[Roadtrip] Where East Meets West - Part 5

January 14, 2015

Sofia-Istanbul
approximately 560km (6 hours - non stop driving)
ETA - 9pm Wednesday

As I mentioned in previous post, most places in Bulgaria are named with their alphabets which made the journey more difficult. With no coverage of car's GPS for Turkey, what we did was, try to get to Svilengrad (one of the nearest town to the border of Bulgaria and Turkey).

From Svilengrad, we need to continue driving to Kapitan (this is the town for entry into Turkey). I just knew both Bulgaria and Turkey are neighbours with Greece. Excuse my Geography. T_T

Glad to see the word Istanbul. :) Image - credit to my friend's Instagram :D

Still in Bulgaria, if I'm not mistaken, while heading to Svilengrad, we nearly got ourselves into accidents. Twice. T_T It was nobody's fault actually. The weather was very bad. There was a sudden heavy snow, the road was icy (with melt snow) but still covered with fresh snow. Emm, I hope you can imagine.

Before the snow storm. Can still see previous cars' marks of tires.

Walking / driving on fresh snow is not as bad as on old snow (when it becomes ice). People usually fall down when walk on slippery ice while fresh snow gives more grip.

The first incident was when a car in front of us suddenly brake and gave emergency light. So, my friend slowed down and gave emergency light too. While there was another car behind us, it looked like the driver also try to reduce the speed. But the car started to slide to the right and left. Fortunately he managed to stop the car without hitting the back of our car T_T

That was so close.

Another incident was, this time our car slide left and right; nearly fall from the road (the road is higher than sidewalk, at least half a meter) There was a tree too. Alhamdulillah, my friend didn't get panicked and she tried her best to stop the car. The car was not speeding before, but I think maybe because of a small hole on the road that cause the car to be imbalance after that.

That was also so close. Really.

Istighfar.

Assalamualaikum Turkey!

We continued the journey until we arrived at the border! Alhamdulillah, we got closer to Istanbul.

But, the challenge didn't stop yet. T_T

I just read somewhere; the border between Bulgaria and Turkey has the largest road customs in Europe! Entry into Turkey was not as simple as we thought. We needed to pass at least 3 officers - passport control > car control > final booth.

Unfortunately, most of cars who pass through the customs that night was stranded there for almost 2 hours. Including us. They said, our problem was because we use rented car. I don't understand how that can be a problem. We already showed them the car's identity card, car's insurance, prove of car rental.

The memorable thing of what we did there was....

Car X-RAY!

I really cannot brain this. :O

X-ray was okay for us to follow. But, when they told us to remove most of our stuffs from the car, it felt like something heavy dropped on you. It was really cold outside with strong wind, that was really painful. Most of our bags were checked too.

All procedures went well. And they found nothing was wrong.

Hmmmm.

I don't really understand how tolls work in Turkey. They don't have vignette but they have these systems - HGS / OGS. HGS means H?zl? Ge?i? Sistemi (Fast Transit System) - in which you will have electronic toll-payment device on the car screen. We cannot pay the toll cash or by credit card at the toll booth. Difference between HGS and OGS is that for HGS, you can pass the booth with normal highway speed limit, but OGS you need to slow your car.

I hope, we didn't get any traffic fine. As we stopped at almost all petrol stations (RnR) looking for ways to pay for it, but they keep saying we can do so at next 10km. The same sentences was answered when we stop at the next RnR. Suddenly we realised we were already at the toll booth T__T What to do.... we just pass through it as the booths have no gates.

We arrived Istanbul after midnight.

Take this picture so that we don't get lost finding way home T_T It helped! There was actually another line between red and green - Kucuk Ayasofia.

Another problem was when we do not know how to get to the hostel. Roads in Istanbul was so complicated for us, but finally we managed to arrive near Blue Mosque. But still, where can we find the hostel? There was misunderstanding with the hostel owner as we don't really know how to describe our location.

The narrow road to the hostel.

The roads near the hostel were mostly one-way. And Turkish drivers really got on my nerves when they keep honking horns when we drive slowly. When we arrived at the hostel, it was already 3am. Since the area is not flat, we find problem too on how to park the car. We, the drivers strongly feel not good to park on a hilly, narrow road. The hand brake was not that strong. We can't imagine the next morning to see our car 'kissing' another car.

While two of us went to look for the hostel, the drivers decided to park somewhere far-but-not-that-far, on flat road. :) Unfortunately, we didn't know how to get back to the hostel T___T. The roaming rate in Turkey for our Czech phone numbers was really high. And we almost lost contact with each other at the time.

Where ever you go while travelling, make sure to bring your hostel/hotel/accomodation card. Even though you don't understand the map, local people can help you :)

The place where we stay that night was not actually the one we booked online. Some misunderstandings happen but the person we deal with; offer us another place. Alhamdulillah. It was still nice, I think; actually it was better. But, it was big enough for us with 3 bedrooms of 2 beds in each rooms, a big living room and a kitchen. We were afraid if they charged us more. After discussing, alhamdulillah, we don't have to pay extra.

The price is 19 Euro per person per night. I guess, the price was okay as the place is located close to Ayasofea and Blue Mosque :)

One of the rooms :)

The common area for all guests :)

We had a very good sleep after 2 days sleeping in the car. :)

Walk around Istanbul on the next day. Excited. :D

Till then,

Assalamualaikum.

v Khaulah

150109

[Roadtrip] Where East Meets West - Part 4

January 13, 2015

The good thing in Sofia (in Bulgaria, it is spelled as София), was when we arrived there on the last day of 2014. Which means it was public holiday = no charge to park anywhere! At the beginning, we were so reluctant to park our car. So, we decided the two of us stay in the car, while the other two go anywhere to ask about the parking tickets.

It was freaking cold!

Since it was not weekend, most people said we need to pay for it. It was hard too to find shops that sell the parking tickets. Most shops were still closed. Suddenly I saw few policemen (I guess, they were going to have breakfast). I tried to ask them and luckily one of them speak English. :D

He confirmed with us that it was public holiday and we can park anywhere we want (as long as it is parking zone). What I mean with 'anywhere' is that there are at least 2 zones of parking (green and blue) in which each has different price per hour. ;)

1 Euro = 2 Bulgarian lev (BGN)

We managed to park the car quite close to places we would like to go. :) Yeay.

The first place to go is Banya Bashi Mosque! :D

Sweet mosque - women side on the first floor.

Early before (maybe many many many years ago), there were at least 70 mosques in Sofia but Banya Bashi Mosque is the only one that still functioning. It is very old (completed in 1576) and was built in the era of Uthmaniyyah (Ottoman). The opening hours, I guess during prayer times - as it was locked when we first come :) :)

Interesting fact about the mosque is that, it was built by Mimar Sinan.

Who is he?

Image - credit

He is the famous Ottoman architect and civil engineer for Sultans in Turkey. He was responsible to build lots of mosques, bridges, palaces, hospitals and he was compared with Michelangelo who is famous for St. Basilica in Rome (basically famous in the west). Mimar Sinan also built the Blue Mosque of Istanbul!

By the way, do you know that the word Banya Bashi is originally from Turkish language?
Banya Ba?? Camii

Camii means mosque while Banya Bashi means many baths. Outside the mosque, we can see an area of natural thermal spas, actually the remnants of original hammam (Turkish Baths). We can see from walls, there is warm water coming out. Nowadays, people will bring large empty bottles to be filled with the warm water. And it is FREEEE! ^_^

Turkish Bath - that uncle, he called the monopod as selfie melfie. Whattt? Haha. So, I invited him to take picture together.

The nutrients of water in Turkish Bath :) I can only understand that cations anions :p

Just in front of the mosque, we can see a building - Central Sofia Market Hall. They sell food, souvenirs, clothes etc. While around the market, there are lots of shops, some are branded shops and restaurants. I bought some postcards for my first giveaway! :)

The market :)

If you are travelling to Europe or specifically Central & Eastern Europe, try to bring Euro / USD money instead of Ringgit Malaysia. RM is not recognised here (as far as I know).

It was freaking cold with slippery pavements. I could not feel my fingers anymore, eventhough I wore the gloves! Ahaa, about the attire, make sure to wear clothes that are suitable for the winter. Boots (or maybe waterproof, strong grip sport shoes), gloves, scarfs, and coat (better with hoodies)

After preparing hot drinks from Turkish Bath, we decided to continue the journey to Istanbul. :)

See the speed meter. Slow and safe. :) The route was dangerous T_T

Routes to Istanbul and within Istanbul were the most challenging among all. They challenge our driving skills and patience. Since our GPS didn't cover for Turkey (we knew it already), so, we need to depend on GPS on phone, Google maps, Waze and instinct.

Why instinct?

Because we didn't understand Bulgarian alphabets. T_T It was really hard to guess the signboards.

Some incidents happened.

Alhamdulillah, Allah saved us and guide us all the way :)

Till then,
Assalamualaikum.

v Khaulah,

150109

[Winners Announcement] Postcards Giveaway from Czech & Germany

January 12, 2015

Guys, we are ready to announce the winner of the giveaway!

Alhamdulillah, our first giveaway together has ended and I really want to say thank you to Aisya for helping and guiding me all the way. She has more experiences to share and I really appreciate Aisya's hardwork. Wee. :) Love you lah! The starting to plan for the collaboration was so random actually, alhamdulillah, we made it; together!

InsyAllah, winners are randomly picked. :D And now, 21 postcards from each of us; which means 42 in total are waiting to be sent to the winners!

Image - credit

Check list of participants HERE

And the winners are.....

**drum-rolls!**

~~1, 10, 12, 16,~~ 20,

~~21, 23, 26,~~ 35, 38,

~~43,~~ 46, 47, ~~52, 59,~~

~~60, 65, 68, 69, 73, 74~~

For the winners in the list above, kindly leave your details to email beatback91@gmail.com

3, 9, ~~13, 14, 15,~~

17, 19, 29, 32, 34,

36, 40, 44, 45, 49

~~50, 56, 58, 70, 72,~~ 76

While, for the winners in the list above, kindly leave your details to email siti.aisya.ibrahim@gmail.com

Details needed are;-

Name:

Address:

Number of entry:

Blog URL:

InsyAllah, will try to get it done and sent them as soon as I get all the winners' details. I am not able to go to the post offices frequently. So, the lucky winners, make sure to give your details to us before 19th January 2015. :D

Congratulations to the winners and thank you everyone for the participation! :) May our steps to get to know each other be blessed, and may this friendship continues!

v Khaulah,

150112

[Roadtrip] Where East Meets West - Part 3

First of all, I can't say how many parts will be for this roadtrip :) Hehe, feel free to read, hopefully this can inspire you to try travelling somewhere by car :) Just like when I shared few experiences with my parents, they even asked me if is it possible to travel by car when they come here. They are interested to apply for international license too! :D

Enough for introduction. Let's proceed! ;)

Bucharest-Sofia
approximately 390km, in 6 hours (non stop driving)
ETA - 7am Wednesday

Route to Sofia with its own challenge when half of it has only one road for each direction. So, we need to carefully cross another car, make sure, no cars from opposite direction. The road was really dark! Seriously, like I mentioned sometime before, we can just depend on our car's light, and of course play around with the high beam. I think, most of time I was using high beam. It was not a straight road, so, need to know how to balance your gear and brake along the hilly roads.

Phewww, I guess, I have improved my driving skills drastically from this road trip. Manual car is not a problem, anymore. Alhamdulillah.

Well, I can relate this one quote by Robert Ricciardelli I read before. It was like;

The road to success is NEVER a straight road, right? There are always loops of challenges, speed bumps of friends, red lights of enemies, caution lights like family, weather changes that can fog your vision - some may complicated your journey, but some may be a booster for you to go further :) Keep determined and have faith!

Since the view was most of times dark, I found it tiring to strain my eyes to keep my focus. Tried to open the playlist and sing along. Eat a lot, chew gums a lot, Drink a lot. But bad moment was when you need to go to the toilet in the middle of forest where petrol stations were not so many. And even, they were conserving lights too T_T

My urinary bladder, himnae! keep strong!

Image - credit

The border of Romania and Bulgaria is Giurgiu (Romania side) and Ruse (Bulgaria side) where here, we need to use a bridge to cross Danube river that form mostly the border between Romania and Bulgaria. Still remember I said in previous part, Danube river in Budapest? Yeah this is its continuation :)

The bridge is called Giurgiu-Rousse Friendship Bridge. The age of the bridge is more than our Independence Day. Hoho. It was opened in 1954. Even though we need to pay (~ 6 Euro) to use the bridge, but it is really NOT in good condition!.There were holes everywhere, cracks along the road.

This was taken on our way back.

See the bridge :p

The customs was nice, they even had a conversation with us while getting our passports checked. Basically, customs will ask you where are you heading to (like the final destination). What are the reasons of your trip? Just answer; holidays :)

Yeah, he was wondering why we chose to travel in this cold weather, why not in summer? We just said that summer is the only opportunity to go home for a long holiday. He just nodded, showing face of understanding. "It must be hard for you. Okay, everything done! May you have good trip to Sofia and managed to catch the new year in Istanbul". Smile :)

But, Sofia is not that close to the border T__T

We need to drive for another 300km! Hahahaha.

Thats mean, Bucharest to the border was only 90km!

Alhamdulillah, there is highway to drive faster and safer (of course, not for whole 300km) :)

I stopped by at many petrol stations to take a 10 minutes nap. :) It helped!

In the middle of the journey, suddenly it was raining/snowing heavily. Fuh, luckily the road was not slippery and I can still maintained with 130km/h. Getting close to Sofia, about 150km, the roads pass through mountains (again), and it was really beautiful to watch lots of wooden houses, covered with snow. And there were I guess, at least 4 tunnels, each about 800 meters :)

Pardon me if I mentioned about the beauty of mountains a lot. T__T I'm so into nature, I can say :)

We arrived at Sofia, Bulgaria; about 9am Wednesday. And as planned, we will walk around the city, maybe at least to 2 places of attractions :)

More stories? Want to know something about Sofia?

Till next post, bye!
Assalamualaikum.

v Khaulah,

150108

Korean Age vs American Age?

January 10, 2015

Reunion with Eun Hui after 7 years!

And I didn't expect our friendship still going well after long years of not seeing each other. We first met in middle of 2008, then lost contact, then met again on Facebook and started to keep in touch at least once in two months since then :)

First thing I must say.
She is so beautiful and lovely!

Vaclavske Namesti, Prague

Alhamdulillah for this memorable day:)

I was so excited when she asked me if it is possible to meet if she put Prague in her Europe tour. Awww, I was more than happy to save my day for her.

And there you go! We met, finally!

Lots of updates to catch up. Well~ we are still on our way to be friends from acquaintances (kenalan). :) We talked about many things and it was awesome to exchange experiences. And she became my 2nd inspired person of solo travelling after a lovely girl I met, Izzah.

Incheon - once upon a time.

Let me share with you something. For our general knowledge.

And maybe exciting one for Korean stuffs lovers. Tehee. :)

Korean age vs American age.

Koreans believe that a baby is already 1 year old when he/she is delivered.*point number 1* (maybe they respect the gestation age) :) And regardless of your birthday, on New Year, you will turn one year older. *point number 2* Meanwhile, American age depends on your birthday. When you are born, your age will be counted as days and months until you have your first birthday.

Let me give example (if I'm not mistaken) :)

I was born on 15th August 1991.

In Korean age, I was 1 year old when I was born, and I am one year older since last 1st January 2015 - that's mean - today I am now 25 years old. While in American age, I am still 23 years old. And on 15th August 2015 - I will be 24 years old. :)

Ouch, 24? I feel old now. T__T

Easier way to calculate your Korean age

2015 - 1991(year you are born) + 1 = 25

But, imagine a baby born on 31st December 2014. He was already 1 year old on the day he was born. Then, the next day on New Year (1st January 2015), he gets 1 year older - in which in Korean age, he is already 2 years old, while he is only 1 day old in American age.

That's so...unique!

I think this topic came out when I told her about my classmates. Some of them are already 30 years old and some are just passing 20 years old. Still, we mingled together without having to care about the age gaps. We just called each other with names - no brother, no sister, no sunbae, no dongsaeng. Yea, I know people in Korea, when they talk to someone older (even though only 1 year apart), they use term hyung, oppa, noona, unnie. Similar like Malaysia too, right? Abang, kakak senior?

It's culture :)

And that makes a community more special.

I respect it by still calling my Malaysians seniors with Kak. Except who refused that. ^_^

-----

So, what is your Korean and American age? Is there difference of 2 years like me?

Postcards Giveaway From Czech & Germany

January 9, 2015 Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic

ALHAMDULILLAH, THE GIVEAWAY ENDED!

Hi guys! We are collaborating!

Yeah, me and the famous Aisya Ibrahim from http://jindrisska.blogspot.cz/!

We are sending postcards all the way from Czech and Germany to you, no matter where you are!

I know you are excited to receive one. And just to let you know, we are so excited too. :D Basically, we will post them from Czech and Germany but the interesting part is *drumrollssss* we have postcards from different other countries (cities) too! Like; Rome, Frankfurt, Paris, Bratislava, Barcelona, Prague and so on. I can say, A LOT. Well, what makes them more valuable are of course the stamps and maybe our little notes to you with own handwriting, hihi :)

--------------------------------------------

There are few steps you need to do; basically the regulations;-

Hihi they are not so difficult, we guess :)

*************************************************

1. Be our follower; yeah both of us. You MUST do so, yea. :) These are our links. Aisya Ibrahim & Hanis Amanina

2. Follow this Instagram ; this is OPTIONAL, yea. :D.

3. Create a blog post entitled "Postcards Giveaway From Czech & Germany" (just like this post's title)

4. Then, put the banner above in the blog post and back link it to EITHER one of us, Aisya Ibrahim or Hanis Amanina. It is up to you :)

5. Tag 3 of your blogger friends to make this giveaway the more the merrier! Don't forget to inform them okay?

6. Finally, just leave your blog URL in the comment section of EITHER one blog of ours.

*************************************************

THE GIVEAWAY WILL END ON;-

9th January 2015

(11.59pm Malaysia)

------------GIVEAWAY ENDED------------

All the best guys! and please, be excited to join our giveaway! :D

*************************************************

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS! :)

71. http://www.schanazri.com/2015/01/postcards-giveaway-from-czech-germany.html
72. http://tintanienaannisa.blogspot.de/2015/01/postcards-giveaway-from-czech-germany.html
73. http://budaksukavanilla.blogspot.de/2015/01/postcards-giveaway-from-czech-germany.html
74. http://iekysmart94.blogspot.cz/2015/01/postcards-giveaway-from-germany-czech.html
75. http://herlifemanual007.blogspot.de/2015/01/postcards-giveaway-from-czech-germany.html

76. http://sebabakusabrina.blogspot.de/2015/01/postcards-giveaway-from-czech-germany.html
77. http://ohresepiku.blogspot.de/2015/01/postcards-giveaway-from-germany-czech.html
78. END!!

------------GIVEAWAY ENDED------------

p/s - let's keep praying for people in Malaysia who are affected by the flood. I know it is getting more serious now, even my hometown is badly affected too. Keep praying, Allah listens :)

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HANIS AMANINA

[Roadtrip] Where East Meets West - Part 5

January 14, 2015

[Roadtrip] Where East Meets West - Part 4

January 13, 2015

[Winners Announcement] Postcards Giveaway from Czech & Germany

January 12, 2015

[Roadtrip] Where East Meets West - Part 3

Korean Age vs American Age?

January 10, 2015

Postcards Giveaway From Czech & Germany

January 9, 2015 Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic

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January 10, 2015

January 9, 2015 Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic

Hello!

Memories

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Featured Post

Love :)

Travelers :)

Latest Instagrams