Allo Vienna! Part 2

Second night in Vienna ♡

Day Two - Harini target nak pergi Belvedere Museum atas suggestion orang lain. Tram yang sampai Belvedere is Tram 1 - ingat ni sebab public transport lain susah sket nak sampai area ni. Malangnya tak kesampaian (troll lagi), tapi yang bestnya harini sempat tengok sunset dekat Vienna! ☺

Senja di Rathausplatz ♥

Camni ceritanya.. Sebelum pergi museum tu, ingat nak singgah metro station Erdberg dulu. Erdberg ni satu2 nye tempat yang ada bus station untuk travel ke luar Austria. Esok pagi nak ambik bas pergi Prague, jadi pergi lah cekidout dulu sebab takut esok sesat. Sampai situ senang, tapi nak cari bus station dia punya lah pusing. Dah la tak sure betul ke tak bus station tu sebab macam gelap and tersembunyi je :/ Lagi satu kakacewaan, sampai situ ingatkan boleh beli tiket bas terus, rupanya boleh beli online JE. *lagu sedih* Kalau nak tau lagi pasal beli tiket bus dari Austria, bace sampai hujung post ni, okey ☺

Masih dengan map kertas. Old school ☺

Anyway, lepas jumpa bus station, teringat nak shopping barang kat Christmas market untuk family kat Malaysia. Apa lagi, pergi la balik Rathaus (sebab best) and jalan2 cari barang untuk diorang. Sebab Christmas market ni banyak local produce a.k.a makanan buatan orang situ, saya ingat nak beli lah bende macam seasoning, herbs, honey or jam. Lupa nak tulis dalam part 1, masa first2 jalan2 kat Vienna, ada pergi Christmas market dekat Natural History Museum jugak. Market dia tak besar sangat and barang yang dijual sama je, tapi tak se-crowded Rathaus..

Christmas market dekat Natural History Museum

Monuments dekat area museum..

Dah nama pun wanita, bila start je shopping takleh nak stop. Dah tawaf market tu entah berapa kali dah semata2 nak compare harga and barang, last2 beli la flavoured sugar, seasoning dan jam. Ada satu stall yang jual semua benda yg saya beli ni. Korang boleh beli individually atau dalam combo (3 untuk €5 ,  €10 dan sebagainya)

Lupa nak ambik gambar stall yang jual benda2 ni. Uhu..

Punyalah lama duk kat Rathausplatz, tau2 dah senja. Saya pun decide nak stay sampai malam sket sebab nak tunggu lampu pasang kat tempat ni.......................

Sunset at Rathuasplatz!

Serious cakap kat korang, sangat. berbaloi. Pergi la christmas market kat Rathuas time malam sebab CANTIK SANGAT!

Giant cupcakes!

Christmas lights everywhere ♥

Christmas tree yang centre of the attention

So basically tu experience saya dekat Vienna. Tak duk lama pun, and most of the time saya sorang2 jadi sightseeing dengan santai je kat sana..

Untuk korang yang plan nak pergi Vienna, saya ada a few tips and interesting info tentang Vienna yang maybe berguna untuk korang:

☆ First and most important, make sure korang dah target mana nak pergi sebab terlampau banyak historical buildings, museums, parks yang menarik kat sini. Kalau jalan2 je tanpa hala tuju, takut korang rasa rugi masa balik nanti sebab tak masuk mana2 museum, art gallery etc. Yang aunty saya recommend is Belvedere Museum and Schonbrunn Palace.

☆ Vienna ni tempat famous shooting movie, yang saya ingat mostly dekat Vienna State Opera. Kat situ ada scene dalam Mission Impossible 3, and The Illusionist. Yang minat cerita Before Sunset lagi best sebab the whole movie punya setting kat sini

☆ Public transport dekat Vienna senang je, tapi ada certain tempat susah sket nak pergi and maybe limited public transport sampai kat situ. Buat research dulu

☆ Sebab Vienna ni cantik sangat , travel la dengan kawan atau bawak selfie stick sebab banyak sangat tempat cantik nak ambik gambar. Rugi kalau tak bergambar kat city ni (macam saya yang travel sensorang :,( )

☆ Makanan halal yang saya tau kat Vienna ni satu je. Kat tepi Vienna State Opera ada Hotel Bristol, and depan tu ada a few stall kebab. Satu stall yang warna biru tu halal. Stall lain tak sure kalau halal ke tak

☆ Kalau boleh, try lah makan Sacher Torte ☺ Kek ni banyak tempat lain jual tapi ada certain je yang supposedly authentic, contoh kat Sacher Hotel cafe. Diorang punya kek tak berapa manis, tapi kek dia sangat lembut, ala2 kek kukus camtu. Kalau nak bawak satu kek pun boleh, diorang akan pack dalam kotak kayu. Authentic tak authentic? Ahaa..

Okey, next post saya sepatutnya pasal London (location before Austria), tapi since London tak pergi sightseeing sangat (shopping je kerja), saya akan post destination sebelum tu.....Turkey!☺

Thanks for reading! ☺

Sunset at the Vienna State Opera ♥

**Oh, tip berguna, kalau nak beli tiket bus pergi Prague via station VIB dekat Erdburg, download app FLIXBUS, masukkan info credit or debit card korang, pastu dah setel. Beli la tiket nak gi mana2. Saya beli tiket last minute dapat dalam €22,53. Masa nak naik tu cuak sebab takde bus yang menghala ke Prague, tapi ada yang nak ke Berlin. Check ticket balik, rupanya ada tulis "Connection 060 direction Berlin ZOB", so bus yang ke Berlin tu lah sebenarnye bus yang akan ke Prague. Lagi satu, orang bus tu sangat tak membantu nak masukkan luggage :( Mamat tu 3 kali ganda lagi besar dari saya kot, tapi dia still suruh saya angkat luggage 20kg tu sendiri (tempat letak luggage dia tinggi sikit dalam 4 kaki atas lantai. Pengsan aku nak angkat beg tu woii). Dah nampak saya struggle baru lah nak tolong... **

Separuh dari tiket electronic yg dia bagi. Lagi separuh ada map dengan price summary.

Allo Vienna! Part 1

"Allo!" 
- cara orang Vienna cakap hello

Parlamentsgebäude atau Parliament Building di Ringstraße

Welcome to my travel blog :) Ni first blog post dalam bahasa Melayu, so hopefully lebih ramai orang akan baca. Selama ni post dalam English macam takde sape bace je... *lagu sedih*

Vienna ni ibu negara Austria, and dia satu-satunya negara Eropah yang landlocked, meaning negara ni tak berpantai atau takde coastline, meaning bersedialah korang untuk suasana yang sejukkk-sesejuk-sejuknya-kalah-fridge-hang...

Natural History Museum Vienna 

Haha. Takdelah. Sebenarnye time saya pergi takde lah sejuk sangat, which is awal bulan Disember 2015. Masih lagi considered autumn (ye ke) or at least belum betul2 winter lagi. Suhu sekitar 10 Celcius ke atas and cuaca sangat sunny pada pagi hari, tapi time malam hujan renyai2..

Austria sangat terkenal dengan gunung alps, seperti yang dipopularkan dalam cerita The Sound of Music.. tapi kat Vienna ni takde alps, sebab dia city. Kalau nak visit alps, orang selalu pergi Salzburg (haha troll jap).

Kat Vienna ni saya stay 4 hari 3 malam dengan aunty yang bertugas di Malaysian embassy. Selalunya kalau travel memang pergi tempat yang ada family or friends sebab jimat , nombor satu for safety reasons - saya masih tak berani nak travel sorang2 - and nombor dua sebab senang kalau ada orang yang dah kenal tempat. Nak cari makanan halal senang, nak tengok tourist attraction senang, and best of all, kita dapat semua tempat2 best yang orang lain tatau. Haha! Orang sini cakap bahasa German dengan dialect Austria, jadi prepare la dengan basic phrases German sebelum nak ke sini.. 

Masa sampai Vienna time tu dah malam - flight dari London, transit kat Brussels. Kat airport Vienna ni ada ala2 shuttle bus berbayar untuk ke city. Harga tiket bus yang saya ambik dalam €8 one way (bus nombor 8).

Bus 8 ke Morzinplatz

Bus dia on time, so jangan lengah2!

Kebetulan aunty saya ada guests lain kat rumah dia, so kitorang semua pakat gi cafe malam tu. Pergi lah Hotel Sacher. Pergh.. lawa dia memang tak boleh kalah la. Terus teringat Plaza Hotel yang kat New York. Aunty saya recommend makan kek Sacher-Torte and apple strudel, dua2 dessert yang famous dari Austria, and minum coffee Wiener Melange.

Balik tido nyenyak

Day One - First day kat Vienna tak pergi mana2 specific pun, sebab nak explore city dia and nak biasakan diri dengan public transport kat sana. Saya beli tiket 24 jam dalam €7 dekat station U-bahn Schottenring, tapi kat mana2 station pun boleh beli sebenanye *thumbs up* Tiket ni boleh guna untuk bus, metro and tram.

Time jalan2 tu kebetulan lalu Rathausplatz, which is office datuk bandar dan dewan bandaraya Vienna (sori DBKL, bangunan korg tak boleh lawan langsung). Satu2 nye kelebihan travel hujung tahun kat Eropah ni semestinya Christmas Market, and kebetulan yang kat Rathaus ni market terbesar dan ter-meriah kat Vienna. Yey!

Satu2 nya entrance Christmas market kat Rathausplatz

Christmas market kat sini sama dengan yang kat negara Eropah lain. Orang banyak jual makanan local, decoration untuk christmas tree diorang dan juga souvenirs. Masa sampai market ni dah time lunch, jadi perut pun dah berkeroncang. Tengah jalan2 cari makan, terjumpa satu gerai ni....

TENGOK

Uishh kalau tak singgah ni, balik Malaysia nanti mesti menyesal! Diorang ni jual makanan manis je, macam kek and biskut tapi semua GIANT2 belaka..

*Gedebak gedebuk*

Boom boom pow

*Gedebooom*

Mari kakak, mari abang, semuanya murah2 belaka (ye ke)

Uuu tergodanyehh. Jadi saya pun belilah bukan satu, tapi DUA benda which is Maroni Röllchen, basically macam biskut love letter gergasi dengan hazelnut cream filling, and lagi satu Brandteig Ringe, macam glazed donut gergasi dengan custard filling. Yang bestnya stall ni ada list ingredients yang diorang guna untuk buat kek2 diorang ni, so kita tau mana satu boleh makan and mana yang tak boleh ☺ Dah puas cari makan, cari air pulak. Kat Christmas market ni memang banyak sangat gerai minuman punsch which is warm fruit punch yang mostly diorang campur dengan arak. Tapi jangan risau, ada je yang non-alcoholic untuk kanak2 yang kita boleh minum which is called Kinderpunsch ☺

Manih meleting

Lepas makan, saya pun jalan2 lah lagi kat area sama sambil ambik gambar bangunan2 yang ada kat sini. Negara Austria ni sebenanya sangat rich in history - diorang terlibat dalam perang since 1600-an sampai lah ke World War II, tapi kebanggaan negara ni pada classical music sebab ramai composer famous asalnya dari Austria, contohnya Mozart.

Wiener Opernball atau Vienna State Opera ♥

Disebabkan time ni cepat gelap, jadi tak lama lepas tu dah kena balik. Malam tu ada plan nak makan ribs kat satu kedai halal ni. Tempat tu agak jauh dari city dekat area suburbs, jadi kena ambik U-bahn dengan tram sekali. Nak pendekkan cerita, malam tu memang perut kenyang tidur tak ingat dunia... Tapi subuh on time ok. *riak* 

RIBSSS

Tybah tertipu. HAHAHAHA k

Hari kedua saya akan post dalam part 2! Stay tuned!

Booking on Agoda - Kuching, Malaysia

Hi everyone :) 

A few weeks ago I was planning for a trip to Kuching that was kind of last minute. I had gotten a friend to follow me so we both wanted to book everything fast - that is, flights and hotel. 

I have booked flights on AirAsia before, but never booked a hotel on Agoda. At first I thought Agoda was complicated to use, plus I didn't have credit card to pay for my booking. But after some research I decided to try it anyway and I turned out happy with my booking!

Firstly, just to note that Agoda does not have websites according to countries but only one main site. Some interesting features of Agoda is that you can view the room rates in various different currencies, book for another person as well as book using a credit or debit card.

First, type in your destination, with or without the hotel of choice, in the box shown. Choose your dates and nights of stay and click 'Search'. 

If you don't know the area you are going to well, Agoda will list down suggestions of places similar to the place you've typed in. 

The following page even has a list of matches to the area you've typed just so you can pick the exact location you want.

Once you've chosen your location, the list of hotels will appear. Apart from the usual details for booking such as room type and hotel rate, remember to check:

the room rating,

the total reviews,

location and 

hotel services.

All four of these are important for you to choose a decent hotel with a good package and location. Once you've made your choice, click on 'Book now'.

You will be directed to the list of hotel rooms or packages available. Here, it is important to look at the maximum occupancy allowed in a room and to click on the little blue question mark or 'Room info' in small print to find out more about the rooms. 

Click on the littel blue question mark or 'Room info' to view this pop up

Choose the number of rooms you want based on the maximum occupancy allowed, then click 'Book'.

To finalize your booking, you need to fill out only your name, email, phone number and country of passport. If you are booking for someone else, tick the box below 'Phone number' to indicate this. There is also a choice to make special requests, right before you confirm the booking.

Finally, you can choose to pay either by debit or credit card. If you are using a debit card, fill in 'Card Holder Name' with your full name. There is a little box to tick/untick if you want / do not want to know more about Agoda's offers. Your booking is complete :)

Lastly, you will receive an SMS on your payment and also an email confirmation (important!). Remember to call the hotel to double check on your booking once you're done.

Hope this helps with your next hotel booking!

Stay tuned for my blog on my March Japan trip :)

#PrayForMH370

My small and humble post dedicated to the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, whose disappearance on 8th of March 2014 shook the world.

May the crew and passengers always be under the protection of the Almighty.
لا حول ولا قوة إلا بالله

Photo courtesy of my friend's Instagram @hdhania

Weekend at Malacca: Part II

Check out the previous post for day one of our weekend at Malacca!

Day Two

Sleeping at The Neem was pure bliss. Until about 6 am, we all slept like babies. It was only at about 7 am when people had started their day outside when we heard voices and the neighbour's dogs barking. We were up for breakfast, which ends at 10 am, and had the opportunity to meet the chalet's owners, a brother and sister who were also nice enough to cook us eggs and sausages. We also met a Dutch couple who had checked-in later the previous day and we planning to have another 5 friends over. After breakfast we signed a guestbook and returned to our rooms to get ready and check out.

The pool and breakfast area under the roof.. 

We went to the Stadthuys first and walked around, finally visiting the Museum of Architecture mostly for the air-conditioning. We came across the Church of Saint Paul so we decided to climb up since we were already there. The climb to the top of the hill was really tiring （；_・） but the view was just priceless ヽ( ★ω★)ノ And of course, the plus side to the sunny weather was that all our photos looked amazing! There were more people on top of the hill though and some booths selling stuff like drinks, art sketches and even colorful plastic China-made toys I wouldn't know what to do with at a historic site.....

Booths selling souvenirs near Stadthuys

Museum of Architecture model

Icons of Malaysian Architecture..

Steeep stairs in the museum

A climb we underestimated..

Going downhill o_o

Afterwards we were really tired (at least I was) and it was already 2pm so we had to make our journey home anyway. We almost missed out on the famous Klebang coconut shake, but I insisted and we made it to a jam-packed food court decorated with tons of red Walls banners. We had nasi lemak, bihun goreng and some kuih and of course, our coconut shakes. It was icy, sweet from the vanilla ice cream and has very small  but a lot of coconut flesh in it  ヽ(;^o^ヽ)

Pantai Klebang Coconut Shake entrance!

Our food and coconut shakes!

As for our journey back, the road was pretty clear as the holiday crowd was already gone. We dropped by Senawang and reach KL about 7pm that night.

Expenses for today (not sure if I remember everything I spent though):

Free places:
Stadthuys
Church of Saint Paul

Museum of Architecture

Klebang
RM2.20 for each coconut shake

Weekend at Malacca: Part I

Last weekend my colleagues and I finally went on our vacation  that we have planned since forever lol. It started with one of us looking for deals on Groupon for a nice, affordable holiday which was not too far from KL. She stumbled upon an offer for chalets in the middle of town in Malacca called The Neem and basically the three of us girls fell in love with the place.

We booked this trip sometime around November or December last year. It was supposed to be more of us since we booked the biggest room, Ketapang, which could fit a maximum of 6 people, but it ended up just being the three of us girls ^^ We also did a lot of internet researching and found a lot of great reviews for The Neem (which reminds me I haven't reviewed them on TripAdvisor yet)

Our stay was for 8th to 9th February 2014 (Saturday and Sunday) which was the weekend after Chinese New Year so we knew the holiday crowd would be gone by then. Also, my birthday was to fall on the the Tuesday after so it was kind of an early birthday treat for me (ﾉﾟ▽ﾟ)ﾉ On Friday we stayed at our friend's place in Seremban so we could make our journey to Malacca easier the next day. 

Look at our savings! Scoreee

I'll be talking about what we did at Malacca along with our experience at our cozy little chalet just to give you guys an idea of what a really slow and relaxed holiday in Malacca will look like o(^^o)

So we reached Malacca quite late in the morning and went straight to the Malacca Zoo. Honestly, we were not zoo-goers, haha, but since it was so close to Ayer Keroh, where we entered Malacca, we decided to just stop by. And because we weren't used to zoos, we totally underestimated how long we would take there and we ended up skipping our other destination which was the bee farm. (we were really excited about up dressing like astronauts and risk getting stung by 183823290 bees.) 

Next we had our lunch at the old Aeon on the way to Malacca town. YES I KNOW - we went to one the Malaysia's best state for food just to end up eating at a hypermarket.. But it was crazy hot! So we really didn't think twice about choosing an air-conditioned food court over that renowned laksa at some warong we had to endure the heat at.

We were finally going to our chalet! Getting to town was easy but we had to depend on the internet to find The Neem. And as many of The Neem's previous residents would tell you, we got lost. We took a lot of turns thinking we were close but as it turns out we were still a distance from our destination. When we finally got into the right road, we missed the entrance and had to make a loong turn around town to get back into the same road. Thankfully it was nothing too strenuous and we found going around town useful to spot to visit on the next day.

Look out for this banner and signboard on your left!

The road that goes to The Neem (^ ^)

We reached our chalet at about 3.30 pm, half an hour after check-in time. We were greeted by an old aunty who was the mother of the caretakers of the chalet. Aunty was really friendly and made us fill a form in the quaint little welcoming room (kind of like a hotel lobby) before showing us to our room. The sight of the pool and the bright chalets immediately made our hearts light up and we knew we would love our room before we got in.

Inside our room!

The Neem chalets are really old school and rustic. The doors of the chalet are locked with a padlock and latches only and there is a lot of wood exterior. Our room was reallly wide and had a queen sized bed and mattress next to each other, both with mosquito nets. There was just TV, air conditioning and some plain drinking water ready in our room which we were cool with. The bathroom was wide too - it fit a tempayan area for bathing, a sink area, shower room and a toilet. Pretty sweet for a small chalet! 

Our Ketapang room

Our bathroom!

Our shower! lol

Our bathroom entrance!

We decided to rest and pray until 6.30 pm, after which we made our way to have our seafood dinner... YUMS. The destination was Medan Selera Ikan Bakar Muara Sungai Duyung... aka heaven on earth! 

Rowwws of cars parked before you reach the restaurant. It's so famous even Jackie Chan's been here!

At least the food was heavenly. There were LOADS of people by the time the sun was setting and we had to actually stalk customers who looked like they were almost finishing so that we could get a good table by the sea.

And we were successful!

Our awesome view of the stretching sea, fishermen boats and sea eagles ♥

Our heaven-sent dinner, just before we finished eating 

After our dinner we headed to town again for our river cruise. The queue for the ticket was really short so the only long queue was the one boarding the actual river cruises. We had about 3 groups ahead of us so we waited about 20-30 minutes to board. Before we boarded, a 3D photo of us were taken so that we could buy the photo after the cruise. The whole cruise took less than an hour and we stopped by the local pasar malam at Dataran Pahlawan (I think) before going back to our chalet afterwards.

The view queueing for the cruise. Not bad for a half hour wait..

Down the river we go~

Stuff we saw along the river.. 

Other cruises and people having their dinner. A lot of the shophouses are heavily designed with graffiti which makes it a really awesome sight to see..

Our expenses for today:
Malacca Zoo RM15 (with MyKad)
Seafood dinner less than RM25
River cruise: RM10 per adult (with MyKad)

Stay tuned for part two of our Malacca weekend! ♥