London Trip 2008

Hi everyone. Sorry for late and lack of updates. Been busy with pile of work recently and most of the time stuck with the bad internet connection in my room. Just to recall back some memories for my last trip to London. Enjoy!

Saturday - 8 Nov 2008

It was 6.30 am when I woke up. Still sleepy because I was slept very late last night after surfing the net all night long and chatted with two of my friends whose came over to my room. I was completely wiped out. I took about 10 minutes to start walking to the toilet from my bed. Washed up and performed my dawn prayer, I got myself prepared for the day. As planned before, I will bring out all of my Malaysian friends to Montmarte. Their strong determination to discover Paris in the early morning really wore me out. About 7.00 am, everyone was at the hotel’s lobby patiently waiting for me. I am a bit late. Sorry guys.

We walked down the street with everyone remain silence because of the windy ambience. The temperature at the moment was less than 5 degree Celcius. It was very cold for me because I just wearing my casual jacket. It was too bad. When we arrived at the McD closed to the Metro station, we found the restaurant was not opened. Actually, we had a plan to have a breakfast before going to the Montmarte. We walked closer to the McD wishing it will be opened shortly. There were few McD staffs inside but they looked too busy with their job loading up and unpacked everything before the restaurant is ready for opening. We decided to continue to walk towards the Metro station and took the Metro heading to the Anvers station. We had to transit at the Charles de-Gaulle station and changed the line to the Anvers. Upon reaching the Metro station, there was a small McD restaurant at the La Defense commercial complex (this complex is a hub for lrts & buses). We went straight to the restaurant and had a light breakfast for warming up ourselves as the ambience was too cold. A cup of hot coffee was really a pleasurable!

We finally arrived at the Anvers station. The weather was just perfect but a bit windy. Luckily, I am wearing my snow cap cover up my ears. Walked up towards the Sacre Couer in such environment is quite challenging. At the moment, only few visitors could be seen as we walking up. The shops nearby were still closed. When we arrived at the top, we found a group of European visitors eagerly capturing some memories there and their presence really broke the silence in the morning. We walked around the area and later walked down back to the Metro station passing through the “red light” district in Paris, Pigalle area. From there, we decided to go to the China Town. My friend wanted to buy something. Reached there, I made one round tour, finally we stop by at the shop. This shop offers a lot of Asian foods and raw materials. We can easily found some Malaysian sauces, instant prata, fresh fruits & veggies, etc. Done with everything, we went off and had a lunch at the Turkish restaurant closed to our hotel. Kebab again.

The time approaching 6 pm. I was in a hurry to make a last round check before off to London that night. I always thought that having a dinner at the Gare du Nord station is the best option thus I don’t have to cook or eat before leaving my room. My expectation was wrong. It was not that good. I have to bear in mind that this is a long weekend. Many people took this opportunity to travel or return back to their hometown. It was a massive crowd at the station when we arrived there. We planned to have our dinner at the waiting area which already crosses the UK border. As we heading to the Eurostar platform, we have to fill up a form (like a form when Malaysian going to Singapore) before pass through a passport control counter. I have been informed from my colleagues that travelling to UK for Malaysian is easy. No visa is required. Anyway, with tougher checks now in place at the border we have to wait a little longer to get into the United Kingdom, especially at peak times. A lot of questions have been asked by the officer. He use some sort of scanner to ensure that our passports and other official documents are genuine. Finally, we were allowed to cross the UK border which actually still in Gare du Nord station in Paris. I was so curious to find out any restaurant that offers good food for our dinner but it ends up disappointment. We just bought a tuna sandwich and a cup of hot chocolate for almost 10 euro. Damn. I was famished that time. After waiting for few minutes, finally calls for embarkation has been made. The train departs at 8.50 pm. The journey to London begun.

After a much shorter than expected Eurostar ride, finally we have arrived the St. Pancras International station. We went off the station and finding out our hostel pretty easily. As expected, it was a light raining. Anyway, the trip is going pretty well at this point, no hick ups. The hostel was pretty cool, placed exactly in front of King’s Cross station. Having been to Europe before, I was very surprised about how nice the accommodations were for its own class. Not only was it very clean and safe, but it was also in the center of town and very close to an underground station and many shops and fast food restaurants nearby. After check-in and dropping all our backpacks, we went out hungrily looking for a food. And again, kebab was our choice. I bought a lamb kebab which quite big in size and a soft drink. Around 12 am, I am off to bed.

Sunday – 9 Nov 2008

The next day we do A LOT of sightseeing, it was great and very tiring. We walked around London seeing the Buckingham Palace, St. James Park, Parliament House, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and everything else you can imagine. The visit was a little rough. I was wondering why there were too many people around at the moment. Many people crammed the pedestrian’s walkway and some of the underground stations were closed for operation. Finally, I just knew that it was an Armistice Day! A celebration of a Remembrance Day for the 90th anniversary of the World War I. Such a big celebration that will never be missed. It was like a National Day in Malaysia where all citizens from all over the region came over and gather around early in the morning along the road to give a warm patriotic support to those parties. The war veterans, patriots, troops, groups of defense and marching bands with their unique uniform really caught my attention. After hours there, we went off to the Trafalgar Square and National Gallery. Finally, we decided to go back to our hostel for prayer and having our lunch there.

The visit continues to the Kensington Palace and National History Museum. That night we met up with my friends (my course mate in UTM) who are also in London. Actually, they have brief me about the main attractions in London before we came here. They have decided to bring us to a famous restaurant that serves French cuisine, crepe. It was a lot of fun to meet and had a long chat with them since I haven’t meet them since we graduated. Big thanks for their treat as well.

After that, we continue the visit to the London’s eye area. The weather was not really good at the moment. Strong wind and light rain really make me feel sick. Actually, I am not feeling very well on the day. Our wish to take the London’s eye view in such weather was cancelled. Then, we walked along side the river to take a bigger view of Big Ben and finally we went off to the Tower Bridge area for our last visit for the day.

Monday – 10 Nov 2008

We went out from the room a bit early. After having a breakfast at the McD next to our hostel, we continue the visit for the day to the Hyde Park, Marble Arch, Hard Rock Café, Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum and Picaddily Circus. Travelling around London for a while, the lights at Picadilly Circus brought me back to Times Square at Bukit Bintang, something that’s hard to find in Paris, even on the Champs-Elysees. And of course, there are things like supermarkets and lrts with many multi-cultural looking or to be more specific, an Asian looking which will make me feel like I am back home, sort of. People here dress a lot different too. Of course, with such weather, the fashion goes beyond my imagination. Anyway, personally, I found Parisian is more fashionable and stylish in the sense of their mix and match job.

Tuesday – 11 Nov 2008

The next morning we checked out and straight away went to the St. Pancras International Station. It was a short trip indeed and I wasn’t too excited to find out what are the other places that we missed out to visit. For now at least, my traveling days are over and the most important part is that, I felt very happy and enjoy so much with my friend. Overall, I highly recommend a trip to London. It is too easy to reach every single part of London with its highly integrated underground network and I found myself easy surrounded by English speakers. It was a huge relief. The museums are overwhelming in their depth and breadth subjects covered plus most of the museums are free entry. Choose carefully and don't over-do it. It's very easy to become over-museumed there. As long as you can remember to look right, instead of left, before stepping out into the street, you should have a great time. The gardens and parks also are worth to visit. If I got a chance to go back in the near future, I will definitely want to bring my wife and spend a few days together here in central of London. Anyway, the next few weekends I have a lot of places in mind that will be spent discovering Paris with my friends before I went back to Malaysia at the end of December for my holidays. I have no complaints though. I’ve got big plans this week — most probably looking for the flea market in Paris and searching for a new restaurant which offers halal’s food. Stay tuned.