Bismillah.
Zdravo! (Greetings)
Last Saturday, me and friends, we went to mountain to try out skiing. We went to Mount Jahorina to be precise. They say that it is best to ski from December to January. Now that it is already February means that the winter is coming to its end. It will be less snowing after this since March would be spring. But there is still snow up in the mountains. So, you can still ski in February. Better late than never, huh? (^^,)
In Bosnia, there are four mountains available for skiing. After asking my colleague of which one is the best, he told that Jahorina is simply the best because the ski area is bigger providing more tracks, with best facilities for ski rentals, hotels and restaurants. You know what, 1984 Winter Olympic used to be held there. So, I guess, they have got to be something up there, right? =)
However, my friend here expressed his concern and worries for me and my girlfriends who are wearing hijab because Jahorina is located in the Republik of Srpska. Not just him, another friend of us also said the same thing. According to them, it is risky for Muslims to be there since that is Serbs territory. And those who are wearing hijab are easily recognised as Muslims compared to man. With do’a and two Bosnian friends tagging along, we decided to go there, anyway. Habis doa keluar rumah, doa menaiki kenderaan dibacanya. =) May Allah protect us. Ameen.
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| Assembled before departing. |
Around 10.30am, we drove to the south-eastern part of Bosnia. It took us about 25 minutes to reach there.
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| Miss Avdija, pretty tour guide for the day |
Mount Jahorina is 1913 meters (6276 feet) tall, making it the second tallest of Sarajevo’s mountains behind Bjelašnica. During Winter Olympic Games, Jahorina was the site of the women’s alpine skiing events, while Bjelašnica was for the men.
We grabbed a lunch since it was 11am at a restaurant. It was awesome to have a snowy mountainous view while having meal with people skiing down the hill around us. MasyaALLAH. Selalu tengok dari TV je, sekarang ni depan mata. Ya Allah, kau bagi aku peluang ni. Segala puji bagiMu =’)
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The history of ski started in 4500 B.C. in Norway and Sweden.
At that time, they used ski to assist in hunting wolf in the mountain, military manoeuvres, and as a practical means of transportation. Terernya orang dulu-dulu main ski.
Photos from Wikipedia
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An hour later, we made our way to the ski rental.
Ski equipments : 20KM
Coach and a translater : 20KM/hour/person
So, all together 40KM (RM80)
Then, we choosed our ski and boots. Well, that one only took us 45minutes since all of us did not know how to wear and each of us were helped to get our feet inside the boots. Honestly, it was very tight. I might as well break my ankle to get my feet in it. Sungguh. Rasa macam nak terseliuh je kalau paksa kaki masuk dalam kasut. What for nak ketat sgt nih! Serius tak paham.
Then, the coach told us that those boots should be tight so that we can be able to manoeuvre the ski well. Okay we still didn’t get him but pretending that we understood. Nodding! =P
Then, we walked out of the shop and headed to the snowy field. Seriously, it was not easy to walk in those tight, hard and big boots while carrying that long heavy metal ski. Terkedek-kedek kami sembilan orang berjalan. Hehe. Rasa macam kaki bersimen!
The skiing class started with a little warm-up. Those exercises basically about lifting your feet several times each left and right. Then, they taught us how to do stand in a start position, to slide, and to brake. We were all quite unbalance at first, some moved suddenly on its own and they started screaming as they didn’t know how to stop those sticks from moving. It was fun, really. We were laughing at each other’s fall. =P I guess that is what makes it more fun for everyone, don’t you think? =)
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| Beratur macam nak lumba lari je. |
I thought that it was going to be very cold up there that we all wore multi-layers clothes. Nope. It was very sunny and surprisingly warmer up there at the mountain.
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| The sunshine and Mr Coach |
Without we realized, the class lasted for two hours! Alamak. So, now the payment for the coaches increased to 40KM. So, as a total, each of us had to pay 60KM (RM120). But, we can still continue skiing without coach or instructor since the equipment was rented for the whole day. In fact, we can play till night. But we have to go home by 3pm so that’s it. Honestly, we can’t get enough of skiing. We wanted to ski more and longer. If you ask me, I really enjoyed it. The better I get, the more I want to try and the higher I will go and climb up to start skiing. This is one of the adrenaline rush that I enjoy besides parasailing. =)
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| Hohoh! |
Ah-ha. And we are still alive and in one piece. =) Nothing happened there in the Republik of Srpska. Alhamdulillah. It is safe there. But still, I appreciate my friends ‘concerns for us. I guess that’s the bond of Islam that lies between us even though we are different in culture and from other part of the world. =)
Alhamdulillah. We were given this opportunity and chances to ski regardless of the cost that we had to pay. Never mind. It’s now or never. I can’t imagine when I’m come home to Malaysia, and people ask me “Did you go ski?” and my answer would be, “No, I did not”. It would be a shame on me not to try something extraordinary like that. Something that I definitely won’t get in my land. I will never know when will I get to ski again, or even when will I come to Europe again. Alhamdulillah, again.
P/S: I think I got sunburn from skiing. Boleh pulak terbakar kulit ek kat tempat sejuk gini. =)
