Salaam.

After much consideration, and after what has befall our family recently, I have decided to just appreciate every single thing in this life. Not that I'm saying I haven't or I didn't or I don't use to before, it's just that... maybe before this, I was a bit more cautious about important things in life that I refuse to even discuss about in detail with my readers. I'm not sure where I'm going with this... but here goes.

Yes, I miss her so very much. Today, my sister sent me voice clips of her singing a few songs and I just broke down with tears upon hearing her sweet voice, knowing that's it, it's just memories now - nothing more than that... I cried again today. I cried because I miss her so much... and I cried because I remember how manja she is with us. Oh how I wish I could hug someone and cry my eyes out.

These past few days have been... difficult for me. I can't even imagine how hard it must be for the rest of my family back in Brunei. It's one thing I'm 'not there' to witness everything, it's another thing, knowing me, that I'd be one heck of an emotional crybaby having to accept the fact that she's really gone. To be honest, I'm scared of that day, when I return home one day and finally be able to believe it and take it to my heart that she's really gone. Right now, I don't see it, because I'm not there, and because she's not around as well, so I might feel 'fine' about it, for now... but... I know it won't last long...

sigh.

Ok. I get it. A lot of random stuff. I'm just pouring my sadness out. I don't care who reads it.

*happy thoughts*

Ok, here goes...

For some personal reasons, I have decided to keep my recent trip a secret. When I say 'trip', I really mean 'being in an airplane going to another country' term.

About two weeks ago, I was planning my individual trip to - Tehran, Iran.

TEHRAN??? BUT WHY TEHRAN??

Yes, you may ask that... I get that a lot from those I confided in prior to my departure.

But I surely will not share it with you here. My apologies.

Enough said that I just needed a break away from Leeds, away from UK, away from everybody. No offense, I haven't been hurt, or betrayed or anything along the lines. I just needed to get 'out'.

And after a carefully well-planned journey, I set off from Manchester on Thursday. Only a few people knew about this trip and they all swore the secrecy, Alhamdulillah everyone complied. Thanks, you guys!

Anyways, the trip was supposed to be from Manchester to Doha, Qatar and from Doha, straight to Tehran. BUT, since our plane got delayed from Manchester, as we arrived in Doha, the plane we were supposed to be on, well, that plane left us cos we were late. You can imagine me smiling happily under stress. Great ~ being alone, in a strange place I've never been before and I'm stuck.

Luckily, I wasn't alone. At Doha, I met three other Iranians who were on their way to Tehran as well. Yippie. All of them are male, above the age of 40 and are currently working in the UK. One is a Professor in Maths in Manchester (Aiman, thought you might be interested in this guy as I have mentioned about your interest in Maths and Physics and he said to keep in touch), one is an MBA graduate with a consultant company of his own, and one is an architect based in somewhere between York and Darlington.

And all of them asked me the same question "Are you in Tehran for business?"

When I said "Nope, for holiday. A vacation"

All of them said "But.. why? Why Tehran?"

Aha!! Good question. And of course I was all prepared for the answer. =)

Anyways, at Doha, we were arranged to get on a flight going to Kuwait and from Kuwait, we would be flew to Tehran. Now this is where it gets interesting. I was thinking, "wow... I get to be in Kuwait - with no extra costs - except that I lost a few hours waiting in Kuwait"...

But it didn't matter because I have friends to keep me company. We arrived in Kuwait using Qatar Airways. (p.s. I use Qatar Airways for the entire journey and they're impressive! - well, apart from the abandonment.. hee). Kuwait looked... deserted. No green trees. Just... sandy deserts. hee. You catch my drift, right?

At Kuwait, we had to re-arrange our flights and had about 3 hours to kill before our flight to Tehran. So, what did we do? That's right, we sat down and talked! Lucky I found these friends, not only they were gentlemen enough to 'take care' of me, but they also helped out on feeding me information about Tehran - history, politics, criticism, the whole lot - from Iranians' perspectives. And I got to collect Kuwait 1/4 dinar note. Yay!

From Kuwait, we used IranAir to travel to Tehran. I was uber excited upon reaching the airport. Finally!!!!

You should know, a week prior to my departure, I had contacted Iranian Embassy in London and Brunei Embassy in Tehran regarding visa requirement. Just so you know, we ordinary Brunei passport holder is only entitled to stay in Tehran for a week and not more than that. There were a bit of last-minute stress coming from the official in Tehran but Alhamdulillah, when I arrived, it was like a piece of cake. A form to fill in, an address to inform, contact person, the lot, and fees for the visa in Euro and there it was in my passport - visa to enter Tehran for a week!! Yippie!! I was a happy happy bunny. At the immigration point, I didn't get much of a hassle like I did in Manchester airport - no offense but that's prolly predicted especially since I'm one of those people who wear hijab - BAM!

Anyways, after he stamped my passport, I smiled oh so widely. Took my luggage, bid goodbyes to the men and looked outside just to find that he was late! Hah - typical. lol

But I can't really blame him. It was Friday when I arrived, and I was supposed to arrive in the morning but got delayed and he had to go back for Friday prayer and came back to the airport to fetch me. And the journey it took is about an hour. So, there I was, sitting, nervous, waiting for him to arrive.

Then my eyes caught a taxi coming, and out was a guy - a familiar figure. hee =)

He waved and signalled me to go out. So I pushed my trolley and met him outside.

*grins*

For the rest of the week, (yes, I was there for a week), I have learnt a lot of things. You see, he works five days in a week and we only got to spend time for a day out shopping. He happened to stay in a very nice and expensive apartment with another guy and I got the liberty to stay in the master bedroom!!! Of course I'm loving it!

What did I do for the week then?

Well, woke up around 10-ish, took shower, watched tv, made lunch, and got ready to go out since the shops opened at 10-2pm and lunch between 2-4pm they are closed, and the shops opened again at 4 until around 9-10pm.

Since it is an apartment, so cleaners come in every day to.. well, clean. =) So no need for my rajin side to show up. hee. I was on vacation, no?

Things you should know about Iran:
1/ They don't speak English at all!!! They speak Farsi widely and I ain't one of them. Although I did learn a few new Farsi words *grins* - the downside of this is that it was hard to communicate when I go out shopping and I was asking for 'discount'. I had to use signals - haha and it was funny, especially when the guy I was trying to explain 'discount' to was major hot!

2/ It is against the law for the women to go outside without putting a cover on their heads. So, it turns out that all the women have some sort of a cover/scarf to cover a part of their hair, ehem, I rephrase, a part of their 'well-styled' hair. I was told that if a woman is out without any headscarf, she can be arrested. Scary, I tell you!

3/ It is against the law to burp in public. You can get arrested for that. Yes, I AM DEAD SERIOUS! Imagine me being cautious every time I neededto burp. You ever get the feeling that when you 'know' you cannot do something, you tend to 'do' it eventhough you know you're not supposed to... man, that's annoying! lol

4/ There are no, and I seriously mean "NO" road system in Tehran. Cars just go crazy there. Cars can go within inches with each other and they honk all the time. When they take over each other, they do it as if it's bumper car. Yes, it is like bumper car, except that the drivers are so used to it that they don't bump into each other. Just close enough to feel the thrill. lol.

5/ The people cross the road as if there were no cars passing by. They look so used to it that there are no glimpse of being scared that I happen to show a lot from my face every time we cross the road. :S

6/ 1 euro is equal to about 12,000 rials and I did get scared every time I asked "how much" and the numbers I got were like hundred thousands rials. lol. Although, I did feel like a millionnaire when I changed my euros into rials and it accumulated to about 3 million rials. Whoa!!! Now, that's a fun fact to play around for a while.

7/ The Iranian people have the smoothest skin - ever!

8/ And the girls are so fashionable. Throw away those jilbabs, and out are tight jeans and tight shirts and boots and long coats with make-ups and trendy bags. I did feel a little out of place *hee*

9/ Apparently Malaysia and Iran has a very good political relations and when they ask me where I'm from, I mentioned "brunei" and they gave me a long blank look and then I mention "near Malaysi" and they go all "ooooh, yes Malaysi" - well, duh.

10/ I could see the mountains from the apartment window (i.e. pic above) and luckily, I got the chance to go at the foot of the mountain to play with the snow, tasted real Iranian food and enjoyed the great beauty of Allah's creations. Masha Allah.

11/ It snowed the first night I arrived in Tehran - which is ironic because it hasn't snowed in UK yet, so when I woke up the next morning to find the it was white all over - I got excited and I thought of Gdah and Samantha! =) Yes, I did!

12/ Northern part of Iran is colder and Southern part of Iran is warmer. It is always like that. Iran has 4 seasons as well and during Summer time, temperature can reach up to 40 degrees celcius. Hello, summer!!

13/ Shopping is not an option in Tehran, as it is not a tourist-y place, I think. Not a lot of choices available either and I had a hard time spending and *coughfinishingcough* my spending budget. In fact, I didn't finish my spending budget at all. :(

14/ I do love their range of colourful scarves though. And I did have an eye for a few Pierre Cardin's and Nina Ricci's silk scarves - only they cost like 400,000 rials each. Hmm... not too late for orders :)

15/ I do wanna talk about my impression on the lifestlye of the Iranian people I met, but I'm thinking it's best not to - because it might mean that I'm backbiting them, maybe, because I might criticize it. Enough said that, it is a definite eye-opener and an experience I never regret of encountering :)

16/ All my phones were out of network range upon arrival in Tehran, even my O2 roaming was not working so I was left with no phones and no lines to keep in touch with everyone - my apologies. I was told then that the telecommunication system is at the worst - hah, tell me about it! No road system, no high class telecommunication system available and they dare say that they think they're better than everyone else. (this is where he comes in - the telecommunication part, I mean)

17/ I braved myself to venture the streets on my own for a few days and went shopping on my own which was so much fun. I even found a little coffee place where I got to taste one of the best hot chocolate drinks :)

Whoa. I'm running out of things to say. I must be tired then. I was supposed to have lecture today but apparently the lecturer was ill and the class was cancelled, I was at cluster printing some notes and handbook for my modules so I decided to head to the library to get some books. I was on fire today!! So excited to go back to school!! I just needed to distract myself from thinking too much about what has happened.

And I just remember that I have some readings to do for tomorrow's tutorial and this thursday's class. But my bed is so inviting. And I feel so lazy!

*grins*

I hope this update is enough to occupy your curiosity about my recent trip :) I must say, it was one heck of a great trip I don't mind doing again... ;)

Even though, on the contrary, I returned home on Friday and stayed in Manchester for the night and upon receiving the news from my sister and mum, I was shattered to pieces and then I realized Allah is the Most Just, He is Al-Adl. After hardship comes ease...

Now it's time to get back on my two feet and start thinking about my final semester - well, more like 5 assignments and an exam to focus on for the next 10 weeks! Yippie!! Isn't student life the most fun and relaxing time of all?????? *grins*

Take care everyone.

One advice - if you are afraid to get hurt, then you are not ready to love. So, love when you want to love, don't regret for not letting yourself go to love when you have the chance, even though you might get hurt, at least you'll learn to appreciate the best things in life - and we all know the best are not always the easiest path of all ;) I should know!

And appreciate your friends and treasure their friendship, the true ones will stick by you no matter what ;)

Make peace, not war. Life is too short to be angry at each other. Life is too vulnerable to hold grudges, or else you'll lose out.

We all have time - it's just the question of how and what we fill our time with ;)

Insya Allah I will post up a few pictures when I have the time. Mind you, I didn't take a lot of pictures because I just couldn't be bothered. Serious! =)

Be in Allah's protection always!

*yawns*