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 Escapades: Skytrex Adventure

This morning we decided to do a little bit of skytrekking at Skytrex Adventure, Shah Alam. Skytrex is kind of an obstacle course park and there are three levels to choose from, Little Adventure for beginners, Big Thrill for intermediate level and Extreme Challenge for the advanced level. I initially wanted to try out their Little Adventure as I wasn't sure of my ability and stamina. However, some of our friends had been there a few weeks ago and commented that Little Adventure was too easy and would most probably be better suited for kids rather than adults. Thus, we decided to take on the big guns and opted for the advanced level i.e. Extreme Challenge.

Me, Azima and Tazmeen, post Extreme Challenge. I am surprised we survived! 

Skytrex is located within Taman Botani Negara, Shah Alam, and getting there was not difficult. When you get there, there's a parking fee of about RM2 (or RM3 if I'm not mistaken) and park conservation fees of RM3 per person. These fees are not included in your Skytrex tickets. Once you have parked, the Skytrex pickup truck will then shuttle you from Taman Botani's carpark to their centre (which is about 5 minutes drive away). 

We chose the 8.30 am session because on weekdays there is only one session available for Extreme Challenge. For each session, there's a maximum limit of 25 participants per session and according to their instructors, they would try to ensure that there's an instructor per every 5 person on this track. For our session, there were roughly about 15 people and I could see there were about 3 instructors at different checkpoints. 

Tazmeen, Azima and me right before we went on our training circuit. 

First, we were given a briefing at the registration counter, and we bought disposable gloves (RM5 each), rented a medium sized locker (RM3 with RM10 deposit) and rented a bottle carrier so that we're able to bring our bottle on the course (RM2 with RM10 deposit) and were told to go to the loo before we go on the course. This is because, there's no toilet while you're on the obstacle course and the obstacle course itself would most probably take about 3 hours, thus, it makes sense to go and empty your bladder before you go on your way. 

Then we were given our harness (which the staff kindly helped us to put them on and tighten them as well) and then went off to the next briefing before starting our obstacle course. There's also a short training circuit which we needed to complete and this is where the instructors taught us how to use the clickit and pulley which we will be using. The training circuit consists of three activities, climbing up the rope ladder, traversing from tree to tree and the flying fox.

Here are some photos of the activities that we did for the Extreme Challenge:

Climb up the rope ladder. 

There are four rope ladders in all, first is during the training session, the second one is right after the flying fox from the training circuit, the third one is right halfway the obstacle course and the last one (which is climbing down), is almost towards the end of the obstacle course. I find the rope ladder to be quite difficult as the rope sways a little when you're trying go up the ladder, and the height can really get to you (I experienced a slight acrophobia sensation while climbing up) and because of the harness that you are wearing, let's just say that it's not that easy to find your footing.

Flying fox.

The flying fox is definitely one of the best parts of this obstacle. There are about four or five flying foxes that you will be on, the first one is from the training circuit, the second one is right at the beginning of the course, i.e. the second activity right after climbing the rope ladder, the remaining three is in the middle of the course. I was quite apprehensive at first because but let me just say that from my recent experience, the equipments at Skytrex are well taken care of and I find them to be very secure and safe for users and climbers alike. 

Some of the obstacles include walking inside a giant net bridge.

This activity is not that difficult for me. However, the rope shifts as you move (as your weight on the rope shifts, the rope will readjust itself to distribute the weight) so tread slowly and take small steps. 

Pipe planks.

This is among the toughest activity, in my opinion. If I'm not mistaken there's only one pipe plank activity and even then, it's quite a challenge to complete this activity. You need to sway the planks slightly so that you can move your feet to the plank in front of you while at the same time maintain your balance, have a firm grip on the ropes and also maintain a steady balance so that you do not tip the planks too much. Did I mention that the planks are of uneven size (there are small and large planks) and unevenly stacked (i.e. some are placed slightly below the others).

Traversing via rope. 

This activity was also not that difficult. If I am not mistaken, there are two or three of these throughout the course. The only difficulty is that after a while (especially halfway through the obstacle course), your energy levels have gone down and your arms get a bit tired of being held up over your head. 

V Ropes.

This is also one of the toughest activities to complete for me. There are two of the V Ropes that you need to complete. You need to swing the rope slightly so that you can reach the rope in front of you (i.e. catch hold of it using your feet) and then move forward. I felt like one of those circus trainers on this one. 

Climbing down the rope ladder. 

This was the final rope ladder *phew*. The only difficulty here is that it's quite a distance down and you have to be careful in making sure of your footing (because it's not easy to see where to put your feet) but overall activity was quite okay for me as well. 

And we did it! Hurrah! 

Okay, truth be told, Extreme Challenge is not easy, so proceed with caution. And unfortunately I have never done the Big Thrill (the intermediate challenge) so I'm not able to comment on whether you should try the intermediate challenge first.

However, I do recommend for you to try it out. After all, YOLO! (that means You Only Live Once, by the way *duh*).

In terms of cost, the Extreme Challenge costs RM58 (inclusive of GST) but not inclusive of the additional costs (i.e. locker, bottle holder, and gloves) as mentioned previously. The gloves are especially useful for all the activities (without it I know my hands would have blisters by now) and if you already have a bottle with a strap, you may bring that if you like. If you'd like to know more on Skytrex, do head on to their website [here].

To many more adventures to come.


xoxo Mrs Fashionista