Jalan Jalan India: Kolkata

Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Rahim

Ahh....its been years! Berhabuk! Found this blog after googling homeless images for work. Rindu nak blogging. Cuma sebab fikirkan sekarang ni tengah study, and currently stucked kat literature review for months, with no progress...sigh...susahnya study ni. And today, rasa2 mood macam best sikit, my gemok fingers will be dancing gracefully on my suppose 'PhD thesis only' laptop keyboard to write an entry on our first day in India...Wallllaaaaa...

Us (wan, me and little wan dalam perut)

Hope i can remember this trip well.....(bukan apa, masa trip ni, Syafi dalam perut lagi, 5 weeks, sekarang dah 6 bulan....huhu).

29th October 2013

Arrived Kolkata, around 9.30pm. 

Disebabkan sampai2 pun dah malam, and, kami tiada tempat dan perancangan untuk bermalam di Kolkata, airport lah tempat tidur kami. Meet up dengan sorang lagi kawan, and spent the night at the airport. Early morning, after subuh, kami gerak mencari teksi untuk ke railway station ------> membeli tiket keretapi untuk journey kami selama di India. 

30th October 2013

The famous Yellow Cab, only in Kolkata, legend teksi ni. About Rs 275 untuk ke railway station. Ni kira bukan teksi sapu la, sebab kena beli dari kaunter yang ada depan airport. Harus ingat yer, di India ni kena careful lagi-lagi bab harga ni, banyak penipuan boleh dan telah berlaku. Huhuhu.....

Dari Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport kami ke Kolkata City mencari halatuju untuk hari-hari seterusnya. Aku dah cuba book tiket keretapi secara online daripada KL lagi, tapi antara aku ni buta IT atau kurang pemahaman atau memang mustahil untuk buat booking online dari Malaysia, tak tahu la. Cubaan itu tetap gagal walau beberapa kali mencuba. Maka, tanpa tahu arah tuju dan nasib kami di India seterusnya, dengan berpandukan buku "Lonely Planet India" kami ke Foreign Tourist Bureau di Fairlie Place untuk beli terus tiket keretapi disitu. Ada beberapa kuota untuk foreign tourist seperti kami. Boleh buat booking terus disitu untuk sepanjang perjalanan kami di India. Seat di kelas ketiga, ada tempat tidur dan perjalanan semua adalah pada waktu malam. Kami beli tiket dari Kolkata ke Darjeeling, Darjeeling ke Kolkata, Kolkata ke Varanasi dan Varanasi ke Agra, lain-lain destinasi, naik Bas Volvo. 

Di Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Airport, Kolkata, bersiap untuk cari tiket keretapi

Teksi legend, Yellow cab

Pastikan dapat tiket macam ni untuk naik teksi, jangan main cakap2 je, Cekik darah jadi nya

Penat juga la perjalanan sebelum jumpa Fairlie Place tu. Meroyan meraban juga mencari tak tahu hala tuju. Pergi railway station, tak dapat juga beli, pergi railway station yang lain pula, tak dapat juga nak membeli, tanya-tanya orang local, tak faham ler pulak nak communicate. Rupanya, ada banyaaaakkk railway station di Kolkata ni. Tersilap station kena ler naik feri nak menyeberang sungai.

Naik teksi mencari Railway Station

Mandi di mana-mana selagi ada air

Naik feri untuk ke Fairlie Place

Rumah tempat berteduh di sepanjang jalan

Breakfast dulu, chai yang umpphhh....

Makan puree tepi jalan, Umphhhh....

At last, The Fairlie Place, huhuhu.....

Pada aku, Kolkata bukan lah sebuah kota keriangan. Pada aku la, memang tak prefer big cities. Kebanyakan tempat-tempat yang kononnya menarik di Kolkata adalah bangunan-bangunan Colonial zaman jajahan British. Lepas dah settle isu tiket keretapi, kami round juga keliling Kolkata, menghabiskan masa yang berbaki sementara menunggu keretapi malam kami kee Darjeeling.

Mana-mana pun boleh....mandi.

Mana-mana pun boleh...tidur.

Kami sempat ke Nakhoda Masjid yang terletak di Zakariya Street sementara menunggu hari petang. Tiket kami dalam pukul 9.00 pm. Memamng lama menunggu disini, sampai lepas Asar, sebelum Maghrib, kami gerak ke Station Sealdah untuk ke New Jaipalguri, Darjeeling. Tiket ke Darjeeling dari Kolkata untuk kelas Sleeper hanya Rs350 seorang about RM20.

Masjid Nakhoda di Zakariya Street

Sealdah Station, Kolkata

Bersambung Jalan Jalan India: Darjeeling

Jalan Jalan Mengembara

Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Rahim

Last Sunday, went for kelas tafsir in Kampung Baru. Came across this Ayat. 

Allah SWT berfirman, Surah Ar-Rum, Ayat 42:

"Mengembaralah kamu di muka bumi kemudian lihatlah bagaimana kesudahan orang-orang yang telah lalu (yang telah binasa); kebanyakan mereka adalah orang-orang yang musyrik."

Well, lets travel cheap and see the world, there are lots of things to see, to grasp, to smell, to learn and to feel. The hypobaropathy after climbing high mountains, the numbness of your fingertips during winter, the chapped lips on hot and dry aussie summer day, the colorfulness of blooming flowers, the dullness of falling leaves in autumn, the hatred of some people shown once they see you and your hijab, the glare that you get when you perform salah next to a tree in a beautiful garden, the sulfurous smelling air on the peak of an active volcano, the friendly smiles of makcik tukang jaga cafe in one of timber framed building in St Nicholas St. All of these are just one small part of the whole experience and knowledge you'll gain through travelling. 

A lot has happened since my last post here, I'm married, a mother of one, currently juggling between work and study...(duhh...banyak kali rasa nak give up). On one fine day, while scrolling images in the internet, I found my own images that I've posted here in my own blog. Reading through my poor old under maintenance blog. Fell in love all over again and here I am,....am WRITING again. lets hope dah tak ada kuman2 pemalas hinggap lagi, huhu. 

:)

Jalan Jalan India: The Itinerary

Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Rahim

I am not sure what is happening to me, I looooveee travelling. I looooveee exploring. I loooveee to share my experience with others, tapi, seriously all this travelling stories piling up in the draft section of this blog, I was so lazy to update. Keep on uploading photos with no write ups, hayyy2....promising myself to be more istiqamah in blogging, hahah!

Anyway, I've been wanting to visit India since years ago. The colourful culture, colourful ambience, the colourful architecture, the colourful people, the colourful rickshaws...hihi. And finally! I am going to India this coming November. Been studying maps, train routes, interesting places, even the festival = headaches + excited la makcik ini.....

 

A very long journey indeed, as India is HUUGGEEEE! we have to somehow travel from Kolkata to Delhi because that is the only point in the India Northern side that Air Asia goes. Anyway, not wanting to spend much as this meant to be a backpacking trip, been trying to reduce cost as much as i can. Hihi~

Jalan Jalan Sepanyol 2: Barcelona Tiga

Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Rahim

Perghhhh.....lama betul tak update blog. Nak kata busy tu tak juger, travel banyak sangat sampai jadi malas nak bercerita, compiling stories, boleh load gambar je then save as draft. Kih kih kih. Tapi terasa rindu pulak dengan blog ni~

         On our 2nd day in Barcelona, we spent the whole day walking from Sagrada Familia to the Street of La Rambla. La Rambla is a Pedestrian Mall or a promenade famous among tourist and locals alike. Always crowded during the day till late at night. Rambla in Spanish means, "watercourse" and La means "The". I heard somewhere before that the La Rambla was previously a river leading up to The Port Vell. In 16th century, a series of important buildings were built along the river including convents and a university which were demolished by 19th century. It is of 1.2km stretch with Placa Catalunya on the northern most end and Port Veil at its southern end. 

         The best way to get to The La Rambla is by using Metroline, less hassle. There are three Metro stops to the La Rambla. From the Southern end is The Drassanes Metro station, Green line, L3; midway is the Liceu Metro station, Green line, L3 and northern end Catalunya Metro station, Green line, L3, Red Line, L1. 

          So, What's interesting? The statues, lots and lots of statues + human statues. Souvenir stalls along the promenade and artists at work, caricature artists. The Christopher Columbus statue near the Port Vell end and other attractions such as the iconic Mercat (market@ pasar) La Boqueria and Museums.

Coming through the Catalunya end

The La Rambla

Human Statue, geletek sure melatah statue ni. Kalau masukkan duit kat mende alah depan die tu, secara automatik, dia akan beraksi. Sekali patung boleh senyum daa...

Buildings around La Rambla

Another Human Statue

The Casa Mila, another building designed by Antoni Gaudi. Can be noticed from the signature chimney.

Erotica Museum

I've read in Spain Lonely Planet book, tourists especially need to be cautious, as there are lots of pickpockets in La Ramble, in fact around the city of Barcelona too. There are also lots of expensive restaurants and shops due to La Rambla popularity somehow everything around La Rambla becomes a little bit pricey, some halal restaurants selling kebab,if am not mistaken it is near the Casa Mila. Oh, patut tulis entry nih lama dulu, rasanye macam dah setengah tahun kejadian terjadi, hihi~

Jalan Jalan Sepanyol 1: Barcelona Dua

Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Rahim

On the same day after the visit to Sagrada Familia, we went to another Gaudi's wonder, the La Pedrera at Carrer de Provenca (the road name). It is open daily from 9am to 8pm. The entrance charge for adult is 10 euro.

La Pedrera was built between 1906 to 1912 for Roser Segimon and Pere Mila. It was originally named as Casa Mila. But, it is famously called the La Pedrera by locals which means 'The Quarry' due to its curvaceous and uneven grey stome facade.

The La Pedrera is actually another unfinished work by Encik Gaudi, initially he wanted to put up some kind of a sculpture of Mary but there was an issue disputed with the owner. What makes the building interesting is the chimneys on the rooftop. I decided not to enter the La Pedrera because I was more interested on getting in to the Casa Batllo. But, oh I wished I did. Because, the rooftop is where the famous sculptural and unique, funny-looking, weird, eerie, i-dont-know-what-else-to-say chimneys are. The chimneys are shaped as such of Salvador Dali kind of artwork of medieval knights with broken tiles.



Undulating wave facade

The grille at the main entrance signifying natural elements, kunun2 macam spiderweb. Suka handle tuhh...



The railing of the balcony was designed as an abstract form, ribbon kind of shape...ye la kot...

One of the chimneys, zoom je dari jauh, tak naik sampai ke atas kan....

The facade is crowned by an inscription is written as, Ave Gratia Plena Dominus Tecum, rasanye bahasa roman kot...

After having few shots of the La Pedrera, we went off to visit wierder looking building, Casa Batllo, located at Passeig de Gracia. Entrance charge is 18.50 euro for adult but lucky for me, as I was about to pay, there was a guy offering me discount coupon, so dapat lah masuk dgn diskaun 2 euro, bayar dalam 16.50 euro gituew...., ok ler...boleh buat beli air....

Some says that the skeletal looking building was supposedly to represent the battlement of St George and the dragon, but for me, I think it looks just....scary.

The Casa Battlo viewed from Passeig de Gracia. Macam tulang2 manusia je kan?

Casa Batllo was built between 1904 to 1907 and it was actually a renovation to an existing building which was built in 1877. Locals nicknamed the house as 'House of Yawns' (sebab banyak tengkorak lekat2 kat dinding - the balconies) or the 'House of bones'.

On its facade, you will notice sprinkles of blue, green, white and brown ceramic tiles while its roof rise to undulating shape shape of dragon scale. What's more interesting is the interior....

The skeletal looking facade, balkoni yang macam tengkorak...

The railings are made of cast iron and painted in ivory white and gold. It does look like a skull kan?

Internally, Encik Gaudi played with naturalist forms whereby he invented inner lighting and ventilation by designing curving and unending lines for its ceiling and wall. Kena tengok gambar baru faham kot kan?. He had even modified the internal courtyard of the existing building to allow better lighting by reforming a large skylight. This internal courtyard has a lift to accommodate its residents.

The main staircase, the side rail was designed to look like backbone.

The main door and the patch of lighting, macam tingkap, tapi bukan tingkap...hehheh

 

Closeup of the backbone

At beginning of the stairs, which indicate the christian beliefs of the holy family.

The main staircase, and the lighting, yang juga bukan tingkap....

Lighting yang kunun2 macam tingkap...bijak brader ni

The window of a room

The fireplace

Perasan tak dinding ada pattern? dan tak ada line, antara siling dan dinding?

This is my favorite lah, the swirl ceiling and its centrepiece light, imagine macam taufan tetiba ada cahaya tengah2?

Ceiling of the main hall

Semua dinding dan siling ada pattern yang sama, maybe untuk tunjuk macam kulit naga kot? ada tak?

Wall light pun sangat cool

The toilet, perghhh...boleh plak jadik sangat moden zaman2 tuh...hebat2.

The floor plan

The internal courtyard, with lift core



The window of one of its rooms

Corridor leading to main staircase on the first floor. Again, lighting yang macam tingkap...

The garden on its first floor

And all the rooms and rear balconies

The external door to the garden, notice the two columns in the middle?

The internal staircase leading to upper rooms

The internal courtyard which is filled with blue ceramic tiles

The skylight

The hyperbolic vault at the attic.

The attic was used to be storage room

Encik Gaudi hantar message ala2 star wars...

The chimneys on its rooftop...with colourful ceramic

The chimneys and the roof which is supposedly look like the dragon

The roof and its bulbous cross

Staircase to the rooftop

Room door

And its door handle?

Window from one of the rooms overlooking internal coutyard for lighting and ventilations

From the staircase to the courtyard thats goes straight up to the attic and its courtyard is filled with blue and white ceramic tiles.

The skylight viewed from ground floor

All these architecture wonders of Encik Gaudi, Ive learned it during my studies in UiTM, in the subject of History of Architecture, masuk exam wooo..., so bila dapat tengok secara live, oh perasaannye seperti...saya patut score! ahahahahhaah....