Jaulah Bintulu: Day 1

Bismillahirahmanirahim...

Alhamdullah. Praise be to The Almighty for giving me the opportunity to accompany mum to conduct her training here in Bintulu, Sarawak. Watching how our parents do their job will make us appreciate more with what they had given us. This is a little bit of notes on my first day here:

13/ December/ 2010

9:00 am- 11:45am: Doing last minute checkings and making sure that all essential items and clothings are already packed in the luggage. Prepared some meals for abah as he could not follow us on this trip. As I wish to be a full-time housewife, I have and must learn to do few task at one time as fast as I can. Mum went to her office for a while to pick up some items for her training session.

11:45am- 12:40pm: The taxi arrived and tooks us to the LCCT terminal in Sepang.

12:40pm-1:20pm: Arrived at LCCT terminal, checked in our luggages and lingered around while waiting for the entry gate to be opened. The airport was quite packed...with people waiting to travel to their respective destinations during this holiday season.

1:20 pm- 2:10pm: Finally, flight AK 5114 Bintulu turn to board. Ok. Not really yet as there's a little bit of delay (schedule of departure is actually 1:50pm). But I use the waiting time on board to read the magazine provided together with mum.

At the same time, I keep on thinking to myself. About the female crew cabins. Their uniform. Why could'nt they just put on long pants instead of a slited short skirts? Does'nt that will make their movement easier? During emergencies (nauzubillah minzaalik) where it may require those on board to run in order to safe their (our lives)? Kan molek sikit :).

2:10pm- 4:15pm: Alhamdulillah the 2 hours and 5minute filght went smoothly. Enjoyed the beauty of nature created by Allah The Almighty from thousands of kilometres in the sky. Masya Allah! The clouds were so beatiful...oh...I can't remember the names of clouds learnt during the school days. Sirrus, colomonimbus...err..is this right :p?

View from the sky shortly after leaving LCCT

The amazing clouds

Another amazing discovery was that saw two different seas clearly divided upon leaving the Peninsular and approaching the Borneo Island; but am not sure what's the factor behind it-is it the depths, or the saturation of salt? Subhanallah...subhanallah...subhanallah...

See? With a thin white "divider'' in the middle...

Taking a peek at Sarawak

4:15pm- 5:30pm: Landed safetly at Bintulu Airport. Thank You pilot Captain Azzam (if I was not mistaken) and his crew for their wonderful service along the journey.

Mama...look! We are almost there...( a kid few seats away from me)

Waited with mum at the luggage waiting area. There's something bit hilarious happened while we stand waiting at the conveyor. Mum got her luggage but I did not spot mine even the coveyor belt had been spinning around a few times (untill I almost remembered the bags and items arrangement on the belt!). Then...pop! A luggage fall out of nowhere from the belt and it was mine. Mum laughed too (^-^).

Halt a taxi and continue our next 30 minutes journey to Park City Everly Hotel.

5:30pm-7:00pm: Check-in at the hotel and unpack our bags. Actually, there's a few things that crossed my mind before arriving at the hotel:

a) Is there a proper water pipe nearby the toilet or its just a water bidet/ we have to fetch water from the sink to clean ourself after the "bussiness"?

b) The mini-fridge/ mini bar. What's in there?

Alhamdulillah there's a proper water pipe beside the toilet and alhamdulillah there's no alcoholic drinks placed in the mini-bar.

As we might probably know, the time here in Sarawak is in a different time zone. For example, the Maghrib prayer time for today is 6:24pm and Isya' is around 7:30 something. Remembered when I was small, when the television or newspaper published the buka puasa time, I alaways say " It's not fair that they get the chance to break fast early :P" not knowing that Borneo Island has a different time zone. Budak- budak...

7:00pm-8:00pm: After performing jama' Maghrib and Isya' prayer, we took the shuttle bus provided by the hotel to go to a nearby mall for dinner and buying few foodstuff stocks.

Learnt a lot of things here. Firstly, the mall is not as big as what we have in Kuala Lumpur. Am not a shopaholic but I think even if we walk around the mall a hundred times is not as tiring as making a few rounds in at mall in KL.

Secondly, the choice of items at the supermarket. We have to be very careful before picking up our items and place them in our trolley. Take bread for example. I was looking around for bread when I found no Gardenia or other familiar brands. There's only one type of bread with no halal markings. Better be safe =).Fresh milk, not many chioice available. Oh...susu...dimanakah dikau...As for the meal for dinner, we were left with only one choice- a fast food chain restraunt as the other food stalls' halal status are questionable.

While waiting for the shuttle bus to take us (with few other guests) back to the hotel, I took out my Mr Haytham to snap few photos. Alhamdulillah greeted with few friendly faces that makes me feel welcomed.

Another different situation here in Bintulu from Peninsular was that at around 8:30pm, Bintulu city is quiet and almost all shops are already closed.

Back to our room, it was 8:45pm and I said to mum "Ma, Mairah nak solat Isya' dulu baru makan". Totally forget that the time zone is different and I have performed Maghrib & Isya' jama' prayer earlier (usually in KL, 8:45 baru masuk Isya'). I guess I need time to adjust myself ('',).

May Allah Bless our vacation ahead.

Allah Knows Best.