Paris Oh La La~

Day 1 - Saturday, 8th July 2006

LONDON
Had another nice breakfast at Brunei House, Bayswater with Yulia & family before our trip to Paris. Funny but can't help feeling a bit sad to leave this warm place. After much arguing, we decided to leave 2 excess baggages. Again luckily Uncle Yusin & wifey agreed to take in these two. I really can't imagine how my trip'd be without these caring souls.
Mudahan murah rezeki kita Uncle, Auntie! :)

We left Victoria Station after lunch. Sakai ku eh! My first train ride!

Train tickets to Paris

What a novelty, travelling from one country to another in an airconditioned box on tracks- no traffic jam, no leaving the ground. (The midflight shakes while flying over India a few days ago nearly make me nazar for the unthinkables). I also love the Underground. So closely connected, so efficient (let's not talk about the 7/7 ok?).

Effty smiles - check the guy behind her, yummy :D

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The short trip through the tunnel beneath the English Channel was as memorable as a quick snore. Which I literally did. Siapa jua kan meliat kehitaman tunnel kan?

* * * * *

PARIS
Arrived at Paris Gare Du Nord at 5ish. Eh, I thought the train ride was only 2 hours?

It turns out that France is an hour ahead of UK. Bagus lah then, Brunei is only 7 hours ahead. ;p.

Arriving at Paris Gare Du Nord Train Station

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BEGGARS IN PARIS

An indian-looking girl approached us and asked if we spoke English. When we hesitatingly affirmed, she held out a piece of paper that basically read that she was from Bosnia, her parents were ill in the Hospital and she had no money for food. Effty said that we did not have any change and the girl mocked our apologies before pouncing on to the next victim. Beggars in Paris? Not your typical first impression of the City of Light.

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TAXI & TRAFFIC JAM

Culture shocked and jet lagged, we decided to take a taxi to our hotel in La Defense rather than brave Metro or Paris Underground.

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Paris sure is crazy. After the beggar incident, we were standing in a queue at the Taxi bay outside the train station when we witnessed our first (and thankfully last) traffic accident. A car tried to go through a narrow street between a parked van and another parked car. Usually the common sense displayed by any drivers I have seen so far would be to decelarate and inch their way carefully through. However this time the French guy just tried to speed his way out, and managed to fantastically removed the van and the other parked car's side mirrors, denting his car in both sides. Gila banar. Hehee...

Bata Shoestore in Paris!

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Luckily also, the French Taxi driver was friendly although a bit lost. Effty was muttering, "Kamah jua ah Paris ani" before the taxi driver mentioned that these people are "crazy" and there were no white men around. Turned out that to escape traffic, we took a shortcut (which turned out to be very~ lengthy) across a Black/Arab only street called Barbase. I stopped from my guidebook browsing to take in the sights. Macam-macam ada. ("I think I just saw someone taking a piss")

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Because I was so bangang by this side of Paris I never expect to see, I did not get to take so photos. Stupid racial profiling made me scared to even take out my camera. What a horrible feeling.

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However, Effty did take some photos, though they are not that informative, but jadi lah ah.

Checking out places to visit in some French Taxi

Oil Prices in Paris

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Arriving at our hotel at La Defense, we were once again unnerved - this time by the Hotel sign posted at the lift - that management would not be responsible for any valuables left in the room while the guest is out. Hotel Citea Leonard Da Vincci is a 2 star studio apartment. You would have to leave your key at the reception (which opens 24-7, thank God) when you go out and there were no safe to place our travel document or any valuables. Yay. Peace of Mind indeed.

Daulat Ke Bawah Duli Tuan Patik

Respect and gratitude to the best sovereign in the world! Can't wait to get home to see the parade and all.

Thanks for the the pay raise! :D

More info: http://www.royalbirthday.info/index.php

2nd Day: London

7th July 2006, Friday
BAYSWATER, LONDON

Home Away from Home.

My second day in London (was written on the 3rd day in Paris and uploaded days later in Bristol *lol*), I managed to go to only one place of attraction in London - the famous Buckingham Palace.

I did not get this shots:

but I managed some:

Brunei's Bayswater Hostel View... dodgy hairstyle and all. ;p

Buckingham's Pagar. Wasn't trying to be Mary Poppin - it was drizzling. That's why I expanded a bit (heh).

Infront of No. 1 Buckingham Palace Road.

Double decker Tour Bus infront of No. 1

Siti Poppins at Buckingham Palace's Gate. Trying doing this at Istana Nurul Iman's - and see stretches of road ahead.

Effty at Royal Mews Gallery. Posing ia adiku ah...

Sisters between the marble pillars of the Palace's Gallery entrance.

Buckingham Palace without the umbrella.

Sunyi bang?

Open sesame!

Siti's Sistas

Some kid admirers I picked up at Victoria's Train Station. (The place's crazy - no escalators! Bitchy tarus Effty mengangkut luggage kami).

Highlights of the day: Makan breakfast at Home away from Home. Nasi Lemak Tahai!

Midnite footie at Dubai & Nando's in London

6th July 2006, Thursday

MIDNIGHT AT DUBAI - TRANSIT LONGUE
Wah how come no one told me that we're stopping in Dubai at 3 AM Brunei time?? Rusak masa tidur ku. (Padan mua nda check schedule)

Anyway, Football amongst Pepohon Kurma.

France vs Portugal
1 - 0

LONDON
After circling Heathrow for about 15 minutes, my plane landed at 630. There was a long, long, long queue of mostly American on holidays but it's not rare to see females in burkha with their male chaperone.

I was greeted by Effty at the Arrivals, who was fresh and perfumey but had no reservation in glomping a grubby, smelly Intan. 17 hours of flight does not agree with me much. ;p.

Wanita kengalihan

Wanita kengalihan posing

Ada si On Hung Zheng jua menyambut aku arah arrivals. Baik ah? :D. Actually he was fetching his brother yg jua baru jua datang. Eh nda ku sadar ada Cina dalam plane ku tadi ah.

We took an express train from Heathrow to Paddington. I had a quick shower at Brunei Hall before going to Nando's for lunch. Guess who I met there? Khaleel and his dad - big boss of MOF, Pehin Hj Abd Rahman (bapa nya kah tu? nda ku ingat. Bapa gf nya kali). Aiyoo. London sure is small.

Di Nando's ada bini waitress Portuguese yg lawa brabis - yg kalau hidung nya nda macam hidung Princess Diana, ia brabis macam Laetitia Casta. Lawaa!! Nantitah ku gambar, kalau ku kemari lagi.

Apparently Brunei Hall does not allow anyone other than Brunei students to stay there, so I had to move out. Aiyoo, that was not in the plan. Luckily Effty met with Yulia who helped us find a nice hostel to stay. Alhamduliilah.

So now I have a home away from home. Thanks Yulia & family!

Highlight: Being approached twice by the same lady who offers 'a very cheap' makeover at Whitely's. Bangang jua orang putih ani.

BRUNEI - beginning

5th July 2006, Wednesday
BRUNEI

Spent the last few hours at the Mall - had a hair appointment
to wash off the gunk from my Sunday's digital perm, eating
lunch at KFC with Izham and seeing him satisfy his lust for
K850i. Credit card is a bad, bad thing to have.

At the airport to see me off was... just Amir! - *shock* I have no
friends! *lol* - Sweet Amir who came straight from his
business trip from Temburong. :D.

Best boy friend Amir aka SA ;)

Hahaa... Luckily me mom and dad and a few sibs (as much as
dad can cram into his little Soluna) and Izham was there as
well to see this little bird off thousands of miles away home.
Relax Intan, it's going to be just 3 weeks.

La Family

Intan & Awang ku

HIGHLIGHTS: My name announced on the PA system.
Lambat2 lagi boarding atu. Luckily, there were only few people
at the airport.

Distance - it's a bit more than I'm used to

Straight line displacement from my house to my work place:


Straight line displacement from my country to my first overseas holiday destination this July 5th:

Only roughly 13 000 km difference.

Mana jauh kan?

Picture courtesy of http://earth.google.com (Don't go there if you have a deadline. Or an evil mind like yours truly who has plans to take over the world... muahahahaa)

Bismillah

As with everything that I would do begin with the beautiful word...

With the light of the One,

Peace be upon you :)