Friday, August 17, 2007

Bon Vacance!!

yeap..today is my last day at work...for the next 2 weeks jer laaa...gotcha!!

Am sooooo looking forward to this 2 week break that I am sooooo entitled to!! but loads to do..starting with sending Wan home. Wan is leaving for good this Sunday. Believe it or not, I am actually quite worried...will she be okey? will she miss soraya too much? will she irritate everyone at home by talking about soraya allll the time? hmmm...insya ALLAH, everything must surely turn out alright..no?

Back to my holiday plans...lepas hantar Wan, we need to kemas rumah and then off we'll go!! Rencana nya nak ke The Hague/Amsterdam/Rotterdam/Brussels/Antwerp/Brugge/Luxemberg. Harap2 we can cover all these places...kalau tidak, bila lagi?
Selain to get out of Geneva, I hope the trip will help Soraya mend her surely-will-be broken heart after Wan leaves. I shudder to think what she will go through in the first few weeks. Will we be able to comfort her enough??

OK folks..this is getting a bit depressing when I meant to celebrate the beginning of my summer (fi-na-lly!!)....i'll sign off now and look forward to coming back with stories of our holiday...yay?? See you in 2 weeks...au revoir!

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Are we leaving..are we not?

Was asked to make a call this morning..to be told, yet again...abah's waiting may be over sooner rather than later...didn't want to tell him about it but me being me, I couldn't help it. He seemed cool enough..not all that upset with the still uncertain news...Me? Am quite excited at the prospect of going back to the place where I can afford pampering myself once again...with visits to hairdressers, tailors...and hopefully one or two spas that has mushroomed (betul ker use of this word here??) of late ... that is all i'm allowing myself to think of since the phone call this morning...i don't want to spoil things for Abah by thinking of other "consequences"...the isteri solehah that I am..ehem...
So folks (am probably still talking to myself since only Teeny and Arm knows about this blog and they haven't spent time on it..nak merajuk lah ni....), are we leaving Geneva..are we not?

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Final Destination - this time last year...

Our final destination in our adventure last summer was Vienna...although I must say that Vienna lost much of its charm looked through our tired eyes, aching body and bored children. A pity, really coz Vienna is potentially beautiful in its own arty-farty way...




As with previous destinations, arrival day was spent looking for the hostel we booked (really people, get a GPS!). Its late, we're tired and hungry. Then guess what! We were told the hostel has fire alarm in each room so, we cannot cook our own dinner! How laaa...well..when there's a will (or rather no will), there's a way, of course. Abah climbed the table and wrapped tissue papers around the alarm! I covered the rice cooker with blankets whilst it was cooking..and the best part, Teeny held blankets over my head and the portable cooker while I fry some eggs!!! Picture that, if you can! Kecoh but..the result was a prefectly yummy and peaceful dinner.

OK...will not recount every minute spent in Vienna. Highlight was the visit to the famous Schonbrunn Palace and its enormous park...let these few pictures try to tell the story...





Should have gone to some musical recitals..barulah complete agaknya the visit to Vienna...next time, maybe?


After a day in Vienna (half of which spent looking for decent place to have lunch and a souvenier shop! we seemed to have walked on the wrong side of the city) we left for home and arrived in Geneva at 3 am on 16 August 2006...begitulah kisah nyer...we vowed never to repeat such a feat again...we're too old and the girls are too young!

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Beautiful Prague - Part II of this time last year...

After Bratislava and Budapest, we went off to the Czech Republic and stayed in Prague for 2 nites. And I fell in love with Prague...dark, beautiful and romatic Prague...the "europe" that I have always imagined...

First, all the cities we visited had their own squares but in Prague it was different...you stand in the middle and you get different views any which way you turn..same with feelings..you'd feel different with each turn you make..hmmm..susah nak describe..i suppose its a you-have-to-be-there-to-know-what-I'm-talking-about kinda thing...here..let the pictures try to convey what I mean...








You see what I mean? You see? There's modern and gothic kinda views, kan? kan? All from the same square! Oohhh..I love Prague! itu baru the square!

Anyways, the day we spent in Prague, we hired a walking tourist guide called Edith. She tried to educate us on the histories as she walked us around but...we hardly paid attention, least of all the girls!! They were only interested in the ice creams (damn cheap - 50 sentims each!) and mummy only wanted to capture as much of prague as possible in her pathetic but very berjasa camera!! With the ice creams and a stopover for a little picnic with McFish burgers and fries, the girls were relatively happy. They kept reenacting scenes from Man Choy movies they've been watching with little (at that time when she was still little..) Soraya as the main character.


FYI, Man Choy is cerita hantu cina..you know, the kind that hopped around after you unless you paste some kind of paper on their forehead!! yeah..whatever!

Oh..don't get me started on the bohemian crystals and chandeliers! Mesmerising, is the word that comes to mind...cantik nyaaaaaa....speaking of which, I actually skipped a place. The day after we first arrived, we went to the famous Karlovy Vary. By famous, I mean all Malaysian women in this part of the world recommends a visit to this little town! Di sinilah you can find authentic and affordable Czech crystals and porcelains - dining wares, tea sets, chandeliers of all shapes and sizes! Needless to say, me went slightly crazy - slightly being an understatement, of course..hehe. Here's Abah outside one of the shops. It doesn't really reflect my excitement but this is the only pix I have. My bad!


Aahhh..I've never enjoyed window shopping as much as I did that day. Everything was beautiful...didn't buy much mainly coz cash was running low already by that time (tapi sempat jugaklah pinjam duit Teeny to buy my dinner set yang tak complete tu!) and also because cannot imagine how such beautiful things would fit in my house but I am secretly harbouring hope to go back and buy a couple of chandeliers...and a complete dinner set...sigggghhhhh....tak dapat villeroy and boch, dapat czech's porcelain pon jadiklaaaaa...here's us after incurring the damages! hehe...



OK...back to prague and i leave this posting with this image...




romantic, kan?

Mumsie's a clever woman!

As you can see...postings are now accompanied by CLEAR pictures and one is ever so proud of one-self...

Monday, August 13, 2007

how do we post pictures??

Its been days since my last posting...not because I malas already but simply because am still trying to figure out how to post CLEAR pictures to accompany my stories!! How arr??

I've tried and they all come out blur...frust betul! So, folks..(i know am talking to myself here coz nobody knows about this blog as yet!)...posting seterusnya would have to wait until i figure out how to paste photos! Will try photobuckets or image shacks....siggghhhhh...these modern technologies, i tell you aahhh...

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

This time last year...

Hah! Talk about excited! 2 postings sehari tuuu!! hehe..

Was thinking about this time last year..when Abah and I decided to take one seat out from the Chrysler..install tilam, portable DVD players and the girls together with their Kak Teeny (their cousin, not the maid, lest people would think that!) and went off on a trip of our lifetime....to 7 cities in 10 days!

Best giler and penat giler! some say we were crazy to do it. Maybe we were but we did it with no regrets! Tapi tak nak buat lagi la...like I said, penat woo!
OK...where did we go? We started with Venice..6 hours away from Geneva. we stayed at a camping site called Alba D'oro. OK ok jer although Teeny claimed tak leh tido coz some youths were having a party nearby. Camping site..what do you expect? We had 2 caravan-like accommodation with very small (emphasis on "small") shower/toilet. They had a swimming pool so the girls went crazy in there. Totally refused to go anywhere else. So, visit to the city had to wait.
Malam tu we tried but couldn't figure out how to get into the city. Rupa2 nya kena park kereta and naik their water taxis (vaporetto, they called it) into the city. So, pagi2 esoknya, we did just that and ended up kat Piazza San Marco...alaaaa..the site where they filmed The Italian Job...excited nyer!! hehe..

Do not want to bore readers (if any) by recounting every minute spent in Venice. Also, am not that rajin. Suffice to say..we spent the whole day in the city and did the touristy bits..took loads of photos and bought masks and murano glasses. I must add, Venice is as romantic and beautiful as people had described it! If only we could afford the gondola rides..siggghhhhh...

Then off we went to Ljubljana in Slovenia. Sampai dah malam and had to hire a cab to help us find the hostel we booked. Kesian kitorang ni travel without GPS...

Early2 esok paginya we went off to Zagreb, Croatia for the day. A 2-hour drive from Ljubljana. It rained in Zagreb and I remember it was not all that exciting...it was unlike Venice. Highlight of the trip was the jagung bakar by the roadside!

4th day was spent in Ljubljana, another forgettable city. Highlight was the juicy watermelon bought at their pasar tani and eaten by their famous dragon bridge. Am not quite sure the history of the bridge and anyone interested can always google about it! (ni dah malas laaa ni....).
We left Ljubljana later that day and set off to Bratislava in Slovakia. We arrived late that night and simply couldn't find the hotel! We knew we were close but we just didn't see it. Had to stop for directions a few times and still couldn't find it! To begin with, no one spoke English! So, directions were given in sign language. Including from this haprak of a Vietnamese who used my phone to call the hotel and then couldn't explain balik kat we all mana hotel tu! Bodo nyer!!!

In the end, we stopped by a police station! After more sign languages, the police actually escorted us to the hotel. Apparently we passed by it a million times already!!!!! tension..but we laugh about it now...hehe.. and nasib baik hotel tu OK..very comfortable although a bit shabby.

Anyways...the next day was spent in Bratislava...again, a forgettable city. Highlight was lunch at a fancy restaurant. Makan italian food..pasta and pizza. Murah!Food for 7 people at less than 40 euros!


7th day was spent in Budapest. I guess once you've seen a european city..you see them all! What caught our attention was the unclean state of the city. Must be one of the very few european city yang macam tu. Conteng2 on the walls..sampah on the streets...not very nice! Turns out Budapest is made of Buda and Pest. Err...found this bit of info on the net...potentially interesting enough to be shared..

"There is a great deal of uncertainty as to the meaning of the names of the twin cities, Buda and Pest, that existed on opposite banks of the Danube until their merger in 1873. Some historians believe that Buda may have been the name of Attila the Hun’s brother. This argument, however, is hotly debated and many scholars believe that it is probably just a legend. Buda was, however, a name quite prominently used among the Huns and the Magyars more than 1,100 years ago.
It is also possible that the western bank of the Danube was simply named after the Slavic word “voda,” which translates to “water.”
The name “Pest,” the eastern bank of the Danube, probably originates from the Slavic word for “cave,” even though there are no caves on the Pest side of the river. "




OK..this is part 1 lah kiranya..nanti sambung...


p.s. I've removed most of the pictures from this posting, hopefully temporarily, as they still can't be viewed..so no point, kan. I need to figure this out...didn't realize maintaining a blog could be such hard work!!

My Own Blog!

Finally...had the courage and rajin-ness to start my own blog..am actually quite excited!! Been wanting to do this for a very long time.

So, hopefully this rajin-ness will remain..tak der lah hangat2 taik ayam, like so many of my life projects before...

Been reading some advise on how to start a blog...most say we must have a theme and stick by it. Am actually not sure of what my theme is..most probably it'll be about the girls..its always about the girls, no matter what, anyway! Especially since we started travelling together as a family. Been wanting to keep record of places we went to..things we did..food we ate...hence MUMSIE's TRAVELS!! hehehe...ok folks! wish me luck!!



* ehhh..ada orang nak baca ker blog aku nih???