Showing posts with label interesting places. Show all posts
Showing posts with label interesting places. Show all posts
Last day at Barcelona
8/27/2011 07:34:00 AM
Hi all.
Sorry for the delay. I should have uploaded this weeks ago if im not mistaken but as usual, no mood to write and quite 'busy' with my own activities. Now am back in Dublin. So, before things get busier, I'd decided to finish this entry which had been on the 'draft' since last month!
Sorry for the delay. I should have uploaded this weeks ago if im not mistaken but as usual, no mood to write and quite 'busy' with my own activities. Now am back in Dublin. So, before things get busier, I'd decided to finish this entry which had been on the 'draft' since last month!
Okay, here how the last day of my first solo trip to Barcelona ended. (sounds like i might go there again! ^___^)
The previous night i had to change the hostel as my attempt to further book another night at Be Hostel Sound had failed. The hostel was fully booked so i had to find another hostel. Luckily while browsing hostelworld.com, i came across Kabul Backpackers Hostel which is quite cheap and plus it is not too far from the hostel that i stayed in. So, i decided to book the Kabul hostel and my journey on the last day started there.
I went to hostel, check-in, got to my new room, put all my stuff inside the locker and only brought with me my usual travel accessories. Water bottle, camera, a map, a pen and obviously my phone, passport and wallet.
I went to hostel, check-in, got to my new room, put all my stuff inside the locker and only brought with me my usual travel accessories. Water bottle, camera, a map, a pen and obviously my phone, passport and wallet.
Initially I did plan to spend the last day with Mong and Michael but since they were quite late that morning, i decided to venture on my own. First stop was Montjuic area where the 1992 Olympic was held. I took the gondola to get to the top of the hill. My poor judgement to take the gondola cost me about 15 euro for return trip which is not that interesting as there are only a castle on top of that. Thats it. Initially i thought that there was something interesting over there other than the view over the city but i was wrong. The castle was crap as it is still under renovation, nothing else besides the castle and some history about Jose Rizal (if u guys can still remember high school history lesson) whom apparently was imprisoned there before he started the revolution in the Filipines. My advice to everyone is even if you are interested to go on top of Montjuic, use your feet and walk up that hill. it will probably take you 20 min but the way down will be very interesting as you can slide down the slides that they built (I suppose that it is for children only) in numerous places on the hillside. I actually saw a few youngsters slide down from one slide to another.
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| Wall of Montjuic Castle |
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| View of Barcelona City from the castle |
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| @ Barcelona 92' Olympic stadium |
Then after that i explored the whole Olympic area with my own foots. I went to the Olympic stadium which will take another 20 min walking from the gondola station. Near the Olympic stadium are a few more sports complex and some building which i cannot really remember. As you walk towards the Olympic stadium, you will be passing a few small garden which somehow seems to be an attraction to tourist although i myself find nothing really interesting to watch some few statues made from steel and worst of all, they all corroded. From the Olympic area, i walked down the hill towards a beautiful building (following a beautiful lady :p). The building is a castle if im not mistaken and by this time, i got a text from Mong saying that she and Mickael will try to catch me if they can which i know quite impossible considering my fast-walking-pace. In front of that castle, is a famous scene of Barcelona, The Catalonia National Art Museum with the massive stairs. U know what i'm talking about do u? :s
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| The Catalonia National Art Museum |
After decided not to enjoy the arts inside the museums due to time constrain, i decided to take the underground train (Green Lince) to Nou Camp. The famous stadium of a football giant, Barcelone FC. Lucky enough although it was Friday, the stadium was open until late evening although on one of the brochure said that it is close on that day. So, here are some pics of me that you may (or may not) enjoy in that stadium.
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| Me alone |
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| Changing room |
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| The pitch |
Before i reached the station at Nou Camp, i noticed that there is a stop that remind me of a movie entitled Vicky Christina Barcelona. The stop however is called Maria Christina. Such a beautiful name for a tram station or even a place!
Back from Nou Camp, i took that same green line underground tram straight to Parc Guell with double dots on the U! It took about 40 min of straight tram ride but somehow i can only remember about less than 1/3 of it as i spent the rest dozing off. Luckily i did not miss the stop. On the way to Parc Guell with double dots on the U, i met Ola (u'll know this lady if you read my previous Barcelona entry) which whom kindly enough gave me the free guide on how to get to the park. I would have made it a much nicer goodbye episode if i know that would be the last time i met her because Ola has such an interesting character! :-p I spent about an hour or so inside the park wondering how the hell on earth that this Gaudi guy had such an imagination and creativity to design the park to that level of details. Although he probably did not do all those thing himself but surely it took a very wonderful peace of mind to came up with the design. The sun that sat straight on the head at 3pm did not stop people from venturing almost every inch of the park.  |
| walking inside the Parc Guell |
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| Barcelona city on the background |
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| Entrance to Parc Guell. All credit goes to Mong |
The 3 of us (mong, mickael and me) left the park after another hour or two of snapping-pictures session and we all went back to prepare ourselves for the dinner which will be at one of the famous restaurant in Barcelona at Plaza Real, Les Quinze Nits.
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| Happy face. Credit to Tammy |
At about 8pm, we all get into the line which took almost an hour before we could get a space for 7 in that full-packed restaurant. Oh, Nicholas who is originally from Chile and currently working in Norway was also there to join us for the dinner. 3 hours spent on dining and talking and talking and laughing and allowing others to make faces was a time-worth spent. From bits of everyone background to religion and politics, almost everything were on the table that night. Fred who has been travelling for 9 straight months to different places including Kuala Lumpur and Malacca keep mentioning the goodness of 'Nasi Lemak' and other Malaysian dishes. Not to forget that he also has lots of interest on how the upper class people (as he said it) in Malaysia that kept a mistress although he (the upper class-aka Dato') are allowed to marry 4 women! Being the probably the only single guy on the table also did not help much with all the jokes and attacks came around my singleness. lol.
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| 7 of us. Nikola, Muaz, Fred, Mickael, Nicole, Mong, Tammy |
Early morning that day, we all went back to each others hostel and set to continue our own journey (at least for some) on the next day. I spent my last day at a theme park! cant promise that i will write about that since i'd became lazier to write. haha
The end.
Barcelona part 2
7/09/2011 11:51:00 AM
part 2 of the journey in Barcelona (edited*)
The Be Hostel sound that i stayed in has some disadvantage in term of power sockets inside the room. They only have them at one corner (at least in the room that i stayed in) although there were more than enough to be used by 10 person.
since I dont want to act awkwardly by arching over my newly met friend who was sleeping on the bed in order to get to the power socket, i decided to charge my phone in the common room area where the breakfast was served.
Following the breakfast, i noticed something wrong. My skin was peeling badly especially on the nasal bridge and on the forehead. Probably because of the heat or maybe the sunburn. The next thing i did was i quickly went to the pharmacy and get the facial cleaner that help to de-skin the part that was peeling. quite costly since they dont have the regular Nivea, so i just bought a product from a brand that i never heard of which cost me almost 20 euro! pFFFT!
The 2nd day start at 10 am although i already awake since 8am. it was the 'free' tour guide conducted by a guy named Adam. He was from aussie. There were 2 different guides that happen at the same time. One is call Gaudi Tour and the other one is Gothic Tour. They do this twice every day, one in the morning and one in the evening. so, you can go to either one in the morning and the next one in the evening or the following day.
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| Famous restaurant. One of Messi's favorite. Specialize in snails cooking. |
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| Picasso was accepted at a very young age here in this building. Some kind of arts university |
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| Adam with the background of old Roman's wall |
At lunchtime, we had a 3 course menu lunch at one of the restaurant in Plaza Real. It was very cheap. Less than 10 euro and you can get a proper 3 course menu with free water. :P Definitely it was a new experience for me as i rarely had any lunch experience as such. Oh, this place was also where all the 'magic' happen on my last night in Barcelona which i would tell more on the last part of the trip.
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| Lunch with Mong |
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| @ one of Gaudi's masterpiece |
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| @ the famous market. Off la rambla |
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| @ Sagrada da Familia |
One more interesting part about this 2nd day was it somehow fall on the San Juan Festival. So, although it was only 6pm when the tour finished, many of us already headed towards the beach area where the celebration took place. In fact, two of the people from the tour already wore their beach shorts on the tour! As for me, I decided to go back to the hostel immediately after the tour, prayed asar and then went to the beach with the other group as Mong and Mickael decided to go for Tapas and something tour (more like a traditional dinner and some dancing show going on at the same time). it cost only 20 euro! ;p
So, as day went by (post quick kebab dinner), we eventually reached the beach at around 10pm. Initially there was only 4 of us just sitting on the beach and talking with the background of locals that keep lighting up the firecrackers. At about 12 midnight after the other finished enjoying their tapas and something-that-i-forgot-the-name, we all sit together in a group of about 10 people and started to enjoy the scenes. The Catalan really celebrate this event which some said was even merrier than the Christmas celebration (without the santa). They said it was considered as some sort of new year celebration which could be true as people did went to the beach with tents and barbecues and the most important of all, firecrackers and fireworks!
Apart from people skinny dipping in the Mediterranean and getting drunk, the rest were fine. We stay on the beach almost until 4am when everyone decided to go back as some of us need to catch bus and flight to their next destination. Overall, it was fun just sitting and talking, sharing experiences and knowing a little bit more about everything and one another. :)
I slept soundly after performing the subuh (morning) prayer before begin the journey on my last day at Barcelona as a lone ranger . ^__^
I slept soundly after performing the subuh (morning) prayer before begin the journey on my last day at Barcelona as a lone ranger . ^__^
p/s: I'll put more pictures later as those pics are on my other comp. wait for the FC barcelona, park gueil and last night dinner experience. bye..
Barcelona part 1
6/29/2011 02:49:00 PM
Alhamdulillah, i was granted some times to visit this great city of Catalan, Barcelona. A city with a long......history, including during the occupation of the Morrs in Spain and the crusaders. I'm not interested to talk about the history but rather my own personal experience in this great city with great peoples that I met during my 3 days and 3 nights trip to this city. Very few of them are younger than me which make it wonderful as they come here just to chill and enjoy the city rather than trying to visit every little possible places that they can think of. Plus, some of them had traveled a lot including Malaysia which make it easier to choose the topic of conversation.
Here is my journey. Hopefully you guys enjoy reading it.
I arrived at around 8.30pm and it was still very much like 5pm in Malaysia on a bright sunny day. Because i was quite tired, i decided to take a taxi to the hostel. It is called Be Hostel Sound. Actually it was part of the Be Hostel chains around this city. 2 other hostel called Be Hostel Marr and Be hostel Rambla located 5 to 7 minutes away from this hostel. I was greeted (immediately fallen in love) by Kasha at the reception counter. She was very helpful and nice enough to answer all the unnecessary invented little detail that I can think of. Haha.
Anyhow, she is also very understanding as well when i asked her about praying inside the hostel. Seems like she is pretty familiar with Islam when she offered me some small spaces that i could use for praying. Very nice of her indeed. The hostel is very nice i have to say. Although u'll share a room with 7 or 10 more people, you don't need to worry about the security because everyone has electronic locker which is quite big that it can fit your 80 liters travelling bag inside. No curfew plus only electronic cardholder can get access into the hostel. The only downside is that if you live in room 001, you'll have to share the in-suite bathroom with you roomies of both sexes and i find it rather unpleasant. Need not to worry, if you live on other room, the bathroom is separated by gender only that it was outside your room. After finished praying jama' taakhir of zohor and asar, i decided to stroll around the neighboring area as planned.
Anyhow, she is also very understanding as well when i asked her about praying inside the hostel. Seems like she is pretty familiar with Islam when she offered me some small spaces that i could use for praying. Very nice of her indeed. The hostel is very nice i have to say. Although u'll share a room with 7 or 10 more people, you don't need to worry about the security because everyone has electronic locker which is quite big that it can fit your 80 liters travelling bag inside. No curfew plus only electronic cardholder can get access into the hostel. The only downside is that if you live in room 001, you'll have to share the in-suite bathroom with you roomies of both sexes and i find it rather unpleasant. Need not to worry, if you live on other room, the bathroom is separated by gender only that it was outside your room. After finished praying jama' taakhir of zohor and asar, i decided to stroll around the neighboring area as planned.
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| A big Cat Statue at Rambla del Raval |
My aim was actually to find the Tariq bin Ziyad mosque that search beforehand on google map before i started my journey back in Dublin. Lucky enough, it was only 10 minutes from the hostel and i prayed Maghrib and Isyak (Jama') over there. This mosque situated at Rambla del Raval which is fulled with halal shops along the street although some of them do sell beers etc. If you guys want to stay in Barcelona, i strongly suggest this area because it is easy to find halal stuff to cook (if allowed by the hostel) and lots of Muslim population around. Although this neighborhood is quite dodgy, i would say that in term of safety, it is at least 8/10. No part of Barcelona is safe enough when it comes to the residential area. Lots of burglars and prostitutes around to be honest. I never seen such an area over the past 4 years that i took to travel in Europe, including Amsterdam! Plus, this area is very close the popular La Rambla and lots of metro that is available for the use to visit other places such as Sagrada Familia without the need to change the metro line. ^__^
A: Hostel Be Sound
Tariq bin Ziyad Mosque: Carrer de Sant Rafael
Be Hostel Marr: Carrer de Sant Pau
Later that night after I had my dinner in one of the shop at Rambla del Raval, i met a few people from the hostel and we decided to go out and enjoy Barcelona at night. I wont go into detail but suffice for me to say that it was a good night out. Just imagine 6 guys on a night out and just trying to enjoy themself. No wonder only 2 people get to the beach and fast asleep on the beach until early morning. The rest? Distracted by cute french ladies. LOL. is it not what happened Akal? :P
P/s:
1. Akal is one of the guy from India that i met, he might not read this but i think it will be very funny if he sees this. Unfortunately, i don't have everyone email to add them on FB. These law students somehow left their Sikh at home and enjoy Barcelona to the fullest!
2. I'll continue on a day to day basis of my 3 days trip at Barcelona.
Bye...
Rotation
10/17/2010 07:34:00 AM
Peace be upon you,
How are you guys doing? I hope that everyone is having a good time. Just a quick update for this blog.
I am now on the general practice (GP) rotation. I started with GP, then after this I'll have medicine and surgery follow by psychiatric, paediatrics and finally obstetric and gynecology (OnG).
Each of this rotation is only about 6 weeks long and we only have the weekend of the last rotation as a break before changing to another rotation. Great isn't it? :)
That is medicine anyway
As some of you might have noticed, I stay in a quite luxury hotel in a town called Drogheda which is approximately about 1 hour drive from dublin. This small town had a very unique history of its own.
During the great famine in Ireland, the people from the islamic republic of turkey which at that time is under the ottoman empire had sent ships full with foods in order to help the irish in this town. Today, the local in this town commemorate this by having a black square plate embedded to the front wall in one of the famous bar in the city to thanks the turks at that time.
I'll put the picture later on because I haven't take the picture of that plate yet. I read somewhere earlier about this and finally I can see the proof on my own. I heard that it is the same case when they had their football team using the 'crescent and stars' as the emblem.
However, i am left to wonde whether this is true or not because apparently there is a writing from local newspaper who said those claim are actually a myth and it never happens. All are myths.?? Why is there a plate to tell about this if all are myths? Maybe someone tried to hide something maybe.
So, I think that's it for now. I'm going back there again today. 2 more weeks to enjoy this rotation. Insyallah I'll try to do the quick update as frequent as I can. Really don't want to let this blog into hiatus.
At the same time, please make du'a for me and all of us so that Allah will make it ease for us to continue our journey.
See you guys again.
Wassalam.
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