First Night of Ramadhan in Konya, Turkey

It's the first time for me to have experienced first night of Ramadhan far away from home and the whole family.

So me and my sister decided to check out what is the usual Ramadhan activity here in Konya, Turkey but it was definitely a more confused experience than we expected.

We passed by the Selimiye Mosque before the Isha' prayers and saw lots of carpets 'sejadah' spreaded on the ground outside the mosque and we were like, 'Whoa, the Muslims here really go for terawih prayers'. Locals who saw us as tourists then told us, there was a famous dance (The Mevlana Whirling Dervishes) being performed in the gardens of the Mevlana museum every Thursday night, which is only less than a kilometer walk, so we thought why not?

As we arrived, we saw the dancers sitting on the floor, waiting. So me and my sister thought they were waiting for the Isha' Prayers Calling, to perform their Isha' prayers, then only perform their dance, which we thought was part of their culture. As how Malaysia had Zapin as a culture of a dance to be performed after prayers many many years ago.

At about 10PM when Isha' prayers are being called upon, the dance started with loud music, simultaneously. We were stunned. I was disappointed and frustrated, I could feel my heart pounding, wanting to cry. Thoughts in my head were running like, "Ya Allah, it's the first night of Ramadhan. It's near a mosque. Adhan is being recited. Why wouldn't these people wait for the Adhan to finish atleast?"

We watched the dance for a few minutes. You would be able to watch it on YouTube as well if you want to, I reckon. The dancers were spinning for ages which was pretty impressive, but I guess we were too stunned to enjoy it as much. The dance seemed more as a ritual to us rather than culture. We didn't know exactly what the dance really meant to them, but we felt uncomfortable enough to leave early. Beyond that, it was getting late just for the two of us to wander around so we decided to head back, not intending to be disrespectful. For Malaysians, this was quite similar to the 'kuda kepang' dance to us as they were reciting sentences from the Quran before they started their Mevlana Whirling Dervishes.

Anyways, on our way back, we passed by the mosque again, and Alhamdulillah, our hearts were touched and we were amazed by the amount of people praying the terawih prayers in this month of Ramadhan, especially the first night. The men and women were even praying outside the mosque ! We sat down for a couple of minutes to enjoy the scene of the prayers, and left not long later.

It was a very confusing experience for us especially coming from quite a conservative country. But that's what you gotta expect out of travelling I guess, to learn and see what other cultures have got to offer you. It was definitely an experience to be remembered. 

How Can We Help?

I cannot help but to acknowledge, part of the reason why Malaysia is not taking in Rohingya refugees only recently is that we had the responsibility and obligation to take care of these refugees in our country all this while, but we chose to be ignorant towards their existence and their cries for help. Last year, Small Changes (the NGO I'm working with) raised funds for Carefugees; an NGO that helps to feed refugees every year. Not only that, we also hope that we could raise awareness as well by calling refugees from Syria, Myanmar etc to be part of our event and share their side of story by which only if they're willing to. Not only was it unbearable, but their call for help will never end as they are stateless. They have no rights to jobs or education. Moving onto today..

The motive of this post is to sort of give you a couple of ideas on'
'How you guys can help and contribute in helping these refugees?'

1. Sign the petitions!
On 15 May 2015, Malaysia’s Deputy Home Minister Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar was quoted as saying: “We have to consider what our people want to see us doing.”
There a few websites that put up petitions that needs your support by signing yourself up for it !
i. http://www.thepetitionsite.com/250/235/804/rescue-the-rohingyas/
ii. https://www.change.org/p/h-e-le-luong-minh-asean-member-states-government-of-malaysia-save-the-migrants-asylum-seekers-stranded-at-sea?recruiter=7666896&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=autopublish&utm_term=des-lg-share_petition-no_msg
Those are a few websites that was shared among my colleagues, so sign before its too late and let's hope changes will take place !

2. Volunteer at UNHCR Malaysia
A good friend of mine interned at UNHCR Malaysia last year and said much help; no matter what skills you have, is much appreciated ! You can help by teaching these kids as they have no rights to education, provide them skills to sustain themselves and lots more. No harm just by signing yourself up although you may not know how much you are of help @ http://www.unhcr.org.my/Volunteers-@-Volunteers.aspx 
I just registered myself, and hoping that I myself would spare time and energy to support them as well over my Summer break 

3. Support NGOs
There are a few NGOs in Malaysia that are and have been a helping hand to the asylum seekers settling in our beloved country. Do support them by giving them funds or even attend their events. Here's a couple of these NGOs:
1. Carefugees (http://carefugees.org/ )
2. Rohingya Society of Malaysia [RSM] ( http://rohingyasocietyinmalaysia.org/ )
3. UNHCR (not to forget!) 
4. Shelter Home ( http://www.shelterhome.org/index.cfm?menuid=23 )
and recently;
'Rakyat4rakyat' also collaborated with 'Food Aid Foundation' to provide food aid and life jackets 

4. Purchase from Rohingya businesses
In Selayang's Pasar Borong, the Rohingya's are trying their best at making an honest living by selling groceries and vegetables (Not only that, I heard that they're cheaper too!)

5. Be Creative & Spread the awareness !
The change comes from you, and it has to start today. The society has to stop being ignorant on the ones in need in Malaysia (And am not only referring to the refugees). Spread the awareness now, that these people need your help. Organize events, raise funds anyway you like, as long as the message is out there. That we need to help each other cause,
'The moment we stop fighting for each other, that is the moment when humanity is lost' 

Special thanks to all my good friends and colleagues (especially from Small Changes MY) for spreading the idea and many ways on how we can contribute as a community. Let us give a helping hand. And let's start today.

'I do not own rights to all ideas, pictures or videos in this post' 

How to survive in a country with language barriers?

Hey guys !!
If you guys follow me on my instagram or are friends with me on my Facebook, then you'd know I'm still here travelling in Serbia, will be pushing off to Pristina, Kosovo insyaAllah today :)

Made friends with an ex tour guide whilst walking in the free walking tour and she gave ample of historical information regarding this historical city ! 

Anyways, I've encountered so many problems with language barriers here ! So, I thought might as well randomly write a blog post to share with you guys the many ways I tried using whilst I'm here. Ps, the main language here is Serbian language, which ofcourse, most of us know nothing off....

1) Once you arrive, check out the information counter in the cities. They should be able to guide you along the way and provide you with the super duper important Dora map !

2) Try to join the tours ; especially if they're free ! Haha . Your tour guide should not have problems speaking in English so blast them with as much questions as you'd like (Only if the tour is spoken in English)

3) Traditionally, have a translator on your phone or a dictionary

4) Grab a map,  carry it everywhere you go and just point to locals where it is you want to go, try ask for hand gestures if they try to give you directions in their own language (which they usually do and I end up understanding nothing off)

5) The younger generation are most likely to be able to speak English more compared to the elder ones. So never doubt asking them for directions

6) Find a buddy, its always easier, if you get lost you won't be alone atleast. You can usually find for buddies at tour guide sessions

7) Always give doubts that the first person you asked might not have understood you completely, so ask other people just to reconfirm the directions till somehow it makes sense

8) If you can't remember the name of the place you wanna go and you opt to take the cab, just borrow the cab driver's phone and google your place

9) Try to be friends with locals by asking them to take pictures of you and make friendly
conversations. You'd be surprised by the information you can get from them, especially the young ones !

10) Also, never try to make full sentences like, 'Do you know where the bus station is?' , instead just say, 'Bus station, where ?' . It's definitely easier for everyone to understand.

Don't forget, never doubt the power of pen&paper to doodle ! Hope this helps !

Abu Dhabi : The Culture & Society

Hey ! I know most of the time I write based on the days I travel but just decided to turn things around a little here :) Note that there may be not as many pictures of Arab women as the women are known to be quite conservative here. 

Anyways, before you go to Abu Dhabi, here are a few things you would want to expect from the society regarding their culture based on my experience in spending a day in one of their homes.

So how do these Arab women and men have lunch or dinner ? Do they dine together or separately ?

Traditionally, men and women in Abu Dhabi eat separately when they have guests. Not only that, they chill separately as well. The women don't talk as much or laugh while eating. And they serve their food like a buffet served on the table. In the day, we ate inside. In the night, we ate in the room outside. They sometimes do prefer to eat using hands, and some of them choose to eat using fork and spoons. They do definitely cook in huge portions ! They do eat together when its close relatives or just within the family though. 

What do the women traditionally do to pass time ?

Well, frankly I do not understand almost everything that they were conversing about as they were speaking in Arab and I don't understand Arab. But based on what I asked around, they usually chill under the tent outside if the weather is good, to drinking Arab coffee. They pretty much just enjoy each other's company by chit chatting to pass time and immediately commenced prayers once the Adhan was calling. Oh yeah ! They do henna too to pass time :) 

How do Arab women go through marriage ? Is there a Bachelorette party by any chance? 

Apparently, they sorta do have it ! But in their own traditional way. The soon-to-be bride gets her whole hand, from her shoulder to the end of her fingernails, tattoo-ed with henna. And there will be a night when its all girls, and the bride would show off the beautiful art on her hand within her girl friends.

What if I wanna take the bus around or cabs ?

Women gets treated with respect here in Abu Dhabi. If you were to take the bus, women sits infront and men sits at the back. Even if there are no seats for women at the front or space, the men would have to offer a seat or space for the women and cramp himself to the back. If you were to take the cab or hire a driver, it is always 'preferable' or advised to sit at the back rather than next to the driver. 

What do the men and women wear there ? 

Women and men from Abu Dhabi wears abbaya and jubah respectively. The women usually wears black and the men wears white with head coverings. Women from the olden days wear a different type of face covering than the common black cloth. 

Its not made out of cloth. Its kinda made of paper sort of material. And the women wear it even in their homes within themselves, not only infront of men. But the younger generation covers their face with burkha / purdha mostly only when meeting men. Note that this is apart of culture, not religion :) 

Abu Dhabi is quite an international country. Is it because there are many immigrants there?

They do not acknowledge these international workers as immigrants, as compared to other countries mostly do. They find if quite offensive to be regarded as immigrants. Hence, always refer to them as expatriate. But it is quite an international country as people from all over the world come to work in Abu Dhabi as it is strategically situated in the middle of the world map. Beyond that, the place itself has been developing to accommodate tourist since a couple of years ago. 

How do men and women socialize there? What are the boundaries between men and women? 

Men and women are generally conservative there. You would barely see Arabs dating or chilling out just the two of them as it would be considered as inappropriate.When there is a room with women and a man chooses to communicate to any one of them, he would have to stand outside of the room and keep his distance whilst talking to any one of the ladies. A man who performed sexual assault on a woman would immediately be deported to another country (an incident that occurred in which a worker in a hotel kissed a German guest who's a lady, and got kicked out of the country to Egypt for his inappropriate action) 

What about entering clubs or pubs? What's the age limit etc ?

The age limit for drinking, clubs etc would be 21 y'old and those wearing muslim clothings (hijab, abbaya or jubah) are not allowed in. If you're a tourist and you wanna grab a few drinks, do get yourself a license to consume alcohol and being drunk or under alcohol influence in the public is strictly prohibited. 

How do people usually get around Abu Dhabi ? Do they cycle, walk or take the bus?

The bus is only 2 Dirhams per entry despite the distance, but mostly taken by expatriates rather than the locals.  The locals usually drive around. Note that the weather could possibly be hot most of the time hence people there would barely walk around or cycle. 

What about language? Would being able to speak English only be a barrier ?

Most people I've met there are not that fluent in English. I would say 60% are great with basics of English so being able to speak in Arab would definitely come in handy ! 

So, there you go ! A rough idea on what you would have to expect from the society in Abu Dhabi ! 

PS, it is kinda guaranteed 95% safe personally to me, to travel alone, especially if you're a girl. 

Anyways, if you're planning to go there anytime soon, don't forget to bring your sunnies and some fit flops! 

The Weekend Gamble ; From Colchester to London to Oxford

HI !
Frankly , I've never been to the UK so this is kinda my first time to travel around this part of the world and I'm so pumped to travel and post more about travelling around here more often !

Anyways,
Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Adha :)
And,
Here's my post on my Weekend Gamble to Oxford !

I left campus on the 62 bus to North Station in Colchester about 1PM , from University of Essex, took roughly about 20 minutes to arrive roughly. Oh, and was travelling alone to London btw ! Haha. For those who might go to London through the North Station, there's an interval of roughly every 15 minutes of train so it's not that long of a wait :) and the ticket was about 30 pounds for an open return without a railway card. Try to get a railway card if possible for discounts btw. 

Arrived at the Liverpool Street and met with the travel buddy for the weekend, Azam !

IMPORTANT ! If you're about to travel around London, do get yourself the Oyster Card at the train station. You could use it around tubes and buses, basically almost all public transports in London as far as I know off.

Got on the train heading to Marble Arch, crossed the street towards Hyde Park and waited for the X90 or OXFORD TUBE bus for a couple of minutes. If I'm not mistaken, about 20 minutes of intervals for the buses. X90 cost me 11 Pounds return ticket, Oxford Tube would probably cost about 13 Pounds, but its more of a comfortable coach.

This is all like a gamble to me honestly, to come down to London in the first week of settling in the UK and heading to Oxford over the weekends ! 

So we made it to Oxford Brookes University after an hour and a half, (felt like it was shorter), and met our subang friend, Ridhwan !

Arrived quite late though, about 6PM. We couldn't do much though, so stayed in and cooked Buttermilk Chicken. Yes, there's a tesco that sells Halal Chicken here in Oxford as well !

OMG sedap gila kays dapat makan ayam, its been a week long since I last had chicken kays !

Slept over one of the nicest girl I've ever met's house, Teekay ; for the night :)

Since it was a Raya Haji weekend, the Kumpulan UMNO Oxford made a gathering on the sunny Sunday. Woke up around 10am the next day,

got a cab to Oxford Uni and joined the KUMNOX gathering. They served the best malay food ever. Alhamdulillah, malaysian food ! 

Met a lot of great intellectual & interesting people here, definitely. And the event was really fun ! 

But it was getting a little late around 2PM so we headed to the famous Oxford City Centre.

Walked along Queen Street for a couple of hours, passed by Radcliffe Square which was B-E-A-UTIFUL ! 

Definitely one of the must visit places in Oxford. Me and Azam were actually walking to a nearby mosque at Bath Street (took us 15-20 mins of walk to get there), when we passed by this square and a couple of other tourist-y spots .

That's the Riverside Terrace, for those who come hoping for some romantic paddle in Oxford .

Note : The buildings and architecture in Oxford are mostly old and castle looking. They're so beautiful !

And here's the mosque at Bath Street, 

Around 6PM, we headed back to Oxford Brookes and decided to eat at Atomic Burger. It was superbly delicious ! Note that it comes with making a hole in your pocket too. An average of 8 Pounds per burger so I shared with Azam one burger. Lols. The vegetarian burger here tasted as good as beef burger though ! And it's a really cool concept Burger Shop. 

That's Evon btw, she was kinda like our tour guide for the day in Oxford. A good friend of Azam's .

And that's the Vegetarian Burger and Fried Sweet Potatoes. Yummmms .

        

Initially , I was suppose to head back to uni on Sunday night but it got too late. We were still chilling in Oxford at about 7.30 PM. So we decided that I should stay in London for one night, it was either that or to head back to Essex at about 11 PM which was quite dangerous. Arrived at London around 10 PM, said my goodbyes to Azam and chilled with my good friend staying near Hyde Park, Aqil.

Part of the gamble was that I had to crash over my friend's place in London last minute, Fauzan ! *phew, nasib baik ada member/relative kat London ; Queen's Mary *.  Gotta admit though, got a bit of an adrenaline with all the spontaneous plannings but overall, it was definitely a fun and adventurous weekend ! Left early about 8AM and headed to the Mile End station, 

Got back to Uni the next day, Monday, around 10AM and still had a couple of hours to get ready for the first class of my first year, Contract Law, which was only for an hour. Could've spent more time in London though. Haha .Oh wells. No rush, will be here for the next 3 years anyways ! 

Alhamdulillah and thanks everyone for such an awesome weekend , God Bless :) 

Special thanks to Azam for making it all possible, just a day before the trip ! It was all unplanned, kinda I guess is one of the fun part of the trip !

Kays, gotta get back to my books. Would definitely write about travelling soon, hopefully !