Ushering in 2014 with hope and love

As we usher in 2014, I am taking a little bit of my time to reflect back of what I have done and what I have become in 2013. I would also like to think of what I would like to do and who I would like to be in 2014. I know for a fact that we always have to be ourselves and embrace of something we have always consider as our weaknesses.

On the last day of 2013, I must admit that it has been a tough year for me. 2013 has given me a lot of challenges and I shed a lot of tears.  I did not achieve many dreams that I have been dreaming all these years. That's OK. With that, Alhamdulillah 2013 has led me to be a stronger person.  I am ready to face 2014 with so much hope that better things will come our way.

I am also hoping and praying that I will be a much better person in years to come, in sha' Allah.  May Allah bless us all and grant us peace, goodness and acceptance.

What is my 2014's resolution? I guess I would like to start with giving salaam and be nice to all these people around me particularly my family, relatives, colleagues and friends.

Giving the Salam

Abu Hurairah (ra) related that Rasulullah (saw) said, "You shall not enter Heaven unless you have Faith and your Faith is not complete until you show love towards one another. Would you want me to show you how you can achieve this? Shower your Salam upon one another."

General meaning -- When we give our salam to another Muslim and he answers it, we are actually praying for each other's peace in life. Thus our relationship will become closer. This is one of the signs of people who have Faith. - Sayings of Rasulullah SAW.

Amazing Autumn at South Korea

Aside from Seoul, we went to other places like Nami Island.

I have always wanted to go to South Korea especially to see the shooting location of the famous love story "Winter Sonata".  Alhamdulillah...  I felt so blessed to be able to see the colourful trees in such a beautiful weather. 

I love autumn trees, there were amazing olive green, yellow, orange and red leaves seen in Nami Island, the shooting location of Winter Sonata .  It was so Masha' Allah beautiful.  

It's the first time I saw those very tall pine trees there before me... The colour of those pine trees were from light olive green to light orange.  The metal statue of the love birds from Winter Sonata stood proudly in the garden of pine trees.  The memory of Winter Sonata was vaguely ran through my mind.

Although we took a long walk in this small island, we did not able to explore the whole island.  Some might have thought that all you could see is just trees with falling leaves.  As for me, I felt tranquil and at peace looking at the scenery.  It's a beautiful place to be with your loved ones...  There are plenty of lovely picnic spots.  We also saw couples in love strolling in the park including ahjussi and ahjumma... It was really sweet...   




   

Soul to Seoul Pt. 2

I'm still in holiday mood although I came back from South Korea so many weeks ago. Hence that is why I managed to grab Air Asia Free Seats tickets recently for another trip in May next year... Weeehooo... Chicken dance c'mon everybody, make some noiiiiizzeee... Hehehe... 

Demam Korea tak habis lagi ni... 

Caffe Bene
As I mentioned in the earlier post, I saw a lot of Starbucks in the places we visited in South Korea.  However I have decided to forget about Starbucks but try their local coffee place instead.  It is called "Caffe Bene".  Caffe Bene is a leading coffee label of Korea.  Try it and you will fall in love with it!  I tried hot Caffe Mocha with whipped cream, just so perfect for a cold weather.  I loved it! It was yummilicious! Their cashier system was also efficient! After I placed an order, the cashier gave me this cute device (like an alarm clock or something) then asked me to sit down.  (Eh belum dapat coffee, kena duduk pulak? Weird!)... After 5-8 minutes later, surprise2.. The device helped me to alert me with a sound when my mocha was ready. And then, I returned to the counter happily to collect my coffee.  This is so efficient, no long queue.  Awesome!

I also saw this "Powder Room" in this cafe.  It's very useful for all of us specially women... I think Malaysian cafes should be inspired by it. Why not all cafes in Malaysia provide a small room for customers.  This room can be a multifunctional space for solat, betulkan tudung, make-up, breastfeeding!  I wish we had this kinda room at the office!  Right now, if tak sempat pegi surau, we have to solat in the filing room. :(  In fact we have to take turn with the bf mothers, kesian diorang...

Kimchi time!

In Seoul, there's only one place you can find HALAL food which is at Itaewon. Itaewon is known as ‘the global village in Seoul' where one can meet people of diverse nationalities and cultures.  Unfortunately we got tired of eating the same buffet dishes, curry, dal, and rice for every meal for the first 2 days.  So, our fabulous Ms. Jennifer (tour guide) took us to the vegetarian Kimchi restaurant alternately where we had wonderful experience eating Korean dishes with Korean ambiance.  Duduk bersila sambil makan dengan stainless steel chopsticks laa. Although their food is not as good as I thought it would be, but I really enjoyed the experience of eating traditional Korean way! It's like an art which an experience that you definitely don't wanna miss.

Mentari

Mentari is the first and the only one restaurant that serves Malaysian cuisine.  However, it is very very pricey tapi I guess it's worth it if you suddenly miss Malaysian food when you're there. Its interior decoration pun cantik and cozy. Who is the chef? Encik Baha, yang pernah appeared in Akademi Fantasia 1.  The food was also quite good. I love that place, it almost felt like home.  

One thing I notice about most of the restaurants and cafe we went, they were quite concerned with cleanliness.  When I went to a small kebab cafe at the roadside, all straws were individually wrapped unlike Malaysian food stalls or even restaurants, all our straws are collecting dust and germs all around us... Hehe..

Samsung d'light
Enough about food...Now moving on to the next place we visited.  Samsung d'light. Samsung d’light is an exhibition space that showcases all the latest consumer electronic products by Samsung Electronics. According to Samsung, the name d'light combines the words "digital" and "light", to correlate with their vision of being a "guiding light to the digital world" and leading consumers to a whole new lifestyle through digital technology. It is also meant to convey delight and excitement.

Our company took us to Samsung d'light to learn the new and latest technologies and inventions by Samsung since we are dealing with technopreneurs everyday.  It was an interesting visit for all ages.  Everybody is using smart phones now and even my 63 year old mom is also using Samsung smart phone now!  I was totally impressed by their new invention of the large HD smart TV.  Dreaming is free! And I dream to have such TV in my new house nanti...

Samsung is a very successful Korean brand that has standing in the global market.  I just only learned that they have also produced cars in South Korea which recently 70% stake was bought by Renault due to the Asian financial crisis. Now it is called "Renault Samsung Motors".

To be continued...