Balkans Experience - 1

2nd december

my better half waiting in line

Today is the day. After saying goodbye to the children, my wife and I board the 2pm bus to klia. It is almost 730pm when we reach the airport. we look for our group members and after checking in the luggage, zabon is waiting for me. Oh, zabon is an ex student at tldm, batch 2001. Lama tuuu, kan haha. He is with Turkish airlines and we have dinner courtesy of zabon’s kindness. Alhamdulillah. Then, before we head for the boarding gate, the group leader announces my birthday, which happens to be today.  : ) senyum je la gua, beb hahaa

In the flight, my group members are excited and I wonder why.. rupa2nya alif syukri n sajat are seated a few rows behind us. Patut la these couple look familiar when I saw them earlier at the check-in counter. Sajat, I must say, looks pretty and tall, but knowing that sajat is a he afterall, hmmm hahaa

3^rd december

As stated the Turkish airlines takes off at 12 midnite on the dot. By 2 they, the stewardesses, are serving meals. But I’ve learned my lesson from previous travels adventure, so I skip the meal and close my eyes, so that I can get enough rest for the Balkans adventure, and also with the hope that we would arrive as soon as I open them eyes. But it is just tido2 ayam. Mana nak lena dalam kapalterbang ni, kan. Sakit tengkuk lagi, ada la.

breakfast time! turkish airlines

crowd at istanbul atartuk airport

6-7 hours later, the stewardesses serve us breakfast and this time I can’t resist it. Especially knowing that we will land within 2 hours. Excited jugak, beb.. and I just can’t wait to get off the airplane. Meals provided by Turkish airline memang terbaek, gua cakap lu. Not that I’ve been in many other airways, okeyy, tapi memang sedap dan abundant. By 6 am Istanbul time, we are in turkey!! Phew! Finally! At the airport, the crowd is so huge, thousands of people, with most of them getting connecting flights to their destinations, which actually includes our group. Luckily we manage subuh prayer with ease before taking the flight to Athens. Stretch my limbs, walkabout and browse the books at the bookstore while waiting for the 9.15am flight. At 1030am we leave Athens airport and head straight to the Olympic stadium. Then we walk up the hill to visit the remains of Acropolis. The structure, or what remains of it, is so huge and the design is so detailed and magnificent, that one can only wonder about the state of the technology back then. Mind you, it has been around since more than two thousand years ago. In Greek, Acropolis means “high” ( acro ) “city” ( polis ). My wife and I are in awe when we see Parthenon right in front of us.

Once we have soaked in the sensation of being on top of the hill, overseeing Athens, we go for a tour around the city. Athens is densely populated I must say. Plenty of orange trees with lots of fruit are planted around. And nobody seems to care, or pluck them. Gamaknya kita ni yang jakun hahaa adoyai!

Then, we stop at the flea market to have lunch at Hard Rock Café. Sedap jugak la makan ayam goreng n fries n vege kat situ. And after that we spend an hour to go around the market. I told my wife before we left yesterday that we would be thrifty in our spending but looking at all the assortments of things being sold at the flea market; pretty, cheap, rare; stuffs, we just cannot resist the temptation to buy a few t-shirts and merchandise for our family back home. Konon2 la hehe

athens, seen from acropolis

hard rock athina lunch..

punya la banyak buah orennn

And the day turns to night very early in this part of the world and at this time of year. Since we are very tired, we really look forward to get to our hotel. Xenophon Hotel. We haven’t changed clothes and bathed for more than 24 hours, tau! sabo jeee.. pas mandi seme, go down for dinner. The food looks inviting, really! , but the taste, arghhh! Tasteless. Lawak betul la. Mujur la kaum dalam group ada bawak kicap sambal dll. Pastu update anak2, and because of jet-lagged, by 930pm I am away in dreamland.

4^th december

meteora mountain

But I keep waking up every now and then, perhaps because of the time difference. By 5am, get out of bed, re-pack my luggage, have breakfast and checkout. Kalabaka! Here we come!

In the bus, everyone or every family, introduces themselves. Kiranya bonding time laaa. layan.. oh, kalabaka is 350km away. Jauh tuu, kan. Otw, baca Mitch Albom’s Timekeeper. The view outside is totally different. The terrain and landscape. Travel opens up your mind, enriches you with new culture, people, food, lifestyle and so on.. kann

Once we reach kalabaka, it is already lunch time. Nasi dan ikan trout. And as expected, we need the kicap to make the meal edible haha and being so hungry, also with the aid of sambal kicap from our group leader, zai, licin seme hahaa.. siap tak cukup lagi! : )

the monasteries

Pastu terus naik meteora mountains. The view, subhanaAllah, is breathtaking. There are monasteries, built some time in the 11^th and 12^th centuries, located in caves or on top of hills around the vicinity. How did they manage to carry all the rocks and stones and woods to build the monasteries so high up the hills? And suddenly, the cool gusty wind starts to stab in, making it so cold, unlike in Athens. We then check into Rex Hotel, an old but beautiful place by the look of it. But the room is so spacious and even has extra beds. After dinner, as unbearably tasteless as the previous night’s one, my wife and I walk around the town, looking for mementos. And as usual, my better half just can’t help herself hahaa. When we get back to our room, video call the children and then it’s boom2 time

5^th december

At 5, wake up. After breakfast and packing up our stuffs, we leave the hotel at 8. It is so cold this morning. 4cͦ. sejuk tuu, beb! Next destination? Macedonia! It is another country, albeit a small one. It originates from Yugoslavia and has been in autonomy since 1991. It has a population of slightly more than 2 million people.

pas solat kat isha celebi mosque

missus with friends by ohrid lake

After three hours, we reach the border. Everyone gets out of the bus, firstly to use the toilet, and secondly for a more obvious reason, to gain entry into Macedonia lah! No hassle at all coz the border is nearly deserted. At 1230pm we reach Bitolja, a small town but I can’t help to be impressed. Everything looks cool and life is at a relaxing pace, unlike Istanbul, for instance. Lunch this time is at an Italian restaurant. We perform zohor at isha celebi mosque. Built in 1508, it is small and rustic. What I can’t forget is the ablution moment. The water is freezing cold, sampai menggigil ambil wudu’ but layan je laa. We snap photos here and there and everywhere and my new found friends jokingly mention that I should stay behind since I look so much like one of the locals. Do i? maybe yes, if not for the tanned skin. Cewah!! Haha And we continue our journey to Ohrid, and just about half an hour later, snow falls! Peh!! But it’s just a little and for a little while only. But being the first time experiencing it here in the Balkans, it is a great feeling.

-ohrid lake town-

Ohrid is a lake town, and it is amazingly beautiful, and we manage a boat ride in the lake, but since darkness is envious of us, sigh, we do not take many pics. Lake Ohrid straddles the mountainous border between southwestern Macedonia and eastern Albania. It is one of Europe's deepest and oldest lakes, preserving a unique aquatic ecosystem that is of worldwide importance, with more than 200 endemic species. Saje la khabo..

The coldness is getting into my skin and it is a relief when we check into Sileks hotel. The room is spacious, the ambiance is great, and the food is abundant. And like the previous meals, I am grateful to my comrades for the sambal kicap shared. The time difference now is 7 hours. Meaning, 7pm here is 2am in Malaysia. By half past ten, I doze off.