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6 Things I Need to Consider Before Booking An Accommodation
August 24, 2017
Accommodation is very important thing to plan if we want to spend the night properly and comfortably, but based on the budget as well. I know that there are so many websites showing the best price for any hotel / hostels, but so far I will check booking.com, hostelbookers.com, airbnb.com.
So, what are the criteria I am looking forward for the accommodation?
1. Am I travelling alone?
If I am on my own, I would definitely choose hostel (female dorm) that I can cut cost and have the chance to mingle with random travelers.
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| Example of dorm. |
Female dorm vs mix dorm?
- It is a bit hard to find hostels with female dorm instead of mix room. Some people don't mind sharing room with opposite gender but I am not that person (no matter how open-minded I am).
- It is not that I did not consider at all, I had actually... but to think about all consequences, I made up my mind to spend extra money for a room for myself instead of mix room. That's what happened when I solo-traveled to Zakopane, Poland few months ago.
Obviously, it can cost 2-3x the price but I did it for the sake of my safety, inner peace and my faith.
2.1. If not alone, am I travelling with my family?
If I am going with family, Airbnb / a hotel room / a nice hostel room with en suite bathroom will be my preferences.
- Toilets - you know, parents they really care about toilets and I don't want to burden them with all necessary attire just to go to the toilets if we shared them with other travelers. My parents are getting used to keep the toilets dry, but sometimes it is hard to take wudu' (ablution without spilling water here and there).
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| Toilet in Italy. |
- Kitchen - I love the idea of Airbnb when there is a kitchen (if I rent the whole house / apartment) so that my mum can cook. Well... once again, parents are from different generations, they are not familar with Western restaurants and actually they just don't feel good eating in places that are... well, you know why.
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| Kitchen - some Airbnb owner will provide few food for free. |
I have my reasons / firm belief of going to restaurants and I've checked with many sources especially Fiqh Luar Negara. So, if I am travelling with my parents, I respect their decisions and well, who does not want to eat mum's home-cooked meals, huh? :D
2.2. If not alone, am I travelling with my friends?
We usually look for Airbnb, so far. Other than that, we will book an entire room for hostels.
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| King bed. |
3. Refering to point 1 and 2 - check the location.
Again, it also depends with whom I am travelling. Of course, with family I prefer somewhere closer to any bus / train stop or in the city center (although it will be a bit pricey).
- If we are travelling by car (road trip), as long as they provide free parking spaces and close to any public transportation stations, it should be okay (trust me, ticking parking spaces will filter out a lot of choices huhu). Any supermarket nearby is a bonus.
- Consider Uber to travel around if needed.
- Also consider if the stations nearby provide lifts / escalators. I seriously will minimize stairs for my parents unless it is beyond my control (unexpected renovation etc T__T)
4. Reviews.
I usually refer reviews before booking a place to stay, well I am sure all of us did. :)
Sometimes, I will personally ask friends to recommend any hostels they've tried. So far, I have good experiences with most places I have stayed. Ask them so that you always have low expectations of the places. Check reviews in hostelbookers, hostelworld, airbnb, booking.com, Trip Advisor, Google maps.
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| Good reviews :) |
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| Free food! |
The things I would focus from the reviews are:
- strength of the WiFi
- cleanliness of the toilets / rooms
- sound-proof rooms etc
5. Price.
This is usually the thing to filter after gathering few choices around the city we want to stay. I usually love to cut costs, but it depends on the situation (especially refer to point #1)
For Europe, I will put a limit of Euro 20/person/night when searching around. Usually the accommodation I have been to will be around that price. The cheapest I've got in Europe is around Euro 10-15. This applies to Airbnb as well, okay?
I have never been on a proper trip around Asia yet. So, I am sorry I can't say much.
Oh yea, another points to note:
- Always check for extra costs - like cleaning fees and service fees. Booking.com usually give cheap price but some rare occasion, the owner of the place will charge you extra cleaning fees
- If you are willing to pay security deposit, feel free to do so. For me, I will avoid that.
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| The bowl closer to the glass wall is called bidet - check here on how to use it. |
6. Before booking a room, always check the main website for that place.
For example, if you found any interesting place to stay, please check its own website. I had few experiences that if you contact the place directly, the price is way cheaper or they are doing some promotions. Well, no harm to check, right? If website is more expensive, you can just return to those booking sites and make reservations. I don't have trouble with all sites i have mentioned earlier.
This idea is similar to booking flight tickets. Of course I will use all the search engines but I will check the websites of the airlines afterwards.
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Please feel free to add anything you will consider before booking any rooms.
I would love to read yours. :D
Mind sharing your tips to book any accommodation in Malaysia / Asia? Please, kindly drop any comments. <3
SS, Perak, Malaysia
170818
I am currently in hibernation mode. Exam is coming soon, so if there will be any travel stories posted here, please be informed that they are from my previous journeys. :)
Another 7 hours journey to Poland, this time it was by train and alhamdulillah I was not alone. Oh yeah. It was a weekend trip and we actually had a halaqah, inter-locality.
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| I will always remember this scarf. :) read more to know why. |
The train arrived at Warszawa Zachodnia (a train station just before Warszawa Centralna) sharp on time although the train was a bit delayed in Czech. Upon exiting the station, we grabbed a taxi straight to our friends' flat. We can count how many times we took a taxi in Europe... maybe less than the number of fingers on one hand? Yes, walking and tram/metro/bus are our main transportation but this time we were simply too lazy to check the route. Haha.
Warsaw is pronounced as war-saw by foreigners.
If you want to pronounce like locals, it is Var-sha-va.
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| Warszawa Zachodnia |
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| This is how flats in Poland look like. You can expect similar buildings in Czech as well. One interesting fact is if you are living in a flat (at least in Czech) facing the city center like the main roads, main attractions etc, it is highly recommended NOT to hang clothes at the front balcony / windows. The city really takes care of its appearance. |
After having our breakfast (they served us with lots of fooood haha nasi goreng bubur chacha sandwiches yada yada), we spent some time together in the city center especially the Old Town.
Just for general knowledge, Warsaw is the capital city of Poland. Actually, I've been there 3 years ago (wow, 3 years already?). If you would like to know more about the city itself, you can check my previous posts on it.
After reading those posts again, haha wow I actually shared quite a lot of information and general history of Warsaw.
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| This is the tallest building in Poland named Palace of Culture and Science :) |
On our way back to Hradec Kralove, we shared a train's cabin with another 4 ladies. They look like around early to mid 40's. Our conversations started when they asked our permission to 'drink' in that cabin. Yes, I saw a bottle of liquor there. -_-'
We just nodded by letting them know not to mind us there and we continued eating our lunch. We were starving a bit and we already packed ourselves some food for lunch. It was a 5-hours train ride and we did not want to spend money to buy food on board.
They asked us where are we from etc and just like the responses we always received.. "you guys are brave enough to live abroad, far away from the family." Only if they know we were already living in boarding schools since 13 years old, I wonder how their reaction would be.
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| One of them gave each of us a scarf. Awwwww. |
They were actually on a trip back to Vienna, after having vacation together in Warsaw. 2 of them are Czechs, one is Polish and another one is from Switzerland. The main language they used to speak to each other is German.
1. It benefits you well to know more than 2 languages!
Well, I already know that Vienna was once the largest German-speaking city, but now it becomes the second after Berlin. The first impressive fact about them is they at least know 3 languages! For example, the Czechs with Czech, English, German languages. The lady from Switzerland wins the highest numbers of languages - at least 6 - well, she used to be a linguist and translator anyway.
A thing I kind of regret all this while is I did not use the opportunity to learn Tamil and Mandarin when I was younger. I have multiracial friends yet I do not even like to speak English with them. Tamil and Mandarin were beyond the imagination. Haih, I wonder why I was so patriotic with Malay language so much back then heeeee.
No harm though to master many languages. :)
2. Stay humble.
A thing I realized after living abroad is I can not simply judge a person from his appearance. What can I say when there was actually a maxillofacial surgeon among them and she has been in service for 30 years! So, she actually already pass mid 50's but she does not look that old, honestly!
Well, how can I imagine a lady who is approaching her 60's is now on a trip with her friends? Like, seriously?
When we tried to take our photo together, one of them asked a guy who was walking along the aisle. He really looked like a normal person, for me I imagined him to be a businessman. But I was wrong, he is actually a 15-years-in-service oncologist (a person who knows well about cancer) and he was on his way for a conference about radiation dose in Vienna.
We ended up with a small medical gathering in the cabin. Phew.
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| Old Town in Warsaw. |
3. You are never too old to learn new skills.
The linguist I mentioned earlier is now a psychologist and wow, how can people change their career as simple as that? She said she just want to learn something new through out her life and psychology is a subject she finds interesting. And well, the way she spoke to us really sounded like she could touch the inner part of our hearts. The way she advised us... really showed she has a big heart and she played well with our emotions and thoughts! Hahaha.
Like, how mothers will treat their children. :)
4. You can still enjoy your life even though you are married.
Yes, all four of them are married with at least two kids. On average, their first children are at least 13 years old now. During that trip, most of the kids were taken care by their fathers so that they could have girls' vacation or me-time anything you want to call it.
Impressive, right?
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I have not been in touch yet with them, although they gave us their contacts. I will, soon. :)
A verse that make me very happy to hear from them...
"You are already a gift, your parents must be proud of you."
Allah, please bless them with hidayah. <3
p/s - so many news regarding doctors and health workers. Please pray for us, the medical students here to pass the degree with flying colors and serve the country the best that we can. The future life is going to be hard, I know. I hope with all good memories and tough experiences while we study abroad will make us stronger, mentally. Doakan kitoranggggg :)
Mesti korang penat dah baca asyik suruh doakan je hehe but, I really believe in your prayers as well... ada doa seorang ibu, ada doa seorang pelajar, ada doa orang yang bermusafir, ada yang tempatnya tengah hujan sekarang. Mudah-mudahan. :)
Thanks for reading!
HK, Czech
170409
[Photos] 7 Things I Did in Zakopane, Poland
March 31, 2017
There are for sure many other travel tips on Zakopane that you can find online, I referred to them as well :D especially Trip Advisor (my all-time favourite). But in this post, it is more about me reminiscing memories of my solo trip to this southern part of Poland.
I shared here some ideas that you can do in Zakopane, Poland within a day :D
My hostel provided simple breakfast every day as early as 7 am, so my day in Zakopane basically started with breakfast and a book to read.
At 10am, I walked out to the center.. to be more specific to Krupowki Street. I need to change some money as I ran out of Polish zloty and after surveying the night before, the exchange rate in Krupowki Street was better than other places (like the bus station) even though this street is always full with tourists.
1. Took pictures with this huge Zakopane board.
On my way there, I saw this huge ZAKOPANE board :D a good one to take pictures. Well just look at the background... whitish snowy mountains, something I can not see routinely.
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| To get here, walk to Dolna Rówień Krupowa - this board is located here (a small park along Tadeusza Ko?ciuszki street) |
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| The same park. |
2. Walked along Krupówki street.
Krupówki is pronounced as 'crew-poof-key'
The best part of this hill was it provided free WiFi! Hahaha.
After few minutes walking, I arrived at Krupówki street, the main street in Zakopane. As expected, many people were already there but not as packed as Charles Bridge in Prague. Hehe. You can expect building along the street - they can be souvenirs shops, banks, restaurants, hotels, historical monuments, church as well.
It was lovely to walk along it, especially when it served you with good atmosphere. If you are into shopping, this is the place you should go - almost all shops are here.
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| Not easy to get picture without people here :p |
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| Classic street. |
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| I have no idea the meaning of this statue. |
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| Ko?ció? ?wi?tej Rodziny - a Catholic church. Poland is more religious than Czech anyway. |
3. Walked along Na Guba?ówk? street (Gubalowka Hill Market).
From Krupówki, I walked across the main road towards Gubalowka Hill. Along the way, there were a lot of shops with variety of stuffs you can buy - pastry, clothes (especially leather jackets), shoes, bags. From my reading, the market is open every day from 8am till late evening.
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| I forgot to survey the prices though. Haih. |
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| The market looks like this. |
4. Took a funicular to the top of Gubalowka Hill.I had the idea to climb the hill, but naaah it's okay.. I took the funicular instead. The funicular is kind of similar to the one in Penang Hill, but of course the view is different ;)  |
| Empty station before few groups of school children came. Haha. |
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| 18 zloty for return trip. |
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| The best view was obviously from the bottom cabin. |
The best part of this hill was it provided free WiFi! Hahaha.
I know it is better to disconnect to Internet to connect with the place I am travelling to. But, it was a solo trip, I made calls to people instead and shared the view. Lol, I was trying to be creative. The views were as expected to be mesmerizing. From the hill, I could see panoramic views of Tatras Mountains and the town of Zakopane itself.
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| SubhanAllah! |
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| Another one! |
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| Suddenly, groups of school children came. :D |
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| It was snowing that day. |
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| View from the funicular. |
5. Watched people gambling.
On top of Gubalowka Hill, there were many shops selling souvenirs and I could see a ski areal as well. At first, I had no idea why so many people gathered there so I joined the crowd. Since the camera was always on my hand, I tried to record the situation. Hahaha, then I was scolded by one of them. Only then, I knew they were gambling!
Like, seriously gambling in an open space like that?
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| Please do not take part in any of gambling activities, here or anywhere else! You will surely lose the money, stolen by these people! |
6. Ate Crème br?lée in Góralskie Praliny.
This creme brulee was recommended by my junior who is studying in Poland. It is a dessert made of custard with a hard layer of burnt sugar caramelized by a butane torch. Wow.
Finally, I am done with Zakopane's posts :D
Yeay!
Till then,
Salam.
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| It is tasty, but quite sweet for me that I need to remove the sugar layer. |
7. Bought Pierogi.
Pierogi = Polish dumplings.
Most Eastern European countries have their own dumplings but I still consider dumplings in Poland as the best, especially if you bought them in Zapiecek. Wow, that confidence. HEHE
But, there is no Zapiecek in Zakopane... so I bought the frozen dumplings instead.
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| My favourite - dumplings with mushrooms. |
Finally, I am done with Zakopane's posts :D
Yeay!
Till then,
Salam.
HK, Czech
170330
[Photos] Walking On Frozen Lake of Morskie Oko, Poland
March 14, 2017
I am currently in surgery rotation and going to have a final exam at the end of April. For surgery, my friends and I were distributed into few subgroups and unfortunately Malaysians are not in the same subgroup. Within 2 months, every group will be given a week off. Actually... 3 days off. And they are IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WEEK! Hahaha.
I really cannot brain why they give every group holidays on Tuesday-Thursday. Mine was 28/2/2017 - 2/3/2017.
That was the reason why I was alone for this trip. -_-'
I really cannot brain why they give every group holidays on Tuesday-Thursday. Mine was 28/2/2017 - 2/3/2017.
That was the reason why I was alone for this trip. -_-'
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| Yeay, a full portrait of myself with Morskie Oko frozen lake as the background, together with the mesmerizing mountains. |
Morskie Oko was already in my travel bucket list for a while. But, actually the route that I would love to try is to start from Poprad, Slovakia then sleep over at one of the cottage in the middle of mountain, then continue to hike to Rysy peak, end the trail with Morskie Oko, Poland. The route may take up to few days to make it more enjoyable.
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| But, this type of hiking plan will only work well during summer, in which I always use this opportunity to go home. :) |
High Tatras National Park.This national park mainly covers the mountain area of Slovakia but since the mountain is basically the border between Slovakia and Poland, you can expect there are few areas on Poland included as well in the national park. And in Europe, you literally need no passport to show at the top of the mountain just to cross the border. But, of course if you are a foreigner and you don't have EU citizenship, I would really recommend you to take the passport with you.
Another border I know that happen to be in a national park is between Czech and Germany, it is Bohemian-Switzerland / Saxon-Switzerland National Park.
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| Miss this view! |
Here are few basic instructions on how to get to Morskie Oko (refer the pictures' captions)
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| 1. In Zakopane, get to this station. It is NOT the one you arrive in Zakopane from other cities. This specific station is for transports within Zakopane itself. Not that far, these two stations are next to each other, together with the train station. |
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| 2. Take a mini-bus / mini-van at the bus station. It will be at the very first platform and you can see the destination in front of it. The driver will charge you 10 zloty for one way. Pay only when you arrive at the parking area closer to Morskie Oko. Same goes to the return journey. Get onto the van and pay only when you arrive in Zakopane again. |
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| See, platform number 1 to Morskie Oko. |
Before we can continue to Morskie Oko, we need to pay the one-time entrance fee to the national park. That was my first time paying this kind of fee. It is about 5 zloty per person. If you are a student, a senior (about 60years old), a person with disability or a soldier in active service (hehe I don't understand why), you are entitled for 50% discount, so... it will be 2.50 zloty.
So, prepare your identity card if you want this benefit.
1 Polish zloty = RM 1.10
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| I felt pity to those horses. -_-' They look so tired with lots of bulging veins. |
Then, we can choose to either walk-hike up the trails or simply use the horse carriage. I am not that sure the price but I have set my mind to choose the first option. :)
The trails were not that hard, I mean not that steep, alhamdulillah. Just, what made it harder that time was the roads were icy, slippery enough to make me walk just like a penguin! Haha.
Okayyyy, nothing much to say. Let's enjoy the view around Morskie Oko area. :D
I will share details as the captions yea.
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| We can see this board every 1km. |
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| I was glad they road was cleared from snow. Otherwise, my feet would be wet from the very beginning. |
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| Can you detect the waterfall? |
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| This kind of view was I think after 1-2km of walking. |
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| Standing against the sunshine to capture memories with this background... you cannot see my dark face. Haha. |
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| Many people, you would not feel that lonely. |
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| Again, you can expect this view almost through out the route. |
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| Oh yea, other than using pavement roads that are more for cars, we can also use this trail between trees. Just, mind our steps, it is far more slippery! :p |
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| Look at the ground. Dirty ice. Haha. That's the best spot to fall. Painful and wet. |
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| I have no idea why I love to pose like this. Trademark maybe hehe. |
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| A quiz for you guys, guess what is inside this picture? |
Morskie Oko
After walking about 3 hours (maybe), finally I reached the lake. As expected, the lake was frozen. Here, I shared few facts about Morskie Oko that can be found on the board there.
- It is the largest lake in Tatras Mountains, about 1395 meters above sea level.
- Morskie Oko means 'Eye of the Sea', called by the tourists. It was said to be connected to a sea (like beneath the mountains), but... seems impossible.
- Other than Morskie Oko, there is another popular lake just below Rysy Peak named Czarny Staw. Staw = pond.
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| The frozen lake. |
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| I should have wear a brighter tudung. :D |
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| This is a lodge, where tourists can have meal while enjoying the view. And advantage for people coming during winter, we can warm ourselves in this lodge and toilets are provided with a fee of 2 zloty. Meals' prices are okay range 10-20zloty on average. I have prepared myself with food so no need to spend money here. |
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| Get your souvenirs here if you want to :) Postcards cost around 1.50 zloty/piece. |
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| See, so many people. This lodge was very busy that day. Oh yea, it provides free WiFi! Can you imagine you can get connected from a mountain for free? :D I tried video call with my dad, but the video was not that clear. But, I had no problem to send videos on Whatsapp / scroll FB or Twitter timeline hehe. |
Going down to the starting point was faster as my feet were already wet and I need to perform my prayers. I planned to pray around the lake, but the wind was very strong I could not even open my eyes most of the time, what else to take wudu'. Cold and freezing enough.
Since Polish people are more religious (at least compared to Czech), it was not that awkward to pray in public. :) But, after reading few articles and international news, maybe I should be more careful as non-Muslim actually do not understand the movements in our prayers. Yes, we need to be 'izzah (proud) to perform salah but does not mean you need to expose yourself to danger. I've been told that some of them always feel threatened that we will do something horrible after that. Hmmmm.
Okay guys, for the next posts, I will try to take you around Zakopane. This small town is interesting as well! :D
HK, Czech
170312
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