Malaysia 65th Merdeka Day

Happy 65th Merdeka Day Malaysia tanah air ku 🇲🇾!!! 

It has been a challenging week for me. Lots of unfinished testing to be done as the dateline is approaching. 

So alhamdulillah to have one day break on our Merdeka Day  😊

Pagi ni breakfast lempeng lembek (tepung gandum tak cukup… habis sudah haha!) with sambal bawang… yumm!

The reunion of 5504 roomies

 It started after I came back from the Turkey trip. There was an event of my in law’s family untuk menyambut menantu on 4th June 2022 - an event that was 1 year delayed due to PKP covid19 rules. The event was in Air Keroh, Melaka. Frankly, whenever I came to the town of Melaka, I would think of this old friend of mine… my ex roomie when I was staying in Kolej Jati, ITM 1988 - 1991. The one who shared the most ups and downs during my 3 years of doing diploma in ITM. The one with the most unique name too - Chambarihan Nawati - seunik orangnya! 🥰 Until now, kalau dengar lagu Ramlah Ram, sure terbayang2 wajah si dia yang juga peminat tegar Ramlah Ram. di zaman remaja kami 😀

Okay... you guys may wonder, since kami selalu balik Melaka why tak jumpa kan? Alaaa... selalu balik Melaka tu dengan En Suami... dia driver kot... payah la si isteri nak 'kidnap' kereta pi jumpa sahabat lama huhuuu. But for this trip, no 1 - we'll be staying in Ayer Keroh, which is very near to Bandar Melaka. no 2 - the uncle of the groom aka Mr Hubby cannot make it as he was in Uzbekistan. Makanya… panjang la akal si isteri buat plan bila si suami tiada bersama lol! 

So I made plan to meet Mie aka Ms Chambarihan Nawati after like... what? 31 years?? I seriously can't remember when I last met her... huhu! 

Reunited with my ex roomie after 31 years leaving ITM!!! It was surreal!! 😍

Thank you Mie belanja... siap bawak carrot cake lagi... sedap lak tu... yumm!!

Sempat borak around an hour saja... I had to rush getting ready for the wedding event that evening. Tak puas rasanya reminiscing kisah2 lama kami huhuuuu. But at least terubat lah rindu untuk jumpa sahabat sorang ni 💓

And so that was the 'pencetus' of the grand reunion of  5504 occupants of Kolej Jati 8892. We shared our picture in the wassap group of 5504. Maka bermula lah mereka membuat plan untuk berjumpa... to be reunited again. And since Mie would be coming to Shah Alam on 19th June 2022 for her son's graduation, we made a plan! The idea was... siapa boleh datang... datang aje! Tak payah tunggu semua ada... confirm tak jadi nanti Lol!

Ended up 5 out of 8 of us made it to this gathering... masyaAllah.... seronok nya dapat jumpa mereka semua! Walau pun masih tak cukup corum... jadi lah... huhuuu...

The long overude reunion of the occupants of 5504, Kolej Jati ITM 8892.

From left : Faez, Shila, Mie, yours truly and Ila.

Mie brought this... yummeh!!!

Food at Chef Zubir Restaurant was good... 😋

Berjaya juga kami berkumpul.. alhamdulillah.... 

Most of us haven't met each other since 1992. Walaupun kami belajar dalam bidang yang berlainan (yours truly in Computer Science, Mie in Landscape Architecture, Ila in Banking, Shila in Food Technology, Faez in Hotel Catering, Yasmin in Business Transport, Kak Ani in Fashion Design and Nab in Ceremic Art), we survived 3 years of sharing the same space (err... it was more like an apartment with 2 rooms and a living room that turned into a room as well Lol!). Terlalu banyak kot memori manis, masam, pahit, pedas, kelat (semua ada lah haha!) yang dikongsi bersama... 

Bila dah berkumpul ni, keluar lah semua cerita balik lol!! 😂😂😂

Dunch play2 ya... I remember all your secret okay!!! So be kind to me lol!  

Shila, the youngest among us (she joined us in room 5504 in 1989 after a senior, Kak Ana graduated and left us), paling kuat memori.. reminding us on all those memories... some yang kami pun dah lupa lol! Memang sakit perut gelak reminiscing cerita2 lama... 😂😂😂

Wishing Min, Kak Ani and Nab were there with us... sure lagi gamat! 

One fine day insyaAllah... all eight of us can meet up! 

May this friendship last forever till jannah... 😘💓

Day 12 - Nusret Steakhouse, Istanbul

Ever since we landed in Turkey, the kids had been mentioning Nusret Restaurant like thousands of times! Be it Izzaty or Izzat. Mama ni tak pernah lah dengar this restaurant (obviously mama is so not up-to-date) until they mentioned it in Turkey. Never heard of the chef as well! (confirm mama kata bawah tempurung lol!). Even some good friends, Maryam Wong and Noreen recommended it. So we googled it and tersedak okay tenguk the price! So expensive! 😅 

So memang tak plan lah kan nak singgah sini Lol! 🤭

But the kids tak habis2 meracun we all ajak pi makan sini tau... katanya, the Istanbul branches are the cheapest branches... other branches in the other side of the world are more expensive. So?? Ada mama kisah? Lol!

Anyway, we finally succumbed to their sweet talk... haha! Okay laaa... bagi chance... to celebrate Izzaty's completion of degree (why not kan... she totally deserve this right?!), we decided to have lunch at this super famous restaurant on our last day in Turkey.

So we made a reservation a few days before (the restaurant is usually fully booked! So it was advisable to make reservation)... we even studied the menu online to decide what to order (to make sure it was within our budget lol!). Rakyat marhain kan... kena la budget betul2 lol!

So right after the cruise, off we went to Nusret Restaurant which was located in the Grand Bazaar area.

Still had to wait in a queue even though we made reservation.... the place was full!

Sementara menunggu, sempat posing... shameless pose, ramai tenguk... don't care! 😆

Finally got our table.

Had to wait for a while before a staff came to serve us...  

The famous trademark 'tabur garam' tu yang tak tahan tenguk... lol!

So what did we order? Tadaaaa... 

Tomahawk Steak... TLR1,050 

We were skeptical.. 

Nampak agak merah.... but surprisingly taste soooo good!!

Onion Flower... TLR95

This one pun sedap... like onion ring!

Nusr-et Burger Set - Cheeseburger with smoked beef, caramelised onion, cheddar cheese and French Fries - TLR190.

That's all! For the 6 of us!

Memang tak begitu kenyang la kan... just nak merasa je pun huhuuuu... 

Total damage at Nusret Istanbul was around RM350. Okay laaa... not bad!

Been there! Done that! Lol!

#HussinClan were here! lol!

Before we left the place, sempat group photo kat sini again...

Senyum simpul masing2 dapat makan kat Nusret... 

Jadi lah kan... merasa la jugak... kih kih!

Tak dapat bergambar with the famous owner... dapat bergambar with patung dia pun jadi laaa... ahak! 

Dah kenyang... continue with our mission of souvenirs hunting.

Next destination - Hafiz Mustafa

Found a branch of Hafiz Mustafa nearby. Izzaty wanted to buy pomegranate turkish delight for someone. So we bought some for ourselves and family for souvenirs as well.

Sedap... not as sweet as I expected.. but still manis lah kan... nama pun Turkish delight hehe. But serious sedap! Highly recommended as souvenirs! And the packaging is nice as well!

This photo was taken when the box of Hafiz Mustafa arrived in our messy kitchen in Malaysia lol!

After leaving Hafiz Mustafa, we continue our sourvenirs hunting somewhere else - bought some more turkish delights from other brand (which was cheaper but not as nice as the ones by Hafiz Mustafa). MIL sempat shopping baju along the street lagi... kenangan baju turkey kan... haha!

That night, our transport came to pick up the 3 of us to the airport...

Sad to leave the others behind (

Mr Hubby was taking a flight the day after to Uzbekistan and Zamri and MIL will be taking flight back to KUL a few days later).... but at the same time, looking forward to be home as we really miss Malaysian food haha!

That's a wrap. As I mentioned in the last photo, this was the longest leaves I've ever taken (other than maternity and hajj leaves). 7 days in Portugal. 12 days in Turkey!

Landed in KLIA in the evening of 1st June 2022. 2nd June yours truly dah start kerja okay! Penat... but yeah, life goes on... huhuu. Luckily kena work from home aje. Tak dan nak ber'jet-lag' bagai... 

Wednesday landed in KLIA. Thursday and Friday back to work. Saturday balik Melaka to attend Majlis menyambut menantu my nephew, Imran. 

Alhamdulillah... dipermudahkan urusan.... thank you Alah.

Day 12 - Souvenirs hunting & Bosphorus Cruise

 It was our last day (well at least for yours truly, Izzaty and Izzat) in Turkey. Tonight, the 3 of us were flying back to Malaysia. 

Started the day with a big breakfast at Dukkan Galata Cafe.

Today's goal was to go souvenirs hunting.

First destination - The Grand Bazaar.

The Grand Bazaar was still as happening as I remember it. 

This place is huge. You can find anything you want here... thousands of alleys and streets with shops and shops and shops... it's like a maze... can easily get lost here 😅

But the price are a bit on the expensive side! And sometimes unresoanable! Like we malays said 'mencekik darah' 😁 Beware of scammer! My motto when I come this kind of place 'make a poker face... don't get friendly with those seller.' ... takut terjebak Lol 😂

Anyway, I did not plan to buy anything in Grand Bazaar. Bought the souvenirs I needed in Cappadocia and Izmir... I just need to buy some Turkish Delight later at one of those Hafiz Mustaffa outlets... that's all. Izzat wanted to buy a pair of new sandal. MIL was looking for souvenirs and a new sling bag. The others were just feasting our eyes, window shopping... macam2 ada....

MIL bought a pandora like bracelet  here for her youngest cucu, Kayla.

Zamri terjebak... bought some beautiful cushion covers here... cantik!💓

We left the Grand Bazaar by noon to catch a ferry for a Bosphorus Cruise excursion.

Went to Eminonu Sahil and hubby starting queueing to buy tickets for the cruise. It was a long queue! Many tourists and locals were queueing for the tickets.

Can see Galata Tower from here... 

We finally got into a ferry... Izzaty, Mr Hubby and yours truly got a seat on the top of the ferry.

The others sat downstairs as MIL tak larat nak naik tangga... quite steep you see.. 

Maka bermula la episod posing memosing during the cruise 😆😆

The view along the Bosphorus is absolutely beautiful! 

Back in 2009, during our umrah trip, we went on a private Bosphorus Cruise during sunset... it was an unforgettable experience! This time around, we went on a public ferry cruise on a scoarching hot day... but still a priceless experience!

*** will be continued ***