Hitch Hiking from UK to Croatia in 5 Days

The danger of me sitting alone is checking out different ways to travel, flight fares, places to go, and I stumbled upon Hitch Hiking for charity by Link Community Development ! It was suggested by a friend on Facebook but the idea suddenly came to mind a year after...when I saw it, I knew it was something I definitely wanted to do ! But who with.... then I realised I've met the right hitch hike partner (though I've only met him for only 2-3 times) but I knew he'd definitely be up for random adventures, meeting new people, getting lost etc... and there was Marc !

It was over Spring break of my 2nd year; 2016 (3rd April 2016), the date that changed my life, much thanks to Marc for being up for it too (couldn't have done it without you) 

Day 1

We didn't really prep anything for hitch hike besides buying the biggest map ever before today (hahaha i know riight....was Marc really the right partner? Kidding hehe) We bought the map then chilled playing "Exploding Kittens" at a friend's place near UCL till 3AM, that's when we realised we needed to head back to start off early tomorrow weeeeehehehe. 

So okay, Day 1, we started off from leaving Central London at 2PM roughly and arrived at Falconwood about 4PM; where we started our first hitch. It was realllyyyy difficult to hitch tbh,  we even got assh*le drivers coming up to us asking, "Where'd you want to go? Go FUCK OFF"... but its cool, both of us were just like, "Meh, that's not gonna kill our vibe". A driver was nice enough to pick us up and send us to Dartford ! (which wasn't really that far from where we were but he said there's a  better possibility to hitch from there); then from Dartford, we hitched an empty bus to Blueswater, hoping to get a bus from Blueswater to Dover. We had to pay for the tickets though just cause we realised it was difficult to start from Central London... thats when I realised, 

I LOST MY WALLET! 

"Was so bumped cause I've never lost my wallet before !!!!! And I had about 100 pounds in that wallet as emergency money for the trip....which was dumb cause the emergency is now and I don't have the money zzzzzzz. Felt so tempted to just turn back and cancel the trip while we were still in UK but kept telling myself, I still have my passport, this trip is going to be worth more than getting bumped cause of my wallet"

When we got to Dover, we tried to hitch hike at night at the port to France. Neither did we know that we were hitch hiking at the wrong place near the port... so the POLICE suddenly came to us and told us to get into their car.....OMG I was ready for the worst to happen already... but they said they were gonna make sure we stand at a safer area *PHEW*

So we tried again hitch hiking from somewhere further from the Port which we failed to get a ride and decided to sleep at the terminal around 12AM (you can check out the video I've made how we ended up sleeping on the cold benches....which wasn't the worst scenario we were prepared for cause we even had a tent incase we get stranded hehe)

I remember we had another stranger sleeping somewhere nearby us too, and gosh it was definitely not the most comfortable way to sleep.. not being able to change to pyjamas and sleeping in the cold, still we had shelter so Alhamdulillah :)

(even had a clean area to pray Subuh when I woke up the next day)

Day 2

Me & Marc tried to hitch hike last night at the Ferry Port and it didn't work out well so we slept at the terminal. Woke up this morning at 5.30 AM just to try and hitch again but failed after 2 hours. So we took a break and decided to walk to the nearest petrol station which we met Dan who approached us and bought us £30 tickets each to Calais, France !! He also donated £40 to the charity we are fundraising for !! God bless Dan !! 

The moment we got on the Ferry, me and Marc were determined that we had to find our next "driver" to hitch hike.. We went to different floors and had the challenge of time limit since it didn't take long to arrive to Calais, France from Dover ! We asked the old couple enjoying their coffee by the corner, the Spanish couple who couldn't really speak English... pretty much everyone else... until we met Dan and Paul !  They were driving to Holland; on a business trip as part of their work with DHL. They dropped us off at Antwerp, Belgium and donated for the cause as well !

We didn't manage to get a picture with them cause the moment we arrived, there was bad traffic and it was drizzling so yea... but I still remember their faces though hehe. When we got to Antwerp, we stayed at an Air Bnb which charged us only 7.50 Euros per person when they found out we were hitch hiking for charity. Me and Marc got sooo tired from the first day so we decided to get our hot baths and slept at 9PM, neglecting our dinners (hahaha that tired okays....)

Day 3
From P+R metro at 11.30AM, we walked to the nearest petrol station. We realised it was easier to hitch from petrol stations since that's the only place we could legally stop drivers and talk to them :)
and this was our FASTEST HITCH EVER! Within just 5 minutes of waiting, we managed to hitch a ride with a lovely couple celebrating their 3rd year anniversary at Liege, Silka and Yaru 
Yaru plays the percussion and told us he knew a Malaysian song..... which he plugged it on his speakers, a nasyid song called Debu ! HAHAHAHA that definitely took me and Marc by surprise !!! IF only he knew what the song really meant though....

We were dropped off at a petrol station before Maastricht, Germany. That's when we met the amazing guy, Victor ! He first insisted on checking our documents just to make sure we were not refugees and he'd get sued for driving us around if we were refugees. Next thing we knew, we were on a blabla car with Victor (from Moldova), Lovely (from Phillipines) and Kamal (from Afghanistan). Victor kept on telling us that Kamal was the one insisting that they shouldn't leave us stranded there at the petrol station... well God bless both of them !  

Victor offered us to stay at his place in Aschaffenburg, Germany ! (which me and Marc had problems pronouncing the place the whole time) hahaha. Victor kept insisting that it was God who sent him in to buy coffee at the station (because he never stops at long drives usually) and meet us

We slept at his house with his girlfriend, Tatiana. We got the mattress and the floor which we were beyond thankful for in his humble home. He told us that his girlfriend cooked us dinner (That's when I was thinking like ya Allah, please let it be fish or seafood cause I really don't wanna deal with the Halal food problem now), and alhamdulillah, they cooked us fish and salad for dinner ! Which was soooooo goood !!

Day 4

We got up at 8AM to the smell of cappuccino..... such a bliss. He even packed for us sandwiches to bring along for the trip (Ya Allah you have no idea how thankful I felt especially the fact that I lost my wallet then). He dropped us at the nearest petrol station to the highway which we got picked up by Haans who is on a business trip from Koln. 

(Mad respect for this guy; he still goes dancing with his wife every once in a week even with his busy schedule) 

He dropped us off at the highway from Nuremberg, Germany towards Munich. Then we got to hitch another car !

It was by a guy named Florian; a mechanical engineer from a small town near the border of Austria, driving a BMW and was from a business trip in Nuremberg, Germany. (Can't seem to find a picture with him though but he was pretty fit). Another guy to have mad respect for.... he goes mountain cycling every weekend (or hiking or skiing depending on the weather) and goes for kung fu every Wednesday.... hmm what do I do every week besides sleeping and going for classes.... 

He dropped us off at a parking spot near Munich by the highway which was pretty dead tbh so me and Marc were kinda prepared to just camp there if anything...

We tried hitch hiking for Salzburg but met our hero, Marino ! He's a marine engineer, has a girlfriend who works for the European Commission and they've been together for 11 years !! (Also recently just got married over summer) #relationshipgoals 

He was on the way to Ljubljana, Slovenia to meet his fiance so we followed his route straight to Slovenia ! We slept in a youth hostel there where me and Marc managed to check out Slovenia a little bit 

Day 5

After many long hour drives in the car, I decided that I needed a jog in the morning and discovered Ljubljana further, knowing that I'd want to come here again one day 

and Marino contacted us, dropping us the GREAT NEWS !

That he'd want to go down to Rijeka, Croatia (our final destination) to see his brother a little.... and so he brought us to his brother's house :)

God Bless Marino !

We got to our last destination, Rijeka !! Contacted Linked about our safe arrival, then me and Marc decided to chill a bit in Rijeka before heading back to UK. 

Marino's brother; Andro, is one of the most talented jazz drummer I've ever met ! 

He was nice enough to invite us for a jamming session with his 2 othr friends, Phillip and Irgo, then at night we went to Phillip's gig at a cafe called "Living Room" (Dnevni Boravak)

We chilled there with the locals, taking our time discovering Rijeka and decided to make our journey home from Pula on the 7th day of our trip (that's when we heard the calling of our datelines and assignments hehe) 

Though we were tempted to hitch our way back, we knew we had to get ourselves back to uni ASAP and the trip was memorable enough as it was short and pleasant :) 

Though the trip was months ago, I wrote everything down daily in my phone, waiting for the right day to post it... as 2016 was coming to an end, I decided that a tribute to one of the most amazing highlights of this year needed to be written down :) 

Check out our video on Youtube or down here !

of (impulsive decisions) and strangers' cars

If there was one thing that I enjoy in life is I live for those random moments, that random conversations with strangers or sudden trips....(but I'm not stupid, like I'll run away rather than towards a man with a gun)

But anyways, I had to go Subway earlier today to defrost breads for tomorrow's sales since we are closed today. Subway's only 15 minutes by bicycle from my uni and I didn't have my bicycle with me earlier today so I decided to just hitch a ride and maybe cycle back just cause it was getting dark and cold so why not.... My flatmate ordered food to deliver and I asked the delivery man if he could send me off to Subway and he said 'Yes!' which is so awesomeeeeeee cause I just needed to defrost breads at Subway for 10 minutes

He's a guy who left his family behind in Afghanistan, finding for money. And he was saying how he was single and all....which didn't really bother me until he asked me when my next shift at Subway was (which obviously I didn't tell him) hahahaha but I got freaked out that  I started talking about religion a lot and pronouncing the word Allah a lot in our conversation hoping if anything at least he'll have conscience and I was whatsapping my friend the whole time, my seat belt wasn't on and I was just ready to jump out if anything (I had to accompany him for a delivery about 15 mins drive) Okay, this sounds more dramatic than how its supposed to be but I mean I've hitch hiked across Europe before so how bad can it be to get a ride to somewhere so nearby anyways...... And I was prepared for the worst if anything hahaha (okay, I'm not naive okay)


But he was cool and sent me off. He insisted on waiting to send me back to uni but I insisted that its okay since I left my bicycle nearby and would cycle back to uni. The door at Subway couldn't budge open apparently it has been quite faulty the past few days, so I decided to just tell my manager and grab my bicycle home.... only to find out that I left my key behind !!! YA ALLAHHHHHH

It was dark already so I went to the nearest kebab shop open, got myself some chicken wings and talked to the worker a bit who's Romanian and said it'd be nice if I chill longer at the shop since there is nobody and he's alone for Christmas, so I said okay and we talked a little until his boss came back

The owner of the shop is from Sri Lanka and moved here 22 years ago, opened the shop for 9 years and has 2 kids. He was busy telling me about if anything was to happen to me, if I were to be dead or something, it would've happened, whether I was walking to Subway or hitch hiking, just to be careful and not be dumb, to be aware of the surrounding the whole time, which is what I totally can relate to.

We talked and talked then he had to do another delivery so he told me he'll send me off to uni (Yayyyyyyy ! OR I'll be walking back in the dark alone instead hmmmm). I didn't have much money with me okay so if I were to offer someone money instead of me it definitely had to be worth more than 10 pounds haha

Had to accompany him to do a few deliveries and went to another kebab chain in town, apparently that was his friend's shop. You'd think they're competitions but they help out each other. Pretty cool eyy ?

Got myself to uni after accompanying him for 20 minutes of delivery food while eating in his car, and at the few last minute bit, I told him I had a business in Malaysia too ! He was more than thrilled and asked if I wanted to work with him for advertising and marketing a little and I'll get paid (imagine that!) .... he was actually looking at doing business together but there's a lot more to that and idk how we can even work together I only just met him and am still studying heh


Thats pretty much how random Christmas of 2016 was for me, it has been another wild and crazy year ;)

(I know I can do stupid impulsive things that makes you go like "there she goes doing something crazy again" but I pretty much know (and hope) what I am doing most of the time kays hahahaa)


Also, believe it or not, I feel like its more dangerous to hitch hike a person nearby where you live rather than outside since they'll find out more about your routine and lifestyle easily so am definitely not planning to do anything like this again..... hahaha oh wells, Alhamdulillah that I'm safe and sound home now :)



This post might make you worry bout how I make decisions in life cause it sounds dramatic but "all is well"

Ego and Religion

Its not a surprise for most of us to have an ego or a wall built up between us and God, especially for most of us who didn't grow up submitting ourselves completely to religion or God.

A few days ago I was back in Malaysia for 10 days and before I went back home from UK, I told myself that I wanted to go to the mosque but somehow I totally forgot about it when I went back home. Then one of the last few nights I was home, I suddenly had the urge to set alarm for the next day to go to the mosque for Subuh prayers if possible and have a rather 'meditating' start of my day. But somehow, I didn't. I felt like "eh, I'm not that pious pun, and if I go I bet my family is going to look at me differently, I'm going to look at myself differently. I might even suddenly look at myself trying to be closer to God suddenly" which idk why but these thoughts came running to my head which shouldn't even matter. My family would ofcourse be more than happy if I did what I felt like doing although I might not continue doing it the next few days or even do it everyday. Even if it was one off, at least I did it, I did something good.

It also came to like wearing long pants to swim since I started wearing a scarf. I've always gotten used to wearing shorts to swim that somehow I became indenial when I started to have to start wearing long sleeves and long pants to swim. It was during our trip to Laos, that I had thoughts of like "Why am I trying to wear long pants to swim? Its not like anyone would see me or anything, I could just wear what I want to wear and what I am used to wearing"
I didn't end up wearing shorts though to swim which I gave a tap on my shoulder for, but time and lots of effort is still yet to come for me to properly wear a scarf to swim and I hope that I wouldn't feel that way when I do wear a scarf even to swim.

The thing is though, does that mean that I have an ego between me and my religion? Am I not capable of letting myself fully submit to God? What am I so scared off? I claim that I am capable of getting out of my comfort zone, but I am not even capable to do it for a good reason which is for God and religion?

Why do I feel this way about religion? Anyone would tell me that its the devil in my head telling me that such submission is not necessary, that you'll still live tomorrow so you don't have to submit yourself fully yet, and that as if I'm an "okay" Muslim that I don't even have to try to be a better one but we should always try to improve ourselves in everything that we pursue.

We all think that we're unstoppable, that we're such important people and that we're so good of ourselves but are we really though? We cry the moment we hear someone lie to us, we get heartbroken the moment we stumble upon death and when we don't have enough food we can get so cranky and become "unproductive", and we are so dependable. We even need others to compliment us in order to feed ourselves with a little bit more confidence although most of us wouldn't admit to it. In other words, we are so weak! But why do we still have difficulty submitting ourselves to a higher power? Completely believing that there's a greater power out there?

My mind goes wandering and I am indenial whenever I am about to feel something. Its so difficult for me to even cry or submit myself fully to God when I pray, why am I trying to avoid all these emotions?  Or am I too far astray from the Al-Mighty?

Am I even making sense here?

To Constantly Try

Just a thought in mind, 

For most of us Muslims, we believe that our life is a test, that everything here is tested, but are we really taking the in-depth meaning to this ?

Lets just say we have to prepare for an exam next week,

We would prepare many months ahead (or for some of us, its last minute) for that exam,

And no matter how many times we fail or we didn't get our goals, we still pick ourselves up and try our best for the next one

Even if the test was difficult, we would feel so bummed that we failed it, but why is it that we don't look at our believes the same way? 

You could see also for most of us,

It always go like "yea man, I tried drinking once already, what's the difference drinking more than once, I should just continue drinking and have a hella good time"

But do we do the same thing if it was something so serious like our exams? 

To go like "Oh yeaaa, I missed a few classes and haven't studied, so I should just flunk this exam anyways..."

I think we should see our religion/believes the same way,

Its not about "oh yea, I've sinned, I missed a couple of prayers, might as well not pray at all"

Its about the constant act of trying, no matter how many times you fail

Standing up for something you believe in 

Its okay to break your spirit sometimes, not everyone is strong spirited, 

Just know that no matter what, you always have to keep on trying 

I know its not easy, especially when there's your unwanted conscience saying,

"Nah man, don't do it, you're not gonna gain anything from trying to pray just once after months or weeks or even just days of not praying"

But its about the act of constantly trying

To be honest, it's like me and my hijab,

Some of my friends are like, "Eniza, might as well just take it off for good, there's no difference tryinna wear it"

But that's not the point, the point is to constantly try to wear it in hoping that one day I will get to the point of wearing it full time (insyaAllah)

Doesn't matter if its religion or any type of believes,

Whether you're a vegan constantly trying to get back to eating full on vegetables,

Or if you're running a marathon next month but you are not that well prepared yet,

You should constantly try and never give up on something you love, like, enjoy or believe :) 

The Skinny Bakers x FVBridal

Okay, I cannot contain the excitement anymore ! My mum and my sister is currently at FV Bridal's launching at St. Regis !!

Its been about a year since I've been chasing and finding ways to work with FashionValet, to find for ways to collaborate with them. I mean Vivy & Fadza are such aspiring entrepreneurs and for us to be able to collaborate with them and FashionValet, is a dream come true !! 

I've been finding ways to collaborate with FV and when they told us about this private event, we were more than thrilled to be part of it ! Our cookies are now part of door gifts at the end of the event !

Okay at first the event was planned to be earlier and I thought I could make it but the dates were changed and I had to miss out on it since I had to fly back to the UK and pursue my final year in my law degree, which at first I was pretty bumped but I saw the silver lining, that my lovely sister could go and bring her brand with her too for the event, "The Zaahara Telekung". Definitely was feeling happy that we could provide opportunities to my other siblings as how they have supported us and provided us opportunities from the start <3 

Couldn't have made it without the family's support!

But I missed out on my first fashion show though ! I never thought I would ever be invited to a fashion show and to be invited the first time because of my own product (with my mum ofcourse), was AMAZING! I'm still feeling as happy and excited as if I was there at the event though !!

The event is ongoing now and I've been getting pictures from Afiq Nazar, our great photographer (thank you so much Afiq) ! Its okay, I'll try to get my sister or mum to Facetime me while they are there at the event later to atleast be there, visually hehehe. Would also most likely write another blog about the collaboration once the event has ended in Malaysia :)

My day was definitely made though with these pictures all the way from home !! Hardwork does definitely pays off ;) 

Thank you Vivy, Fadza and the FV team for making it happen for us :))

Really appreciate it beyond words !

Alhamdulillah 

Work vs Books

So today another hiccup came up with the shop although I'm far away from home. Can't help it, I'll still want to check up on the shop when I have the time to do so. It's not a major issue though so no frets ;) IF only I was in Malaysia though, I would grab my car keys and drive straight to the shop haha.

But I took a deep breath and came back to my senses, 

It occurred to me, there will always be hiccups with business and that I would still always have to focus on my studies. No way was I gonna let a 'hiccup' in the shop get in between me from working my heart out to graduate with (insyaAllah) good results for my Law Degree. 

Its set now, that there will always be hiccups, let it be the shop or any other problems in life. But I just always have to take a deep breath and get back to my senses.

Also, I just realised I'm starting to get a hang of doing work in between my study breaks or my 'chilling time'. I still could make time to watch TV series so why couldn't I spare a few minutes from watching TV series and do work instead a little? They were not kidding when they say, if you enjoy whatever it is you are doing in life, you wouldn't have to even complain or give a *sigh* about it. Just that for now (for atleast the next 9 months),  my priorities would be on my studies, and I've got nothing to complain about that :) 

Bismillah, please 3rd year, be a good year to me :) 

Not Rushing into Relationships has been the Best Thing that ever happened to me (yet)

Okay, so the cat's out of the bag, it's been almost 2 years since I last went out with a particular someone, and it has been the best 2 years ever since !

I have always been in relationships, since I could last remember. And who'd ever thought that being out of relationship is the one thing one actually needs to go through, especially in uni life ! People always make it seem that uni life is sorta the best time of your life to fall in love, travel together etc. Well, I think it's the best time for you to fall in love with yourself, to love yourself before you love others !

Uni is the only time in your life where for most of us, are able to make our own decisions at our own pace and we can shape our lives into however we'd like it to be. For me atleast, throughout highschool, my parents has always advised and encouraged me to join debate teams, represent sports teams etc which indirectly sorta shaped into my goals throughout highschool. But in uni, its different, all they want is for me to score for my exams (also to make money la if possible hehehe). So I had the pleasure and freedom of making my own choices ! Knowing what I really wanted and like.

When I came into my first year, I was trying out almost everything really but I tried out the things that other people think would be good for me, not what I think is best for myself nor would I enjoy it. I mean I know for sure I'll enjoy the time I have, like most of the time, but I was doing it because it seemed right to others. So, I got into a relationship with someone who you'd seem would be the right guy, I joined student bodies like Model United Nations etc. Everything seem to be laid out so perfectly, but I never really smiled from within, there's always something missing.  Don't get me wrong, I had a good time ! But I was learning about the same things as I did throughout highschool, putting up with debates, learning how to organize events etc.

Then Spring break came, and I had my first solo travel to Serbia, Macedonia & Kosovo. Not even knowing if I'd enjoy travelling alone, but I knew one thing for sure was that I loved travelling ! And being lost alone in a foreign country, was I guess, the moment that changed everything. Getting adrenaline rush and feeling nervous meeting strangers for the first time, that was really thrilling! And I guess that was the word for it, I was searching for something out of the ordinary !

Then during the Summer break of my 1st year, I did my first internship & started off my very own business with my mum. I didn't know I had that much time and energy to be put into my goals at that moment really ! All I knew was I was going to waking up for work at 7AM and would go cafe hopping after work to sell my cookies and would arrive home at 10PM. And there were no frets, because I enjoyed what I was doing :)

Then throughout my 2nd year in uni, having a boyfriend didn't even seem like a thing I had to have to be happy ! I started to love being able to do what I wanna do how I want it, not having to worry if the other half would be concern who I'm out with, what time will I be home, having urgent texts I would have to reply to, waiting anxiously for someone else's text, think about how the other person would feel if I decided to do something without telling and all that relationship stuff. I figured that I'm only 21, and I mean honestly though, I'll have only a couple of years left before I will put others before me (you know, before you completely fall in love happily etc) so why do I have to rush that now? So I had a great time throughout my 2nd year! I even started to watch TV series from the beginning of the season till the end because I just realised, I never really had the time for my own all this while.

Over my Summer break of my 2nd year, I was busy growing my own business, expanding it, with my partner (my mum ofcourse) ! We got so busy that I didn't even have time to do manicure or pedicure, nor did I have time to watch the movies in the cinema that I wish I did ! I remember the many times I had to cancel meet ups with my own friends and the nights I slept with my laptop watching me.. And the only movie I really wanted was to watch Suicide Squad so I made myself free for that movie, which was interrupted by the many phone calls I had since we had something going on at the cafe. Although it got a little intense setting up our own shop within 2 months, it was definitely worth it in the end, I felt satisfied, I knew I was doing what I wanted :)

Coming into uni the 3rd year, at first, I could feel a huge space of emptiness. And a lot of reasons came into mind. I had to prioritize my student uni life again, and find for student jobs and still make time to do work for The Skinny Bakers far from home. Having to spend more time in my room, I got to sleep without alarms neither did I have to rush myself out of bed, which was kinda nice since it's been awhile.

I even had the time to watch Harry Potter ! I've never really finished watching all Harry Potter movies before ! And it felt so good having to watch movies without my phone buzzing again. It's such a bliss to have time for my own again, some me-time :)

To think of it, it's kinda nice. Not having anyone else's expectation of you to indirectly shape who you want to be or the decisions you make. To be able to sleep through the night soundly not having to argue with someone or cry over the decisions you make that might have indirectly hurt someone else. I mean love

So here's to enjoying that carefree life for as long as possible ! The right one will come at the right time at the right place (even if its after this blogpost which is most unlikely because I'm about to continue my Harry Potter marathon hehehe). Point is, I wouldn't go out of my way to fall in love or find the right guy, all these love and relationship stuff, will find its own way around things :)

Stranded in Laos

Laos was so beautiful ! It was a planned 5 days trip from Vientiane to Luang Prabang and then back to Vientiane (and if I am rajin enough soon, I will write about it hehe) but I Luang Prabang is so beautiful !! 

Here's a sneak peek... 

Anyways, we had a flight to catch on the 27th at 9AM. It'll take us about 8 hours to get to Vientiane from Luang Prabang so we left on the 26th at about 5PM estimating to arrive at the airport way ahead before time. Having to go through the hilly mountains which made most of us car sick (my sister mostly, which surprised me cause usually I'm the one who gets car sick easily), it took up a little extra time for our journey but our driver was driving like Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift , drifting through the mountains which I felt was super dangerous so I literally went like "Okay, you better sleep your worry off now or you can just continue your next 7 hour journey just going like Bismillah, Bismillah throughout the way", and so I decided to sleep. 

Then when I woke up, I suddenly saw we had a few other local passengers and thought that "ah, okay, its cool, as long as my family gets enough space to sleep hehehe". We had a pit stop at about 10PM for a dinner at an RnR - which doesn't really look like the RnR in Malaysia but they had food so it was definitely good news ! (Although the only thing we could eat was their fried rice as usual because their soup was made with pork broth, gahhhh how I love soups but pork? Errr, no)

Then we left again, and I fell asleep the moment we got into the mini van. I was so soundly asleep that the next time I woke up, it was already 2AM !

I looked outside and saw lights beaming through our windows, my mum sleeping on the whole back seat row and realized, that our mini van stopped moving !! Okay to be honest, I was sleeping so soundly but I woke up because I dreamt of someone dying, which I freaked out like crazy especially with the scene I woke up to !

I woke my mum up (just to make sure everything was okay), and she said apparently we've been stuck for about 2 hours and there was a road accident. Our driver came in with torchlights and telling me, "Accident ! You, go, see !" Back in my head I was like, "HELL NO, I'm not gonna go out into the jungles at 3AM just to witness an accident when I just woke up from a nightmare and leave my family sleeping in the van". So, I tried to calm myself down by sleeping back *which is my cure to almost everything* and believe it or not, I dreamt of death again. Okay, I know, I sound so dark now heh but its not like I asked for it ! 

Then I was woken up by my mum's panic voice at about 7AM, wondering what was going on?! The whole family just realised that the other 3 local passengers have left the van and crossed to the other side of the accident trying to find a way to the other side or the closest town. My mum was busy asking the driver why didn't he wake us up, but with language barriers, he could only answer, "You sleep, sleep, sleep!" Well, to me, that's what my mum usually say to me whenever I wake up after 9AM so I quite understood what he meant from there haha

My dad, being the Engineer, went to investigate the accident and tried to solve it but not having to explain it to the locals, he explained it to us on how the tractor should be coming and etc *but me and my sister couldn't do anything but to listen, obviously*

Although the view was beautiful, I couldn't bear the idea of waiting any longer without having food or shower etc.... My parents flipped because we were about to miss our FLIGHT !! We were only 2 hours away to our boarding time and there were still atleast about 5 hours journey left to Vientiane. 

I crossed to the other side of the accident to see if there was any other way for us to get to the nearest small town or atleast somewhere with a toilet ! I was trying my best to avoid using the nature as my toilet 

Only did I come to realize that these road accidents seemed pretty normal to the locals. They would just take out their mat and sleep on the roads, take a bath at the nearest river and just chill. Me and my dad could even hear a chicken doing the usual morning *cuckadoodledoo!*

So,  I convinced the family that we should get to the other side of the accident and convince drivers who were stuck coming from Vientiane heading towards Luang Prabang, to bring us to Vientiane, but we only managed to get to the nearest small village since we kinda got a bit tired going up hill especially with my parents' luggage

(no idea how my sister still managed to smile for this picture haha)

So, we hitched a ride which we obviously had to pay for cause nothing is free in Laos, in the back of this van which idk how to explain how it looks like besides looking like one of those van kandang kambing just cause I usually see people bringing kambing or lembu using these kinda vans haha. My dad was busy taking pictures and selfies of the scene, reminiscing his hitch hike days and I fell asleep right after this picture was taken.. (also, I had a bandanna on my head but sacrifised it when my sister was getting car sick and you know what happens then since there were no tissues in the minivan haha) 

And then, we got to another nearby village which was slightly bigger... and offered us a ride to Vientiane so we had to choose either one of these rides.... and we chose... 

The minivan of course ! It was faster but for the same price, so why not ?

So I slept again in the van hoping that the next time I wake up we would've arrived in Vientiane *trying to make the journey feel as short as possible than it already is*. And we arrived at 1PM! Wohoooo, congratulations, we missed our flight.... 

Funny part was that although we had to pay for our mini van, it was not legal so we were not dropped off at the proper bus stop and had to take a tuk tuk to the airport. Rushed to the airport and we were constantly searching for wifi, planning our next move. Either to buy a new airplane ticket back to home, or get a bus down to Malaysia, or book extra nights in Vientiane etc. My dad went straight to the AirAsia office and Alhamdulillah, we could catch the next flight to Malaysia under AirAsia for only an additional of 60USD per person !

Then when I asked when the next flight was, they mentioned it was the 29th! Omg, it was another 2 days that we had to stay in Vientiane.... So, we booked an affordable family room and the mattress was as hard as the floor was, and the aircond had just broken down, but you know, it's cool, because after all we've gone through the past 24 hours, the hotel room was definitely not the worst of it haha :)