I'm currently in Therapy/Medical cycle right now...
So we're with Dr. T again!! We had Dr. T. in 5th year 1st semester.. We already aimed him since last semester to get him this semester because we'll be spending 5 weeks in Medical this semester and WHAT LUCK! We got him! (I said too many "semesters" in this sentence)
2 and 1/2 weeks just passed by so fast. He's so adorable and such a sweetheart. Not to mention charming and kind and of course very smart! Plus, he's only 29 years old! Sighhhh...
Imagine my class has 6 girls and 1 guy. Every single day we'll be like "AWWWWW..." every time he does something sweet.
He was telling us about a rabbit that came by his house and eating all the plants in his garden (Honestly, I don't know how he actually grew a garden in winter. Maybe they were plants in pots?) So he caught the rabbit the other day, and he told us that rabbit is a male. And he gave us the honor to name the rabbit!! The whole class went "Awwwwwwwww~"...
I think I'm having too much of his sweetness. I haven't miss class yet, while the others have, and I think I'm overdosing on his sweetness. Now I'm considering to miss at least 1 day of class just to shake off those sweet stuffs, but at the same time, I'll feel a bit of regret missing class for no reason. I rarely ever miss class.
Today, finally we sat in a room. Since his office is under renovation, we've been having classes at the hospital's corridor. Sitting on the sofa at the patient's "living room", I supposed. We borrowed Dr. Shaidyuk's room since she'll be away until 31st March. There was a coffee machine in the room. Then he asked out of a sudden, "Do you guys want coffee?". Of course we said, "No, thanks. It's ok". Then he said, "No, I want coffee and I don't want to drink alone". So he went off washing the cups and prepared coffee for us. He was the barista for the day. All of us looked at each other so awkwardly! LOL!
So we sat, drinking coffee and talking about coffee. Yeah, it was so weird. but he's so sweet! >_<
I'm telling you, I'm overdosing.
So sad, that only 2 and 1/2 weeks left...
Showing posts with label winter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label winter. Show all posts
Friday, March 23, 2012
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Season of the Slush
Spring is coming.
Yesterday it was +1°C, the snow was melting.. slushes of snow were all over the place. My shoes, even my socks became wet! blerghhh.. I hate this time of the season.. everything is so yucky!
Then this morning I saw the temperature was still +1°C. It was such a pretty, sunny day. BUT as soon as I got out of the main door of my hostel, the road was covered with ice!! WTH right?! I was slipping and sliding trying to get to class. Plus I was late! It didn't help at all. >.< And it was a super windy day! My eyes was tearing up!
By noon, a sudden snow blizzard came! Big, THICK snow falling from the sky !!! The thick snow practically covered my face and going into my mouth!
I'll never get the weather here. -___-"
Well, at least it's not cold anymore. My last battle with the snow... =P
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Blown Away in Madrid, Spain
02.02.2012
So after spending 5 hours in Lisbon Airport, we're back in Madrid. We landed in Madrid 1/2 hour early. The pilot was driving (?) the plane super fast!! My ears was like clogged the whole time during the flight. It was so annoying. So we landed at about 9:30 PM in Madrid Airport. Since we landed in Madrid before, we knew our way around the airport.
We followed the sign to the Metro. We're not staying in a hotel this time. So, once we reached the metro, we asked the cashier about the 3-days pass, but she said it would be quite a disadvantage since we arrived at night and the countdown starts on the day you used. So if we used it at 10PM on Friday night, it's already considered as you used it as 1 day. Get what I mean?
So we just bought the one way ticket which costs €2.30. We took the metro to Tirso de Molina. That's where our hostel is located. This time we're staying at Students Hostel Luis Velez. It wasn't that difficult to find the hostel. Once arrived, we checked in.
Then the receptionist offered us a room with private bathroom, since our initial booking was shared bathroom. All of us agreed to pay extra for the private bathroom. Once we're settled with our room, had our bath and fell asleep immediately. We were just too exhausted.
03.02.2012
Today we got ready by 10AM and head out to Plaza Mayor. We're following a Free Tour today!! When we got out onto the streets, we didn't expect Madrid to be so cold! It was so cold that I felt the cold penetrated my sneakers and my feet felt like they were going to have frostbites!!
So we just took some pictures while waiting for the red umbrella to appear. There were still about 20 minutes till 11AM. So we decided to get some breakfast. We just picked one of the cafes that just opened and ordered Chocolate con Churros and tea.
When we finished our breakfast, we saw people already surrounding the guys with the red umbrella. We waited about 5 minutes before the tour starts. Our tourguide of the day was Ian. He had this cute wolf hat on his head! So adorable!! And he told us that it was the COLDEST WEEK in Madrid in 50 YEARS!!! great.
So we followed the tour. I've never been a good listener. Most of the time I just followed and take pictures, also cursing at super cold windy weather. Even though it was sunny, nothing could beat the wind. I was almost blown away multiple times! No kidding! And I didn't even wear that thick today. I was freezing. You can see in the photos how I tried to bear the cold.
So after lunch, we head back to Puerta del Sol. All the way there, every time it gets too cold, we would enter a shop to warm ourselves up, at the same time check out the souvenirs. After awhile, we decided to grab some sweet delicacies from La Mallorquina, the shop we passed by while in the tour. The pastries looked so hard to resist and there were so many people in the shop, so it must be good right?
I bought some macaroons since I've never tasted macaroons before. THEY WERE SUPER SWEET!!! Why do people even like them?! OMG! The chocolate ones tasted good though, but all the other, too sweet for my tastebuds. But I did finish them. The others bought some pastries and they were really delicious! So after "tea" I supposed, we head out to some souvenirs hunting.
We bought some souvenirs, then I saw the monument with the lion and carriage on the magnet. So I asked the shopkeeper "where is this monument?". She told us, Plaza de Cibeles and showed us the place on the map. So we walked to Plaza de Cibeles, stopping by Starbucks on the way to warm up. Then, we took some pictures at Cibeles and walk again to Hard Rock Cafe. Madrid is pretty small, we could walk to every places of interest. It's very nice.
So when we reached Hard Rock Cafe, I started sneezing non stop and blowing my nose. I think I caught the flu! One day walking in the cold, while wearing the thin jacket. I should've seen in coming. So we ordered nachos and drinks. Za bought some souvenirs from Hard Rock shop, before we head back to our hostel. We took the metro back to Tirso de Molina. Colon metro station is just in front of HRC.
Once arrived in the hostel, I had my bath, boil some water, eat some biscuits, and took some medication for the flu before going to bed. Then I was knocked out.
04.02.2012
I woke up the latest today because Za thought I should get more rest. I woke up feeling a lot better! My nose wasn't even congested anymore! Mini gave me some Piriton and plus I took the Panadol flu medicine. So all my flu was gone! Hurrah! Alhamdulillah.
So then we got ready, and wore thicker jackets today. I even put on my snow cap. We're going to Santiago Bernabeu Stadium today!!
Before we head to Santiago Bernabeu, we had our breakfast at a restaurant called Copa&Cafe at Plaza de Jacinto Benavente. At first, we thought of having breakfast at Maestro Chucerro but the place was so full, and it was too cold to sit outsite. Me and Za ordered Seafood Paella because we didn't get to taste the paella yesterday. The others ordered Chocolate con Churros. It was delicious!!
So we took the metro from Opera to Santiago Bernabeu station. Got out, and some kid tried to scam me. A girl came to me asking for donations. I tried to ignore her, but she was so persuasive too! She wouldn't give up. Tina gave me €1 coins, so I gave it to her. Then she asked me to sign, so I signed. Then she asked me to show some identification to confirm that my signature is correct. I just ran away! I knew she wanted me to open my purse so she could steal something. Luckily, my head was still in place.
So then we bought the tickets for the Santiago Bernabeu tour. I like Santiago Bernabeu more than Camp Nou. They have more stuffs to see. Aha! And the shops sells more cool souvenirs.
After Santiago Bernabeu, we were quite blur as where to go next. So we decided to open the map and see where else is exciting. The Hostel Keeper drew a circle on a park. So we decided to go there. We took the metro to Retiro station.
So we walked towards the lake, took some photos and when it's getting colder we decided to head back to Puerta del Sol because one of us wanted to buy more souvenirs. So we walked and stopped by a cafe called Faborit to warm up. They have excellent coffees there! Even Za's hot choc was very yummy!
Then we reached Puerta del Sol, we stopped by a souvenir shop. It's the cheapest souvenir shop that we've encountered. The T-shirts only costs €5! I forgot what was the shop name, but it was along either Calle de Alcala or Carrera de San Jeronimo.
Then we walked back to Plaza Mayor. Thinking of a place to have dinner. Oh, by this time, we decided to skip the Flamenco Show because we weren't feeling it anymore. We walked around the plaza, passed by a candy shop, and suddenly Tina was standing for quite a while in front of the candy shop before we decided to just go in and check them out since they're having a 50% discount! Tina bought quite a bunch of them. She said, it's going to be a candy party back in Moscow.
So after walking around the plaza, we finally settled with The Kitchen Stories. The place was very classy. And I mean, VERY classy. The meal was expensive but they were affordable. I ordered a vegetarian lasagna, Tina & Za ordered Fish&Chips and Mini & Punita ordered noodles.
The lasagna was very yummy! Everything was yummy. Plus, it was nice because we were the only customer there at the moment. Tina and Mini even ordered wine. Classy aren't we? haha. Only after we were leaving, people started coming in for dinner.
After dinner, we head back to our hostel. Had a bit of a rest, went online and started packing before sleeping, since we're leaving for Moscow tomorrow. It's so sad. :(
05.02.2012
Today we got up early, got ready, checked out, kept our bags in the storeroom and had our breakfast at Maestro Churrero. It's not that cold today, so we were able to sit outside. We ordered 5 sets of chocolate dipped Porras. Yummy!!
At 12PM, we head back to the hostel, took our bags and made our way to the airport. One tip before leaving Madrid. I don't recommend you to buy the 2 days pass or 3 days pass for metro and buses because you'll rarely use them. The city is so small, you can walk to pretty much everywhere. Luckily we didn't bought the 3 days pass because it would costs us €13, while we only spent about €7.50.
So we reached the airport at about 1:30PM. We checked in and just hang around the airport waiting for our flight at 3:35PM, not knowing another unfortunate events that's waiting to fall upon us.
The flight was on time, but I only realized that we have only about an hour of transit time in Paris, when we reached Paris. While I and Mini tried to get our VAT refunded, I asked the others to get to the gate. I had to go to 2 counters before reaching the counter that I was supposed to be in! I don't understand like, why do you need to go to so many counters! I was running through the airport! When I finished handling my VAT, I saw them lingering around and I was like, "Why are you guys still here?!" They said they couldn't find the gate. I saw my watch, IT WAS 10 MINUTES TILL TAKE OFF!! I was running through people, telling the security that the flight is leaving in 5 minutes! I cut through everyone while going through the X-ray thing. OMG! I was breathless!
Then once we reached the terminal, our gate was the last one!!! And each gate was like 200 meters apart!!!! We were running and running out of breath! When we reached our gate, the captain didn't want to open the door for us! Stupid stupid airline! and we were not the only one who missed the flight. It was the first time any of us had ever missed a flight. Za's face was so red from running. haha...
They asked us to go to gate 36a to get onto another flight. We were just lost and confused. So I went to another counter and ask the stewardess for help. She was such an angel. She handled everything for us. Even told us not to worry. So she gave us a choice of getting on different flights or taking another transit flight to Frankfurt then to Moscow. We decided to stay together.
So she handled everything. Now we had to run from Terminal E to Terminal D! MY GOD! CDG PARIS AIRPORT IS FREAKING HUUUUUUUUUUUUUGEEEEE!!! We haven't recover from running in Terminal E, we had to run to Terminal D! So we ran and ran... We had about 40 minutes to reach Terminal D. Thank Allah, we got there in time.
So then we landed in Frankfurt, had to run again in Frankfurt Airport. At least the airport isn't as big as CDG Airport. And we finally made it! To Moscow here we go. We were so hungry. Imagine we only ate the Porras in the morning, had only some biscuits in the flight from Madrid to Paris to Frankfurt. Finally, had some rice with fish in the plane to Moscow. Thank God they had fish! ;)
06.02.2012
So when we arrived in Moscow at 4:30 in the morning. After passport control, we went to check our bags and they weren't there! Only Punita's was there! Oh dang. What a journey. So we had to fill in some papers about our missing luggage. It seems our luggage were still stuck in Paris.
We went back empty handed and worried because our luggage was filled with souvenirs! ;(
Not a good happy ending to an adventure.
But we got our bags delivered the next day!! awesome! So it was a happy ending after all. :)
I guess that's what you call a true adventure and I had a great time experiencing them! I'll never get bored with travelling, even though they are such a hassle! I just love travelling!
And right now, we're planning for our Spring trip in May!! :D
So after spending 5 hours in Lisbon Airport, we're back in Madrid. We landed in Madrid 1/2 hour early. The pilot was driving (?) the plane super fast!! My ears was like clogged the whole time during the flight. It was so annoying. So we landed at about 9:30 PM in Madrid Airport. Since we landed in Madrid before, we knew our way around the airport.
An ad in Easyjet's magazine on the way to Madrid. Made all of us laugh because when we went there it was freezing!
We followed the sign to the Metro. We're not staying in a hotel this time. So, once we reached the metro, we asked the cashier about the 3-days pass, but she said it would be quite a disadvantage since we arrived at night and the countdown starts on the day you used. So if we used it at 10PM on Friday night, it's already considered as you used it as 1 day. Get what I mean?
So we just bought the one way ticket which costs €2.30. We took the metro to Tirso de Molina. That's where our hostel is located. This time we're staying at Students Hostel Luis Velez. It wasn't that difficult to find the hostel. Once arrived, we checked in.
Then the receptionist offered us a room with private bathroom, since our initial booking was shared bathroom. All of us agreed to pay extra for the private bathroom. Once we're settled with our room, had our bath and fell asleep immediately. We were just too exhausted.
03.02.2012
Today we got ready by 10AM and head out to Plaza Mayor. We're following a Free Tour today!! When we got out onto the streets, we didn't expect Madrid to be so cold! It was so cold that I felt the cold penetrated my sneakers and my feet felt like they were going to have frostbites!!
Chocolate con Churros!! but the chocolate haven't arrived yet and I was hungry.
Plaza Mayor. A mural of naked people is drawn on the walls of the building behind us.
Plaza Mayor was just 10 minutes walking distance from our hostel. When we reached Plaza Mayor, we were welcomed by 2 ladies with red carnations and saying "Flamenco, Fiesta!". I was the most behind, and I saw the 4 of them tried to stay away from them, it's like an opposite side of magnets! The more they were closer, the more we stayed away. LOL! But they didn't try to follow us or anything once we push them away. We didn't give a nice aura around them anyway.
So we just took some pictures while waiting for the red umbrella to appear. There were still about 20 minutes till 11AM. So we decided to get some breakfast. We just picked one of the cafes that just opened and ordered Chocolate con Churros and tea.
When we finished our breakfast, we saw people already surrounding the guys with the red umbrella. We waited about 5 minutes before the tour starts. Our tourguide of the day was Ian. He had this cute wolf hat on his head! So adorable!! And he told us that it was the COLDEST WEEK in Madrid in 50 YEARS!!! great.
So we followed the tour. I've never been a good listener. Most of the time I just followed and take pictures, also cursing at super cold windy weather. Even though it was sunny, nothing could beat the wind. I was almost blown away multiple times! No kidding! And I didn't even wear that thick today. I was freezing. You can see in the photos how I tried to bear the cold.
World's oldest restaurant. So they claimed. :P
Plaza de la Villa
Cathedral de Almudena
The Royal Palace
Cathedral de Almudena from the side.
Listening to Ian
Alfonso XIII’s anarchist attack
Tina got excited because Taeyang also called himself Sol. :-P
Madrid’s bear and madroño tree. The construction behind spoiled the picture. ;(
So after the tour ended at Congreso de los Diputados, we told Ian we're following him for lunch. Since he told earlier in the tour whoever is feeling for some paellas for lunch may follow him, and we wanted to eat paella. He brought us to a restaurant called La Zapateria but they didn't have any seafood paella. :( So me and Za ordered their business lunch menu which is fish and fries. But let me tell you, the dish was super salty!!! I mean i felt like I was eating salt!! Za couldn't finish hers and she got a bit agitated afterwards. I think it's the salt.
Prado Museum view from Plaza de las Cortes
Anyone wanna get hitched? LOL
La Zapateria
Tapas and Paella
I bought some macaroons since I've never tasted macaroons before. THEY WERE SUPER SWEET!!! Why do people even like them?! OMG! The chocolate ones tasted good though, but all the other, too sweet for my tastebuds. But I did finish them. The others bought some pastries and they were really delicious! So after "tea" I supposed, we head out to some souvenirs hunting.
Macaroons!!
La Mallorquina Pastries shop
Plaza de Cibeles
A funny statue near Colon metro station. I was afraid she would fart at me! :-P
Plaza de Colon
So when we reached Hard Rock Cafe, I started sneezing non stop and blowing my nose. I think I caught the flu! One day walking in the cold, while wearing the thin jacket. I should've seen in coming. So we ordered nachos and drinks. Za bought some souvenirs from Hard Rock shop, before we head back to our hostel. We took the metro back to Tirso de Molina. Colon metro station is just in front of HRC.
Hard Rock Cafe has the best nachos!!
Hard Rock Cafe, Madrid
04.02.2012
I woke up the latest today because Za thought I should get more rest. I woke up feeling a lot better! My nose wasn't even congested anymore! Mini gave me some Piriton and plus I took the Panadol flu medicine. So all my flu was gone! Hurrah! Alhamdulillah.
So then we got ready, and wore thicker jackets today. I even put on my snow cap. We're going to Santiago Bernabeu Stadium today!!
Before we head to Santiago Bernabeu, we had our breakfast at a restaurant called Copa&Cafe at Plaza de Jacinto Benavente. At first, we thought of having breakfast at Maestro Chucerro but the place was so full, and it was too cold to sit outsite. Me and Za ordered Seafood Paella because we didn't get to taste the paella yesterday. The others ordered Chocolate con Churros. It was delicious!!
Seafood paella!
Street Sweeper at at Plaza de Jacinto Benavente
Then we thought of checking out the Flamenco Dance Show place that Ian told us, because he said we need to make a reservation if we wished to see the show. So we walked to the address, and stopping by a very cute shop! All their accessories was handmade. They were so pretty but super expensive! I didn't buy anything. Tina bought a pair of earring for her roommate. But we got a free cute little orange flower. When we found the flamenco place, it was closed. Maybe it's opened only at night. *shrug*. So we took the metro from Opera to Santiago Bernabeu station. Got out, and some kid tried to scam me. A girl came to me asking for donations. I tried to ignore her, but she was so persuasive too! She wouldn't give up. Tina gave me €1 coins, so I gave it to her. Then she asked me to sign, so I signed. Then she asked me to show some identification to confirm that my signature is correct. I just ran away! I knew she wanted me to open my purse so she could steal something. Luckily, my head was still in place.
Santiago Bernabeu!!!
So then we bought the tickets for the Santiago Bernabeu tour. I like Santiago Bernabeu more than Camp Nou. They have more stuffs to see. Aha! And the shops sells more cool souvenirs.
See the orange flower on my cap? I got it from the shop I was telling you about. :P
Keeping it real!
After Santiago Bernabeu, we were quite blur as where to go next. So we decided to open the map and see where else is exciting. The Hostel Keeper drew a circle on a park. So we decided to go there. We took the metro to Retiro station.
Retiro Station
Fountain
The lake with Monument to Alfonso XII of Spain at the background
Break at Faborit Cafe
Congreso De Los Diputatos
Another pastry shop on the way to Puerta del Sol. They're so tempting!
Tina staring at the candies.
My lasagna
A bunch of girls.
The lasagna was very yummy! Everything was yummy. Plus, it was nice because we were the only customer there at the moment. Tina and Mini even ordered wine. Classy aren't we? haha. Only after we were leaving, people started coming in for dinner.
After dinner, we head back to our hostel. Had a bit of a rest, went online and started packing before sleeping, since we're leaving for Moscow tomorrow. It's so sad. :(
05.02.2012
Today we got up early, got ready, checked out, kept our bags in the storeroom and had our breakfast at Maestro Churrero. It's not that cold today, so we were able to sit outside. We ordered 5 sets of chocolate dipped Porras. Yummy!!
Chocolate dipped Porras!
Enjoying my porras!
So we reached the airport at about 1:30PM. We checked in and just hang around the airport waiting for our flight at 3:35PM, not knowing another unfortunate events that's waiting to fall upon us.
Pancit.... at Madrid Airport.
Playing UNO cards in the plane from Madrid to Paris
Then once we reached the terminal, our gate was the last one!!! And each gate was like 200 meters apart!!!! We were running and running out of breath! When we reached our gate, the captain didn't want to open the door for us! Stupid stupid airline! and we were not the only one who missed the flight. It was the first time any of us had ever missed a flight. Za's face was so red from running. haha...
They asked us to go to gate 36a to get onto another flight. We were just lost and confused. So I went to another counter and ask the stewardess for help. She was such an angel. She handled everything for us. Even told us not to worry. So she gave us a choice of getting on different flights or taking another transit flight to Frankfurt then to Moscow. We decided to stay together.
So she handled everything. Now we had to run from Terminal E to Terminal D! MY GOD! CDG PARIS AIRPORT IS FREAKING HUUUUUUUUUUUUUGEEEEE!!! We haven't recover from running in Terminal E, we had to run to Terminal D! So we ran and ran... We had about 40 minutes to reach Terminal D. Thank Allah, we got there in time.
So then we landed in Frankfurt, had to run again in Frankfurt Airport. At least the airport isn't as big as CDG Airport. And we finally made it! To Moscow here we go. We were so hungry. Imagine we only ate the Porras in the morning, had only some biscuits in the flight from Madrid to Paris to Frankfurt. Finally, had some rice with fish in the plane to Moscow. Thank God they had fish! ;)
06.02.2012
So when we arrived in Moscow at 4:30 in the morning. After passport control, we went to check our bags and they weren't there! Only Punita's was there! Oh dang. What a journey. So we had to fill in some papers about our missing luggage. It seems our luggage were still stuck in Paris.
We went back empty handed and worried because our luggage was filled with souvenirs! ;(
Not a good happy ending to an adventure.
But we got our bags delivered the next day!! awesome! So it was a happy ending after all. :)
I guess that's what you call a true adventure and I had a great time experiencing them! I'll never get bored with travelling, even though they are such a hassle! I just love travelling!
And right now, we're planning for our Spring trip in May!! :D
Friday, February 17, 2012
Freezing in Marrakesh, Morocco.
As usual, I'll be telling my travel stories with as detailed as I can remember. Hope my memory won't fail me.
This winter, me, za, tina, mini and punita (yup. it's an all girls trip this time) went to Marrakesh, Barcelona, Lisbon, Sintra and Madrid. It's the first time I'm travelling without bB. I was a bit worried since it's just girls, but most of us has traveled before. It didn't go that smoothly, but it was manageable and we survived! Alhamdulillah.. hehe.. ;)
So, lets start.
24.01.2012
We had exams in the morning, and our flight was at 6:50 PM. The fear of missing our flight was overwhelming us. I was fearing for the flight more than failing my exams! but the exams went well, and our friends made way for us because they knew we were flying that evening. We managed to settled by 12PM, managed to get home, had lunch and change before heading off to the airport.
We took KLM to Madrid, transiting in Amsterdam. We arrived in Madrid about 11:15PM local time. Then we thought of taking the cab to our hotel, since our flight to Marrakesh was the next day. But the cab allowed only 4 passengers and we were 5. So the traffic dude told us there's a free shuttle to our hotel, and that SAVES a lot! We waited about 5-10 minutes before the shuttle came. Thank God the weather wasn't that cold. It was about +5°C. The shuttle was specifically for Axor hotels. We stayed at Axor Barajas hotel that night. We arrived at the hotel around midnight and got a bit culture shock because the hotel was waaaaaaaaaaayyyy beyond expected. Yeah, its a 4 star hotel. Me and Za thought we should have some proper rest and a bit of post-exams treat. That's why we booked the hotel.
25.01.2012
Funny thing happened in the morning. Tina didn't change her clock. It was Moscow's time. She woke me up at 7:30AM, saying it was already 10:30AM, we were late and just missed breakfast. I look at my clock, and I was like, "why is she saying we're late?". Because I just woke up, took me a while to get it all in my head. Tina was all bathed and ready. I showed her my clock saying it's only 7:30AM, and she was like trying to get it all in her head as well. Then I asked her, "you changed your watch to Madrid's time right?" and she said "Yeah". "Look at your watch, what time does it says?" She answered, "7:40 AM" with a smile... I just laughed it out, and went back to bed.
Woke up later around 8:30AM and still laughing at the morning's incident. Our stay didn't include breakfast, so we had to pay €15/person for breakfast, but it was so worth it!! We were so full and the breakfast was excellent! One of the best breakfast I have ever had!! Their scrambled eggs are just the best! and it kept us full until dinner! We didn't ate anything the whole day!
At noon, we made our way to the airport. We checked in our bags at RyanAir counter, and hang around for awhile.
Another funny thing happened. We didn't know that RyanAir was a free seating flight, so we waited until everyone went it before going in, only to find out the flight was almost full and we had to be separated. Until there was no more seats, the stewardess opened the seats at the emergency exit and asked us "Are you guys OVER 16?" We answered, "yeah" (err.. duh? how old do we looked like?) -____-"
We arrived at Marrakesh Airport at about 4:40PM. Collect our luggage, changed our Euros, took the bus #19 to Djemma El Fna Square. We bought the 2 way bus ticket that costs DH50, 1 trip costs DH30. But it was such a waste, more on that later. I advised you to take the cab called petite taxi instead if you're travelling more than 2 person. It costs about DH80 - DH100 for a cab (don't ride them if they costs more) or just buy the 1 way bus ticket.
Once arrive in Djemma El Fna. We were trying to find our way to Hostel Riad Mama Marrakech with the directions given in Hostelworld.com but we got lost in the square not sure where to go. Then we tipped a guy DH20 to get us to the hostel. He was walking so fast, we were sweating trying to keep up with him and pulling our bags at the same time. Not to mentioned it started drizzling.
Once arrived, we tipped and thanked the guy. He was really nice, and he thought we were studying fashion. haha! We were welcomed by Crystal, the hostel owner. She's from New York by the way. She just got married with Yussof, a Moroccan whom she met in Paris while studying there, got married, eloped and opened a Riad! Wow right?! She was such a sweetheart. She told us where to go, what to do, about tours and activities, showed us our room, and served us mint tea! yeay! We came at the same time with this guy called Matthew. He's from London, took a 4 days break from work. So Crystal was explaining about Marrakesh to us and Matthew to save time.
After settling in our room, we prep up a bit, and head out to Djemma El Fna Square to exprerience Moroccan street food. They set up stalls every night, sort of like a Pasar Malam, except that, there's chairs and tables to sit and order. We went into this stall #117, because they were very welcoming and looked pretty decent with decent pricing. Once we said "OK", they sang, "THAT'S THE WAY.. AHA.. AHA.. I LIKE IT".. People were staring at us!! It was so embarrassing.. So we ordered and ate. Eventhough it was cold and drizzling, it was actually quite warm inside the tent and we were enjoying our dinner so much!! They were superb!!!
After dinner, we went around the Square, strolling through the stalls, and feeling happy with our choice. Some guy came up to me and wanted to buy me with 100 camels, then Tina said "NO", he proposed "20 Ferraries". I have no idea whether to feel flattered or just embarrassed. Someone came up to Za, and asked her "Do you want a husband?" She was like "Oh My GOD!!!". Straight forward terus!!! LOL!!
We walked around and Mini saw a henna lady. So we all decided to do our hands. Costs me DH25 because she said my hands and designs are small. The other costs DH30. Only Tina didn't get her hand henna'd. While we were doing our hennas, the locals and tourist was watching FCBarcelona vs Real Madrid. It was quite a sight!! Too bad we arrived in Barcelona 2 days later. Would've been fun to see Clasico FCB vs RM. Oh well..
After walking around, we came back to the hostel at around 11PM, hang around for a while, drink mint tea, warmed ourselves up. While Tina was bathing, the hot water suddenly turned off, I bathed after her, and I had to wash myself with freezing cold water!! Almost felt like falling sick there. Thank Allah I didn't though. I actually felt brain freeze and shortness of breath.
Then we all went to bed.
26.01.2012.
Woke up in the morning around 8:30AM. Mini and Za was ready, Punita was in the bathroom. Mini was telling Crystal about the hot water absence. Crystal was apologizing because she forgot to tell the workers to keep the hot water turned on. We didn't have any problems with hot water later on.
Hostel Riad Mama Marrakesh provides free breakfast. It was a really good one!!! They were something like Roti Canai but they pour honey on it and pancakes!!! It was one good breakfast! :D
After breakfast, we made our way to Medersa Ben Youssef. We had actually gotten a bit lost, and then some dude came up to us and offered to help our way. I was a bit suspicious for a while, afraid they might ask for tips, but he was actually sincere in helping us find our way. He didn't ask for any tips! :D
It costs us DH50 to enter the Medersa. DH60 if including the Marrakesh Museum, but we decided to skip the museum. Medersa Ben Youssef used to be a college. I don't really know it's shut down but the architecture is just superb!!! I think they carved the whole Quran on the wall and it's so calm.
After admiring the college, we made our way to Djemma El Fna Square. We had to go through the souk. And since we're already in the souk, we SHOP!!! They had a lot of pretty stuffs! Some stores were stingy and didn't give us any cheaper price. It was so sad. Maybe they had a lot of tourists that time, or they were actually rich? haha.. who knows. But we just bought them anyway. We realised later that the stuffs near the square are actually much much cheaper and easier to bargain! While most blogs said that the deeper you go into the souk, the better price you'll get, but not in my experience. hrmm..
After shopping, we met another henna lady whom we bargained DH20 for both hands and she agreed! So this time we did it using the black henna. After henna, we decided to have lunch at Les Terrasses de L’Alhambra Restaurant. It's a three-storey restaurant. The idea is, the higher you go, the higher the prices are. We decided to on the 1st floor terrace and ordered lunch. What's for lunch? Pizza! At first we thought of ordering 3 pizza to share, and then they waiter said that it's personal pizza.. should have gone with our instinct.. We could've saved some money and shared! Most of us didn't finish our pizzas. It was big!!
After lunch, we made way to Bahia Palace. Had to ask people around to get the the Palace. The map and the streets were really confusing, or is it us that can't read the map? :P Bahia Palace is nice too, but the Medersa was way better in my opinion. I like the fact that the were orange trees everywhere! caught some Koreans picking the oranges and ate them. They were scolded by the security. Tempted me to do the same! I did too when no one was around. HAHA! They were too orange too resist!!! >.<
When we had toured the whole place, we made our way to the Mezquita La Koutoubia. We had orange juice along the way. One glass (a pretty big glass btw!) costs DH4 and this particular stall that we chose even refilled our glass!! If only it was hot! We could've enjoyed it even more. Back to La Koutoubia, it's minaret is the highest tower in Marrakesh. So whenever you're lost, just find the Koutoubia minarets and you'll be fine. Unless you're in the souk because you can't see outside the tents. We took some pictures and by that time, the rain decided to fall. Massively! -____-"
We were soaked by the time we reached our Riad. And it's just 15 minutes away from La Koutoubia! We decided to dry ourselves with mint tea! Hurrah for mint tea! Too much sugar it tastes like chewing gum though. >___<
Anyway, Mini, Tina & Za made their way into the room while me and Punita hang around the common area drinking tea. Suddenly, there were a burning smell. Tina came out saying mini burnt her scarf and the heater! Crystal came out of her room straight, I guessed searching for the burnt smell. I was panicking, telling them Crystal is searching for the burning smell and we were debating whether we should tell her or not. Then she came to me and asked, "Do you smell something burning?". No point in lying right? I told her mini put her scarf on the heater and it burnt. We didn't mind paying for a new heater either.
Yussof brought a new heater for us because he was worried if it'll short circuited. I didn't see the heater until Yussof brought it out when I gasp! Part of the heater actually melted, but it was still working. yeay?
After the accident, Matthew came back. At least no one was there to see our embarrassing moment. Tina came out with her UNO and blackjack cards because we thought of passing the time playing cards. By that time, the Australians(Jaclyn, Aden and Kat) and Chris(The American) also was there. So we decided to ask them to join us too!
It was really fun! Matthew who bragged that he was awesome at UNOs lost! hahahaha.. Then we played Donkey. Chris was the Donkey! hehe. Then I decided to have a bath while they continue playing bluff. The time really passed, then we had to get ready for our Moroccan Night Show.
At 7:45PM a van came to pick us up. We reached the place an hour later, called La Fantasía de Marrakech, Chez Ali. It was pouring rain that night and super cold!! We took pictures in the Ali Baba's 40 thieves caves, and the driver told us about Chez Ali. Super rich guy! There were even history in photos of how the place was build. After that, we were welcomed with super annoying singers. They were great and pretty in those costumes, but it was raining and wet and their high pitching voices didn't make it any better.
Then we were ushered to a room where our feast will begin! They started with harira soup and bread! It was really yummy! Then came the lamb! Oh My God! It was a whole lamb! It was really yummy and warmed our body, but I was still full with the pizza and I couldn't eat much. I wish I was hungrier. Mini had to make a joke, we were looking at one of the lamb's pieces wondering what it was because it was round, Mini had to say "I think it's the reproductive organs" OMG! Can you get more medical than that?! LOL!! That just made me lose my appetite. I hate reproductive organs..
When we thought it was over, the couscous came in a huge platter! when I mean huge, I meant HUGE!!!! I think we only ate like 1/10 out of that platter because we were already full with the lamb! Later came another platter of apples and oranges! By far, the best apples and oranges I have ever tasted!! It tastes so different the oranges were so sweet and lovely. The apples tasted so milky. So yummy!!! Now I'm feeling hungry, I wouldn't mind having those couscous again! They even served us mint tea. Other drinks had to pay separately though.
While having dinner, they were performances at the table. The annoying singers. Groups after groups came in, the first one got the tip, after the 2nd, we just bowed down our heads and said "no", they just went on to the next table. It was headachy!
When we finished our dinner and there were no more performances, we thought it was finished. So we walked to the exit. Suddenly the dwarf(whom we called Ali Baba, because the guarded the Ali Baba's cave) shouted at us "NOT FINISH! NOT FINISH!". We were a little blurred for a while when we realized there was another show outdoor! HAH! Everyone was seated, so we picked a seat. Thank God the rain had stopped by then but it was still freezing!!
The show was amazing!! They were jumping on the horse, gun blasting, belly dancing and magic carpet!! I don't know how the belly dancer is dancing in the freezing cold with a 2 piece!
And then the show was over and we felt very satisfied we paid DH450/person. The show was excellent and the food was not too bad. If only I was hungry.
Then the driver called us and we head back to the Riad. It was about midnight that time. We bathed and sleep.
We're heading to Barcelona tomorrow!!
27.01.2012
We woke up in the morning, had our last delicious breakfast in Hostel Riad Mama Marrakech, say our goodbyes to Crystal and made our way to Djemma El Fna to catch the bus. But after about 1/2 hour the bus didn't come. The bus only comes when it's full at the airport. What the hell right? In the end we had to take the petite taxi. It costs us DH20/person. That's the reason, if u're travelling in a big group, it's just better to take the petite taxi. We'll know better next time. :)
We arrived at the airport, checked in and board our flight!
I hope I can come to Morocco again! Next time with an empty bag so I can filled them up with all the fancy stuffs they got there. Also I want to visit the Essaouira and Aït Benhaddou. :D
Next stop is Soaked in Barcelona!!! :D
This winter, me, za, tina, mini and punita (yup. it's an all girls trip this time) went to Marrakesh, Barcelona, Lisbon, Sintra and Madrid. It's the first time I'm travelling without bB. I was a bit worried since it's just girls, but most of us has traveled before. It didn't go that smoothly, but it was manageable and we survived! Alhamdulillah.. hehe.. ;)
So, lets start.
24.01.2012
We had exams in the morning, and our flight was at 6:50 PM. The fear of missing our flight was overwhelming us. I was fearing for the flight more than failing my exams! but the exams went well, and our friends made way for us because they knew we were flying that evening. We managed to settled by 12PM, managed to get home, had lunch and change before heading off to the airport.
We took KLM to Madrid, transiting in Amsterdam. We arrived in Madrid about 11:15PM local time. Then we thought of taking the cab to our hotel, since our flight to Marrakesh was the next day. But the cab allowed only 4 passengers and we were 5. So the traffic dude told us there's a free shuttle to our hotel, and that SAVES a lot! We waited about 5-10 minutes before the shuttle came. Thank God the weather wasn't that cold. It was about +5°C. The shuttle was specifically for Axor hotels. We stayed at Axor Barajas hotel that night. We arrived at the hotel around midnight and got a bit culture shock because the hotel was waaaaaaaaaaayyyy beyond expected. Yeah, its a 4 star hotel. Me and Za thought we should have some proper rest and a bit of post-exams treat. That's why we booked the hotel.
Sheremetyevo Airport, Moscow. We're escaping the snow. :P
Our room at Axor Barajas
Me, Tina & Punita shared a room and Za & Mini one room. After checking in, we were very very happy with our rooms. They were spacious and luxurious. After bathing, we just landed in our beds.
25.01.2012
Funny thing happened in the morning. Tina didn't change her clock. It was Moscow's time. She woke me up at 7:30AM, saying it was already 10:30AM, we were late and just missed breakfast. I look at my clock, and I was like, "why is she saying we're late?". Because I just woke up, took me a while to get it all in my head. Tina was all bathed and ready. I showed her my clock saying it's only 7:30AM, and she was like trying to get it all in her head as well. Then I asked her, "you changed your watch to Madrid's time right?" and she said "Yeah". "Look at your watch, what time does it says?" She answered, "7:40 AM" with a smile... I just laughed it out, and went back to bed.
Woke up later around 8:30AM and still laughing at the morning's incident. Our stay didn't include breakfast, so we had to pay €15/person for breakfast, but it was so worth it!! We were so full and the breakfast was excellent! One of the best breakfast I have ever had!! Their scrambled eggs are just the best! and it kept us full until dinner! We didn't ate anything the whole day!
Breakfast at Axor Barajas
Another funny thing happened. We didn't know that RyanAir was a free seating flight, so we waited until everyone went it before going in, only to find out the flight was almost full and we had to be separated. Until there was no more seats, the stewardess opened the seats at the emergency exit and asked us "Are you guys OVER 16?" We answered, "yeah" (err.. duh? how old do we looked like?) -____-"
We arrived at Marrakesh Airport at about 4:40PM. Collect our luggage, changed our Euros, took the bus #19 to Djemma El Fna Square. We bought the 2 way bus ticket that costs DH50, 1 trip costs DH30. But it was such a waste, more on that later. I advised you to take the cab called petite taxi instead if you're travelling more than 2 person. It costs about DH80 - DH100 for a cab (don't ride them if they costs more) or just buy the 1 way bus ticket.
Arriving at Marrakesh Airport
Once arrived, we tipped and thanked the guy. He was really nice, and he thought we were studying fashion. haha! We were welcomed by Crystal, the hostel owner. She's from New York by the way. She just got married with Yussof, a Moroccan whom she met in Paris while studying there, got married, eloped and opened a Riad! Wow right?! She was such a sweetheart. She told us where to go, what to do, about tours and activities, showed us our room, and served us mint tea! yeay! We came at the same time with this guy called Matthew. He's from London, took a 4 days break from work. So Crystal was explaining about Marrakesh to us and Matthew to save time.
After settling in our room, we prep up a bit, and head out to Djemma El Fna Square to exprerience Moroccan street food. They set up stalls every night, sort of like a Pasar Malam, except that, there's chairs and tables to sit and order. We went into this stall #117, because they were very welcoming and looked pretty decent with decent pricing. Once we said "OK", they sang, "THAT'S THE WAY.. AHA.. AHA.. I LIKE IT".. People were staring at us!! It was so embarrassing.. So we ordered and ate. Eventhough it was cold and drizzling, it was actually quite warm inside the tent and we were enjoying our dinner so much!! They were superb!!!
Awesome dinner!
#117 brings you to heaven!
We walked around and Mini saw a henna lady. So we all decided to do our hands. Costs me DH25 because she said my hands and designs are small. The other costs DH30. Only Tina didn't get her hand henna'd. While we were doing our hennas, the locals and tourist was watching FCBarcelona vs Real Madrid. It was quite a sight!! Too bad we arrived in Barcelona 2 days later. Would've been fun to see Clasico FCB vs RM. Oh well..
Djemma El Fna at night
Orange juice stall
Then we all went to bed.
26.01.2012.
Woke up in the morning around 8:30AM. Mini and Za was ready, Punita was in the bathroom. Mini was telling Crystal about the hot water absence. Crystal was apologizing because she forgot to tell the workers to keep the hot water turned on. We didn't have any problems with hot water later on.
Hostel Riad Mama Marrakesh provides free breakfast. It was a really good one!!! They were something like Roti Canai but they pour honey on it and pancakes!!! It was one good breakfast! :D
After breakfast, we made our way to Medersa Ben Youssef. We had actually gotten a bit lost, and then some dude came up to us and offered to help our way. I was a bit suspicious for a while, afraid they might ask for tips, but he was actually sincere in helping us find our way. He didn't ask for any tips! :D
Amazing architecture!
It costs us DH50 to enter the Medersa. DH60 if including the Marrakesh Museum, but we decided to skip the museum. Medersa Ben Youssef used to be a college. I don't really know it's shut down but the architecture is just superb!!! I think they carved the whole Quran on the wall and it's so calm.
After admiring the college, we made our way to Djemma El Fna Square. We had to go through the souk. And since we're already in the souk, we SHOP!!! They had a lot of pretty stuffs! Some stores were stingy and didn't give us any cheaper price. It was so sad. Maybe they had a lot of tourists that time, or they were actually rich? haha.. who knows. But we just bought them anyway. We realised later that the stuffs near the square are actually much much cheaper and easier to bargain! While most blogs said that the deeper you go into the souk, the better price you'll get, but not in my experience. hrmm..
The Souk
After shopping, we met another henna lady whom we bargained DH20 for both hands and she agreed! So this time we did it using the black henna. After henna, we decided to have lunch at Les Terrasses de L’Alhambra Restaurant. It's a three-storey restaurant. The idea is, the higher you go, the higher the prices are. We decided to on the 1st floor terrace and ordered lunch. What's for lunch? Pizza! At first we thought of ordering 3 pizza to share, and then they waiter said that it's personal pizza.. should have gone with our instinct.. We could've saved some money and shared! Most of us didn't finish our pizzas. It was big!!
Our hennas
Trying to eat with the hennas on.
After lunch, we made way to Bahia Palace. Had to ask people around to get the the Palace. The map and the streets were really confusing, or is it us that can't read the map? :P Bahia Palace is nice too, but the Medersa was way better in my opinion. I like the fact that the were orange trees everywhere! caught some Koreans picking the oranges and ate them. They were scolded by the security. Tempted me to do the same! I did too when no one was around. HAHA! They were too orange too resist!!! >.<
The garden inside Bahia Palace
When we had toured the whole place, we made our way to the Mezquita La Koutoubia. We had orange juice along the way. One glass (a pretty big glass btw!) costs DH4 and this particular stall that we chose even refilled our glass!! If only it was hot! We could've enjoyed it even more. Back to La Koutoubia, it's minaret is the highest tower in Marrakesh. So whenever you're lost, just find the Koutoubia minarets and you'll be fine. Unless you're in the souk because you can't see outside the tents. We took some pictures and by that time, the rain decided to fall. Massively! -____-"
Spices
The blue sky before the rain came.
Kurma (dates) in pretty boxes. Kinda look like hantaran, dont they?
Mezquita La Koutoubia
We were soaked by the time we reached our Riad. And it's just 15 minutes away from La Koutoubia! We decided to dry ourselves with mint tea! Hurrah for mint tea! Too much sugar it tastes like chewing gum though. >___<
Anyway, Mini, Tina & Za made their way into the room while me and Punita hang around the common area drinking tea. Suddenly, there were a burning smell. Tina came out saying mini burnt her scarf and the heater! Crystal came out of her room straight, I guessed searching for the burnt smell. I was panicking, telling them Crystal is searching for the burning smell and we were debating whether we should tell her or not. Then she came to me and asked, "Do you smell something burning?". No point in lying right? I told her mini put her scarf on the heater and it burnt. We didn't mind paying for a new heater either.
Yussof brought a new heater for us because he was worried if it'll short circuited. I didn't see the heater until Yussof brought it out when I gasp! Part of the heater actually melted, but it was still working. yeay?
After the accident, Matthew came back. At least no one was there to see our embarrassing moment. Tina came out with her UNO and blackjack cards because we thought of passing the time playing cards. By that time, the Australians(Jaclyn, Aden and Kat) and Chris(The American) also was there. So we decided to ask them to join us too!
It was really fun! Matthew who bragged that he was awesome at UNOs lost! hahahaha.. Then we played Donkey. Chris was the Donkey! hehe. Then I decided to have a bath while they continue playing bluff. The time really passed, then we had to get ready for our Moroccan Night Show.
At 7:45PM a van came to pick us up. We reached the place an hour later, called La Fantasía de Marrakech, Chez Ali. It was pouring rain that night and super cold!! We took pictures in the Ali Baba's 40 thieves caves, and the driver told us about Chez Ali. Super rich guy! There were even history in photos of how the place was build. After that, we were welcomed with super annoying singers. They were great and pretty in those costumes, but it was raining and wet and their high pitching voices didn't make it any better.
Then we were ushered to a room where our feast will begin! They started with harira soup and bread! It was really yummy! Then came the lamb! Oh My God! It was a whole lamb! It was really yummy and warmed our body, but I was still full with the pizza and I couldn't eat much. I wish I was hungrier. Mini had to make a joke, we were looking at one of the lamb's pieces wondering what it was because it was round, Mini had to say "I think it's the reproductive organs" OMG! Can you get more medical than that?! LOL!! That just made me lose my appetite. I hate reproductive organs..
Us, waiting for the food
The lamb
The annoying singing ladies
Couscous
When we thought it was over, the couscous came in a huge platter! when I mean huge, I meant HUGE!!!! I think we only ate like 1/10 out of that platter because we were already full with the lamb! Later came another platter of apples and oranges! By far, the best apples and oranges I have ever tasted!! It tastes so different the oranges were so sweet and lovely. The apples tasted so milky. So yummy!!! Now I'm feeling hungry, I wouldn't mind having those couscous again! They even served us mint tea. Other drinks had to pay separately though.
While having dinner, they were performances at the table. The annoying singers. Groups after groups came in, the first one got the tip, after the 2nd, we just bowed down our heads and said "no", they just went on to the next table. It was headachy!
When we finished our dinner and there were no more performances, we thought it was finished. So we walked to the exit. Suddenly the dwarf(whom we called Ali Baba, because the guarded the Ali Baba's cave) shouted at us "NOT FINISH! NOT FINISH!". We were a little blurred for a while when we realized there was another show outdoor! HAH! Everyone was seated, so we picked a seat. Thank God the rain had stopped by then but it was still freezing!!
horsemen
Encore
And then the show was over and we felt very satisfied we paid DH450/person. The show was excellent and the food was not too bad. If only I was hungry.
Then the driver called us and we head back to the Riad. It was about midnight that time. We bathed and sleep.
We're heading to Barcelona tomorrow!!
27.01.2012
We woke up in the morning, had our last delicious breakfast in Hostel Riad Mama Marrakech, say our goodbyes to Crystal and made our way to Djemma El Fna to catch the bus. But after about 1/2 hour the bus didn't come. The bus only comes when it's full at the airport. What the hell right? In the end we had to take the petite taxi. It costs us DH20/person. That's the reason, if u're travelling in a big group, it's just better to take the petite taxi. We'll know better next time. :)
We arrived at the airport, checked in and board our flight!
I hope I can come to Morocco again! Next time with an empty bag so I can filled them up with all the fancy stuffs they got there. Also I want to visit the Essaouira and Aït Benhaddou. :D
Next stop is Soaked in Barcelona!!! :D
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