Dubai Miami - the journey part 2

 We arrive in Dubai late at night. Upon arrival we straight away checked in and went to sleep. 

The next day, my husband's colleague TC in Dubai and his assistant ATC in Dubai who'm is my eldest sister best friend as well brought us breakfast. 

With Kak Linda, eyja's best friend. Just last year we met at Khize's wedding she is preparing to fly to Dubai in 2 days, tak sangka dapat pergi Dubai visiting her while in transit. 

Then kitorang start jalan2 around Dubai with a rented car. We initially plan to take city tour bus but it was summer and Dubai temperature is

 unbearable. 

At the souq. Punye la panas. We turun sekejap and jalan2 sikit and naik kereta balik and decided that after that just jalan2 dalam kereta je. 

Depan starbucks souqs, overpriced and overcrowded

 I took Harith picture in front of Burj al Arab because before when he is small and we lived in Vietnam, we used to make lots of 3D buildings and this one of them. I even have one of him holding this miniature building happily after completing them in this blog.

Lepas habis round round in the car we went to the large Dubai mall. Overcrowded. Maybe because its so hot outside people juts chill in the mall. We manage to go and see the largest aquarium ever in the mall. Siap ade divers dalam tu. 

After having lunch at the mall. Now all of us felt super super tired and jet lagged so we went to Kak Linda's house to rest and chill and gave a great Khabsa dinner. 

 I really love the architecture of her house and neighbourhood. Such a classic arabic dessert building just like the souq. 

For dinner she served us with Lamb and Chicken Khabsa from Zam Zam restaurant. So good. And I do not realize then or maybe I do, that will be one of the last Khabsa I ate for along time later. Because dah sampai miami. Belum lagi dapat makan Khabsa. 

After dinner they sent us to the hotel to fetch our 10 luggage and sent us off to the airport. Our flight to Miami from Dubai is at 3am. It was such a good gathering of friends and colleagues at a foreign land. One that we will remember forever. Hope to host them some day pulak nanti at our place.

Mase ni pon dah penat betul dah. After chilling and mandi at the lounge, we rest and dine while waiting for our flight. Naik flight , makan lagi then tido. Most of our flight time to Miami is during daylight like chaing ghe daylight from east to west. We arrive at Miami at 9am in the morning. 

Ambil sikit je pics in the flight because too tired and Nabiha semam pulak dalam flight. Kena makan2 kali PCM.

Finally we're here!!!!. Upon arrival we drove straight to our Airbnb just near the airport and we couldn't checked in yet since it was just around 11 am at that time. Luckily the owner allow us to keep our luggage at the house and we took uber to the neareat mall which is Dolphin mall which is also one of the biggest mall in Miami. Once the house is ready at about 3 pm we were allowed to check in. Sampai je rumah, we all terus tido. Punye la jet lagged. We took about a week to recover from the jet lag actually. 😴.  Tido time tak tentu hala bangun pon tak tentu hala. 

Kuala Lumpur-Dubai ..the journey part 1

Once inside the departure hall, I started to realize that our long exciting journey has begun!!!. Our long journey to the end of the world. Miami time zone is exactly 12hours form Malaysia. At 7 am in Malaysia just as the sun rises for a new day is 7pm in Miami when the sun just set. Inilah permulaan ceritaku berkelana ke hujung dunia. 

Just us now. Our 4 kids, hubby and I. During this time I reminded my kids again. Cherish this moment, the time that all of us can travel together as a complete family, you all are getting older , there will come the day when there will we will have to leave you behind to pursue your own life and dreams. 

Our mighty A380 Emirates plane that will bring us on an 8 hour journey to Dubai. 

Bye bye Malaysia. 

Last family photo on the land of Malaysia. 

I am sharing some random photos of us in the plane as memory. Someone use to tell me , enjoy the journey. 

The last 2 trips Madiha was very small , this time she will be big enough to remember this.

Tak tawla lepas ni dapat lagi tak ikut kami , sebab dorang pon dah besar. So cherish this always.

Si kecik ni sangat lorat dalam plane. 

Susu and her 'tiwi' tak tinggal. Buat macam rumah sendiri. 

Me trying to enjoy my journey sambil jaga budak kecik kat sebelah. Not an easy task. 

Zuhayr enjoying 1st class dining in the air. 

We arrive in Dubai at 10pm , 29th June 2023. The plane depart from Malaysia on the same day at 730pm. It was 2nd day of Eidul Adha for Dubai. 

Clever sangat to provide free strollers for use at the airport. Mc Larren lagi. 

Inside the train to Arrival hall

Our 10 luggages.

We took the airport Limo to our hotel and retire for the night. Upon stepping out from the airport I immediately felt the heat!!. Adoi panasnye Dubai even at night. Siang lagi la. Story in the next blog entry

Our journey is halfway done. Goodnight for now. 

 

The journey begins again. Goodbye my beloved Malaysia.

We have been in Malaysia for so long since the last posting that I felt the deep roots of attachment already in my beloved country and my comfortable life that makes it hard to leave. And yet such is the story of my life. Its that my family and I, we were given the opportunities to experince different cultures in different places at different stages of  our lives and for that I am thankful. There are many whose life are rooted,  perfected due to its stability and these blessings are different from mine and yet its indeed were blessings nevertheless. 

 And so, on the blessed day of Eidul Adha 2023,  we began our journey from Malaysia to a new place that we will call home for awhile Miami USA. ---jauhnyee huhuhu----

Our big happy family who came to KLIA to bade us good bye. We will miss all of you. 

Us with my our already very wise wise (very old) moms. Sobs 😭 😭 . May Allah keep both of you in his protection and love always. 

Post wajib. Me with ma ohsem sistas. I will miss our karen times together. 

And more random photos of families at the airport on that day. Families are the number one reason that makes me leave Malaysia with such a heavy heart that day. But knowing I can reach them at any time even virtually gave me some peace. 

Looking back to similar photos in 2010 when we went to Ho Chi Minh and another one in 2015 when we went to Toronto and now. Its obvious how our family have grown in numbers and size and age as well. 

This is our photo back in 2010 leaving to Vietnam. Ibu follow us that time, 1 year old zuhayr in stroller and 3 years old little Harith trotting along.

Madiha belum ade . Hehehe

This is our photo in 2015 leaving to Canada with 6 and 8 years old little boys and 2 years old Madiha. Nabiha belum ade. Hehehe. 

And this is us now, leaving to the United States , with 16 and 14 years old teenage boys, 10 years old Madiha and 4 years old Nabiha. 

How much things have changes. Yang tak tukar lantai KLIA tu je...aha

It is indeed sad to leave all our family, our friends , our little house, my job and career, the life we have build in our safe environment home country Malaysia and yet would we miss it we were not to leave it? I wonder. 

There is sweetness to an ending and the looking forward to a new beginning if only we can always focus our mind in the right perspective. These are the words I told myself (pujuk diri sendiri gitew). Well Miami here we come!!!!!