the traditional Arabic-style houses in Mardin, a city in southeastern of Turkey. Here, pictures of the Kaaba are carved above the house doors if the owners have performed the Hajj, a pilgrimage to Mecca.

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Well, at least the miniature version of it theehehehehe =p

Where the Sultans Lived and Ruled

Topkapi Palace - the home of Ottoman Sultans for 400 years, which also contains a special santuary where some Holy Relics of Islam including a tooth, footprint and hair of our Prophet Muahammad's SAW are kept.

After seeing too much of the Sultans' "bling blings" on display, dear SRB started wondering, "These are all the usual grand & extraordinary stuff we expect a Sultan to have. Why the museum tak tunjuk things from the Sultan's everyday life, like where they pegi toilet, what kind of toilets they have, etc? That would be something different."

Iskkk...there is never a time when I and I think most people too, would ever want to see how and where other people, tak kisahlah Sultan ke, or Brad Pitt ke, do the no.1 and no.2 okay, babe? That would not be something different, but something, I dunno, eewww? =p

Aya Sofya

Once a church, later a mosque and now a museum;

the beautiful, magnificent Hagia Sophia.

It was snowing lightly earlier today.

Made me feel even more nostalgic huuu...

In the Native City of Orhan Pamuk

It is freaking cold, am currently numb all over...and lovin' every bit of it!

Somehow it kinda reminds me of the sweet old days in New York...

Walking through the gorgeous Central Park, in the bitterly cold winter.

Fatma, you're right babe! I absolutely LOVE it here too!