I started my one-year career break (2007/2008) with a short "santai" holiday in Port Dickson. A town of one hour drive from Kuala Lumpur. For those who are not familiar with the Malay language, "santai" means relaxing.
Nothing exciting happened though. Even the sea looked a bit sombre in late October. The raining season had just started..
Next I went to Bandung,
Indonesia with
my mom for a shopping excursion in November. We managed to grab Air Asia
"free" tickets. It actually cost us RM350 and we need to book 7
months in advance!
Bandung is well known for their factory
outlets, fake branded handbags and Muslimah fashion apparel. We didn't buy any
fake stuff. No point toting "branded" fakes.. I would rather buy
cheap originals anytime :)
We bought a lot of spicy snacks.
It was really cheap compared to Malaysia.
The only complain was.. we should have bought more ;p I bought a lot of tops
too from their factory outlets and my mom bought a lot of fancy head scarfs and
"jubah" at their market.
All in all it was an enjoyable
mother-daughter shopping trip. The weather was also quite pleasant. The hotel
we stayed was pretty good too. Within walking distance to the market. Very
convenient cause we can then unload all the stuff that we bought at the hotel
before we continue our shopping. What is with women and their shopping huh?
Year 2007 was wrapped up with a
spiritual journey to Mecca and Medina, Saudi Arabia
in December. I just realised something.. I did my own version of "Eat,
Pray, Love" in 2007 prior to the debut of the film in 2010 ;p
This was actually my second time
to these Muslim holy cities. The first was back in year 2002. We went for a
small pilgrimage then called "umrah". The visit was coupled with a
visit to Iran.
In Iran we explored Tehran, Mashhad and Qom.
We visted Iman Reza's, one of 12 imams of Shia, shrine at Marshhad and his
sister's shrine Fatimah at Qom.
What I remembered most about Iran was
apricots and cherries. They were in abundance and really cheap! I taught the
apricots were small peaches back then! They were really sweet. The cherries
were superb too. Iranians love to eat fresh salads. The meals served during the
tour were normally consist of rice, grilled chicken/mutton/beef and salads. No
special gravy.. just olive oil and mint.
Their heritage buildings and
shrines were covered by small mirrors. Very beautiful engineering. Their women
at small town were required to cover themselves with a piece of big cloth
called "chador". It doesn't have to be black though, it can have
prints and be colourful ;p Women at big cities like Tehran were more modernly attired. The cars
were mostly old Datsuns. Consumer goods choices were quite limited but those
available were pretty cheap. People there who can speak English can speak very
well. Enough of Iran.
I have more to tell but I digress ;)
Back to my spiritual journey.. I
spent a total 44 days. 34 in Mecca and 10 in Medina. This pilgrimage cost around RM10k per person. The weather was
pleasant and I can sum up my experience with one word: INSPIRING. It inspires
me to think about my beliefs. I'm still thinking and reassessing them as we
speak :)
Point to note: All the pictures
were taken before the facebook and smart phone era where every single thing
must be picture-recorded for posterity ;p So please forgive the small number of
photos. Most especially in Saudi
Arabia. I don't bring camera to business
trips. More so during my journey to find solace. So all the pictures were taken
using my pathetic camera phone.
Back then in 2007 we were not
allowed to take pictures in the holy mosques so no cameras were allowed. If you
bring any, it will be confiscated. It is much different now with the advent of
smart phones with excellent camera. They finally realised that it is futile to
prevent people from taking pictures in the mosques ;p
Njoy!
