Breathtaking view from Vitosha Mountain

Weekend is here again. One of my colleague suggested Vitosha (витоша) mountain, which is one of the diamonds and is the symbol of Sofia. and the closest site for hiking, alpinism and skiing. My colleague mentioned that I should at least go there and take the lift up. And it’s just because it was the snow mountain I see through my window seat everyday.🗻

Scenic view from my seat <3

I dressed myself as warm as possible, now am up for the challenge.  I took the bus from where I stay and change to another bus to reach the cable car station, Simeonovo Lift, Sofia. It took around 30 minutes from ground to the peak of the витоша (Vitosha) mountain. You would probably lucky to see the view of Sofia from the top if the sky are clear and not cloudy, and yes I was lucky too! Return ticket costs 15BGN for adults.

Oh! they have ski school here too. You may enroll into their course if you're interested. I'm planning one for myself soon =)

View from the cable car.

Another view from the cable car.

Kids are practicing their snowboard and ski.

Bright sunny day!

The skies are blue and the view is just breathtaking. And this is the first time I’ve been to a Ski resort, at least I made a good progress enduring myself (at least not freezing) for staying on the ice for 4 hours. To be honest, at the very last hour, my feet started to give a sign that it almost reached their limit. So I had to jump to keep them warm while queueing for the cabin lift. They were so many people going back at the same time as the resort are closing in another 30 minutes and everyone don’t want to miss theirs! And the moment I reached home, turn the heater on, I went straight into the blanket. The after effect is no kidding! Despite that, another day well spent in far-far-away land! I’ll surely come back with warmer shoes next time! When it’s summer probably? 

XoXo,

нуруЛ 

Sofia city sight-seeing.

I didn't manage to make a proper city visit last weekend as am till fighting with jet lag. Now it's the 2nd weekend and I'm finally out for real!


Since this is my first time on metro as well, I decided to stop at Serdika. There are few tourist spot that you may visit within walking distance from there.

• Banya Bashi Mosque
• Cathedral Church Sveta Nedelya
• Sofia Synagogue
• Central Hall (Tsentralni Hali)
• Regional History Museum Of Sofia
• Complex Ancient Serdica
• President of Republic of Bulgaria
• Saint Sofia Monument

I heard there are free tours conducted by non profit organization and the most important things ~ English spoken! I didn't manage to join myself as the timing doesn't really fit my schedule. You can check it out here.

XoXo,

нуруЛ 

Public transport in Sofia

Oh yeah, weekend has finally arrived after a coldest week. 

Today is my first time on metro. I’m glad I’m back home in one piece. It was't that hard but the local said they weren't foreigner friendly. Even though their word are in Cyrillic, they have Romans too. Well I admit that it was confusing at first, but if you ride for the second time, you'll get a grasp on it.

I used monthly pass which covered buses, trams and metro. It only costs 50BGN monthly. They asked my for picture when making the card, it's just a 5 minutes job so I got my card with my picture on it and it costs me only 2BGN. For daily tickets or one-way ticket, they only sold at the metro stations at cash-only ticket machines or at a manned ticket booth; it cost just 1.60 BGN for one-way ticket.

For metro, just tap your card at the entrance, and there you go. You are not required to tag out as their exit doesn't have the tag scanner at the boom gate. You may refer to this link for details.

View from Serdika (сердика) Metro station

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Oh yeah, you can use metro Line 2 to reach airport as well, I have not try but will do it one day!

For buses, it's even easier. Make sure that you wait the bus at the right stop, so check your route and destination properly. For those monthly card holder, you can just board the bus without doing anything.Just show the card if they asked, in case they asked. But for my case, I never had to do that. You may buy the ticket from the conductor itself, and please remember to validate them.There is few yellow things that stick on the wall, used that to validate them (manually). You'll probably noticed them when you're in. Same like metro, it costs just 1.60 BGN for one-way ticket.

I've never board on tram yet, but I saw few in the city especially. Will give some comments once I did.

XoXo,

нуруЛ 

Chasing a dream.

There is no telling how many miles you will have to run while chasing a dream.

First day at work in BG office, bismillah...

Welcome view on my first day, lovely aren't they?

I've buffered 1hour to office just incase. My colleagues told me the rush hour can be crazy sometimes. I assume 1 hour is enough as the time taking yesterday was just 15 minutes.

The traffic was heavy, as expected. However I manage to reached office 15 minutes  early~ phew!

My journey for the 8th year continue here

May Allah ease everything.

XoXo,

нуруЛ 

Hello foreign land~

I arrived on Thursday, and I have to report duty right on the next Monday, 15th January 2018. That's give s me few days of buffer to get use to the place and environment, not to forget the weather which obviously will be the biggest challenge to me. I had travel assistant which provide 'settling assistance' service with me for the full 2nd day. She showed me around the city, public transport routes - metro and buses,  visit local internet and TV provider for internet package, open bank accounts, sign up for GSM, visit supermarkets in the neighborhood, see local medical and dental facility, and sports facilities - that's almost everything I need to get myself prepared for my journey. Oh, she found Halal butcher too! Errkk, I thought I'm gonna become a fully Vegetarian, but she's really not helping me with k! Ha Ha Ha!

So at the end of that, I had almost everything ready to start my new journey here. I do feel relieved.

The next day (Saturday), I'm gonna test myself taking public transport (bus) which will stop just right in front of office building. Closest Metro are further away. And I'm also thankful, the bus stop and metro station are just 3minutes away from my apartment.

Am all set!

XoXo,

нуруЛ 

A new chapter of life.

Everyone exists in this world has their own purpose to live; that applies to everyone including me. 

I made an extreme decision which whenever I look back, I couldn't believed that was me. Nevertheless, after so many obstacles, red tapes I couldn't count; as they were so many of them...I am here standing on my own. 

To be honest, it obviously wasn't an easy decision, and it wasn't a smooth process either. I almost gave up, yes almost! I only planned, but Allah’s plans are better than my dreams. He is the one who made this possible and He makes everything up to this and I accepted what He has prepared for me. 

I did not regret for choosing this path. But I’m very grateful to be able to make such difficult decision which probably not many will choose. As a believer, I believed this has been written and I’m just an executer. I truly believed there must be a reason for this and I have faith in whatever Allah has planned for me. #happinessinaforeignland

“Allah will make everything beautiful at the right place, at the right time, for the best reason. ALLAH is the best of Planners.” – [Quran, 3:54]

XoXo,
нуруЛ

The very first day.

The farewell drama almost come to an end, it's finally the time to wave real-goodbye to everyone.

The feelings was heavy, but I made it through. I walked myself passing the immigration at the same time I'm still able to hear my nephew calling my name. My heart sobbing, but rushing to catch the aero-train to the Satellite buildings as the departure time will be in another 45 minutes; I don't want to miss my flight; or I can't afford to miss it. Entering the departure hall, quickly I look for an empty seat and continue sobbing. There is one Mat Salleh sat in front of me probably noticed that I'm crying, and he probably understand my situation just by looking at me and he ignored me and let me layan my own perasaan. >.<

The feeling of leaving was terrible, I really hope I don't need to experience this next time. 

Am flying with British Airways, KL -> Heathrow -> Sofia. A little longer as it's going to transit in London and then back to Sofia. After 13 hours, the flight safely landed in Heathrow around 530AM in the morning, and the next flight to Sofia is at 8AM. After unwind and refreshed myself, I then headed to the gate for my next flight. I am started to feel anxious when I saw their faces - the locals, the serious and un-friendly faces. Tried to calm myself down, and I was telling myself, "This is nothing, we had this kind of faces in Malaysia too. Not everyone are friendly to anyone, that's just you." I feel slightly better.

Finally after close to 3 hours flight, we touched-down on the land of Sofia - the real destination. The Cyrillic alphabet welcomes me from everywhere. I do expect this. So I dragged myself to Baggage collection - and I had to rush as someone is already waiting for me outside. I had 4 supersize baggage, 2 of them were extra-heavy! I already predicted that I'm going to have a hard time stacking them up onto the trolley. I've tried my best for the 2 of them and it was successful, and come the 3rd one I'm starting to struggle. I want to ask for help, but no one looks like willing to help me. I'm exhausted but still tried to stack them up but failed tremendously. Thank God, there is one middle-age-man came to me and offer to help. He probably see that I'm struggling for quite sometime already. 😢 I think he's  British by the look as well as he speaks fluent English; didn't notice his accent as I was panting talking to him. Nevertheless, I'm so glad I met someone like him. Regardless of who he is, I felt so indebted to him. At least, there are still someone with a kind heart exists.

Not to be hypocrite, I did have some prejudice thinking towards other people when I was struggling earlier. But then not long after that, I was slapped by my ownself, "who am I to judge them?". I was then realized, I shouldn't behave that way. When that feelings came, I keep reminding myself not to be one as we never have the right to judge other people.

And again, if that situation ever happened, I will never learn that there are still good people around me. Lesson learnt, let's try to think as positive as we can. The world is still filled with good people, if you can't find one, be one.

Everytime you judge someone, you reveal a part of yourself that needs healing.

XoXo,

нуруЛ

My first footsteps in Sofia.

I was so lucky to have someone to pick me up from the airport, else I would be even more exhausted looking for my accommodation. To keep it short, I had everything ready even before I bought my flight ticket to Sofia. I'll try my best to create another post on the steps and procedure of applying job here, later...

She sends me directly to my accommodation. On our way back, while enjoying the winter scenery, I managed to interview her as she doesn't look like a Bulgarian to me, no local accent - and yes I'm curious. You know, curiosity can killed! So I got the answer that she's Irish (obviously she's from Ireland), married to Bulgarian and she had been living here in Sofia for about 10 years. She works in a few countries including her home country as well as United Kingdom. So I asked her, which one she prefers comparing those 3 - and I kind of surprise she said she loves to be here. For her, it's more laid back, peaceful, unlike Ireland or United Kingdom. And even on the safety aspect too, she added! I'm more surprised hearing that. I made some research on that. Oh yea, Bulgaria is the 28th safest country in the GPI (Global Peace Index) and Malaysia is on the 29th. That's surprise me more! >.<

So we reached at my so called home. I'm nervous, but it was perfect! It's just nice for single or couple living in the city. It was a new landed apartment, and I truly love it because I'm the first tenant =) so I had everything new!

Oh on my way back home, I managed to get a local simcard (prepaid), just to let my family knows I safely arrived in Sofia. It costs me just 6Leva for that. You have few Gigabytes of data as well ask for call. The currency rates at the moment I'm writing this is approximately 1Leva = MYR2.50.

You can get from few Telco company, but I choose Telenor as that the only choice I have at that moment. However, some other telco company doesn't let foreigners to buy their simcard for some reason, but I don't bother to ask further.

Unpacking stuff, get myself a hot shower and I managed to sleep like a baby even in unfamiliar places. For that, I'm so proud of myself. 😀 I woke up in the morning, and my phone clock is showing 3 in the morning. Ahhhh, now I had jet-lag. Forcing myself to sleep a little bit more. The time difference; Malaysia is 6 hours ahead of Sofia and Sofia is 2 hours ahead of London.

Enough for now, will continue in the next post.

XoXo,

нуруЛ 

Strong is the only choice I have.

It was the hardest good-bye all my life. Never been into a situation where you will reside thousand miles away from your family and friends. In an unfamiliar place, which no one you can count.

However it was my choice... so I had to be strong no matter what.
I am not sure what future holds, but I look forward to see what they prepared for me. I try to influence it but it's really out of my control and some part of me is really happy about it, some other part does worried me. Let's put everything aside, whatever is going to happen will happen, so I've to get through it no matter what. And that's what life is all about. Embrace it... And that's it.

"It's supposed to be hard. If it were easy, everyone would do it."

XoXO,

нуруЛ

Leaving doesn't mean forgetting.

"Just because you leave the place you call home, where you found your love doesn't mean you'll ever forget the people or the memories."

XoXo,

нуруЛ