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| Thursday, 10-Jan-2008 20:46 |
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Three Angels in Los Angeles - Part 1
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Saturday 5/1/08
Our journey started on Saturday, 5 January 2008, the moment we’ve been waiting for since October since Joe got to know that he’ll be sent to Los Angeles for an audit assignment. We were suppose to take a trip to Barcelona for our holiday, but instead had to “sacrifice” it instead to go to LA. Our trip almost didn’t take place due to our visas had to be vetted for a second time by the US embassy. Nonetheless the trouble that we had to go through and the wait to get the visa was worth it. We woke up early at about 5am as our cab was scheduled to pick us up at 6.30am. As we couldn’t get anything flying out from Heathrow, we had to go to Gatwick instead. After checking our bags in and waiting for about 1 ½ hours, we boarded our flight and yeah!! LA here we come!!. 
Our journey to LA was without a doubt the toughest journey that we had to endure as a family  . We arrived at Philadelphia 4.30pm local time and our connecting flight to LA is scheduled to take off at 7pm local time. You would probably think that 2.5 hours waiting time is not so long. Well let me tell you that the 2.5 hours lay over flew by within the blink of our eyes. 1st at the Immigration office, me and Qistinna’s passport were approved instantly, but Joe’s passport had to go through a secondary inspection by the Immigration as probably because he was male and a muslim  . After the 9/11, probably all muslim guys had to go through more scrutiny by the immigration, then again I’m just speculating here. The officer started asking all sorts of questions ranging from where do you live up to how old is your father. In all fairness the officer that interviewed Joe was nice and courteous. After that we picked up our bags and headed to customs check and boarded our flight to LA.
The journey from Philly to LA took about 5.5 - 6 hours and it was like flying to another country. We arrived in LA at about 10pm local time and immediately headed to baggage claim to get our bags. Much to our horror and disbelief that we only got 1 of the bags that we checked in  . The other bag was probably was somewhere in the US airport. The airline staff kept apologizing repeatedly to Joe for losing our luggage. Joe told her not to apologise as she wasn’t the one that handled our bags back in Philly (we only got back our luggage 4 days later all bumped and scratched up). After Joe filed a report we headed to Hertz car rental to pick up our car. All we could think about was getting to our hotel and getting some much needed sleep. The only problem was our sat nav didn’t recognize the address that Joe had inputted into the system. The address was 'south hope street' in the website, but apparently in the US you only have to key in 'hope street' as south was merely the direction of the hotel. After fidgeting and cursing at the sat nav for about ½ hour  , we were finally on our way to the hotel. As Joe had not driven on the left hand side of the road before, the 20 minute journey felt like a roller coaster to him as he had to adjust driving on the other side of the road and familiarize himself with the surroundings. We arrived safely at about 1am and the moment we got into our room, me and Joe fell asleep with only Qistinna mata terbeliak as she slept all the way from Philly to LA and her biological clock is still on London time  .
Sunday 6/1/08
Woke up at about 7am as we were still jet lag from our flight. Walked around the block and stopped by Ralph’s. Its basically like Tesco and there were a variety of stuff we found that we couldn’t get here in the UK. Did some shopping and bought groceries as we were kebulur. Baba bought twinkies as it was his favorite. He used to grow up here in the States back in the 90’s and twinkies was his favorite junk food which is why he was so bulat when he was younger. I bought oreo’s as well as Hersheys chocolates among other things. Had lunch back in the hotel room eating instant noodles (thank god to who ever created them) and went out again to explore downtown LA.
Our first stop was the Staples Center, home of the legendary LA Lakers  . This is the venue where all of the great basketball players plied their trade from Kareem Abdul Jabbar to their current stalwart Kobe Bryant. After a few snap of pictures we headed next door to LA Convention Center. Much to our surprise there was a “Soccer Convention” going on there. No wonder we saw kids walking around with footballs outside on the streets. There were a few big teams that were invited to the exhibition including Man.United(booo!!!) and AC Milan. The biggest draw from the crowd was the famous Mexican football team, Deportivo Chivas. A football clinic was also held in the middle of the convention hall, with the organizer inviting Man U’s youth team coach giving pointers to aspiring world class footballers. After that we explored around the city block for about an hour. Before heading back to our hotel we stopped by at Macy's Plaza (shopping mall next to our hotel). Bought few clothes for 3 of us to pakai tonight and while me shopping for the clothes, Qistinna buat perangai la pula.. Ntah apesal nak merangkak la pulak kat situ.
Monday 7/1/08 - Tuesday 8/1/08
Joe had to go to work come Monday morning so it was just me and Qistinna at the hotel. As 1 of our luggage was still somewhere in the US, I had to do shopping to replace our clothes. Funny enough Joe went to work wearing his work clothes and jeans (luckily his work clothes were in the other bag that we got at the airport)!!. When Joe came back from work he told me that the manager gave him a funny look when she saw him, but her face change when Joe told him that the airline lost our luggage. Tuesday was also the same routine as Monday as I had to (cheh “had to”  ) shop for our lost clothes. Luckily the airlines will compensate us 75USD for each person for each day the bag is delayed.
Wednesday 9/1/08
Finally only on Wednesday did I explore further downtown LA with Qistinna. We headed to Bunker Hill (most of downtown's attractions are here). The hill was 40degrees curam.. imagine i have to push the stroller up the hill plus with my perut tengah besar nie.. Sampai atas jer mengah tak ingat punye..  Our first stop was Disney’s Concert Hall. The best part is there are no entry fee, so we spend about 2 hours exploring the concert hall as well as marvel at the enchanted architecture of the building. Then we walked further up the hill until we reached the Music Center. However, we missed the last tour of the day. So, amek gambar kat depan ajela. As my legs already lenguh, I decided to return back to our hotel. On our way back, we passed by a few attractions i.e. The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles Superior Court, etc.. And took a few photos along our way back to hotel. 
END OF PART 1
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| Friday, 4-Jan-2008 18:16 |
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Qistinna's US Visa Photo
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This photo was taken last November. At that time she was having diarrhea for 3 weeks and was not in a good mood at all. The photographer took about 40 minutes to snap her photos and this was the best shot that he can get (haha.. with botol susu)!! There's a lot of shots taken and most of it tak lepas utk visa. She was crying all out during the photoshoot (sampai muntah lak tue)  and doesn't want to look at the camera. Haiyo.. Nasib baik photographer tue penyabar orangnya  .
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| Thursday, 3-Jan-2008 15:31 |
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Goodbye.. to Atuk, Nenek & Aunties...
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| Friday, 28-Dec-2007 19:02 |
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StoneHengE..
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| Friday, 28-Dec-2007 18:56 |
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Scotland-York Road Trip - Final Part
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The final destination of our journey is York, which is located south of Edinburgh about 150 miles away. We left our motel at about 8am and headed down south to begin our journey. We arrived at about 12-1pm and immediately headed straight to the legendary York designer outlet. The outlet is bigger than Bicester Village and there is definitely alot more shops there. My eyes juling juling tgk price discounts  , but I've promised Joe that I won't do any shopping till our trip to LA....sigh.... After about a couple of hours touring the outlet, we headed straight to our motel to get some good needed rest for tomorrow's agenda.
The next morning after checking out, we headed to city center of York. Our first destination is the Clifford's Tower where we spend about 15 minutes taking pictures there. Then we walked to The Shambles which known as Europe's most visited street. Shambles is York 's oldest street and Europe's best preserved Medieval street. The street is very narrow and has lots of interesting shops. We continue walking until we reached the York Minster which only 5 minutes away from The Shambles. The Minster is an artistic and architectural masterpiece, very beautiful building  . After touring York and wearing out our feet, we head back to London thus marking the end of our journey. Looking back we were quite dissapointed that we missed a few places due to time constraints  , especially the Anfield stadium tour, but nonetheless the trip was fun and enjoyed it thoroughly.
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| Wednesday, 26-Dec-2007 21:31 |
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Scotland-York Road Trip - Part 2
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The next day we headed out to Glasgow, our next destination . Glasgow is an industrial city and there's not a whole lot to explore but nonetheless still beautiful. We headed out to Glasgow's Catholic Church. It is the oldest church in Scotland and has been around since the medieval time. After exploring the church for about an hour, we walked across the street to visit Glasgow's oldest house. The house has been around as long as the church and it still look sturdy.
Then we headed out to Glasgow Green, where the People's Palace is situated. The People's Palace basically tells the story of what Glasgow went through various phases from the beginning of the 20th century. Attached to the People's Palace is the Winter Gardens, an elegant Victorian glasshouse with a built in botanical garden. After touring the Glasgow Green we headed out to nearby local "Portobello Market" equivalent in Glasgow. After much walking and touring we headed back to our motel back in Dunfermline.
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| Tuesday, 25-Dec-2007 20:49 |
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Scotland-York Road Trip - Part 1
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Today we began our journey up north to Scotland, but 1st our stop is Liverpool. We initially wanted to visit Anfield because it was Joe's and Baba's spiritual home. The plan had to be scrapped as I had to go for my scan and we only reached home at about 1pm (I couldn't change the appointment date  ). The journey to Liverpool was suppose to take only 4 1/2 hours but it ended up being a 6 hour journey due to a massive traffic jam on the M25  .
Once we've reached Liverpool, we immediately headed off to Kak Maslina's house, Mama's friend's sister or something like that. We were greeted by Kak Maslina's family upon arrival and as well as warm food after a long journey. Qistinna immediately made friends with Kak Maslina's kids (Faiz, Mariam & Adam) it was good seeing liven up again. Kak Maslina's eldest is Faiz, of which I have to admit looks like a younger version of Steven Gerrard . We chatted for about 1 1/2 hours and went to sleep as Baba was knackered (it means tired), and wanted to head out early tomorrow before continuing our journey to Edinburgh.
The beautiful Mariam
The younger version of Steven Gerrard - Faiz
The cute notty daughter of mine - Qistinna 
The next day we headed off early from Liverpool at about 8am as recommended by Kak Maslina's husband. Along the way we stopped at a few rest areas and took some scenic pictures of Scotland's landscapes. The country side is really beautiful and we were awed by the majestic site of the Highlands. The temperatures of north was really cold and along the way, the thermometer of the car registered outside temperatures of -7 celcius!! :-0. The journey to Scotland took longer than we thought coz Baba had to drive slow as the road is slippery with ice and its fogging as well.
At about 2pm, we finally reached Edinburgh (way past our ETA) and parked our car nearby the Edinburgh castle. At first we wanted to explore the castle, but after seeing the admission cost of 11 pounds per adult , we decided not to as its not worth (the weather is so cold). Perhaps we will come again during summer, and that time we will sure to explore the castle. After taking some pictures there we headed down to Princess Street (Edinburgh's equivalent of Oxford Street). We toured around the area for about 1 hour and all of us decided that we should be checking in our hotel as it was really getting cold.
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| Wednesday, 19-Dec-2007 13:55 |
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Hari Raya AidilAdha
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All muslims in London celebrates AidilAdha today, 19th December, a day earlier from Malaysia. Luckily it falls today, if it falls tomorrow, then we wouldn't have time to celebrate it coz that is when our journey to Scotland starts. My MIL cooked rendang ayam and nasi impit.
Since all of us agreed to wear our traditional clothes, so I dress Qistinna in her baju kurung which ended up she's the only one yang pakai baju kurung.. Yang lain termasukla maknya pakai day clothes jer..  I guess the weather that keep us from wearing baju kurung / baju melayu plus our house is a basement flat, lagila sejukkk..
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| Saturday, 15-Dec-2007 10:10 |
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~Frost Fair~
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| Monday, 10-Dec-2007 12:42 |
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Yeay.. Rumah meriah again.. The in-laws and family are here...
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Rumah rasa sunyi again coz my brother & family dah balik, tapi rasa sunyi tue sekejap ajer coz my in-laws & family sampai our house on the 6th.. Although still rasa sedih my brother & family dah balik but at least my in-laws & family are here now.. And they will keep us company for the next 4 weeks.. Yeay!! Kiranya rumah takde visitors sehari jerla, coz my brother balik on the 4th and my in-laws datang on the 6th. 
Rumah meriah again, although Qistinna takde cousin to play with.. but she has tok, nenek and auntie2 yang rajin melayan kerenah dia.. This time Qistinna geng dgn adult pula la..
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