Journey of Life

A Sasak Traditonal Village I'm just going to combine the fourth and last day in Mataram into this post. Much of the sightseeing was on the whole Saturday, before packing back for the inbound flight the next day. In that morning, Pak Ibrahim took us the southern region of Lombok island. The oldest traditional weaving village of the Sasak people, was filled with traditional wooden huts. The Sade's village, a name given, located in Pujut shown pieces of the indigenous tribe ranging from the fine weaving cloth, woodcraft, as well as the architectural huts. We were welcomed by a musical ensemble performed.

Interesting views on the sea cliff We actually. didn't draft any plan for the itinerary while in Lombok. So, we solely relied on Pak Ibrahim recommendation. Once arrived at Teluk Kodek, we met him at the jetty. That was the first time we met as he couldn't welcomed us at the airport for some reasons. We were talking about the Sasak culture, and one thing that caught our intention is about the 'kahwin lari' thingy. It actually a tradition in which the girl will be 'kidnap' by her bride-to-be. While the girl is hiding in the village head's house, the man's family will negotiate on the wedding agreement with her parent. Three days passed, if the girl's family still not accepted the proposal for any reason, the wedding will still be performed by the village head.

The 3 islands and Teluk Nara Port to the south While Nu'man and I were looking for bike rental yesterday, Amin approached us and offered a snorkeling trip to the 3 nearby islands, Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno and Gili Air. I promised to meet him today 9 am at the hotel lobby. We stopped at the three island and spent our time leisurely as it was private boat rental. Included two stops for deep see snorkeling and one within the turtle conservation area. Among the islands, the Gili Air was the most serene and in fact the beach was so fascinating. I would recommend to stay here if you're looking for a peaceful and quietness. After the noon, we headed back to Gili Trawangan. The half-day snorkeling trip left us with memorable moment and exciting activities, especially Nu'man.

Sarapan pagi  kat airport We had been rotating to visit the Southeast Asia country each year and this is the fourth time visit to Indonesia after Bali (2010),  Bukittinggi (2012) and Bandung (2014). Looks like we made a return every 2 years, that's interesting! We may need to consider other countries like Brunei, Philippines or Cambodia in the near future. Three hours later, we arrived Lombok International Airport at noon. We were welcomed by Pak Ibrahim's staff shortly after clearing immigration and collecting our luggage. The weather that day was slightly overcast. En route to Teluk Kodek Port, we stopped at Sukarara Weaving Village. By the time we reached there, it was raining heavily. It is a traditional craft of weaving center located in Lombok West Nusa Tenggara. Not much seen as it felt, we had  ayam taliwang for lunch at Taliwang Alam Nyaman restaurant, known for its famous local dish. Alpukat Jus (Avocado Juice) is also a must try whenever you vi...

Guest room at SMCCU This would be the last entry for this trip, finally! Yeahh.... Our flight back home was in the evening, so we still have barely a day for visiting. We decided to participate in a guided tour around the Al Fahidi Historic District, hosted by Sheikh Mohammed Center of Cultural Understanding (SMCCU). The one and half hour walking tour does not operate on daily basis, so do check their schedule here . There were two kind of tour, the Heritage tour and Creekside tour that include a visit to Deira by abra boat. Both tour treated the guest with the Arabic tea and coffee, dates and a traditional cakes.

The Souk Al Bahar, besides the Al-Burj We woke up early as we booked Burj Khalifa's ' AT THE TOP ' tickets for 8:00-9:00 am time slot, and it came with a complimentary light breakfast. The tickets allowed us to go up until level 124 and access to level 125. The tower can be further access until level 148 but it will require you to purchase ' SKY ' ticket at higher price. We didn't opt for that. We parked at the Level 1 (Section M) of the Cinema Car Park, as recommended in the booking confirmation. By the time we reached there, we couldn't get access into the mall as it was locked. It was not the main entrance but that probably the nearest to the ticketing counter.

We took our sweet time on breakfast that day, and only arrived Dubai at noon. We initially planned to join Jumeirah Mosque tour, hosts by the Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding (SMCCU) to learn about Emirati culture and religion in a relaxed, casual and open atmosphere at this landmark mosque. We missed the tour as we must be there by 9.45 am, but we did join another tour, the Heritage Tour, that one comes in the last post for this trip. We planned to visit Burj Khalifa on the next day. But then, we couldn't found any parking slot in the Deira area, so we proceeded to the Dubai Mall. Among the interesting places to visit in Deira are the Gold Souk, Spice Souk, Al Ahmadiya School and the Heritage village. That's another reason to make a come back! Nu'man implored to visit Kidzania but we were not keen, rather think that Dubai Aquarium was not bad for family activities.

An epic view of he AUS Main Building That was the day that my wife presented her technical paper at American University of Sharjah. I didn't planned anything and it was pretty a laid back on that day. The University located 17 km from our hotel and within the education city. Once reaching that area, we stumbled upon the Taj-Mahal-like architecture, which housed the universities. It was a splendid and epic view caused us forgot to take pictures of the scenery.

On the 2nd day in Sharjah, we made first stop at Al Hisn Fort, exploring this beautifully restored 19th-century outpost. It was once home to the Al Qasimi family, the Sharjah's rulers. Mainly, the rulers' space, Majlis, Al Ghurfah and Sheikh's room were located at the upper floor of this double story traditional rock fortress. The well, Muhalwasa prison and arrest room were located below. There were three tower built for defensive purposes, Al Kabs tower, Muhalwasa tower and... I couldn't identified the third one :P

All-in-all, we really enjoyed with our stay in Al Ain. Well, it's National Museum was a bit tourist trapped but the Oasis and Palace really caught our interest. Mecure Grand Jebel Hafeet was not disappointing either. What we missed? Exploring the Jebel Haffet Beehive Tombs, upon checking the internet, there was a must-see hot spring at Mubazarrah Park.Anyway, we filled our stay, swimming, mini-golfing, ping-ponging, and roaming around the Jebel Hafeet peak enjoying the epic view.

At one of the Jebel Hafeet stop On the second day in Al Ain, we supposed to visit a 5000-year old Jebel Hafeet Tombs , It said that the tombs were excavated by Danish archaeologists and found artifact such as ceramics and vessels. However, it can be difficult to navigate the desert with the sedan car. We did stop at one of the camel farm and asked the local for the direction. To no avail, he drew the direction on the sand, as he doesn't speak English. In hesitant, we continued to drive about 5 minutes in the desert, in the middle of nowhere. Then, we decided to turn back. Nonetheless, we had to stick to the plan. We moved on to visit Al Jahili Fort, one of the oldest historic fort erected in 1891. Hardly to see tourist flocked into this attraction, we rather took this advantage to really enjoyed the austere and picturesque of the fort. Built to protect the palm grooves, was also the former headquarter of the Oman Trucial Scouts. The palm groove was now a castle park. Ther...

First time experience, both LHD and in the desert Roughly 130 km from the Dubai city, Al Ain is justly known as the garden city, due to its greenery. Not to mention the city full of circuitous route every ~2 km, I guessed.. :P. Anyway, we started our journey from Dubai early after breakfast, while I was still shaking to familiarize with right-hand traffic. Considering most cars move rather fast, we just keep our self to the most left lane... err right or the slow lane. Mind you, the freeways speed limit is 120 km/h with the minimum speed of 60 km/h, and that speed limit is enforced by camera at almost every 10 km. Al Ain is known for its oasis and once was the birthplace of Sheikh Zayed from the Al-Nahyan royal family, who was the founder of the United Arab Emirates. Al Ain located to the east of Abu Dhabi, border with Al Buraimi of Oman. Since it was too early to check into the hotel, we stopped at the Hili Archaeology Park, however its only open after 4 pm. We sav...

'Lepak'ing at KLIA lounge We had to cancel plans to visit Turkey and Australia in 2016 for some reason, so it's been a while that we were not away on holiday. The last we had travel to Krabi in December 2015. UAE, or specifically Dubai, is actually not in our bucket list. So its kind of our high time travel plan. We initially booked the Thai Airways tickets and planned to stay in Bangkok for 2 nights, as we thought that not much can be done in Dubai and Sharjah, another city about 30 km from Dubai. We have been contemplating whether we should make side trips to Amman or Cairo, or at least 2 nights stay at Abu Dhabi. Upon checking on things to do in Dubai/Sharjah, little did we know that nothing can beat the mixture of old and new Dubai has to offer. We had to reschedule our flight, rather than 2 nights stay in Bangkok, we changed to a couple hours of transit instead. Finally, we settled down for Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Dubai, among the seven emirates in UAE.