Since 2017 I got hooked with Starbucks coz thats the only coffee shop that I can easily grab my breakfast before going up to my office (when I was stationed at one of engineering consultant office in KL) if I didnt manage to stop by any kuih or nasi lemak stall nak cepat punya pasal.
Since then I need to have their drink at leastttt once a week. Boo. Plus they have this prepaid and rewards system so its getting worse. Mind you im not a coffee drinker. Hence I would go for their frappucino, iced macchiato or any choc drinks. Dont usually buy the normal coffee (without sugar) lol.
This venti (large) Iced Choc is EGP50 ie RM13
Bila sampai sini, sis tak sangka kat Egypt ni ada Starbucks (baca : banyak) dan harga relatively cheaper from the one back home. Contohnya kalau harga grande size Signature Iced Choc RM16 (ye?) kat 🇲🇾, kat sini baru RM11 lepas convert. So bahaya jugak sebenarnya sbb in the end cumulatively spend a lot on their drinks 😅
Also you can find lots of hipster cafes and coffee shops here in New Cairo (not sure at other districts though) so for those coffee drinkers who love cafe hopping, this might be your ‘heaven’ on earth! 🤩
For me I would just stick to Starbucks though – not that adventurous in that ‘coffee department’ hehheheh
We had a great time at Marsa Alam last weekend! Twas a 4d3n summer beach vacation. In fact that was our first summer beach experience. Sebelum ni tak pernah (rasanya) melancong ke obesi pada musim panas. Ye lah Malaysia pun dah panas sepanjang tahun kan. So bila merasa actual summer lepastu pergi beach some more memang feeling dia wahhh camni ke haha
The plan was quite last minute. We were contemplating between few tourist spots namely Alexendaria, Fayoum, Luxor, Sharm el Sheikh…. Finally we decided to go for beach vacation as our kids (and us adults) didnt get enough snorkeling back in Hurghada haha. So Marsa Alam it is! Why not Sharm? Coz we dont have proper vehicle so think next time lah if ada rezeki.
Initially we planned for 2nights but last timw at Hurghada twas too short so this time around we add another night. Luckily it was Eid Adha and office close for whole week, yay!
We found a hotel where we can snorkel right from the beach and the coral reef are reachable from sea shore! Alhamdulillah. So no need for boat ride which will burn the the whole day of back and forth to reach the coral reef area (burn pocket too haha). However lesson learned from last trip, we need to bring our own snorkeling gears ie from the right shoes/fins up until life jackets! Tips : you can find almost everything at Decathlon. Seriously. Burn our pockets but inshaallah will minimise the risk of covid (or hygiene) via rental. Well the price was not that bad though, approx EGP2k/pax for full gears – thats RM500/pax. Life jacket, snorkeling gears & proper shoes/fins.
penuh satu troli hikhik
7hrs journey from Cairo to Marsa Alam. Plus minus rnr bagai jadilah 9jam lebih. Kami bertolak lepas late breakfast, right after husband’s 2nd Sinovac dose. 11am departed and arrived hotel at about 7.30pm with 2 stops for solat and makan. We potluck some pasta and i mad rendang w nasi impit hehe fefeeling raya. Oh btw we arrived back in Cairo malam raya ie the whole day of Arafah Day was Marsa Alam – Cairo.
Rendang daging nogoghi w nasi impit yThats the route
Our hotel named Albatros. The room was nice. Got one king bed and 2 single bed. There was 12 of us and we took 4 rooms. We were upgraded to suite btw. Thats the perk of booking in group i think. We got room next to each other. On average, price per pax is RM500, all inclusive ie with bfast, lunch & dinner! Okla kan utk 4 hari. Plus its 5stars hotel (katanyalah). Mmg kat Malaysia susah nak dpt deal mcm ni. Huhu
Albatros ni ada banyak gila pool. Dari secetek2 sampai la ke 1.5m dalam. Macam2 jenis. Ada yg besar, ada yg betul2 dpn bilkk kami, ada yg berslide, ada yang bergazebo. Best gila ok. Cuma yg lemah nya tmpt makan jauh sikit dari bilik nak kena menapak dan time summer bawak baby lagi la terasa. Sebab tu dok berzikir nak repeat once autumn nanti hehe. Moga ada rezeki amiiin
bawak jua feeding set ‘atiyyah.malangnya pumpkin tu lembik rosak bila sampai huhuadd babycot for free mmg terbaekpantai cantik gila very instaworthy lol
Covidwise the hotel didnt jaga SOP. Mask pun staff tak pakai. Apatah lagi tourists. Most of the customers are non Egyptians smua mat saleh dari german russia (we think). Masa kitorg baru sampai bermask bagai semua org pandangggg je macam kitorg ni bwk penyakit huhu sabar je la. No mask, no social distancing so pakat jaga diri sendiri je la. Whole time i recited doa wabak moga Allah lindungi kami semua…
‘Aaqil spend his everyday there in the sun. He literally lives in his swimsuit except at night hahaha
Kids had fun in the sun. ‘Aaqil practice with his snorkeling gear even in the pool. He loves snorkeling tak sangka. Good thing that he became brave-er in the water than before. Mana tak nya sepanjang hari dlm air. Ada hari tu dari 8am turun pool. Pastu kuar kejap je lunch tepi pool. Sambung snorkel. Kul 6pm baru masuk bilik. Rentung. Haha.
Yours truly had fun too ❤️
Me and husband took turn snorkeling as we have babies to take care of. Alhamdulillah right before my turn tu husband found a shop which sells the phone holder utk bwk masuk air tu. So I brought along during snorkeling. Perfect. Cumaaaaa we forgot to bring roti along so ikan2 semua lalu lalang je tak berkumpul pon haha. Tapi seronok je. Sejak time Hurghada tu sis kempunan nak snorkel akhirnya impian tercapai. Tq suami kerana memahamj. Happy wife happy life eh ❤️
ni masa air surut, tiap pagi kami pi tgk sunrise hehe
Me and kak Ammal tried out their hammam. First time sis try hammam. Paling best jakuzi la. Massage by the arabs. Siap tanya you want soft medium or hard. I chose medium. I dont fancy massage but the areb did great. Tak sakit pon.
Ok think thats all. Nah minilove for you Marsa Alam. Thank you for the memories. Will definitely come again (once I got my 2 doses of vaccines, amiin)… ❤️
Pagi 2 Syawal kami bertolak ke Hurghada, somewhere to the west of Cairo. A city nearby to Red Sea. Ada banyak resort kat situ sebab tourist spot, ala2 PD.
5hrs journey from Cairo to Hurghada
Plan asal nak stay in hotel je. So the day before raya tu pegi shopping board games sebab nak kill the time kat sana. Imagine sure ramai orang sebab tgh cuti raya kan. so better duk dalam bilik je
Sampai sana tgk bilik nya tak brp menarik pulak kalau nak stay in je. Kami ke sini dgn satu family lagi (anak 5) so dia ajak jom la reramai kita pegi boat trip ni ada diving snorkeling island hopping. Ermmm
Okla kitorang pun pegi la usha pakej dia. Murah ok 500LE/pax 9am-4pm incl lunch then dia bg 2 spots utk snorkel and diving. Tanya la jgk psl covid SOp bagai kat staff dia tp jawapan dia “when u hav sun, no covid”. Oooookkaaayyy cukuplah satu soalan memang tau dah camne SOP atas kapal tu. So kalau nak signup memang kena pandai2 jaga social distancing, sanitize etc
Lagi satu kami concern psl bwk baby naik kapal. We did some research kt gugel katanya no problem asalkan makesure jgn lama sgt expose baby to sun (kalau ada indoor, duk dlm je most of the time). Also makesure ada infant size life jacket. Haa yg ni diorg tak sediakan. So memang we toom our risk bringing ‘Atiyyah onboard. Memang doa tak putus sepanjang pergi dan balik.
All 12 of us ready for an adventure!
Apparently all of us enjoyed the trip so much. Husben pun sempat la snorkel tho lepas tu dia mabuk sampai tidooo je x larat.
Husben & ‘Aaqil ready to snorkel!‘Aaqil first snorkeling experience ❤️‘Aaqil (left) with Asraf (right) 🏊🏻♂️ snorkeling in Red Seaaaaa
Paling excited was ‘Aaqil dan Asraf (anak kak Ammal umur 11yo) snorkeling kemain lagi. Geng adult dah naik diorg masih kat dlm laut. Hehe. Yg instructor tu pun happy melayan diorg.
Me ‘Atiyyah and ‘Arfaan spend most of our time indoor je. Alhamdulillah they both behave really well dan takde pun tanda2 mabuk. Syukur sesangat..
Lepastu ada sesi tgk dolfin pulak. Wah eksaited eh memasing. Lama jgk dlm stgh jam tggu kemunculan dolfin. Cuma masa ni ‘Arfaan tidur jadi dia frust bila semua cerita pasal nampak dolfin 🥲
3 dolphins (one of em was still babyy)My boys & Laut Merah – hope we can have more trips like this when theyre bigger amiin
Hope next trip ummi pulak boleh turun snorkel hehe. Dan harapnya masa tu dah dpt vaksin so takdelah rasa concious sangat nak pegi tempat mcm ni yg agak byk ‘social contact’ yg kita tak tau diorg nye asal usul dari mana etc huhu…
Cant resist the Red Sea view…terlalu cantik rasa nak terjun (L-R : Aishah, Kak Ammal, Fauzi, ‘Atiyyah & Me)‘Atiyyah loves the sea breezeeee ❤️
Hotel ni harga all in dengan food sekali. Bfast till dinner alhamdulillah so takyah nak pk nak keluar cari makanan ke apa. Cuma bilik je tak berapa selesa hhhuhu sebab malam2 byk nyamuk – ‘Arfaan ‘Aaqil jadi mangsa gigitan. Lepastu lock pintu depan tak function. Ada la bbrp yg buat turn off sikit tp hati terubat sebab food all in n view cantik. Gituh
Dinner buffet ada 2 tmpt boleh pilih. So kami pilih kat tepi pool ni sebab kurang sesak and open airMacam Hawaii kanDepan bilik kami
Alhamdulillah atas rezeki staycation ni. Sebenarnya sejak last yr lepas MCO lifted kejap dulu (was it July?) ada plan nak bawa the kids for babymoon (was still pregnant) tapi tangguh2 sampai sarat sampai bz nak pindah ke rumah baru sampai beranak sampai husben pun dah pindah Cairo sampai kami pun dah ke Cairo hehehehe. So rezeki kami staycation cum delayed babymoon (with baby) at far far away land while everyone still wishing to travel overseas we are travelling to the sea 😅🇪🇬
No doubt im quite worry if we are close contact to covid during the trip but Ya Allahu Haafiz, may He protect us all bismillahillazi la yadhurru maasmihi syaiun fil ardhi walamfissamaa’i 🤲🏼
