Europe Here I Come - Part 8

HYDE PARK, LONDON.

I have heard of Hyde Park in London since my school days. The knowledge about the speakers corner in Hyde Park kept me dreaming that one day I will get to witness it if not participate in the banter with the speaker. Unfortunately when we were in London recently, it was not a Sunday when the speakers corner was on.
On arrival in London our bus took us to our hotel in Bayswater area passing by Hyde Park. It was not far from the park.
The next morning I woke up early for the Subuh prayers. This is the view from my window with the sun rising.

Later I chance upon the sight of two hot air ballons and I photographed it against the sphire of a nearby church.

I can't be wasting time in the room and I need to use as much of my available time in London to see things. Getting out of the hotel, I felt the cool and fresh morning air outside. Moving towards Hyde park I saw this neighbouring hotel beside Holiday Villa being extensively renovated. It's The Blakemore.

The area where we stayed was known as Leinster Gardens. Walking on there was this restaurant being offered for sale. Business must have been bad for this restaurant that it had to close down. If you have the money you can buy over this restaurant to sell nasi lemak which will surely sell. A niche market can be secured when the wealthy will come to gamble their wealth away at a new casino being constructed less than 50 meters away will follow their nose at the smell of freshly cooked nasi lemak. All the more so if they are from Malaysia or Singapore. The casino is owned by a Malaysian company.

The building under renovation is a new Casino in London being built by a Malaysian Company. no prizes will be given for the correct guess as to which company is involved. They were allowed to renovate the building but on the condition that the facade of the old building is maintained. Only the inside of the building was torn down. It was definitely a great architectural and engineering feat.

A grand looking building
The local authorities had to take care of all people especially the mentally impaired person and so the roads had to be painted with the instruction to Look Right when crossing a road even at the traffic light. Note the color pencils being used to decorate the walls surrounding the building under renovation.
This man was out early on his bike to excercise.

The sight of this London bus showed how useful they are for advertisement. It moves around the city for all to see.

Entering Hyde Park via Lancaster Gate, I saw this map of the park.

It was around 6 AM and the park was quite deserted except for a few people jogging or walking their dogs.




The statue of a man riding a horse looks interesting. Made the mistake of not reading what was written on the placque.
Another angle with the rising sun behind it.
The dog's poo can be deposited here. Did see a man collecting his dog's poo and deposited them in this receptacle. No wonder their park is clean.
A dog on a long leash.
Now again the instruction to look left and right before crossing a road. Bicycles can only be rode in their designated lane in the park.
Walking across the park i reached the other side where the Royal Albert Hall was located. I was amazed by the sight of another structure at the fringe of the park. This structure as told by blogger Atok from Reading was the Prince Albert memorial.

For other ckluster of statues were constructed at the four corners of the fence depicting a certain story.
The intricate embossed murals and design on the Prince Albert Memorial.
The details.
Here is the famous Royal Albert Hall where our late Sudirman haji Arshad once performed and was crownd as Asia's best performer beating Anita Sarawak of Singapore and many other well known Asian performers. Dato' Siti Nurhaliza had performed here to a packed paying audience. Recently a play The King And I was staged here and in the play 2 children of blogger Atok from Reading, England acted. Read Kak Teh's take on it here. Backtracking into the park i saw this juniper flower/fruit which I initially thought to be birds.
The igsignia on the ground indicating The South Flower Walk. All dogs muct be kept on lead when going inside the walk.

Lavenders were flowering when I walked along it.
A solitary dove perched on a branch.
A squirrel moved towards me expecting to be fed. I am sorry I brought only my camera with me.
He looked at me with one eye.
Spotted another one later at another side of the park.
Singnages aplenty to show you the way.
Suddenly i heard the sound of big birds flying. When I looked up I was just in time to record these four birdss flying. U Lee and Ee Lynn said they were the trans migratory Canadian Geese visiting London. U Lee should know as he lives in Canada. How did Ee Lyn knows? She lives in KL. I know she knows because Ee Lynn loves nature and she is a member of Malaysian Nature Society.
When I zoomed in only 3 came into the frame.

Later in the evening after our guided tour of London, we had time to revisit Hyde park. I wanted to share Hyde Park with my other half. now I have an assitant to record as to have been to leinster garden, london.

The other half wanted a picture of her too but right inside the park.
We reached Kensington Palace. I guess for a fee it is possible to tour the palace.

can you read what it says?
We couldn't cover much of the park that afternoon as my wife was still feeling the pain from the broken toe nil as a result of runnning the 15 coaches length of ground in Brussels. So we headed home to the hotel.
On the way back we saw this solitary old gentleman sitting on a park bench with an Italian cap. He must be dreaming of how his life would be if he were to live in London and spend the rest of his life there in London. The weather maybe nice now that it was the beginning of summer. How will it be if the weather turns hot? Worse still is whether he can withstand the harsh cold winter? Will he have enough money to live in expensive London? Let us just leave him to himself to continue with his dreams. Afterall dreams are free.

Europe Here I Come - Part 7

I WAS ARRESTED IN BRUSSELS, BELGIUM.

I never expect them to be scanning our luggage as we were just going to ride a train and not a plane. Anyway they did just did that and arrested me for having them in my luggage. I didn't realize it was an arrest until they asked me to sign certain forms which I didn't even bother to read. I was in a hurry and wanted it to get it over as soon as possible because the train was already in the station and ready for boarding. Read on to know what really happened to me when we were in Brussels, Belgium.

Before the above happenings we were on the bus entering Brussels. Brussels is the capital of Belgium, a country which most Malaysians may not know much. I guess we know too much about the other European Union countries but not Belgium. The only certain thing I know of Belgium is they are into steel industries and produce guns. When I was a manager of Felda Taib Andak in Kulai, Johor which was made famous by the popular singer Mawi and later when I was in Felda Sungai Tiang, I had the use of guns supplied by Felda to all their managers. The guns were made in Belgium. When I mentioned that Belgium is famous for gun making, Eddy the German bus driver concurred with me and volunteered that Belgium is the poorer cousin among the European Union countries. Anyway they have made Brussels the administrative capital of the European union so it can also be considered as it's capital.

We will only be passing through Brussels for some shopping. Just passing through Brussels can be considered as a sin if not a crime. At least two days is required to see Brussels. The old buildings and architecture is something not to be missed and you need more time to really enjoy this old vibrant city.

When we neared Brussels we saw road widening work being done. Another lane is being added. That indicate a bustling traffic and a growing population of cars.
This is how the fringe city of the city of Brussels appeared from the highway when we entered it.
We stopped at the Atomium in Heysel Park. Yes we were there but we didn't have time to really see it and go inside it. This icon of Brussels is what The Eiffel Tower is to Paris. This 102 meter tower is in the shape of a single iron crystal magnified 165 billion times. From the top sphere you can see the city of Brussels. Read more about it here.
All the time we had was to take a group photograph.. We could not wait longer as some members (the female side) didn't do their thing when we did the last pee stop. As such they were carrying a half bladder full of waste water that have no where to be dispensed around the atomium area. So we had to move on.
Gorgeous architecture.
The obelisk at a round about reminds me of the one in Istanbul Turkey.
The traffic in mid city is getting heavier.
Well pruned trees lining the streets will add beauty to the the street as well as make the street cooler during summer.
Beautiful cathedral.
Kids
Is this a river or a canal? With waterways around there will definitely be a boat cruise to enjoy.
Modern sculpture
People walking down the streets.
How do you make a profile of the people? These seems to be of Arab stock.
A modern arch amid old buildings.
There was no parking area for the bus so we alighted somewhere near this landmark building which is The Marriot Hotel to regroup later when the bus comes back to pick us up.


Can't make up what this grand building is. Somebody please help me.
An anonymous person told me it is a big Chinese Restaurant as indicated by the Chinese words should you click on the picture to enlarge it. Thank you anonymous. Xplorer said it is the Bourse with a chinese restaurant near it. I think the Bourse is more like it. Thank you Xplorer.
Unlike in Malaysia, pedestrians will cross only at a zebra crossing.
A pedestrian mall
Crowd queuing at a fast food outlet.
An election going in Belgium and this van is pasted with the faces of people running for election.
My first sight of the Grand Place or the Market Place.
Look at that building!
And that one behind me.
Some artists with their work being displayed and for sale.
One of them busy at work. The weather was fine and cool and very conducive for a productive day.
Wow! Look at the details.
More of them.



Road side cafe with many tables still empty.
fabulous chicks. KBguy will definitely love this pic. Lim do you think the Chinese babes can be any cooler than this?
Our own ladies taking a group photo wile waiting for clues as to which direction to go.
Souvenir shops of course!
Many of us missed this figure of Van Gough thinking it was just another statue. He had been in this position for quite sometime and I was waiting for one kind soul to put in some coins to make him move. To me the bottle of drinking water and the coin box was the giveaway even though he was so still that he was really like a statue. The sight of the chain anchoring the coin box indicate that he must have experienced a snatch by a theft sometime in the past. I guess this kind of performing art is tougher than most others like busking or playing a musical instrument as a way of making a living. Pray tell me what do you call this kind of performing art?
Victorinox swedish knives. They are definitely sharp. I lost the one I bought in Phnom Penh when I was at moving house from Gua Musang.
Were they giggling at the sight of the peeing statue? That's the Manneken Pis and is seen as the symbol of the French and Dutch cohabitation in Brussels. What a laugh. Anyway it is an icon of Brussels and people will come to this point to have their photograph taken to show the world that they had been to Brussels, Belgium.
The Manneken Pis.
My other half was fascinated by this melting and flowing chocolate.
A complete stranger came and offered to be photographed licking the chocolate together. Pak Zawi made a poor work of it as both of them were too faraway from the flowing chocolate. Anyway the moral of the story is a complete stranger of vastly differring culture will not mind being friendly if you look and act friendly.
Tuan Haji Fuad and Tuan Haji Mustapha had their lunch first before joining us for shopping or just window shopping.

At last we bought our chocolate to be taken back to Malaysia.
Hotel Amigo not far from the Grand Place. A night at this hotel will cost you a minimum of Euro 199 (about RM915).


This lady was viewing the pictures she had taken. Just like me, she must have been taking the pictures of the same building several times over. What can we do when a different angle gives the building a different meaning to our sight.



This girl decided to have her face immortalized on canvas. Her friend was egging her on. I didn't wait to see the result but I guess the artist must be really good to be able to work at the Grand Place.
I first saw this two wheeler at the Eiffel Tower in Paris. I approach the guy on the contraption and asked him how easy it is to learn how to ride it. He said there is a computer in the vehicle that will detect any tilt and thus correct the tilt by moving forward or backward thus keeping you upright. You can ride this contraption for a fee. I din't bother to ask how much as our Euros was fast dwindling. Mekyam of New York said this machine is a Segway Personal Transporter (SPT). If you are the lazy to walk kind, get one and in no time you can get yourself bloated up due to lack of excercise. Pak Zawi is guilty of this crime even though he doesn't own an spt.

We boarded our bus again for the final leg of our journey on the bus with Eddy. The last journey was towards the central station in Brussels. Pak Zawi was given the task of collecting contributions from all members to be given as tip to Eddy. Eddy had been with us for more than a week had been spending a lot of his own money for expenses which is only claimable upon his return to the office. He said he doesn't mind accepting any amount in any currency. So all those loose coins in Euros and Swiss francs went into a plastic bag which Eddy gratefully accepted. We still want to keep our pound sterling for use in London.

We alighted from the bus not far from the railway station. There was no way for the bus to get anywhere nearer. So we will have to lug our baggage.
Eddy thanked us all for the tip. Above all he thanked us for the friendship. He had been a great friendly driver. He and me had been joking all the way. He jokingly appointed me as his assistant driver and I called him boss. Later he felt awkward when I continue to call him boss until I told him that in Malaysia we call everybody 'boss'. Even the head of department call the office boy 'boss'. Maybe that is how we created the little Napoleons in Malaysia. After that he understood why I call him 'boss'.
The check in into the railway station.
The waiting before boarding. It was after this boarding that my trouble with the law enforcement began. Before boarding we had to scan all of our luggage. I never thought anything will trouble me until the officer manning the scanner monitor asked me to see the two knives in my bag. I had to call my wife to come and find the knives as she was the one who packed the knives. We didn't bring out 2 but 3 of them. All three were locking knives. The smaller one was brought all the way from Malaysia and the two newer ones were bought in Titise Germany. As I said ealier we thought nothing of the knives as others had also bought knives and one of them even bigger knives and in more numbers than mine. The only difference was that they bought swiss army knives and the bigger knives were in the form of kitchen knives usually used by chefs. Of the 3 knives the two knives bought in Titise Germany was the offending items as they were said to be too big to pass off as a pen knife. It was slightly larger than the one I brought from Malaysia although they were of the same shape.
I thought it would end in confiscation and I would be allowed to board the train. I had experienced similar situation when I was boarding a plane and forgot about the pen knife in my hand carry luggage in Beijing. No it was not so. Another officer by the name of Van Hallen if I heard it right took me to a lady officer and she said something in their own language which of course I didn't understand. After that I was taken to a room and Van Hallen had my details recorded in a form after asking me a few questions.
The mistake I made was not buying the Swedish knife which I wanted to give to my son who had celebrated his 30th birthday on 6th June. Instead of buying a Swedish knife I have opted to buy a locking knife because of being a cheapskate with a limited budget. I bought the locking knife because for the price of a swedish army knife I could get two locking knives, one for him and one for myself. To me the locking knife is better because it is useful to have when you go for outdoors which my son loves to do. He once went on the Head Hunters Trail in Sarawak.
Now back to my situation with the law in Belgium. Van Hallen had asked me to sign on the forms which he had filled and I didn't bother to read as time was fast running out. He said the two knives will be confiscated and returned the smaller one from Malaysia. I pleaded for exchange with one of the confiscated one which he laughingly said he can't allow. Then he said "You are technically under arrest. I should have handcuffed you". The crime? Trying to smuggle dangerous weapons! They are only slightly larger than penknives.
Oh my God! To be arrested and handcuffed while on holiday in Europe? It would make a nice picture and item to blog, I thought quietly to myself.
When we went out of the room, my group was no where in sight. Van Hallen helped to direct me to the boarding gate and on the way we met my other half lugging all the suitcases with the help of Puan Zainida of Poto Travel. Puan Zainida was definitely a good tour leader. She had not abandoned me. On that score alone I would love to have her to lead my group again should we go on another tour with Poto Travel.
Upon reaching the train, we didn't know which way to go to to reach coach number one. Initially I ran to the right but reversed upon seeing the numbers on the coach which read 16 after the fifteenth coach. Oh dear coach 1 which was our coach was 15 coaches away. That day I ran the length of fifteen coaches lugging my luggage in one hand and smaller bags and camera in one hand. My other half was doing the same. I have not done any running for the past 7 years! Imagine me doing it for the first time. I was breathless. Later my wife showed me her broken nails on her toes as a result of the run. Poor wife! I must make up to her for that.
When we reached coach one, we were breathless. Somebody had to lift my luggage for me. When I managed to get myself seated, I regained my breath and promised myself to pray to the Almighty for sparing me from a hear failure.
The train soon pulled out from the station.

Those pictures above showed how my other members looked after the ordeal. Here is how I looked.
Happy to be on the way to London.

We reached St. Pancras International Station, London on time. The bus driver who was supposed to meet us there was nowhere to be seen and we had to wait for him. Later he came with a banner reading Boto Travel and was looking angry muttering something incomprehensible because he had been waiting for so long outside the station. I think he was late and he made the ruse to cover up. What was he doing waiting outside in the bus?
Disembarking from the train at the newly refurbished St. Pancras International station.

The time in London. It was evening.
The waiting in St. Pancras International Station London.
Everything on time.
Collecting our baggage on arrival at the hotel
Holiday Villa in Bayswater area is owned by a Malaysian company.
Waiting for the lift to our 4th floor room at the hotel lobby. The minuscule lift can only take 2 persons at a time with luggage. We had to experience similar sized lift in Lucerne, Paris and now London.
After settling down in the room, we found that the room was very stuffy and hot. A draft of cool refreshing air entered the room when I opened the shutterd window and we felt more comfortable. Later I heard a member complaining of the warm room and asked for a room with air condition only to be told that air condition was only available in the suites.
There was no free wifi in the hotel. Wifi is available at a fee which can be paid online. Internet fascilities was avaialble at the lobby at the rate of 1 pound per 20 minutes. The rate is cheaper at cyber cafes at the rate of 1 pound per hour. I decided to delay my postings till I reach Malaysia.

Europe Here I Come Part 6b

Amsterdam, The Second Part.
Due to the many pictures that I will be using to illustrate this post about Amsterdam, I am splitting the post. This is Part 6b, the final post.

This is Wim, our local guide in Amsterdam. Beside his native Dutch, he speaks German, English, French and a few other languages fluently. Wim is full of knowledge with information at his finger tips. Above all he is very witty and most jokes were about himself and he certainly knows how to take care of the sensitivities of others especially the German driver. If the driver was a Dutch, the German would have been the butt of his jokes. Wim is divorced from his wife and lives in the same block of flat with his ex wife. He said that often made his wife jealous and angry whenever he brought his girlfriend to his home. He considers himself poor and made use of the many loopholes in the system to enjoy a comfortable life. Earlier he gave us a younger age but at the end of the tour he owned up to the lie and announced his actual age. POTO Travel certainly employed the best guide for the Amsterdam tour. His only mistake was when he went to the wrong Artemis Hotel in the city and not the Artemis Hotel which was in the outskirt of town where we stayed. Anyway Wim caught up with us at the diamond factory. At the factory Wim managed to pick up the brains of a few of us to determine our basic profile to prepare himself on how best to handle our group. That is a professioanl guide for you.
After having lunch of half a chicken shared with my other half at a Turkish restaurant in the shopping area of Amsterdam, we boarded the bus heading for Zaanse Schans, in the north province of Holland. This place has a number of well preserved historic windmills and houses.

We were scheduled to be taken to mosque in Holland and Wim did manage to arrange with the official of a mosque for our impending arrival. Due to poor time management, the visit to the mosque was cancelled. Somehow along the way we spotted a mosque almost hidden by trees surrounding it.The entrance fee to the village was included in the package so we didn't have to pay it ourselves. At the entrance, two photographers were at the ready to photograph us individually. Our photographs will be mounted on a card with pictures of the village and would make great mementos at Euro 10 per pic.
Pak Zawi chose to shoot the photographer instead.

The sight of a small boy in an extremely large clog being photgraphed by his mother caught my sight.

This pretty lass was being photographed in an even bigger clog.
In the woodenshoe workshop, the group was given a briefing on how a wooden shoe is made.

This shoemaker showed us how a shoe is made with his machines. Oakwood was used for making the wooden shoes.
The traditional way was done using this gadget to slice off a small piece of a block of wood in this large 'kacip' like contrapton. It was a tedious excercise and machines were later invented to hasten the process to just a few minutes based on a ready mould.
Even chiseling the inside of the shoe is done automatically and the workmen even had time to make phonecalls. Similar routine were performed for other groups including the phonecalls. Now I know the phone isn't even connected as it was just a dummy.

The finished products on display.

An intricately carved pair of shoes.

This one is even more unique. It could serve as a weapon much worse than the stilletos.
Next we moved off to the cheese making factories.

This girl demonstrated on how a ball of hard cheese is made into slices ready for cooking. Later we were offered to bu the cheese with the slicer included. Can we generalise that most cheese lovers are overweight?

All the cheese you will ever want.
The windmill is of course the main item to see. Windmills in its traditional form is used to generate the power through it's system of gears to pump water froma lower elevation to a higher one. This is how farmlands were kept above water level otherwise it will be flooded. Another main use is as a grinder to grind grains. We had to pay extra to visit the inside of a windmill.

We were in Netherland! The windmill is the proof.

This is a typical Dutch house.
While walking around we saw these two birds flying.
As if on cue, they landed in the canal quite close to us. They are wild ducks!


Floating houses quite similar to the 'rumah rakit' along the river bank of Kota Bharu. The only difference is the 'rumah rakit' in Kota Bharu sits on bundles of bamboo poles which needed to be replaced after a few years. Later plastic drums were used instead. Another difference is the raft houses in Hollands are not exposed to the vagaries of bad weather whereas in Malaysia, the water level will rise several meters during the monsoon and even the best ropes used to tether the 'rumah rakit' may snap or the anchor points maybe uprooted sending the houses adrift towards the river estuaries.
We were on the bus again moving towards Vollendam, a fishing village along the lakes formed when the dikes were constructed.
We saw a new house being constructed and was really amazed to see the amount of insulation required to keep the houses warm during the winter. The roofs were highly raked to allow the snow to fall off during winter.
Even the smallest of space was used to plant pretty colourfull flowers for landscape.
A seemingly sophisticated bike.

The statue of the Dutch lady made Fatthiah looked very slim in comparison.
The beauty of the lakeside with the fishing vessels berthed along the jetty.
One for the album infront of this giftshop by the name of Keko.

The shopowner (assumed to be one) is a friendly lady who entertained many of our requests including a discount. We found the merchandize on sale here to be much cheaper than in Amsterdam and the quality was better.
When we reached home, we found that this was one of the things she regretted for not buying, the wooden tulips. Ladies, don't make the same mistake as my other half did.

Another one for the album.

On the way back to the hotel we had to pass through the city of Amsterdam again. We saw this sculpture.
A stop at Hard Rock Cafe Amsterdam was a must as somebody among us had to buy a T Shirt at all the outlets of the Cafe. I bet she missed the one in Manama, Bahrain when we first stopped enroute to Europe.
The Holland Casino is just nearby to Hard Rock Cafe Amsterdam. Don't miss it if you think you are lucky enough that you can recoup all your travelling expenses by having a binge at the casino.
Since I wasn't interested in any Hard Rock Cafe merchandise, I was left free to do my own things.
A lovey dovey couple passed by.
This young lady had to wait for her friends whose bike decided to drop off its chain that drives the whhel's sprocket.Here the friend had to catch up and was amused when I took a shot of her.
We returned to our hotel.
There was no adult movie on our TV at the hotel. It was not that they were not available but we had to pay for it. It would be our last night in Amsterdam.

The sun rose early in Amsterdam. Well it was around 4.22 am that the sun rises. Subuh was at 2.17 AM. I rose early to catch the rising sun.
This is how the hotel looks at the beginning of daybreak. This hotel is in a new neighbourhood. Among others in the neighbourhood is IBM Holland and Price Waterhouse Coopers. PWC should be on every body's lips now as it is involved in the audit of the PKF scandal that is going to cost the people of Malaysia a big fortune and at the same time make some people very rich.

Price Waterhouse Coopers.
Just to let you see how nice is the inside of the hotel compared to the ones we had in Luscerne, Switzerland and Classic Hotel of Paris.

This stork waited for me to get ths close before flying off to the other side of the pool. How cheeky.

This is Francisco from Nicaragua. He is a very friendly waiter at the hotel and we struck up our friendship at first sight.
Time to hit the road again. This time we were headed for Brussels, Belgium.
The ladies were ready on the bus.

New buildings at the outskirt of Amsterdam. Above is Hotel Holiday Inn.
The rural landscape of cows and pastures.


Some bridges.
This tunnel reminds me of the tunnel in Paris when Eddy the driver mentioned that was where Princess Diana and her lover died in an accident trying to run away from the papparazi.

We saw these magazines again at another pee stop on the way to Brussels. This is what I regretted most for not buying them while I had the opportunity. The customs in KLIA didn't even bother to ask me to stop for inspection. I could have brought in a couple of them, the extras could be given to my friends in Malaysia.