Saturday, 15 August 2015

The Seven Sisters Walk

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته and good day!


Last weekend, my friend asked me and my bestie to go for a walk at the seven sisters. More info can be found here http://www.walkingclub.org.uk/book_2/walk_28/. The main walk actually consists of 22.3km (13.8 miles) that will take a total of 12 hours. However, because we haven't done a strenuous activity in such a long time (almost a year after our last walk in Kent), we decided to take the shorter walk around 6.2km instead.

We took a train from Victoria Station to Seaford (transit at Lewes) that took about an hour and a half. 


At the train station. You can hear the seagulls indicating we are near the seaside. Most of these people are going to the beach as well. One group were going to the same walk as we did.


The beach!! It's not that far from the train station. Less than 10 minutes walk. The Mortello Tower at the back there was the indicator for the start of our journey.


It was so nice to finally feel the fresh ocean breeze.


The beach is HUGE.


You can see a lot of people having a picnic with their families and friends. It's the summer! This is how we enjoy it. =D


These cute and colourful huts are for rent to those who want to store their stuff while having a picnic here. It's somewhat like a small room.


We walked towards the cliffs beside the beach.


The first few minutes of the walk wasn't that bad. The view was spectacular.


Look at that clear water. Makes you want to jump in.


This is the start of the 200ft climb. Fuh...burn all you fat! =P


Quite high right? haha...for the start, this is high enough.


Victory pose..This is after wiping all the sweats off our brows.


Looong way to go.


Along the way, you just have to stop to take pictures. So beautiful! SubhanaAllah.


Some of the edges are dangerous. These cliffs erodes from time to time.


The walking team minus my bestie. 


I just love this view.


From here onwards, the walk was downhill, so obviously it's easier.


see..


Along the way, we saw some berries. We picked some and ate it. It was sweet!


Almost near the beach


This place is called the Hope Gap.


There's many people that went down to the beach to catch some mud crabs.


Breath taking right?


Near the beach, we saw these cottages. My friend said these exact cottage was actually in windows wallpaper, so I searched, and here it is.


Different angle.


As we arrived at the beach, my bestie had this crazy idea to walk on these rocks because she wanted to know how it feels. Those green stuff are actually seaweed/algae. It covers most of the rocks. It's gooey and squishy, making it difficult to walk on. The beach here are stoney, lots of pebbles. So it'll hurt if you take off your shoes. Now I know why the westerners usually have flip-flops when they go to the beach. I fell as it were slippery, giving a reason to soak after that. haha..


There were this stream-like water going towards the ocean, from somewhere. It's so clear that'll make you think it's a river. The water is salty, of course (I tasted it..=P)


We picked a spot next to the sea to have our lunch. Nyum3!!


After few dips in the water, we decided to walk back as it's almost 'Asr.


There's field where they make hay. I know how they make 'em now. huhu...


The walk towards the bus stop is about 2.5km only.


There's a pen of sheeps where you can actually enter. The boys decided they want to chase some sheeps. haha..silly.


At the train station, we rest while waiting for the train. This is a tropical fruit smoothie and a homemade lavender sorbet. Yup. It's made out of fresh lavender. It tastes refreshing. A bit like you're eating the aromatherapy oil. haha...but it's good. not in a bad way.

Definitely gonna do this again. 

Until next time..

Saturday, 1 August 2015

Billings Gate Market

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته and good day!

It's the month of Ramadhan! Here in London, we fast for 19 hours!! Alhamdulillah, almost half of the month already pass, and we're are all fine and dandy. huhu...

This is my second time experiencing the month of Ramadhan in London during summer. It will surely teach you to be humble and emphathised with those who are less fortunate.

I have been craving for some seafood for a very long time since I've been here, because seafood is quite expensive. So when my friend asked me to go to Billings gate to buy some seafood, I didn't hesitate. Little that I know, we need to go there by 3am!!! 



The market open from 5am to 9am, Tuesday to Saturday. By 7am, usually most of the fresh seafood would be gone already.

Fajr prayer here is at 2.40am, so we went out around 3am and took the night bus. There were no public transport available accept for the night bus and 24 hour busses. We needed to change three busses to go to the market. The market is located near Canary Wharf, very near the tube and DLR station.


To be honest, London is kind of scary at 3am with all the drunks and crazies came out and about.


This place is actually very big. If you have a car, there's parking spaces available too.


When we arrived there, there were quite a lot of people. And of course, soooo many seafood to choose from!!! I was in cloud nine.


Just looking at all the seafood makes me happy. hahaha


Look at that beauty


Surprisingly, this place is super clean. There is a bit fishy smell (as you would expect), but not strong at all.


Our catch for the day...eye eye mate. Inside the big black bag is a salmon and sardines. 


Outside the market there's this unique traffic light tree. Who's green? Should we stop? Wait, what?!


The price of this big fillet salmon is £12. Woha! 

My aim is only to buy some crabs and squids which I love. My friend and bestie wanted some prawns, scallops and small fish too, so we bought them as well. All of the products are sold minimum 1kg. With such cheap prices. So we have to share. 

We bought two herring sardines for just £5! The price was actually for one box, but the fishmonger gave us two boxes..haha...lucky! Such a nice guy. 

Until next time...



Tuesday, 28 July 2015

Eidul fitri 2015

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته and good day!

Alhamdulillah, infinite praises be to Allah swt for giving all His blessing, for being alive, for making me able to update this blog. Last Friday was the eid celebration for muslim all over the world (some parts celebrate on Saturday), marking the end of Ramadhan. 

SubahanAllah! 29 days went by so fast. Fasting for 19 hours seem so easy now. This year, will be my second year celebrating eid away from home and my family. However, the festivity is just as grand here as it would be back home. 

1st Day of Raya

We went for prayer at the East London Mosque this year because we were late to catch the prayer at the Malaysian High Commission. However, we still go there to take some pictures...again. huhu..


I love seeing a lot of Malaysians gather together here for one day. You can see the massive amount of Malaysians here in London on this day.


After that, we went to the Royal Albert Hall for some photo shoots. hehe...


Wefies...


This will be perfect to be sent for 'salam perantau' next year. LOL


After that we walked to Queen's Gate Terrace to go the one of Mara's officer, En. Shahril's open house.


We were lucky because we arrived just after a big group left.


So it was just us and Mara's director, Tn. Hj. Wahab's family. This pic is with Kak Wan (En. Shahril's wife) and Aunty Nor (Tn. Hj. Wahab's wife).


After that, we went to Chinatown.


As last year, we visited my Mak Lang at her store, Kuala Lumpur Cafe.


The main purpose is for these...Lontong @ London and Chatime..Weehuu!!


The best thing about eid in London is that, you can go for a visit with public transport. It brings back memories when I was at school.


Our last stop for that day is to the Brunei's TYT open house. On our way, we passed the Kensington Olympia where they held comic-con and met these two awesome guys with their costumes and decided to take a picture with them. haha..


We met a lot of great people at the TYT's open house including the Brunei Hall's chef. The TYT and the Datin were super nice and kind. Superb host, great food!!

2nd Day of RAYA


On the second day, we invited friends to come over for Raya Breakfast (It's gonna be a thing after this..hehe).


After that, with our guests, we moved to Rumah Malaysia's open house which was hosted by the embassador and Education Malaysia. 


This year, the makan2 was held the next day because Eid was on Friday and will make it difficult for men to perform Friday Prayer.


There were a lot of people showed up for the open house, from various backgrounds. They opened a tent outside to accommodate the people because the house was under renovation.


This is the inside of the house.


We only get to meet the embassador before we went back.


Thank you for having us!

3rd Day of Raya

During our visit to En. Shahril's house, Tn. Hj. Wahab and Aunty Nor invited us to come over to their house on Sunday, which is today. Their house is actually in the same flat. 


There were soooo many people that came. The food was awesome. Aunty Nor cooked Nasi Kerabu and Laksam (a traditional Kelantanese dish).


Photo shoot before leaving...=D


After that, we went to visit another officer's house which was actually located near my house.


Their house was super gorgeous!


Thank you ustazah for having us!

Last but not least, we went to Brunei Hall's open house. huhu...continuous eating.


Thanks to Kak As who worked there, we get a chance to eat here..=D


Photo shoot with Paddington Bear. 


Earlier in the day, my bestie have been wanting to go to the Magnum Pleasure Store to try it out


Eventhough we were super tired and full, we went there anyway because this store is only open until August and we weren't sure when we can come here after this.


There were lines out the door, but we didn't mind. The store is located beside the Royal Opera House.


You get to choose either vanilla or raspberry ice cream and choose your topping. Nyum3


This is how they do it.


At least my bestie enjoyed it. ok...so did I..=3


Just so you know, this is how the Londoners celebrate eid. huhu...

I'm not kidding. This funfair is for eid celebration. 

Until next time...