8th Feb - Hiking Up to Albayzin

We walked into the alley and it forked into a left and right turn. The right one seemed to be going uphill; the best bet for us if we want to be on the right track to Albayzin. As the one ahead, I waited for everyone at the junction before turning the corner.

There was a man in dark hair and dark clothing pacing nearby. He eyed us for a moment and I felt chilled, perhaps we should kept going hurriedly?

He paced nearer and greeted in his deep voice, "Assalamualaikum."

I smiled happily and greeted back. "Waalaikumussalam." Here's a brother, yay!

"Where are you from?"

"We're from Malaysia."

"Are you going to Albayzin, see the mosque?"

"Si," I nodded and gestured, "Go here, right?"

"Si. Todo recto."

"Okay, todo recto." That means go straight.

He hesitated and continued the rest in Spanish word by word. "Ir a la dezquita."

"Okay.." I mumbled, paying attention.

"Subir la escalares," he motioned with his fingers to walk upwards. I've seen enough signboards to know escalares means stairs. And then he smiled. "Ask for Mirador San Nicolas."

"Mirador San Nicolas," I parroted. "Okay. Straight, left, stairs." I smiled. "Muchas gracias."

"De nada," he nodded and resumed waiting quietly by the street. We girls continued our journey. I was pitifully hiding a giddy grin.

"Muslim lady in hijab is easily recognizable. I like it best when we meet people by the road and give salam to each other," I smiled to Umair walking closest to me.

Felt so loved, don't you agree? Walk anywhere on this earth and meet different people and despite differing in races and nationalities, the one thing that makes us family is our one and only faith in Allah.

"He's got the sujud mark on his forehead," Umair piped out.

"Yup. He's very handsome." The giddy grin broke out.

"Yes." Umair was using her tone reserved for apprehending a sengal me. "And he's got the sujud mark on his forehead as well."

"I said he's handsome after considering every aspect." Most importantly he had the decency to greet a fellow Muslim when he recognizes one. He was also older and easy on the eye- I slapped myself.

We climbed the steps with happy thoughts.

Shopping is A Domestic Skill All Ladies Should Perfect

My travel mates really love shopping.

Being in Spain where Zara originated, high-branded outlets on sale at every turn of the head, and our accommodations being just next to MANGO, H&M, Bershka, Blanco, Sfera among others, you guess where they start running to once the leash was off. We went to six cities altogether and at all six cities, there was always time allocated for shopping!

I usually spend my time during that free moment in our self-tailored itinerary by walking through maze of alleys, staring at the blue sky, saying hi to older people and dogs and the occasional poking my head through cafes. My motto was pass through, take pictures, have fun. I had no intention of buying beautiful Bershka leather jacket for €30 or Stradivarius handbags for €10 each. (ayat penyedap hati, lol)

But then I went inside Pull&Bear and saw that their t-shirts started from as cheap as €2 and their bootcut denims started from €4. Went inside Zara and saw the perfect blouse and matching cardigan for mom..

I picked them all up and walked to the counter. Now I understood what took the girls by storm.

Mama, I had bought Raya shirts for the family. You can relocate papa's budget for my keropok Masjid Aman charity drive.

My hunt for a backpack brought me to El Corte Ingles and there was my baby waiting for me on the rack. A Deuter ACT Lite 35+10 in cranberry fire colour tagged €80. Two years ago I bought for Along a £60 lime green Futura and comparing it to this €80 new best friend of mine, I'd be a fool if I didn't buy it then!

Of course, a bigger fool if I didn't use it. Now I own an excellent hiking/trekking backpack. I have more than a valid reason to scale Switzerland again.

After we missed our bus to Cordoba and had to fork out €55 each for the next train ticket and then this Operation Bring The Deuter Home, I had to cut some of the money allocated for souvenirs, haha. I think I bought the less but was the most broke among us seven. Loser.

"After this, the seven of them will not be seen in City Stars, Costa nor even Justa."
Umair anak Sir Man

City Stars is a megamall shopping complex in Madinat Nasr, Cairo and it is way bigger than MidValley in Malaysia. A one-way taxi from my place cost at least LE20. Costa is the coffee joint we frequented and I like best their latte frap around LE20 (boring yeah, but I like. Shut up.) Justa on the other hand, is the cafeteria at our college where zombie-in-the-morning person like me go for brunch. Their cup of latte is LE3 and a beef burger with egg is LE5.50.

But then the next day I arrived in Egypt, us housemates went out for a reunion dinner at Kiwi.. So much for being tight on the budget, huhu.

A Case of Misplaced Audacity

7.45pm
We split for shopping and promised to meet back at the nearest tourist information kiosk at 9.20pm before heading together to Plaza de la Merced. I went hunting for a backpack.

8.00pm
End up at the end of the road, there's a tourist info kiosk at the corner of the square. Apparently I had found our meeting point. Went back hunting.

8.50pm
No luck. Most shops are closing and drunk Spaniards messing around club-hopping. Made my way to the meeting point.

9.00pm
At the meeting point. Was 20 minutes early and got bored. Studied the Malaga map on the kiosk board and realized a grave mistake. I was not at our designated meeting point; I was at Plaza de la Merced already.

Memorized the map and scurried back inside the maze of an alley to find the other tourist info kiosk.

9.15pm
I couldn't find it. I decided it was best to stay put somewhere open and relatively safe (the Plaza) rather than walking around alone in the dimly-lit alleys of Malaga. The girls will come to the Plaza sooner or later and I was sure they would trust me to be safe and not worry about me.

Somehow.

Walked past a kebab joint and saw a group of guys eating outside it. Saw the face of a Malaysian. Raised an eyebrow and walked past them to take a seat in the middle of the square.

Crossed my legs and counted the minute till the girls reach the plaza.

A guy approached. "Macam kenal."

"Eh. Fayyadh!"

9.26pm
He had to return to his friends eating at the joint. Thank you and God for the 11 minutes of company, haven't seen him in three years and suddenly the Beijing guy and the Cairo girl met up in Malaga instead.

"Kau baik-baik tau, dah la sorang.." Yeah, I felt like kicking myself, too.

There was a couple drinking with their friend on the bench next to me and people kept walking past me towards a club just beside the kebab joint. Dogs unleashed walking with their masters and boy, it was cold and boring. I couldn't take out my iPod for fear of attracting more attention.

Sorely stood out being the only one sitting alone waiting at the square.

Turned around every few minutes and saw that the guys were still at the joint. Bravery is being the only one who knows you're afraid, haha.

9.43pm
The guys left. I prayed the girls will hurry up and get here already..

9.58pm
Saw the guys coming out from an alley into the other side of the road, walking towards where Fayyadh said they parked their cars.

10.00pm
I would wait till 10.30pm, if not I would go back to the hotel. I would go through the main roads so everything should be fine, insya-Allah.

10.04pm
Saw the girls at the far corner of the plaza. Stood up and steadily walked towards them.

Sarah turned and saw me. She alerted the others. She ran towards me with her arms open.

I broke into a run.

Saya Semakin Tidak Mendapat Simpati Masyarakat

Malam. Suasana lengang tiada penduduk lain di sekitar. Jalan sedikit curam dan berbukit ke bawah. "Jom lumba lari." Dan saya pun berlari.

"Jatuh kang. Dah la kasut londeh," Umair komen dari belakang mengingatkan pada kasut berlari Nike ini yang dirasakan semakin longgar. Kosa kata Bahasa Melayu saya semakin lemah, sebab itulah tersalah guna istilah ketika merungut petang tersebut.

"Jatuh golek-golek karang kitorang gelak. Amik video hantar ke PERUBATAN. Budak buas di Cordoba kami kena jaga," Sarah menambah. Saya berhenti berlari kerana menahan perut ketawa.

"Pastu tag Dinmat. Wartawan PERUBATAN terjatuh bergulingan di Cordoba."

"Tag Abang ***. Ni ha adik kau buas sangat," Umair memberi cadangan.

-__-"

---

Bas ke Granada bertolak tepat pada masanya. Ketepatan warga Sepanyol sangat dikagumi. Kami membaca doa naik kenderaan dan saya menarik nafas lega. Biskut McVities dikeluarkan seraya dikunyah menggantikan glucose yang habis berkat berlari dan risau tertinggal bas tadi.

Kami melepasi bukit kecil di sebelah kiri dengan hijau lapang kemas dipotong dan rumah kayu di puncaknya.

"Cantiknya hijau dia. Mesti Atiqah suka," ujar Sarah di tempat duduk sebelah tingkap.

Biskut masih dikemam maka saya hanya mampu mengangguk penuh semangat sambil membuat bunyi ganjil tanda setuju yang amat.

"Atiqah jadi biri-biri pastu kita amik gambar," sambung Sarah penuh ceria.

-__-"

You Don't Have To Be Friendly To Be Kind

Bapak aihh pendek sampai kena jengket (-_-')

I approached the reception. "Hi, evening. I want to check in for the reservation under (full name), please."

The guy behind the counter nodded. We didn't get as boisterous reception as that by Andreu in Madrid.

"These are your room keys. I'll work on these passports and you can come back for it in half an hour."

"Okay then. See you in a bit."

---

A good hour later, I went down to the lobby. "Hola. I'm here for our passports."

"I'm very sorry but I'm not done yet. I have a lot other works to do." He turned in his chair towards the other computer and reached for the passports.

"That's okay," I flipped open my notepad.

"You are from Malaysia, right?"

"Yes, we all are."

"I like Malaysians. Malaysians are nice people. They come here a lot, in groups."

"Yeah, thanks. Spaniards are kind too."

"But I really don't like Malaysian passport."

"Eh? Why?"

"Because my computer doesn't read this passport. I don't know why. So it takes time and I have to do things.." He paused; searching for the word.

"Manually," I offered.

"Yes. But I like Malaysians very much."

"Thanks. Have you been to Malaysia?"

"No. But maybe some other time. They said it is cheap over there."

"Compared to here, yes Malaysia is cheaper."

"Once I have the time and money." He paused. "I need more time than money."

I laughed.

"I heard it's 1500 for the air ticket. And the rest is cheap, the food.." He trailed off.

Are we talking euro? My mind registered Egyptian pound. #fail "Yeah, probably. Somewhere around that number."

---

He doesn't look convinced.

"We actually came from Egypt. We study there."

"There's a lot Malaysians studying in Morocco and Egypt."

"Yeah." I don't like being labelled common but what else can I do? Lol.

"So how is Egypt now?"

I am screwed, I haven't been following the news nowadays. "So far is stable and safe. They try not to involve us foreigners with their demonstrations."

"Okay. How is the condition there?"

"It's better with the new parliament. They're trying to do things better this time."

"But the military is still in power."

"Yeah, but the parliament will hold up."

"They ousted Mubarak but the dictator still remains."

"And they will be okay. They're working towards it."

"The Egyptians really are trying to change."

"Yes. God help them."

---

"So what's your name?"

"Pablo."

"Hi Pablo. My name is Atiqah."

"Atika? That's a nice name."

"Thanks. Pablo is a nice name too."

"Atika.." he mumbled as he typed whatever he was typing. "Nice name."

I reached for a complimentary candy. He resumed typing.

"Siti Nurul is the name or surname?"

"Siti Nurul Suhaila is the name. You can put Binti and everything behind it as surname."

"You have a lot of names," Pablo appeared to be whining. "Mohd is short for Muhammad, si?"

"Yes. Binti means 'the daughter of'."

"Oh." He seemed to be having an epiphany. "I see. So Bin means 'the son of'."

"Correct."

---

Pablo was telling me the history of Mezquita while processing our registration. I think I was holding him up, but he didn't seem to mind :)

"So why is it still called Mezquita?"

"Because it's a meszquita," he answered matter-of-factly. "But you can't pray there." He made the gestures for takbir. "If you try to pray there, the guards will stop you."

"Yea, so I've heard.." Downcast look.

"It's not nice, but it's true."

"Eh?" I was surprised. Do we have a sympathetic non-Muslim here?

He eyed me and repeated.

I smiled.

---

"I think the Mezquita is the most famous mezquita in the whole world. Everyone comes here to see it."

"It is very famous. You don't have Cordoba without it."

"It is the number one mezquita in the world, am I right?"

"Not really. The number one will be Mecca and in Madinah."

"Mecca?" He repeated. "Mecca is a mezquita?"

"Yup."

Oh. Should have told him about Al-Aqsa as well.

---

"So what time does it opens?"

"It's open at 8.30-10.30 in the morning and the admission is free."

Oh, I thought Umair said we needed to pay for entrance.

"But there will be a mass for the Catholic at that time. You can go watch if you want."

"Oh." Deadpanned. "Alright."

"From 11 onwards is for the general admission. You have to pay €8 for entrance."

"O-kay."

"That money you will pay to the Catholic church," he emphasized on the last two words. "It is important that you know that you will be paying to the church."

I nodded slowly.

"Because the Mezquita is the Catholic's now."

Someone just flipped on the sad switch.

---

Pablo processed only two passports and gave me back the other five.

"Okay. Now I need these two to come down and sign this receipt."

"That's me, I can sign it now." I pointed at the first receipt.

"Oh, Nur Atiqah. I'm lucky your passport was the first one."

"You're very lucky." I signed. "I'll tell Suhaila to come down after this."

"Okay."

"Is it okay? Just two passports? Or you will need the other five back after this?"

"No it's okay!" He rushed.

I laughed. "More work for you, eh?"

"It's more hard work for me, si. Two is enough. This is just for formalities. It's okay, as long as you don't have problem with the police." He smiled.

"No we won't. We're good girls." I stacked the passports. There was something weirdly untruthful about that sentence. "Okay Pablo, see you after this. Have a good night."

"Okay, you too."

---

"Hola Pablo."

"Hola Atika."

"We're going out. Here's the keys."

"Gracias." He sent us off with a smile.

"De nada."

Vandalizing Madrid

A visit to Madrid is not a visit to Madrid if you don't go to Estadio Santiago Bernabeu. It was winter thus they close early and open too late for us to chance a tour inside.

As a good family member (oh this is an inside joke), I did as per instructed through Twitter and voila!


I am too nice of a good kid to vandalize, so we had to improvise.

---

Madrid was a beautiful city. The plazas were wonderful. The pigeons and the gardens were heavenly. The coffee smelled great. The people were kind and conscious and helpfully pointed out "There are three suspicious girls walking behind you looking at your bags. Be careful." hurriedly in Spanish.

Andreu our hostel receptionist greeted us happily with enough enthusiasm for a room of people. The rebajas were endless. The night lived on.

Kukuxumusu had their headquarter here so that was the first store I excitedly entered to pick up a few souvenirs. Next to it was a souvenir shop owned by a family of Moroccans Muslim. In an act of imminent pride at finding a fellow Muslim in the land where crosses prevailed, I had to have a picture taken with them. Pardon the jakun-ness.

A visit to Spain is not a visit to Spain if you don't go to see the bulls. Prior to departing, we ran a check on the bullfight and I realized in horror they actually hurt and drain the blood out of the bull before killing it and butchering it at some high-class restaurant. The animal activist in me protested and the sissy part of me scurried under the cover at the dangerous world we lived in.


We did visit the Plaza de Toros at Las Ventas. It was winter thus the bullfight was not in season and I was saved by God's grace. He knew I would throw a fit if we did step in to watch the ring.

There was a mosque nearby and we planned to Dhuha there but then..