August 16th, Sunday
A Muslimah in Taiwan.
Alhamdulillah, I've been given the chance to leave my footprints and DNA in TAIWAN!
It was more like an 'adventure' to me and I wasn't too 'touristy', which was good.:D
So, I met Eunice (my friend) and Ian (Eunice's brother) in KLIA2 departure hall, on 8th August, in the morning. Since our flight bound for Taipei, Taiwan was scheduled at 5.45pm, we had plenty of time to do things and stuff before going to Taiwan. So we left our stuff (baggage) in two lockers at the Capsule Hotel, located at the transportation hub floor in KLIA2.
It was only RM15.00 for one locker for 6 hours. So we took the bus from KLIA2 to KL Sentral. The price for one ticket is only RM11.00
After about one hour, we've reached KL Sentral and went to Mid Valley Mall via KTM. The aim of stepping feet to this megamall was to get the best rate (recommended by one of my batch-mates, Muiz) of converting USD to NTD. It wasn't hard to find the money changer lot as there was a long queue just in front of this lot. Uhuh. A lot of people were queuing up to convert their money to another desired currency. So, I lined up as well. I had NTD4000 in exchange for RM505.00
After having lunch and visiting a pet shop, we went back to KLIA2.
(Google Image)
Things I've learnt.
Inside the tummy of AirAsia X aircraft, I sat on the right side, in between two females. On my right side was a teenage girl who I think a Malaysian studying in Taiwan. She's a pretty and stylish girl. I think she's younger than me, maybe by 2 or 3 years. By looking at her things like badges on her bag, her phone and accessories, I could tell she likes to collect cute stuffs. Uhuh. I'm an observer. Hehe! One thing about her that amazed me was her attitude towards time. While waiting for the aircraft to be filled with people, she used her laptop to do her work. Just before taking off, she put her laptop back inside her backpack and took out her notebook and pen and started to jot down something. When the 'put on seat belt' sign was switched off, she immediately took out her laptop again and started doing her work. After sometime, she stopped doing her work and started to watch a Korean movie. I thought it was a Korean movie because I think I've seen the actress in one of the Korean movies I've watched. About one hour before landing, she arranged back all her stuffs and took out a cute travel neck pillow - it has a pair of bunny ears, and tried to sleep. Few minutes before landing, she was busy with her phone, changing her sim card. Me, on the other side, just sat back and relaxed, observing her through the corner of my eyes. Haha! She inspired me. She reminded me on how we actually can do something, complete something, gain something, achieve something while everybody else is not even doing anything. She indirectly reminded me what's the value of time. Wasted money can be compensated but wasted time, we can never compensate with anything. Never. Thanks, you. :)
Instead of sleeping soundly during the 5-6 hour journey, I was busy chit-chatting with a lady on my left side. It was all started when we were asked to fill up the immigration form. She wanted to borrow my pen and asked me something which perplexed her while filling up the form. She was a Chinese, Malaysian Chinese. She was a mother of four children if I'm not mistaken. She spoke better Malay than English. She talked a lot. She shared her experienced, her thoughts and her visions with me.
When she knew I was having a vacation with my Chinese friends, she said that it was good that a Malay girl is mingling with Chinese friends. She was surprised on my ability to understand Mandarin which was spoken by the stewardess. She told me that she's sending her children to a Malay school instead of Chinese school. She wanted her children to master all the three languages - Malay, English and Chinese. She wanted her children to have high ability in speaking Malay as she believes that it is important because it is the our National Language. Adding up to that, she wanted her children to mingle with others of different races. This inspired me. So, I've planned. When I have children later, I want them to be able to read, speak and write more than these three languages. In shaa Allah.
Besides her vision, she also shared her life and marriage experiences. She had a Muslim friend years ago. By the stories she told about that friend, I can conclude that she knew quite a tad about how a Muslim should live. She showed her concern on me of how can I get halal food in Taiwan as it was actually quite hard to obtain halal food in the street markets, which I already acknowledged..
It was quite funny when she accused her Muslim neighbors on something she hadn't quite understand. She thought they were not fasting during Ramadhan because almost every evening they were busy cooking in the kitchen. I told her that maybe they were busy preparing food to break the fast.
Then she added salt to it by saying, "But it was since afternoon." Being husnuzon (positive thought in Arabic), I explained to her that maybe they were busy cooking food to sell in the Ramadhan bazaar or that they were making Raya biscuits. She thought for a while then said, "Kalau puasa, boleh masak meh? Macam mana mau rasa itu?" Again, I had to explain to her that we can actually taste the food. There is a way to taste the food we are preparing without breaking our fast. She finally understood it. Alhamdulillah.
Indirectly, she also reminded me to thank Allah more for what I have and for what I've been able to do, such as travelling. She said I was lucky to be able to see some parts of the world at this very young age. Compared to her, she said, "Sudah tua baru mau jalan-jalan." I replied back by saying, "It's okay la. Belum terlambat lagi." Yup. As for me, as long as you have good health and time and enough money, it's never to late to travel.
She was also the one who told me that there was a typhoon, i believed called as Typhoon Soudelor slammed through Taiwan, on August 7th. Yup. Yesterday it was. To watch how powerful the typhoon was, you can click this link : http://edition.cnn.com/2015/08/07/asia/typhoon-soudelor/
So I've started to get worried. She told me that they have to cancel several plannings they've made.
We talked about marriage. She asked me when probably I'll get married. I said as soon as I've finished my studies because I don't want to delay this good thing further as I believe 23 to 25 are the 'golden ages' of females. It means that, it is the most suitable period for a woman to get married. In shaa Allah. But, I really do believe that God is the best of planner. So if you haven't married during this period of age, I believe those ages are not the best for you to get married.
When she heard my answer, she was quite taken aback. She said I shouldn't get married too soon. I have to at least work for a year or so, so that I can provide my parents well before thinking of building a family of my own. She was right in certain aspect. I thought of that too. I should be able to present something to my parents, serve them, please them well, and fulfill their wishes first before thinking of taking other new responsibilities. On second thought, I believe that I could fulfill and carry both responsibilities well at the same time. Hmm..
She also shared her experience during parturition. She said it was extremely painful. She kept on repeating the word 'sakit' for few times. I believe her. I really do. After hearing her story about giving birth, honestly, that gave me the creep. That was able to take few minutes from me to plant even more loves toward mama. So, I made some plans in mind. :)
Alhamdulillah, we've reached Taoyuan International Airport safely around 11.20pm.
HELLO, TAIWAN! :D
Instead of sleeping soundly during the 5-6 hour journey, I was busy chit-chatting with a lady on my left side. It was all started when we were asked to fill up the immigration form. She wanted to borrow my pen and asked me something which perplexed her while filling up the form. She was a Chinese, Malaysian Chinese. She was a mother of four children if I'm not mistaken. She spoke better Malay than English. She talked a lot. She shared her experienced, her thoughts and her visions with me.
When she knew I was having a vacation with my Chinese friends, she said that it was good that a Malay girl is mingling with Chinese friends. She was surprised on my ability to understand Mandarin which was spoken by the stewardess. She told me that she's sending her children to a Malay school instead of Chinese school. She wanted her children to master all the three languages - Malay, English and Chinese. She wanted her children to have high ability in speaking Malay as she believes that it is important because it is the our National Language. Adding up to that, she wanted her children to mingle with others of different races. This inspired me. So, I've planned. When I have children later, I want them to be able to read, speak and write more than these three languages. In shaa Allah.
Besides her vision, she also shared her life and marriage experiences. She had a Muslim friend years ago. By the stories she told about that friend, I can conclude that she knew quite a tad about how a Muslim should live. She showed her concern on me of how can I get halal food in Taiwan as it was actually quite hard to obtain halal food in the street markets, which I already acknowledged..
It was quite funny when she accused her Muslim neighbors on something she hadn't quite understand. She thought they were not fasting during Ramadhan because almost every evening they were busy cooking in the kitchen. I told her that maybe they were busy preparing food to break the fast.
Then she added salt to it by saying, "But it was since afternoon." Being husnuzon (positive thought in Arabic), I explained to her that maybe they were busy cooking food to sell in the Ramadhan bazaar or that they were making Raya biscuits. She thought for a while then said, "Kalau puasa, boleh masak meh? Macam mana mau rasa itu?" Again, I had to explain to her that we can actually taste the food. There is a way to taste the food we are preparing without breaking our fast. She finally understood it. Alhamdulillah.
Indirectly, she also reminded me to thank Allah more for what I have and for what I've been able to do, such as travelling. She said I was lucky to be able to see some parts of the world at this very young age. Compared to her, she said, "Sudah tua baru mau jalan-jalan." I replied back by saying, "It's okay la. Belum terlambat lagi." Yup. As for me, as long as you have good health and time and enough money, it's never to late to travel.
She was also the one who told me that there was a typhoon, i believed called as Typhoon Soudelor slammed through Taiwan, on August 7th. Yup. Yesterday it was. To watch how powerful the typhoon was, you can click this link : http://edition.cnn.com/2015/08/07/asia/typhoon-soudelor/
So I've started to get worried. She told me that they have to cancel several plannings they've made.
We talked about marriage. She asked me when probably I'll get married. I said as soon as I've finished my studies because I don't want to delay this good thing further as I believe 23 to 25 are the 'golden ages' of females. It means that, it is the most suitable period for a woman to get married. In shaa Allah. But, I really do believe that God is the best of planner. So if you haven't married during this period of age, I believe those ages are not the best for you to get married.
When she heard my answer, she was quite taken aback. She said I shouldn't get married too soon. I have to at least work for a year or so, so that I can provide my parents well before thinking of building a family of my own. She was right in certain aspect. I thought of that too. I should be able to present something to my parents, serve them, please them well, and fulfill their wishes first before thinking of taking other new responsibilities. On second thought, I believe that I could fulfill and carry both responsibilities well at the same time. Hmm..
She also shared her experience during parturition. She said it was extremely painful. She kept on repeating the word 'sakit' for few times. I believe her. I really do. After hearing her story about giving birth, honestly, that gave me the creep. That was able to take few minutes from me to plant even more loves toward mama. So, I made some plans in mind. :)
Alhamdulillah, we've reached Taoyuan International Airport safely around 11.20pm.
HELLO, TAIWAN! :D