Viva la Venice!

Bismillah.

First Visit to Venice

The first time was when I accidentally ‘drop-by’ at Venice while in Zagreb, Croatia two months earlier. ;p This first time also made us feel how lucky we are to be there in Venice when the city was having carnival.  The famous winter carnival in Venice happened from February 26 till  March 8. You know, it is when everyone is wearing colourful traditional masks, and some in costumes and the city is crowded with people and Venetian costumes parade. Yes, that’s what I’m talking about. The feeling of “Casanova” was felt all over us. ;p

When we were lining up to buy boat ticket, a stranger came to us and gave us his tickets for free. Alhamdulillah. I guess the saying "Don't talk to stranger" is not always relevant. :P

Heading to San Marco

Seeing everyone with masks on, I decided to join the crowd. Looking at those beautifully made mask excites me to have one. Furthermore, during the carnival, the masks are cheaper.

Trying out masks was so much fun. :D

He loves me...

.

...he loves me not..

Oooouuu... Okay, I like this one. 

At Piazza San Marco. The building behind us is the Basilica of San Marco, one of the best known church of Byzantine architecture.

Actually, we had chosen Venice to be part of our EuroTrip. Since we went there without the other five members, the possibility to come back to Venice was very high. Datang lagi sekali pun datang la :)

Second Visit to Venice

We started the journey as early at 4am or so in the morning from Sarajevo and headed to Venice. The journey took 10 hours and we arrived Venice around 3pm and right away checked in at Villa Dori. Nice place.

At the entrance of our villa. Simple. I like it.

View in the room

Then, we hopped on a mini-bus provided by the hotel to go to Venice which is located at saltwater lagoon stretches along shorelines. Well that explained why the city smells salty and somehow stinks. ;p

My favourite view of the building

I still can't believe that I finished the whole pizza by myself. It was my first time. 

We took the evening lightly as we were just arrived. We walked and saw loads of stores that sell masks, souvenirs and even you can find Chanel store there. The small booths can easily be found on the street and to our surprised, we can say that most of the booths were held by Bangladeshi. Some even asked us, “You are from Malaysia?” and spoke Malay with us. Funny.  J I wonder how Malaysia has been recognized in the eyes of Bangladesh people. And because of that, I got a discount for an Italian bag which I bought for my sister. :D Yo, thanks!

Moreover, Venice would be perfect if you are looking for some place romantic.

The next day, our mission in Venice was to ride the famous boat in Venice, the gondola. We tried to search and bargain for a cheaper price to ride gondola. But then, if you want cheaper price then they will reduce the time. We bargained for 70 Euro and all they could offer is for 40 minutes ride. Fine. We took the offer and sailed through the city. 

Venice has been known by so many names, some of which are, “City of Water”, “City of Masks”, “The Floating City” and “City of Canals”.

When we woke up this morning, it was freaking freezing. Upon the stroke of 11am, the sun started to show itself and the air gets warmer. I felt much better just the sun was too bright. So it’s time to put your shades on. I have got to understand the four-season weather now. In the morning it would be very cold but yet it gets better and warmer as the sun shines through the day. But, it will get colder again when the night falls.

I can say that you can complete touring the city just in one day if you start from morning till dinner time.

As to be expected, most of the restaurants serve their Italian specialty. Pizzeria is everywhere. I went into a pizza restaurant once which only serves pizza. I was overwhelmed just by looking at the menu booklet.  There are like seven pages just merely for pizza toppings. I didn’t know that they could come up with such variety of  toppings. We can also choose what kind of tomato sauce we want on our pizza, with cheese or without, thick or thin crust. Well, for us Muslims, there are not many choices we have. Always go for something veggie and fishy. J

Whoa! What a huge pizza! 

In the afternoon, we dashed out from Venice city, heading to our next stop, Switzerland. :)

Europe Trip: How to plan?

Bismillah.

After I finished with my practical training, the next day, which was on 16^th of April 2011, we went on for a road trip. We called it as “EuroTrip” which took us eight days. Thing that made this trip special was because we did everything on our own. I mean, we managed this whole trip by ourselves. Thanks to people from the embassy for their tips and advices, though.

I would like to share some details on how to plan your trip to Europe ONLY IF you are planning to go on a road trip. This is basically from my experience and also from others who had been on as well. I know that other people do it other way but I will let you know how we did. Roughly.

 WHERE TO GO AND COST CALCULATION

First thing first, we came out with a map. Europe map, of course. Then, we asked randomly, where we wanted to go. Going north? Or south? Definitely not south if you are in Bosnia because you will be drowning in the Adriatic Sea! :P Maybe south-eastern? Or north-western? We decided to go up north. But it was not easy, I tell you. There’s a lot of country up in the north. We drew three routes covering different countries. In order to know the cost of travelling for each route, we browsed this website, ViaMichelin. 

This website tells you the cost of travelling from one country to another which includes the tolls that you need to pay along the journey, cost of petrol and also road tax. It also tells you the distance in kilometres from one place to next destination and also the time to reach each stopover. I think that this website really come in handy. So, we came up with three different costs for three different routes.

However, considering every interest of each member of the trip was quiet a daunting task. Well, not everyone has the same budget and interest on the same country. After discussing and had vote, we managed to pick  route which are almost fine with everyone. J

We decided to take this route:

Sarajevo > Venice > Geneva > Paris > Frankfurt > Stuttgart > Munich > Ljubljana > Zagreb > Sarajevo

Then, we added up with the cost of renting a mini-bus, hiring a driver (which is actually a Bosnian friend) and contingency cost (if necessary). So, up to now, the cost of travelling is done.

Next task is to search for place to stay or accommodation for each night. At first, we targeted to have a budget limit of 100 Euro per night but it was ridiculous since most of the accommodations are above 150 Euro per night considering that there were nine of us all. So, we took the limit of 200 Euro per night. Bear in mind that, April is the beginning of spring and it is the time when tourists are going to flood in. So, basically everything will go up! The hotel rents and flight tickets, especially. So, pre-booking would be the best way to minimize the cost if you had to go during this season.

Here’s the example of our math:

Estimated Cost Calculation
Hotel	1293 Euro / 8 = 162 Euro
Car rent	895 Euro / 8pax = 112 Euro
Petrol and tol	674 Euro / 8pax = 85 Euro
Total	359 Euro
Driver's Food Expenses	15 Euro x 8 days  = 120 Euro / 8Pax = 15 Euro
Total	374 Euro
Contigency Cost	30 Euro
OVERALL ESTIMATED COST	405 Euro Per Person

I think now you got the picture. Yes, we had to pay the driver’s food. I don’t know if you are in other country but that’s how it works in Bosnia. So, as you can see, each of us had to pay 405 Euro. That is not including your food and drinks, or if you want to get yourself souvenirs. For those stuff, it depends on individual. Some eat less, some eat big, and other doesn’t feel hungry at all when they found H&M! hehe. It really is up to the person. As for myself, I put aside 20 Euro for each day for food and drinks. And around 30 Euro for souvenirs for each country. It’s better to have a budget limits than never. Atleast that would help you to withdraw money before you go to money-changer! J

SEARCH ACCOMMODATION AND MAKE RESERVATION

The next thing you need to do is search for accommodation. Since we travelled on a low budget, hostels was always our choice. Usually, hostels cater especially for backpackers. So, it’s cheaper. And it was not that bad at all. So far I’ve gone to several hostels and it was clean and comfortable. Maybe a little bit small but that’s not the problem since we just need a place to sleep. Not to dance around the room.

There are plenty of websites that makes your life easier. One of the example is hostelbookers.com. 

These kinds of websites gather every accommodation that you are looking for. From hotel, motel, apartment, hostels or B&B (Bed and breakfast). All you need to do is to set the budget range, the dates on when your departure and when you are leaving, what kind of facilities that you require. Those facilities such as with parking, internet access, near city centre, with or without breakfast, towels and so on. You can choose things that you need and only pay for the service you used.

We made the booking through internet and paid deposits through credit card or PayPal. Usually deposits required you to pay 20% from the actual payment. Don’t forget to print out those booking you made from the internet. You need to come up with the document later on when you checking in and complete the rest of the payment.

START PACKING

Once you had done with the earlier steps, you may start pack your luggage. We brought some food and drinks to munch during the long hour journey and for breakfast and something on-the-go. Those were potato chips, biscuits, croissant and bread, sardine in cans, anchovies with chillies, juices, and plenty big bottles of plain water. Furthermore, it really helps if you want a quick grab when you are on tight schedule and had no time to make a stop. Maybe you were wondering why we brought plain water. For your information, we are so used to have free plain water. This is because in Bosnia, it is safe to drink from the tab due to the cleanliness of their water resource. Even in the restaurant, we seldom asked for tab water. It’s no charge of course! For other country, I’m not sure if it’s clean or safe to drink from the tab since we are staying in hostels, not a personal house. And to buy mineral water in store would be costly. I just don’t see the reason why we have to spend on plain water when we can pack our own water which is totally free in Bosnia? ;p

To avoid being bored due to the long hour journey, you might want to have i-Pod or any MP3 player or any books and magazines with you. Check your camera and batteries, phone charger, enough cash and the most important thing is your PASSPORT! J 

If everything is set, then you are ready to go and have fun. :)

p/s: If you have something to add, feel free to share. 

Aung Lang Syne, my dear.

Bismillah.

14^th of April 2011

I brought some chocolates and some presents to the office this morning, planning to give something sweet and memorable to my colleagues as tomorrow will be my last day in Teloptic. As I arrived at the office quiet early, I hid the paper bags under the table hoping that nobody saw it. My original plan was to give some of the chocolates today and some other tomorrow. Then, after lunch I made my way out from my department since the first ‘victim’ was the cleaner, lovely old women by the name, Fadila. So, I went to the production or the factory which is located behind the main office building. Unfortunately, she wasn’t there. I went back to office building hoping to bump into her later. As I walked to the entrance, there she was, emptying the trash. I approached her and as usual, we exchanged smile. That’s what we always do everytime we see each other. Fadila could not speak English and I could not understand Bosanski. It was so complicated and frustrating because I like her so much and would love to speak with her. She never forgot to give me a smile even from a distant. And she even cleaned up my mess when I was sick and throw up on the floor in the toilet. So, today, I wanna say something to her. This time, I brought along a small paper where I wrote some short speech (Thanks to Google Translate!) and gave it to her. So, she took it and read it. After a moment, she looked at me with tears in her eyes. “No. Please don’t cry because you will make me cry too.” And I handed over keychain from Malaysia to her. This time we cried together and the next second, I realized we were hugging each other. :’) Then, she says something in Bosanski and I understood that she wanted me to call someone who can translate for her. Okay. So, together we walked to the nearest department where my friend, Mersiha was in there. I called her out for a second and she did the translation for us. Among all things that Fadila said to me, one thing that I remember the most is that she takes care of me because she knew I was all alone there and my family was far away. :’) That’s very sweet and kind of her. 

After thanking Mersiha for ‘connecting’ us, I went to the toilet to wash my face. Alamak! Look at my eyes. Bengkak! I told myself to smile so that it won’t be too obvious that I cried. Smile. Smile. Smile.

Then, I headed to my department and sat at my desk. I just stared at my computer and tried to do some reading but I my eyes started to get wet slowly. I wiped it and turned back to the screen and scrolling the cursor up and down without any direction. Suddenly, a colleague of mine who sat beside me, Haris came to his desk. When he was about to ask me something, my eyes started again to tears. Ayoyoh. Ini mata dan hati banyak lembot and lembik la! I heard Haris said something and I just ahha-ing at what he said without even looking at him. Then, he asked me to look at him. No way I'm gonna do that because he will see that I had tear in my eyes. He insisted and I refused. After that, he stood and said something and left! *sigh* What a relief. I looked for my tissue and wiped my tears. That was close as I told myself.

After about 5 mins, I noticed that Seid came in, followed by Adisa, and Alma, Andrea, then there were Mersiha and lastly Haris and Mirnes. Marina edged in a few seconds later. They were all stood in a curve-shaped facing me. At first I was confused and staring at each of their faces with big question mark on my face. Apahal ni semua datang pandang-pandang? )  (0_O)

And I realized that all of them were smiling and by the time Mersiha stepped forward, I saw she was holding a green paper bag and immediately I knew what this were all about. This time my eyes really had no mercy on me. They flushed out tears as many as they can. (T_T) Once I got to pull myself together, I thanked to each of them for the present. Just so you know, if you received a present here in Bosnia, you are expected to open the present infront of the person(s) who gave it to you. So, I opened the paper bag and took the first thing I saw.

A traditional slipper for women. :’)  What a beaut!

According to Mersiha, they wanted to give the present tomorrow but since they were giving slipper, they would like to see if it fits me. If it’s not, then, they could return and change it today. And she confirmed 8 as my size and I said yes, it is my size. And suddenly it popped into my mind, “How did she know my feet is 8? We never spoke about it as I can recall…”  TINGGG! Now, I remember. “Harisssss!!!” Immediately, Haris ran out from the office! HAHA. No wonder he once asked how we Asian find shoes here as Asian size are smaller. And he knew I was going to say something about how I bought shoes and boots here. I did mentioned my size back then. J The shoe fits me perfectly, though. J

Then, I took out the second item from the bag. It’s a small book of Sarajevo! Yeay! And it has a CD of Bosnian top songs at the back of it! Wonderful combo! I always wanted to buy a book and CD that contains Bosnian songs before I return to Malaysia. But now, I got it as a present! Alhamdulillah. :D

Next, there was this wooden cube. I don’t know how you call it. They taught me how to open it.

And Tadaaa!

A miniature of Sarajevo town. They said that they want me to always remember Sarajevo city. I'm pretty sure I won't forget as long as I keep my head away from hitting something hard. :P

I tought it was finished but no. The last thing was the card. I disclosed the envelope, and pull out the nicely hand-made card in green. As I read it, I cried at the same time. It was very touchy.Thanks and I love you guys. <3 :’D

There are more presents from other colleuges as well from Samila, Hašim, Fadila, Edin, Šerif, Rusmir and Dzenan. But I think it is best for me to keep half of the story to myself. I love all the presents, really. Hvala velika! (Big thanks!) :D Really appreciate them.

Psstt, I like this one too! :))))

 "J'' is pronounce as "Y" in Bosanski. So, it is Yasin.

15^th April 2011 (Finale)

These are sneak peak on my last day of internship in Teloptic;

With the microbiologist and lab assistances.

With Diska

With Sabina

With sweet Samila

With Hasim, who gave me the Yasin.

With Adeja, food technologist

With them! Sorry. I never  successfully figured out their names. :P

With lovely 'mommy', Fadila <3

With Edin 

With Andrea

From left;  Mirnes, Haris and Alma

"Come and sit here" :)

Always my lunch partner ;) From left; Adisa, Mersiha, me, Alma and Andrea. 

As lots of people said about Bosnian, it's easy to like them. It is indeed, true. I will always remember all of you. Thanks for having me as part of Teloptic. Till we meet again, insyaALLAH..