A BEAUTIFUL MALAYSIAN IN BEAUTIFUL ISTANBUL

My daughters' Istanbul trip must have been their best vacation so far. A holiday made possible and easier with the help from many quarters, namely Boogey who helped contact his old friends from Said Nursi foundation who fetched the girls on arrival, gave accommodation and introduced them to some students who brought them around and acted as guides.After covering the major attractions in Istanbul,on the third day, they set out on a 9 hr night bus journey to Troy (where the ruins are), Canakkale (where the Gallipoli battlefields are), later Izmir and lastly Selcuk (Ephesus, where the Roman archaeological ruins are better than Rome itself).

The route was planned by ikelah who extracted traveling info from a website, got it checked by Boogey (being the true-blue expert, here) and finally suggested to the girls. Ironic isn't it? A trip that is planned by someone who is not even in the journey and has never set foot in the said country! He even strongly suggested that they travel by night, to save time and money on accommodation as sleeping is done on the bus, :p

Despite some conflicts in their travel plan, they stayed a night in Izmir as requested by the Said Nursi people to meet with some medical students over there. Even though they were pressed for time, ikelah insisted that they obliged with the request. Nevertheless it was a worthwhile stay as they made good friends there.

Perhaps the icing on the cake was when they got to meet Simah, another blogger, who upon marrying a Turk, resides in Istanbul. I am at awe of brave individuals who will to part from their family and country and pursue a different kind of life in a foreign land, especially when it's for the course of Islam.

Simah was so kind to offer to meet the girls, bring them shopping, treat them to lunch and sight-see Ortakay as insisted by Boogey. However, after reaching the place and looking around the splendid view, they were surprised that the place has nothing more to offer. Perhaps Boogey must have some other significant memories of it to have suggested it persistently, :p

Simah's children, Hatice and Baddin are fine and cute kids as vouched by my daughters. They took to my girls, instantly and they had a grand time. Hatice apparently is excited each time she gets to meet people who comes from her mom's roots. In fact, Simah related this to me:

hatice said to me the moment we were parted
"anne,ablalar cok seviyorum. beni unutticaklar mi?"
(anne, i love those 2 sisters. will they forget me?)

n while we were on the bus.. baddin said:
*o ablalar cok guzellar.. hem gulumse*
(the sisters r very nice. they always smile)

Thank you Simah for giving my daughters a memorable time that day. May we meet one day, insyallah!

*photos are courtesy of Simah

My girls with Simah

With Hatice and Baddin, waiting for lunch

Feeding the pigeons at Taksim Square

At Ortakay
*(Ortakoy was a resort for the Ottoman rulers because of its attractive location on the Bosphorus, and is still a popular spot for residents and visitors. The village is within a triangle of a mosque, church and synagogue, and is near Ciragan Palace, Kabatas High School, Feriye, Princess Hotel.
The name Ortakoy reflects the university students and teachers who would gather to drink tea and discuss life, when it was just a small fishing village. These days, however, that scene has developed into a suburb with an increasing amount of expensive restaurants, bars, shops and a huge market. The fishing, however, lives on and the area is popular with local anglers, and there is now a huge waterfront tea-house which is crammed at weekends and holidays.)

MY DAUGHTERS, IN ISTANBUL

Sarah, Sofi and their 2 friends
The Blue Mosque in the background.The mosque was built between 1609 and 1616 by order of the Sultan Ahmed I, after whom it is named. He is buried in the mosque's precincts. It is located in the oldest part of Istanbul, in what was before 1453 the centre of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire. It is next to the site of the ancient Hippodrome, and a short distance from what used to be the Christian Church of the Holy Wisdom (Hagia Sophia) which has now been converted into a museum.

In a diner. The wall painting looks interesting.

Hagia Sophia, (the Church of) Holy Wisdom, now known as the Ayasofya Museum, is a former Eastern Orthodox church converted to a mosque in 1453 by the Turks, and converted into a museum in 1935

My 2 big girls are extremely lucky to have been given the golden opportunity to visit Istanbul, Turkey for their short winter hols. Thanks to Boogey who still hold contacts with some Turks (Said Nursi Foundation) over there, my girls and their 2 friends were greeted at the airport by kind souls who then brought them to a students flat for their accommodation. Since their arrival they've been given genial welcome by some students from Myanmar and Vietnam, and up till today they've covered many of the major attractions as depicted in the above photos. I'll let Sofi update in her blog for the details later.

A DEAD SERIOUS PHOTOGRAPHY ENTHUSIAST, THIS!

Khin has generously given me the honor to copy these pictures from his fotopage and encouraged me to kutuk write a bit on them.

The tragedy of an inappropriate combination of camera and lens, forcing him to use a concrete tripod!

So, meet Boogey, an avid photographer, who would crawl on his fours to capture his most coveted shot. Who, other than him, would do the photography unthinkable? A photography stunt i.e. requesting a lower-end camera to fit into a giant lens which has an absurd analogy of fitting a turbo-charged engine to a Kancil! (this happened during a Cannon photography meet at the Zoo recently)

Who would be drenched in profuse sweating macam lencun kena hujan only seconds after starting a photography rendezvous. Who would ogle at a slim belly dancer, whom he opined should put more weight to produce more profound gyrating of the adipose tissue, capture her in titillating action but only to crop the picture and omit from her belly downwards!

Watch out for that frown-lines or you'll need Botox sooner than expected!

Just look at his intent facial grimaces as he closes shut one eye and focuses the other into his treasured D50. Be it to snap a distant flying heron or a close-up shot of a dangling spider, his whole being seemed to be in full concentration with each and every muscle working in great synergy. His steady arms are trained to imitate a tripod, lest a shaky and blurry picture he'll produce. And when he lies prone to indulge in a macro-world of creeping crawlies and bugs, he adopts an attitude so much like a trained infantry sniper.

In deep thoughts, searching for the best angle

I have observed him in various multitudes of stances and some are not pleasant to the eye, I daresay. Whilst at Prambanan, Kulo and I were sniggering at their (he and ikelah) ridiculous postures in wanting to get a good view of the temple: body bent at the waist, legs splayed out for balance and their buttocks jutting out. Khin would have had a field day snapping that shot of them! Squatting, crouching, kneeling, supine and prone, these are the painful postures, just to name a few.

Sweltering heat eh?

And when he looks far ahead with his darling D50 in hands, one can tell that his mind is trying to compose a worthy shot out of a particular scene, searching for the best probable angle . Which reminds me again and again of the time in Parangtritis when he was darting to and fro with his camera and tripod, vying for a good spot against ikelah. I can still recall their playful laughter in the still of the dusk. Ahh! Those were memorable moments.

Photography eye??

As Khin has nicely put, one needs to have a photography eye (is this scientifically proven or just a self conjured up phrase by them?) to identify an apparently ordinary subject and turn it into a state of art. For people like me who know nuts about photography, a stray branch of leaves is well...just a stray branch of leaves! But photography nerds like Boogey, seemed to have this ESP ability to captivate ordinary objects or subjects and turn them into spellbinding images! Ye ler tu!!

Little Miss Muffet, he is not!

Even though his pictures were not picked as winners, Boogey was truly satisfied with the Cannon zoo meet. He developed a high fever later that evening. Probably the excitement of getting to sample the giant lens was way too much for his system to handle. Anyhow, Boogey said it was definitely worth it!

IL DIVO WHO??

Last week, Aliah was breathing down my neck, urging me to conjur up a winning slogan to grab a balcony ticket to see the Il Divo concert. Being me, my mind works best under duress (read: last minute effort), upon which, torrential ideas would flow ceaselessly. However, I am afraid, this last minute effort was a tad tardy to merit a winning prize for Aliah! Poor her.

"Accountant wins Il Divo concert grand prize" was the news few days after the dateline. And his slogan was nice. But mine was just as nice, I thought. Anyway, Aliah didn't win. Not even the consolation tickets. But her lucky friend won the RM 1K seat! She sent in 100 entries and Aliah sent one, so we don't need a genius to calculate the odds of winning, do we?

"Aku cuba pujuk abang aku beri tiket tu kat ko, ok?" said her guilty friend trying to persuade her brother to impart with the accompanying winning ticket. "Pujuk la. Abang ko pon bukan minat Il Divo. Dia mesti tidor bila masuk lagu ke dua" Alas, who would want to let go a RM 1K balcony seat to watch a singing pop-opera quartet? Never mind that you've never found their music genre pleasant to your ears before!

And so Aliah awaited patiently for her friend to return and amuse her with the luxurious once in a life-time experience. She was green with envy needless to say. For days she went moping and sulking around the house and praying for a good samaritan to buy her even the cheapest ticket which by the way is a whopping RM 500!

"Siti Nurhaliza and her step-sons were a few seats away from me". "Chef Wan was a few rows in front" "Even my 1K seat was not good enough to view the singers clearly" laments her friend. "I bought you this picture book about them. It costs 60 bucks mind you!" Well, at least she remembered Aliah and brought her back a memento.

So who is this Il Divo quartet you ask. Why is this sudden frenzy about them? Well, Il Divo is a group of 4 handsome, hunky, male classical singers whose songs are classified as pop-opera crossover. Meaning that they are pop songs, sang in the classical voice. The irony of it all is the fact that the group was initiated by Simon Cowell, the infamous American Idol judge. Looking at the group's great international success, we now know that Simon do have substance despite his outrageous and cynical comments on the AI show.

Not all can appreciate classical singing. Frankly, I never find classic tenors my cup of tea. But with Il Divo it's so much different because their songs are more contemporary and familiar. Listening to their effortless crooning performed in a distinctive stylish manner, one just warms up to their songs.

But pay at least RM 500 for their concert? Not in my life! Thus when Aliah had lost all hopes to attend the concert, she tried stretching her 'luck' further by persuading me to allow her to use her savings. My answer? "Awak nak habiskan duit tabung haji awak semata2 nak dengar dua jam orang melalak?" The question was a clear cynical answer from me, enough to make her stop whining! :p



Dearest Aliah,

I am sorry I was unable to fulfill your dream of watching the concert. I am dedicating the above beautiful song to you!
Love, Mak

SAMBAL JAWA

Dear Sofi, Tok was making this and she remembered you. Below is the recipe you once asked. Look at the huge petai! Anyway, if you can't find any petai there, substitute with anything that stinks as bad! hehe

Good luck to Kak Sarah and you in the exams!


ingredients:

fresh peeled petai (the more, the smellier)
long beans cut diagonally (cosmetic reason)
chilli padi (the more, the hotter)
tempe (fermented soya beans), fried crisp
chillie boh,
big onions, sliced
garlic, sliced
prawns,
tamarind juice
sweet soya sauce
salt, sugar

Method:
-fry onion and garlic till brown
-add in chilli boh, till fragrant
-add soya sauce
-add in prawns
-add in fried tempe, long beans
-add in chilli padi,
-add in tamarind juice
-add salt and sugar to taste