Destination: Pontianak (25 - 29 May 2016)

25/05/2016 - 29/05/2016 (wed - sun)

this entry on pontianak trip will seriously be very drift and unhelpful as well if you have the intention to use it as a guide for your trip. furthermore, this entry is written three months later. my poor brain is incapable to remember the trip well. i'm a little bit like dory, suffering from short term memory loss, though mine is not that severe. our tour guide is non other than my sister, kak ala's maid, as. maybe i've mentioned somewhere before that my family treated the maids as family especially when we're not their direct bosses, hehe..

so on the first day, as picked us up at the airport (she already chartered a van). we had lunch and went direct to her house. she rented the house but the tenant still left her room for as. once as was done with her packing (she's staying with us at the hotel because there was a shortage of clean water at the area. it seems that this is a problem in remote area, pontianak. they have to store rain waters to get clean supply. otherwise, they depend on the drain<~ big one, water source actually comes from nearby river.) on the way to the hotel, my dad bought a few baby pineapples (pineapple is his favourite fruit). they were cheap and sweet. we checked in and had dinner at the nearby mall (the mall is my favourite place to go, haha.. i went there almost everyday whenever i got the chance!)

departure

as' house

the hotel

THE MALL - ayani megamall, hehe..

on the second day, we started early. as made a change to our van driver. the new one is really friendly and very talkative. the first driver, rudy was a little bit shy, the opposite to the second driver, joko. our first stop of the day was keraton kadriah. when we arrived, it was stiil early and the place wasn't opened yet. when as went down to confirm it, there's a notice saying that prior appointment must be made if we want to visit it. as confessed she didn't knew about it since it has been a long time she visited it. we moved to our next destination, the equator monument. again, we had to wait a while for it to be opened. the monument is interesting with a history of its own. we also bought a few souvenirs here.

i'm not good at taking pictures, huhu..

i seriously can't remember how long was the trip from the hotel to these locations. maybe around  1-2 hours. then, we went to drink aloe vera. the aloe business is quite famous here. the people in pontianak really have sweet tongues! they really really like sweetness. their drinks is very very sweet. we all had to order plain water to lessen the sweetness and the aloe vera drink is not excluded. we also ate grilled corns which were delicious! we then stopped for lunch somewhere (memory loss, haha..) and visited makam kesultanan batu layang. then, we headed back to the city and had our boat ride at Kapuas River. we called it a day after that. along the way, we actually visited a few of as' relatives.

on our third day, we picked as' daughter at the airport. the real reason we went to pontianak was to mend the relationship between as and her daughter. they had some issues and let's just say we failed the mission, haha.. both of them were stubborn. but starting from this day, as' daughter tagged along. we went all the way to pasir panjang (trip maybe  3- 4 hrs). we also stopped at dayak house (bad luck again, closed due to renovation). we did our souvenir shopping again at pattimura street. and we went back on the fifth day. see  how very unhelpful my pontianak entry. so, i would recommend you to go this BLOG instead for guidance, hehe..

pasir panjang beach and late night ferry ride

our last day

ps: i still owe two entries on the manila and brunei trips.. prepare yourself for another 'memory loss' entry like this one , haha..

adik's bachelorette party!!!

Future Bride's Name : Nurul Hafiza @ Adik

From : Negeri Sembilan

Wedding Date : 24/12/2016

Bridesmaid 1 (R) : Nurhayati @ Cik Puan Yati

From : Pulau Pinang

Bridesmaid 2 (L) : Syaheema @ Sye2 (Me!)

From : Johor

Party's Location : Lexis, Port Dickson

Date : 02/10/2016 (Saturday)

Participants : Just the 3 of us!

yati and i planned this party exactly 24 hrs before it took place through whatsapp! my selfies from the previous entry was taken when we want to choose the right scarves for the the bridesmaids. we already chosen one with the veil for adik. the reservation for the hotel was made maybe three weeks before (in order to get a cheap price, of course!) i baked a chocolate cake and yati decorated it.

the two of us arrived about 2 hours earlier before adik so that we could decorate the room. unfortunately, we could only checked in 30 minutes before adik's estimate time of arrival. we  did the decorating as fast as we could ad we even tried to stall adik by giving her our room number late when she asked for it. we even let her stand in front of the door for 5 minutes to finish our work!!!

she was very touched with what we did and even cried! being women, both yati and i cried as well. we took pictures and ate the cake before continuing with our outdoor activities. we went to the beach and rode on a boat which got all of us totally wet! we had dinner at the beach and went back to the hotel to freshen up before moving to our next agenda of the day, karaoke!!! we called it a day or night and went our separate ways the next day!

the 'party' was quite a success in my opinion because we successfully surprised adik! eventhough we didn't do a lot of activity, the time we spent together was priceless. our little gang is known as FYS for obvious reason. i knew these two splendid girls when i was working and the foreign worker department in HQ. eventhough, we've only known each other for around three years (adik and yati known each other for a much longer period actually, i just infiltrated into the circle), our bond is very strong! i'll updating on adik's wedding later...

INSIDE OUR HOTEL ROOM

aren't we all sweet?

bullying the future bride by feeding her extra calories

here we go, said adik

smile for the camera, gals!

please notice our scarves, hehe..

yup, it's too late to run.. i'm still single.. and we're bff..

AT THE BEACH

our efforts at charlie's angels pose

dry pose, before the wet ones

we didn't go for a banana boat ride, we just posed on it..

trying to get dry faster with the scarecrow pose

this one is my favourite picture, we all just laugh our hearts out!

Friendship is always a sweet responsibility, never an opportunity ~ Khalil Gibran 

this one was taken before the boat ride, we were all still dry..

taken while still wondering what we should do

Selfies!