A beautiful blend.....

 One of the things that I love most besides reading, sketching  and painting is travelling. The experiences throughout the journey made me understand why Allah wants us to go places.  For what? To see and appreciate  his creations. To learn from the past. Through these visits, then only we know how Great Allah is and How Powerful Allah is! Alhamdulillah.

Pokoshko Jeezero

This year I visited Bangkok, Thailand; Bandung, Indonesia; Tokyo Osaka Hiroshima, Japan and just recently Bosnia and Herzegovina. All of these places gave me different experiences. Well the weather, humidity, way of life, food, warm hospitality .... the people, the culture, their attitude, their lifestyles, their homes and families, transportations and of cause their landscapes. Four different countries with four differences in almost everything! I felt blessed to be able to visit, I really do ... Alhamdulillah.

To go places, one have to be ready inside and out. Ready for any kinds of situations and circumstances.  Always be prepared! Currencies need to be handled properly. Need to put aside some,  in case of any emergencies. Language? English helps but if you are lost just google translation. Get the Google Translate to do the job !! But one need to be in the best of health....that is a must! If you have diabetic, high blood pressure, migraine, and so on, then you need to bring your own stock. But do take along common medicine for fever, flu, sea sick and so on. 

Thailand and Indonesia are nearest to my country. A two hours flying and you are already there. In terms of food and beverages, we almost have the same kind of taste ..... only slight differences.  So it is no problem at all.  Shopping is heaven in both Bangkok and Bandung! You'll see that your bags started to multiply rapidly without you realising it! Hahahahahhhahha.

My husband and I flew to Tokyo later by shinkansen to Osaka and Hiroshima. This was our first time. As tourist, Japan gave us a lot of privilages especially the bullet trains tickets. Things are made easier for us that we can purchase train tickets, theme park tickets and even hotels rooms from Japan Tourist Burue or JTB. In Shah Alam, they have a booth in AEON Shopping Centre, Shah Alam.  I am telling you, they are professionals and they really helped. So in other words, my trip to Japan which I covered Tokyo, Osaka and Hiroshima was superb! Unfortunately, we only spent a week in Japan and it was not enough. We should have lenghtened our stay for another week so we can visit more places of interest.  But, look at the brighter side of it....there is a chance of revisit!!!

Last month, just before Aidil Adha, my husband said that he wished to visit Bosnia and Herzegovina [BiH]. I was puzzled because it was not in our list for this year ... not yet. But his wish did come through. We flew to Sarajevo through Istanbul. 12 hours flying hours inclusive of 2 hours transit time in Istanbul.

The beautiful landscape.

Before getting here, I just cannot imagine how this country will look like. Last 14 years I was on my way, by road from Munich, but an emergency came up and we had to turn back to Munich. Since then, BiH is always a dream place to visit.

The landscape is so beautiful. You can see layers and layers of mountain range near and afar. It makes the color so beautiful from fade grayish, to bluish, to greenish and then the green forests ... if only I could stop and paint ... it would feel marvelous!  So picturesque! The rivers flow freely and can you imagine how clean the water is ... crystal clear.... mind you! Should you go to the streams, rivers or any of the water fountains, just have a sip because the water is drinkable!!! With  mountains surrounding them, this creates ravine and created many waterfalls throughout the country. Everywhere you go, there's always  river flowing, some calm and some fast flowing and there were many lakes too.

 

  

Plava Voda, Travnik

 

The Old Bridge, Mostar

This beautiful land has everything, and everything seems to blend together with the warm hospitality of the people, the tasty food and  the histories of many thousand of years made Bosnia and Herzegovina a must place to visit. 

Being a Muslim, Alhamdulillah, and seeing many mosques, big and small, ancient and newly built, beautiful and  standing tall, gives me a sense of belonging. Nice to see the locals gave salam to us and some even thanked us because they remembered our country helped them during the Balkan War 25 years ago. It was so touching to hear them telling us how helpless they were and the Malaysian troops came to the rescue. MasyaAllah. It makes me feel so proud and blessed.

I hope to revisit again and again. Eversince I came back, BiH has always been in my mind and in my heart. I hope many more people visit this country and experience the real life of the people in Bosnia and Herzegovina and enjoy the picturesque views of the landscapes and  not forgetting the food......oooohhhh wow!