I looked at the last post I've written and realised that the last one was in October 2008! Sounds and seems like a long time ago! So many things have happened then...well, not really, 'I have been through a lot' is probably more accurate.
It might be the fact that I am not financially challenged now or that I dont have to worry about any tests/assignments... whatever it is, I've truly been enjoying life in the last year. Stress, yes. Tired, yes. But you know what they say, you work hard and play hard!
So, what HAVE I been doing? Travelling, definitely! I went to Istanbul, Turkey, around February time..or was it March? I went with my best travelling mate and partner in crime, Zimah.
At the time, I was having problems at work, leaving me in an emotional wreck really, so it was a good time to rejuvenate myself. I've never really thought of going to istanbul before. It's never been in my 'To Go To' list but Zimah was interested and so I went along with it. And what a great decision it was!
It must have been the most unprepared trip I've been to! We had no idea what was in store in Turkey, except kami mau bali tudung banyak2. I caught a documentary of Istanbul a few weeks back, only to find myself a little shocked with what I saw. According to the documentary, women are not allowed to wear their hijjabs in the university and so, have resorted to wearing wigs in an attempt to cover their hair. Astaghfirullah! It is one thing to fight against people who do not understand one's religion but to get that from your own people?
Anyway, we met up at Heathrow and off we went, both of us feeling ...well... tired from work. And as expected, we had a great laugh from the beginning onwards.
As always, we used www.hostel.com or something the likes to choose a place to stay. I like reading reviews and I find whatever flaws or praises people dish out are usually spot on! We stayed over in a family-owned guesthouse. The owners were really lovely and breakfast was AWESOME. There's something about breakfasts in hostels! home cooked making it nicer? Simple yet I always eat LOADS.
The best part of the Turkey trip was how unplanned it all were and yet we had a brilliant time! The only thing we planned were the flight ticket and guesthouse. The rest of it was played by ear. I had no clue whatsoever what was the popular places in Turkey, what the culture there is like, what language they speak (I still dont know what they speak).
What I do remember of it is its cleanliness. Istanbul is spotless! Not ENTIRELY spotless, come on, we did live in a dodgy kinda area (imagine some narrow alleyed place in some residential area with people tinggal macam dalam rumah setinggan as our neighbours. We made it fine).
Their architecture was AMAZING. Ok, I know nil about architecture but I'm sure building-lovers out there would be in their own version of Disneyland there. I remember four places:
1) Topkapi palace - where the royalties used to stay in including some drunken king called Sultan Ahmed or something like that. The palace was vast in terms of space, not outlandishly grotesque in its luxury but very quiet in its splendour.
They had a place too where the women stayed. Apparently, young beautiful women were taken under the king's Mother wings and beautified and schooled (did I imagine the school? Am I mixing this with stories of Geisha?). And, they had a specific building where they would break their fast. It stood on a higher patio, overlooking the sea. Man, kalau aku kan buka puasa sana, macam dalam some sort of syurga duniawi!
2) Blue Mosque - We've heard vaguely of this Blue Mosque that we HAVE to go to. We were ambling along on our touristy ways and saw a big (COLOSSAL) mosque in front of us. The Zuhr prayers dilaungkan, ahh what perfect timing. It was fantastico to see so many people converging to the mosque as the azan was called out. Do we see this in our beloved country? Women, men, of all ages, just converging to catch the prayer. Only when we were in the grounds did we realise THIS is the blue mosque! LOL. It was beautiful inside, too sacred I felt to take a proper picture.
3) Aya Sofya - a cathedral turned mosque turned tourist-museum-like. I wish it stayed as a mosque though, it was beautifully created.
Funny story: we stood on opposite street of Aya Sofya, havign circling around the area to find it. Asked for directions of Aya Sofya, only to have the guy looking at us in a 'you bimbo or what?' face and pointing with his thumb at the Aya Sofya. Hrhrhrhrh! D'oh!
Eerie though, because it was a huge place but very dark. I guess thats how cathedrals are usually kan, gothic-like. It was also bizzarre to see a picture of (I assume) Jesus and nama Allah & Nabi Muhammad (saw) side by side. BIZZARRE!
4) Bosphorus cruise - Ok this aint a building but I have to mention it. A classic tourist thing to do but we couldn't resist it. It meant getting on a ship (yay!), cruising on the sea (yay!) and eating seafood at some point (triple yay!). Not too crowded and we met a Malaysian couple in there, not surprising really since Malaysians are out to conquer the world (they're everywhere!).
There's something about the overlapping of waters and the vast fresh air of the sea that is so calming and peaceful. We stopped at the last stop on an island that I had no memory of its name but we went to top of the cliff there and found ourselves looking at the Black sea. Why is the Black sea called the Black sea?
You know that feeling after a day out in the beach, kinda like a wave of lethargy and salt-water-in-the-air-fullness and terbuai-buai in the calamity of the ocean, I think both of us sobered up by lunchtime and terasa a combination of terharu and homesickness. Kalau tidur time atu, nyaman kali tu.
So anyway, that was a general overview of our trip. We didnt find our tudungs, however far we travelled to seek it. Weird, I know, it's like the land of tudungs...why couldnt we find one???
Everyday on our way back to our guesthouse, we would go past this shop selling pashminas and me, being a sucker for pashminas, kept eyeing it. I'm sure the owner saw me salivating and tried his best to get me into his shop. On the last day, we did venture in. There are strangers that touch your lives, however momentarily. He was courteous and sincere that I've had a good memory of him, this Turkish man making a livelihood selling pashminas. Anyway, he confirmed the fact that women weren't allowed to wear hijab at uni. He actually asked us whether we're allowed to wear hijab at work and when we affirmed, he shook his head and gave a sigh :( :(
Turkey's a great place though, I'd love to go there again... and get myself some tudungs!
Lots of love,
me
