Better October

A few day has passed since Hamada san turned 30 (or 31 I forgot). So, as I walked together with her, I asked her, "what do you get for your birthday? "

She said, for Japanese, when you enter 30 (or 31-again I don't remember), one of your family member must buy you a piece of jewellery to sort of push the bad luck away. They believed that when you turn 30 (or 31), your luck will be at the lowest and if you are not being careful, everything in your life will fall down the pit. 

Of course I do not believe that although my days of turning 30 was such a tragic (read here). But I am so very grateful despite of the small misfortunes that have befell me. I heard so many more life changing stories that happened to people around me, not necessarily because they are turning 30.

So, last October my Japanese friend understood my condition based on what they believed. But, I don't la. It is haram to think of our misfortunes that way. As a muslim, I accepted that as a test and I was so grateful it was not something very serious, but enough to remind me of death. Alhamdulillah Allah s.w.t still grants me hidayah although I am not one pious servant. 

Anyway, it's October again. And it has been so wonderful, alhamdulillah. I am so amazed that my life has changed the way I wanted it for so long ago. Alhamdulillah..It's true that He will grant our wish at the right time. For those who are still waiting for your du'a to be answered, do not lose hope, do not stop making du'a. 

There are so many people I cherish was born in this month. It started off with my mother in law. My marriage to 'A' does not just granted me with a wonderful life companion, but another wonderful mother that I am lucky enough to have a fair share of her love. 

Happy birthday Ummi!
Semoga dipanjangkan umur, dimurahkan rezeki, dikurniakan kesihatan yang berpanjangan. 

HongKong: Must Go Disneyland

I'm past 30 and I have lost hope towards Disneyland. Whenever I go, the possibility to experience more than 5 rides is like mission impossible T_T. So, we were 50-50 about going to the Disneyland, or is it just me? Because the first thing 'A' bought when landed at the Hong Kong airport was Disneyland ticket. We didn't even have Hong Kong money with us that time but he was so determined that he withdrew some from the ATM using credit card..just for the Disneyland -_-"

Oh, before I forgot to tell you, if you plan to go to the Disneyland, it is advisable to buy it from the travel agent at the airport as you will get cheaper price and un-fixed date. So, you can go on whichever date convenient which the weather allowed.

I was so glad that I got my health back on the second day we were in Hong Kong. Syukur tak terkata.

So, the night before we decided to go for Disneyland the next morning! The good thing about Hong Kong is that the country is small, so traveling to one point to another does not take hours even the Disneyland is located at different island. 

As far as I remember, for Disneyland Tokyo, we had to come very early in the morning at least 7.30 in the line for tickets. Then the park is opened at 8-8.30am. It was that early. But, for Hong Kong, it opens at 10.30am. We were a little surprised looking at the opening hour. So, in the morning, I managed to cook nasi lemak for breakfast and only left the hotel at 9. It was such a relaxing Disneyland trip ever! 

The trip to the Disneyland was very easy and relaxing given that at that time people has already in their office. Another surprised for us was when we took the Disneyland train and there was very few number of people were on board with us. We can practically lie down on the seats like a boss! We arrived at the Disneyland at around 10am. The train station and the entrance was just about 10m from each other unlike in Tokyo where you need to walk about 15-20minutes to get to the entrance from the train exit. Anyway, since we arrived very early and we already had the tickets, we took time to pose for some pictures and take a look around.

Inside the Disneyland train. See..so few people. That made us so curious..what's up with the Disneyland -_-"

This is the first ride you'll see when you enter the HK Disneyland. If you are a Disneyland frequent, your jaw will literally dropped onto the floor, too shock for seeing a scene like this. Only two people are queueing for the Space Mountain -_-" aaaa... so, 'A' went straight in and after 10 minutes finished one ride. I was like 'apa nih..it's still early!' -_-" Actually 'A' was rushing here to get his fast pass. But, as we look around, I don't think the fast pass machine is even exist in here -_-"

I think this is the most dangerous ride in HK Disneyland. Of course only like 5 people were queueing and therefore 'A' had this for a few times while I snacked at one of their empty cafe. Oh, and he rode it until I managed to get a perfect shot of him riding in this -_-" If in Tokyo, I don't think he can even dream of getting the fast pass.

It's very hard to miss the parade. The compound is kind of smaller than Tokyo's. So, even you are not following the schedule, it is so unlikely for you to miss it, unless on purpose. And anyway, at other Disneyland before, we could only mostly enjoy the parade as it took at least an hour to get on one ride. So, we weren't so into the parades. 

While we were walking around the cinderella castle which is quite disappointing for me (they didn't do it as nice as Tokyo's. It looks like murals put together. They can't fool me.), a lady stopped us and hand us a pass. we were like 'what pass is this?'. We kept it anyway and use it if it happens we walked by the castle again at the designated time. Turned out, we did walked by and we saw..tada!! Elsa and Anna. haha.. You can greet them if only you have the pass. I had it and among the first to arrive. yey!

We have tonnes of photos at the Disneyland. But this one meant a lot. It's been a long time since we curious about Winnie the pooh ride. Whenever we were in Disneyland before, the waiting time would be 2 hours most of the time. Aaaa...we were not that crazy to wait for that long. But in HK, no waiting time. We enter and straight ahead ride. OMG!!it was so entertaining. It was for suitable for children but we felt the satisfaction as the mystery was solved!

Halal food

You guys, this is a very good news for us muslim! In Disneyland HK, they served quite a variety of halal food. OMG!! We don't know what to order although the food are asian cuisine. lol xp.  But, since I always love hainanese chicken rice, I chose this! It was 5 star! Sedap sangat!!

Vietnamese rice noodle for 'A'. You know why he chose this? Coz he said he could foresee that I'd love this more than the chicken rice. I just ignored him and had my eyes on the chicken rice all the time until....he convinced me to try a spoon of the soup. After that, I was in charged of the noodle until the last drop. lol xp. Isn't it annoying that our husbands are always right..about us?? geez... 

After our hearty meal, we continue to walk and stop at every ride. Every ride I tell you because no need to queue. Also, the nicest thing about HK Disneyland is the ride is bilingual; english and chinese. So, I enjoyed it very much. Also, I really felt like the Disneyland was book for my private visit. For roller coaster-like ride, 'A' would test first and later reported to me whether it is 'wani-fit'. You see how empty it was -_-". So, if he feels okay for me to ride, he will ride together with me again. So Kardashian kan I ols?

Besides rides, there are scheduled show too. This time we went to the most show there are. Seriously, we didn't waste a minute. Anything that came on our way, we went for it! My favorite show of all was the Mickey Mouse show:) and ride that was not really a ride is the talk with Stitch. So funny that alien. I wish he picked on of us because most of the people he chose could not understand english. We sat at the most front and I only hear us laughing. lol xp. We didn't take so much photos as the scenery was not very nice. But it's okay cause we didn't have time anyway trying one ride to another.

Praying room

Oh, I took chances by asking the customer service if they have praying room. They don't have it, but they let us use VIP room. teehee..So, do not afraid to ask.

I couldn't believe such a Disneyland exist. And we saw a coming soon section, there'll be Stark Expo opening in 2016. The more reason to come back! If I ever crave for Disneyland, I would have no doubt but to go for HK! Worth all the penny!

HongKong: The Peak

There are so many attractions in HK that actually 5 nights are enough. But, we are not that ambitious la. We just chill and do whatever in the day. No planning ahead. We just enjoy walking around and see whatever that comes in our way. 

Victoria's peak (The Peak)

You know that Hong Kong was once colonized by British? So, you will see that name of roads are so english. And that's probably why many of them can speak english unlike when I was in Taiwan, the likelihood to find one that can understand us was like 1/20 people. But still not bad. 

So, in the afternoon of our first day after a horrible morning (tell you the story later), we found ourselves with nothing to do. So, after I took my medication and alhamdulillah I was instantly cured after a few hours rest in the comfort of The Best Western, we decided to visit the Victoria's peak. We had no idea what was that. We just thought let's go! It was around 4pm when we reach the nearest train station to the peak. For the trip up to the peak, we decided to take the bus. The experience..tsk2..it was so scary but worth it. The feeling was like when you successfully rode on the crazy roller coaster without peed yourself up there. Exactly like that. 

We took the bus from the Ferry Piers in the Central. The journey took about 40 minutes, but the nice part was we can see the views of Hong Kong from the ground and going up to the hilly side of Hong Kong where the rich lives. Hehe.. And I tell you the way up was so steep it and windy. Really windy, like all the junctions were very sharp and the roads up are narrow >,< The fact that we sat at the top level of the bus (the bus was a two-storey), just made it more chilling. But the kind of a good chill. 

The two-storey bus. The bus was on schedule.

To finally arrived at The Peak after many time of uhhh...ohhh by us the passengers. Not the type of good uhhh...ohh.. >,<

View on the way up. We can see a lot of elite condos.

We have arrived! Even at the top of the mountain like this ada shopping mall. Not just ordinary stuff, there's even boutique like Furla, Coach, etc.  Behind me, that's the observatory. You need to buy tickets to enter the observatory. But, it wasn't expensive and worth a visit.

We arrived at almost dawn and the view is like this. It was quite hazy in Hong Kong during our visit. 

View from the other side of the observatory. Greenier side of Hong Kong.

While we hang out on the observatory with my coffee experiment, suddenly there was a huge crowd starting to come. Then only we got it! The best view is at night. Luckily we didn't left our spot. As soon as the night crawled in, this view came to life. It was so pretty! Photos couldn't do any justice. It's like everyone is clicking for hundreds of times but still we couldn't feel satisfied.

As we turned our head, omg the crowd. tsk...we were lucky because we arrived at dawn :)

Leaving the Peak, we chose to ride the tram. There were so many people left around the same time with us, so the queue was crazy. However, it was very efficient, we didn't feel it was troublesome. The journey with the tram took about maybe 20-30 minutes. For this one, we felt like being thrown down the hill. The tram descended at 45 degree and you will see the building around appeared slanted. We tried to take photos but to no avail. Despite of that, it was less scary because it's like we know the tram will stick to the track, unlike the bus >,<

Finally arrived at the tram station :) It's time to haunt for dinner!