UK/EU (As a solo traveler)

These are the pictures I took on my way to Brussels, Belgium by Eurostar. First time went to Europe, I was fascinated by the countryside vistas along the way. As displayed in the pictures above, there got nuclear reactors, windmills, a bed of green grass on the right and left of the train rails. One thing I am still not sure up to now is how could the train get across the strait (I forgot its name) between Britain and France? Is it through an underwater tunnel or across a bridge? I am clueless. But one thing for sure is that, in the first few hours of the trip, I could see nothing outside because it was all too dark. I thought perhaps that was because of the weather in the dawn. I wish to solve the clue. Once I arrived in Brussels station, the first thing I noticed was a sign with a reminder "Beware, pickpockets!" That made my hair stood straight. But being relaxed made me feeling 'Nothing would happen'.

Paris is renowned to be a romantic place ever. But believe me, "Indah khabar dari rupa". Despite all of the incredible landmarks it owns, Paris is a filthy place I have ever visited. Plus, Muslim beggars were everywhere. There were a lot of Africans (black-skin people) over there. Almost all French do not know (or pretend to not know) to speak in English. I gained an experience to be lost in Paris on my way to get to a bus tour meeting point. I was lost underground, at metro lines. Seriously, there were just too many stations and lines, and I just could not catch up the French spellings (the name of the stations). Plus, I had misread the metro lines map given to me by a receptionist at the hotel I lodged nearby Gare du Nord. So, I couldnt make a trip around Paris on the first day I was there. I made it on the following day, instead. That means, my plan to go to Geneve had to be canceled. At the end, I didnt go to Switzerland :( so sad.... Hopefully, next time. Well, I met up with a family of Malaysians at Eiffel Tower, and they helped me taking my pix (because I did the same thing to 'em). Worst came after worst.... I had to pay as much as 135 Euro to get back to London by Eurostar. I just wanted to slap the Eurostar clerk's face inside Gare du Nord. She said, "I'm sorry, there is no more ticket less than 135 Euro. You should have booked a cheaper ticket earlier." Jeezzzz..... Urghhh.... No, I never intended to stay longer in Paris. Where should I go? That was a big question mark I had on my mind at that moment. Thankfully because my hotel provided internet access as well as baggage keeping services. So, I just kept my bag in the baggage room for hours until it was guaranteed that I could go back to London at that night.

Here are the pictures taken in Edinburgh, Scotland. There, I met up again with a Scottish piper. huhuhu... The first time I got out from Waverley Train Station, whoa, I sighed... "It's awesome!" Yeah, just after I got out from the station, I could see the Edinburgh old castle right away. The palace is so magnificent. There were many British-like, black cabs crawling on the roads. The terrain in Edinburgh is hilly. If in Dublin I heard Irish dialect, there in Edinburgh I could hear Scottish dialect which is as worse as Irish. I dunno why... I just dont like their dialects (not in English). Felt like I were in Spain... When I went to Princes Mall, I encountered with two guys where one of them was pinching and hitting another one, just in front of me. They looked like gangsters. But I hurriedly came into the mall to find a souvenir. I wasnt afraid of the two guys, just that I was worried if they acted quarrelling one another just to pickpocketing me. There are actually many castles in Edinburgh. Most of the buildings there were built decades ago. Then, going back to London, I didnt get a seat on the train. The train itself was full with passengers. I had to stand on my feet for almost 2 hours by which the trip duration was 4-hour. At that time, I just reminisced that it was worthless to buy a 140 pounds return ticket. I could not sit for 2 hours. What a waste! Next time, if I got a chance to use the National Express trains again, I wont buy a standard ticket, should buy a more expensive one because I could book a seat where no one could sit but me. That's the tip!

This time, I was in Prague, Czech Republic. Their people spell the city name as Praha. Honestly speaking, I love Cesky language :) Easy to pronounce. Praha is divided into two towns which are New Town and Old Town. I love the Old Town even more. The buildings are very classic, they made me recalled the settings in European movies that I had ever watched beforehand. Charles Bridge is as a matter of fact very long and crowded. It is a famous place for pick-pockets. Huhuhu... Prague is pretty popular with pick-pocketings. As a country which produces Bohemia crystals, the prices of those goods are not that expensive. White crystals are much cheaper than the colored ones. I didnt buy any since I had already bought one set of Bohemia crystal for my mum in NZ. I just bought another piece of Czech souvenir to bring back to Msia. One special thing I found in Praha is its highest escalator in Europe. Yeah, I did use it. And one special fact about Msian students studying in Prague is that, their apartments are very exclusive and lux! I felt like lodging at a hotel... How lucky they are!

Now, let's see the pictures of me in Vienna, Austria. Vienna or Wien (as how the locals call its name) was a classic capital. It resembles Prague a lot in terms of the public transport system. But what's so special about Vienna is that, it got not only hop on hop off bus tour for tourists, but there also got horse carts for tourism purposes. I dont think Austrian are as friendly as Germany. In fact, all Europeans are not kind people. I prefer English, tho'. Amongst all Xmas markets I'd seen in the UK and Europe, the one in Austria was better, apart from in London. It was because the Xmas market in Vienna was located at a park with a background of St. Stephen's Cathedral. The cathedral is in fact a mega structure in an old city of Vienna. I was enchanted in the brand of cars the Austrians use. Mercedes Benz are used as cabs for the public, but not Audi. So I guess, Merce is a bit lower standard than Audi, whick made me think that Audi is better than that Daimler Chrysler car. Obviously, Europeans are high-standard people who mostly use Mercedes, Audi, BMW, and Volkswagon. Nama pun European, surely use Europe made cars.

The photos above were taken during my tour to Frankfurt, Germany :) At first, I planned to visit Berlin (since I was boarding a train to Berlin which stopped by Frankfurt), but thought that I dont have any friend in Berlin, I just stepped off in Frankfurt which is just nothing to me. At least, Berlin got historic monuments to be visited like Berlin Wall. Frankfurt is perhaps a focal point for those who involve in financial and banking stuff because it got a giant Europe bank which has a huge replica of Euro currency symbol outside the bank. I used trams to get around Frankfurt city. In the beginning of the tour, I went to a famous Thai food restaurant for lunch. The coconut flavour tomyam in the restaurant was so tasty. I never tasted such delicious tomyam back in Msia. We dont even have that menu in Msia. That's why it is kinda special to all Msian students in Frankfurt. I also got a chance to pray at a Bangladesh musolla. Actually, there got a few musollas in Frankfurt which are located in narrow streets behind markets or shops. The musollas are specified for different nations such as Saudi, Pakistanese, Bangladesh, Indians, etc. Then, I went to Frankfurt new, modern-looking shopping mall which I bought German branded chocs which I have forgotten the names. They tasted good, by all means ;)

The pictures above were particularly taken in my trip to Dublin, Ireland. To be a first-time visitor to Dublin, I was interrogated by the immigration and custom at the airport before being permitted to get out from the airport. Fuhhh... I was thankful for having a friend studying there, so I stayed overnight at her house during the trip. It is a pleasant house, indeed. And the rent is also 'pleasant'. Hihihi... The 3-storey house is very comfortable and modern. The kitchen and living hall are at the top floor while the rooms are all in the bottom two floors. Since the night I arrived in Dublin, the weather wasnt that good. It was really windy that I felt like I almost flew away by the wind. I got to my friend's house by a public bus. The most horrific moment was when all passengers on the bus had hopped off from the bus and I was left all by myself around 10pm on the bus with the driver. Because of the sucks Irish English slang, I was brought to the final stop where I found myself at a wrong place. Thankfully, my friend rang me on the way and I had to ask the driver to bring me back to the city. Along the dark roads, I prayed that everything would just be fine. Alhamdulillah, I finally saw my friend's appearance by the road and I stepped off from the bus and was relieved. Dublin was drizzling on the next day and I got around its heart of city walking by in the water drops. To my experience, I could say that Irish English is more sucks than the Kiwi's =P For everyone's knowledge, most Irish people do not speak English as the first language, but they speak Irish which sounds like Spanish. Ireland does not recognize pound sterling as their currency, but Euro instead.

Above are some of the photos taken during a tour in London. Alhamdulillah, finally I could see the Big Ben, London Bridge, London Eye, Heathrow Airport, and the real red double-decker buses with my naked eyes... Also, I had finally reached Hyde Park, Regents' Park, King's Cross Station, Harrods, Trafaglar Square, and Madam Tussaud's. The dream/plan to get to that Prince of Wales' land started since my schooldays whereby I loved reading H.M Tuah Iskandar's novels which mostly about his experiences living there. Even when I was in a secondary level, I dreamt of pursuing my studies in the UK, but it yet left as a dream. Whatever it is, I'm thankful to Allah for what I have right now :) Well, in London there are many Arabs and Chinese like ants finding their foods. Wherever I were no matter on the tubes or on the buses or even by the roads, the Asian faces were just everywhere. No wonder that the British govt provides one special area only for Chinese namely China Town while another area for Arabs to open their outlets. I also went to White Lily (if I named it correctly) to buy a Liverpool jersey and a Nike soccer ball for my only brother. 'Unfortunately', at the moment I was in that store, it was crowded with mostly Arabs who wanted to buy jerseys for a football match which was held at that night in England. I wasnt too certain about the football clubs that participated in the match. But seriously speaking, I could call the Arabs as super football maniacs. They are simply too fanatic with the game. One thing I wont forget is the time when I left for Heathrow to catch a flight at 6.59 in the morning to Prague. I had to be there one hour before boarding, but the problem was, there was no underground service by 5.30am. That means, I had to catch a cab or a bus to get there. The situation turned out to be so messy that I felt like I had lost my mind. I went out from my friend's apartment at 3am and waited for a bus alone. I saw a few drunk chicks and blokes passing by the bus-stop. They vomitted by the pavement and yelled out of the blue. All of a sudden, there were several black men hopping out from two cars to enter a small shop behind the bus-stop. I panicked to be in such circumstance, but yet remained cool, not to show my worry. At the end, bus #23 arrived and I hopped into it to go to the bus central. Again, I wasnt that lucky since I had to hop on and off from a couple of buses before I could get to Heathrow Airport. There was another time when I was asked by a so-called pissed off guy about where I were going to and he kept looking at me as if he knew that I was all too worried at that moment and just didnt know how to get to my destination. However, I always istighfar and prayed that Allah would protect me from any hazards. At the end, I reached Heathrow safe and sound after a 2-hour journey. The duration didnt really startle me because I knew that it took an hour to get to Heathrow from London City by a tube. So, what even buses... Telling a story when I shopped at Harrods, I was a bit surprised with the store itself. It looks like a genuine luxurious shopping store which parted into a few sections. My eyes blinked when looking at the stuff sold in the store. It isnt like a normal shopping mall. It's more like an exhibition room where they put the products on beautiful, fine-made tables and shelves. The cheapest price I could see on a price tag was 18 pounds. That price was for a Harrods' mug, and that was what I bought to bring home. Hehehe... I just didnt have any idea why the prices were extremely pricey. I got one fine borne MaxWilliam China teapot at home which I bought in New Zealand for 20 dollars, but there at Harrods, the same fine borne teapot (even similar in design and color) was sold at 50 pounds which was much more expensive. I guess the crowds had been cheated by Harrod's. Huhuhu...