2015 Snapshot

In just couple hours, it'll be another year.

Yay, 2016. New Year, New Adventure!

2015 in review.

As of January, I started my duty as research assistant (RA) to a wonderful Assoc. Prof. Dr Zu ( well, to at least 4 another Dr as well (Dr Lia, Dr Azida, Dr Bell & Prof Normah). I was in my final semester and Dr Zu said, she needed me for a big project coming in April. February and March was filled with so many promotions of the training, appointment, meetings with the statutory bodies and whatnot, I lost count on the international calls that we made. Operating in UK time while living in Malaysia is a bit challenging, but it's all worth it when the event & training goes smoothly without any glitch. United Kingdom is calling, hence, come April, I visited United Kingdom as committee member for a training provided by the institution I'm working at, ARI. Thanks to ARI, I got to visit, Ireland, France, Qatar and of course the UK.  May and June was packed with the report for the training and conference that we held in the UK. I went on a trip back to South Korea, my second home in July.. It was during Islam's fasting month and Korea's hottest month..urgh.worst combo! Then, took a trip to Krabi Island with my ARI team in August. My birthday was spent with my close buddy in Thailand! September was when we sent Mira to the UK, she's doing her master in Oxford Brookes now. Come October, it was Paul Barnes turn to visit ARI for two weeks. Delegates from Universitas Indonesia, Dr Ancella and Dr. Dian visited ARI to discuss on the upcoming Four A events. That time around, the CEO of Al-Baik Food System, Mr Rami Abu Ghazaleh visited ARI with her daughter. November is the time for Four A in Bandung, Indonesia. Dr. Ancella's team from Universitas Indonesia were the proud organizer of the event. My family and I went to Vietnam in December. My team won gold medal at the MIIEX 2015, phew all the sweat and tears! and the ICONIgS Conference 2015 that ARI's been planning with UiTM Melaka went well! Yay!  up till now, my life as a RA was filled with designing training & attending conferences, submitting publications, publishing reports, meeting & entertaining delegates from all over the world. Who would ever thought that preparing for an event seems like such a fun challenge now, well at least I never ever imagine my life would be like this a year ago. It's a great year, I learn a lot and matured too.  God sure knows better! Alhamdulillah. And with that, I welcome the year 2016! Please be great.

YEAR END SALE! Nak perabih stok oii ~

YEAR END SALE before the monsoon hit east coast. Stok terhad dah ni and all must go! Lepas ni kena bersedia kemungkinan banjir di Kelantan. Lama la pulak nak restok barang ni. Jom Jom, cepat2 whatsapp Fiqah Lee @ 013-9562695 . Posting semua before Krismas aka Insyaallah sebelum musim banjir.

2 super model mascara

3 iron curve mascara

2 super black eyeliner  SOLD OUT!

3 lady m v shape

2 platinum

1 diva

2 gold  bb

2 mousse bb

2 aquara

8 rice milk soap + collagen

12 rice milk soap

2 asantee rice milk soap + collagen

SERIOUS BUYER ONLY!!  Ramai yang buat naya, suruh Fiqah hold stok, cakap nak bayar sekian2,, tup3, senyaaaaappp sunyi.. tak baik camtu tau >_<"

Trekking Bukit Keluang

Bukit Keluang is located in Kampung Raja in the district of Besut. Approximately 30 minutes drive from Jerteh (nearest town), an hour from Kota Bharu or 2 hours from Kuala Terengganu. It is also not very far from the jetty to Perhentian Islands in Kuala Besut.

Since Kuala Besut is just half an hour drive from my house, I decided to go there with my sister during Merdeka Day long weekends. It was an impromptu hike in a way.

From my very little and last minutes readings, there are two way to reach to the top. One is via the stair that is located near the Bukit Keluang beach, and another one is via 'jalan orang kampung or jalan belakang' as the local says. 

After feasting on nasi dagang Ganu near the jetty, wearing jeans and beach fliplop, we head to Bukit Keluang. Without further ado, full stomach, little stretching, we chose the stair path near the beach on our way up. Phew, after the first 10 staircases, I started to questioned our decision to do this . My sister keep convincing me that it'll be worth it. So we hiked at snail pace, more resting and catching up our breath involved later on. I kept questioning our decision to hike through out the hiking. Be mind that, the steep staircases is just the beginning. More steep jungle trek coming our way. We met many people going down via that path.

Just look at how steep it is

The steep jungle trek near the beach

Halfway there, catching my breath,phew!

The view halfway through the jungle course.

Thought we reach the peak, naah,not yet!

Little bit more hiking

After hiking and trekking the jungle for about 20-30 minutes, we finally reach at the top. My oh my! The view is rewarding. My sister is so true, it's worth the hike, It's 9.30am when we reach the top. It's was scorching hot but still many people hanging around beneath the hotness. We snap some photos and we head down via 'jalan belakang/jalan orang kampung'.

Bukit Keluang peak, DONE!

Rewarding view isn't it.

'Seoul is just 4611km away'

Interestingly we met soooo many people treking up to the top via 'jalan belakang' path as it's a lot less challenging and very close to the top. Turn out, that's the norm. Go up via jalan kampung and go down via steep path. Bummer!! It took us less than 10minutes to go down the hill via jalan belakang, and we felt so silly because we spent so much time hiking the steep-physically challenging path in our flip flop!

Yay, till then!

p/s: wear sport shoes for the best hiking experience! :P

Sawadika Krabi!

KRABI WITH ARI’S FAMILY!

 “There are years that ask questions, and years that answers”.

Hello. This year, many of my prayers got answered. I prayed for strength to go through the difficult time, HE granted me with great examiners that gave me A for my thesis. 

Oh My. Alhamdulillah. (Pergh,intro.)

It’s been more than 6 months that I worked for/with ARI in UiTM Shah Alam. My lecturers are the best ever. So does my RA colleagues! We’re like one big family. Even though I’m a little bit afraid of getting all close and affectionate with them, I just couldn’t help it. I love being loved and returning it. Love is all we need, isn’t it?

So back to the title, Dr Lia asked the lovely Zyzie to organize a short vacation to anywhere, just anywhere. This is because, her son, Imad and Dr Zu's Ijud are back on semester break from the USA and she wanted to go on a vacation together. To add more fun, of course she needs (MUST) to invite us. Considering the exchange rate, cost and the paxs that are interested to join our trip, we chose Krabi, Thailand.

Sawadekaa,first thing first. Zyzie booked the flight tickets plus insurances. But the ticket prices varied as the guest list keep getting longer, until we reach 23 paxs. Yes, we travel in group of 23 people and the Oscar Villa that we’re staying at had a great amount of headache entertaining us on arrival. 6 villas and 3 shuttle vans to cater us. Phew. Thank you so much Oscar Villa!

Day 1.

We decided to park & ride at ERL Putrajaya since it’s convenient and cheaper! We managed to catch the first train to KLIA 2 at 4.51am and arrived at the airport 20 minutes later. Everybody was at the airport by 5.30am since our flight was at 7am. Krabi, here we go!

Upon arrival, 3 shuttle vans were waiting for us. Our accommodation is near Ao Nang beach. Not THAT close, it’s 15minutes by tuk-tuk or 10minutes by van. We opted for Oscar Villa due to our big group. Initially we wanted to go for packages bargain at Ao Nang’s as per suggested by many. However, Oscar Villa offered us their service & packages at much discounted price, we figured, no need to bargain at Ao Nang anymore.

Right away we booked for elephant trekking and night market activity.

At 11 am, our shuttle vans came to pick us up to Safari Elephant Trekking. We had so much fun out in the scorching hot, riding elephant, trekking hills nearby for 1 hour. Then we’re back to our villa, enjoying the villa and refreshing ourselves before the vans came again at 5pm. To Krabi Town night market!

 

Day 2.

Today is reserved for island hopping and snorkeling. Even though Krabi is well-known for Phi-Phi Island and many more famous islands, we opted for less famous ones in our hope to avoid more people. Well, our group alone is already 23 paxs without our guides. We chose Hong Islands. An old school bus pick us up at the villa! 

We’re supposed to start our tour at 8am, but due to bad weather, we only get to depart from the shore by 11am. I must say, Krabi is for relaxing, sightseeing and island hopping, not snorkeling. There are literally no coral but beautiful emerald colored water so it kinda set it off.

 

Back from our island hopping, we went to Ao Nang town searching for more great food! Yummy! Hooray for the many halal eateries! Dr Lia and Dr Bell, went searching for massage parlor and found a great place that offer tip top service at super great price! We booked for a session the next day.

 

Day 3

Our activity for day 3 was just Emerald Pool & Hot Spring tour.As usual, vans pick us up at 8am after we had our breakfast. First stop is the Hot Spring. Wow. 

 

After that we went to the Emerald Pool. My oh my, it wasn’t just name! The color is no joke, insane! We had great time playing in the water. The almost 1km walk to the pool was worth it. 

 

We also visited the Blue Pool. And we kept on clapping and making sounds so that the pool produces air bubbles. Wow amazing!

It was my birthday on the 4th August, so the youngster group decided to go out for a FEAST dinner and they also treated me with cake from Ao Nang's starbucks. I was touched when they sang me happy birthday outside the shop. Thank a million guys!

Day 4.

It was free and easy day. Everyone could just go wherever they want. Us 5 girls decided to go for Full-body coffee scrub, 2 hours Thai massage and 30 minutes facial, all for less than 1000 bhat. My gosh. I love it. 

Until then, bye bye Krabi!

(2-5 August 2015)