Travel Halal: Shanghai

This is my story of our Shanghai trip...

First of all, it is so different that the Shanghai you've watched in Shanghai Noon (hahaha). Shanghai today is very moving forward, and sophisticated.

You can ride the fastest bullet train in the world, from Pudong Airport to Shnaghai City. The train is called Maglev Train. We didnt get to ride on it though. We did get the chance to ride on the second fastest in China, the bullet train which took us from Shanghai to Shaoxing.

Transport:
We had a local guide, so basically, transportation was included in the price as well. We were given a bus for us 12 people. Talk about the spaces and empty seats!
I think it would not be a trouble to catch public transportation as there were many and probably more efficient than ours! (lol)
We decided to hire ground agent to take us around because we have small children with us. We didnt want to hassle of getting caught in the cold of winter season and communication issues that could make it worse. Unless of course, it was just us adults.
If it was just us, I would have taken the Hop-On Hop-off bus for sight seeing of Shanghai city.

Food:
It is not difficult to find Halal food in Shanghai. You will easily find Lazhou Noodle restaurants. Lanzhou noodle is also known as mee tarik here in Malaysia. They have the Halal, green coloured sign outside their shop. It is really easy to see. Lanzhou noodle is a must. It is simply yummy.
Comfy food in the winter.
Our agent took us to a halal restaurant which served chinese food. but I cant recall the name. That place was quite pricey.
For other basic food, you can eat the bread and try different drinks available. I love their Matcha, and E100 drinks (lemon or calamari juice). You can purchase from their mart like FamilyMart, Lawson,

Hotel:
We stayed in apartment when in Shanghai. International Service Apartment. 
sorry, but i dont recommend this if you have small children, strollers, and big heavy luggage.
I booked this because we planned to cook our meals. and the only decent apartment I could find was this.
The room was okay, with 2 queens. It could fit 4 adults and 2 children. It has a microwave, washing machine, stove, kettle. You can cook there.
But what i hate is that the apartment was only a part of the tall building. meaning, the whole building was not the apartment. it shared with other businesses as well. to go to the building, you need to ride on an escalator. this escalator only functions at 730am to 8pm.
When we reached there at 3am, we had to carry our big heavy luggage up the stairs. it was so tiring for all of us. we have 4 strollers with kids on them to carry! imagine our tiredness!

Places worth visitng:
Our agent took us to few interesting places. We didnt cover much cause the day was shorter than night. We went to the museum (which was boring), The Shanghai Financial Tower, Shopping in Chingpu Outlet which houses branded items at reduced price. I got myslef a Furla, Hub got himself a Braun Buffel and Mak got herself a Bally. The price was much cheaper from Malaysia, and you can entitle for tax refund up to 11%.

Souvenirs shopping can be done in Bazaar outside the Wu han garden.

at the bazaar outside Wu Han Garden

But make sure you bargain kaw kaw. hahahha. There was also a halal turkish food in the bazaar. Dont forget to grab a bite!
We went for a river cruise along the Huangpu River. You can see sophisticated Shanghai better at night.

on the river cruise along Huangpu river

I find that Shanghai, being an international as it claims, is not a children or baby friendly place. It was hard to maneuver strollers in the city. They have lots of stairs but hard to see the tracks for wheelchairs or strollers. We ended up carrying the strollers (with out kids in it) many times and that exhausted us.
The night we went for the river cruise felt like a night in Amazing Race. We were literally running up and down the stairs, carrying strollers and the kids, just to catch the boat. (cause we were late),
and our body is still aching till now.

walking in the city to the river cruise

Tips for parents with small children:
bring light strollers. or no strollers at all.
in fact, put on your baby carrier. find one that can carry up to 20kg perhaps? hahahah


Overall, winter in Shanghai is really really cold. I would love the city but the language barrier is killing us. and child unfriendliness makes it even difficult for us.

Nice place to go if you don't have small kids with you.

we'll be back once the three girls are big enough. hahhaaha


Thank you Shanghai.

Travel Halal: Disneyland Shanghai

Ni Hao! We just got back from a week holiday in Shanghai!

We went there with my mom, parents in law, sisters in law and her children. We were 12 altogether: 4 children, 1 baby and 7 adults. We booked out flights about a month before departure via AirAsia (what else?). December in Shanghai is winter time, so the weather was pretty cold with temperature ranging from 2-8C. That was really cold.

We bought a ground tour differently. Basically I was arranging the tentative, accommodation and guide. I found this tour guide from Mr Google: IslamiChina. They offer muslim friendly tour package across China, and also like ours, customized.

Our plan was to spend about 4 days in Shanghai and 3 days in Shaoxing. Initially Mom and I wanted to find cotton textile in Shaoxing, but that will be another story.

We reached Pudong airport around 1am. Our agent, Cici brought us to our Apartment in the city and our trip started off with Disneyland on the first day.  

I booked the apartment myself through Booking.com. I will write more on the apartment later in another post. In short: I dont't like it that much and I don't recommend it to family with small children.


                                    

Disneyland Shanghai recently opened its gate to all in June 2016. So basically it is still fresh from the oven. It is one of the cheapest Disneyland among others.

Entrance fee:

source: www.disneylandshanghai.com

It was about 59USD for adults, and children will be charged by heights. Amal, Amna and Sofeya (their cousin) entered for free and Ayra and Syahmi only 70% of adult's fee. We went on Friday so it was a non-peak day. The rate for weekends is different.

We spent about 10 hours in the theme park. Yet, I still it wasnt enough.

Preparations:

If you are going in Winter time, be sure to bring along you winter gears such as gloves, jackets, leg warmer, winter hat, blankets.
Drinking water is a must! The bottled water in Disneyland is very very costly.
Halal food is very hard to find, so please pack biscuits, and dry snacks. Bread and home-cooked meals are not allowed. Everybody will be checked and scanned before entering. They will throw any cooked meals if found. So dont waste your time preparing one. Just ensure you bring enough biscuits for the tummies. Milk is okay.
Eat a lot before going cause you will be using a lot of energy especially when you are bringing small children.
Wear good comfortable shoes cause you will be walking a lot! it takes 10 minutes to walk from the parking lot to the park. and the park itself is huge!
Strollers. Your children will not make it long on their own 2 feet. so it's either your back, or the stroller.

Activities:
Oh my there are many things to do! to ride on! we only managed to catch about 5 major attractions there: Carousel, Dumbo ride, Snow White Castle, Toy Story, Pirates of Carribean. My sisters in law managed to ride on the Tron. Hub and I wanted too but our kids were tired. So kesian nak tinggalkan with the atok and nenek.

My favorite ride is Pirates of Carribean. It was the most awesome ride I have ever been to! It was full of adventure. Even little Amal had fun in it. It was surprisingly suitable for all ages. I loved the 3D effects that felt so real and the boat ride made you feel like you were a part of the battle. Seriously, this is a must! that was our final ride before the fireworks. it was already dark (night time) so there was no queuing line at all. Our luck that we didnt have to wait at all. I want to share some picture we took but it was too dark. This is from google:

Source: Google

                               

Another highlight of the day was the firework. It was Amazing! Disney was being really generous with the fireworks. It was about 20 minutes and it was really spectacular. Like the one you see during new year. and to watch it in front your very own eyes just add that wow effect.
My kids enjoyed the Dumbo ride, and carousel very much. and of course the Parade. There were Elsa and Anna, Nemo, Winnie, Mulan, etc.

source: Google. It was exactly the same like in this picture!

I wanted to try more but our kids we really tired. I heard the Tron was awesome too.
The weather got really cold towards the evening. So it slowed them down. Nevertheless, it was really exciting and we had fun.
I think going in Summer can be even more tiring. So winter is okay. We didn't sweat and no heat rash etc.

Food:
Our agent told us that there was Halal food inside, but we could not find one. The area was so big that we just didnt have the energy to search through all.
We asked information counter, but they could not speak English at all. nor do they know what halal is. If you must go, please bring along a dictionary for translation purpose (cause we didn't have internet roaming)
However, if you step outside the park, (which is the Disneytown), there is one halal shop in the food court. The food court is called Food Republic.

source: disneylandshanghai.com

Food Republic is located at the back of Disneytown. Once you entered the front entrance, walk straight to the back of the food court, to the last shop on the left. The last shop was the only shop serving halal food. There is no Halal sign in Arabic. But they do have Halal Certificate in Chinese. I forgot to take a picture. but yeah, you can ask them.

After eating, you can always go back inside the Disneyland park. We didnt do that cause we forgot that we could do so. hahaha. I guess the excitement had taken over us. So we stayed in the park and starved. ahahahha. We are waffles and tawakal.

Praying:
Of course, as expected, there is no surau. The staffs in Information Counter (IC) was kind enough to let us use a room in IC to pray. So we managed to pray in peace, in warmth, and in clean place. Alhamdulillah.

Language:
Even though Disneyland is basically an international brand, everything is conducted in Chinese. The princesses were speaking in Chinese. Even Elsa can speak Chinese! The staffs there were helpful and friendly, but they could not understand English. We were using hand gestures to make them understand our concerns. We were like chicken and ducks. Our agent did not follow us inside, so that's why we had communication problem. But we survived, so all is good Alhamdulillah.

Facilities:
They have baby room, so no problem to change diapers, or even to hang out for some warmth.
They even have a nursing room where you can nurse your baby, or pump your milk.
The toilet is very clean and not that smelly. Thank god. But i do noticed some urine smell in some areas. It's either someone peed on the side, or it was to close to the toilets.



So. that's all about Disneyland Shanghai for muslims! I guess this pretty much covers the importants parts of trip to Disneyland Shanghai.

It is worth going, provided you stay until the end of the fireworks.


Ah we miss Disneyland.

Next, Disneyland Tokyo perhaps?

Travel with 3

It has been a hectic week and weekend! 

It started when Hub's granny died, and we went back to KT last week.

and that became our first long distance journey together all 5 of us. 

adhoc journey lagi tu.

We departed at about 2am, as soon as we got the news. 

Amal was kind of surprised to see yellow lights in the middle of the night. 

(the street lamps), so it took her some time to get settled and finally sleep.

I could not sleep soundly cos, well, I can hardly sleep whenever I am on long distance journey, especially by car. I needed to make sure Hub was not sleepy. Alhamdulilah, we arrived safely and managed to catch her funeral. I didnt know her well enough as she is really really old, but she is one of the nicest people i have ever known. such a gentle person. 

i know for sure Hub loves her so much and that she has big impact on his life..

I pray that her soul be blessed and Allah protects her from seksaan kubur.

Our trip to Terengganu was really short as Hub needed to work. We stayed there for a night and went back on Thursday. Me myself i had a lot to prepare. 

Lil' Tummy was opening a booth on the week after and we were planning on a Kuantan trip the days before. We followed Hub along for his working trip there. basically, I am all planned out. 

wait.

Lil' Tummy???

That's another story I yet to tell.

hehehehhe

Our trip to Kuantan was really tiring for me.

I had to take care all 3 girls at a time, from morning till evening. Amna was not feeling well and cranky all the time. crying, and wanting my attention all the time. 

#toomanyallthetime

but we did manage to pay a visit to one of my Bff's house there. finally!

We got lost on the way there cos the google map took us where it thinks I want to go. like i care about the ladang kelapa sawit!! i wanted to get in a panic mode, but considering i have 3 children in a car with me under my care, i stayed calm and pretended mommy knows the way. 

and surprisingly the girls were okay. Amal slept soundly in her carseat, and the rest were just well behaved. alhamdulillah. but of course i had to bribe them with my phone and 

they were entertained by the apps. ;)

it was really nice to be able to catch with my long long time friend. she has been busy so we always update each other via whatssap. but to pay a visit is just out of the context. too far, too little time, considering she's a busy doctor in ER.

and when we get the chance to meet and talk, that's what we do. talkkkkk.

even Amna was 'attentive' to our conversation!

The second day was all day in the room. bathing in the tub, watching tv, crying, and sleeping. 

and we got a surprise in the evening when Tok and Ki came to bring us to the beach. 

things grandparents do for their cucus eh?

they came all the way from KT. just to have picnic by the beach in Teluk Cempedak and to have dinner of Ana Ikan Bakar.

 I wish i can be that when Hub and I are older..u know, travelling as we wish. when we wish.

#aimingforearlyretirement

and i could say the highlight of the trip was.. Ana Ikan Bakar!

Oh my god. #droooooling

first of all, dah berkurun tak makan ikan bakar. I cant even remember when was last time I had it. 

secondly, sedap gilerrrrr. my friends suggested it and man, I am salivating just thinking of it.

hahahahaha.

but seriously, the ikan bakar petai is the one to go for. 

we had it for 2 nights in a row. 

trip with all us 5 was..crazy. hahaha

my butt hurt from not moving. i had to sit still with Amal on top of the pillow which was on top of me. Amal was crying cos she didnt feel good and she wanted me all to herself. unfortunately i cannot let go of Amal. thankfully Ayra is big enough to do her own things and be with Ayah, her fav person. 

the 3 hours journey felt sooo long. 

Amna had stomach ache but she didnt want to eat anything. it was so hard to make her eat. 

and she wanted to be carried almost all the time. she is not light. so I am not the one to carry her.

then there's the tantrum for not getting what she wants, there and then.

she was screaming all the way while we were having lunch in Megamall. too add salt to the wound, the meal was horrible. just plain horrible. that made the whole lunch and going back experience just..bad. i felt like a lady going cuckoo. 

thank god i did not go tru this alone. 

i dont think im ready for another long journey longer than 1 hour with 3 of them. 

i am tired beyond words. my brain is tired, my body is aching.

we just go to malls and zoo jela yer babies??

or better yet, just stay at home. 

Xoxo

Pre Birth Short Gateaway

One of our pre-birth rituals would be to go somewhere where we can relax and enjoy before Mommy pops out and sleepless pantang session comes in.

We went to Penang prior the 1st birth.

and we went to Andaman Langkawi prior to the 2nd birth.

For the 3rd one, we didnt go far. we stayed really really close.

Like, 15 minutes drive from home. 

We went to Holiday Inn Glenmarie.

Why on earth did we do that?

What happened to our so called long distance trip?

Well, Hub was really really busy. He could not take days off. and the only holiday we got was the public holiday, which was Chinese New Year at that time. and for us to travel out of KL during CNY is like asking me to forever sulk and asking me to turn into a monster throughout the trip. 

I dont deal with traffic jams well. I mean it. I will become irritated and moody and wanting to scream to everybody in the car. and for me to scream to my 2 daughters, who can be pretty handful during a long trip, will not be nice.

And I was about 33-34 weeks pregnant at that time.

Hence, the short vacay to Holiday Inn Glenmarie.

picture from Google

It was surprisingly a nice play to stay. 

Even though it was located in Glenmarie, it was however quite secluded from the business venues and all. There were not many people there (CNY, people go out of KL kan?) and very green. It was just next to the Glenmarie Golf and Country Club. So you can see green golf course everywhere. 

very peaceful indeed.

We didnt feel like we were in Shah Alam at all. 

The pool was quite okay.

Ayra and Amna enjoyed it so much. So did their father.

They haven't been to the pool for quite some time. 

That's why we wanted to be some where they can get their swimming skills on again.

It was lovely to see them having so much fun swimming. for hours. 

until kecut all fingers and toes!

Our Perth Adventure

i have been longing for a holiday. like an oversea kind of holiday. we have not traveled out of Malaysia last year and my butt is icthing to get out.haha

so i booked the flight and arrange for lodging to Perth. 

Mom wanted to follow and thank god she did. 

hahaha. i dont know how we would cope without her! 

xoxo

why i decided on Perth? 

well, it's relatively cheaper than europe. 

and my children could enjoy the animal experience, rather than shopping or historical places.

i havent been on a plane for quite some time and only

 Allah knows how troubled i was daysss before we embarked on this trip.

i prayed a lot. and tawakal. alhamdulillah, everything went well. 

so, the trip was basically on Animal theme. what else. hahaha

Day 1

we reached Perth at 6am. 

we rented a car went straight to Perth Zoo.

 we could not check in to rest yet so we decided to enjoy Perth Zoo first instead. 

Ayra was so excited. jumping here and there. she wanted to see Giraffe the most.

 (Malaysia pun ade nak..)

 

after enjoying the zoo, we got ourselves a halal meal from Perth City and went to our apartment. 

i chose City Stay Apartment which was kind of in town. 

right next to Watertown Brand Outlet, which is a shopping mall.

 it has free parking space for tenants and it's near to halal food (kebab). 

it was fully equipped with cooking utensils and stove.

 i like it a lot. really2 convenient. we made dinner each night so we could save more. ;)

we knocked ourselves our on the first night. hahaha. mind u, i could not sleep well at all in the plane. fear of flying. so basically i was more than 24 hours. flat like roti canai.

Day 2

we started our day with own breakfast making. then headed off to Swan Valley. Whiteman is located in Swan Valley. and what is in Whiteman PArk? the famous Caversham Park. 

i have been so excited to bring them here. i knew Ayra would enjoy it. 

they allow visitors to feed kangaroos, and touch koalas.. take picture with Wombats.. etc.

Ayra was really2 brave. she fed the kangaroos multiple times. she def gets the bravery part from Ayah. haaha meanwhile Amna, well, she's so me.hahaah

 

 

we spent about half a day there. then, we went to the train station, within the same park, to ride on on. Ayra has never been on one and oh my, she was sooo excited. 

while in Swan Valley, we dropped by House of Honey, Margaret Chocolate and Mondo Nougat. buying all the goodies for family and friends. i like the mondo nougat. yummyyyyyy

Day 3

as usual, breakfast inhouse. then went straight to Mandurah. took us about an hour's drive. 

Ayra wanted to see dolphins. so, okay, dolphins we would see.

we went on a cruise.. it took us around the canal to see luxury home in mandurah. wow. really amazing. so sophisticated and.. gempak. wish we could have one. sighhh

we were kind of heartbroken when we didnt see any dolphin at all on our cruise. i was arranging next visit to Rockingham in my head so Ayra could see the actual dolphin.

but Allah listened to our prayer.. on the very last minute of the cruise, we managed to see 4 dolphins swimming and jumping. oh my. very2 beautiful creature of Allah. they were very friendly and cuteeeee.

after arriving home from dolphins, we headed to the watertown mall. and shopped. we didnt expect Levis and Clarks could be so cheap comparing to Malaysia. 

Day 4 

Mom wanted to go to freemantle. this place is famous for its..market and shopping, etc.

we chopped for souvenirs and whatnot. Ayra has started to grow bored. hahaha

we stopped by the Maritime Museum to look around on the history of shipping and maritime in Australia. quite fun but i was tired already.

 

 

Day 5

early mornign rise to the airport to KL.

again, the anxiety. but Alhamdulillah.. we safely arrived..

i am still tired. there is no time difference but the tiredness of carrying Amna and sleepless on planes and walking around. but, alhamdulillah.. we enjoyed every bits of this trip.

(i prefer going on our own rather than using tour groups. i love the flexibility of time and places that we have. i like that we are not tied up to schedules and have our own sweet time. sure, u need to have a good plan ahead. but planning the trip and iteniary itself is exciting)

so..

where shall we go next?

our little gateaway- Andaman

ah well. i am still here, breathing. going into 28 weeks now. and i have been busy and super tired and plus,  my Samsung is not so efficient in sending out all the pictures ive taken to be uploaded in to the blog. so, i got frustrated and forget the blog.

but Hub was being generous, and he got Us, ehem, himself a brand new Mirrorless Interchangable Lens Camera, the Olympus PENS.

i am pretty satisfied with the gadget as it has a fast shutter and the picture is nice! well, up to my standard la. i am no pro in photography, so im not thatttt picky. as long as i look nice and no one looks like they have been painted with Oil on their faces, im good. =)

 

so, referring to my blog title, yes, finally i did have a little gateaway.

it's Langkawi!

weeehoooo. 

well, it's not really thrilling place, but i desperately need a relaxing holiday. away from all these business and stressful lives. (yeah right)

so, i planned for a short yet sweet holiday few days before Raya Haji. 

we decided to splurge a bit on a luxury hotel, Andaman. 

the hotel situated quite far from the airport and tourism places. it is kindof secluded, up on the hill, with its own private beach. but it is worth traveling for. after all the driving (rented car), we were welcome with beautiful scenery of flora and fauna (well, monkeys everywhere)

ayra was excited to in touch with the nature (yeah rite). she was excited looking at cows nearby the road, monkeys on the hotel stairs, birds chirping on the trees. excited in looking only of course. 

no touching wat-so-eva. 

ok, basically, we enjoyed our stay there. marvellous!

the hotel provides a library, a fitness centre, pool, private beach, restaurants (pricey), morning and night walks into the 'jungle', spa (very2 mahal), transportation, and smiley staffs. 

so, overall, i am a happy customer, along with Hub and ayra.

Ayra is more keen in playing in the pool rather than the beach. she is scared of the ombak. and the endless possibility of the sea. erk.. sounds like mommy. 

yes, i am scared of the sea. when we were small, and mom took us to the beach, i would scream for her not to get into the sea. cos i was afraid of sharks. yup. see, my imagination? or rather the effect of watching Jaws.

but, hey, anything is possible ok. u may say that the current is different yada yada that the sharks would not come to our shore, but for me, if Allah says, Kun fa ya kun. 

hell, yes, they might come. 

dont say i didnt tell u so!

so, ayra inherited my sifat.hahah. as much as i want her to be not afraid of the sea, i guess, the genes are so strong than my will. haha.

trying out the art function of the camera

so this is beach sand.. i wonder how it tastes like. (yes, she did put it into her mouth)

come ayah. lets take some water for my castle. mommy is too heavy to walk.

mommy has the talent huh.nice silhoutte

the sea.. endless possibilities..

ok smile. ok. the only picture that mommy actually looks cute and not fat, she decided to close her eyes.

oh no oh no ayah nooooooo

owh..this is a bliss..

so.. we just gonna watch the beach right

so this is my castle. or what's left to it.

the happy moment for her was when she is in the pool. 

she was so excited, u cud see her eyes smiling! it was a very very precious for me. felt like jumping into it together, but mommy would be too sexy for the men. hahaha.

so, as usual, mommy is the photographer of the day. and that explains why my picture is very much less than theirs. 

so this is me, lazying by the pool. with a baby inside. little B.

peace, mommy!

i just love her excitement

one, two three, jump!

another footie pic

we made it!

we enjoyed our stay there. but the food was too expensive that we needed to go out to dine. but it was great as well. we ate seafood everyday. stuffed ourselves with crabs and fish. man, i miss seafood. 

i need crabs.