What do you collect when traveling?

I'm sure all of you who love to travel will collect some memorabilia when traveling. Some collect t-shirst, newspaper, snow globes, fridge magnet, maps, mugs and so on. From all of this, we chose the easiest, cheapest, lightest and small memento which is fridge magnet. I know it is so common but the beauty of fridge magnet is it is light, wouldn't add any weight to our luggage, easily found, cheap- most important when you travel to countries where the exchange rate is high and the best part is, you can turn anything to fridge magnet by just adding the magnet.

Still got empty place. Means more travel! Hehe

This is a pin  that I put a magnet on.

Front view..

We started to collect fridge magnet when we were traveling in US. At that time we were considered hardcore poverty by the US government, therefore we usually travel using as minimal expense as possible. Even though we wanted to save the money, souvenirs from each destination that we went is a must. That's why we choose fridge magnet.

Besides that, I also collect Hard Rock Cafe pin. These pins have turned into magnet too. See I told you, sometimes when you go to some place, you can't find magnet. All you see are key chains and pins. What I do is I will buy the pin or key chains stick a magnet behind it, walla! it's a magnet. It'll be unique coz nobody has that magnet.

The collection so far..

Another best part of magnet is that since it is not expensive, we able to buy many. So instead of just buy one for a destination, we usually buy the magnet according to the places we've been. For example instead of just buy one magnet for San Francisco, we bought 1 magnet from Fisherman's Wharf, 1 from Alcatraz and 1 from Golden Gate bridge. Every specific places that we went, we would bought one. I love it coz the design from each places is unique and very much specific what are the interesting part of that.

Other than that, Zainal collected Coke bottles and cans. Coke from different part of the world are quite unique in their own packaging which is very interesting. My favourite Coke can is the one that have Duke logo when Duke won the NCAA in 2010. Precious.

Coke congratulating Duke becoming NCAA 2010 National Champion

Of course we also like to keep all the papers that involved in the travel process. From maps, itinerary, tickets, subway tickets and cards. I actually wanted to do a scrap book with all that, but it never materialised. I only managed to do New York trip, then everything was trashed into a file. A fat and bulging file. Hai.. don't think the scrap book will be happened anytime soon.

All the paper memorabilia

That pink file having problem containing all of these

So what is your collection? 

Again, in the same dilemma

Again, this question pop in my life.

To go or not to go?

Comfort zone or challenging zone?

This time around the difference is the distance.

From 24 hours flight to 2 hours, which is not so bad but still...........

K-Pop Land Trip: Jeju Island

Another trip that I was looking forward in this year is trip to South Korea. It was not easy to get approval from hubby to book the tickets as he didn't think there's many things to see and do in South Korea. After persuading and convinced him that the reason I want to go there NOT because the influence of the K-drama, but the beauty of that country itself, finally he agreed to go. Anybody knows that is not true, of course the one and only reason to go there is because of the influences of K-drama. But on my defense, I only watched less than 10 dramas which does not qualify me as K-drama addict (unlike my mom!). Haha...

Anyway, after searching the best dates to see the autumn foliage, waiting anxiously for the Air Asia Sale, endless review reading and comprehensive itinerary discussion, finally the time has come. We went to 2 part of South Korea, Jeju Island and Seoul. For this part, I will cover Jeju Island first.

Jeju Island is like Hawaii for South Korea people. They went there for honeymoon and the weather is slightly warmer than in Seoul. Initially we want to go there after Seoul but after consulting few friends that went there before, they advised to go before Seoul. We booked the flight ticket a month before. I was thinking of doing the adventure trip which is by taking KTX train from Seoul to Busan, then take a ferry to Jeju. The KTX train to Busan takes around 2 hours, but the ferry from Busan to Jeju takes 8 hours! So we decided to take flight there which is around 1 hour only.

Arrived in Incheon International Airport around 8am and our flight to Jeju is around 2 pm. Purposely took longer buffer as we need to change airport and didn't want to rush just in case the flight from KL delay. This is the second time I'm in Incheon International Airport. The first one was a transit to New York few years ago which I had food poisoning when traveling alone. One of the worst experience, pulling luggage in and out of toilet and finally slept on the bench dehydrated. So this time around I was able to explore more of the airport than the toilets.. Haha.

Took our sweet time in Incheon before took the train to Gimpo International Airport. After checking in for our flight, we decided to find lunch. This is the first challenge of food finding. After walking round surveying the food (which is not much since Gimpo is quite small), we finally settled for a plate of what looked like sotong masak merah with rice. The menu written in Korean but there is a number at the side. After memorizing the number, we went in and realized it's a food court. How do we know which stall selling this squid? Then light bulb moment. I took a picture of that food and showed the cashier that I want this. She was quite amused and told us to go to the specific stall. Success!

We arrived at Jeju International Airport around 4pm and followed the instruction from Yeha Tour, a company I used to rent a car, off we went to the parking lot. I thought it will be easy but when I arrived at the designated parking lot, I saw at least 7 rent-a-car company vans that converted to mini office. I have no idea which one is ours. Suddenly it become like Amazing Race. With luggage in our hand, trying to match the Korean word in the email with every white van. Finally we found our van with a help of another van. Our car rental company showed us the car (we got Hyundai Sonata..yuhuu), trying to explain to us in limited English and lots of acting and sounds (with his friend laughing beside him) and finally off we go. The GPS was included in the rental but it was in Korean. The good news is this is South Korea and their technology is way ahead. By using telephone number of the place that we want to go, the GPS can bring you there. So jot down all the telephone number and just key in into the GPS. He gave us the map of Jeju in Korean but with telephone number. We brought Jeju map in English without telephone number. At the end, the matching game of two maps was our main activity before any trip.

My hotel in Jeju is Little France Hotel which located in Seogwipo and located at the other side of Jeju-do city where the airport is located. It took around an hour from airport to the hotel as we have to cross Mount Hallasan which is located in the middle of the island. The view was so beautiful. We were oohh and ahhh along the way. When there's a scenic view, we would stopped and took some picture. That was the best part of driving your own versus tour group and public transport.

Loveland... Definitely 18sx..

Before we went to the other side of the island aka Seogwipo, we went to the Loveland first as it was located in Jeju-do. It's a park filled with sex theme sculptures  which definitely not suitable for below 18 years old. Haha. Then drive through the so called Mysterious Road which seriously I didn't understand what the fuss is all about. There's a lot of tour bus though so I told my husband to just drove away.

The next day we started early as there's a lot to cover. The size of Jeju Island is about 3 times of Singapore and it has a lot of natural wonders. It has many inactive volcanoes which over the years has created a beautiful landscape. We started with Cheonjeyeon Waterfall. It was in the middle of green lush with 3 waterfalls and Seonimgyo Bridge. The weather was so nice and it was so relaxing to walk around.

Seonimgyo Bridge

Cheonjeyeon Waterfall

Next we drove to Mount Songaksan along the coastal road. The water was so blue and from far you can see the Mount Songaksan rising tall contrasting the bright blue ocean. On the right of the road is Mount Sanbangsan. We thought we can drive up to the top of Mount Songaksan, but actually not. So we decided to save energy and not to hike to the top. 

Lunch was next. According to the map, there's a seafood restaurant nearby. Once arrived, the waitress can't speak a single word of English beside pork and chicken. And there's no menu. Tried to order fish and end up acting the word fish to get the message across. Luckily she understood and brought us the best fish I ever taste. Seriously, it tasted a bit like asam pedas but not the same. She just not brought us the fish, but tofu soup, fish ball and so many other things! Andddd that was the cheapest food we had in this whole South Korea trip. Only Korean Won 10,000. If you compare apple to apple, it's like 10 ringgit. 

Yummy lunch.. the soup hasn't arrived..

Satisfied with delicious and cheap lunch we proceed to our next destination, Jungmun Daepo Columnar Jointed Lava. It was mind blowing! The rocks looked like a rectangular column being stacked together. Masya Allah, it's actually from the lava flowing and after few thousand years, it become like that. The beauty of Allah's creation.

Cantik kan

While trying to find Jungmun Daepo, we drove in front The Seaes Hotel where the filming of Secret Garden was held. I was like some crazy fan pointing to the hotel while unamused driver calmly drove by, until my husband gave me an option to go in and took some pictures. Macam orang mengantuk disorong bantal, mesti la nak kan. Waaaa... such as beautiful hotel. Took some pictures from far (konon tak nak nampak macam groupies sangat).

This is the location of Secret Garden....

Jeongbang Waterfall

Next destination was Jeongbang Waterfall. Ok, there are a lot of waterfall in Jeju. We decided to go to 2 only. This waterfall is quite unique coz it flows to the ocean. Supposedly one of the few waterfall that flows direct to ocean in Asia. Saw people selling and eating so food at the foot of the waterfall, but not sure what's that, so we just ignored.

Second last destination of the day was Jeju Folk Village Museum. We cheated a bit and took a short cut. Apparently this is where drama Jewel in the Palace was shot. I didn't watch it so I was not so crazy about this place. It has the model of the traditional village of Jeju. I just didn't understand why different type of occupation have different type of house. It showed that I don't really like history. Haha.

Jeju Folk Village Museum

The last destination and the one that my husband has kept his energy was Seongsan Ilchulbong Peak (Seongsan Sunrise Peak). It was known to have the best view of sunrise in Jeju. Of course if you want to wake up at 4am to catch the sunrise. I didn't climb to the top coz of health reason so husband climbed to the top and took a lot of pictures and video for me. Then the sun started to set behind Mount Hallasan and it was awesome and it is also mean it is getting colder. I was waiting at the foot of the Seongsan freezing cold while waiting for the hubby to get down. Once he got down I rushed to the car. Couldn't stand the cold anymore. We ate dinner around that area before going back to hotel.

That's the peak...

It's actually an inactive volcano. This is the crater that now looks like a field in the middle of it.

The thing about Jeju Island is tat the halal food is hard to find and most of them are located at Jeju-do. But seafood is abundant. So seafood become our main food in Jeju. 

Dinner... More seafood.

The next morning after check out we decided to drive around Jeju-do. GPS brough us different route to Jeju-do, still crossing Mount Hallasan but different view. Still oohhh and aahhh along the way. Jeju Island is definitely beautiful around autumn season. Orange, red, yellow and green seems to blend nicely and created a shady canopy along the road. 

The view along the way

Decided to go to  airport direct as traffic was quite heavy in Jeju-do compared to Seogwipo. End up driving around for LPG station to top up before returning the car. All petrol and LPG station are local company. No Shell in sight! Returned the rental car and flew to Seoul with 12.25 pm flight.

Pheww... I am in the mood of writing, hence the long post =)

Honeymoon in Mekah & Madinah

Quite frequent we read in magazine when an artist got married, they would said that they are going honeymoon in Mekah and Madinah. When I read that, the first thing that came out of my mind that how do they want to do that. Honeymoon is always associated with sexy time, spending most of the time in the room than outside and stuff that not suitable to be done in Holy Land. But then I never been to Mekah and Madinah with my husband previously, so I was naive about it.

However, my perspective changed when I went Umrah with my husband early this year. I forgot that honeymoon is not just about lust but about love and spending time with each other. Morever it was at the holiest place on earth and it become one of the best trip that I ever had with my husband.

Arriving at the airport and looking around at our group, I whispered to my husband, do you want to bet that people will think that we are newly weds. True enough, few hours after that some ladies asked me if I just got married. Hehe. Perasan muda.

How do I describe the feeling of honeymoon in Mekah and Madinah? It was different from others. We woke up each other to prepare for Suboh prayer every morning, reminded each other to read Quran and discussed how many umrah we want to do. Everywhere we went - to Masjidil Haram, Nabawi, during tawaf and saie, I always hold his arm (the upper arm - where the sleeves are - supaya tak batal air sembahyang). Everywhere we went, we always went together until I was chased out from the barber shop coz that was for men only. The mutawwif even asked us to seat separately during our first ihram to prevent unnecessary event that might lead to penalty! My husband refused and sat next to me. Of course nothing happened, we were in the bus for God's sake. Haha.

Before the umrah, some of my colleagues advised me to be patient when in Holy Land. She advised me sometimes when we go there, suddenly our husband changed. Allah wanted to show his true colour and we never ever talk back and always be patient with our husband as that is part of the umrah process. I prayed deep in my heart, please Allah, please don't change my husband to worse, please change to the best. Alhamdulillah, Allah change my husband to the best husband ever. He never let my hand go no matter how pack the crowd was, bought me food when I was not feeling well and always take care of me.

You know what is the best part of this trip, the five times daily prayer trips. Everyday we will go to either Masjidil Haram or Nabawi, my hand in his arm, walked to the masjid and parted at the gate or door (depending which masjid). Then after prayer, we will meet again at the same door or gate. We devised a timing system so that we can met at the same time. I didn't buy local sim card, so there was no communication thru handphone (and in Masjid Nabawi, women can't bring in handphone with camera, so I left mine in the hotel). What we have is just trust each other that we will meet at the promised time and place. One time I got lost in Masjidil Haram, I almost cried coz I didn't find that door and I don't know how to contact my husband. Luckily I remembered the door number and when I finally found that door, almost half an hour later, I saw the love of my life standing there waiting for me. That was the best feeling ever!

Coming back from the umrah trip, I was down with Influenza B and was quarantined in SDMC for almost a week. My husband took care of me the whole time even though he himself was sick but surprising enough not caught the deadly virus. I really felt bad coz he has to sleep on that uncomfortable sleeping care every night so that I was not alone.

So my conclusion is, Mekah and Madinah is the best place for honeymoon. It gave you a different kind of feeling that you will never have with other places. The best part is the experience and memories that we build along the way, the stories we shared and the enlighnment we have from Allah. In shaa Allah we will be there again. So do you =)

Wedding car at Madinah. The ustaz forced us to take picture with the car. Haha..