Sunday, May 8, 2011

The Longest Journey

Today marked 10th day me in the country. I always wanted every single thing that happen while I’m here but I dint seem to be able to write it. Perhaps because there are too many details that I need to write and I end up not writing anything. I guess it’s normal, when you failed to write things that you wanted to write you end up not writing at all.

I got to write even though just few sentences, only then, I will get grip of my “words and finally the nonsense will revisit again.

Shall I start with the journey?

MIL passed away 11 hours before we departed from the international airport. .. at 8.00 am local time. I was still in the office packing things and getting ready for the long holiday. a friend called me to say Bon voyage to me and we had a chat. she conveyed her condolences to me..and i dint even know about it yet. she said that her husband just received the news. yes, our husbands are good friends and i was sure that news travel fast. Honey Star texted me an hour after that. I couldn’t imagine how sad he was at that time. i was shocked too. i didnt know what to say when i met him later.. i was wrong he looked calmer than i expect. I honestly adore his patience and courage. I dint see any single tears in his eyes. It's a great lost to us. i woulnt know how i would react if i was in his shoes. may Allah reward him for his sabr. may Allah grant Yammah with jannh. HoneyStar calmness convinced me that sadness shouldn’t be about tears only.

“When a person dies, his actions come to an end, except in one of three ways: A continuing act of charity, (or sadaqah), or a useful contribution to knowledge, or a righteous child who prays for him.” (Muslim, Abu Dawood, Al-Bukhari in “Al-Adab Al-Mufrad)...insyallah HoneyStar is the "child"

He went to fetch me from the office as usual and we went back to get ready for the long journey. My brother came and we had tea together. Honey Star even cracked some jokes. His mobile kept on ringing. Friends calling to convey condolences. i continued clearing the kitchen, making sure we dint forget to take out the rubbish.

We left our house at 8.00pm, stopping by to reload the petrol before picking his friend who’s going to be responsible taking care of the car and our apartment. We arrived at the airport, did check in and prayed isyak. His friend, Mustafa and wife were there too. So the men went to have drinks and me and the wife headed for some sandwiches. I was a bit hungry since the evening tea was just some leftovers I cooked on weekend.

It’s 11pm and time to go through the immigration. We took our time, walking slowly and waited by the depature gate. I was telling myself “it’s going to be a long journey”. 12 am our flight departed for Istanbul. 10 hours 30 minutes. 30 minutes more than my journey down under ages ago. so this is my longest journey by plane. First, I was planning to just sleep through out the hours. I was wrong. I could only sleep for 5 hours. Of course it’s uncomfortable squeezing ourselves in economy class but Alhamdulillah we could afford it and the most important is to be with the family.

The entertainment system offer a variety but I ended up spending my time flipping the channel with no interst of finishing even a movie. I tried to read my novel, unfortunately was too tired to read. I forced myself to drink lots of water which made me going to the loo for many time. At least I could stretch my legs.

Finally, after the longggg daunting hours, we arried in Attartuk airport. The temperature was 11 celcius. Great. I had my cotton dress only. It such a relief that we spent 4 hours in the terminal only. The terminal was crowded, perhaps because it’s not as big as KLIA and many flights land here. Lots of tourists all different nationalities.

We rushed to get our connecting flight boarding pass and had our fajr prayer. Then we just lingered around the terminal. HoneyStar decided to change some euro to Lira. He went to buy some food so We had some pastry and mineral water. Surprised to know that after converting to RM. We spent almost RM40 for two bottles of mineral water and a piece of local pastry which had a weird taste.

I was searching for the camera and got panic when I couldn’t find it. I started to grumble. Yeah, what’s the point of having holiday without taking photos for memory. Honeystart calmed me and helped me searching for it in our notebook’s bag. Alhamdulillah, it’s there. I was grumbling for nothing, poor Honeystar had to deal with it. Sorry, silly silly me

The next stop was the duty-free shop. Wow, they have lots of Turkish delight! I never imagine myself eating a “real” Turkish delight in TURKEY…I repeat, in TURKEY. They had tester for every single type. So I had my time testing it..well not too much since we bought one box only for the family. Kindda hesitate to eat more. Insyallah we’ll buy more on the way back to Malaysia since we are stopping by for 3 days in Instanbul.

Finally, the flight to Algiers departed from Atarturk aiport. It was another 4 hours journey. The Turkish Airline was quite empty, so we the row of 4 seats to ourselves. The lunch served was good, no more spicy food. Again, I couldn’t made up my mind in choosing what to watch and end up watching bits and pieces. I had a short nap but was a bit restless. The time difference and I sighed..jet lag had begun.

Ooo what a long wayyyy i had.

3 comments:

  1. "I always wanted every single thing that happen while I’m here but I dint seem to be able to write it. Perhaps because there are too many details that I need to write and I end up not writing anything. I guess it’s normal, when you failed to write things that you wanted to write you end up not writing at all.""

    always happen to me..:)) great journey

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  2. hahaha..i always have too many thoughts to write but always end up not writing anything :)

    it was a great journey indeed and Insyallah next year will be another one ;)

    ReplyDelete