We arrived at the beautiful Le Bleu Hotel. Our hotel faces the Aegean Sea. hah, macam mana boleh sampai sini? How? What? Yes, we travel to the edge of Turkey that faces Greece, separated by the Aegean sea. the room is modern and we got to witness the Segean sea sunset upon entering our room. So beautiful. As usual, we had our dinner at the hotel.

Beautiful scenery

Swiss like?

In the morning, I explored the hotel ground a little bit before we moved to another place again. This morning, we are going Leather hunting. Yes, Turkey is famous for it's leather goods. So, our group went to a leather house where we are invited to a personal fashion show. The models are really good looking.

Sunset overlooking Greece

Very modern room

Sunset

The beautiful Aegean Sea

Suddenly, one female model grab my hand to the backstage! I am living in my fantasy of walking on the runway! A model! Waaah! I modeled a suede poncho to the audience. malu weh tapi ni jela time nak jalan catwalk. We were then ushered to the store where there are leather jackets everywhere. The point is, these leather goods are exported to some big fashion houses such as Burberry, Chanel, Dior. Price range? From expensive to crazy high end. I was hooked on an orange lamb skin jacket which is light and can be double wear. the price almost choked me - 2400 USD. You heard?

I then went to the sale items department. I tried on several jackets from short to mid to long length coat. It is beautiful. The price ranges from 300 USD to 1200 USD. Suddenly, my mom said to me that she would like to buy me a leather jacket. *SHOCKED*.

I tried on a few and I settled with a mid length, classic button lamb skin jacket in Red. Yes, RED. It costs USD600. Nangis kejap. My parents pay for it and I ran out of the store. All aunties and uncles tease me for my new jacket, saying they are sooo jealous.

The Red leather jacket I bought - lamb skin.

TIP: You can buy cheap leather jacket at Bursa, next to the Grand Mosque. Also some are available at the Grand Bazaar. Costs USD130 and above.

We then went to a historical city of Ephesus, which is an ancient Roman city. The Turkish excavates the sites and the reassemble the ruins using computer simulation. The most famous site is the Library of Celsus and the Odeon theatre. The compound are big. The Odeon reminds me of typical Roman theatre such as the Colliseo.

The star of the day - Library of Celsus

It was quite warm here. We got to thee the ancient Roman WC and a rumoured brothel site. We then exited the ancient city for some snacks and souvenirs. We ventured to the next place, which is Pamukkale, the home of Travertine terrace and Hieropolis.

This is a UNESCO site. To get to the hot spring, we went through some ruins. Okay, on first glance, people will think this is ice. But it is not! It is Calcium Carbonate combined with carbon dioxide that made the spring appears white - like ice! Okay, the spring is slippery, so all my dreams of going down the level is vanished. I only went to the top tier.

Pamukkale

The rocks are very slippery

We then walked to a place called Cleopatra Pool, legend says if you took a dip, you'll be youthful. Yeke ni?

Cleopatra's Pool

After having Turkish ice-cream (I couldn't remember how many I ate), we checked in to our hotel in Pamukkale called Tripolis Hotel. My room is in the attic. See pictures. Being tall, this is definitely a no-no. I bumped my head everytime. Dinner at the hotel was okay, for breakfast I made my very own scramble egg toast.

Our Attic

I can see Pamukkale spring from here.

Tomorrow, we will be on 8 hours bus ride to Cappadocia via Konya.

Date: 15th April to 23rd April 2015
Duration: 9 days
Type: Tour Group
Airline: Malaysia Airlines
Cities: Istanbul, Bursa, Kusadassi, Pamukkale, Konya, Cappadocia, Ankara, Bolu.


April is a special month for us -it's my parents' anniversary. At first, I thought of not joining this trip since my annual leave is almost gone. I just accepted a new job offer, which means my current annual leave will be prorated.

Finally, I decided to go to Turkey since it is one of the destination in my list. The total costs for the 9 days trip blew my mind. Its costs ONLY RM4500 per pax! This costs cover airline fares, hotels, transport, tickets and full meal.

Our MAS flight was scheduled to be 11.30 p.m that departed on 12.am. This is a non-stop flight to Atartuk Airport in Istanbul. Overall, the MH hospitality is good but I am quite disappointed with the inflight meals. Flight was smooth with little turbulence.

Once arrived, we proceed to the Immigration counter which took a huge chunk from our time. I was held at the counter for 10 minutes, with the Immigration officer doing a live background check via phone call. I do not know why, the only reason I can came up is because of the illegal migration to the country next to Turkey.

Collect our bags, freshen up a bit and we were ushered to our bus. And I am yet impressed! Our bus is a VVIP bus - reclining 1-2 seats with screens full of entertainment and complimentary WiFi! We met our Turkish tour guide, Mr. Ouz.

The Blue Mosque Courtyard

First place of visit is the famous Sultanahmet Mosque or Blue Mosque a.k.a Masjid Biru. When we first got here, everyone was going nuts for the tulips, including myself. Many thought Netherlands was the native country of tulips but it is not. Tulips actually originated from Turkey. Tulip was derived from an Arabic to Turkish word which equally mean serban.

Interior of Blue Mosque

Blue mosque was famous for it's beautiful hand-made blue tiles. The mosque itself is huge and the interior is just beautiful. The lamps are hanged from the ceiling had gold interims. We exited the mosque and walk through the courtyard to another historic place called Topkapi Palace. We passed by the infamous Hagia Sophia (Im a bit sad we didn't enter though). The weather is quite cold since it is end of Winter and beginning of Spring.

Before the First Courtyard Entrance

YES!

YES!

We enter the Topkapi Palace through the First Courtyard which is filled with blooming beautiful Spring flowers. There are several complex in the palace compound. We then enter the Middle Gate or Bab-As-Salam where ticket are inspected and there are security screenings. One of the artifacts is the palm-size Ruby and Prophet Muhammad PBUH artifacts.

Ibu and Ayah

At the end of the Topkapi Palace

Middle Gate

We walked out and I bought some chestnut from the small stall outside of the palace. We had our first lunch in Turkey near the compound. We ate a kebab set. My mom bought a snow cap for my dad which costs 5 Lira since he's freezing.


Nasi dekat Turki ni bukan nasi. Dia macam pulut. Tapi I bedal je. Kucing kat sini, mak oi gemuknya. Anjing opun gemuk jugak.


Next, we venture to cross over the Marmara Sea to our next destination which is Bursa. We rode a vehicle ferry to Bursa. One of the activity is having loads of Turkish coffee and feeding seagulls. I got to feed the seagulls all the way to Bursa. The coldness? Yeah it is worst that Europe.

Seagulls

The ferry

People selling chestnut

I, of course sleep the whole way to Bursa. We reached Bursa when it's getting dark. Mr Ouz actually has a Masters in history. He is so informative! macam masuk crash course kelas Sejarah Turki masa dalam bas. We stayed at Tiara Thermal Hotel which is quite nice. I accompanied my parents to go out that night to have a relaxing stroll. And I, chase a fat cat as usual. Dinner was provided at the hotel, same goes for breakfast.

Spring is here

Some scenery

Our hotel room.

We check out from the room and off we go to the Grand Mosque of Bursa or Ulu Cami. C was pronounced as J. Kira masjid jamek la ni. Inside, there is this beautiful fountain for us to take ablutions. My parents performed a salah there. There is a natural lighting above the fountain. It is just gorgeous. The fountain water is cold as ice.

Ulu Cami

Outside the Silk Bazaar

The fountain

Next we venture to the Silk Bazaar! Turkey is famous for this especially their scarves. I splurged here where I bought 4 pashmina. One thing unique is everytime you went to a store, the owner always get you a Turkish tea-complimentary of course. There's a choice between apple or pomegranate.


Selesai sudah sesi melontar pertama. We moved to Yesil Cami or known as the Green Mosque. The most distinguish feature is the mihrab, which is the place where the Imam lead the prayers. It is beautiful and gorgeous. It is blue and turquoise (hence green). We are lucky that mr Ouz knows the Imam and he let us in to the mihrab! It was prohibited area. The Imam then recites surah Al-Mulk, all of us are mesmerized by his voice and how happy he is to see us.

The nice and kind Imam and the beautiful mihrab.

Quick fact about Green Mosque: The floors are brick laid to provide heat during winter. The exterior of the mosque does not finish completely. You can see some carvings are done mid-way.


We then ventured to the 6 hours journey to Kusadassi... see next part.

Percutian singkat ke Shorea.

Date: 1-2 January 2015 (2D1N)
Type: Luxurious Getaway


2015 is a big year for my uni bff or as i called them, My Squad. We have 2 weddings and 1 baby coming this year. We decided to have a weekend getaway just for us girls at the beginning of the year before 2 of the members got married and give birth. We have few choices lying in hand - we opt for a retreat that is close to KL. Its the only place we feel best to gather since all of us are pretty much scattered around Malaysia and the world.

We looked into Awan Mulan, Tanah Aina, The Dusun, Sekeping Serendah (and other Sekepings). In the end, we chose The Shorea due to the sheer amount of The Squad members - 8 of us. Awan Mulan was fully booked and we unanimously decide to go to Shorea.

How to Book

You can email The Shorea team directly. Elaine was the person I dealt with and she is very friendly and very helpful. Price range are stated in the website. I remembered that we pay a 50% deposit for booking and then pay the rest around a week before we arrive.

Price Range

Ha! I mentioned this is a luxurious type getaway. The price is inclusive of home cooked breakfast and it depends on the type of villa you booked.

We decide to have a BBQ that night - the staff kindly set the pit for us. We stopped by Tesco to buy chicken, lamb, beef and some seafood for grilling.

The Shorea is located off Seremban. It is further from the city and getting there itself is a challenge. You have to go through a "kampung road" for 1-3 kilometres. It is a ONE WAY road with few hidden corners. So, be careful when you drive and it is not advisable to drive there when its dark. Too dangerous.

When you reached there, the gates are close and you need to call the gatekeeper to guide you in. The Shorea is a big estate and you can get lost. Here, you will climb the hills to get to the villas. In Shorea, there are 5 villas catered for different amount of occupants and facilities.

We chose Villa Shorea and Halia which can fit 12 person - the biggest one in the estate. Our villa is 3 storeys high with Villa Shorea at the bottom, the living room and deck on the Ground Floor and the bedrooms on the third. The Villa are constructed to a traditional malay house theme with a very modern twist. In each room, they will have daybeds by the window and a queen bed. I picked the daybed by the window and I soon regret my decision - I will told that story later.

The bridge over the pool. they have 3 pools.

Our deck is connected to the small portion of the big pool and next to the common kitchen. Shorea is really easy on the eyes. Before we jumped in the infinity pool, we marinade the raw BBQ ingredients we bought and kept them in the fridge.

The staff set up the BBQ pit, we clean ourselves and learn about the No Noise Policy after 10pm from the staff-yikes. There's no TV, but they have some board games and congkak to play with. We utilise the congkak while having some heart to heart talk - tears were shed I tell you.

This is our villa on the right.

We took turns of firing the BBQ and the others set up the table. It was nice to have all of us sat on the same table for dinner. It was not easy to round us all up like this. Since this is a Bachelorette+Baby Shower, we bought some head pieces to the girls to wear. We laughed, talk, eat and it was the best time we had for years now.

Girls preparing the BBQ in the common kitchen.

Our private deck (part of it)

We go to bed with 2 girls sleeping at Halia ( lucky them they have their own bathroom) and the others sleep in the main house (we shared 1 bathroom). We continue to have Late Night Talk and then went to bed. We cut our talk short because on of the staff warned us to stay quiet since we laughed pretty hard that night. hehe. Since it was a kampung, it was cold that night and unfortunately I can't sleep well because of my daybed. They have some holes for draught and I hear some insects and worst a lizard on to of my head. I tossed and turn all night.

The next morning we find the staff prepared Nasi Lemak on the deck for breakfast. We ate, jumped in the pool and prepare for our photoshoot. We wear all whites and the photo turned up very nice indeed! We take turns for the bathroom - nightmare when you have 8 girls. We said goodbye to Shorea and we went for lunch before we separate ways.