2015 in Review

So here we are again, having arrived at the last day of the year. This time, I'm making it a point to blog on my year and what's happened so far. 

Here's a photoblog of my year:

Travel wise:

I've traveled to three countries this year, China, Indonesia and Singapore for various reasons. Our trip to Xi'an, China is one of our (me and hubs) attempt at spending quality time together and make memories that will hopefully enrich our relationship. The trip to Banda Aceh, Indonesia is my mum's birthday gift to my dad, he's been keen on seeing how Banda Aceh has developed after the tsunami. And for Singapore, it wasn't a leisurely trip, instead we went to Singapore just for a short weekend to attend one of Al-Maghrib seminars last January and left right after the seminar ended.

Another one of my aim is to explore as many places as I can in Peninsular Malaysia. Coming from the island of Borneo, we would have to fly to Kuala Lumpur or any other cities in the peninsular, therefore we usually do not explore much of this part of Malaysia as most of our travels/ holidays tend to focus on traveling overseas. This time I've resolved to change all that and I've kinda made a list of places that I hope to visit in the peninsular before I complete my PhD. 

Visited Xi'an, China and the famed terracotta warriors.

Us posing with the terracotta warriors. 

Alexa's growing to be a frequent traveler and she's much more comfortable on long flights and adapted well to traveling, Alhamdulillah.

Us having a stroll on our last day in Xi'an.

Visited Banda Aceh, Indonesia and got to see first hand the after effects of the tsunami.

Lampuuk Beach. Beautiful, but deadly.

Aimed to visit more local destinations in Malaysia. This is Sabah Tea Plantation, Ranau, Sabah.

Slept in a bamboo longhouse at the tea plantation.

The room came with a traditional mosquito netting. Definitely this is one of my most novel and exciting travel experiences.

Visited Sepanggar Island, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. One of the most beautiful and private beach that I've ever been to so far. You can read all about my trip to Sepanggar island [here].

Walked on a canopy walkway at Poring Hotspring, Ranau, Sabah.

I actually went up in my pyjama pants. Haha! There's always a first time for everything =)

Another local destination in Malaysia, Perhentian Islands, Terengganu.

Went snorkelling with the fishes and turtles at Perhentian Islands. [Here's] my blogpost on my trip to Perhentian Islands.

Another local destination, Cameron Highlands, Pahang. Went strawberry picking with my university mates.

And obviously, one shall not miss the Boh Tea Plantations at Cameron Highlands. The breakfast here is one of the best highlights to my year. You can read all about my trip to Cameron Highlands [here].

Another local destination, Colmar Tropicale, Bukit Tinggi, Pahang with the family. trip. [Here's] a photoblog of the trip.

Health Wise:

Like most women, every year my aim is to reduce weight. However, this year, I've stopped making that goal as part of my new year resolutions and instead concentrate on improving my fitness level. So to do that, I've made a list of activities that I want to do and focused on ticking them off my list. Among the activities that I've set out to do is conquer Broga and another hill (which later turned out to be Bukit Gasing), try out Jumpstreet and Skytrex Adventure. Besides that, I've also enrolled myself in a couple of marathons as a way to motivate myself to exercise. 

One of my aims this year is to improve on my health and fitness, so I went on several hiking trips with my friends. This one is our hike to Broga last November. [Here's] a blogpost on my hike at Broga.

And Bukit Gasing just last week. [Here's] a photoblog of the hike up Bukit Gasing.

Went for my first run after giving birth to Alexa, two years ago. This one is the 3.8 km Stroller Run at Kepong Metropolitan Park in November.

Another run just last week, 5km Garfield Run 2015.

Went to the Jumpstreet, the trampoline park in Petaling Jaya. I will definitely come again to improve on my jumping skills. And [here's] my review of Jumpstreet.

And went to Skytrex Adventure for some adrenaline rush and test our fitness levels. You can read all about Skytrex Adventure [here].

Profession Wise:

I am currently on study leave by my institution. Therefore most of my professional achievements will involve my academic performance and my ability to achieve what I've set out to do. So far I've completed all my necessary courses and the huge Comprehensive Exam (CE) this year. And I've been able to publish one of my assignments as an article in an Islamic finance bulletin/ magazine and also present in two conferences this year. Next year I hope to be able to present in a couple more conferences and be published in journals as well, inshaa Allah.



The IIBF - Inceif Student Conference.

Passed my Comprehensive Exam (CE) in November this year. The CE is one of Inceif's requirements prior to embarking on your PhD research and you can only sit for the CE once you have passed at least six out of seven courses, i.e. Islamic Economics, Islamic Banking or Islamic Capital Markets, Corporate Finance, Usul Fiqh and Qawaid Fiqhiyyah, Islamic Law of Contracts and Fiqh Muamalat. 

Completed my final course just two weeks ago. For Inceif, there are two PhD tracks that a student can embark on, PhD by Research or PhD by Coursework and Dissertation. Both tracks require students to sit for a number of courses. My PhD is the one by coursework and dissertation. We are required to sit for at least 13 courses aside from our PhD research. Alhamdulillah I've completed my final two courses this semester. So starting from next semester, I can simply focus on my research. 

Religion Wise:

Since last year, I've tried to make it a point that any improvements that I make for my career/ profession, I should at the same time improve in my religious knowledge as well. With that in mind, I've enrolled myself as a student at Al-Maghrib Institute and this year I've managed to attend three of their courses. Alhamdulillah I've managed to pass their exams as well.

The first course that I attended this year was the Fiqh of Chillin': Entertainment and Recreation in Islam by Shaykh Saad Tasleem.

The second course which I attended in Singapore was Deception: Study of Shaytaan, also by Shaykh Saad Tasleem.

The third course which I attended in October was Lost in Translation: The Art of Contemplating the Quran by Shaykh Ahsan Hanif. All of Al-Maghrib's courses are amazing, but this one is among my favourite.

Finished reading Yasmin Mogahed's book, Reclaim Your Heart and Women Around the Messenger by Muhammad 'Ali Qutb.

Finished reading a book by Fazlur Rahman entitled Major Themes of the Qur'an. Not an easy read, but it does give some pretty good insight on the Qur'an. 

All in all I would have to say it's been quite a productive year. I can't believe I was able to complete all those things but then again, life is pretty amazing, if you really bother to sit down and just make a list of what's important to you. Looking forward to an exciting year ahead, and I do think (from the looks of it) that 2016 might just be one of my most challenging year ever (I know we haven't even started the first day of 2016 yet but I do think it's going to be quite tough for me as I only have 8 more months to go to complete my research before I have to report duty back to my institution).

But then again, it's only with life's challenges that we grow as a person and one thing that I always keep close to my heart is that, "Allah tests those whom He loves." May Allah's love increase for me (and you too), Ameen. 

Happy New Year, everyone!

xoxo Mrs Fashionista

Fashionista's Travels: Cameron Highlands

A few days ago we took advantage of the Islamic new year public holiday and took off on a roadtrip to Cameron Highlands. A couple of my friends since then have asked me for details of the trip so I thought I might as well make a blogpost out of it. So here's a photoblog of my trip:

Cameron Highlands is about 4 hours drive from Kuala Lumpur, and essentially there are two routes getting there, either from Tapah (which is closer) or Simpang Pulai (which is about almost 100 km further than Tapah). We decided to take Simpang Pulai as I've read that the roads are better and less winded. I'm glad I took Simpang Pulai rather than Tapah because I did enjoy the road and the scenery along the road as well. If you're planning on a road trip, here's some info on both routes, click [here].

The road was slightly winded, but it was manageable, at least for me. I've driven on worst road conditions so this was okay.

As our check in time wasn't until 2.30pm, we decided to go to Rajuu Hill Strawberry Farm (located opposite the junction to Copthorne Hotel and embark on a strawberry picking adventure. 

There are plenty of strawberry farms in Cameron, so don't worry, you'll definitely be spoilt for choice. 

At Rajuu, they charge you RM30 per half kg and they'll provide you with a basket and two scissors. I definitely recommend the experience. It was so much fun!

There's a marker in the basket, so you'll definitely know when you reach half a kg.

We paid for our strawberries and requested for some whipped cream on top before digging in. They charged RM4 for the whipped cream. And yes, the strawberries did taste better with cream. 

Post checking in, we decided to go on an English-themed high tea at Ye Old Smokehouse (located at Tanah Rata) as we've heard that the scones over there is totally delicious. 

For RM45 per person, the high tea consisted of tea, a couple of salmon sandwiches, a scone and a slice of fruitcake along with clotted cream and strawberry jam. However, the fruitcake contained alcohol so we opted for another scone in exchange for the fruitcake. I must say, this is the best scone I've ever tasted. Soft, warm and buttery, it was absolutely delicious.

The compound.

The compound.

Ye Old Smokehouse. Lovely place, beautiful and well-kept garden and absolutely love the scones. The scones were the highlight of my trip. Perfect place for honeymooners I must say. For more info, their Facebook page is [here] and website [here].

Sunset. The view from our hotel room at Copthorne. Obviously there's a lot of construction activities happening in Cameron so in regards to the view from your room, you could either get a view of the strawberry farms which are scattered in Cameron or a view of an empty land which is currently under construction.

Dawn in Cameron. Fog is rising up from the earth. Subhanallah.

Day 2. We decided to have tea at Sungei Palas Tea Estate which grows tea for Boh Tea. The Sungei Palas tea plantation is only about 3 km from Copthorne.

On the far right of this photo is the terrace where you'll be having tea.

However, to enjoy the view, you have to walk up this tiny path for about 200 meters.

Almost there.

And here we are.

We ordered some chicken pie, scones, strawberry tart and coconut tart for breakfast. We also tried their Sungei Palas tea as well. As you can see, the view is magnificent behind us. 

Tea bushes.

Tea bushes.

More tea bushes. This was the second highlight of my trip.

Azima took this photo from the car. I was trying to capture photos of the tea plantation but let me just say, my photos doesn't do them justice. You have to be there to experience it.

We left the tea plantation and checked out from the hotel at 1 pm. On the way back to Kuala Lumpur we decided to stop by Cameron Lavender Garden to check out the lavender flowers that they have there. The farm charges an RM6 entrance fee for adults and RM4 for children.

Japanese lavender (front) and at the far back are the actual lavender plants.

They have a wide array of other flowers as well.

Fresh flowers are available for picking at RM2 each or 6 for RM10.

A sea of flowers.

And more flowers.

And since we've never been to Kellie's Castle, we decided to do a little detour and check out the unfinished mansion. Kellie's Castle is about 10 km away from the Simpang Pulai junction.

Incomplete.

Corridor.

Grounds.

Skydeck for entertaining guests which also acts as a tennis court.

Unfinished. 

So here's my verdict. I loved Cameron Highlands. I don't mind going there again and having tea at the same places as well. In terms of accommodation, I would say that Copthorne was a good place to stay in, it was right at the top of the hill and it offers a magnificent view of Cameron Highlands. However, due to the various construction activities as well as a number of farms around Cameron, your hotel room would most probably show you a not-so-pleasant view. And because Cameron is hilly, the hills themselves would obscure the views of the tea plantations, forests and jungles. Most places such as the strawberry farm, cactus farm, bee farm etc are closed by 6 pm so there's not that many things to do after 6 pm. There are some stalls selling fresh vegetables near Copthorne (about 5-10 minutes walk from the hotel) but when we went at 8 pm, most stalls were already closed for the day.
We booked via Agoda, and there's mainly three places where you can stay, i.e. Ringlet, Tanah Rata and Brinchang. We stayed at Brinchang and we loved it. So I don't know how it would be like if you were to stay at Tanah Rata or Ringlet.

Hope this blog post helps you in making your plans to visit Cameron Highlands =).


xoxo Mrs Fashionista