I recently had a chance to visit South Africa with DH.

The travel itinerary was something like this:

Saturday 11 May 2013:

Departed LCCT for Singapore Changi Airport early in the morning, to catch a Saudi Airlines flight to Johannesburg, stopping at Riyadh and transiting at Jeddah. By the time we arrived in Johannesburg/Joburg it was Sunday afternoon local time, 30 hours after we left home!

 

Sunday 12 May 2013

Apartheid Museum

 

Monday 13 May 2013

Joburg to Kruger National Park 

Our Safari Lodge – Africa On Foot 

Our first game – we spotted the lions and elephants 

 

 

Tuesday 14 May 2013

Afternoon Game Outing – we spotted some leopards!

Wednesday 15 May 2013

 

Thursday 16 May 2013

 

Friday 17 May 2013

 

Saturday 18 May 2013

 

Sunday 19 May 2013

Left Cape Town early in the morning to catch afternoon flight to Singapore, transiting at Jeddah. Arrived in Singapore late Monday afternoon, and took a Firefly flight back to Subang (Kuala Lumpur).

 

 

 

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I have been slow in my blogging lately. The strange thing is that, I am no longer working anywhere!!!

 

Let’s have some recap of the most important events that I didn’t get to blog about:

Nafis’s departure to Philadelphia

Nafis left in the first week of January 2013. This is a picture of the family dinner just before that:

 

Nuni’s Nikah and Reception

We had the nikah on 16th March 2013 (a small do). Even though we wanted 13/3/13, the imam was not available for that date

 

The reception was done at Muzium Negeri on 13/4/13.

 

 

My Allah bless this wedding…

 

Nukman’s “Pre-France” Graduation, and departure to Nice, France

It was 22 April 2013. Here’s a photo of me with him wearing the gown:

 

and here’s a photo with the Dean of MFI, UniKL, who happens to be a long time friend

 

That night (yes, on the same day! Rational: Easy for families from outside Klang Valley, they only come once for the graduation and departure ), we sent Nukman off.

 

Here’s a pic of my children, minus Nafis (who’s in Philly):

The order is from righh to left, with the vacant space reserved for Nafis (no.4), represented by the green bag

 

 

 

 

 

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Previous post: Kyoto Imperial Palace

Date: 21 December 2012

 

After visiting the palace, we took the underground train to Gion, the Geisha area. We had a nice walk around the neighbourhood, though I don’t have any picture to show

 

We then went back to Kyoto Station to have lunch, after which we took a train to this place:

 

 

There’s a famous shrine here, where you can see so many Tori gates!

The suburb is so peaceful;

 

Even the walk was very enjoyable:

 

As we entered the Fushimi Inari Shrine complex:

 

Ablution corner:

 

Very orange, indeed!

 

As we climbed the steps up the hill:

 

 

While DH captured this image down at the temple:

 

We were up the stairs, but still needed to climb further:

 

At the higher part of the hill we were greeted but tori gates arranged in a row:

 

So many of them:

 

The walk up was a long one:

 

These are gates donated by worshippers:

 

At certain points, the gates branch out!

 

Tired from previous walk, I decided to walk back:

 

and came across the prayer papers tied to the fence:

 

A counter selling prayer items and souvenirs:

 

 

Little torii gates for sale:

 

Aina found a friendly cat:

 

I have never seen so many torii gates in my life, huge ones at the entrance/exit:

 

Waiting for our train back to Kyoto:

 

I think we just managed to beat the peak time

 

Happy to be able to rest our tired feet:

 

We got back to our hotel rooms, and I continued to watch the bullet trains from my hotel window

 

The following morning we took the train to Osaka Airport to catch our flight home.

 

 

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Previous entry: Kyoto: A Night Out 

Date: 21 December 2012 

I first visited Kyoto in the middle of summer in 2004. Now I return to this place in winter!

The first destination for the day was The Kyoto Imperial Palace.

 

Just outside the palace;

 

Entering the main palace block:

 

 

Shoes off, please;

The floors of the palace were purposely built to produce “nightingale”  squeaking sound as you step, to warn of any intruder!

 

The white walls were later put up to protect the interior:

 

A serene (Japanese!) garden nearby:

 

The palace has 2 layers of moats, with inner walls as well as outer walls. Here’s the inner wall:

 

The “inner” moat:

 

Another palace block inside the complex:

 

We climbed up to one of the guarding towers, and had a nice view of part of the palace complex:

 

Tired of walking, we were greeted (in the quietness of the park at the edge of the palace ground!) by the friendly vending machines:

 

Who needs a cafe here, when the machine can provide both hot and cold drinks? The red labels mark the the hot drinks!

 

As we walked back, we found the signage towards the real “man-managed” cafe (lounge) and souvenir shop, near the entrance/exit.

 

My son, Nafis and I decided to jump together :

 

and acknowledged that this palace is a World Heritage Site

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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(I plan to update this entry from time to time)

Last month, DH and I had the opportunity to spend 9 days in Turkiye.

Looking at things that I have to do now, I don’t think I will ever get to blog properly about the trip. Further more I atill have a few more entries for the Japan trip that we made in Dec 2012.

 

However, before I start to forget, I might as well put on record of the days spent there (in Turkiye):

 

7th February :

Took the flight to Istanbul via Doha (Qatar Airways), then took a domestic flight to Izmir, arrving late that night. DH blog on “Arriving At Izmir”

 

8th February:

We took a day tour to Pamukkale where the roman ruins Hieropolis is.

DH’s blog entries: Hieropolis of Phrygia Part I ; Hieropolis of Phrygia Part II ; Hieropolis of Phrygia Part III ;  Pamukkale (The Cotton Castle) Part I ; Pamukkale (The Cotton Castle) Part II ;

Me jumping at the Roman Ampitheatre of Hieropolis:

9th February: Day tour to Epheseus, Selcuk.

Here’s me jumping at Epheseus;

 

DH’s blog entries – Ephesus I , Epheseus II , Virgin Mary & St John

10th February: Early morning flight to Kaiseri. We were picked up and sent to the hotel. In the afternoon we joined a group of tourist for lunch, then a trip to the Undercity and ended the day with a breath-taking view of The Valley of The Pigeons.

 

11th February: We took another tour that first took us to the Valley of the Pigeon (yeah… again ), then to a carpet cooperative (went to one when we were in Selcuk), had lunch, and then to the Open Museum of Gerome. When we finished the tour, DH and I took a coach to Ankara, arriving late that night.

 

12th February:Ankara – We went to visit the Museum , and the square near our hotel, before we went to the airport to catch the flight to Urfa.

 

13th February: We went to visit a few attractions near our hotel: Prophet Abraham’s birth-place, the nearby mosque, Balikli Gol, AinZuleikha and part of the bazaars.

 

14th February: We went to a few more attractions: Prophet’s Ayub’s Cave, some old mosques, beehive-shape mud houses and some ruins in Harran  and then we went to see the ruins of Gobekli Tepe. Late that evening we took a  flight to Istanbul.

 

15th February: DH went for Friday prayers at the Sultan Ahmet Mosque aka The Blue Mosque. We then went Grand Bazaar and Kurkcu Han (where I found the cotton and woolen yarns).

 

16th February: We visited Haja Sophia, Topkapi Palace and Sulaymeniye Mosque.

 

17th February: Took the morning flight back to Kuala Lumpur (via Doha, of course), arriving the following morning.

 

 

 

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Previous post: Off To Kyoto

Date: 20 December 2012

 

Since we started the day rather earlier, after checking into the hotel, we had a long rest before we decided to go out and look for dinner:

 

We passed by well decorated/illuminated street:

 

We came across a shopping mall that somehow looked interesting:

 

and went in:

 

On the top floor there were a few restaurants. We decided on this one because we were attracted to the fish dishes on display. Waiting for the food:

 

Bonding?

 

Here came the dinner of grilled fish and squids:

 

With rice, and the usual accompaniments (miso soup, dessert):

 

And the bill:

 

Tummies full, we wondered around:

 

Kyoto Tower at night:

 

Gigantic christmas tree inside the Kyoto Station complex:

 

Some light and sound display on the huge staircase. On the far right (hardly in the picture) is the open escalator which is just as high as the staircase!

 

Some of us sat on the staircase, and became part of the display, hahaha!!!

 

While some tried to capture the dispaly from down below, near the X-mas tree:

 

We could even see part of the Kyoto Tower from where we sat (inside the station complex):

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Previous post: Back To Tokyo

Date: 20 December 2012

 

We left our little Tokyo hotel, and found ourselves back in Ueno Station, looking for our bullet train platform:

 

Waiting at the platform:

 

Here came ours:

It’s always a good idea to check the necessities, printed on the foldable table:

 

Some country view:

 

As usual, DH was engrossed in recording the speed of the train:

 

While the kids recharged their energy (I bet they stayed up late the night before):

 

 

DH’s bento lunch:

 

We got a glimse of Fuji-san too :

 

My humble “lunch” (because I dislike Japanese food) . Actually I had some cookies and kit-kat too (I know, they surely blew my calori intake!)

 

Aina, enjoying hers:

 

I tell you, bullet train rides are much more comfy than flying!

 

 

We finally arrived at our destination (slightly less than 3 hours later):

 

 

 

I was once here in the scorching summer of 2004. This time it’s freezing, but that didn’t stop me from posing:

 

 

 

 

The grand Kyoto Station:

 

 

 

And Mae had a pose with the Kyoto Tower in the background (quite difficult to get the whole tower in it):

 

 

 

Our hotel was nearby. We checked in, and checked the view of from our hotel. Oh, it’s the Kyoto station (on the left)!

 

 

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Previous post: Kawaguchiko & Fuji-san

Date: 19 December 2012

After a brief walkabout in Kawaguchiko, we started our journey back to Tokyo. It was quite exhaustive:

 

We managed to beat the rush hour:

 

Aina wanted to visit the “Korea Town”, so here we are:

 

First, we came across a Halal outlet!!

 

There were actually a few other halal outlets on the same street!!

 

We walked on…

 

 

And finally found one of the shops that we wanted:

 

We went into a few other similar shops, and later went back to out hotel with a very much happier Aina

 

 

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Previous post: Way To Mount Fuji

 

Date: 19th December 2012

Sunny, but cold day, with only 5.7C at 12.59pm! (refer to pic below)

 

After walking towads the lake, We decided to have lunch first at a nearby (with a view of part of the Kawaguchi Lake)

 

with tummy well-tucked, we took the nearby cable car.

 

The view of the lake as we went up:

 

The all-purpose kiosk up the hill:

 

With the Fuji-san partially hidden:

 

Whiling our time away (waiting for Fuji-san to show its complete self) we saw a shrine:

 

and wishes nearby:

 

Oh, Mr Fuji, when are you coming out?

 

Ah, well…. Let’s enjoy the view of the lake again:

 

Quite sunny, and yet could not see the tip of Mr Fuji:

 

Took a seat, with Fuji Chan (turquoise blue with white topping) looked at us:

 

I leapt with joy when Fuji-san finally showed its tip:

 

A rare family photo, taken by an Indonesian lass we met there:

 

Fuji-san surely looked so majestic:

 

another angle:

 

Yeah, I too love Mount Fuji

 

But we had to go, so a final look at it (it took us the whole day to get here, and back to our hotel!)

 

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 Previous post: Tokyo Station, Pokemon Centre & Haneda Airport

Date: 19 December 2012

 

Early in the morning, we were back at Ueno Station,  to catch a train to Shinjuku. At Shinjuku station we took a limited express (very few stops) JR train to Otsuki:

 

The interior of that train:

 

A busy train station:

 

We then took the Fujikyuko Line (not JR)

 

This lady (with her back facing us) first came to check our tickets, then came back with the trolley of food and drinks for sale! Multi-tasking indeed

 

Very cosy inside the train:

 

After about 30 minutes into the journey, we got to see the majestic Fuji-san:

 

DH went to the front and had a peep into the driver’s compartment:

 

Mount Fuji again!

 

I think this pic was taken when the train stopped at the ‘Mount Fuji” station:

 

We soon arrived at the Kawaguchiko terminal:

 

The train was very cute, with the character “Fuji Chan” all over it,  that DH decided to snap a few pix of it:

 

The other train (the one on the left in the following pic) was equally cute:

 

A brief restroom stop at the station before we started our walk:

To be continued…

 

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