9th Anniversary in Istanbul

Assalamualaikum

Tansit di Istanbul hujung November lepas juga merupakan hadiah untuk hari ulangtahun perkahwinan kami yang ke-9. Oleh kerana tarikh anniversary ke-9 jatuh pada 24 Disember 2014, kira nya sambut in advance lah masa tu..hihihi :D

The only pic of the two of us in Istanbul (Galata Bridge in the background). Kepala Iris kat sebelah tue...no matter how the other half  adjusted the tripod for only the two of us, but she's still managed to be squeezed in the pic..hihihi...

Setakat ini belum pernah lagi sambut berdua-duan, sejak first anniversary lagi kami dah ada anak. Sorry nak throwback sikit. :P. Kebetulan pada tahun 2006, Babah dapat sambung master di Coventry University, UK, jadi masa tu Babah kata jomlah kita sambut first anniversary di city of Love, Paris! ^_^

Ingatkan pergi bulan Januari 2007 (delayed anniversary treat) dah kurang sejuk.. sekali nan ado yer...mengigil-gigil kat atas Eiffel Tower lagi ada! hahaha. Dah la Zahin baru umur 4 bulan masa tu, mummy dok berdoa aje agar dia sihat walafiat sepanjang di Paris. All praises due to Allah, it was a beautiful memory. :)

Happy 9th Anniversary to Us from Istanbul with Love!! berlima sudah...hihihi

manja-manja mummy yang asek berkepit aje dgn mummy all the time...

Gambar-gambar kat atas ini adalah pada hari terakhir kami di Istanbul. Gigih lagi berjalan semata-mata untuk melihat sendiri pemandangan selat Bhosphorus di Galata Bridge yang sangat cantik. Memang sesuai sangatlah dijadikan sebagai background our 9th anniversary hihi. 

Galata Bride, Sebelah bawahnya terdapat deretan restoran-restoran...

Mulanya kami ingat lebih romantik kalau menaiki cruise menyusuri laut Bhosphorus dan Golden Horns tapi disebabkan masa yang suntuk dan kesihatan yang tidak mengizinkan kami tidak jadi ambil pakej cruise. Lagipon, cuaca agak mendung dan suhu pula semakin rendah. Di tepi laut ni pula angin tersangatlah kencangnya membuatkan kami terpaksa menahan kesejukan.

The kids were also not too excited as yesterday. That's why we did not go on a cruise. Masa yang diperlukan sekurang-kurangnya satu jam untuk naik cruise. 1 jam adalah tempoh yang lama bagi anak-anak kami yang jenis cepat bosan dan tak reti duduk diam ni. I thought we would not be able to enjoy the cruise peacefully in that kind of situation within the rush hour. 

Tapi tak kisah sebab meriah juga kat tepi laut nie. Ramai betul orang memancing sambil tengok bot dan cruise lalu-lalang. And from here, we could see another famous mosque across the sea. Nice background, indeed! Too bad we did not have time to visit the mosque too. Lagipon kalau tak silap masjid itu terletak di atas bukit, jadi memang tak berdayalah nak mendakinya. Huhu..

Actually, Turki terbahagi kepada dua iaitu di sebelah benua Eropah dan benua Asia. Istanbul Attarturk airport and Sur hotel (where we stayed..) in Sultanahmet area was in the Europe side. Tapi gambar-gambar di atas ini diambil dari sebelah Asia. Spice Bazaar yang terkenal juga di sebelah Eropah. Kami naik tram aje menyeberangi melalui Galata bridge untuk ke sebelah Asia. ;)

Antara tempat menarik di Turki Asia ialah Galata Tower dan Taksim Square ala-ala Oxford Street, London, syurga membeli belah. But unfortunately, we did not have a time to visit all of the three mentioned attractions. Memang tak sempat. Lepas lepak-lepak kat tepi laut dekat Galata Bridge, kami terus ambil tram dan balik semula ke Sultanahmet area.

Actually, maybe sempat juga nak ke salah-satu attraction tu kalau tram beroperasi pada pagi sebelumnya itu. Tiba-tiba hari itu ada Pope datang melawat Blue Mosque and Hagia Sofia..itu yang  menyebabkan tram service diberhentikan seketika di Sultanahmet station. Huhu..

street musician, sedap nyanyiannya :)

banyak cat, gebu2 dan gemuk2..geram sgt! :D

haih tgh tido pon comel hihi

Setiba di Sultanahmet tram station, mummy sempat lagi beli pashmina...;D

Last but not least, to my darling husband...Belated happy 9th Anniversary, Sayang!! Thank you very much for everything..I Love You more n more day to day... May Allah bless us, kids with good health, success and happiness till Jannah. May Allah bless our marriage till Jannah with Sakinah, Mawaddah and Rahmah..Ameen..:)

my beloved husband baru habis solat jumaat di Blue Mosque. Alhamdulillah! :)

Sebenarnya sebelum kami naik tram ke Galata Bridge, kami sempat singgah ke Gulhane Park. Dari Sultanahmet kami jalan kaki aje, Saja upah kids dengan bawa mereka ke park. Memang favourite place kids, kan! :D Nanti next entry kot mummy sambung lagi, in shaa Allah! 

:)

Istanbul Aku Datang

Assalamualaikum

Sebelum pulang ke Malaysia (back for good) pada bulan November tahun lepas, kami telah membuat keputusan untuk transit di Istanbul, Turki terlebih dahulu selama dua malam. Alhamdulillah, tercapai juga hajat saya nak tengok Blue Mosque dan solat didalamnya. Masya Allah..:)

Since it was an impromptu decision I didn't have much time to do enough research on Istanbul. Lagipon, kami semua tidak berapa sihat pada minggu terakhir di London dan terlalu sibuk dengan urusan serta mengemas barang sebelum dimasukkan ke dalam kontena.

Anyway, Istanbul is a very interesting city! And based on our experience, two days is not enough to cover places in there. Budaya dan tempat mereka mempunyai keunikan dan daya tarikan tersendiri. Orang Turki baik tua mahupun muda bukan sahaja cantik dan tampan tapi mereka sangat baik, sopan, murah dengan senyuman dan peramah walaupun kebanyakannya tidak boleh bertutur dalam bahasa Inggeris. Respect!

Semasa tunggu tram, Mak cik ni tegur tapi kami macam ayam dgn itik haha. beliau sangat baik hati bagi Iris bracelet dan duit pada Zahin dan Zafri. :)

Makanan halal juga murah dan senang didapati di mana-mana sahaja. Untuk saya yang kuat pedas dan lidah melayu memang tidak sesuai dengan makanan di sana. Huhu! Tapi bagi penggemar kebab dan lamb macam my hubby, Istanbul memang heaven! Hehe

nice gourmet in Sultanahmet area

Istanbul Attaturk airport..

Dalam city kami sempat merasa naik tram. Tramline map Istanbul agak mudah untuk difahami. Tiada masalah, tiket boleh dibeli di mesin yang disediakan di setiap tram station.

But most of the time we just walked because we got two strollers. Tapi jalan kaki sambil tolak stroller di Istanbul sungguh memenatkan kerana struktur muka buminya agak berbukit. It was adventurous indeed! ;)

Hop on Hop off (HOHO) Istanbul City sightseeing bus were also everyday in service. But surely the ticket is  more expensive. ;)

Di Istanbul kami menyewa sebuah apartment di Sur Hotel dalam kawasan Sultanahmet. Harganya ialah RM100 per night kalau tak silap. Agak murah kan! Our apartment was clean and cosy, We also got free complementary breakfast dan room service everyday. Awesome! ;)

Rata-rata memang ramai yang cadangkan supaya duduk di kawasan Sultanahmet sebab ia berdekatan dengan kebanyakan tourist attraction seperti Blue Mosque, Hagia Sofia, Topkapi Palace, Grand Bazaar dan banyak lagi. Within walking distance! But as i mentioned earlier, we did not manage to visit all the places. Kesihatan tidak begitu mengizinkan dan kami semua masih dalam kesedihan setelah meninggalkan London. :P

sunny and beautiful Friday but ssejuk...brrr!

Turki mengunakan matawang Lira. Seingat saya masa tue masih nisbah 1:2 dengan duit RM. 1Lira dalam lebih kurang RM2. Kami tukar siap2 duit pound sterlings ke Lira dan juga euro. Biasanya sukar nak tukar apabila sudah berada di sana.

kami tukar di Marks & Spencer Money Changer, di Exchange Mall, Ilford. Kadar tukaran matawang situ lebih murah berbanding di tempat lain. Kadar tukaran bergantung pada money changer ye so kene cari yang paling murah. Ketidak nanti kita yang rugi. :D

Most of the time and place kami bayar menggunakan Lira. euro digunakan semasa membeli souveniers berdekatan dengan Grand Bazaar.

different angle of the Blue Mosque. Magnificent!

Blue Mosque

Ok kalau google, boleh nampak banyak tempat untuk dilawati. Antara yang top ialah Blue mosque atau Sultan Ahmet Camii (in Turkiye). Memang wajib visit this mosque. Kenapa dipanggil masjid biru? Sebab didalam masjid biru, tiles yang digunakan untuk dindingnya adalah berwarna biru. Interior design blue mosque sememangnya sangat cantik dan senibinanya sangat halus. Very impressive! Sila check jadual waktu lawatan di dalam website. Masjid ditutup seketika pada waktu solat Subuh, Zuhur, Asar, Maghrib, Isyak dan Solat Jumaat bagi menghormati  dan memberi ruang kepada jemaah untuk bersolat.

Hari jumaat merupakan ialah hari yang paling sibuk di Istanbul terutama sekitar Sultahahmet area. So crowded especially time Solat Jumaat. Peminta sedekah juga ramaaaaiiii...agak tak selesa dan tak aman nak sighseeing that day. Quite scary but controllable though. Polis ada di mana-mana sahaja. Ada beberapa peminta sedekah yang ditangkap polis di Blue Mosque di depan mata kami sendiri. Poor them..:(

Since kami punyai satu hari sahaja iaitu Jumaat maka terpaksa juga pergi. But i like, nampak meriah sangat. :D Untung my hubby sebab beliau berpeluang solat Jumaat di dalam Blue Mosque. Kids and i just sat on the bench at the square right side of the mosque while waiting hubby. Alhamdulillah rezeki..dapat tengok Turkish men and women rushing to the mosque for Friday prayer. At the same time, jamu mata melihat sekeliling. Ada yang berniaga jual sahlep (turkish drink) dan buah delima. Some kids were feeding pigeons, my kids pon enjoy dan leka tengok, mummy enjoy ambil gambar! hehe. 

Pada sebelah petangnya, giliran saya pula dapat menunaikan solat jamak zuhur dan asar dan solat sunat di dalam Blue Mosque. Ada ruang khas untuk jemaah wanita di belakang sekali. Mula-mula nak masuk kene tanggalkan kasut dan simpan di dalam plastik kemudian letakkan di rak yang disediakan berdekatan dengan pintu masuk.

 as soon as i enter the mosque, terpegun sejenak dengan suasana didalamnya. Semuanya cantik belaka daripanda interior design nya sampaila ke permaidaninya yang mewah. hehe..Lepas tu bila ternampak pengawal yang bertugas, barulah cepat-cepat saya masuk ke ruang solat wanita. Risau kalau2 pengawal ingat saya non muslim visitor plak, bukan nak solat. :D (sorry no pics inside the mosque, tak igt plak kt dlm file iphone yg mana satu. Banyak sgt huhu)

Alhamdulillah atas peluang yang diberikan. Cuma sedikit terkilan sebab my kids tak berpeluang untuk masuk langsung ke dalam masjid Biru..tapi takpa tetap bersyukur kerana setidaknya mereka bertiga masih ada ikut bersama-sama dan sangat behave duduk diperkarangan masjid. :D

From Blue Mosque with love

Hagia Sofia

Merupakan sebuah church suatu ketika dahulu dan kini dijadikan sebagai muzium. Hagia Sofia atau Aya Sofia terletak berhadapan dengan Blue Mosque. Saiz binaannya juga lebih kurang sama dengan Blue Mosque dan kelihatan berwarna peach.

Kami cuma melawat di luar perkarangannya sahaja. Landskapnya agak cantik dan mempunyai sebuah fountain. My kids really enjoyed watching the fountain and had a good time there. Waktu malam air pancut bertukar-tukar warna, lagi bertambah cantik!:)

Tapi jika dapat masuk ke dalam Hagia Sofia sudah tentu lagi memuaskan hati. Huhu. Kat Hagia Sofia ni pon ramai sangat orang. Susah betul nak ambil gambar satu family, ada aje yang photobomb. Huhu. But at least ada juga satu gambar yang ok...:D

the only family photo yg tak kene photobomb.. kids pon dah boring masa ni tp kene paksa...:D

beautiful fountain in front of Hagia Sofia

In shaa Allah to be continued..:D

Inipon dah lebih setengah tahun baru dapat update kat blog. Tapi takpalah 'better late than never' rite. Kalau nak diikutkan banyak lagi cerita yang lagi lama daripada cerita Istanbul yang tak ber update lagi. Huhu. Hopefully, i will share them next time. In shaa Allah. :)

Z.A.F.R.I

Assalamualaikum

It is the fifth day of Ramadhan. Alhamdulillah so far, so good. Hope all of you are doing well too! :)

I am having a quiet time to myself. I just shut myself from all the social network at the moment. I just have to do some pondering and replanning on alot of things. But i can't help to share things in this blog. :D

This morning, Zafri woke up wanting his strawberry milk. After having two cups of it he went back to our bedroom. I lied down and joined beside him.

Suddenly, he said " Your first name is Mummy, right? Your second name is aunty Izu and then Mak Long".

Hehe i can't help to giggle. And i said "Yes and i have a real name too remember? What is my real name?" I asked him.

Unfortunately he forgot. He thought Izu is my name. So i told him my real name and he finally remembered it and instantly said "you have many names, Mummy!" LoL

Then he proudly told me that he only got two names. He spontaneously said "my first name is Zafri and my second name is Izzafri Hisham!" LoL

This boy is always cheeky! And he always make our day! :)

Afterwards he joined a pretend play with Iris. Iris brought her favourite red blanket that she got from Emirates airlines. She asked me to tie it around her neck and make it hooded as she wanted to be like a red riding hood. Fine.

But the funny was Zafri also asked me to do the same and brought his green blanket that he also got from Emirates airlines. And slumberly said i wanna be a GREEN RIDING HOOD!"

Hahaha clever boy, masya Allah! :D

This lil boy is not only cheeky but funny too! Sometimes its hard to get mad at..but sometimes only laa. :D

Lastly i love watching when the other half always loves to kiss and cuddle him who is still sleeping every morning before he off to work. He still called him 'Baby' too. L.O.V.E and All Praise be to Allah..

Ok enuff said. Happy fasting, darlings wherever you are! :)

June Updates!

Assalamualaikum..

How time flies! It feels only yesterday my daughter sit for her first PKSR examination. Suddenly, there goes already two weeks of school holiday. Huhu..

I could not find time to share in here. Too bad huh.

But today i'm gonna update few things.

Starting on the 1st June, i was being accepted as one of the food vendor at a boutique cafe, @shafirascollection. (Do check them and follow them at instagram :)) so far i only supply them with Beef Lasagnas..hihi saja mencuba nasib. Alhamdulillah nampak menggalakkan, do pray for me yea friends! :)

For Zahin's result in the PKSR examination, were received informally from her before the school holiday. Not all subjects she got A but we were still being greatful. All praise to Allah!

As expected BM was tough. It uses Kemahiran Berfikir Aras Tinggi (KBAT)..meaning high-level questions and syllabus now. Even mummy and babah also want to surrender. Pray for us, please! :D

Many suggests us to send her to tuition class but we are still considering. Perhaps next year we'll get her a tuition class. In shaa Allah!

Moral of the story, we need to work together, smarter and constantly. And don't ever give up and hope she would try her best again next time. ;D

Then during the past two weeks break, we just let her relax and do what she wants with Iris and Zafri since she got least homework. We stayed home most of the time too since babah worked and was being extremely busy writing his PhD thesis.

Anyway in shaa Allah babah will submit his thesis on this coming thursday. May Allah always guide and ease him as well as bestow him with patience and preserverence to finish his thesis with flying colours. Ameen. :)

Oh yea we also took kids to Taman Mini Malaysia and Bayou Lagoon water park in Malacca. Of course the kids love more the later. Main air sampai lebam dan legam! At least they said that it was totally fun. Sorry for not sharing the pics! :D

Last but not least, we will welcome and celebrate Ramadhan Kareem again on this thursday in shaa Allah!
Allahumma balighna ramadhan..ameen!

Here on behalf of Ishamizu n Co. I would like to seek an apology if i had wronged anyone or hurted anybody's feeling either directly or indirectly. Hopefully all of us will make full of this Ramadhan Kareem. Ameen! :)

Ahlan Wasahlan Ya Ramadhan !