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: Ming Tombs

Aside from the Great Wall of China, we actually were lucky to also have the opportunity to visit Ming shi san ling (or translated as the thirteen tombs of the Ming dynasty). I've never fancied visiting a burial site or a mausoleum before but there's a first for everything, right?

Here's me with the help of the English - Mandarin dictionary trying to converse with my new friend, whom I've met on the bus when we were on our way to the  Great Wall the day before. 

As with our trip to the Great Wall, in which we took the bus, this time we also took a bus to the Ming tombs, specifically, to Dingling. Dingling is located about 50km away from Beijing, so the bus trip took roughly about an hour or so. We took bus no 925 from Deshengmen (the bus terminal not far from Jishuitan station, the same bus terminal where we took bus no 919 to the Great Wall) to Dingling. The bus took us directly to the entrance of Dingling so there's no need to change buses as some of the guides on the web would tell you.

There are actually 13 tombs in all (out of all 16 emperors from the Ming dynasty). Unfortunately, only 3 tombs can be visited and out of all three, only Dingling (the one we visited) has been excavated. 

The entrance to Dingling. For those who are interested in visiting, the entrance fee is around RMB60 (roughly MYR30). 

And this is what they have written on the board that Raden is reading: 

Located at the eastern foot of the Dayu Mountains, Dingling is the joint burial tomb of the 13th Ming emperor Zhu Yi Jun and his two empresses. Zhu Yi Jun (1563 - 1620) whose reigning title was Wanli and posthumous title is Shenzong, ascended the throne at the age of 10 and ruled for 48 years until he died at the age of 58. It took six years to build Dingling, construction of which started in November 1584 and ended in June 1590. Dingling covers an area of 180,000 sq meters. 

The Underground Palace of Dingling is the only one of the Ming Tombs excavated so far. With the approval of the State Council, the trial excavation started in May 1956 and was finished one year later. With a total floor space of 1,195 square meters, the Underground Palace is composed of five stone chambers: the front chamber, the middle chamber, the rear chamber, and the left and right annex chambers. More than 3,000 pieces of cultural relics were unearthed from Dingling. In 1959, Dingling Museum was set up at the original site and was opened to the public. 

From the main entrance...

It's quite a long walk from the main entrance to the inner courtyard of Dingling.

Met a fellow Malaysian, Syed Danial who arrived at Qianmen Hostel (where we were staying) from Russia (he took the trans-siberia train) on our third day in Beijing. So we invited him to join our journey to Dingling and he agreed. We're friendly that way =). 

It's quite a journey up, but the view is magnificent.

Souvenir shops in the courtyard.

As can be seen, expect plenty of tourists if you plan to visit Dingling. And most of them are actually from mainland China. 

As usual, in his true Malaysian style, my brother can't resist acting against the advice displayed on the board.

I wasn't able to take photos of our entrance towards the Underground Palace because of the tight security, scanners (just like when you'd check into the departure lounge at the airport) and warnings of no photography allowed everywhere. Post entrance, we had to walk a few flights of stairs down to the burial chambers

The Underground Palace (as the mausoleum is called) is fitted with air-cond so it's actually quite cool and breezy. Money donated by tourist at Emperor Wanli's coffin.

This is the rear chamber. 

According to the board put up in the rear chamber, this is the main chamber of the Underground Palace. Inside the chamber there was a coffin bed on which the coffins of the emperor and empresses were placed (note: when the emperor died, the empresses were buried with him so that they could accompany him to the afterlife). The coffin of the emperor is in the middle and flanked by the empresses on both sides (note: there are two empresses). Jade materials were found between the coffins. The burial articles for the emperor and empresses were kept in 26 cases made of nanmu (a kind of hardwood) on the sides of each coffin. Unfortunately when the Underground Palace was discovered, part of the coffins and the burial articles had decayed. Therefore the burial articles on display are copies of the originals. 

Photos depicting the emperors of China. 

Plenty of tourists everywhere. The large red wooden box at the far right is the coffin for the emperor and the slightly smaller red wooden box next to it is the one containing the empress. What surprised me was finding out that the empress was buried alive with the emperor. I guess it's her duty to follow the emperor to the afterlife together.

Among the treasures (or their replicas) that were buried with the emperor.

As you can see, this place is huge! It was also cool in an eerie way and a bit drafty at certain parts of the chambers.

Even the doors are huge.

There is only one way in and one way out of the Underground Palace. After walking up a few flights of stairs, we finally reached the exit door. 

Did I mention how huge the doors are?

And this is the exit from the tomb. There's different pathways leading to the entrance and another pathway leading out of the exit. This means that once you have made the decision to enter the Underground Palace, there's no turning back. 

There was a board located not far from the exit which wrote:

It's here that a stone slab was found in September 1956 when the Underground Palace was excavated, on which the inscription reads: 16 zhang further and 3.5 zhang deep to the Diamond Wall (1 zhang equals 3.33 meters). Guided by the inscription on the stone slab the archeologists finally found the Diamond Wall - the entrance to the Underground Palace.

Finally made it outside. Yeay! For those who intend to visit Dingling, expect to spend a couple of hours inside the Underground Palace. The place is definitely huge, and it's quite a distance. Be forewarned that from the entrance of the Underground Palace, you have to walk a few flights of stairs down and to go out of the Palace you also need to walk a few flights of stairs up. That means, if you have problem walking, or your knees are a lil' bit shaky, this visit is definitely not recommended for you. As I mentioned before, there's no turning back once you've entered the mausoleum, you have to walk all the way to the exit. 

Dingling's museum right outside the main entrance of the mausoleum. We didn't get to visit this as it was quite late and the museum was already closed for the day.

For more information on Dingling, the Ming tombs and how to get there, you can click [here] and [here].

Hopefully there's more visits to China in the future for me. The country has a beautiful historical past and I hope to be able to experience more of this huge nation. To beautiful ancient history and more historical sites in the future. 

xoxo Mrs Fashionista