The Power of Malaysian Passports

November 21, 2014

Biometric card is just like our identity card (kad pengenalan) with picture and few details. It is used here as an alternative of passport. 

My Czech I.C.






I had a question from my international friend about the biometric card used here in Czech. She asked if having biometric card with long-term residence visa in Czech allowing us to travel to all EU countries without any problem. By the way, she is NOT a passport holder of any EU countries. 

Actually, I have no idea about it. I just thought that having visa only allow me to stay in Czech with no further questions being asked. Well, any Malaysian passport holders can be here without visa for 90 days per half year though. That's good :D But, when I'm flying home, I will present my biometric card along with passport every time I pass Czech customs. Exceed 3 months, right?

I'm trying to help her finding more information, I suddenly remember I read online about "How Powerful is The Malaysian Passport?" Ahaa, now I realised that Malaysia is one of the top 10 most powerful passports in the world! It is tied with Malta, at the ninth place, two rank behind South Korea. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_requirements_for_Malaysian_citizens


















What does it mean?
The power of the passports indicate how far you can travel in this world without visa. For example, Malaysian passport holders can travel to 163 countries without the need of visa :D Alhamdulillah.

Check here for more details :)

Picture credit to dailymail.co.uk


Or maybe you can check the wikipedia - visa requirements for Malaysian citizens. or change it to any citizens you want to know. 

For my friend's case, her passport does not allow her to travel to EU countries without visa. I hope she will be able to apply for every visas to each countries she would like to go. I think it's quite hard to do them here, but I'm sure she will get them done :)

Let's travel the world and reflect new experiences to be a better person :)
Have a nice weekend, people!

Assalamualaikum.
v Khaulah,
141121

Segmen Blogwalking by DJH

November 20, 2014

Assalamualaikum and hi! :D

I just started to be active again in this blogging world, so, I was thinking why not I join any blogwalking segments. :)

To be honest, this will be my first time and let's see how it goes. <3




This segment will end at 11.59 pm, 22nd November 2014

Lets join together and get to know each other by our writings :D





v Khaulah, 
141120

Trigames, Prague 2014

November 18, 2014

Worth taking part. :)

Our little family in Czech :)
Picture credit to Bridget Yong


Trigames ; is one of the way to gather all Malaysian students here in Czech. It used to be iGames, which means inter-varsity games between 3 localities where Malaysian students are studying. Prague, Hradec Kralove and Olomouc. But iGames was ended last year. Due to decreasing number of students in Czech (most students had graduated), the concept was changed to Trigames.

Trigames.
3 major games; competed by 3 teams - combination of all students in whole Czech. The names of the teams was very unique and medical :D

Anasarca :D or maybe AnaKorea AnaMuslim hehe


Anasarca (Yellow/Orange)Generalised edema - what is that? Basically, it occurs when fluid in vessels get into tissues and cause them to swell. 

Beri-beri (Red)It occurs to patients with deficiency of Vitamin B (thiamine). There are two types of beri beri. Wet type - it can affect the heart function leading to heart failure. While dry type - can affect nerves and lead to paralysis. 

Cirrhosis (Blue)Liver cirrhosis is the most common one in Czech, I guess. Hmm at least the most patient I've met. Basically, cirrhosis is the scaring of liver tissues after being injured - in Czech case - due to alcohol. 


Enough of the introduction. :D

I was in Anasarca team. We didn't win the whole games, but I guess, I got what I expected from this Trigames.

Unity.


Yes, eventhough I've been to all iGames for the past 3 years, I can still feel a lot of gaps between localities. I felt so awkward to have conversation with people I don't really close to. Hmm, maybe still at the time being. But, still, I managed to chat with people I've never greet before. I managed to know more students that I've never seen (or maybe I don't realised) before. 

Even we just had the time to plan our strategies on the day of games - it was just nice; not to have so much winning desire but more to be playful :D 

Oh, I forgot to mention which games were included in this Trigames.

Basketball
Futsal
Volleyball.

Among these three, I only have confident with volleyball. It is not that I am an expert in it. But, I love volleyball so much and I have some knowledge about the rules and tricks. Hihi :)

I did participate in basketball though. Just mentioning again, I already know I don't really like games with many body contact, so I found it hard to play basketball with so many rough moves and attacks from the opponents. And yet, it was the one which cause me to sweat a lot. Haha. Great! No need to do work-out that day. 

Most of times, we just play other games too - like dodgeball and renovated netball. :D 

With my lovely Kak Akieyyy

I love the feeling of being mixed with other localities. 
I love not to have the impression of 'bla bla Olomouc' or "bla bla bla Hradec or Prague" etc. :)

Thank you, Prague committee for having us as guests in this Trigames 2014. Till we meet again in any events soon.


v Khaulah,
141117

Gorgeous Autumn Walk ; Czech

November 14, 2014


Autumn; I guess it is on the way to close its stunning view with so many bright golden leaves scattered all over the ground. Most trees try to shred their leaves before the cold winter comes. Yeah, it is already quite cold now, especially when I cycle to school everyday. Gloves are important. When the cold, strong wind strike my face, it feels so refreshing - and painful T_T

Before it's over for another year, let me share with you some more amazing views of autumn forest here in Czech Republic.  :D

nemophilist-girl.tumblr.com


This is actually Cesky Raj; again. But, this time, I walked in another part of Cesky Raj. And the view here is just different that previous one. :) Check here.

I was there with many new friends! It was actually a trip planned by my juniors, in which they have same interest as me :D And along the way, I managed to help sometime with the navigation as I just learnt about dealing with routes. :) Yeah, girls still can read map, yeay! 

By the way, they are from Poland, India, Libya, Czech, Greece, Cyprus etc. Since most of us are international students, I'm excited to see how non-Czech deal with this hiking-walking thing. And I'm amazed that they love to take pictures too (same like me T_T). 


Piotr, Masha, Pawel, Rishika, Magda, Syafikah, Andria, Basma, Ela, Hanis


It was already late-autumn, in which most trees are leave-less. Haha, I'm not sure if it is a right word, but I just want to say there were less leaves still hanging on the trees.  



It was a lovely walk. <3

I met many people walking with us, and most of them were elderly T_T Just imagine our grandparents walk along the road beside a lake, holding hands, keep themselves next to each other. It was beautiful! 

I also met my Anatomy final-exam examiner! :D Haha, it's awkward for me but, it still feel nice to see him with his lovely wife and 2 shy twins; outside the school time. Final exam here are majority done orally, so, imagine yourself sit in front of your lecturers, answering all those questions. And they can ask you so many things and you don't have the chance to skip any questions or maybe just say, 'I don't know but maybe you can tell me'. :p

I've been joining last year autumn trip with him and other Czech students actually. :)

Apple trees
Going to suburbs or villages or anywhere outside the skirt of towns, means you can have the chance to see or eat so many apples! The apple trees are all along the road and you can just pick it up and eat as long as you know the trees are not in somebody's gardens  :)


Czech is full with castles. Here is another one - a preserved gothic castle; Hrad Kost. It was closed during our visit as they will not be opened starting November till March. 

Basically, most buildings in Europe are based on Gothic architecture. It was a style that come from 12th - 16th century. You can check more about it in Wikipedia; I'm not able to put them into simple words. :) 


p/s If you are travelling to Europe, Czech should be considered to be on your list, okay. Most of times, its beauty is indescribable. <3




Set It Free

November 9, 2014

Have you been in the feeling of regret? Like after doing something, you regret doing it. Especially something bad and even harmful to yourself or maybe somebody else. 

It is a yes for me.



Honestly, there were so many things I wish I didn't do. So many things I wish I put my thought more before I did it. So many speech that I wish I had not say. So many moments I wish I never had. 

In Malay, it is called 'Kalau lah'. That word 'IF'. T_T


I had come across this hadith and tried to do some self-reflection. 

Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying:
A strong believer is better and is more lovable to Allah than a weak believer, and there is good in everyone, (but) cherish that which gives you benefit (in the Hereafter) and seek help from Allah and do not lose heart, and if anything (in the form of trouble) comes to you, don't say: If I had not done that, it would not have happened so and so, but say: Allah did that what He had ordained to do and your" if" opens the (gate) for the Satan.



Sometimes, the things which had happened in the past do not allow us to move on.They make us feel so sad and keep on staying in the sad condition without even try to escape from it towards something better. Like, 'I can't let it go, I can't move on. It keeps lingering in my mind'.

And as a Muslim, it is not the good attitude to Allah who had destined everything for us. We are not being grateful with He had given to us.

It's the whisper in your ear saying 'set it free' - Matthew West

Now, it is the time to set it free. Erase all the thought that I've done sins or I'm not a good person. Turn back to Allah. Repent all the sins and try the best not to do it again. 

Allah is the most Merciful. Have you read or listen to the story of somebody doing sins and then repent with all his heart but still doing the sin again then repeat again and again. Allah still forgive him. If we come to Him with repentance, He will forgive us! You can listen to that story in the video below. :)




Still remember the concept of tawbah (Taubat) that we have learned in school before?

1. Recognise our sins & mistakes
2. Feel ashamed to Allah as we have violated His trust
3. Promise yourself to never repeat the mistake

Believe in Allah and pray hard that He will make things right for us. Depend on Him in whatever we do.
Indeed, Allah loves those who are constantly repentant and loves those who purify themselves. - Al-Baqarah 2:222

Be grateful with what had happened. Everything that is destined is not coincidence, even when we meet our long-lost school friend out of nowhere in the supermarket - that is not coincidence. It is planned for us to meet each other.

Believe that everything happens with reason/s. In that way, we will not blame ourselves so hard and will have open hearts and minds to accept things. Keep on praying, never stop.































I found this WikiHow link very useful for us. :) Read it, guys.

http://www.wikihow.com/Ask-Allah-for-Forgiveness

Till then,
Assalamualaikum.
v Khaulah,
141109



Road Trip ; Pruhonice Park, Prague, Czech

November 1, 2014

I've been spending my weekend wisely by exploring Czech :) And usually, they were by train, by bus, by bike or on foot. And this time, it would be a road trip! Wohooo. I had my international license done when I was home last summer, so, let's make full use of it.



Last weekend, my friends and I went to a place listed as UNESCO World Heritage Site, located in Prague. It is Pruhonice Park and Castle; reachable by public transport from center of Prague (15km southeast of Prague). Take buses no. 363 and 385 metro line C 'Opatov' to the busstop “Průhonice”. And if by car, it is not that hard to reach there (just use GPS. hihi).

Basically, Pruhonice consists of a castle surrounded by natural park; filled with grassy open spaces colored by trees, streams, ponds, waterfalls, look-out tower. Since the current owner of Pruhonice is the Institute of Botany; you can expect hundreds of local and exotic plants. :D




The water was not so clean that time T___T


The area is very large - approximately 250 hectares. So, they already plan few routes for visitors. Before you can enter the park, you need to pay for entrance ticket - 30kc (student price). Then, you can take the pamphlet from the office, in this case you can choose any routes that suit you.



There are 3 routes - based on length and estimated duration of time.

1. BLUE - Basic Tour Route; 1.5- 2 hours; 2.5 km
2. YELLOW - Main Tour Route; 3 - 4 hours; 5 km
3. RED - Viewpoint Tour Route; 5 - 6 hours; 10 km

Since we were looking for not-so-long-yet-not-so-short route, we decided to follow the yellow one. The marks were quite confusing for me, as sometimes I don't really know where was I based on the map. :p Maybe that's my weakness. :)

Well, since I am trying to promote people about the beauty of Czech (actually to promote students here to explore Czech. hihihi), I must say that this place is also a must; especially in autumn and spring. We went there in late autumn, just imagine, the view of what we saw during our tour was slightly different with the previous week. :D


Aha, by the way, I'm pretty sure most people with smartphone have Instagram right? And we use hash tags to classify our uploaded photos to few categories. For me, hash tags are not just for promoting or make it easier for people to like the photos. But, we can also use hash tags to have a view of how the place we are aiming to go looks like in few previous days :) 

Late autumn - means it's getting colder. Yeap, it was, I can no more take off the trench coat. I even prepared a pair of gloves, in case of getting numb fingers. 

Before going back to Hradec Kralove, we stopped at SAPA which is quite close to Pruhonice. I can say this place is full of Vietnamese markets - with lots of buildings for different stuffs. Like the one above, Tamda Foods is the supermarket for groceries. Of course, it is loved by Malaysians to buy things in bulk - like the prawns, squids, fish, soy milk etc at cheaper prices. Aha, not to forget, the important cili padi and lemongrass :D They are very expensive in the center of Prague and also in HK itself.

The RnR at the highway :)


There are no tolls at the highway! Wohooo, that's great! But, I don't understand why there are no lights along the road. Like seriously, when you drive at night, you are solely depending on your car's front lamps for lights. And even, you can use high beam if there are no cars in front of you (I saw cars in front of me doing it). I guess, cars on the other side of road are not really affected with that high beam as there are bushes in between the roads. 





One thing I learnt throughout the journey, is about the GPS. GPS functions well to show us the way, right? And sometimes, different GPS will suggest different routes eventhough the destination is just the same. Maybe what differs them is the distance.

That's similar to our life. People may have different lifestyle, ways of life. But, we need to remember that we are heading to the same direction - Akhirah. We might have lots of obstacles on our way or maybe others may not have the same resistances. But be grateful that Allah gives us challenges that are within our limits. :)

Keep on moving forward, and make sure to recalculate our life routes when we find ourselves lost along the way to prepare ourselves to meet Allah. :)

InsyaAllah,
wAllahualam. <3


v Khaulah,
141031

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