This is Crazy Long… On Euro Trip ;-)
Tuesday, June 14th, 2005Well, have been putting this aside for quite long enough. Somehow, this report gotta be done (obviously for the unknown). Mom keep nagging me during the journey to keep things recorded (so that my descendants can read them, said she). Here goes, as simple as I can, as fun-filled and authentic as I can, yeah!
13 May 2005
Yeah yeah ! Finally set foot on THE
Europe ! Apparently not all airports really take good care of how they present themselves.
Good eg ; KLIA,
Singapore ,
Bandar Seri Begawan ,
Dubai
Bad eg ; London Heathrow (who cares if you enjoyed your trip to its toilet?)
Well, to put it in words, Heathrow airport is like a warehouse, simply decorated to just functional level. Some construction areas weren’t bothered to be covered. Anyway!
Most special thing in Londin is…. TOTAI lo! (Or Soh Chai, kindly refering my brother Ryan Soo) The temperature is cool. With wind, it gets chilly. At that point of time, I do like the weather, but some health problem comes with that which I’ll share later. And, what people commented about the cleanliness and smell is basically true… Maybe because Ryan didn’t spare us the agony of having our luggages dragged across many many streets and some tunnel before we finally reached his place. Really admire his ability to walk, and his spirit to save money and at the same time endure more physical hardship (to us). He saved £0.80 (appx RM5.60) EVERYTIME he decided to walk.
Pokok took us around. CITY TOUR…. On foot…. Tiring (very!) but seen lotsa interesting stuff like the red phone booth, red double decker, black cab, bendi bus (which slithers like a snake), Westminster Abbey, Big Ben and parliament building, King’s College London, House of Guards, London Eye, Trafalgar Square (many many people there. Hey. It’s
London !)
Thanks to jetlag, I’m sleepy and hungry at the wrong times. By the way, Brunei Airlines food is simply yucky. Picture what yucky means.
Pokok has a nice room and memek hangs her spectacles at the door…
Walked a lot! I’m sure I lost and gain a few pounds here and there.
Here – Burnt a lot of callories
There – Eat back and gain some pounds. But lost many pounds £ at the same time. Duh.
Went to a Japanese restaurant which served food in a scary HUGE plate. O ya, Pokok cooked spaghetti and pizza for us. Hehe.
As we were walking along the streets, we noticed no chinese and I said “The next chinese we meet will be Shaw Hee”. And God said “So be it” and we met Shaw Hee at the back of a street….
Brenda is a great buddy. Do hope to see her but considerately, I don’t. She’s having examm. May God bless her.
May God bless us all to be healthy, to be safe and have fun. Protect our dry lips and hearts and grant us abundant ATPs for our feet. AMEN.
14 May 2005
Today, we still walked a lot. Thanks to Pokok, we are allowed to take a bus. Yeah, we got to hop on a Double Decker! £1.20 (RM8.40) per person, one way. Imagine, one bus trip costs RM9, double decker or not!!! Along the way, we tried not to convert the currency anymore. But when you’re just there, you can’t help it. We went for a cruise with Catamaran cruise (£19.80 for 3) along brownish, muddy
Thames River (many bridges joining both side of land, one of it is
London Bridge ). One hour cruise to
Greenwich , a place where the east is separated from the west, as many knows. But as many doesn’t know, it’s not pronounced as Green-Witch, but rather Gree-nwich. The cruise guide did gave some explanations and jokes, but with accent so heavy, I have no idea what he’s talking about.
At
Greenwich , we saw ‘The Line’. It’s not imaginary but really do exist. The Royal Observation (like a museum) is free. Oh how we love free stuff in
London ! As the name
Greenwich might potray, it’s lush green green grass. Those you can’t resist the temptation to sit down and relax. Many people came with their dogs, and dog owners must pick up after their dogs. I see bins for dog shits… Ek ek. I was asked not to take pictures in a Maritime museum.
Tower Bridge stood grand. That’s why it’s most mistaken as
London bridge… Fact is,
London Bridge is the simplest grey bridge. If we had walked on the other side, maybe we’ll check out the top of the towers. Walk walk walk until we came to
Tower of London . It’s closed but it’s big and mysterious. You know yeoman? I also dunno. They wear red uniform with the words ER on their chest, most of them got big belly. Haha. Took photos with them lo…
Then walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk (I’m trying to give the impression that the distance is really really really… ya know) to
St Paul Church . Feet started to ache yesterday and continues today. But
St Paul Church is worth the walk! The gigantic door is almost ten times higher than I am. Weather and atmosphere then was nice. Architecture nice but dirty (burnt before, sayeth Fook).
Then Pokok gave us a break again by allowing us all in a bus. Phew! (at £1.20 and pretty tired, didn’t bother to do calculations).
By the way, we saw ‘street performers’/ beggars. Dressed up nice and special. They stood there to be photographed. Then you put money in the bowl in front of them. Should give 1p only. It’s enough anyway….
15 May 2005
When it’s unwindy, you feel like sweating. That’s morning. We went Tesco (yes, Tesco! Same blue red white) shopping for Pokok today. We have all 3 main meals at home today. Mom cooked good although ya know, some Western stove doesn’t have a real fire. With some calculations again, a full lunch/dinner home cook costs about £1 per person (RM7.80) but if we eat out, one hot dog costs £2.50 and above. Imagine RM21 for a hot dog bun. I should stop calculating, makes my own blood sad.
OK. Then Sunday servie!!~! A day to remember because today, all 5 members of Soo family attend Sunday service today. Never happen in history, I guess. Praise God. Babee and Peter at Good Shepherd (
Sandakan ) and we were at Hillsong London ! As I tried to film some cuts for HUSC, aiks… No camera allowed.
Walk along Oxford St. Expensive and unaffordable. We only bought a pair of scarfs for £5. And spent a couple of pounds for coffee at Nero caffe. Atmosphere was good. Many people but not too crowded.
Picadilly circus. Names with so many syllabus.
Tat place is smelly and dirty e. happening la.
London a candidate for Olympic 2012?
Praise the Lord.
Btw, about this the second/third day, I guess my skin is suffering some hereditary purpura? Where capillaries broke to the skin causing much irritation and pain.
17 May 2005
Yikes, woke up late. Planned to watch changing of guards!
So we rushed to
Buckingham Palace . Rush?? Royal stuff needs no rush. The whole process went damn slow. With the crowd and being late, it’s hard to get a nice view. It all depends on Pokok’s filming now, I stood among the crowd (now this kind of crowd, I don’t like) saw basically nothing and felt like fainting.
Then we went to a Dim Sum restaurant near
Covent Garden with William, who is Yen’s brother. He gave us a treat. Soon it started to rain, when it rains, it’s cold.
We met up with Shaw Hee for a cup of coffee at
Covent Garden . Lam Wai Man came as well. Some shows were going on with a lot of merriness. Had a nice time cathing up and a good excuse to not go anywhere with the rain.
As we moved on, we came across… Premier of Star Wars!! Lucky! Massive crowd! Now this kind of crowd I dun mind. Shaw Hee guessed maybe all stars of Star Wars were there. After that place, we say tata to Shaw Hee and Lam Wai and go back to cook dinner.
On the way back, we saw a white frozen pond! Man, only yesterday it was water that filled the pond. On a cold day, the water turned to ice!!~! Look, the bird is standing on the ice! That’s according to Totai Ryan…. As we have a closer look, apparently…. (sigh sigh), the pond was being emptied for cleaning work.
18 May 2005
After a few days hanging around near London Eye, we finally got on one this morning. Mom and
I. The half hour flight was good. Depends on how one sees it, actually. It’s just like the giant round round thing that we normally can find in an amusement park. But what’s special about London Eye is that you’ll get to see
London bird’s eye, and also admire their engineering work and smile as they took pictures of you…
Then planned to take a bus to Madame Tussaud, coz I need to be interviewed by Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah. But most of the road was being blocked, you know why? The Queen of England wanna meet memek!!! Haha…
On the real tune, it’s the change of Parliament (Hari Angkat Sumpah). As far as the road stretches from
Buckingham Palace to the parliament, as long as the line of people at the side of the road waiting to watch what’s going on. My guess is they’re all tourists. I mean, mostly tourist.
Mom started daydreaming. She said that when the Queen saw her, HM will get down from the car and say “You got a nice pink jacket. Would you like to have afternoon tea with me?” And my mom will answer “No, you need appointment….” In a cocky cocky way….
We saw the Queen first, in a car, following rows of horses, waving to the people. Mom , sweet like a kid, waved back. Then we saw Tony Blair, who sat in a car, not waving… Nobody waved to him, nobody recognize him. That’s why I said, maybe most people there are tourist. Mom waved at Tony Blair, and to her delight, he waved back. And memek was so happy…. Check out the videos….
Yes… as said, no rush in royal stuff. But to able to catch a glimpse of the Queen is worth noting.
Yeah, my appointments at Madame Tussauds. We were so busy meeting celebrities. Okay, they are fakeys…. Interesting, as I never seen such things before. London Eye + Madame Tussauds = £28/ person.
When finish Mdm Tussaud, still have time before Pokok get off from work. So we hang around at Regent’s Park. Parks in
Europe is really really inviting and cozy. Green green grass is for rolling and sitting and lying around. But in
Malaysia , you can only be safe to walk on the grass. Mom and I thought of resting and simple enjoy the air before Pokok started to torture us with miles of walking again. We saw some beach chair placed in the park. We settled there and so comfortable you may doze off.
Suddenly, a man came to us and asked if we got tickets. Mind half shut, I was like wha? What? Then it came to us that the chairs are NOT free. £2 for 4 hours, £1.50 for 2 hours. Why isn’t there any sign, mom asked. The man told us there is and point to a sign located so far far away, so small. Punked….. And we gave him £3 for 2 chairs for 2 hours…. Sob sob RM20 to sit on a chair? I can eat RM 2.50 meals at Section 17 for 8 times!!! Ok ok stop complaining. From here on, prices mentioned are for records, do not convert and cause a heart ache.
At night, we went for a musical theatre. Phantom of the Opera!!! Bought last minute, last seat section, almost the last row furthest away from the stage. Been told that they sold out every single night, for a few years already. It was £23 per person. Pokok said the show wasn’t up to standard. Mom doesn’t understand, but I do enjoyed myself very much. Their songs and orchestra is great.
Oh by the way, healthwise, I started to feel pain in my nose. I suspected nose bleed, which is true…
19 May 2005
This is mom’s best day. Pokok took us to
Camden Town . Equivalent to Chi Chong Gai/ . Many things to see, and many interesting people to look at. This part of
London is so different from where we were. SO many gothic style people in black hair, black shirt, black skirts/pants, vampire style of bold make-up. It’s nice and interesting. They make me feel a bit scary just by looking at them, but as conversations go by, they are just normal people. Pokok even mentioned that they’ll be happy to cooperate if you ask to take pictures with them.
For lunch, we ordered… (what’s the name again?) something like hot dogs but not. They stuff beef inside. Not panini, my guess. Anyway, also ordered some tap water. The toilet of that shop is crazy. The shop itself is shabby. A bit dark and crowded with tables and chairs , although not much customers. But the topilet was decorated so colorful and there was this kind of rattan chair which they hang in the front porch, decoratd with flowers and cushion. Spooky ?
We bought a hip-hop necklace for Peter. Mom bought some cheap jackets. And we both each got a pair of boots (£5 each pair). Now RM 35 for a pair of fur boots is alright. We walked to and fro the shops, and to the ATM machine and back to the shops. Mom isn’t tired, not at all. Pokok even got a nice scolding that he should bring mom here earlier!
Simple day. Sweet.
20 May 2005
We’re on a morning train to
Disneyland ,
Paris with Eurotrain.Supposed to check in half an hour before journey and we arrived at
Waterloo only half an hour before journey, forgetting the fact that we need to check-in behind the queues of people. Eventually they let us cut the queue…
We got on the train and it started to move towards Lil Europe. Ek ek ek… halfway the train stopped. 5 mins and slowly extended to an hour plus. Journey to
Disneyland takes about 5 hours, ya know. We enquire the train captain and really admire his politeness and professionalism, even we saw people pushing on him and leash out rude words…We spent our time playing poker cards… made out of their train menu,which we tore up and wrote numbers on it. Had a fun time playing Bluff. Mom surprised us by saying ‘I dun believe….. BUSHIT!’
Anyway, the train moved then… towards
London . To cut a long story short, we’re given full refund and also food voucher worth £18. Now that’s a lot of savings saved!! They arranged another way for us to get there. Train to
Paris town and switch to Metro underground tube and take 1 hr ride to Marne-la-Vallee where
Disneyland is. By the time we got there, it was already
8pm and the day is gone whereby the Park and the Studio is closed. So what’s happening would be
Disney Village . I can imagine as if almost all Disneylanders are right there at night. Food, shows, movies , basically having a relaxed time and find yourself in a colorful and cheerful world. Oh yes, we realized that we wasted one day which can be used to enjoy either the Park or the Studio (both required one full day to be maXXed). But to save £275 from Eurostar is worth it. Haha.
Disneyland , a wonderland a colourful land. The weather is cool and boots and coats are acceptable. We stayed in a
Mexico style hotel. Hence starts the bonjour and merci!
I would say I really enjoy myself there. I was smiling and laughing and having a great time. I forgot to be tired and the pain in my feet. Everything is great and for once, we have a more comfortable bed to sleep in instead of Pokok’s small air bed. (Brenda also owns an air bed, but hers is much more bigger and comfortable)
Videos speaks louder.
21 May 2005
For park entries and accomodation at
Disneyland , we spent £384. Breakfast is provided but what do we expect when they are feeding thousands? Not much choices and the usual. Flakes, croissants, mountains of cheese, multiple choices of coffee from machines, milk and orange juice. We ta paoed 2 bottles of juices away (but it went bad when wasn’t stored in cool). We left our bag, which contains our bottles in our hotel room. So I went back to get it, as Pokok and mom enjoyed the breakfast. I got the bag and met them only to realize that we forgot to put the bottles in the bag.
We have Pokok to go back with the bag and get the bottles. When he met us again at the breakfast place, he said “Mom, your daughter is better left unborn. The bottles are in the bag all the while’. Frankly I didn’t know, but I’m simply happy to kenakan him.
We entered Disney Studios as soon as it opens at
9am . Exciting rides and shows. First one was warned as ‘Might frightened some’. Mom started to get worried, in the end it was the children who came out crying and sobbing. Oh… These kids came to have fun and sweetly frightened in the first show… It’s obvious how parents love their kids, it’s obvious how ours love us. Mom also did a roller coaster ride. Photo as evidence.
There was this Lion King Musical, FOC but gotta get the tickets earlier. Too bad, we were not able to do so. It says tickets open for distributions at
3pm , we were there at
2.59pm and they are all given out already. So, the solution is, we sat in the teathre for a cup of coffee and watched the show.
We had a yummy hotdog for lunch. We shared, knowing the sumptous meal tonight at Cowboy show + dinner Euro 53/person. Disney Studios built to help people understand more about effects and stuff. Pokok especially loved the Motor Show, so are we if the lady behind us didn’t collapse. I gotta help and missed a great deal of the show. The lady was right behind me. Her daughter and her grandson were in tears. How’s she? Lord have mercy on them.
The Cowboy show was great. It was happening too. Something we never experienced before. Pokok suggested that we start a food fight.
22 May 2005
Down to
Paris town and checked in to Hotel Voltaire Republique, via Republique Metro Station, 200m and a confusing crossroad away. Dia punya lift can only fit 3 ppl. Since we arrived at late afternoon, decided to join the bus tour the next day.
Since we’re hungry we settled at a
Belgium restaurant. Looking at the menu, we have no slightest idea what was written in it, so it’s like, we’re ordering food basing on which French name sounds better. When we’re ready to order, the waiter asked “Would u like english menu?” haha… anyway, when we were ordering, it’s obvious that chicken was speaking to duck, and vv. Ordered ‘mulles’ which are mussels, oh my qwash, tasted so yummy. When we’re done, the waiter gave us another plate, FOC! Offer, he said. We ordered wine since it’s cheaper than soft drinks and mineral water , and gallons of tap water as it’s free.
Entering
Paris , the Metro subway is a turn-off. Dirty, smelly, nothing like
London . Instead of gentlemen in suits and tie, there are Africans with boombox, beggars sleeping on the platforms (much warmer). Major deduction for
Paris City .
We took Metro to Champ-Elysees. Eventhough it’s obvious that the shops are closed, mom wanted to have a look at the
LV shop door, regardless of my shoes. O yes, when I’m off from Dland, I started to feel I am wearing the wrong shoes. It gets painful after a few hours of walk. Had a cup of coffe outside Pomme de Pain. A muslim French came to us begging and the tables in the Pomme de Pain. Suddenly got drama! A guy staff from Pain rushed out, pulled her hair and pushed her away. Oh yes, he tried to protect us, but he did it wuite roughly. Some Muslim passers-by shook their heads in disapproval and motioned No No. The lady beggar flung her handbag at him and he tried to kick back only to be pulled back by his colleagues. Obviously, they think he overdid it too? Then she cursed him very very loudly in French and pointed violently at him, shouting and swearing, walking away, dignity lost. It was a commotion….
After the coffee which is about 10 ml only and superbly bitter, I thought we can go back to hotel and finally rest my tired but faithful feet. But no no, when we realize that
Beauvais ,
Paris airport is 2X the distance to
Disneyland ! Gotta accompany Pokok to find an internet connection and settle how are we going to get to
Beauvais . Oh, got shuttle rupanya… We just gotta wake up earlier day after tmr lo. Settle, praise the Lord. Was worried that we have to leave
Paris tmr night.
23 May 2005
We joined an Open tour as we only got one day in
Paris . While waiting for the bus to come (which was one hour late), we met an Aussie lady in later age. She loves travelling.
Paris is beautiful. Architecture and all. Weather was still cool. Saw many interesting stuff like Notre Dame, Trocadero,
Eiffel Tower of course, Lourve and Monalisa + Venus sculpture, Arc de Triomphe, Mmm Moulin Rouge.
Frequent breaks were needed to prevent my foot from dying. SO everytime mom ordered coffee, it’s like 15ml and very strong and bitter.
Time wasn’t enough. A day well spent. Oh yeah, we ran towards the Tour bus as we dun wanna wait for the next bus 15 mins, so we ran from the Lourve pyramid to where the bus was…. Lourve is a home of Monalisa, and many many nice big paintings and also many many naked marble men.
We watched nightfall at
Eiffel Tower around 9pm. Nice. Everyhour into darkness, thousands of bulbs caused the tower to glitter. We went back dead tired and Poko and I went to buy
Sandwich and fries. That was when we located Oyster Metro Station, which was only 15 seconds away from our Hotel.
Slept well. Lest we think this is the last ‘hotel’ we’re checking into.
24 May 2005
Flight to Treviso Venice and then bus to
Venice !~!
Italy gave us a scary prospect of being unsafe. A guide book said so.
Venice is a town with no cars. Main transportation is on foot and boats. Police and ambulance travels on boat. Haha… We were in a boat bus and heard siren. First thing first, we need to find our place for the night, called Baxpax number 32. We walked along Campo Santa Magherita and realized the number 32 is coming closer. 29, 30, 31, 33!! Yikes, where’s 32? Oh, that unlikely old door! We thought, oh no, we’ve been conned online!! But then we saw their shop sign, er… at the size of 7×1.5 cm, below the doorbell.
Yahoo!! Italian pizza, finally. A small shop a few units away from Baxpax, take aways only offers the most simple but delicious pizza I’ve ever eaten. The 3 of us gobbled up 2 pizzaz… for a happy price.
Weather is turning topical. To wear fur boots is simply crazy. I’m crazy.
Started savouring the water town now. We bought a day pass ticket for boat buses. We took a full tour along the
Grand Canal right out to
Della Guidecca Canal . Saw people riding gondolas. We stopped at Piazza san Marco, where it’s happening.
Venice is clearly a tourists’ place. Many many tourist with a locals working to serve the tourists.
The streets are fascinating and mysterious. I enjoyed evey bit of the feeling. The alleys aren’t really wide and every nook and corner leads you to somewhere else. I felt like Lara Croft, tomb raider. Haha. Locals there are awfully friendly.
We were strolling along the walkways with no specific destinations. A lady stopped us and again we got this duck and chicken talk. She used body languages that if we walked on straight, we have to swim. So I showed her our boat tickets, she got the idea. And started a set of hand signals, we understood it as cross a bridge, pray (church) and turn left… Haha , gratzie!!!~!
San Marco, very happening, many people merry-type, not crowded type. Stalls selling
venice souvenirs. What attracted us most is the masks…. SO beautiful. The campo is full of activities. Pigeons feeding, coffee drinking, music playing, photos taking, people walking. Nice !
Ponte di Rialto is a bridge across
Grand Canal . It’s special because it’s not just a bridge. Shops are built left and right of the bridge as you walk up and cross the bridge.
We went to an Italian restaurant for dinner and oh so delicious and we are simply happy to find that things in
Venice is so much more cheaper than in
Paris and
London ! (An Italian gentleman later told me that French is more expensive than
Italy . And
Venice is the most expensive town among
Italy cities. So
Rome ’s gonna be cheaper!) We ordered wine since it’s cheaper than soft drinks and mineral water , and gallons of tap water as it’s free. The spaghetti, the steak and all is just so delicious. Maybe we haven’t had any good stuff dt limited spending. We walked away from the restaurant as happy contented men. Haha.
Back to Baxpax, we met 2 young girls from
Hong Kong and Guang Zhou. Their names are Rachel and Ah Wing, and met also a
Quebec guy who talked to us with a mouth full of toothpaste foam as he brushed his teeth. Haha, people of the world.
25 May 2005
Spent a lazy morning as our train will leave at 130pm. We took boat rides again and do simple sight seeing. We came back and checked out at 12, thinking that there is no need to rush in comfortable place
Venice … Until we realized that our train is 1230!!!!
Gwash. We started to rush and run. It’s weird to see people run in
Italy . They take things slowly. I suggested that we forget the boat and straightly from Ca Rezzonico cut through the streets to get to the train station but memek and Pokok went into a boat bus. Soon enough, we realized that the boat is too slow and its frequent stop can cause us a few hunderd ringgit of wasted tickets. We got off where the boat is making a curve along
Grand canal , Ca D’Oro stop, I guess. That’s further than where we started.
So we started to run. I’m the navigator, mom and pokok pulling luggage and holding jackets. I ran ahead asking for Ferrovia Station?. Friendly Venicians really know their town well. Go straight, turn left, and a signboard. Go straight and left. Go left and cross the bridge, there’s a signboards. Maybe they saw our urgency, running around with all those ‘Exqusee moi!!’ and luggage and stuff. It was tiring and it was critical. Oh Lord, stall the train, I prayed. I checked the time constantly, counting down the minutes. And I thank God for the signboards stated ‘Ferrovia Station ->’. It’s not frequent but always there when needed.
I reached Ferrovia station with 2 mins to spare and located the train. Memek and Pokok still running this way. The wheeler of the luggage is a goner. Why not, as in a hurry, the luggage was pulled down stairs of the bridges all around the
Venice town.
As I tried to check us in, the check-in guy look at his watch and surprised at such people who have such poor time management but such incredible luck. He let me in and I halted the train captain. He checked the ticket and asked us to board from coach#1. We’re seated at coach #6. As memek and Pokok boarded the train, we relaxed and started to make our way to coach#6. within 1 min, the train started to go…. And I praised the Lord and I praise the Lord again now. Everything fitted in like a puzzle. Had we wasted another minute going to toilet or doing whatever, tata Trenitalia!! To God be the glory.
On this train, I met an Italian guy and 2 pigs, and witnessed exchanges of courtesy of other Italians. Problem arises with seats confusions. It all started with a American/English couple who kept quiet in the whole process until they are being questioned. Pigs, u know, a lil fat, thick lips, glasses, pouty unsmiling. Imagine Harry Potter’s uncle and aunt. With some people come and I, suddenly I don’t have a seat. My original seats were taken. When I asked the pigs to tell me their seats, they didn’t and said some rubbish. Anyway, I took my original seat beside the Italian guy. But currently, my original seat was taken by another Italian(say, Mr B) who was away at that time. His original seat was taken by one of the pigs.
When Mr B came back, I had to show him my ticket and he had to ask the pigs to show theirs. Apparently the pigs are supposed to sit in coach #7. They showed no intention to move. For whatever reason, they tell Mr B that they are getting off at
Florence . (So what?) But Mr B is a gracious gentleman. He offered to go to couch#7 so that the pigs can continue having their rude fat arses on the seats. Instead of being grateful, the man pig shrugged without a smile, as if he’s being very flexible and open to the whole matter. I can’t even hear him say thank you. Mom who was an aisle beside him said she did. Pigs….
On a nice tune, the Italian guy was an interesting person. We only chatted when the train left
Florence . I found out that he has a degree in philosophy and he’s a yoga teacher. In short, we had a very useful exchange of information. He asked a lot about
Malaysia and chinese. He told me about the price and warned us to be careful in
Rome , especially the gypsies. His view point on global issues is interesting. He can speak english, that’s great. A gentleman, he is. And nice. He asked if I’m hot in those kind of shoes…. Haha. Hm… I noticed from a few Italian. If they aren’t ugly, their smiles are warm. The Italian guy I met is clearly educated. I told him about
Malaysia ’s Dasar Kependudukan 70juta, he asked, how’s the government planning to make it happen. And asked why is
Malaysia trying to expand when the world is over-populated. He also shared that
Italy is like
Singapore , soon to be a country of old people. Nice meeting him. May the Lord see him through. Erm, if I am to see him again, I won’t be able to recognize him. His is a common face….
Well well, 5 hours of train!
ROME , an open air museum!!~!
When first arrived, it was a bit scary and lost and claustrophobic. Pokok enquired taxi, charging us EUR 50 to get us to Bellaroma. Save it. We’ll take a tube EUR 3.
We took metro and walked a long long way to Bellaroma, another backpacker place. O that place is young and energetic. Teeny, according to Pokok. Many travellers. Met Amy and Linsay from
California ? And another 2 girls from Tenessee, and also a forgetful girl from
Finland .
We had pizza for dinner at De Napoli, as per suggestions of receptionist, Emily. Sucks, says Pokok. As it wasn’t early anymore, we went back after dinner. Then we saw some people from the same hostels ready to go out for Pub Crawling, described by Pokok as going to one pub after another after another all in the same night.
Back for ZzzZ but I am constantly disturbed by Pokok… That vermin. As I am sleepin in an upperbunk, I can’t get him when he disturbed me and then stepped back. He kept bothering me until one point he kept tapping me on my shoulder and I said “WHAT?!” and that Tatupid Keong said “Good night!” with a smile.
Italians are ‘lazy’ (Lazy is Pokok’s choice of word). They work
9am to 12.00pm , break from
12 to
3pm , and continue from
3pm til night. According to Emily, maybe they like to rest.
26 May 2005
We walked to San Pietro, that’s
Vatican City , to hop on a tour bus. Pokok met an old man who asked him to go buy tickets somewhere else. Well, obviously the bus itself is selling tickets, what. That totai chose to listen and when the bus went away without us, he blamed it all on the stupid old man. “Who says wisdom comes with age??”
Open air museum, here we come. We were at Piazza Navona where we were entertained by a magician. He attracted a big crowd. We also went to Fontana di Trevi, also very crowded. What not, such a grand fountain!
Also went into the Colloseum EUR 8 perperson. Ol mom waited outside. Piazza di Venezia, Bastille. Weather is really really hot. Pokok keep taunting “Idiotic Eskimos”. We went into a rude restaurant. Well, initially not. The place is called Accademia Bar. He started to introduce the menu, we told him we’re not in for dinner and we ordered something light and ordered tap water. When food is served and after a long wait and a few reminders, tap water never come. When we call for attention, the dumbass signaled wait wait we are busy and walked to another section of the restaurant. From where I sit, I can see that they are waiting there. They’re not doing anything in particular? Waiters are suppose to wait for customers, why the other way round? These people are rude and narrow-minded. Obviously, they think our orders didn’t reach the mark. Is it wrong to have a tea break instead of a dinner? They even rudely dump the change in front of Pokok. Remember the name of the suckers, Accademia Bar. Thankfully got a clown at Piazza Navona that cheered us up again.
Again, many art exhibits and naked marble men at Piazza di Venezia. Best thing is it’s FOC. Pokok is confronted by gypsies. Yes, they come in a gang. One, as noted by Pokok, picks her nose and played with whatever she dugged out. Pokok dislikes them. They asked for money, Pokok immediately hugged everything tight and said no, and they walked away cursing.
As always so blessed, we took the last Tour bus passing our way and went back to San Pietro. And we had a wonderful Italian dinner. House wine (cheaper than coke) and tap water. The starter is big enough to serve as a full meal. We’re impressed by the service of an Italian waiter that we had to mention it and praise him for that.
As it was dark,we almost got lost. Instinct told me that we are on the right way but they doubted my direction. So, we walked to and fro until we find some familiar landmarks and make our way back again to Bellaroma. I wasn’t entirely confident myself, so I said nothing. Apparently, we were walking on the right way with doubt…
A great day. Set out from Bellaroma at
8:30am and returned at
10pm .
27 May 2005
The day for
Vatican City . Their guards dress in a weird way.
And the shock of our lives! I’ve never seen such a crzy queue before. Literally, people are queuing from the entrance of
Vatican Museum and round the walls of
Vatican City . Yes, surrounding half the walls of the country.
SO we checked out St Peter’s church first. The dome and the church. Got so high up and really marvelled at the stamina these old people used to have as they make their way up on a regular basis to paint the dome. It wasn’t just a nice picture actually. Designed by Michaelangelo, art work were created by tiny tiny coloured stones.
St Peter’s basilica is big and spacious. The sun was very uninviting. Thank God for the Disney cowboy hats. Entering the church was great. A sudden sense of silence and respect, partly also because the air cond is so inviting. The church is big, the crowd is super big. We saw the invitation to see John Paul’s tomb. We also saw the queue. No thanks…
Lunch was crap. I felt conned. Every plate of whatever (doesn’t taste as it worth) costs EUR8. Tiramisu EUR 8, a plate of cold spaghetti EUR 8, a plate of saled EUR 8, roasted chicken EUR 8, whatever EUR 8. Sad… As we used to spend with good considerations. This day, we walked into a restaurant without checking the menu first. I guess tourist spots memang like that la, no choice.
We went to Museui
Vatican in the afternoon. The queue is still eye-popping although shorter. The trail is pretty long and mom was getting tired. It was hot and stuffy. A lot of nice art work by Michaelangelo and Raphael. Also seen a lot of naked marble men. Here it’s better as they provided leaves as well. Ya know why is the queue so long? People wanted to get in to see Sistine Chapel. What’s the big deal about Sistine Chapel (by Mikeangelo)? It portrays God’s agape love. The act of connecting man’s finger with His. And also warning of end time.
One whole day in
Vatican City , thanks to the queue!
Then we boarded a bus EUR 1 to Ciampino airport and flew back to
London with our eyes opened, heart enlarged and spirit lifted. This indeed is a great trip. The whole trip from
London right down to everything that portrayed at our retina is simply awesome. Praise the Lord.
Upon returning to
London , we had a great meal of … Maggi mee, right in the comfort of Pokok’s room. Sweet.
28th May 2005
Today is not a day to laze around. Back in the
land of Great Britian , but here comes another adventure!! To
Swansea ,
Wales , where my buddy Brenda is there.
We had a 4 hours stop at
Cardiff , and this was the day a grand football match is being held! The town is simply happening. People in red jerseys, blowing horns, waving flags, hours before the match. During the Megabus journey to
Cardiff , I noticed cars with red flags. It’ll be so thrilling if we had the chance to watch a real match. Hehe.
Had lunch at a restaurant. English meal, bacon and eggs, cappucino, white and brown bread, yep, western food. And also tap water. Wow… the sliced bread is about 2 inches thick. I though it’d be like Malaysian’s 1 cm, and we ordered quite a lot. In the end, we took away the leftovers thick bread.
Swansea !! Nice place, cool weather and nice people. Finally meet up with Brenda. She introduced her housemates to us and offered us places to stay. Concerning her housemates… I’ve never seen such crazy bunch of people before. Maybe dt Brenda’s influence. Haha. Met Ken-ree,
Alvin , Jade, Siu Keong, Samson (interesting dude), and others.
Brenda took us to Joe’s Ice-cream only available in
Swansea . Hek hek. Smooth. And now mom keep talking about opening an ice-cream shop. Sundae… Nice. Then Bren took us to ??
Miami Bay ?
Mummie Bay ? Oh ya, Mumbles!! (This is what happen when I procastinate this record). Mumbles, that’s it. The wind was blowing that afternoon, but the scenery and nature there is very comfortable. Given an opportunity, I’d like to laze around all day, watching there clouds. How I wish
Malaysia have a nice bay/beach which is free, or parks that everybody cooperated to keep clean.
Then we went to Tesco to buy things for dinner. Mom was going to cook! Was fun and met an old cheerful uncle from Brenda’s church. That is a very encouraging old man. I heard him saying to Brenda “Bring them to Christ”. He kept smiling and looked very happy when he spoke to mom in Hakka. Hehe. God bless tat ol man.
Yo, dinner and preparation. Was fun, was warm. When dinner was over, it was about
11.00pm already.
Vincent Yin took the effort to come over to Brenda’s house after work/dinner, to pay me a visit. And we all had a crazy time talking and laughing, many many thanks to Samson particularly. Brenda is already a happy sopo. I guess, birds of the same feather flock together. Hehe… right, Brenda? Felt very blessed to have fellowship so far from home, with new people, all in the same family of God. God bless them all!
Had a good rest. Then next day came along
29 May 2005
Relaxed morning. Ate breakfast at Brenda’s house. Then we checked out.
Bren and Ken-ree took us shopping. Every town surely has so many interesting things of its own. I’ve never seen people roasting coffee bean and coat them with different flavors like caramel, mocha, etc. And here we get to eat Welsh cake. Ken-ree also gave us a pack of keropok.
Came across a sports shop. Many things that caught our attention and we spent some time there. Maybe… too much time there. Coz… hehe… here comes our episode of chasing a bus which once we missed it, we missed it for good and the tickets are wasted. Bren and Ken-ree ran with us. We prayed that the bus we’re on will be faster, that the Megabus that we’re suppose to board will be delayed or somehow waited for us.
I believe God indeed helped us and also helped us like the
Jordan River , He cleared the road for a while. I recall Brenda wonder if we should get off from the Feeder bus there as the traffic is very busy, and she told mom “Be Careful!” as mom tried to cross the road. Mom told us all “Let’s go, it’s clear!”
Apparently, Megabus was waiting for us, or rather , he’s being punctual and we are 1 or 2 minutes early. Haha… Thank God. Bren had to run with us… May God bless Bren and Ken-ree and the rest of the ppl in the house!! Yo…
30 May 2005
This would be the last day, before we board the 15 hours flight and back to home. Pokok being away for more than a week, gotta work back what he missed. So mom and I went to
Hyde Park and
Kensington Palace . Huge area. Nice. We smell the flowers.
We had helluva time hunting for dinner. Was quite late already, anyway. But since our tickets are day pass, we decided to go out and get some nice proper dinner. Because of holiday, we walked many many streets to a particular restaurant only to find that it was closed.Then we went to another place and found that it was closed. Soon, we got to the Coach station “Oh this is where we’ll board the bus to Heathrow tmr!” and bought fish and chips. Yummy. We went back, relaxed and prepare to go home. God bless dear ol Pokok.
