Part II: Paris Je'taime

im watchin this movie called " Paris Je'taime " and it reminded me about pending entree..Part II...Paris..the city or light...and the city for lovers...:D. Watching the movie made me miss Paris..it is a beautiful city and at nite...Paris is magical..:D

So where to i begin, ok here goes...we advanterously took the bus...Roissy 350 from CDG to Gare du Nord, the trip was..pleasent but was a trip, stopping at almost every stop until we got to the highway, caveman was abit worried coz we had to pass everything single ghetto...from the african quarters to chinatown to french bombay to finally...Gare du nord, and from here...we walked 20 mins to get to out little hotel..Libertel Canal St Martin. The 1st day was great...the 2nd day the lift stop working and Shilme and family had a problem with the room..and from there it was down hill...imagine carrying a 2 yrs old baby, a 5 kg stroller and of course shopping bag up 5 flights of stairs after having walking for hours????..i tell you we build some buns of steel that week..would reccommend it..nope, never..find another hotel please madame.

sampai sampai hotel, letak bags and we are off...i was excited to show my darlings Paris, 1st stop..Champs-Élysées, not the shopping but for Arc de Triomphe, caveman was stunt..having seeing it on telly to see such super monument in front of his eyes...just makes me smiles. I was suprise that i still remember the way to get to Eiffel from thre...and when he finally saw Eiffel Tower..i knew Paris has got him big time!!...we decided to go up to the verry top...and it took us 4 hours from queueing getting upthere and coming down..was it worth it..difinately...will i do it again...phewww maybe not. Once u get up there it was a really chilly nite...cold to be exact but the sight was significant, i wish i had a tripod with me..dang! By the time we got down it was 12:00am...and the last metro was at 12:40am and luckily we got the last train back..

Sigh....just in one day there is alot to write...and to go thru 6 days...i think ill stay up all nite. To cut the story short , the rest of the week was just spent going a round town and we spend one day at Disneyland.With Shilme and family, we had a blast..and i think even bubbles enjoyed it, innit cool for her, to go on holiday with a fren at 2...i think it pretty awesome! theres too much to write about Paris..i could go on and on..but it will never end and it wont be as good as me telling it in person..besides pictures tells a million stories...:D

http://www.flickr.com/photos/reenaribena

Paris Je'taime

online bookings...

caveman has gone completely excited about our little vacation in july..i was giving him shit about not being excited a week back..coz he was taking his time...and not doing any booking etc...but after i have him a peice of my mind...,he started to plan...hehehe....im a nasty wife aren't i! :)

so he's duty was to get all the flights and trains arrangement done..and i was responsible of the hotels...so yesterday nite...i spent all nite looking for places to stay in Nice, Paris and London...with bubbles traveling....i had to be abit picky...we cant really stay in a dump u know what i mean....i need at least a decents clean place fit for a baby..having said this..the price aint cheap either...also july is peak season...most of the hotels are all bookedd up..and selections are limited...:(

i have never done any bookin thru the internet and was abit worried if it went thru...the 1st booking i did in nice was thru http://emea.hotels.com/ and got a very good deal for a hotel in Nice and called them yesterday to comfirm our bookings..good news they have received it!...and the one in Paris and london is done from booking.com...got a decent deal at holiday villa,london...hope the bookings went thru we a have a place to stay....:).

we are all set, counting the days..and time to brush up on the french...au revoir!

Farewell Gusti....

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I've only known her for a few months..but we have become quiet good fren...Gusti and i 1st met at my house during my pengajian class. She has a very warm personality and very frenly at 1st i thot she was single...kekeke...then i found out that she is mother of 2 and expecting her 3rd and she is still fit..:D.

since then we meet occasionally over at pengajian classes and phone calls...3 weeks back she told me that she was moving to Kuwait..all of a sudden and she will be leaving in 10 days.im like..what...did u just decide u wanna live in kuwait or what? so the story is that her husband got a job to manage 2 hotels in kuwait city...and the job needed him ASAP...Gusti & Ahmed / me /Ladees of maadi and little mariam

So last tuesday, the ladees wanted to try the metro after raved about how excellent it was...we decided to go downtown and walk thru Midan Tharir and have lunch with Gusti n hubby before she leave Thursday. All of us was super excited ..we were like little kids on teh loose...not to mention..me eing the official photographer for the 4 ladees..i managed to get some shots of downtown cairo....the building as really nice..i just wish they were looked after..

J.Groppi

One of the building that caught my attention was the J.Groppi pastry shop. Once a upon a time..it use to be one of the best chocolatier in africa and i read in abook that even the Queen Elizabeth herself would has pll to tapau ( pack some ) chocs when ever they are in egypt..so i guess if it fit for Queen it must be super and all the writers and pasha will come and sit here for their tea & and scones. Now J.Groppi is still serving customers..but the glam has gone but the history & memories still remains..even my looking at the building u get a feel that yes..once this place a hotspot! :D. I have yet to try this place.....but now that i know how to get thereby metro...it will be easy peasy....

TO Gusti and family...Bon VOyage...and i hope u will find home in Kuwait...we miss you Muahssss..


For more photos...click

a much needed vacation!

we were in sharm el Sheikh last over maulud nabi and easter hols...and i must say it was much needed vacation for all of us.
it was all very sudden and almost couldnt get a room in sharm due to the school break and public hols...we were fortunately to have found a hotel that could accomodate all 5 days...:D
desert on your left...the red sea on you right and as u get closer to the sinai....u get to see all the rocky mountains that are just superb.

We stayed at the Hyatt Regency by the Cornish and it was just beautiful....mama would go crazy if she sees it...the hotel is full of bloomings bougainvillea and hibiscous...they had 3 pool and private beach..that are hotspots .....u really have to go early and book your sun chair..hahaha
my 1st dip in the red sea was cold.....but once dip you whole body..ure fine..it actually very refreshing as the land temp was almost 40degC!. caveman got to dive...and got the babysitting job....but it was ok...the snorkelling was good enuff...the quad bike is a must for everyone!
It probabbly one of the best we have stayed in so far..the service was good...food was great and it just makes u feel like ure on a holiday...in fact i dont even remember that we were still in Egypt....its nothing like cairo...full stop!...we had a great help from Ahmed who helps us with the tips and excursion..a good lad!

I really hope my gals...can come next year and we can go on a girlie trip on the red sea...:D..
my poison is slowing seeping in..:P
we didnt want to leave sharm...but had to coz arom ( BIL - bro in law ) and gang are arriving on the same day...:D..finally our home will be full of peeps..:D.

the pictures are still uploading in my flickr....should be there soon...:D

my blog is collecting dust!

acu and safeia

as what the malay's will say if u havent visited a place for a very longtime...its called 'bersawang'..and my blog is one of the place thats full of sawang sawang up til yesterday.

But i have a very good reason for letting my blog 'bersawang'..my lovely parents came to visit us in cairo for a week...i wish they had stayed longer but the fact that my dad actually leave work to come here for a week was good enough....so for a week..i really felt like i was back in my home in KL...with adek around..it as the 1st time in a long time that we are a family again as 4! and it made me very happy :).

roman ampitheatre

they had a week to spend with their cucu and also to see cairo so we took them to Alexandria for a day trip which was excellent. Alexandria is 220km from cairo, with a reasonable speed you will reach alex in 2 hrs. We got there at 9am on a friday and it was soo quite...we headed to the roman amphitheatre in the middle of the city. It was pretty amazing to see some roman ruins here, most of the pillars a gone but the some are still intact and they are still exvacating!!! next stop was the catacomb....this i like alot...its a roman underground tomb!...if u have kids like my bubbles...its not recommeded unless u have a detector!!!...its a spirally steps all the way to the tomb ad once ure in thre..u have this little little corners and hole that u have to watch as u walk thru. It was actually like a little maze. Unfortunately...theres ure not allowed to take any photos inside...so if u wanna see how it looks like click here.

Down the road from the catacomb, is the Pompey Pillar. Its basically a pillar that sticking out from a little hill. Not much to see....theres 2 shpinx guarding it. We had a really nice lunch at The Fish Market on the Cornish. It has a beautiful view of the sea and the town by the sea. Since we have been here, we hardly try any fish coz i dont know what fish to buy..most the time its seabass and seabass...with ayah around...he's picked up all the fishes for us...hahaha...so now i know what are the names for the other fishes..:P after lunch it was around 4ish..so drove to Qaitbay...to go for a stroll by the sea. It was heaps of ppl...and the wind was blowing hard and the waves are crashing in. Very cold!! We drove back to cairo when the sun started to go down...everyone was tired..esp the baby and the grans..hahahha. It was good day trip.

Us at the pyramids of Khefren

or the tours in cairo...i hired a tour guide and a minivan for us to go sightseeing...i think thats the best way to see cairo and it was good for me since ive been travelling in egypt with my lonely planet as a guide. Thanks fto Mbak Mira, she reccommend her travel agency to me..Mr Muhammad Masri, its was good deal i think...for a 2 days trip...i only forked out 550 l.e for a minivan and a tour guide ( of course i paid extra 150 l.e for the guide and driver at the end of the trip just becoz they were good and very patience ) and its a door to door service!

the three pyramid at Giza

In Citadel

in two days...they managed to cover...the pyramids,museum,citadel,old cairo, coptic cairo and khan khalili...they almost the whole khan...:D...and addition to that..one of my office mate sharez was here in cairo with his family...and they have a little cutie pie name Qistina

qistina and safeia

It was hard adjusting to not having anyone around at the house after a month of guests...esp my family..for one month adek made my day...with his silly jokes..it was like old times..us being silly...and menyakat our mama..

anyway...it was better then not seeing them at all...:D.

missing them....

An afternoon affair....BBQ by the Red Sea

(Red Sea)

None of us have been to Ain Sukhna before...we decided to make trip down to the seaside on Friday and have a little bbq by the beach. It was an 1 30 mins drive from Maadi to Ain Sukhna...its on the way to the Hurghada ( another tourist destination ).

the journey was very pleasant...the highway seems to be floating on air...and all u see are rocky mountains and desserts and occasional goats...something u don't see in Malaysia.:D.

Ain Sukhna is actually on the Gulf of Suez, ( Suez Canal is 55km from Ain Sukhna ), the red sea is almost like a lake, very calm and they hardly any beach...most of it was just rocks, but the water....its crystal clear, unfortunately it was a bit too cold for a swim this time of the year...but i heard that in summer this place is packed with pll..both local and foreign. A lot of the local in Cairo owns a villa here...they come over the weekend to get away from the hustle and bustle of Cairo.

We got there at 1 nish and it took us 30 min to find the perfect spot..must of the spot are privately own..darn!..but we finally did get a spot..well it requires a little tip to an old man as always...bapshih..bapshih.....but it was worthed! the gents got the fire going and the ladies just sat and relax.....it was blissful. The food was excellent...probably the best BBQ ive had in awhile now...the meat was tender n juice yet not bloody, the chicken was well marinated..and the yummy tuna pasta from Marie and choc chip muffins...( i woke early just to bake these babies!!) . The weather was great...the sun was shining but the occasional cool breeze was blowing..so it was the perfect temperature


(safeia, wid and mashael)

bubbles...had a blast!...she was rolling...kicking..eating..the sand..and so was little Mashael..she was all up for it...i think between the two babies..they probably finish 2 tubs of Pringles..hehehe...so cute!!...Marie and i decided that this is the day that they can do anything and eat anything they want....:D. Seems to be paid off....of course they will be times when u still hear one of us screaming!!!!! :D


( Iraqi next top model baby wid)

The sun started to set behind us at about 4.00 pm so we started packing and everyone got a family picture by the Red Sea....


(L-R : wid,mohammad hashim,marwa,marie,meshary,mashael,me,sharizal,safeia,kak zahara,hassan,rosdina,khalil,qistina,samira Bottom: ammar and hadrien)

Bubbles...sleep all the way back to Maadi..she was super tired. I wiped her face with wetones in the car..it was like she had a thick brown foundation on...kekekkeke....she needs a good bath!!!

p/s :- more photos on my flickr