Holiday Blues

I am back after away for 26 days. I had to leave the UK on Christmas Eve. I kinda felt lonely and sad as people on the street were doing last minute Xmas shopping, buying presents for family and friends, or going to a Xmas dinner, and I... what was I doing? I was carrying my suitcases zooming across London to Heathrow airport to take the flight out. Even one London Underground staff said this to me, "It is kinda late heading home now, isn't it?" That made me even sadder.

Oh well, I am home now, suffering from holiday blues....

The following are the highlights of my trip of the countries I passing through:

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
- Stayed at a hostel, right opposite Bukit Bintang monorail station. If you know the Giodarno big billboard, it just covered my room window. So you know how central I was in KL.
- Did a bit of shopping at the Pavillion
- Applied my Turkish visa application.

Dubai, UAE (Click here for pictures)
- Free transit stop for 9 hours with free hotel, free breakfast, free lunch and free transport to and from the airport
- Rain in this desert city

Istanbul, Turkey (Click here for pictures)
- Arrived at nightfall and our tram stopped in front of the magnificent Sultanahmet (Blue) Mosque
- The annoyance is the haggling of shopkeepers and the expensive entrance fees to sights
- A tiring uphill "climb" to the shopping district - Taksim square
- Apple tea at the Mosque cafe, next to a cemetery
- Fish kebabs, lamb kebabs, Chicken kebabs
- Nice Turkish hairstyle for the guys, but all look the same to me
- Turkish delights and sweets
- Belly dancing at the hostel
- Free breakfast at the hostel - Olives, cheeses, bread, eggs, cucumber, tomatoes and no kebabs

Sofia, Bulgaria (Click here for pictures)
- Very Soviet atmosphere
- Mosque, synagogue, churches stood side by side
- Waited in the cold at the Turksih - Bulgarian border at -5 degrees at 1am, while waiting for the Bulgarian border guard to check if our passports were genuine
- Cheap cheap stuff, especially fruits and vegetables and food
- Very nice hostel (Hostel Mostel) with free breakfast and free pasta dinner
- Was given free drinks by the guests from the next table at a local restaurant
- Strange grocery shop below street level, and the customers had to squat down and order goods from a small window
- Very COLD!

Prague, Czech Republic (Click here for pictures)
- Cheap beers. Actually Pilsners and Budweiser are Czech names.
- Met wonderful Czech friends from Istanbul Hostel who took me out dining in the evenings
- Lots of handmade handicrafts and puppets to buy
- Sir Toby's is a wonderful hostel with very rustic atmosphere.
- Billa supermarket opens from 7am to 9pm was our twice daily stop for stocking up for breakfast and dinner
- Lots of dogs of all shapes and sizes. Some people even donated a dog in a carrier bag and a man picked it up before entering a tram
- Vietnamese residents selling clothes at the Prague market. We had Vietnamese fried noodles there
- Saw a woman walking a pig and a dog
- Favourite stores - Billa, Manufaktura and Blue

Leeds, UK
- Very multicultural city with halal food at almost every corner. Even the Chinese takeaways are halal.
- Clean and user friendly Leeds Bradford Airport
- Love the supermarket Morrison and the market.... Cuppa tea, luv?
- Very near to the city of York (where I used to work) - only 25 minutes train ride
- Could have shopped more if I had more space in my luggage

Hallelujah! It's December - The X Factor final

X Factor announces its winner every December, making the single designated to be UK's Christmas No.1 song.

2005 - Shayne Ward "That's my goal"

2006 - Leona Lewis "A moment like this"

2007 - Leon Jackson "When you believe"

2008 - Alexandra Burke "Hallelujah"

This year song was a cover version of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" which is No.36 in the chart. The Jeff Buckley's version is at No.2. Basically there are 3 versions of "Hallelujah" in the Top40 Chart. The first time I heard the song was by Jason Castro at American Idol 2008.

Hallelujah (Click here for video link)

i heard there was a secret chord

that david played and it pleased the lord

but you don't really care for music, do you

well it goes like this the fourth, the fifth

the minor fall and the major lift

the baffled king composing hallelujah

hallelujah...

well your faith was strong but you needed proof

you saw her bathing on the roof

her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you

she tied you to her kitchen chair

she broke your throne and she cut your hair

and from your lips she drew the hallelujah

hallelujah...

baby i've been here before i've seen this room

and i've walked this floor i used to live alone

before i knew you i've seen your flag on the marble arch

but love is not a victory march

it's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah

hallelujah...

well there was a time when you let me know

what's really going on below

but now you never show that to me

do you but remember when i moved in you

and the holy dove was moving too

and every breath we drew was hallelujah

well, maybe there's a god above

but all i've ever learned from love

was how to shoot somebody who outdrew you

it's not a cry that you hear at night

it's not somebody who's seen the light

it's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah

hallelujah...

Turkish Mystic Music and Dance

Last night we attnded the Sufi Music Concert and whirling Dervishes Ceremony. It was conducted by the Sufi group of Istanbul. It was very interesting and strict rules of no flash photography and talking was heavily enforced.

Apparently that was their form of praying to God. I have attached the short film clip of the ceremony.

Dubai Dubai - Wet wet wet

"Rain falls on every corner of the earth" is really true. When we arrived in Dubai, it was raining. I was travelling with Emirates airlines and free hotel and meals (buffet breakfast and lunch) were included.

So basically we did nothing but ate and rest in the airport hotel.

Our visit also concided with the UAE National Day celebration, when tea and dates were served by a local Emirati at the airport. It is abit like Open House kind of ritual.

Annoyance in Kuala Lumpur

No, no, no I am not talking bad things about KL. KL this time is great (surprisingly). Lots of sales and things are cheaper than expected. However, I cant shop a lot as I dont plan to drag my shopping around Europe.

So what I was annoyed about then? The visa application to Turkey was not as straight forward as we expected. I dont want to give too many details here, as someone may be offended. So in the end, we just hope we will get the visa on time for our flight tomorrow evening. So we also make contigency plan if we dont receive it on time. So maybe fly to Romania instead. We'll see.

To compensate all this annoyance, I managed to buy few CDs: David Archuleta, David Cook, Il Divo and Josh Groban. Also my KL friend and I went to a fantastic Vietnamese restaurant La Lot at the KL Pavilion. Sorry not my own photos here as I forgot to bring the camera with me. I 'borrowed' the pics from http://www.hungrygowhere.com/. We had spring rolls, famous Vietnamese noodles and coffee...Total RM83.50 for 2 of us hahaha

Tomorrow, I am gonna treat myself a Taiwanese-japanese fusion lunch :) I dont want to have my mood spoilt, I want to enjoy myself... by eating!

So again, not a good start for my trip ...