UK TRIP (Cork, Ireland - Morfa Bay, Wales)

Assalamualaikum w.b.t.

I hope it's not too late for a little bit of sharing on my trip to UK recently.

Okay, actually my initial plan for winter break was going for a jaulah to Spain and join a winter gathering programme in London. 

But there's some problem wit
h my schedule so I decided to go to UK only. 

I'll try to include informations regarding mode of transportation, accommodation and halal food for those yang berhajat untuk ke UK suatu masa nanti inshaaAllah. 

This is my first holiday trip to European country. It was quite difficult at first since I need to plan it all by myself. 

So, first thing I did was googling for UK map!

United Kingdom consists of four countries : England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

Flight ticket. From Cork International Airport to London Stansted Airport. 

16.99 Euro! Murah kan. If nak travel dekat Europe, choose Ryan Air sebab memang murah kalau book awal ;)

I decided to join a winter gathering program called Jalinan Ukhuwwah Musim Sejuk (JUMS) 2013 in Morfa Bay, Wales (21-24 Dec 2013) and after that, jalan2 in Cardiff, London, Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool. Accommodation tak ada masalah since tumpang rumah kawan. I can save cost for accommodation, that's a good thing. :)

My flight departed from Cork on 20th Dec at 21:55 and arrived in London about an hour after that. 

My senior, Kak Fatimah waited at the airport and later we went to London Victoria Coach Station by bus. This is one of the main bus stations in London. Our bus to Cardiff city, Wales is at 7.30 am. 

Plan asal nak tidur di bus station ja sementara tunggu bas ke Cardiff, but the station closed! Same goes to the nearest train station. T_T

We walked around that area to find any places where we can sit and stay for a while but there's none of them. It's 1am, rain, cold, dark, lots of strangers. Imagine that. 

We passed this one bar and a man came to us, asking where we want to go. From his accent, I know he's not local. A muslim taxi driver maybe from Pakistan, I think so. He said it's dangerous to walk around here at that time. Oh yeah, I just recalled it's Friday night! Drunk people will be everywhere. 

We explained our situation that we're searching for a safe place to wait cuz our bus is at 7.30am. So he suggested that we ride a taxi to McDonalds in Piccadilly Circus. There are seats and we can buy hot beverages while waiting. Since Kak Fatimah and I couldn't come out with better ideas, so we just followed his suggestion. We took a taxi to Piccadilly Circus (PC) and the 10 minutes journey costs about 15 GBP! Cuba darab 5.4 tengok. T_T Rasa macam kena tipu pun ada.

Sampai ja dekat sana...

Oh..My..God

Ya Allah!

MashaaAllah

The place was so crowded! Banyak orang pelik2. Lagi menakutkan.

Ramai orang berjalan in a group, bersosial, pegang botol arak.

Rasa tak selamat gila. Rasa nak patah balik. Rasa nak balik. Sumpah.

Dengan bunyi siren polis peronda yang bingit tak berhenti-henti dari tadi.

This is the scariest place I've ever been.

Kak Fatimah suruh pakai hoodie utk cover kepala n hijab, cuz we're in the middle of strangers.

Takut something bad will happen. 

One of Piccadilly Circus landmarks

Ignoring all distractions and fears, we walked around to search for McD. 

But, my heart sank. We found McD but tak ada seat pun! It's just a small branch of McD for takeaway meal. Memang tak ah nak beli McD saja2. Boikot! So sia-sia ja datang sini. Haih, geram dengan taxi driver pun ada.

Sesama muslim pun nak tipu. Sigh.

If nak patah balik ke Victoria Coach Station by taxi, very expensive. 

So we decided to take underground train from PC to Victoria. But the station will be opened at 5.30 am. 

We waited in front of the gate. Tried to sleep there. I feel like a homeless. No shelter. Rain,windy,freaking cold.

Feeling unsafe. 

A few construction workers passed us by, went in and out from the station gate but they never ask why we are waiting here! 

Rasa hina gila. Kot la nak bagi masuk n tunggu dekat tempat berbumbung. It's like only 1 metre from the place we're sitting. Masa tu baru faham perasaan jadi homeless. 

So please help and treat homeless people nicely, they're human being too. T_T

Piccadilly Underground Station

When the time is almost 4 am, a man (one of the construction workers) came to us and asked why we're here. Dalam hati ni cakap, "Oh, baru sekarang nak tanya ka?". Hmmmm.

We answered, "We're waiting for the earliest train to Victoria, at 5.30am". 

He was surprised. He said that we could just take the bus to Victoria. About 10 minutes interval between each bus, operating 24-hours. Oh my, rasa loser gila.

Then he showed us the way to bus stop. After we thanked him for his kind help, he said "Assalamualaikum". Oh, Muslim rupanya. :')

Then, we took a bus to Victoria and started our journey to Cardiff. 

Victoria Station

Sejuk gila. Can't sleep

Sorry for the long story... That night was indeed an unforgettable memory for me. The tarbiyyah I learnt from it has taught me to see the world in different perspectives. That's the reality, isn't it? Alhamdulillah for the experiences. :) 

Okay, now back to the main agenda. UK TRIP! :D

Together with few akhawat and ikhwah from London, we went to Cardiff and later continue our journey to Morfa Bay, which is the venue for JUMS 2013.

Stopped by at R&R 

Megabus. Bas jarak jauh yg lagi murah compared to National Express.
Take note people! ;)

Cardiff City Stadium dari jauh

JUMS 2013

Akhawat outdoor activity

Presentation on "Islamic Country Image"

A talk by Ustaz Hazizi 

Explorace :)

Forum : "Sejauh manakah masyarakat Islam Malaysia sensitif dengan isu umat dan akidah?"

R4Bia

Last day at Morfa Bay

There's so much knowledge I gained from this 4-days camp especially in spiritual aspects.

I had the chance to meet sisters from Malaysia, UK, Ireland, Czech Rep., Brunei and New Zealand as well.

Jalinan ukhuwwah, building sisterhood. 

Self-tarbiyyah and develop the awareness regarding ummah issues.

I've joined quite a lot of programs and to be honest, I tend to compare the content between each program.

At one point, I realized that a deep understanding regarding ummah issue is one of the things that I lacked in

For instance, to create awareness about the oppression in Palestine, Syria and other Muslim countries is not only through article sharing in FB, Twitter etc. 

Not only through fund raising.

Not only through our sincere dua'.

That's not enough. 

We need to build the ummah.

A stronger ummah.

Fighting threats of the ummah

Liberalism, Secularism, Syiah, LGBT, Comango, Kristianisasi and many more..

I admit that these issues aren't rare.

But I keep asking myself

To what extent I understand?

Can I clarify the issues they have brought to the world nowadays?

We need to come out with solutions and quick actions.

To make things clear, saya bukan ahli ISMA. Bukan juga ahli IKRAM. PAS pun bukan.

(Eh randomnya?)

Saya join mana-mana program yang dirasakan sesuai.

Tak kira siapa penganjurnya.

Jangan jadikan jemaah sebagai isu.

Manhaj berbeza, tujuan tetap sama.

Janji ada tarbiyyah. 

Kenapa perlu gaduh n memburukkan jemaah lain.

Jadikanlah Rasulullah sebagai qudwah.

Pembinaan individu muslim tak cukup jika tiada 'ithar'.

Sorry, just a piece of my random thought.

For those yang faham, fikir-fikirkanlah.

Kalau yang tak faham, mintak maaf..

Okay, mungkin setakat ini dahulu perkongsian saya.

I'll share my experience in Cardiff City in the next entry. 

Till then, assalamualaikum :)