Loophole

Minggu lepas, semasa melalui jalan sebelah tanah perkuburan Kiara, Embak terlihat sebuah kereta Proton, alahai buruknya ditahan polis. Hati berkata, Apek manalah yang kena tahan ni, kesian! Bila tengok betul-betul, laa, rupa-rupanya kawan Embak. Tak pulak Embak berhenti, takut nak kacau daun. Lagipun masa tu kereta tengah banyak dan tak ada tempat berhenti pun.

Sejam kemudian Embak telefon kawan Embak, si Wong (bukan nama sebenar, dia Melayu). Sori, Embak kata, tak dapat nak berhenti tadi. Dia bercerita sengajaje dia berhenti kat situ, supaya polis tak boleh tahan lama-lama. Sudah banyak kali dia kena tahan sebab tak ada roadtax. Rupa-rupanya dah empat tahun member Embak ni bawak kereta tak bayar cukai. Bukan dia tak nak bayar, katanya, “ Siapa yang tak nak bayar roadtax? Saya bayar RM60, dapat rebet RM625, tapi polis yang tak bagi!”

Dia disenaraihitam oleh polis sebab tak jelaskan saman-saman dia yang lama-lama. Kenapa dia tak settlekan? Tu, Embak tak tanya pulak. Tapi hakikatnya, polis tak boleh saman dia atas sebab tak ada roadtax sebab polis yang blacklist dia in the first place. Anda nak cuba macam Wong? Hassellah sikit, tapi jimat duit!

Bahagia II

One galpal is in cloud nine. Next week, her long-lost one-time date is coming to Malaysia to see her. She is thrilled but at the same time terrified. It’s too fast. Considering she only googled him up two months ago. After which, they spend a few hours each day on skype. Then, he told her that his long pending divorce has been finalized; he’s a free man. How about her flying to America? No, she had been to America, remember? But he has never been to Malaysia, why not he come? OK, he said after she assured him she’ll not have cold feet and will indeed show up at KLIA.

My pal says they are both hopeful to take their friendship to the next level, but are realistic enough it might not take off. Whatever the outcome, i think their story is cute and good material for a teledrama, no? :)

Bahagia

Hari ni Embak bangun dengan gembiranya bila sedar hari ni hari Ahad, yay! boleh bersantai lagi. Emak dan abahpun nak ke kenduri orang kahwin, jadi tak payah masak makan tengahari. Jam 10.35 pagi dah sampai kat TTDI, kira 'punctual' jugak hari ni untuk kelas aqidah Dr Kabuye. Hari ni ustaz mengajar makna aqidah uluhiyah, berbeza dengan aqidah rububiyah. Antara lain kandungan ceramahnya ialah aqidah uluhiyah dicapai apabila seseorang itu percaya kepada Allah dalam percakapannya, di dalam hatinya dan manifestasikan dalam perbuatannya. Tetapi sekiranya seseorang itu terpaksa menyembunyikan keimanannya kerana terancam walhal di hatinya beriman, ianya dibolehkan seperti dalam kes Amar anak Yassir dan Sumayyah.

Selepas sessi di Al Hunafa, Embak sangat-sangat kepingin pergi ke Ikea dan MPH; kedua-duanya ada jualan murah di hari terakhir. Kedua-duanya pulak dekat dengan Taman Tun. Tapi disebabkan masa dah terhad, Embak kena pilih satu sahaja. Timbang punya timbang, kocek Embak akan lebih terjamin di kedai buku dari kedai serbaneka perabot, maka Embak pilih MPH. Al kisah, satupun buku Embak tak beli, sebab bila dilihat harga-harganya taklah semurah mana. Sebenarnya Embak mengharapkan harga tawaran setaraf Payless Books Warehouse Sale; mana nak dapat, wei. Lagipun buku-buku kat situ melaut banyaknya, dan tak tersusun; tengok sahaja dah lelah dibuatnya, hilang selera nak memilih.

Tapi kesudahannya, Embak balik rumah bawa balik empat buah buku baru juga, yang Embak beli di Big Bookstore di Atria. (Bab berbelanja, Embak memang pintar!) Kira boleh tahan murahlah. Semuanya RM56.80 untuk 4 buku yang Embak sangat-sangat suka: The Da Vinci Code, The Rough Guide to the Da Vinci Code, (yang dua ni sahlah nak mentelaah) dan The Almond Blossom oleh Chris Stewart dan Spain by the Horns oleh Tim Elliott (yang dua ni sebab masih terkenang rehlah di Sepanyol). Sebenarnya Embak nak cari buku Tales of the Alhambra oleh Washington Irving. Masa kat Sepanyol haritu, punyalah Embak menahan diri dari membeli walaupun harganya tak sampai 10 euro. Nak cari kat Malaysia kononnya. Tapi belum ada rezeki untuk jumpa.

Setakat ni dulu. Nak baca buku baru sebelum tidur :)

Hola Madrid Redux

Pic: All smiles at the coaches' box, Bernabeu Stadium
2nd March, 2009
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We entered Madrid in the middle of morning rush-hour; too early to check-in, so we made the first stop at the famous Bernabeu stadium, home of Real Madrid, so proclaimed “the best club of the 20th century”. Me, am not really a big fan of Real Madrid (Real is Spanish for Royal), or club football for that matter. But since I was traveling with two young men who are football crazy, a stop at this place was inevitable, no?

That Monday morning, we were joined by about 30 other tourists including a group of noisy school children from England who paid 15 euro each to see up close the inside of an empty stadium and the pitch being groomed (the grass is real); and to walk through the players’ changing room, a mini museum, a trophy gallery and the press room. The final part of the tour was the Real Madrid shop where they really try to steal our money - would you believe 69 euro for a kid’s t-shirt! That’s like RM325, almost a month’s salary for bibik!

We then drove to Carrefour (sorry!) for tidbits before adjourning to the Islamic Centre for solat and lunch. At Al Zahra, the restaurant located at the centre’s basement we sat down to a three-course meal; our first proper meal in Spain. What I love about the centre was that we got to practice our smattering Arabic with the people there as the Arabs there speak Spanish and hardly any English. And we got free parking inside the compound. That’s a privilege as parking in Madrid is extremely difficult.

With our bellies full, we happily checked into our hotel, which is situated right smack in the city centre at 4 pm. We had to scrap our plan to the bullring as we dared not chance getting caught in the rush-hour traffic as we needed to return the car before 7 pm.

The three of us minus Sal then roamed the city on foot into the night until my nearly cramped, cold legs made me beg the guys to head back to the hotel. I saw many sides of Madrid that night. At one posh place, a group of well-dressed people were milling around a theater while not far away, homeless people sleep on the sidewalk, in the cold. At one point I found myself walking through a red light area, marked so by shops selling lurid stuff and “kufu-kufu malam” lining up the street. I also stumbled upon a Eurovision crew, probably covering the on-going election; and a group of not so young punks or rockers dressed in tights a’la Mick Jagger. Or they could be old gays promoting themselves. We also ran into a group of good-looking young Indonesians who could be models, Sinetron stars or children of the Indonesian elite. These Indonesians, they are everywhere, aren’t there? I remember meeting them, or hearing them in the dark as we ascended Mount Sinai last year.

The next day, we flew out of Madrid's Barajas International Airport into Frankfurt. On my birthday, I was in two different cities in Europe; what are the chances of it happening again? So, Adios Espana. It had been terrific.

After a day in Frankfurt, we flew back to Kuala Lumpur. Throughout the following week, for reasons I cannot fanthom, I was always forced to wake up with time zone calculations in my head. It's not jetlag, but something else....

Thank you Acu and Iqbal for the comraderie; and En Haizat and Puan Suharti for feeding us scrumptious Malaysian food and your warm hospitality; and the rest of Acu's friends for making the trip very enjoyable.

And Iqbal, should you ever read this blog, Kak Sal and I, lurve, lurve your German accent!

Toledo

Pic: View from my hotel window & Toledo skyline at dusk.

I don't have many good photos of this city of Toledo, which was proclaimed a world heritage site by UNESCO in 1986. Under Arab rule, the city was called Tulaytulah.

Accoding to Wikipedia:

"Toledo reached its zenith in the era of Islamic Caliphate. Historian P. de Gayangos writes: The Muslim scientists of this age were not rivaled in the world. Perhaps among their greatest feats were the famous waterlocks of Toledo."

Most of the historical buildings are jam-packed in the old city, which is situated on a hilltop with a 150 degrees view, surrounded on three sides by a bend in the Tajo River. Our "hostal" was also situated here, daintily perched on the slopes and besides twisted alleys. Amongst the important buildings is the Alcázar, which we only saw from the outside as it is temporarily closed for renovation; the cathedral, which we saw from afar in between buildings, and two mosques which we wanted to see but didn't because it was past their opening hours. Needless to say, I lost some enthusiasm in Toledo as the weather was dreary and I guess the sights in Toledo just could not compete with the sights of Granada and Cordoba.

Our failed attempt to locate a kebab shop, and then a Pakistani restaurant that resorted us to settle for fillet-o-fish at McDonald's didn't help lift our spirit at all. I, for one was glad we left the next morning to our final destination, that is the metropolitan Madrid, a mere 1 hour drive away.

Medina Az Zahara

Medina Az Zahara was a palace and administrative complex built by Caliph Abd Rahman III who named it after his favourite wife which also means the radiant.

Excerpts from Rough Guide to Andalucia:

"10,000 workers and 1500 mules and camels were employed in the construction of Medina Az Zahara....In addition to the palace buildings, the complex contained a zoo, an aviary, four huge fish ponds, 300 baths, 400 houses, weapon factories, two barracks for the royal guard as well as numerous markets, workshops and mosques..... According to chronicles, visitors were stunned by its wealth and brilliance: one conference room contained a pile of pure crystals, creating a rainbow when lit by the sun; another was built round a huge shallow bowl of mercury which, when the sun rays fell on it, would be rocked by a slave, sending sunbeams reflected from its surface flashing and whizzing around the room, apparently alarming guests but greatly amusing the caliph".

What I saw that misty morning of 1st March, 2009 was ruins; ony a tenth of the original site had been excavated since its first rediscovery in 1905. Much of the place is still buried under the slopes and green pasture, on which I saw cows grazing. Concerted efforts to preserve the area only began in 1960s. Several reconstructed parts of the area reveal that the architecture is much the same as the contemporary Moors design of the time, similar to the design of the Mezquita in Cordoba city.

As we leave Medina Az Zahara for Toledo some 400km away, the view of much loved orange trees and extensive olive groves that had accompanied our journey throughout Andalucia passed by us. These trees are almost non-existent in Toledo nor Madrid.

Banos Arabes dan Mezquita

Pics: Tembok Luar Mezquita & Keindahan di dalamnya

Sabtu, 28 Februari 2009
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Destinasi kami berikutnya ialah ke Cordoba. Setelah mendalami buku Rough Guide to Andalucia dan peta, Embak mencadangkan singgah ke Jaen untuk melihat Banos Arabes, atau tempat mandi wap orang Moor kurun ke 13, yang asalnya sebahagian dari sebuah istana. Berpandukan GPS, Acu dengan cekapnya memandu melalui lorong-lorong sempit yang selayaknya untuk pejalan kaki sahaja. Mencari tempat letak kereta punyalah susah, nak buat illegal parking pun tak ada tempat. Akhirnya, kami terjumpa tempat kereta awam bawah tanah, dan menapak mencari Banos Arabes.

Orang-orang Jaen peramah betul. (Ada seorang mamat bertanya khabar pada Acu, "Ni hao?" -- lucu!) Beberapa orang melayan pertanyaan kami dalam bahasa isyarat dan ayam-itek, sehingga akhirnya seorang anak muda memimpin kami sehingga sampai ke tempat yang diidami. Rupa-rupanya Banos Arabes ini terletak di dalam sebuah bangunan yang kini dijadikan muzium lukisan “naïf” dan beberapa artifak pertanian tradisional; 3 dalam 1 gitu. Kami dilarang mengambil gambar di dalamnya, jadi tiadalah gambar yang Embak dapat tempel di sini.

Memandangkan kesuntukan waktu, Embak batalkan hasrat ke Baena, bandar yang terkemuka dengan penghasilan minyak zaitun. Sebenarnya, kat Espana ni banyak tempat-tempat menarik untuk diziarahi, tapi apokan dayo, kena pilih-memilih, kalau tak, hujung tahunpun tak balik Malaysia…

Kami akhirnya tiba di Cordoba dalam jam 3 petang. Dalam mencari-cari hotel kami, jalanraya pulak macet. Rupa-rupanya ada perarakan berkuda yang ditunggani oleh penduduk tempatan dengan pakaian tradisi mereka. Menarik, kami rasa bertuah, tapi pada masa yang sama mencemaskan kerana kami mengejar masa agar tidak terlepas waktu melawat “Mezquita”, masjid agam Moors indah yang berusia 1200 tahun, satu lagi ikon Andalucia. Tiket masuk berharga 8 euro, dan kami sempat di dalamnya hanya 30 minit sahaja sebelum ditutup.

Seperti di Alhambra, semua yang masuk buat pertama kali ke dalam bangunan ini mengeluarkan bunyi-bunyi kekaguman. Suasana di dalam bekas masjid ini semacam, mungkin kerana lampu didalamnya disuramkan. Embak disulami perasaan kagum, tetapi sedih dan geram kerana sebahagian besar masjid ini telah ditambah dengan patung-patung dan relik-relik Kristian, setelah kuasa Islam ditumbangkan. Embak kurang pasti samada bangunan ini masih digunakan sebagai gereja atau tidak, tapi Embak melihat di satu sudut semacam ada persiapan sebuah “Concert” pada sebelah malamnya.

Merujuk pada buku Rough Guide, ada restoran halal berselahan Mezquita. Malangnya restoran tu dah “bungkus”. Akhirnya, kami makan Paella Mariscos, masakan nasi Sepanyol dimasak dengan minyak zaitun dan makanan laut. Harganya 10 euro tak termasuk caj kualinya 1.90 euro, cukup untuk 2 orang makan. Taklah sesedap mana. Kalau orang Sepanyol makan nasi goreng Cina ke, nasi goreng kampong ke, mesti mereka takda nak aksyen dengan paella mereka.

Keesokan harinya, kami bercadang singgah ke Medina Az- Zahara, 7 km ke barat Cordoba sebelum ke Toledo.

A twist of fate & Grrranada!

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Our party of four planned to enter Spain via Malaga, then proceed to Granada-Cordoba-Toledo and Madrid. But what we didn’t plan was to miss the flight! We reached the Frankfurt-Hahn airport 3 minutes shy of the last check-in call. The boys put to use their best German to reason with the airport officials that we came all the way from Weingarten, but to no avail. So what were we to do?

After mulling over a few options, we settled on buying another ticket to Madrid the next day. Pick our hired car in Madrid, scrap Malaga off our itinerary, and stick to the rest of our plan from Granada onwards. We accepted it as taqdir. Allahualam.

So, on 26th February, we flew into Madrid on Ryanair. The flight took over three hours. Spain's time is the same as Germany’s, so we needn't adjust our watches. After collecting our rented VW Jetta at the airport, my brother, being the designated driver consulted the excellent Garmin GPS and drove us to the Islamic Cultural Centre. What a relief to know that Islam is alive in Madrid, judging from the facilities at the centre and the respectable size of jemaah at Isya’ prayer that night. After dinner at Sinbad Restaurant, we hit the highway to Granada that is some 500km away. Alhamdulillah for my brother’s driving skill and his able co-pilot, we arrived in Granada at 3 am, and thanks to the GPS, finding the hotel was a breeze.

Friday, 27th February 2009, Alhambra
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Our first day in Andalucia was dedicated to the famous Alhambra, that sits on a hill the Moors called Sabika, and the surrounding Albaicin. My brother has pre-booked the entry tickets for 2pm admission and it cost us 10 euros each. The Alhambra is basically divided into three parts; first Los Palacious Nazaries or the Nasrid Palaces, the Alcazabar or the fortress, and the Generalife, a luscious garden and summer palace.

Many praises have been given to this place that I was scared it would not live up to its honours. But my jaw dropped to the floor when I entered Los Palacious Nazaries. I overheard another visitor said that she had “goosebumps on her skull” – (is that possible?) – in describing her reaction to this place. You have to be there in person to experience the beauty and splendour of this place; the pictures, well at least my pictures don’t do justice. It’s a blessing that this delicate and beautiful masterpiece survived the time for us to appreciate and reflect. It tore me inside to see Arabic inscriptions and intricate carvings and floral motifs throughout the complex evidencing the height of Islam at one time in Spain.

We spent a good four hours at this complex – we would spend much longer if we were not chased out of the grounds as they close at 6 pm. (Apr-Oct hours 8.30am-8 pm.) We adjourned to the nearby souvenir shops. My regret was that I didn’t buy enough as the prices there is the cheapest compared to other parts of Spain. We returned to our hotel “Villa Blanca”, but the boys later ventured out for a mosque or Islamic Centre that eluded us during the first half of the day.

Granada is gorgeous to me for the Alhambra plus the ubiquitous orange trees that add colour to that place. I puzzled why people don’t eat the fruits off the trees; I just learnt that they are sour. The trees are so laden with this bright-coloured things that the oranges that fell under the trees looked like a chap-goh-meh aftermath.

Winter in Weingarten

Pic: Embak and Acu on his Campus grounds. Macam emak ngan anak kan?

Kami tiba di Frankfurt jam 6 pagi, 22 Februari 2009. Selepas memusing mencari surau di lapangan terbang, Allah jumpakan kami dengan seorang cleaner berwajah Arab. Dia tunjukkan satu ceruk untuk kami solat, siap dibentangkan untuk kami plastik.

Selesai solat, barulah berjaya hubungi Acu yang kami sudah sampai. Dia yang datang bermalam di Frankfurt menjemput kami ke rumah seorang staf JPA untuk sarapan. Alangkah bahagianya dihidangkan nasi lemak!

Selesai makan, kami mengikut Acu ke tempat persekolahannya di Weingarten, di selatan Jerman, 5 jam perjalanan dari Frankfurt. Dalam perjalanan, kami sempat singgah di kilang Porche dan Daimler dan solat di Masjid Stuttgart. Di Weingarten, Allah murahkan rezeki kami dapat tumpang tinggal di bilik seorang pelajar yang kebetulan tiada kerana buat praktikal di bandar lain. Kalau tidak, berhimpitlah di bilik Acu yang, walaupun sewanya sebulan 220 Euro, tak sampai 200 kaki persegipun saiznya.

Semasa di Jerman, kami sempat ke Lake Konstanz dan ke Zurich, Switzerland (melalui laluan indah negara-negara Alpine Austria dan Liechtenstein). Seronok dapat melihat salji, tapi sejuknya, brrr... boleh tahan. Selepas 3 hari di Jerman, kami berangkat ke Sepanyol yang hangat, seperti yang kami rancang.