Sochi.ru 2013

Assalamualaikum :)

Alhamdulillah masih berkesempatan untuk hidup dan masih diberi ilham untuk terus menulis. So, exam done, and holiday is next! This winter, I chose Sochi as my winter holiday spot. Actually it was a long story, i was planning to go to London, then Italy, then I decided to hibernate together with the polar bear n penguin in Volgograd, but He knows which place better for me, so here I am in Sochi, Russia.

When any of my friends asked, “Ko g mana?” I will answer “Sochi..” And they will like, where on earth is that? Okay, Sochi is located on south Russia, and to make it easy to imagine where it is, it is located really really near to Black Sea. Next year, winter olympic will be held here. So maybe the price will increase after the olympic, so I grabbed this chance to go there before the olympic started.

So the story begin………

Character : Me, Cuya, Ayu and Yasar

Trip kali ni sangat2 lah trip bidan terjun in which cuya tanya saya, ayu tanya yasar, bincang2, ajak orang lain then tetiba semua senyap then tetiba bising balik and bam! Jadi lah kami berempat sahaja yang pergi. Tiket dibeli masa study leave, in which masa tu sgt2 dekat dgn exam. No planning, no research, just tanya2 orang sahaja. Tiba2 dah 25hb, so jom lah kita bertolak.

So, untuk trip yang gamble begini, saya sarankan, sila bawa 3 benda ini :

1. Peta, smart phone, tablet, gadjet (so u wont lost, at least these thing would help you)

2. Physical yang mantap (in case u are lost, u need to walk A LOT to find the way back)

3. Kebergantungan dan ketawakkalan yang mantap dan sepenuhnya kepada Allah (because you never know what will happen)

Jadi, kami ke sana dengan train, and it was 18 hours train! Jadi, apa yang diperlukan untuk survive? Yes of course, food!

So this is us, with the food, in the train. *ngeeeeee*

DAY 1

Alhamdulillah after 18 hours, we were safely arrived at Sochi, and we took taxi to the hotel that we booked earlier (Alhamdulillah kami still waras untuk book hotel awal2, credit to ayu n yasar)

The hotel was nice, comfortable, especially the shower, sadly I didnt took any picture of the shower. And after check in and bersihkan diri yang dah menjeruk setelah 18 jam di dalam train, kami pun ready untuk berjalan.

First PLANNED destination : Delfinarium

Apakah itu delfinarium? Okay anda tahu kan aquarium? Aquarium bermaksud transparent tank yang mengisi hidupan2 laut. Jadi, delfinarium (delfin = dolphin) bermkasud tempat kehidupan dolphin. Jadi kami pun bertanya arah kepada penduduk tempatan dan berjalan dan terus berjalan. Okay, sesat.

Tapi islam tak mengajar kita untuk berputus asa, jadi kami pun meneruskan perjalanan, *gelak jap* sesat lagi. Seorang penduduk tempatan bagitahu kami yang delfinarium itu hanya dibuka pada pukul 3 ptg sahaja, dan pada waktu itu jam telah menunjukkan pukul 5 petang. TOO LATE, TOO LATE. So kami decide untuk ke bandar Sochi. Perhaps we can come again to delfinarium other day (we never come again hihihihi)

Second PLANNED destination : Riviera Park

Untuk ke Riviera Park yang terletak di tengah bandar Sochi, kami perlu menaiki mini bus. What number? Bila tanya soalan ni pada penduduk tempatan, they just answer “any bus that wrote SOCHI” okay, thats really helpful. Jadi, ketika saat2 genting begini, apa yang kita sangat perlukan adalah bekalan no 3! Berbekalkan bismillahirrahmanirrahim, kami pun naik bas. Alhamdulillah, Allah itu Maha Menolong, there was one nice lady that help us, told us where to stop and how to go there.

Kami turun di station "Gostinitsa Moskva”, from there, we need to walk a bit to Park Riviera. Jadi kami sekali lagi, melencong hihi. This time, put the blame on the little puppy. Afraid of the dog, we decided to enter Cinnabon and consumed a bit of glucose, so we have extra ATP for the walk!

Then, off to Riviera Park! So picture speaks thousand words, here it is..

   

After walking around the park, the stomach really wants to be filled. We went to a restaurant PUC (in english, RICE).

Tired and full. Let’s called a day. Goodnight. Day 1 end.

DAY 2

Today we woke up early because we were going to the main attraction in Sochi, Krasnaya Polyana! The place where we can sliding and falling and twisting freely on the thick white snow! It’s a place for skiing and snowboarding.

40 km journey, lebih kurang KL ke genting highland. The ticket was only 15 rubles (=rm1.50) so cheap!

There are 3 interesting stories about Krasnaya Polyana :

1. Its scenery. So breathtaking! Even I showed the picture, it wouldnt be the same if u look with your own naked eyes. Subhanallah!

2. We were enjoying ourselves so much with the ski! It’s once in a lifetime experience :)

3. This is a very long story. If you wish to hear, please stay.

Bila sampai je kat atas tu, saya dan ayu sangat excited, lagi2 bila kami nampak chairlift! Chairlift is my dream come true. I always wanna ride on that. So after few trial of skiing, saya and ayu nak naik benda tu. Ayu ajak yasar and cuya decide untuk stay. Kami dengan gelojoh dan excitednya berlari2 ke tempat nak naik chairlift tu. Yuhuu! Disebabkan excited terlebih, maka saya dan ayu telah meninggalkan yasar terkebelakang dan menaiki chairlift tersebut terlebih dahulu.

Zuupppp naik! OKAY. INHALED. EXHALED. GASPING FOR THE AIR.

Ayu : Mana seat belt?

Me : NO? NO!

TAKDE SEAT BELT. And the chairlift start rising, curam. We were like, astaghfirullahalazim all the way up. Then yasar at the back scream something like &**&^$%^^&*(^. Taktau apa dia cakap, no idea. Kami dengar macam “see back”. Then ayu scream back “Im afraid, dont want to talk”

Kami dah macam patung lilin, keras dan mengeras dan jangan tgk bawah. Saya buat diskusi dengan ayu. Kita turun nanti naik cable car la, tak berani la naik benda ni. Ok muktamad, turun dengan cable car!

And… sampai! Alhamdulillah! Then bila saya pandang belakang, oh man!! Kenapa yasar ada seat belt? (sebenarnya yasar jerit seat belt)

The whole journey, me and ayu didnt pull the palang that should be penghadang from jatuh! Di manakah kewarasan kami? Otakku tertinggal di dewan exam kah? Alhamdulillah Allah masih menyelamatkan kami. So dangerous. Jangan tiru aksi kami.

FUHHHHHHH.

And.. cerita kami tidak terhenti di situ sahaja, bila kami pandang sekeliling, kosong dan terpencil, yang kelihatan hanyalah pergunungan salji yang curam. Kami tanya abang tu, rupa2nya the only way down is by skiing or snowboarding!

*LITERALLY SCREAMING* *CRYING OUT LOUD*

Kami, 30 minutes experienced ski-ers, what do you expect from us?

Cubaan untuk ski seperti pro berakhir dengan aksi bergolek2 di atas snow. Ok ini tak boleh jadi. So kami cabut ski tersebut dan berjalan kaki menuruni gunung tersebut. Way to go down seems like forever. Jauuuuuuhhhhh di mata. Pada waktu seperti ini, setiap bekalan diperlukan. Bekalan no 1 untuk merakam detik2 mencemaskan tersebut, bekalan no 2 untuk terus bertahan untuk menuruni gunung dan bekalan ke 3 adalah bekalan terpenting! Pada waktu itu, kami hanya mampu berdoa kepada Allah agar dipermudahkan urusan untuk turun ke bawah. Saya dan ayu sudah mula rasa untuk menangis. Apakah nasib kami T___T

Dan benarlah, pertolongan Allah itu pasti. Allah Maha Penyayang lagi Maha Pengasih. Benarlah Allah itu seperti sangkaan hambaNya. Jika kita bersangka baik kepada Allah, maka yang baiklah akan datang kepada kita. Pasukan penyelamat datang untuk menyelamatkan kami yang sangat helpless. Salah seorang pakcik yang sgt kesian kepada kami telah memanggil pasukan penyelamat untuk mengambil kami dengan motor (or motor ski or tak tahu). Alhamdulillah kami berjaya turun dengan selamat.

Lesson gained. Don’t be too excited, tanya dahulu, dan doa itu seharusnya sebelum kita melakukan sesuatu, bukanlah ketika saat genting barulah hendak berdoa seperti kami yang mula berzikir apabila takut.

So, the pictures!

     

Hari ni sangat dapat tarbiyyah, alhamdulillah. Tarbiyyah itu datang dari pelbagai cara. Tinggal kita sahaja untuk berfikir. Day 2 end.

Day 3

Untuk hari ke 3, kami rancang untuk ke : Dendrarium! Tempat hidupnya segala flora, it is more to botanical park.

Ya, itu rancangannya, tapi bila tengok tiket, errrkkkk takpela lagi2 semuanya bukan pencinta kipas susah mati flora, huu teruknya kami. Mungkin harus lebih mencintai selepas ini.

Jadi, kami pun melakukan perkara yang tak pernah2 dibuat oleh orang lain di sochi. To shopping complex we go!

More Mall (translation : Mall Pantai)

I didnt shop anything. Stop lying, Allah marah. Okay, I shopped. I bought shoes, muffler, and blazer. All in pink. Pink is so my colour :)

Sebenarnya hari ke 3 ni banyak habis dengan berjalan. Best ke berjalan? Macam buat penat je. Maybe kadang2 terasa seperti waste time je berjalan, kan ada public transport. U could save more time. Tapi dengan berjalan, we get two benefits! First, it strengthen our muscle, especially for us student who tend to sit all day long on a chair studying. Let’s give our muscle extra work this time. And secondly, we could entertained our eyes with the scenery, to see the life of the local people, and many more along the way. Tak masuk dendrarium pun takpe, bunga2 dan pokok2 tepi jalan pun cantik and Allah hadiahkan free untuk kita! Bukanlah jauh perjalanan, luas pemandangan?

Day 3 end.

Day 4

This is our last day here in Sochi. Tired, we woke up late. We start our journey at 1, maybe? We went to the black sea, near to our hotel. Lamanya tak sampai pantai! Pantai never ever disappoint me! There’s one feeling in the heart when you stand by the sea shore, the sea breeze, and the wave sound, bliss! Pantai kat sini lain dengan pantai di Malaysia. There is no single sand here! Tapi ada batu2 yang sangat cantik. We stay there for a while, taking pictures and the wave goodbye to the sea.

After that, we went to souvenir shop to buy some souvenirs to family and friends!

19.11 29th Jan – Our train from Sochi to Volgograd. Goodbye Sochi, thanks for the memories.

And I would say, even though Sochi isn’t famous as other Europe cities, it is special in its own way. Alhamdulillah for this opportunity to visit this place.

“The happiest of people don’t necessarily have the best of everything, they just make the most of everything that comes along their way”

Assalamualaikum!