Winter break 2012 - Ontario

Assalamualaikum! It's been a wonderful winter break. It was one hell of a car ride to Peterborough. 19 painful hours! The journey should have taken only 14 hours max but the roads were too slippery (icy like a hockey rink) due to freezing rain. So we had to maintain a speed of 60 to 90 km/h. Passing by Quebec city, our car termasuk gaung/parit kecil. Kecil je tak besar. Jangan cemas. A truck had to pull the car out while we waited outside in the cold weather. Though, I wonder what happened to our winter. It's been above (-15) degrees Celcius, which is odd. It should've dropped lower by now.

halfway out

at MySukan aka MyCanada Games with team Jangoks @ Scarborough, Ontario.

Anyways, I'm having a good time with my girlfriends. It's been ages since we last gathered like this. Like the old times, when we were all in college, so havoc I tell you. 

We spend most of our times in the kitchen like the makciks we are, watching horror movies while munching on jajan, discussing about marriages, household stuff, sometimes cakap harga pinggan mangkuk and emas lol!

Let's go through a week of my winter break briefly, shall we?

Boxing day sale was bizzare as always. No surprises there. But it was satisfying! I did my shopping at the Toronto Eaton Centre, Toronto's top tourist attraction. Located at the timesquare of the city, the place was crowded forcing people to sit and rest on the floors. Even in the food court, in stores, people had to sit on the floor - and that mall, is a huge mall.

Cannot tahan one, had to take off my boots.

inside Toronto Eaton Centre

Nathan Phillip Sq - Toronto City Hall

Christmas deco inside Toronto Eaton Centre

Christmas trees in Toronto

Went to the Riverview Park && Zoo at Peterborough, Ontario. They've got some North && South American, Himalayan and African animals such as yaks, serval cats, llamas, donkeys, barbary sheep,  and Asian ones too such as the Bactrian camels, wallabies, pythons and many more. Most of them are new to me because they definitely can't be living in our local zoos in Malaysia. To replicate their natural habitat would cost too much, methinks.

Playing Bella in the woods feeling-feeling Twilight. But really I was just in the zoo.

Huge male Bactrian camel

fresh snow!

ready to dive!

Tomorrow, we're going ice skating :)

U.S trip

After spending a few days in Hamilton and Toronto, we took the bus to Washington. Although Canada and US are neighbouring countries, to hop between two places could take 10 hours to days. Washington is such a wonderful place! I have loved museums ever since I was a little girl. Something about the bones, the history and the extinct intrigue me. I am easily fascinated with animals and the science pertaining to them.

I was 4 years old when I paid my first visit to The Smithsonian National Museum. 18 years later there I was again. Still amazed by the fossils, still excited to discover. I was like a little girl all over again.

The White House

Three days after, we hopped on the bus to NYC.

In front of a christmas tree at Madison Square Park, Manhattan. New Year's eve. Before heading to a friend's place

In a Converse store

5th Avenue

Grand Central Terminal

The end

Summer plans

I can't believe semester Winter 2012 is coming to an end already. Exams are a week plus from today, and I still have a couple of tests and a presentation to work on.

Briefly on what's happening this Spring/Summer:

Registered for my Intersession semester (a.k.a spring school or short semester) so I'll be attending classes until 20th June.

Planning to visit Montréal again, if the bus line here decided to STOP the strike. For god's sake, it's been 5 months already.

Booked my flight to London on 30th June. It's a family reunion! I honestly have no idea what the actual plan is, but Paris and Scotland are in the list. Of course, Manchester too, because that is where my brother is and he is graduating in mid July. After the ceremony, we will be heading back to London and our departure to KUL is a few days after.

It's going to be an awesome Summer. Can't wait for the euro trip and to be back in my own tanah tumpahnya darahku.

Spring is when I take out my sheer scarves and colourful outfits out of the box. Goodbye bulky jackets and heavy sweaters, you guys are going into the winter box.

End

Winter break: Hamilton & Toronto

I honestly don't know where or how to start. I think I will write several episodic posts about the trip. That works for you?

As you all might already know, I spent my holidays in Toronto, Hamilton, Washington and New York. We had an all-you-can-eat sushi dinner on one of the nights.

Shrimp skewer yang sangat lazat

My first ever curry puff

My home made steak with mushroom gravy + baked potato

The long awaited boxing day was not as anticipated. I didn't spend much on that day. We went to Toronto Eaton Center, one of the hot spots in T-town. I bought a pair of new Aldo heels (again... that's cuz I'm slowly building up my shoe collection) and a bubble bar from Lush.

Under the huge reindeer in Eaton Center

The line ups for 'hot' stores are beyond limits. I remember Abercrombie & Fitch 's queue. Apparently, they placed two half naked hunks and a couple of girls in tiny skirts at the entrance to attract more customers. Boy they sure did.

The comforter bubble bar. Smells sweet like cranberries, cotton candy or some sort. Very moisturizing and of course comforting.

To be continued

Winter plan

OMG PEEEEOPLEZZ! It is official. I'll be flying my ass off to Toronto, Washington DC and New York City this winter. Yodley yodley yodloo! I bought the flight ticket a couple of days ago when Freddy-Toronto one-way flight fare dropped from 189$ to 109$. Campur tax round-trip jadi 354$, which is wayyyy cheaper than its usual fare iaitu lebih kurang 608$ for round-trip.

I saved frikken 250$.

This calls for some serious shopping. Canada's boxing day is on the 26th December (also known as after christmas sale) and I'll be in Toronto that day. Yippie yippie. Besar gile kedai I'll be like a fat girl in a candy store. Jakon.com you olls.

Wanna visit Ulta and Targets in the States ;) It's been ages since I had a wish list so I'm gonna start having one again. I'll put it at the side bar.

I have to start looking for snow pants cuz I'll be snowboarding nanti. First time okay, dah nak masuk 3 tahun duduk Canada tapi tak pernah teringin nak main anything snow-related. There's one more thing I'm excited about, the museum in Washington DC (damn right I love museums). Haih, be burning holes in my pocket for sure, for sure.

Hamilton

As promised, here's the story. Briefly lah I'll tell you. Last couple of weeks, me and D decided to do something crazy. It was Thursday morning, we cut school and booked a flight to Toronto on the same day. We hopped on the next flight which was in 2 hours from that moment lol.

I don't have any acquaintances in Toronto but thanks to my good friend who coincidently was in Toronto for a visit, we spent the night exploring some parts of Toronto without getting lost. Thanks S for the hospitality!

The next day, me and D took a bus to Hamilton, which was an hour away from Toronto. Ada agenda sikit.

I seriously thought we wouldn't be so welcomed sebab diorang tengah ada final exam. It turned out that everyone was so sporting, welcoming, and friendly. Eventho the time spent was just about 4 days, gaya macam kenal lama je ek? We will surely come again :)

We wuz herez!

Delish!

We went here and there but the paling the best is again, the waterfall.

A panoramic view of the river and fall

At the edge with Azri and Peti

Hihi awkward. Didn't wanna look down!

This dude makes me look tiny

Food? Perkara wajib if you know me well.

Sushi all-you-can-eat feast!

My spider crab sushi

Before we left we had breakfast @ William's. Above is the fruity crepe D ordered.  Pretty onot?

My chocolate belgium funky monkey waffles. Sedap!

That's it? You call that crazy? Haha, you wouldn't understand. It's crazy and only we know why!

To be continued.

Webster's Fall, Hamilton, Ontario

Last Thursday, as you might already know, I went to Toronto city. Not just Toronto, we went to Hamilton and Montreal as well. It was all spontaneous and surprising, crazy, funny and so stupid at the same time.


Location: Webster's Falls, Hamilton, Ontario.

It's pretty darn scary. I'm afraid of heights so this was sort of my own version of Fear Factor. I was literally at the edge. Enjoy.

Stuck in Montreal

No, not visiting Montreal. Stuck in Montreal. Funny story.

Let's just say it was the weirdest most random week ever. On Thursday evening, me and D decided to cut school for the day and hop on the next  plane to Toronto, which was exactly in 2 hours.

We were supposed to be back by Monday but . . . it's Wednesday now, 6.20 pm. The next bus to Fredericton is scheduled to depart at 10.30 pm and arrive around 9 am Thursday. There goes my whole week of school (I have classes only on Mondays and Wednesdays).

Because we're that stupid, that's why we're stuck. Long story cut short, we missed our bus back home, took a different bus of the same route, stopped at the transit station we're supposed to and taddaaa! The next bus to Fredericton arrives in 16 hours. Sixteen frikkin hours.

We're in some hotel right now. Slept for 5 hours until the hotel owner came into the room asking us to check out, unless we pay more. OH EM JAY BABYGIRL you can't just bash into my door and ask me to leave, ever heard of knocking?

Apparently, we're supposed to check out at 12 noon. I swear we checked in at 8 am and the receptionist said check-out is at 12 midnight. The hotel owner was a french speaking (because it's Montreal) Indian. I find it interesting for a moment when she was all "blablabla" and pointing fingers at me. "I don't speak French" said I. Then, we got into an aggressive argument. I was so pissed I wanted to check out as soon as possible, took my tooth brush and woke D up.

Thank goodness D was calm and called the receptionist and agreed to pay another 20 bucks just to stay until 10pm. Why didn't you just tell me it was 70 dollars? It could have been easier than bashing into the door and asking me to leave. We had 20 bucks each and a credit card. This is like Survivor.

White escape Part II

The trip was so random. One evening we were playing cards (cho tai ti), the next day we were on the roads. 2 cars. 12 people. 2 days 1 night. Credits to Bijan for the photos.

Our hotel

It was probably -19 or so that day. We wore such thin clothes. Other visitors had thick wind-breaker jackets on them and even goggles lol. Perlu ke? We couldn't stand on the ground for too long, our feet felt painful. The chill could penetrate my thick wedged boots. The boys had put on just sneakers and standard socks that day. Oh well. Minus 19 C is nothing compared to the weather in the coming February!

Standing on the frozen Lake Louise

Lake Louise during Spring

D is over excited

Anis fell tergolek golek

Hot springs

Car 1

Car 1 posing car accident

Posing in Car 1: Aimi & D

Semestinya ada posing peace sign. Harharhar

Some mall in Calgary

Frozen coke in car. Yes it's that cold

Climbing up the hills

HELLO MTV CRIBS!

Me in dog version haha.

Huskies!