So.. Here's the long awaited update on my Easter trip :)
[ London ]
I give too little credit to Malaysia Hall.. I was expecting a dingy dorm but I was surprised to find a cosy ensuite single room.. for 8 quid! Will definitely stay there again.. Then Petronas's annual briefing was the usual love-thy-sponsor stuff but the venue was really posh and the food was heavenly :)
That night was a nightmare.. I stayed at the King's Cross tube station from 11.30pm - 1am which was deathly scary.. The stench of alcohol was everywhere.. But I suppose with my brooding demeanour and all-black attire, they were all more afraid of me than the other way round :P
Then I found out I had been staying at the wrong station.. The trains going to Luton Airport only come from the Thameslink station.. Fortunately it was nearby so I trekked - in Central London at 1am - all the way up there.. Then I found out the last train going to Luton was at 1.08am and I found this out at 1.03am.. In the end A and I missed the train so we had to take an hour-long cab ride to Luton which costed us 55 quid :S
Once we were there, everything went smooth sailing, alhamdulillah..
[ Paris ]
From the airport, we got on an RER B train to central Paris.. On the way, there was this guy who distributed small flyers in French.. I couldn't understand a single word so I just tucked it into my pocket.. Then after a while, he came back, demanding for money.. I said no, then he gestured to have his flyer back.. It must've been only a few seconds but it felt like ages before I found the small piece of paper in the midst of all the junk lying in my pocket :P
After the train ride, we arrived at Gare du Nord (Northern Station).. While waiting for Izza and Ijah to pick us up, Ayen and I snapped more pictures.. The youth hostel we stayed in was quite close to the station.. After putting away our stuff, we set out to explore Paris.. The first thing we saw was a building that looked like UCL :P Then we went to La Defense.. We saw so many high rises in all shapes and sizes.. Ijah even discovered a red elephant! :)
The next stop was Invalides.. On the way, we went through Champs-Elysees.. We saw the Eiffel Tower from afar and crossed this beautiful bridge.. The funny thing was that from the bridge to Invalides, we stopped every 100 metres just to take pictures.. If you put together all our pictures together, you could actually see the building growing right before your eyes :P
The next day, we whizzed through Paris in a rather successful attempt to cover as many places as possible.. In the morning we went to the Louvre museum and saw the infamous Mona Lisa portrait.. There was also La Pyramid Inversee, the pivotal glass pyramid mentioned in The Da Vinci Code.. The place was HUGE.. In fact, we even got lost trying to get to one particular showroom in the museum, only to find out that it's been closed for the day.. Then we got lost again trying to find our way out :P
Next up was Place de la Concorde which had the obelisk and the fountain where the prefertiti died in Angels and Demons.. Woops, I didn't spoil the story, did I? Eheh.. Then we climbed a small hill to see the Sacre-Coeur.. The weather that day was wonderful and the view was breathtaking.. The clear blue sky complemented the surrounding park's greenery and the majestic white domes of the Sacre-Coeur.. It was beautiful.. Then we visited Arc de Triomphe that had a French flag hanging underneath it.. Then we ate Nutella crepe while strolling down Champs-Elysees, visiting a Renault F1 show room as well..
Afterwards, we took a few wrong turns before finally arriving at the Notre Dame cathedral, made famous by its gargoyles and Disney's hunchback.. But of course, the highlight of the day was our trip to Eiffel Tower at dusk.. The wind up there was horrible! Check out the photos here and here to see what I mean.. One unique thing we found was the distance to Kuala Lumpur from the tower's observation deck.. But the most beautiful thing that we saw was when the whole tower was illuminated with blinking white lights.. It looked truly magical.. And thanks to A's tripod, we managed to get some pretty decent pictures that night :)
The following day, we went to Disneyland! Unfortunately I forgot to bring my student ID so I had to pay 51 euros instead of 33 euros :P I was dead scared riding the roller coasters.. I took a picture with Jasmine, the heroine in Aladdin.. Would've liked to take a picture with Minnie Mouse but with the mob of people that followed her, no thanks.. Besides, Ijah got to take a picture with her so I guess that's OK.. Oh BTW, if you look at my Disneyland pictures in the online photo albums, they're all brought to you by Leader Price, the neighbourhood supermarket.. LOL :P
Not many people know this, but when I was 4 years old, my mom took me and my brother to America while she studied for her masters degree.. My dad was studying in Florida at the time so he brought the whole family to visit Disneyland Orlando.. It was the happiest day in my life.. I still remember us four sitting round a booth, eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches because that was the only thing on the menu we could afford.. I still remember wearing a Mickey hat - the one with two huge mouse ears - while sipping some chocolate milk..
But what I remember the most is the parade.. We were standing next to the barricade along the road, waiting for the parade to start.. But it got delayed because it was raining.. My parents wanted us to leave, but I just stood there, in the middle of the rain, with my raincoat on, waiting for the parade..
In the end, we left anyway. And I missed the parade. Ever since then, my parents never failed to make fun of my 'determination'.
So when we saw Disneyland Paris's parade that afternoon, no words could describe how I felt.. It was like a dream come true.. And you know what the funny thing was?
It rained. Just like in Orlando :)
More updates to come.
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NHA at 1:14 PM ::
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