Thursday, April 25, 2013

Spring Holiday: Lugrin - Montreux - Fribourg

Assalamualaikum

We finally left the Park and Suites Village at 10.30am. The kids dozed off as soon as they got into the car. Penat posing kot! :P So Babah and Ummi managed to spent some 'us' time quietly. Planning and dreaming this and that. :P

So from Lugrin to Interlaken, we drove along the Lake Geneva. The lake was so big like sea..macam tak percaya ok lake can be that big. hehe. Too bad it was foggy, hence we can't see much of the lake..huhu.

Anyway, the view of Alps along the journey was amazing. It made us cringed and felt so small..Subhanallah. Also, we made a pit-stop somewhere (Dunno where :P) when we saw the river below...

The nicely built bridge over the green glacier river. Can't you believe it was me alone who went down here and took the pic? hehe ;)

The view of the flowing river and the snow-capped mountain. So peaceful and tranquil!

Hehe Babah jadi model ummi since model2 cilik ketiduran lagi..;D

and me, terpaksa gilir2 jadi model sekejap masa ni..heheh
After the brief pit-stop, we continued back with the journey. Then the kids also started woke up one by one..they told they were hungry so, it's snack time! We had sardin sandwiches, biscuits, chocolates and orange caprisun and plain water..Cukup untuk alas perut before we made another pit-stop at Montreux for lunch.

Wee..the kids all went excited when Babah pulled over near the park. Besar park tu siap ada big playground, so bertempiaran masing-masing tak sabar nak main, sampai tak ingat nak makan ok. hehe..

Zahin la paling excited hehe

Ummi plak monitor adik Zafri..

enjoyed the swings most! 

and slides too, their favourites :)

the pic of the canal was taken masa Babah nak pergi kedai beli air mineral..dalam area park tu jugak..

and we had nasi putih, ayam goreng dan sambal for lunch...;)
AND the park was just at the edge of the Lake Geneva. Tapi dah dalam Montreux. Bandar Montreux ni terkenal dengan Jazz festival which usually held in July. Time Summer. Tak ada dalam itenarary pon nak pergi Montreux tapi sebab dah lalu kan so singgah je la.

One of the famous attraction at Montreux was Chateau de Chillon, iaitu sebuah istana tepi tasik Geneva. Rasanya kalau tak silap Lisa Surihani dan Yusry Kru pernah pergi situ masa diorang honeymoon. hehe but we didn't go, just passed it. :)

The Geneva lake. Nampak tak sikit2 ada macam jambatan/fly-over nun jauh di sana? Kitorang lalu atas jambatan tu, so tinggi ok!! huhu...tapi pemandangan dari atas bestlah..;)


Zahin tak sah kalau tak posing pelik2 bin ajaib..geram tau! eei..Zafri pon mcm nak mengikut...isk..isk..isk...Iris pon klu along dia suro posing gedix, dia buat jgk tau..huhu

Afterwards, we had hard time to ask them to get in the car. Hoho. But after few times giving extras time, they finally gave in and we continued back with the journey. The journey was not as smooth as before as Iris started  not feeling well and had throw-ups many times in the car. 5x kot berhenti tepi jalan nak salin baju..huhu kesian sgt tengok dia..sebelum tu kt park ok je.. :(

So again, we had to make another pit-stop at Fribourg, the nearest town so that Iris can have some rest. It was ad-hock and we didn't know where to go. We just follow the signboard to the town center. And finally,  we went to park at Perolles Centre. Kecik je shopping mall tu, tak menarik langsung. Tapi sempatlah kami beli some groceries kt Denner and Migros (ala-ala Wilkinson kt UK ni) sebagai extra bekalan di Interlaken

some of the buildings on the way to Fribourg, tingkap yg colourful n old school habis tapi tetap unik..


macam2 kaler ada...so colourful! :)

ni la dia Perolles Centre...kecik je...
Fribourg town center..tak banyak pic, sbb nak cepat..Iris pon dah tak larat sgt ..
After done with groceries shopping, we continued back our journey and only arrived at Manor Farm, Caravan Park, Interlaken at 5.30pm. Huhu what a long day! We just lepak je dalam caravan while treating and monitoring Iris. Unfortunately, she was sick through the night until the next day. In shaa Allah i will share what was the cause in the next post..

Till then, wassalam.


Wednesday, April 24, 2013

WW: My Home-made Sate Ayam










Alhamdulillah I made it last week. Finally!

Resepi? i belasah je..hehe..

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Spring Holiday: London - Geneva - Lugrin (Part 2)

Assalamualaikum

After the unfortunate event at Geneva, we decided to go straight to our rented apartment at Lugrin. Ummi had no mood anymore to go sightseeing that day. So, good bye Geneva city and even Annecy. :P. Well, Lugrin is actually in France, but near to Swiss border. Reason being we chose this apartment was because it's simply cheap. Only GBP53 per night. Whereas in Geneva, we couldn't get even a family room with the price. Europe kan strict, kalau anak lebih 2 orang tak boleh amik double room..sgt kekwat :P

So trom Geneva to Lugrin, actually it took only 1 hour if we used the motorway. But since we took the scenic route, it became 1 hour and half. Actually, it took us two hours because we had stopped for lunch and also at Carrefour to buy some groceries such as cooking oil, fresh milk and detergent. Those heavy stuffs that we did not bring from home..;)


Anyway, this time hubby brought his new sat nav. After saving our apartment's address, it gave us few routes to arrive at our destination. And we arrived just on time because the check in time was at 5pm. The latest check in time that i've had encountered so far! :D

lunch makan nasi goreng simple ummi..dah sejuk pon layanzzz...habis satu bekas tu makan berlima...:D

Zahin with her snow leopard 

hee garangnya muka adik Zafri..

Iris tengah mengunyah...hihi

Alhamdulillah, the weather was nice and bright. Though the temperature was still below 10 degrees Celcius but it was bearable compare than in the UK. We noticed that the wind was not as strong as in the UK. May be because they are surrounded by Alps that protect their area from being too windy..i think. :D

Along the way, the view of Alps and clear glacier green river were always welcoming. Sejuk mata dan hati. :) 

The apartment of Park & Suites Village was situated up on the hill.  It was pretty challenging driving up the mountainous roads, since the driveway was quite steep and narrow. Lebih-lebih lagi guna kereta manual la plak kan. Kecut perut mak okehh, nak tengok kat tingkap pon gayat! huhu...

Also the chain tyre sign was everywhere. Meaning, if the road was covered with snow, the car's tyres need to be changed from common tyres to special tyres. After quite some time, we finally and safely arrived at the village. 

3 Beds Apartment at Park & Suites Village 

living room yg lengkap dengan sofa-bed, tv dan meja makan..tu tangga naik ke attic

ni master bedroom..

dapur dekat living room area jgk..belakangnya toilet, bathroom separated with toilet..sebelah tu hallway dpd pintu masuk..kt pintu yg masuk cahaya tu la master bedroom..

Zahin awal2 lagi dah naik atas attic..nampak tak katil..? actually ada 2 single beds..very nice and spacious..

masing2 dah cop katil...bilik depa la tu kiranya..:D
As soon as we had check in, we loved it at the first sight. So clean and cosy!! So convenient with the kitchen and the cookware too..couldn't ask for more..klu kt Geneva tak dapat kot duduk apartment with the price..;)

Then we took rest first. Only affter taking bath, the kids still playing around the apartment, hubby watched tv though couldn't understand since it's in French! :P while i started to cook.. plain rice..goreng ayam. lauk asam pedas, sayur lemak for kids dah siap2 masak dan freeze kan dpd rumah. While stok ayam plak bawak 2 ekor..siap2 frozenkan..sambal frozen pon bawak utk buat tumis atau buat lauk..;) daging bawak 1 kg, frozen too..beras bawa dlm 6cawan, bawang2, sayur bawak cauliflower, brocoli je..

kunyit, garam, honey beli kat Carrefour je. Mujur la hubby kenal walaupon labelling all in French..hehe...cuma susu je tersilap beli..bukan whole milk..tp skimmed milk..dah terbeli so minum je la..hmm nasi impit, maggi, tuna, sardin, baked bean pon bawak juga..rice cooker lagi bawak mana tak berat luggage kan..hoho..

After dinner, we went straight to bed. Too exhausted already to do anything else. 

alas perut dengan roti sapu Nutella/butter n serunding

periuk, senduk sume disediakan..just cuci dgn sabun Thahirah dulu then tawakkal je la guna..

The next day, after subuh I started prepared for our breakfast. The kids as usual had cereal and milk while us had nasi goreng. Yesza, nasi goreng je la lagi kan..niat sblom pergi bcuti ada plan nk buat nasi lemak tapi mana nak larat la plak nak bawak santan chaokoh dlm tin tu ha..in my dream, so leave it..:D

Lepas makan, macam lipas-kudung mak kemas dan bersihkan dapur and then packing all into luggages again. The kids seronok main jerit2 kt balcony...ya Allah jakun betul, malu mak nakk..omputih aka jiran2 dah la tak bangun lagi..huhu

Dah ready baru mandi dan get the kids dressed, Last sekali yg siap of course la ummi. Babah dah siap2 hantar barang dlm kereta..kita posing2 lagi kt dalam..hehe..patu update kt instagram n fb sementara wifi free..hehe padahal ummi dah buat roaming. :P Lepas check-out and pulang kunci, kitorang posing2 lagi kt depan apartment sebelom bertolak ke Interlaken, Swiss. :)

ni model ummi dan babah paling sporting ;)

ramai kt fb yg minat dressing Eins..hehe tq tp biasa je kot. And it's from Next. i love Next  sbb material very high quality..tp a bit pricey..beli time sales je la esp clearance sales  ;)


model cilik ni pon mmg naturally pandai posing klu good mood..selalunya susah nk tgkp gmbr dia..sbb tak reti duduk diam hence the pic always blur.

foggy  and early in the morning..sunyi lagi. ktrg je yg dah bising2 nak check out. rasa rugi je sewa kt siini satu mlm je..huhu...mmg best kt sini. highly recommended! court tennis pon ada..facility lain tak sure sbb tak smpt nk explore..

lastly, CHEESEEEEEE..fr IshamIzu & Co. berlatarbelakangkan the apartments...:)
 To be continued...:D

Monday, April 15, 2013

Spring Holiday: London - Geneva - Lugrin (Part 1)

Assalamualaikum.

Honestly, i don't know how to start. I seemed loosing words day to day..huhu.

Anyway, we had came back from our long vacation on last friday. It has been three days until i can sit in front of my laptop to update this. Phew, it's not easy though, it took time for me to start..But i will try my best to share as detail as i can. So...it must be darn long stories to finish it...huhu unless the big M suddenly comes..

(take a deep breath)

On 3rd of April, hubby woke me up at 2am to finish packing our things (too many things to bring). We had to go to bed earlier before because the kids will not go to sleep if we didn't. Luckily, they were deep in slumber when we woke at 2am so i managed to cook our packed meals which was Nasi Goreng and Telur mata for breakfast and lunch. Yup, i had cooked a large portion of it. Simple and avoided liquidized meals so that i could take it into aircraft with me. ;)

By 5am, we were done with packing. Only after the Solat Hajat and Subuh prayer, we woke the kids up and brushed their teethes, they were very cooperative as they were excited to start the journey especially the Eins. :) 

Then when everyone's ready, we finally departed from our house with doa and Ayatul Kursi. Also kept praying that the house will not be broken into by anyone while we were away. We also let one light in the house on..just in case.

From our house, hubby sent us and all the luggage first to Seven Kings Station by our car. Then hubby returned home to park our car, and he walked back to the station alone. Alhamdulillah, he had arrived safely. just couldn't imagine if we had to walk kids with all the luggage at 5.45am..

After topping up our Oyster Card, we were ready to catch the first train. Honestly, it was hard to drag along one, stroller with Zafri on it, two luggages, two kids with our 4 backpacks and one hand-luggage..huh, really tough..though i have tried to pack our things in a genius way but i'm still sucks at it! there were too many important things to bring like food, medicines and clothes for ten days! Hah even for three days pon dah banyakkan..inikan pula ten days! Huh tobat mak nak travel lama2 lagi nak. huhu

my kids and me inside the Easy Jet ..

From Seven Kings Station, we boarded on train heading to Startford International station. It took only 10 minutes to arrive as the train didn't stop at other stations like Ilford, Forest Gate and Maryland.. i think may be it's still early in the morning and not so many people yet..

When we arrived at Stratford station, we had to wait for an airport coach bus to take us to London Stansted airport at 6.20am. We had arrived about 20 minutes early, it was freezing cold waiting at the open-aired bus stop..pity my kids had to bear with the coldness.. Alhamdulillah, they were fine as soon as we got into the coach bus. All of them went back to the Lalaland for about 1 hour and 15 minutes before arriving at airport.

The check-in process went smoothly. The luggages were on the weight limit. Pheww..if not i don't know what should i take-out and how to re-pack in last minute..

And lastly at 8.30am sharp, we had took off with Easy Jet low-fare airlines to Geneva, Switzerland. The Eins were all up and excited to be in the aeroplane again. Hehe the last time we were on the aeroplane was when we flew to the UK from Malaysia back in 2010. :) So it's was the first time experience for our lil Zafri and also this holiday was considered to be as his 2nd birthday treat too..senang dah tak payah nak cari hadiah lain lg..:P

Since it was the first time and Zafri was still infant so he hadn't got his own seat. He sat with me of course..at first he's fine as he's still sleepy..but once he's started engine, hoho he didn't want to sit still. So sometime he wanted to sit with hubby and sometime with me..but the game in iphone did kept him quiet..;) in that 1 hour and 30 minutes flight, we managed to eat Nasi Goreng Telur Mata and other snacks like biscuits..minah saleh kt seat belakang hubby dok jeling-jeling kat kitorang..skodeng kot nak tengok kitorangg makan apalaaa yg bau sedap (read:kuat) sgt...haha Nasiblah  kan..mana ada Halal food yang dijual dalam tu..Easy Jet kot not Emirates...:P

5-seated Vauxhall Corsa ..that we had rented at Geneva for a week..actually, not this colour, ours was the black one next to it..




Geneva city and the left-sided drive car..


Jet d'eau, the largest and the highest water fountain. The landmark of Geneva city.
Alhamdulillah we had safely landed at Geneva airport at 11.30 am local time..FYI, Swiss time was 1 hour ahead than UK time..our iphones' time were automatically changed but not our watches..hehe had to change manually. Hubby did mine for me as he noticed that i didn't change mine straight away...:P 

Hubby had to buy something in order to get a swiss franc coin. The chf1 was needed to take a trolley and the trolley was highly needed as it will make our life easier...hehe. So hubby pushed the trolley with our  luggages and the Eins on it while i pushed Zafri on his Quinny Zapp stroller..

Then the next thing we went to find was Avis counter, Avis was the company that we had rented a car with. Luckily, it was easy to find, credit to the signboard at Geneva airport. I say it was very systematic airport as our stroller and carseat (we brought from London? yes! to cut cost :D) was taken at special baggage claim area. 

Mind you, peralatan ski pon ada their own special baggage claim area..ok. Mula-mula kitorang terpergi kat area tu, haha lagak macam nak amik peralatan ski jugak sekali ada mamat tu bagitau kitorang kat mana nak claim stroller and carseat..may be dia terdengar kot kitorang sebut-sebut carseat and stroller..:P Aihh tak nampak signboard dia..mana nak tau kan..sebelom2 ni claim stroller and carseat kat area claim baggage jugak..haha..

Anyway, it was an easy process, no documents and credit cards being asked at Avis. The car rental for a week had costed us GBP479. Hubby just booked and paid through online. Then we waited for their bus to take us to where our rented car situated at. All the documents were already given to us at the counter earlier, we just need to show it at the Avis staff whom waiting at the car park area. At first, the staff gave hubby the wrong key, the key was for Vauxhall Corsa in silver colour but actually ours was in the black one, next to the silver one. 

Honestly, the car was small for our family and our stuffs. hehe It took time for us to stuff all of them in its bonnet. We had to put some staffs at our feet too. :P Well, it's just for a while...so we just bear with it. ;)

Since the car was manual and left-side drive, it was kinda hard to adapt at first. That was not the first time for hubby to drive a manual car and at the left-side but it was different this time. May be because it was at Geneva or may be because it's not our car. I was also stressed sitting as a co-pilot as i found the road at Geneva was complicated though it mostly wide. Bersimpang-siur, busy with so many vehicles. Yer la Geneva khennn..what did i expect? 

Talking about expectation, i had some expectation about Geneva..Through my reading and research about the city, i found out that pick-pocketing was one of the top crimes in the city. I was worried and i reminded hubby about it. But no matter how hard we tried to be cautious, we just can't deny the fate. The unfortunate event just happened to us again in Geneva..sobs.

After taking our car, we planned to go sight-seeing first around the city since our rented apartment was out of Geneva city. Family rooms in Geneva was too expensive for our small budget so we had rented at Lugrin somewhere in Swiss-France border which i will share later. 

We hadn't got much time so we just chose a few city attractions like Jet d'éau, The Giant chair and Geneva Hard Rock cafe. So we decided to go to Jet déau first. It was hard to find the way there as we were lost few times due to take wrong turns. huhu wasting time there..The kids were tired and all were sleeping at the back seats. 

Once we arrived at the destination and found a strategic carpark, hubby went to the ticket machine to pay. Unfortunately,the language was all in French so he took times to do it. Then, my bad i was also got outta car with Iris to help him..(kononnya) and we tagged him along leaving Zahin and Iris were in the car. Seriously the distance between the car and the machine was just a throw of stone and hubby also already locked the car.

Never we know that Zahin also got out of the car afterwards..even she closed the door but the door didn't lock right. But hubby and me were too engross in thinking how to pay the tickets were simply forgotten about that. One minute afterward, when i turned my head to look at our car, just what i found was the door at my side was left-opened! I was surprised and blurted it out..

at first i thought it was Zahin who didn't close it properly but then i was sure that i saw it was closed after her..so i thought maybe it was the wind that made the door opened. So not thinking anything..after hubby had successfully paid the ticket, we went back to our car to close back the door and locked it. Zafri was still asleep, and Zahin and Iris wanted to stay in the car since they were too sleepy. So only hubby and me were across the road to take a closer picture of jet d'eau. Just few shots because we didn't want to let the kids wait for too long in the car...worried of their safety as well. 

The moment i stepped in to the car, i realized my bag pack was missing! I was panicked and asking hubby whether he saw it. We started looking for it at the back seat then in the bonnet but to no avail! i almost had histeria at that time but not after i remember to istighfar...Astaghfirullahaladzim..! It's just only day 1 ok but this such thing had already happened to us..

I was so sad..i lost many things including my purse, my IC, hubby's supplementary bank card which he gave it to me to use..Poof, all had gone together with my mood on that day..i was mad to myself for being careless..though i've been never being careless before. or Whether, the bagpack was already being covered with my jackets  and put at my feet or though the distance between the car and the ticket machine was near, i should not take for granted and  forget to take it with me at the first time and place..hmm..

But you know what, surprisingly i healed quite fast. I dont care about the bag anymore as long as my kids were allright. Rasanya lepas Zahin keluar tu, ada orang lalu-lalang happened to be the bad guy yang berani and very skillful yang bukak pintu kereta kitorang dan sempat curi my bag pack yg i letak kat area kaki..may be, maybe la just my assumption masa Zahin keluar ikut pintu belah i tu jacket teralih ke so the bad guy terus nampak my bag and grab dan terus cabut without tutup pintu. Pandai kan..kalau dia tutup sah-sah kitorang yg just sekangkang kera je sure dengar dan nampak dia kan..cuma masa saya perasan tiba2 pintu terbukak tu tak terfikir pon bag dah kene curi..huhu..

aih nasib baiklah dia tak buat pape kt Zafri yg tgh tidur dlm carseat kt seat belakang tau ..syukur sangat. syukur juga ;ah bagpack  hubby yg ada laptop dan documents hotel and tickets sume selamat tau..sbb backpack hubby kt bawah kaki Zahin kt seat belakang..luckily, i didn't keep my passport and money with me..ada tdetik juga nak ambil duit separuh kt hubby macam ktrg selalu buat but didn't do it..syukur la ketidak habisla lesap..

The view of Alps along the way had cool me down quickly...Subhanallah, Allah is the greatest. Issokay, only my bag was taken away from me, but not my precious baby. Thank you Allah...T_T

Well, that;s the unfortunate event that i managed to keep as secret until now. In fact, i didn't tell my family yet..kalau cerita on day 1 tu sure tak senang hati, tak senang duduk la our parents and family kt Malaysia. So to avoid, we just kept quite and acted normally. Cover baikkkk..hehe..

We''ll think how to report about my stolen IC. We had decided to report once we were back in London. Soon, in shaa Allah.  Ok jgk kan..ada alasan nak buat Ic baru nnti sbb gambar dlm IC tu pon dah tak samalah dgn muka skrg..hehehe..

Hmm okla since i've revealed the secret and it's too long already, i think i will continue about our journey in the next post k..with alot of pictures..promise! hehehe..

PS. Ada sesiapa yg ada pengalaman Ic kene curi atau hilang especially kt Oversea? atau sesiapa je yg tahu how to report if lost the Ic..Share with me k..really appreciate it..:)

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Bye-bye Austria

Assalamualaikum

Walaupun just a night transit at Austria, but overall it was very satisfying indeed. Tak sempat ambil gambar kt Salzburg city using my phone pon, so balik London nanti i share k, in shaa Allah. :)

Anyway, malam tadi kami dah pon selamat sampai di Prague, Chech Republique. hopefully sempat jugalah nak sightseeing in its city sebab just transit here only one night too..

Ok till then, Wassalam

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Bersiaran dari Switzerland

Assalamualaikum

Dah dekat pukul 12tgh malam tapi tak boleh tidur so mari update blog sekejap hihi.

So far, foggy je kat sini tapi tak hujan. Maka dapatlah jalan sana-sini. Di kawasan tanah tinggi masih lagi bersalji, bagai winter wonderland gitu. Cantik! :)

Orang-orang Swiss semuanya baik dan suka tersenyum. Rasa happy bila berbalas 'hello' dgn mereka even di tepi-tepi jalan. We feel so welcomed!

Ok nanti i share lagi k. Balik London harap boleh share dengan detail, in shaa Allah. Lastly, enjoy with my mobile pics at Blausee@Blue Lake, Switzerland..:)