Wa Tell Tales

49th Anniversary of Malaysia Day

8:42 AM

My husband came home one day and handed over to me one invitation card from The Malaysian Ambassador to Kuwait.

:: Ha ha okey tak kelakar! ::

:: The translation ::

It is an invitation for a double celebration event hosted by the embassy in conjunction of 55th Anniversary of National Day of Malaysia and also 49th Anniversary of Malaysia Day. The event is hosted for all ambassadors in Kuwait and few selected Malaysian. The reason we got the invitation is because my husband is a treasurer for Malaysia Association of Kuwait (MAK).

:: We too, have KLCC here hee hee hee ::

The night started with arrival of guests, National Anthem song by both countries, Kuwait and Malaysia followed by cake cutting ceremony. And then guests started to roam around the banquet hall socializing, exchanging name cards and contacts and spreading networking.

:: His Excellency Dato' Adnan Haji Othman and his spouse Datin Azlinda Rosli ::

Instead of sit down service, the concept for the dinner was more like station service where each station features a different kind of Malaysian authentic cuisine with banquet server standing by to serve the guests. Cocktail tables was set up around the ballroom so the guest can mingle around while enjoying their meal.

Among Malaysian delicacies prepared that night were as follows. The menu was tailor made by Datin Azlinda herself and she even "turun padang" to The Regency kitchen to help guiding the chefs and kitchen staff with the recipe and the preparation few days before the event.

:: Chicken and beef satay ::

:: One of the embassy's staff, Kak Gee generously helped to prepare two types of Malaysian dessert which is Kueh Seri Muka and Kueh Lapis as pictured above ::

Although most of the delicacies ended up tasted far cry from our authentic version, the effort and courages shown by the chefs and his staff deserved some recognition.

:: Demo on the making of roti jala ::

:: Husband with representative from Brunei Embassy ::

:: New member on board, Mei Ling who just arrived at Kuwait for just 3 days during the event-Zaza-Nazar-yours truly and Kak Gee ::

:: The owner of most pictures used in this post aka official photographer for the night, Mr Megat and his lovely wife Kak Mala ::

:: Hubby with Mr Mohi ::

:: Wife to Somalia ambassador ( if I'm not mistaken) ::

Since the event involving a lot of ambassadors and VVIPs, it's only natural that the banquet hall was flooded with press and photographers from major newspaper doing their coverage. As expected, the event appeared in most of newspapers the very next day and one of it Al-Watan. This is my second appearance in international newspaper and the first was during Malaysian Food Bazar last spring so this is indeed a memorable event I shall cherish my whole life. Being a home maker isn't really that bad eh he he he...

Happy Independance Day and Malaysia Day to all my fellow countrymen. May Allah bless our country and showered us with peaceful and righteous ruler.

P/S : Picture credit to Mr Megat and Mr Muddy..

Up, close and personal with alps

2:09 AM

As Salam..

Today, we will be visiting Jungfrau or The Top of Europe as it famously called. We were reminded to bring with us our thick jacket, gloves, suitable shoes and muffler as we'll be spending the rest of our day on the snowy mountain. I recalled mentioning before about my daunting experience packing our clothes for this trip as we'll be going through roller coaster of weather. It could be cold or hot the whole day or at some days, it will be hot during our morning trip, freezing cold in the afternoon and warm in the evening. So, what I did was, I packed 2 jackets for each of us. One type to be use for mild and chilly to rainy weather and another type for extreme temperature just like the one we're going to today. Another tip is go for layers so you can always take out layer by layer or keep adding on layers based on weather around you.

We were told that we would make two stops before climbing up to Jungfrau. The first stop is Interlaken and the second one isTrummelBach Falls, the only glacier waterfalls in Europe, cascading through the mountain. In was indeed a short stop at Interlaken where you can buy high quality Swiss watch like or swiss knives or other souvenirs cheaper from it's boutique price. There's something for every one and every pocket.

Next, our bus stopped at the designated parking area at Trummel Bach Falle and we had to walk further in and climbed up some 440 steps of stairs to reach the waterfall where we will then be taken further up by an elevator.

:: Melting glazier. The sound it's produced, Masya Allah. So loud and powerful my girls was petrified to the point of crying. They refused anything I asked them to. Don't want to take photo, don't want to watch the falls, don't want to even go near the railing, heck they don't even want to move. Therefore most of our photo here contained my husband and me. Mostly me he he he ::

:: The one and only family photo. Clearly not the girls best pose but boleyyyy lah dari takde. Tu pun puas paksa. They just refused to come near to the rail Alis even shed a tears. Sighhh dramatic sungguh lah ::

:: Melting glazier find it's way out of the mountain through holes an opening like this ::

After spending around 45 minutes here, we went back to put gathering point, hop on bus and were taken to Lauterbrunnen train station.

:: Enjoying ice cream despite the chilly weather. Kids and ice cream = inseparable! You can buried them in snow yet they'll still asking for one ::

We need to take 2 trains up. First one is the one like the picture above. It's like public train where you can purchased the ticket from the booth. Then we need to got off and board another train. Red cogwheel train. This one is only for those who came under group because you need to charter the car. Each group will be given one car which will be labelled with tour company's name we're travelling under.

As we started ascending, the view was just picture perfect and jaw dropping. I understood now why Allah s.w.t asked us to travel, even in Quran there's a verses about importance of travel.

In Verses 29: 19-20 of the Holy Quran, Allah, praise to Him, has commanded us to travel through the Earth to study how He began His creation, in order to explain to us how He can repeat it again in the Hereafter. Thus, Anthropology, biology, geology, and all other sciences which investigate how the solar system started and how life began and has continued on our planet represent an implementation of this divine command.

أَوَلَمْ يَرَوْا كَيْفَ يُبْدِئُ اللَّـهُ الْخَلْقَ ثُمَّ يُعِيدُهُ ۚ إِنَّ ذَٰلِكَ عَلَى اللَّـهِ يَسِيرٌ ﴿العنكبوت ، 29: 19﴾.

قُلْ سِيرُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ فَانظُرُوا كَيْفَ بَدَأَ الْخَلْقَ ۚ ثُمَّ اللَّـهُ يُنشِئُ النَّشْأَةَ الْآخِرَةَ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّـهَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ ﴿العنكبوت ، 29: 20﴾.

Do they not see how Allah begins the Creation, then repeats it? That is easy for Allah (to do) (Al-'Ankaboot, 29: 19).

Say: "Travel through the Earth and see how He began the Creation. Then, Allah makes the latter Creation. Allah is capable of (doing) everything" (Al-'Ankaboot, 29: 20).

:: Picture perfect ::

:: I was mesmerized all along and just can't take my eyes off the mountain ::

After a few stations, we had to change our ride and board the red cog wheel train to go further up into mountain.

:: Everyone we stumbled along the way waves at us made us feel very welcoming ::

:: I was given a crash course on physic and railway track course by hubby. This kinda bergerigi track needed in order to made possible for the train to climb up steep mountain. Baiklah boss! ::

There's a few stations ( Kleine Scheidegg, Eigergletscher, Eigernordwand, Eismeer and Jungfraujoch ) along the tunnel and we made a few stops on our way up. Each stop took around 2-3 minutes. We can board off the train and took pictures or even went to the loo provided but must board the train back within the given time. Train inspector on duty will make round at each station to make sure no one was left behind.

:: Eigerwand station. Eiger means "sharp" or "pointed" in Latin and also could mean "own" in Germany ::

:: Mr Mohan sorta forced everyone to take a photo with the red cogwheel train and also a picture climbing up the train. He said it is a MUST! Well, I am more than happy to obey to this one particular instruction of his ::

:: Deep in the alps stomach ::

We reached the highest station which is Jungfraujoch in no time. Everyone gathered for a while for a short briefing by Mr Mohan who basically tell us what time to gather and where. It's free and easy for the rest of the afternoon so there's no itinerary to follow. We can plan on how to spent the rest of our afternoon up tour liking.

First and foremost, the most important activity upon reaching the mountain top is none other than lunch ha ha ha. We were not really hungry but the cold temperature and changes of pressure made us crave for hot steamy food and so we were taken to Bollywood Restaurant for lunch before anything else. It's Indian theme restaurant of course with buffet style. Both adults and kids pay the same price regardless of your kids age. There's white rice, with few selection of curries to choose, dhal, salads and paratha. It goes without saying that I opted for rice hihihih but I took paratha with dhal for the girls. The lack of oxygen and the pressure started taken it's toll on us especially the kids. We started to get dizzy and sleepy but Erin is the worst.

:: She was chewing her paratha and suddenly fell asleep, with paratha still in her mouth. I made few attempts to wake her up so she can at least finish her eating but to no avail. She just can't help it lah. Macam mabuk pun ader. Kesian betol nengok. She can't even control her mouth and got slivers all over her face ha ha ha. Kesiannnn anak saya ::

:: Nom nom nom ::

After lunch, we immediately started our tour. If you must know, apart from playing with snow, there's few other interesting spot you can visit here. Honestly, we did skipped some of it especially the "less interesting" because the girls was itching to play with snow immediately.

We spent good few hours up there and here's a glimpse at those hours, best told through photograph.

:: Cinematic immersion in the Alpine Sensation ::

:: Little dream of Switzerland or in the girls's languange : Giant snow globe he he he ::

:: History of Jungfrau Railway. This wall is a tribute to the tunnel workers who made the impossible turned reality ::

The wall featuring events that was held here ::

:: Alpine Sensation ::

After the tour inside the tunnel, we decided to pay a visit to the highest deck in Jungfrau. No regret! The view is to die for.

:: Sphinx Observatory. You need to take a lift to here. I think the elevator took less that 30 seconds to reach the top. From this terrace you'll witness probably among the few best views in the world ::

:: We were inside the mountain all this while and suddenly it was sooooooo bright outside I can't help but squinting my eyes. Now I understand why they reminded us to take our sunglasses with us ::

And as for the rest of the day, there's nothing else the girls rather do than buried themselves in the snow. Us, adults were no exception. Jakun lah katakan! You have no idea how long we've been waiting for this day.

:: Ein with her master piece ::

:: Flying fox station ::

:: with borrowed prop from Ein :) ::

:: Snow cave ::

:: Tapau-ing some snow for nenek and atuk at Malaysia ::

:: Who need refrigerator here? ::

As can be seen, we don't really geared in proper attire for extreme climate like this. I was thinking that well, since we won't be spending overnight in the snowy environment, probably 2-3 hours the most, MAYBE we won't be needing to doll ourselves in complete snow attire. Thermal pant, water proof socks, suitable pants or snow boots might sounded a little extreme but guess what, you will need ALL those mentioned stuff even if you were just going to spend your time outside for merely 10 minutes! Served us right..

However, lack of proper attire doesn't stop the girls from enjoying themselves. Afterall, we still have 2 mountains we're going to visit in Chamonix after we done with Florence and Rome so I promised the girls I'll get them proper attire later.

Time flew in a blink and we need to get back inside. On our way to the station hall, we decided to visit the Ice Palace. Wrong move! Melting snow caused our pants and socks soaked big time and just imagine wearing wet clothes into an airconditioned room. Got the idea? Okay now multiply that shivering feeling by 50 times more. Ain't pretty!

:: Too cold, too much too endure! Kids turned blue ::

:: It was freezing cold it started to feel numb especially in my face area. I lost control to my facial and my face started to produce weird expression. Not a smile and not a smirk, more like I'm in pain which is probably the most suitable term to describe what we're feeling that time. Too cold it's painful. Kids were crying, wailing and begging us to get out to which I obliged immediately. I think we find ice sculpture even in Kuwait so let's pass Ice palace ::

:: The only picture that turned okay and worthy to post. The rest was either shaky or blurry ::

:: Nothing beats warm toasty room and hot piping coffee in this extreme climate. Bliss... and ohh Alis's smiles is back :) ::

While waiting for the rest of the group, we spent our time resting, sipping hot coffee and uploading our picture in Facebook ha ha ha. They even provided free wifi here. My husband discovered it first and told Yuzly and me. It's contagious! Soon enough, the rest of the group was seen staring on phone, typing, key-in and facebooking. Geezzz, I guess our generation can survived without anything but internet!

It's time to go back down so each of us went to get our passport stamped. We were handed Jungfrau Passport each while we arrived and we can get it stamped at the stamping station before we leave. It makes a very nice souvenir you see.