Turkey: Winter - November 2009

Istanbul Aku Datang, a Malay movie released in 2012 must be doing a good job in promoting Istanbul because I know at least four families who went there the same year. All came back totally in love with the city :)

When I came back in year 2009, I was wondering whether any Turkish residing in Istanbul want to exchange home with me for three months.. I actually went to some "Home Exchange" websites! I was THAT crazy-in-love ;p Luckily I recovered.. hehe

One thing I love most (besides the food) is their Light Rail Transport (LRT).. cheap and pretty convenient. You can actually take their normal LRT straight to the Ataturk Airport for TL1.50 (RM3.80) per person. This is probably the cheapest transportation to an international airport in the world!

In Malaysia the airport ERL costs RM35 per person. Mostly I will take a cab and it will cost me RM80-98.. Taxi in Istanbul however is expensive. I took a 25 minutes ride and it costs me TL40 (RM100).

We went during late autumn.. so the weather was sometimes sunny and sometimes grey with rain. Not too cold unless it was windy. I think the best time to visit is during spring. There will be tulips everywhere! I read in a blog that in one of the parks in Istanbul there were so many beautiful tulips that when the author brought her mom-in-law.. the mother-in-law actually cried because it was soooo beautiful! Priceless right?

If you have been following my posts, you know that I like to take flowers pictures during my travel. For this posting I stopped myself from posting any. If not, the pictures will be too many. As it is for Istanbul alone I have uploaded close to five hundred! Which break my blog record.

Enough said. I'll let my photos do the "talking" now. I've uploaded 492 photos for your viewing pleasure. You can access them at my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/mkhasha.n.travels/. Go to the photo albums.

Njoy!!

Turkey: Autumn - October 2009

The tour organised by Reliance Travel was called "Marvellous Turkey".. and they were right. It was really a marvellous holiday! They wouldn't got it wrong though if they renamed it to "Enchanting" or "Awesome" or "Breathtaking" Turkey... I'm sure you got my drift ;p

 

There were so many wonderful places that I love in this trip. The crowning glory was of course Cappadocia or Kapadokya to the locals. A region of exceptional natural wonders with fairy chimneys and unique historical and cultural heritage. We were lucky that on our scheduled date to take the hot-air balloon ride, the weather was excellent. The sun was shinning which enabled me to take many wonderful shots. Not too windy that the maneuvering of the balloon became almost impossible. It was truly a magical experience :)

 

Pamukkale Cotton Castle was also a unique experience. If you close your eyes.. maybe you can imagine that behind you stand an ice castle ;p Hemm... maybe not because the water was actually quite warm!

 

We went to not one but three ancient cities during this trip! Well... four if you count the ruins of Hierapolis at Pamukkale ;) The lost city of Troy, Acropolis and the famous Ephesus. I thought after visting Egypt I've had enough of ruins.. but the weather was so pleasant and the Library of Celsus was so awesome that I changed my mind :)

 

For a Malaysian Muslim traveller, if you only have enough money to visit one other country (after visiting Saudi Arabia - Mecca and Madinah), I would recommend Turkey. They have almost everything that a Muslim tourist wish for. Top of the list are an excellent halal food, plenty of mosques and great shopping bargains ;p

 

They also have great history and culture which translate to wonderful historical buildings and ruins. Temperate climate with distinct four seasons which means depending on which season you go you get to experience tulips wonder or skiing wonderland or autumn foliage. Another thing worth mentioning is because this is a secular country, foreign women will feel much safer than if they were to walk alone in Iran or Saudi Arabia for instance.

 

I think I better stop now.. I don't want to sound like unappointed Turkey Tourism Minister! I will let my photos do the talking.. ;) Having said that, Turkey is arguably the best country to visit in the world :)

 

The trip was from 24-31 October 2009. The tour price was RM4.6k per person excluding the hot air balloon ride of US$220 (RM755). There were only 15 of us with a handsome local guide who speaks excellent English.. what could go wrong right?

 

We parted with our group and extended our stay in Istanbul for another week. Pictures of my personal exploration of Istanbul will be in my next post.

 

I've uploaded 345 photos for your viewing pleasure. You can access them at my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/mkhasha.n.travels/. Go to the photo albums.

 

Njoy!!

Malaysia: Summer - September 2009

 

The picture above was one of my many attempts of trying to get a panorama shot using my Olympus camera. Some turned out really weird.. Actually until now I still couldn't figure out the best way to do it.. I saw the latest Samsung Galaxy camera demo. They made it look soooo easy.. :(

 

Port Dickson or PD to locals is a favourite beach holiday destination to KLites. During week days, the roads in PD were mostly clear but come weekends they will be congested. It is a fairly small town with a relatively low cost of living. Last time I went back in year 2010.. there was still no hypermarket or McDonalds. But I think they have it now ;)

 

We stayed at Avillion Admiral Cove for 4 days 3 nights from 22-25 September 2009. It was a fairly new hotel then so everything was fine. Their breakfast selection was not as extensive as KL hotels but not too bad. So long as they have the "important" breakfast dish i.e nasi lemak and roti canai... that is good enough for me ;p

 

The swimming pool was great. The marina made me feel like I was in Perth.. ;p I met a couple with two young kids from Texas who docked their yacht for a few days there. They plan to go to Langkawi next. Some people are so lucky to have that kind of lifestyle huh? Where to for holiday? Let's take our yacht to Greece ;p

 

I've uploaded 73 photos of PD. I managed to get a few nice shots of sunset during the trip. You can access them at my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/mkhasha.n.travels/. Go to the photo albums.

 

Njoy!!

Australia: Spring - November 2008

 

If you know me personally, you will know that I am a person who is always grateful with what I have. I love being Malaysian and the life that I have in this blessed country called Malaysia :)

Having said that, when I visited Perth, Australia for the first time in history I wish that I am an Australian multi-millionaire living in one of the scrumptious looking houses facing the Swan River with small boat and jet-ski as my weekends transport. It doesn't have to be a bungalow like the one above. I will be quite happy living in one of the apartments below.. Mayhap in another parallel universe? ;p

 

Besides houses and beaches, another thing that I like are flowers. Since we went in spring, we found all kinds of flowers when we were there. The flowers were huge and in abundance. It was truly amazing! We visited the King's Park a few times.. simply couldn't get enough of the flowers ;)

 

Besides exploring Perth city centre, we also made a trip to Fremantle and Rottnest Island. We had fish and chips at the famous Kailis' Fremantle Seafood Cafe and I took a dip in the very appetising water surrounding Rottnest Island..

 

We also did typical touristy thingy like visit the fruit farm, wildlife park, dolphin and whale watch, chocolate factory etc. Nothing to shout about. In fact, the whale watching was a disappointment. After  a "suspense" chase.. we only got to see the tail! Dolphins watching were better.. the boat ride was at least more thrilling. Shivers!!

 

We were there from 3-16 November 2008. Great weather but with "surprise" short heavy showers now and then. Becareful of sunburn though.. the temperature was so cool and pleasant that you can sometimes forget that the sun is still there.

 

I've uploaded 390 photos for your viewing pleasure. A word of caution though, I was a bit over-the-top when it comes to flowers and houses in this trip ;p

 

You can access the photos at my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/mkhasha.n.travels/. Go to the photo albums.

 

Njoy!!

Qatar: Autumn - October 2008

The picture above is an Arab tea. It tastes nothing like a normal tea cause they don't use tea leaves to make it but instead use a combination of herbs. You should try it if you ever set foot in Doha.

I went to Doha this time round on a business trip. We stayed there close to three weeks. Since it was a business trip, I didn't bring my camera with me ;p My apology in advance for the blur pictures taken using my Sony Ericsson mobile phone. Thank God some of my colleagues brought their cameras and allow me to copy their pictures. So you get to see beautiful shots of the deserts :)

Doha in 2008 was a city under construction.. There are high rise buildings being built everywhere. They are seriously playing catch-up with Dubai and might surpass it too! Their airlines, Qatar Airways in my humble opinion is already better than Emirates.

With natural gas reserves of approximately 896 trillion cubic feet, Qatar has the world's third-largest reserves, behind Russia and Iran. Coupled with only roughly 250k Qatari nationals, this is one rich country. They can afford to build anything!

My trip was pleasant. The food there was great. Costs of living are high though. Everything there are expensive except for cars and petrol. Taxi ride minimum fare then was QR30 which was equivalent to RM30. A lot of Malaysians like to work in Doha because of their tax free status and very high pay. Suitable for family too with good international schools and low crime rate.

Note: I've decided to include pictures of Doha during my in-transit visits back in year 2003 and 2004 in this 2008 album. So you can make the comparison ;)

135 pictures of Doha for your viewing pleasure can be accessed at my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/mkhasha.n.travels/. Go to the photo albums.

Njoy!!

Malaysia: Summer - July 2008

Once in awhile I will "play" tourist in my own country. Melaka is the third smallest Malaysian state after Perlis and Penang. This historical city centre has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 7 July 2008. Hemm.. I just realised something.. my trip was just a week after Melaka been declared as the heritage site!

I love Melaka for the following reasons:

• Close to KL. Around two hours drive
• The city is clean with acceptable public transportation
• Nyonya food is one of the best in the world!

If you have nowhere to go for a short weekends trip, I would recommend this heritage city. Good food and stress-free environment. Eerrr.. I have a disclaimer though.. don't go during school holidays cause it is a favourite destination for locals too ;p

I've uploaded 62 photos for your viewing pleasure. You can access them at my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/mkhasha.n.travels/. Go to the photo albums.

Njoy!!

Japan: Spring - April 2008

 

We went to Japan for the sole purpose of getting up-close and personal with Japan's famous cherry blossoms. Fortunately we were not totally dissappointed. Ueno Park, the famous place in Tokyo to view thousands of cherry trees in blossom splendours, when we reached there.. almost all the trees except for a few have turned green! No flowers. Just leaves :(

 

Luckily at Hakone Peace Park they were still flowering. So we did manage to catch a few "Kodak Moments" :)

 

 

Since we went in spring, we didn't expect to see snow.. but we were pleasantly surprised that there were some leftovers at Mount Fuji lower station. We didn't get to go to the 5th Station cause the road was closed.

 

Frankly speaking, there was nothing particularly outstanding in this trip that I'm actually having a tough time recalling the details. Maybe two myths were busted during this trip:

 

Myth 1: All Japanese people are slim (except sumo wrestles of course!) cause they worked hard and eat fish. Well I found a few chubby people during this trip.. ;p

 

Myth 2: Everywhere in Japan are very very clean. Well.. our first hotel was not very clean. The room and the dining area can benefit from a thorough cleaning if you ask me..

 

This was a very short and basic tour by Reliance Travel. The tour run from 16-21 April 2008. 6 days 4 nights. Tour price was RM4.7k per person. Unfortunately, the hotels and meals provided were pretty mediocre. I suppose I was just unlucky. I'm sure other people experiences were much better. It's just that when I left the country, I simply don't have any lingering feeling of ever wanting to come back.

 

Hemm.. maybe Hokkaido can make me change my mind. I was told by many people that Hokkaido is like heaven on earth! We will see..

 

If you're interested, I've uploaded 228 photos of Japan. You can access them at my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/mkhasha.n.travels/. Go to the photo albums.

 

Njoy!!