LONDON-PARIS-BRUSSEL-AMSTERDAM-LEEDS - Part 2

LONDON ~ 7th May - 9th May 2011

7th May 2011...We reached at Stansted Airports at almost 4pm London time. Sampai2 je along dah tunggu..wahh..touching gak waktu tu..lame x jumpe kan...diorg pick us up with Rented Wagon-like vehicle yg full of barang..heheh..siap kene repack dulu baru bleh duduk...mau x penoh brg segale mcm mende disumbat, dari periuk nasik hinggalah ke pencuci pinggan dan kain lap...well, those are essential items ok bile korg g family vacay kat oversea..jimat banyak sgt klu kite masak sendiri...plus, dijamin halal..huhu..

nilah kereta yang membawe kami sekeluarge..hebat kete niee..

Somehow, we manage to sumbat ourselves and all the stuff in the care..there are 7 of us ~ abg long, along, mama, makcik, aisya, aneesa and me..plus car seat aisya (it is rules to use child car seat..klu x pakai leh kene saman)...Perjalanan dari Stansted ke London City is about 1 hour drive..

view dalam perjalanan ke city of London

We were a lil bit lost when finding our pre-booked hotel kat london city..the hotel, Travelodge, located at the outskirts and it is actually a stay for highways traveler...memusing juge mencari..mujo ade Garmin <---this is very and extremely important item when traveling in foreign countries...mende ni wajib ade..and it is accurate..

We stay at Travellodge for 2 nights.. the room, not so big but sufficient for all of us...we were in 2 separate rooms...hotel die simple ~ 1 queen bed, 1 sofa bed, heater, tv, and attached bathroom..but wat make it different from our hotel room is the bathroom have no floor trap. haha..this 1 is tricky..u cannot simply splash water everywhere in the bathroom..basically, mandi kene dalam bathtub and berhajat tu kene hati siram air..plus, there are no hand bidet...org sane kan men lap-lap je..hohohoh...jadi kene biasakan diri ngn keadaan itu laa...

Travelodge - Southbound..p.s: Costa Coffee tu ala2 Starbucks la kat sini..

lagi pemandangan hotel

Dinner that night is by along..dah masak siap2 dari rumah...malam tu x kemana pasal sume dah penat..lepas makan, tido tros..simpan energy untuk tour london esoknye..

8th May..we start our day with a biiiigg breakfast..makan nasik terus..sbb nnti xyah susah2 nak cari lunch...boleh munchy2 bread n biscuits sajer...today is the tour day..1st destination is Trafalgar Square, the most visited place by Malaysian..in fact, tourism Malaysia is also located in front of the Square...tempat tu ade banyak tugu2 and actually where the National Museum/Gallery is located. Tapi x koso la den nak masuk museum bagai tuu..bukan ado berjuta pon duit kek poket den nie...kat sini suppose ade ade banyak pigeon, but mase kitrog pegi tu x banyak sangat...mungkin sbb dirg da kawal pembiakan pigeon nie coz the waste of there pigeons can be deadly...so, end up we just take nice photos there..we had a nice whether there, good for camwhoring..along bertindak sbg photographer professional bersame DSLRnye..heh, jeles den..huhuh...so, here's some pictures at Trafalgar Square...

Tourism Malaysia @ Trafalgar Square

Along the way to our next destination, we went through the city. Since it was Sunday, so the traffic is clear. Infact, according to along, if u come during weekdays by your own vehicle, u need to pay to go through the traffic jammed. Ni salah satu cara diorg kawal lalu lintas..if u want to pass-by the congested city, u haf to pay...ni sbb nape diorg lebih prefer gune subway/public transport untuk travel from 1 place to another. Oh, along the way, we passed by the Oxford Road, the famous shopping place at London City. Tapi since kitorg nak ke destination seterusnye, maka x la brenti untuk bershopping, kang x tour plak..ah, we also pass by the famous Harrods Shopping Center at Brompton Road.

buildings along the way

Harrods and other buildings

2nd destination is The Famous Tower Bridge. Very historical place..if im not mistaken, it was once a dungeon. A very big structure across the Thames River yang merupakan salah satu lambang london city and a must visit place. Near the Tower Bridge, ade satu castle..castle ape, da lupe name die..byk sgt historical building kat london nie..so, mari layan gambar saje...

Aktiviti seterusnye adelah cruise di sepanjang Thames River ~ Sungai terpenting di London satu ketika dulu and still is..Cuise nie basically cam feri kat Penang tu..tapi boat die panjang dan ade banyak bentuk..ade yang ade roof, ade yg xder, ade yang roof die clear and see through.. The cruise cost all of us GBP35 returns..quite a deal sbb along gune keistimewaannye sbg student. The cruise traveled from Tower Bridge Pier to Eye of London Pier. It is not actually the longest cruise. the longest is form Greenwich Pier to Westminster Pier. Kitorg ni kire amek route tengah2 la sbb antara 2 ni pon yg banyak attraction nye..so, along the cruise we saw all big and historic buildings like the Shakespeare Theater, The House of Parliament, St Paul Cathedral, Tate Modern and many more...these buildings is unique either with their facade and function as well.

Thames River Cruise

The pit stop is at London Eye Pier..this is where the Big Ben and Palace of Westminster is located. Famous iconic building of London. Saye dapat bergambar di depan Big Ben ini..sgt seronokkkk..the clock tower is extremely big dan structurenye sangat gah...it is one hell of a view which u shud see wif ur own eyes..crossing the westminster bridge is where the Eye of London is located.

@ Westminster Bridge

Since going to london is once in a lifetime experience, kitorg pon xnak la melepaskan peluang menaiki London Eye. Tapi yg nek nye mama, makcik, aneesa and me aje...along n the rest tunggu kat bawah sbb dirog dah naik dulu...this is 2nd time for aneesa...Bayaran masuk is approx GBP18..u can see more info here. the Wheel is actually 135m tall..one of the best experience here is the intro in 4D. before we come up the capsule, there were showreel in 4D..it was my 1st experience watching 4D and its extremely amazing..u can actually get wet in there. U can see the london city and thames river clearly when the capsule reach the topmost circumference. its breathtaking...

Dalam capsule London Eye

Sempat jugak cari several gifts for friends kat sini. there are several stall near the London Eye and Big Ben selling gifts with affordable price. the gifts is not cheap tau...so, sorry le pade kengkawan yg dapat gift kecik ye...huhuhu...tu je yg mampu..

3rd destination is mengalas perut dengan makan di Malaysian Hall. It is located at a place called Qeensborough. Abg long la yg teringin nak makan sini..lame x dapat mee mamak..kitorg bese je..kan dari malaysia..tapi kat sini food die ok, sedap dan affordable. x la mahal sgt. dan jual beli boleh dalam RM. tapi jgn la compare ngn harga kt negare kite..of course la mee mamak die jual dekat RM15 sepinggan..huhuh..dats y klu tour with family ni adelah lebih jimat klu masak sendiri..kat europe nie, barang raw mmg murah tapi the labour for cook mmg sgt mahal. dats y all ready cook food are expensive.After had our late lunch dan solat, we planned to do quick shopping at Oxford Road. There are plenty of designer stores along the road i.e selfridges & co. its a shopping heaven. however, kitorg smpai situ da agak lewat. It was already 6 pm at stores are closing. So, x smpat nak beli ape2 except gifts lagi...

mee goreng mamak satuuuww..@ malaysian Hall

@ Oxford Street

 Ape yg london city same ngn kite adelah kebanjiran bangla..yg jadi jurujual kat sane pon bangla juge..huhuhu..

agak2 da jam 8pm, which is matahari masih ade dan belum gelap, all the stores closed. then we all pun balik ke hotel. that night kene tido awal sbb esoknye kene bertolak ke negara perancis pule..

9th May 2011..We have to wake up early because there will be a long journey both by ferry and car to City of Paris. After had our breakfast and packed everything back in the car, we started our journey leaving the city of london to a place called Dover, where there are ports for ferries that travel through the shortest route of English Channel to Calais in France.

Perjalanan ke Dover mengambil masa selama lebih kurang 2 jam. We have to be early untuk elakkan masuk london city within congestion hour. Plus, we have pre-purchase the ferry ticket with specific date and time. so, we have to catch up to that.

Dover also offers good view. U can see an old white castle on top of the hill near the cliff with beach view. There are Seagull everywhere. Ferry yang kitorg nek tu name die P&O Ferries. U can get more info here.

@ Dover

 Perjalanan through the channel took 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours...Ferry ni besa..tingkat bawah tpt kite park kete, then kat atas ade cafe, shopping place, arcade place, games and etc. We had a small bruch here in the ferry. the best part is shopping in the ferry coz its tax free dan barang adelah murah berbanding all the designers outlet inland..seriously, if u have a chance naik these ferries, pls shop here, coz it worth it. i can get DKNY delicious perfume 50ml for GBP15 = less than RM100 ok..

Ok, kite sambung cerita di bumi Perancis dalam entri akan datang...oh, saye sgt mengantukkkk!!...Peace yaw!