29/7/23: Muse, Bukit Jalil

Sat 29/7/23

This was my second Muse concert after the first one, also in KL in 2007. I was recovering from diarrhea, was contemplating to forego, but went to the concert eventually. We went quite late, only reaching the venue at 7.30pm so parking was a hassle and we had to park far from the national stadium.

RM30 parking away from the stadium

We were at the Zone C Free Standing area, which is far from the stage, so I didn't expect much, just to come and enjoy the music with visuals from the screen. I thought the sound system was way too loud (maybe I am just old). We then moved towards the seated area to fill the empty seats and enjoyed the concert from there. 

Zone C free standing

moved to the seated area

Here's the setlist that I got from the internet:

Muse KL 29/7/23 setlist

Time is Running Out from seated area

Overall, I probably would enjoy it more if I was nearer to the stage where I could see the action live instead from the screen. And I would probably be semi deaf the next day if I did that lol. 

Bangkok 2024

Sat, 13/1/24

This was a 4D3N trip for a SPE Workshop at Doubletree Sukhumvit. We took the 1450 MH782 flight from KUL to BKK. Since we arrived at the airport quite early, we used the Golden Lounge facility while waiting to board. For the inflight meal, we had chicken basil with white rice. 

chicken basil with white rice

The number of tourist arrival at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi far exceeds KLIA, there were a few immigration posts at the airport. We were directed to the second one as the first one had to be closed due to the sheer number of people. The passport check process took more than an hour. 

From the airport, we took the airport limo to our hotel Ibis Sukhumvit 24, arriving at 6.15pm. After refreshing ourselves, we ventured out for dinner by walking to a halal restaurant Usman Thai. We had seafood tom yam, fried squid with salted egg and omelette (telur dadar). The restaurant would be our go to place for the next 3 days of our stay in Bangkok.

hotel Ibis Sukhumvit 24

dinner at Usman Thai

After dinner we walked to the EmSphere shopping mall which housed Ikea Sukhumvit. We didn't buy anything here, we were just amazed with the size of the mall which also sells luxury brand cars. 

From the mall, we walked back to Ibis hotel through the Queen's Park.

Sun 14/1/24

We took the Chao Phraya Tourist Boat hop-on-hop-off starting from Sathorn and went back from Rajinee. We bought the all day pass for 200 THB per person. From our hotel, we took the MRT from Phrom Phong to Siam via the Sukhumvit line and then change to the Silom line from Siam to Saphan Taksin. We bought the MRT ticket by cash at the train station cashier. Credit card is not accepted. You could also buy the ticket from the vending machine. 

in the MRT

The street food stalls at Pranok stop looked interesting, but we didn't try them. We also stopped at Tra Chang to see the Grand Palace from the outside and Wat Arun, also from the outside. 

food stall at Pranok

Grand Palace

Wat Arun

Chao Phraya river

Going back to our hotel that afternoon, we alighted at Rajinee, walked through the Flower Market then took the MRT Sanam Chai to Sukhumvit via the blue line. From Sukhumvit station, we walked to Usman Thai to have lunch of seafood tom yam, beef basil and steamed seabass. Since we were still full that night, we only had dessert of mango sticky rice, again at Usman Thai.

steamed seabass

mango sticky rice

After lunch, we went back to Hotel Ibis then checked in to Doubletree Sukhumvit for the SPE Workshop tomorrow.

Doubletree Sukhumvit

Mon-Tue 15 - 16/1/24

The SPE Workshop day. Partner In Crime went back to KL first on Monday while I went back on Tuesday night. Could have stayed another night if not for another workshop planned for 17/1/24, but was postponed to a later date, and I didn't want the hassle of changing flight tickets.

I didn't want to take any risk from traffic jam, so I departed early from Sukhumvit at 4pm to catch the 8pm flight to KUL. I took the hotel limo to the airport which have in car wifi service and bottled water.  For the flight back to KUL I had fried rice with chicken basil.

hotel limo

fried rice with chicken basil

CMN-KUL

Sun 11/2/24

We would be heading home today from Casablanca. After breakfast at the hotel, we drove to Casablanca airport, 35 km away via the highway with the toll costing 6 MAD which we paid by cash. Before returning our rental car at the airport, we filled the tank at a nearby petrol station. 

We returned the car at Avis which is located near to Terminal 2. From there, we walked to Terminal 2 where it is accessible to walk to Terminal 1 inside the building. We exchanged back all our remaining Morroccan Dirham cash to EUR (547 MAD to 48 EUR) as it was illegal to bring the Morroccan currency out of the country (same like in Tunisia). Our wallets were checked by the officer to ensure there is no Morroccan money brought out. The transaction in the shops in the airport terminal are all in EUR. 

Avis near to Terminal 2 CMN airport

As we still have a few hours before our flight, we checked into the Royal Maroc Air lounge. The food served tasted good, I had a helping of the beef skewer, spinach pasta, quiche and samosa. 

beef skewer and spinach pasta

Again, for the CMN-DOH sector, we were seated with extra legroom, thanks to the Qatar Airways call centre who helped to secure the seat with no charge. However, the in flight entertainment device was stuck (could not be lifted), so I used Partner In Crime's device, while Partner sat at the aisle seat as there was no one seated there. Our flight was delayed by an hour, an we landed at Doha 2 hours behind schedule due to heavy rain. Our flight made 5 turns around Doha before finally landing which was received by claps from fellow passengers. 

salmon with black glutinous rice for lunch on Royal Maroc

chicken with rice for lunch on Royal Maroc

muffin, yogurt and chicken sandwich for snack on Royal Maroc

We did still have an hour left to check in at the Qatar Airways lounge before boarding. However, it turned out that our flight back from DOH-KUL was also delayed. We waited at the boarding gate for almost 2 hours and finally take off at 5am. For the inflight meal, I had red thai curry chicken with rice while Partner In Crime had wok fired noodles with dumplings, the same meal we had during our flight in December 2023. We landed at KUL at 5.15pm, almost 2 hours behind schedule.

prayer room at Doha Qatar Airways lounge

red thai curry chicken with rice

wok fired noodles with dumplings

sandwich for snack on Qatar Airways

Casablanca

 Fri 9/2/24

After breakfast at Guest House Imdoukal, we made our way to Casablanca, a long journey of 325km. The stretch of road from our guesthouse to Demnate was better compared to yesterday, although we did have to drive a bit slower than on a national road. According to Abdul, the area from our guesthouse towards Demnate is located in a different municipal, hence there was more budget allocation for road repair and maintenance. 

It was also forecasted to rain today, after a long time. According to Abdul, his village was on drought since the last few years, less crops were cultivated and hence more villagers left to the city to look for jobs, including Abdul himself. It already started to rain when we left the guesthouse at 10am and continued on for the rest of the day until we reached Casablanca.

leaving the High Atlas

leaving the high Atlas

drizzling

leaving the high atlas

arriving at Demnate, at the foot of High Atlas mountain

picnic area near Demnate

arriving at Demnate town

We drove through a mix of village and national roads today before going into the highway at Settat, just a short stretch of about 90km to Casablanca from the total journey of 325km. Toll cost 22 MAD which we paid by cash. Thankfully we were not stopped by any gendarmerie today, perhaps also as it was raining. We stopped twice today to get coffee at a petrol station and to copy the recording of our dashcam halfway through our 7.5 hours journey. The view for today's journey was not really interesting after Demnate, plus it was also raining so there were no stops to take photographs. 

flat terrain after Demnate

flat terrain after Demnate

toll ticket

We finally arrived at our hotel Premier Classe Casablanca at 5.30pm. We booked thorugh booking.com which cost MAD 850 (RM 412) for 2 nights with breakfast and free basement parking. 

room at Premier Classe Casablanca

It was still raining that night, so for dinner we didn't walk too far and had tagine kofte (30 MAD) and brochette viande (skewered beef with rice for 45 MAD) and water (5 MAD) at a café nearby. We also bought some oranges and banana from the opposite fruit stall for 24 MAD. Then we walked back to our hotel to rest for the day.

tagine kofte and brochette viande (skewered beef with rice) 

Sat 10/2/24

Today's breakfast at the hotel was buffet style, which starts from 7am to 10am. We had scrambled eggs, croissant, bread, mint tea and coffee (from the coffee machine). After breakfast, we walked along the tram line route, first stop was Central Marketplace (Marche Central) where there were seafood and nuts stalls, United Nations Square, Mohamed V Square, Arab League Park and Sacred Heart cathedral.

buffet breakfast

United Nations Square

Casablanca tram

Mohamed V Square

Arab League Park

Arab League Park

Marche Central entrance

food stall at Marche Central

vegetables and fruits at Marche Central

Then we walked back towards the United Nations Square to go to the medina market where I bought a scarf for my mom.  From the medina, we walked towards the Hassan II mosque by the Atlantic Ocean via the seaside route. 

Casablanca Medina entrance

Casablanca medina

Casablanca medina

We performed our prayers at the Hassan II mosque which was free entrance for those who came to perform prayers. Tourists would need to pay an entrance fee to visit  the mosque. 

It was a total of 7.3 km of walking one way! Our legs were feeling tired already so the visit to the mosque was a welcoming rest for us while we also get to sit and perform our prayers.

Hassan II mosque by the Atlantic Ocean

Hassan II mosque by the Atlantic Ocean

Hassan II mosque

male prayer hall

male prayer hall

female prayer hall

female ablution room

Atlantic ocean

After prayers, we went back to the medina via a short cut from La Sqala into the maze of the medina. We had lunch of a local dish which we didn't know the name and just showed it to the waitress. It only cost 25 MAD. At the next door Petite Tarte boulangerie we bought some croissant, pastry and local desserts for MAD 56.5 We also bought coffee latte (MAD 10) and iced coffee (MAD 10) for takeway from a small coffee joint.

"Rick's Cafe" from Casablanca movie (although it was not filmed in Casablanca)

park near La Sqala

lunch peas and chicken

Petite Tarte boulangerie

Petite Tarte boulangerie

coffee stall

After that, we went back to one of the stalls at the medina to buy local Moroccan robes and back to Central Marketplace to buy walnuts and almonds. I suddenly felt thirsty and wanted to have mint tea, so we went to the nearest café there at Boulevard Mohamed V while watching the finals of the football Asia Cup with the locals. 

watching the finals of the football Asia Cup with mint tea

After a long day of walking (about 15 km total!) we finally went back to our hotel to take a short rest and unload the stuff we bought. Then we walked a bit more to the boulangerie Antouki to buy some local almond biscuits (65 MAD) and then had dinner at Dar Al Mashawi for 95 MAD. 

last dinner in Morocco

It was then a wrap for the day to pack our bags as we would be leaving Morocco tomorrow.