Showing posts with label taksim square. Show all posts
Showing posts with label taksim square. Show all posts

Thursday, September 18, 2014

ISTANBUL 2014 - Day 06 - HILTON BOSPHORUS HOTEL - GARDEN

Hilton Bosphorus hotel ni ada garden yg sgt besar. Tak pernah lagi saya dok kat hotel yg ada jogging track sejauh 1 km within the hotel compound. So, on day 06 ni saya took the opportunity to go for a morning walk di garden hotel tu.

After having had quite eventful few days, I decided to just take it slow on day 06. And a nice leisurely morning walk in the garden sounded just perfect for me.

Since pagi tu nak jalan sejauh 1 km, saya kena la breakfast banyak sikit...hihi. Macam la jauh benor ek? :)

Sunny side up is the way I like em' :)

Dan saya pun memulakan perjalanan. Kehijauan yg sungguh menyejukkan mata dan filled my lungs with fresh morning air :). Jalan pelan2 sambil ambil gambar. Really just taking my time. 

Swimming pool yg sgt inviting. Kalau saya tau berenang tentu dah berombak2 pool tu...haha..
Yes, my dear friends, saya memang tak reti berenang...hihi..

Haa... masa summer elok la kalau nak berjemur kat sini. Also can play tennis.

Now back to the garden. Ada munga2. 

Ada gardener pulak...hihi...

Rasanya kalau buat garden wedding kat sini, tentu nice :)

Also got crows. Besar2 gagak kat sini.


Cahaya pagi yg indah melimpah ke hamparan hijau... ewah... macam tak best je nukilan ni...haha...

Splashes of pink amidst the cool greens jadikan pemandangan ini begitu indah dan menarik. 

Nice, right? :)

Pas tu terjumpa pulak kucing ni tergolek2 manja bila saya rapat kat dia. Amboiii.... gatainyaaaa... hihi.... Soooo comel!! And pandai posing! Yes, kat compound hotel ni pun ada kucing2... Yay! :) 

Tuuu... sekor lagi...huhu...

Serata ceruk kawasan hotel tu saya jelajah....hihi...

Haaa.. tu bilik hotel kami on 2nd floor tu. Balcony kami menghadap garden yg belah sini. 

Guests yg bilik mereka di ground floor can actually just walk out their balcony door and walked onto the garden. The garden is really private so guests can really have a nice time with family and friends. 

Because a few shots are just not enough so I simply had to shoot more lah...hihi...


Dari garden tu juga boleh nampak the Bosphorus. Tu ader cruise liner Seabourn Odyssey tgh lalu.


Dan jumpa kucing lagi..hihi...

And got cats on a tree also...haha... how cute, right! :)

Not one, not two, but 5 cats. 4 jantan dan 1 betina. Kesian kucing betina tu kena lari naik atas pokok selamatkan diri dari 4 jantan-jantan tu...haha... Ye ke, larikan diri? Ke playing hard to get... saje je buat jantan2 tu lagi geram ek...hihi...

Nak dekat 3 jam juga saya spent time di garden tu. Seronok rasanya bila dapat explore a place without the worry of time constraints. And exploring tu pulak within the safety of the hotel compound. And the cherry on the cake were the cats of course...hihi. Dalam kawasan hotel pun byk kucing. Tak sangka. So anyway, it was nearing noon time so I ordered room service. Lunch hari tu ialah spaghetti bolognese with bread and fresh orange juice. Punya la sedap. Ke sebab saya dah lapar sgt masa tu...hihi...

Malam pula kami decided to eat out and kami ke Damak restaurant. Restoran tu was suggested by a guest relation officer of a nearby more exclusive restaurant. Masa di restoran mahal tu kami tgh check2 menu di depan restoran tu dan staff tu datang. Saya bagi salam, terus dia jawab dan dia jadi macam ceria dan happy jumpa kami. 'From Malaysia?' tanya dia. Saya kata ya. Terus sembang2 dan gelak2. Dia kata dia punya ramai kawan dari Malaysia. Then dia pun cadang la elok kami makan di restoran2 this and that yg sedap tapi tak mahal and one yg dia suggested was Damak restaurant. So nice of him right? Sikit pun dia tak promo2 suruh makan kat restaurant dia.

Restoran Damak.

Nasi dan something that look spicy and the smell, masyaAllah, sedapppp.... hihi. 

Kalau nak kata restoran tak la macam restoran. More like cafe atau fast food joint which immediately put us at ease lah...hihi...

Tu dia... daaaaaaaaging saja! Nak kebab style ke, roast ke, grilled ke, semua ada.

View from where we sat.


Menu restoran Damak. Ada gambar! Yay! Senang nak order...hihi...

Tapi bila bukak menu ada banyak yg tak der gambar. Also menu not in English. So kami pun tanya la owner restoran tu yg pandai cakap English. Bagus cara dia menerangkan menu tu. Fasih dan kelakar pun ada jugak. Dan daaaaaaging je menunya....hihi. Actually ada la juga ayam dan lamb :)

Isteri nak try lahmacun. Dia ada read somewhere that kalau ke Turki, mesti try lahmacun ni. Saya ok je sebab nampak cam pizza je...hihi.... Actually it is known as 'Turkish pizza' but no cheese. Kami order cuma satu je sebab food portion kat sini macam nak bagi giant makan!

Dan order kami sampai. Kami juga order lentil soup. Roti tu complimentary. Saya dah lapar masa tu, so apa lagi koyak roti dan cecah dalam sup tu. Huwaaaa.... simpel je tapi sedapppp.... :) 

Dan lahmacun pun sampai. So nice of the owner to cut the 1 order of lahmacun into 2. Lahmacun tu actually very big and by cutting it into half it was just nice for both of us. Tu pun kembang kempis jugak hidung nak ngabiskan....hihi... 

Warm, a little spicy and smooth. In other word, sedapppp... :) Habis saya hirup.

Roti ni tak habis sikit je lagi cause lahmacun tu pun roti gak. 

Kesihatan kena jaga. Byk nor makan carbo, so drinks kena zero sugar...hihi...

Ni lahmacun yg terlipat.

Dan ini dalamnya. Got spicy ground beef with minced vegetables like tomatoes and jalapeno.  

It looked so delicious, right? Let me tell you, it was Delicious! 2 thumbs Up. Way Up!

Dan inilah cara makan lahmacun yg betul. Lipat2 atau gulung lahmacun tu, pegang macam dalam gambar dan ngap! I noticed this guy was able to finish that huge size lahmacun in less than 15 minutes time! Tu pun sambil makan dia dok sembang2 dgn date dia tu. 

Lepas makan, kami pun jalan2 di Taksim Square to take a few night shots. Also to burn off the big dinner we just had...hihi...

Nothing much kat situ malam2. But it was a nice walk nonetheless. 
Macam biasa balik bilik hotel connect to wifi and ada new photos of Tam Tam sent by Alan :)
Ehh.... Tam Tam dah pandai mingle dgn kucing2 lain. Selama ni pantang dia jumpa kucing lain baik kucing jantan ke, kucing betina or even anak kucing semua dia nak ajak gaduh :). 

Amboiii... seronok la tu keluar dari kandang yaa.... :)

So that's the end of day 06.

Bersambung ke day 07....

Di bawah ni saya senaraikan kesemua entries Istanbul saya:

No photograph may be reproduced, downloaded, copied, stored, manipulated, or used whole or in part of a derivative work, without written permission from Syed Amran. All rights reserved.

Friday, August 29, 2014

ISTANBUL 2014 - DAY 01 - HILTON BOSPHORUS & TAKSIM SQUARE

Selama 2 minggu lebih kami di Istanbul, kami menginap di Hilton Bosphorus hotel. Sebuah hotel lama yg berprestij. Kalau tak kerana kursus my wife tu, memang le kami tak mampu nak duduk sini. Satu malam duduk sini nak dekat RM1 ribu! Sini memang agak mahal. Turkish Lira adalah 1.5 kali ganda RM.

Ini lah Hilton Bosphorus. Ada beautiful garden besar yg boleh digunakan oleh hotel guests for a 1 km jog. Saya akui memang tak pernah pun mimpi nak duduk hotel cam ni. Syukur, dapat la jugak merasa.  


Biliknya besar. Balcony juga besar. With a beautiful view of the garden. Kalau nak bilik with view of the Bosphorus, kena la fork out RM1k++ per night. Ke RM2k++? Entah le. Dare not even find out...hihi...

Fyi, masa kami reached hotel, masa tu baru pukul 8:30 pagi and check-in time is 2:00 pm or earliest 12 noon. So kami ingat nak just leave our bags and start jalan2 ke town. But honestly we were very tired and a short nap would be heavenly. The reception staff knowing that we just got off a 10+ hour flight immediately made a call [may be to house keeping kot] and check if there is a room available [standard room]. She asked us to have a seat first at a [luxurious] sofa near reception while she tried to help us. Tak sampai 15 minit, she said yes, they do have a room and we can check-in in 15 minutes time. Like, wow! We really thanked her! Bila room dah siap, kami terus ke bilik and took a nap. It was such a blissful nap :)


Bangun dari nap kami rasa lapar sungguh. So apa lagi, cepat2 bukak bag dan out came maggi mee...hahahaha.... Nothing  like an instant fix to tackle hunger like mee segera..hihi.. And let me tell you, at that time the maggi mee had never tasted soooo good...hihi....

Ok, ni first few photos of Istanbul that I shot. Of street and people. Hence forth, I took thousands during the 2+ weeks duration. Literally thousands. How do I cope with the shameful and ridiculous total of shots [hahahaha...]? Saya bawak small laptop and external drive. So bila memory card penuh, transfer je ke computer and back em' up :). 

Dekat2 area hotel ada banyak restoran/cafes. Later2 saya found out belah2 malam, tempat2 tu sgt happenning. But that's not our cup-of-tea. 

More eateries. 

Dan ramai pelancung2 Arab. 

One thing Istanbul city ni saya suka sebab nampaknya semua dah settle. I mean tak der on-going projects la, jalan2 tutup sebab upgrades la, you know stuff like that yg buat nampak city tu cam tak siap lagi. Sini semua dah settle. Of course la ader juga a few here and there tapi tak le bothersome. 

Ini at the edge of [entering] the famous Taksim Square. Ada teksi stop. Teksi sini ok sebab pakai meter. Nanti later2 saya cerita story saya naik teksi kat sana.  


Ni Taksim Square. Ambil masa lebih kurang 15 minit jalan kaki dari hotel. Di sini juga ada the central station of the Istanbul Metro network. Later2 during the week, our tour guide kata, Taksim Square ni for the locals is the meeting place. Dari mana pun mereka, kalau nak kemana-mana, mesti kumpul jumpa kawan2 di Taksim dulu. Pas tu baru gerak ke tempat yg nak dituju. 

Kami noticed ada a few gerai kecik merah ni. Mereka jual roti, jagung bakar mostly. Mereka ni legal i.e ada kebenaran bergerai di situ. Once I saw [a few days later] ada penjual2 yg bertempiaran lari bila kereta polis [mini car] make its round. 

Once kami saw the Big Bus Istanbul, kami got very excited. Memang dah dari Malaysia my wife suggest kami try this bus tour. She said it'll be like a good initiation to know about the city. More of this later.

Tengah2 Taksim Square ni , ada tugu called the Republic Memorial untuk memperingati Bapa Kemerdekaan Turki, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. From one side, Ataturk diabadikan sebagai seorang jeneral tentera yang mengetuai Perang Kemerdekaan Turki pada tahun 1920. Pada arah yang lain pula, Ataturk digambarkan sebagai seorang pemimpin rakyat kepada penduduk-penduduk Turki yang terdiri dari petani, pekerja dan orang kebanyakan.



Suasana di Taksim Square. Sangat ramai tourists. Mungkin sebab Summer kot.

Tram yg boleh dinaiki untuk ke Istiklal [Independence] Avenue which is a shopping street. There will a post on Istiklal Avenue later2 :).

Kedai2 di pinggir dataran. Ramai wanita khususnya pelancung yg pakai garland bunga2 kat kepala mereka. Cute really.



Di sini juga banyak restoran2 makanan segera. Daaaaaaging je sajiannya!

Kami ada makan di salah satu restoran2 tu. Later2 akan saya buat satu entry pasal makan di sini.

Ni pemandangan Istiklal Avenue. Ramai orang tapi tak la sesak sgt sampai tak boleh gerak. Kami bercadang akan ke sini dan jalan sampai hujung later that week. 


Bersambung....

Di bawah ni saya senaraikan kesemua entries Istanbul saya:

No photograph may be reproduced, downloaded, copied, stored, manipulated, or used whole or in part of a derivative work, without written permission from Syed Amran. All rights reserved.