Share this:

Marrakech

Marrakech was my first city in Morocco. I stayed in Almas Hotel around Gueliz area for 2 nights. The hotel is situated near restaurants, convenient shops and other hotels. It was easy to get around Marrakech as this place is very close to the central of Marrakech. It took around 5 minutes of taxi ride to Djemaa el-Fna. By walking, it took us 40 minutes. We just walked leisurely as we discovered so many interesting things along our way to the central part of Marrakech.

The hotel we stayed was clean, comfortable and cozy. The room was spacious and suitable for a small family of three. Breakfast was quite good (but can be a tad boring coz they serve the same breakfast everyday). At night, this area can be busy with people coming to the eateries for dinner.

There are so many amazing things to do in Marrakech. Bahia Palace, Koutoubia Mosque and the Saadian tombs are to list a few.

I visited Kotoubia Mosque on my first day. Kotoubia Mosque is  the largest mosque in Marrakech. It is situated near Medina quarter. The mosque is only open at certain hours. If you are planning to visit the mosque, you should be there after 3pm.  Keep in mind that the inside of mosque is not accessible to non-muslims because it is a functional mosque and prayers are still performed in the mosque. However, you can still roam around the mosque and admire the beauty of it from the outside. The mosque is also known by several other names, such as Jami’ al-Kutubiyah, Kotoubia Mosque, Kutubiya Mosque and Kutubiyyin Mosque.

Kotoubia mosque is ornamented with curved windows, a band of ceramic inlay, pointed merlons, and decorative arches; it has a large plaza with gardens, and is floodlit at night. The minaret, 77 metres (253 ft) in height, includes a spire and orbs. It was completed under the reign of the Berber Almohad Caliph Yaqub al-Mansur (1184 to 1199), and has inspired other buildings such as the Giralda of Seville and the Hassan Tower of Rabat (Wikipedia).

Once you are done with Kotoubia Mosque, head on to Jemaa El Fina and souq Medina which are just across the road. The Jemaa el-Fnaa is Marrakech’s main square and the most important part of the medina. Here, inhabitants and tourists gather both during the day and night to have something to eat, shop or observe the various shows taking place. There are stalls, cafes, hotels and restaurants. This place can be a little bewildering and overwhelming for the first timer. It was okay for me as I had been to Iran before, where the souq and bazaars were massive and noisy, just like this one.

This place is a tourist trap. There are a lot of scammers and con-artists, make a living by scamming tourists. Snake charmers, man in tribal clothes, tourist guides officers are just to list a few. You may want to do some research about scammers and how they trap tourists in this place. The shopkeepers and local can sometimes be pushy and annoyingly persuasive. Be brave to say “No” to refuse them.

My experience in the medina was a little unpleasant. I was approached by a so called “tourist officer” in front of the Koutubia Mosque. He showed us his official badge and told us he did not take money from anyone. He was there to show us around in the medina. We followed him into the alleys and ended up in a Berber Pharmacy. Though we were treated kindly in the pharmacy, I could sense we were conned because they were a little pushy and persuasive, forcing us to buy stuffs sold in there.

I later found out that the price of things in the pharmacy is much much higher than any other shops around. I also found out some of the Argan Oil they sold to us are just a mixture of cheap essential oil and some other oils , coz my skin was mildly burnt when I applied the so called argan oil on my skin🤬

I am sure the “ officer” got his treat by bringing in traffics to that particular shop.

2 days are definitely not enough in Marrakech. You need at least 3 days or more to cover important places.

Tbc…

Share this:

Excellent read about savings in takaful.

Adib Yazid

TAKAFUL UNTUK SIMPANAN OK TAK?

Awas, Status panjang. SHARE jika bermanfaat

Assalamualaikum semua.

Sekarang viral mengenai  ‘Simpanan’ Takaful yang digembar gemburkan oleh sahabat takaful kita.

Benarkah apa yang dikatakan itu? Kenapa?

Pernah tidak seorang ejen belek ringkasan ‘projected savings’ dan menjanjikan ribu raban?

Dari segi teorinya dan ‘by book’ memang itu kita akan dapat. Cuma, dunia tak selalunya indah. There is no guaranteed return in investment kecuali skim sontot. Mari kupas satu per satu.

Sebelum kita beralih kepada jenis takaful, ada dua jenis (setakat pengetahuan saya) yang ada dalam industri bisnes takaful. Investment Link (takaful berkaitan pelaburan) dan Stand-Alone (tradisional dalam bahasa teknikal). Oleh kerana saya tergolong dalam naungan ‘Takaful sum covered puluh ribu’, saya akan ceritakan apa yang saya faham mengenai takaful yang saya wakilkan dan miliki yang tercinta ini,iaitu jenis Investment Link (Pelan Takafulink).

Andaikata kita mencarum ke dalam takaful sebanyak RM210 sebulan dan menyimpan di bank RM210…

View original post 857 more words

Share this:

Anxiety. Can’t sleep. Never I felt this defeated. Things became complicated and I could not fix it. Once I thought I have everything, the next moment I tumbled down and hurt myself. To make things worse, a snowballed avalanche is on its way to get me. And I am just watching it running towards me, waiting for the first hit.

What ever happened to me really makes me question my decision in life.  Did I make a bad decision that lead me to a dead end? If this is a real dead end, how do I know it is a dead end? I might be thinking bad about myself…but then, if it is not a dead end, how confident I am this situation is just temporary? When will it ever end ? How is this going to be? Will I ever come out of it…? So many questions gazing my thoughts.

I am not wrong to feel worried and frustrated because it seems that I do not see any signs of lights at the end of the tunnel. I feel like being succumbed into a deep spiralling vortex and being pulled down to the deepest sh*t.  I did fight to lift myself out of the spiral but I got tired fighting.

But on the other hands, I want to believe  that this change is just temporary. I might be alarmed by the change because I never been here before.

Just like in between dawn and sunrise, there is a total  darkness. The darkness can be a little scary but this is just temporary. Through the darkness one would be able  to see the slightest glimpse of lights. The darkness thought us to believe our sight.

I am now just merely letting it does whatever it needs to do to me. Just like the darkness before sunrise. Let it happen and do its thing. Though I am frustrated with myself, I will never ever allow it to have full control over me.

In this difficult time, there is only one person I missed badly. Dad, I miss you so much. I wish you are here with me. You are my biggest supporter. You are like the brightest star in my journey. I am so lost without you. I am a lost navigator fighting alone in the dark and rough unkñown ocean. I am missing you so terribly dad…. 😢

Share this:

Hello, here I am again. Attempted to write about my recent journey to Morocco. Will try my best to complete this one, as my other travel journals never get completed before.  I  am determined to finish off my travel log this time.

Here is my report about Morocco.

Bismillah…

In November 2018, I went to Morocco for a 10-days vacation. My vacation started in London, where I pit stopped at my friend’s place  in Cirencester and spent 2 days there before en-routing to Morocco. We bound for Marrakech from London Gatwick. The flight took us about 3 hours (we took Easyjet). We arrived at the Menara Airport in Marrakech. There are 2 international airports in Morocco. If you are arriving with a full fledged flight you may be arriving at Mohamed IV Airport International Airport in Casablanca. If you are departing from European countries (with budget airlines) like me, you maybe arriving at Menara Airport, Marrakech. Other domestic airports are  in Fes and Tangier.

Upon arriving, be prepared to be in long queues as the immigration at Menara Airport is fully in manual. Passport checling could easily take up 20-30 minutes. So, if you have someone waiting for you at the arrival hall, let them know that the checking may take some time.

A little bit about Morocco:

Morocco is a North African country bordering the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea, is distinguished by its Berber, Arabian and European cultural influences. Morocco is separated from Europe by Gibraltar Strait.

Most of Moroccans are bilinguals or perhaps polyglots. French is widely spoken along with Modern Standard Arabic and usually either a Berber language or Moroccan Arabic. Moroccan Arabic is a dialect of Arabic that is unique to Morocco, with some things borrowed from the Berber languages. Just like Malay language, which have  a lot of similarities with Indonesian language and Tagalog. Some words have similar meaning, while some other words are borrowed from other languages too.

The indigenous people of Morocco is called the Amazigh or Berber. Berber people have been living in North Africa for centuries, historically living in the mountain areas but in more recent times many have moved to the cities and live a modern life. The official languages of Morocco are Berber and Arabic. French is widely spoken along with Spanish and English.

In Morocco, the main currency in use is Morrocan Dirham (MAD). USD and Euro are widely accepted in stores and restaurants, however it is more advisable to use their local currency for better value of money. As I observed, things tend to get overpriced when it is charged in foreign currencies. To change into MAD, you have to bring acceptable foreign currencies like USD, Euro or Pound and do currency exchange at the Morocccan airports.

Upon arrival, we were greeted by our taxi guy. The hotel we stayed arranged a pick-up for us. The distance from Menara Airport to our hotel is just around 15 minutes of driving. Marrakech is very near to Menara Airport. Most grand taxi (big taxis) charges around 150 to 300 MAD from airport to the city. I haggled taxi fare with the hotel (as he volunteered to arrange pick up for us). I tried 100 MAD, but he gave me 150 MAD for 3 people. Fair enough. Petite taxi use meter and the fare is usually around 70 – 150 MAD They don’t use meter sometimes when they pick up tourist. When you take taxi in Morocco, please ask the fare before you get into the cab. Try to haggle for the fare as they tend to overcharge tourists.

Visa – Malaysian does not need Visa to enter Morocco. But you need to complete arrival form when you touch down in Morocco. This standard form is also used when you are checking-in into hotel.

TBC…

 

Share this:

 

Share this:

This is such a beautiful random music. I prefer this rendition better than others..and added this to my playlist 😊

 

 

Share this:

Lamanya aku tak update blog ni. Bersawang, berhabuk dan dah berpenunggu 🙂

I suddenly feel the connection to write again, after my silence in social media for  quite sometimes. I am back now, and I hope to write more stuff in  here.

Since after my last unfinished update about Switzerland 3 years ago (I did Switzerland in 2014), I have been to more places;  to count a few Athens, Beijing, Mumbai, Tehran and the recent one was Morocco. I don’t think I can continue with my Catatan Swiss amymore since I may have forgotten the details of my journey. Such a bummer, I know.

I have made some small notes about Beijing, Athens and Iran trips in FB travel group. I need to search back my posts before I could post it here when time permits.

I hope I will have more leisure time to do writing in 2019. Next year, I want to stay focus and stay connected to my inner self. InsyaAllah.

Thank you and goodbye 2018, you have been good to  me.

Share this:

Dari Lauterbrunnen ke Jungfraujoch

Ada 2 routing menuju ke Jungfrau:

Interlaken OST – Grinderwald – Kleine Scheidegg (tukar train untuk ke Jungfraujoch) – Jungfraujoch

atau;

Interlaken OST – Lauterbrunnen – Kleine Scheidegg – Jungfraujoch

Cara yg terbaik adalah mengikut jalan yg berbeza i.e. Interlaken OST- Grinderwald–Kleine Scheidegg —Jungfrau kemudian turun melalui Lauterbrunen- Interlaken OST atau vice versa. Di Kleine Scheidegg anda akan menaiki train Jungfrau Railway, yang akan membawa anda ke Jungfraujoch , Top of Europe dalam masa setengah jam.

Untuk melengkapkan 2 routing berbeza ni, elok la bertolak awal pagi dari tempat anda supaya anda mempunyai cukup masa. Ini kerana, descending train terakhir dari Jungfrau akan mula turun pada pukul 5 pm, so jika anda tiba lewat di Jungfrau takut tak puas pula nak cover Jungfrau. I would say you should at least stay 3 hours at Jungfrau station alone.

Jangan jadi mcm aku, lurus bendul. Naik dan turun Jungfraujoch ikut jalan yg sama i.e. melalui Lauterbrunnen. Aku miss routing melalui Grinderwald. Rugi rasanya. Tak apa lah, lain kali la kot , kalau ada rezeki menjejakkan kai ke Swiss lagi,

Sepanjang perjalanan naik ke Jungfrau, pemandangannya sangat magnificent. Walaupun ketika aku ke Swiss sudah masuk musim summer, tapi salji2 di lereng2 puncak Alps masih membeku. Tak pernah seumur hidup aku terfikir akan melihat permandangan putih salju di depan mata aku.

Perjalanan naik ke Jungfraujoch, mengambil masa lebih kurang setengah jam je. Di stesen Jungfraujoch anda akan berpeluang melihat lereng Alps dari menara kaca yang dibina di lereng bukit. Putih seputih2nya. Tak pernah aku tengok suasana yg sangat putih. Hehe over kan..

Selepas lebih kurang 5 minit berhenti di sini, Train ke stesen seterusnya iaitu Jungfraujoch, Top of the World. Di sini ada beberapa paltform atau level yg harus anda lawat. Take your time to visit all levels.

Mari melawat Jungfrau.

Interlaken

Hari ni aku nak ke Jungfrau. Jungfrau terletak di canton Bernese Oberland. Dari Zurich nak ke Jungfrau mengambil masa dalam 3 jam lebih. Jadi jika nak ke Jungfrau dinasihatkan keluar pagi2. Masa paling sesuai nak ke Jungfrau adalah ketika cuaca terang sebab permandangan di Jungfrau sangat spectacular waktu cuaca cerah. Kalau mendung atau hujan, kabus tebal akan menyelimuti Jungfrau, jadi tak berapa nampak seluruh kawasan pergununngan Jungfraujoch tu.

Aku bangun pagi2. Pkl 9 am aku dah siap2 nak keluar (pagi la sangat pkl 9am tu…). Aku menuju ke Main Hb untuk breakfast. Nasi yang Mr Imad tu aku dah makan pagi2 tadi. Lapar betul. Mungkin sebab banyak berjalan dan tak makan heavy berhari-hari, aku jadi cepat lapar. Hotel tempat aku tinggal  ada sediakan breakfast tapi mahal sangat sebab satu meal breakfast dalam 17 franc atau bersamaan lebih kurang MYR60.

Macam biasa aku beli Croissant dan air mineral. Hotel tempat aku tinggal takde sediakan kettle. So memang terpaksa berbelanja beli air mineral setiap hari. Jenuh sangat…kalau instant coffee atau cereal 3in1 tu pun takde gunanya sebab takde bekalan air panas.

So aku naik regional train dari Main Hb menuju ke Bern. Bern adalah pusat pentadbiran kerajaan Swiss. Dulu aku ingat Zurich adalah pusat  kerajaan Swiss, tapi rupa2nya di Bern. Nampaknya Zurich lebih famous dari Bern. Dari Bern aku naik train menuju ke Interlaken OST. Perjalanan menggunakan train melalui Lake Thun and Lake Spiez. Sangat lah cantik permandangan kat sini. I managed to snap a videocam of my journey here. Mind you that I am not so good with video editing so here is the best from me 😉

The turqoise reflection of the lake was so stunning. Dalam train pulak tak ramai penumpang. Best la nak snap photo. Kejap sebelah kiri, kejap sebelah kanan. Hehe..gayat sungguh.

Dari Zurich Hb ke Bern mengambil masa lebih kurang 1 hour. Dari Bern ke stesen Interlaken OST mengambil masa dlm 50 minit. Seterusnya dari Interlaken OST ke stesen Lauterbrunnen mengambil masa dalam 20 minit. Di sini (Lauterbrunnen) aku turun untuk membeli tiket naik ke Jungfraujoch.

Jadual train and jangkamasa perjalanan dari satu stesen ke stesen berikutnya.

Tiket naik ke Jungfraujoch lebih kurang RM600. Not cheap ok. Cable car / train ke Jungfraujoch tak terima Swiss pass. Jadi, memang kena beli tiket lain ok.

Makan malam di Baden

Baden adalah sebuah bandar kecil yang terletak lebih kurang 40 minit dari Zurich Main Hb. Aku naik train dari Main Hb ke Baden dengan menggunakan Swiss pass aku yang masih valid digunakan. Tak pasti pulak berapa tambang ke Baden. Mungkin mahal. Train service di Swiss memang sangat mahal. Infact bukan setakat train, makanan jugak sangat mahal. Lebih mahal dari London.

Tiba di Baden aku turun dan jalan kaki dalam 100m sebelum menaiki bas ke tempat Mr Imad. Di bandar Baden ada satu sungai besar yang sangat cantik permandangannya. Aku terlupa nak ambil gambar bandar Baden sebab aku sibuk berbual dengan Mr Imad. So gambar di bawah ni aku random search dari google.

Bandar Baden, Swiss. Gambar ihsan Swiss tourism

Sampai di rumah Mr Imad, aku solat Asar sementara menunggu maghrib. Mr Imad pulak terus masuk dapur dan masak Nasi Briyani. Aku sangat kagum dengan skill Mr Imad sebab dalam masa 1 jam sahaja dia berjaya menyudahkan hidangan Nasi Briyani siap dengan sup ayam lagi. Inilah first rice meal aku semasa berada di Swiss. Laparnya Tuhan saja yg tahu. Aku makan siap bertambah2 lagi. Memang sedap sangat nasi yang Mr Imad masak tu. Entah2 dia ni chef masa kat Iraq dulu. Tak cukup makan di rumah Mr Imad, dia siap bungkuskan pulak nasi untuk aku. Sebab halal food di Swiss memang sangat susah.  Mr Imad bekalkan aku dengan vitamin C, lemon dan tea untuk aku minum di hotel nanti. Sebab waktu tu aku tengah demam dan sakit tonsil. Baik sangat Mr Imad ni. Aku takut nak tanya pasal keluarga dia. Aku agak ada cerita sedih yang berlaku dalam hidup dia, bila dia cerita perihal dia berhijrah dari Iraq ke Swiss 15 tahun dulu.

Lepas solat maghrib aku bersiap nak ke train stesen, nak balik Main Hb. Besoknya aku akan ke Jungfrau. Kena keluar pagi2, Mr Imad hantar aku sampai ke stesen train Baden. Kalau tak dia nak hantar aku ke Main Hb Zurich, Ish..jauh tu, 40 minit perjalanan. Aku bagi tau dia, aku ada swiss pass and I will be ok. Lagi pun hotel aku betul2 depan train stesen di Bonstetten. So, tak perlu lah risau sangat. Dia risau aku pengsan sebab aku tengah high fever waktu tu.

Alhamdulillah aku selamat sampai hotel. Balik terus tidur sebab besok nak jalan jauh. Zzzz…..