Thursday, June 18, 2009

Europe Here I Come - Part 5

I LOVE PAREE

Paris is of course symbolized by the Eiffel Tower. We were heading for Paris on the 4th day of our Tour of Europe with Eiffel Tower already etched in our mind. You will never be considered to have seen Paris if you have not reached this icon of Paris even though there are many other structures that are far older and grandiose than this steel tower. With more than 200,000,000 paid visitors having visited this tower since it's construction in 1889, visiting it is definitely a must. This tower is the world most popular paid visit in the world.
Along the way to Paris from Lucerne in Switzerland, the landscape in the countryside was again undulating land covered with green plants. Many of us had been askance as what plant they are and none in the bus could provide the answer including Eddy the German bus driver. Looking at the bales of grasses being harvested, I could surmise that they were grasses planted to be made into fodder to be fed to the cattle during winter. The only difference is that the bales are being wrapped in plastic which I presume is to help in the transportation back to the barn where the grasses must be dried to make hay that can last the winter.

A tractor cutting the grass with a chateu in the background.

Bales of grasses.

Free grazing cattles. Eddy said this breed of cattles are reared for their meat and he said they are steak on hoofs.

Cattles grazing in a field of yellow flowering plants presumably of the leguminous variety which is different from the gramminae family of grasses.
Still a long way to go before reaching Paris.

We stopped for lunch and Fatthiyah prepared our lunch comprising of rice with the usual stuff of sambal daging, sambal tumis and salted egg which seemed to last due to the cool weather.

Finally we reached our hotel in Paris. The hotel is called Classic Hotels. I can't even tell which part of Paris it was located. The address is Galeries Lafayette, 40 BD HAUSSMANN - PARIS.


Since there was still some daylight left, we did not waste time by staying in the room. We went looking around the area near the hotel. This shop attracted the attention of my other half.

These bicycles caught my attention. They are similar in design and make and all were attached to a pole. Later I found out that you can subscribe to this service which entitle you to pick up any bicycle, use them and leave them at any of such similar stations. So the safety and maintainence of such bicycle will be none of your worries.
This is one of the hotels with free wifi connection from the room and I managed to get online to check my mails but was too tired to make any postings.

An early breakfast for our group.

The ladies were eager to see Paris. The bus driver had to park very far from the hotel as there was no bus parking area nearby so it took sometimes for him to get to the hotel.

The group hanging around near Eiffel Tower while the Tour Leader went to buy our tickets. The group tickets were booked a month in advance by Alina the point to point Tour Guide in Paris. Alina is a Malaysian residing in Paris. If it was not booked early, we will have to join the long queue to buy the ticket. As a group visitor we were allowed the privilege to go up the tower at a specific hour. In our case it was 10.30 AM.

One for the album. Hey I was finally there in front of Eiffel Tower!

Another one with Paris in the background.

This is the River Seine. Look at the colour of the water. In Malaysia, we need some computer wizards to make the water look blue. Here it is the natural color of water.

Another view of Paris.
A sightseeing bus with an open top is common in Europe. A bus with covered top will be used for the winter.
Place de la Concorde was seen from the bus as there was no place to park the bus. All the pictures were shot through the bus window. Fortunately the glass window was clean.

How I wish we could have stopped here.

Louis Vuitton was passed by without stopping. Anyway I didn't miss it since the price of things at such stores were beyond people like me.
The Arc De Triomphe in the center of the Place Charles De Gaulle. It is one of the wellknown monuments in Paris.
Could it be the Opera House? I am not sure myself as I just shoot at it without taking any notes.



I caught the site of the sphires of this building while taking the river cruise. Could it be the famous Notre Dame? I read the Hunchback of Notre Dame for my English Literature while in Form 4 in 1967. I wanted to visit it while in Paris but there wasn't much chance to do that.
When I took this shot, I felt guilty that I was stealing shots of people not related to me so I called out to my other half who waved at me for the second shot.

The pretty lass tried to make way for my other half.
This building was painted with all the well known figures of France. Even at night this building and all the others along the cruise route can be visible as banks of powerful floodlight mounted on both sides of the cruise boats will light up the buildings. It would be fun to take a night cruise.
For bargain hunters, this part of Paris is well known to offer souvenir items at a relatively lower price. Do ask for a discount as a 10 percent discount is always given when you asked for it. Most of the shops were operated by people of Arabic descent. The one that we shopped in was managed by Hassan of Moroccan descent. Here Pak Zawi bought an Italian cap as Pak Zawi already has several French caps oops French beret at home.
In the back lanes behind this shopping area was the redlight area. Go there at your own risk as pickpockets are rampant.
The Tour Guide tried looking for a perfume outlet. Most of the outlets were closed as it was a holiday in France. Anyway she managed to bring us to the Hard Rock Cafe outlet as there were among us who collected Hard Rock T shirts wherever they visited.
A mama rocker posing in front of Hard Rock Cafe in Paris.
That night some of us wanted to see the light show at the Eiffel Tower. Since there were only about 10 of us, we took the tube to Eiffel Tower.

On the train they befriended this lady and tried to struck up a conversation. It didn't lead up to much as her English wasn't good enough to allow us to understand what she was trying to say even though she tried very hard to communicate. She was definitely very friendly.
Trying to photograph oneself touching the tip of Eiffel Tower was a common sight. We just followed suit. Unfortunately the result wasn't so good. Thanks to the half hearted attempt by the camera man.

The sight of an old Citroen caught my sight. Hey beside the Peugeot, France produces the Citroen. This car can lift itself using its hydraulic system. The car is so well balanced it can be driven with just 3 wheels! Believe me as I have seen it.
They seemed bored waiting. We were there at around 7 PM and the show will only begin at 10.00 PM when darkness started to fall. I was not bored as I was busy taking these photographs below.
The silhouette of a statue against the fading sky.

The statue of a naked boy with the details intact.
Of course there was also that of a girl.
It was while photographing this statue that I heard loud murmurs from a few thousand people behind me when the show started. I caught it on stll cameras as well as on video. Unfortunately I don't know how to load the video.
This one is on still camera.
You can visit this site to see a video of the Eiffel Tower light show.
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=31568610

You can read Kak teh's take on Paris here

45 comments:

xplorer said...

i had went to paris also last year.i had seen 2 side of paris the perfect and the ugly side.The other side of paris is a bit dirty and sometime scary.places like eifel tower , lafayete , champ elysee is all the good side of paris.but to those who haven't been there don't be discourage.Almost every country have a good and bad side.you just have to be street smart.I had post on my blog briefly yesterday about paris.

Pak Zawi said...

xploer,
Actually we didn't see much of paris as our time there was too short. I will visit your site and put a link to there from here. it is good to see both sides of the coin to really know about a pace.

xplorer said...

pak zawi-i read your comment on my blog.the seedy side of paris is for personal viewing and satisfaction.ha ha.What i meant was , i was quite suprise to see alot of beggars and "kutu" in paris.Me and my wife was being harrass by beggars and "kutu" a couple of time in paris.But of course you will not see beggars at eifel tower.My colleague was being mug by a gang .I don't see much "kutu" and beggars in other part of europe except in belgium.

Kak Teh said...

Pak Zawi, what noticed abt Paris is that thee are so many statues - but of course we cant have statues in our country, can we?
Anyway, did you g to the Latin Quarter? The restaurants and eateries are fantastc - it is the one opposite the building with the painting. It is so beautiful at night and we found the most delicious halal indian food there.

Sad Open said...

salam pak zawi.
Great posting. Beautiful and mesmerising. You should monetized your blog.

Pak Zawi said...

Xplorer,
If I have those pics I would have posted it on my site. It is OK since only adults visit my site hahahaha.
The Afrikaans selling the souvenir items (Eifel Tower keychains) made the area around Eiffel Tower look bad. There were just too many of them and they were quite persistent in their sales. How I wish they are not there though they sell things much cheaper than the stalls.
must be scary to be mugged in foreign land.

Pak Zawi said...

Kak Teh,
It is obvious we can't have statues here even if we don't worship them. It must have stifled one form of art.
We missed alot on the cities that we visited because of the lack of adventurism in us to explore the city on our own. We are timid people.
Don't care much about food anyway since we can gorge ourselves to death back home in Malaysia. Anyway if health permits, I may revisit some of these cities again.

Pak Zawi said...

Sad,
wassalam.
Thanks for the kind words. I really dont know about monetizing the blog. I will check on that and see what I can do. Thanks for the suggestion.

Kak Teh said...

Pak Zawi, it is not about food - it is about the atmosphere - I think, it is one of the attractions - people go there to see the diversity - the way they promote the restaurants, the night/street entertainment. I quite like the atmosphere there.

Yes, there's a lot to see and I have been there several times and yet, have not seen everything.

Uncle said...

Baca cerita Pak Zawi teringat masa saya kat sana dulu tahun 95. I dah dinner kat Hard Rock Paris, actually nak pergi makan kat Planet Hollywood tapi masa tu under construction. After dinner I headed to Moulin Rouge! Awesome....

Pak Zawi said...

Kak Teh,
Point taken. Next trip to Paris, will try to see more of the place and bring more Euros to buffer the shock of paying RM50 for a meal.

Pak Zawi said...

Uncle,
I guess you have travelled the world and seen most of the places. I am happy that you enjoy walking down memory lane with me. Unfortunately I didn't manage to cover much of Paris.

vt.chia said...

hi zawi...

thanks for the memory from your lovely write-up of gay paree... i remembered that we came in thru gare du nord by train from stockholm (a 20-hrs train journey via duisburg in w germany)... half dazed, we went around to find a hotel near the train station, a short rest, and then it is to the chateau de versailles (a most beautiful palace)... we sip coffee along the river seine and watch the eifel tower... we travel the metro throughout and it is surely scary at times... sharing the train coaches with the afrikaans... that is the most scary part of our travel... there was only me and another lady friend on this trip... but it was an experience all the same... thank you once again for the memory...

vt.chia said...

hi zawi again...

sorry miss this out... parisians are not very friendly if you speaks english... the french people just don't like englishmen and anything english... so when we stop someone to ask for directions, we just use cantonese (a chinese dialect)... their usual reply will be questions on whether we are japanese and do we speak english... we always tell them that we speak a "little" english and that is how we get them to answer our queries in english... hehehe...

Awang Goneng said...

Pak Zawi,

Salaam!

As a traveller I read your entries with great interest. I am always interested in other people's impressions of their travels. The pictures you took are so interesting, they make me want to go back to Paris for another look-see. Your hotel has a grand address in the Opera area. Galeries Lafayette at 40 Bvd Haussmann is the great shopping attraction in the city, and you could have picked up more than a few of your French topis on their 6th Flr, which is reputedly the city's biggest souvenir centre. And interestingly, Haussmann was the man who designed the new Paris with its 12 grand avenues radiating from the star (l'Etoile) where sits the Arc de Triomphe. To change Paris Haussmann demolished most of its medieval city, quite sad too, I think.

One of my highlights of my day in Paris is baclava washed down with mint tea on the rooftop of the Institut du Monde Arabe, from where you can see the nearby Notre Dame cathedral and its flying buttresses (in your photo collection) on the bank of the Seine. I would walk to the place from the Paris Mosque, a very beautiful building of Maghreb design, with its own cafe (more tea and baclava). During WWII the Imam of the mosque (I think he's buried there) hid many Jews in the basement to save them from the Nazis.

A Paris note with a Kelantan angle: I was once in Paris with Pak Adib, and I think he enjoyed our visit to the Cafe les Deux Magots where Jean Paul Sartre, Ernest Hemingway, and Camus used to sit (not necessarily at the same time though) and talk and sip their coffee. In the Latin Quarter Pak Adib had a sudden attack of claustrophobia, so he had to go out for a long walk while I finished my couscous and his too!

Sorry for my over-long comment. But as the German proverb says, When a drake flies across the ocean, there comes back a quack-quack. That's me, Pak Zawi. Hope I didn't bore you and Mak Zawi when you were both here. [Pak Zawi: stifling a yawn]

~CovertOperations78~ said...

Salam Abang Zawi! When in Paris... errr.... watch out for the dog poo! Those are some awesome shots! I love the one of your wife waving kinda self-consciously... hee hee... comel! The sculptures are beautiful works of art. Too bad we can't have that in Malaysia, or we'd end up having all of us 'jakun' art-deprived people 'ternganga' at the bottom of the statues and being late for work and school.

Regards,
CO78

Pak Zawi said...

Chia,
For a change why not blog about it? There is so much for you to tell and share. That kind of experience don't eaily come by especially when we go on a group tour where you never go off the beaten path. You can use my photos to illustrate.
I know the limitation of VT when you share your experience, that is why I turn to the blogs. Anyway VT allow you to make more friends.

Pak Zawi said...

Chia,
We were told about the language bit and start asking them in Malay just to get them to answer. Yeah you did the right thing.

Pak Zawi said...

Awang Goneng,
Wassalam.
It is an honour to have you visit with such regularity. When you leave your footprints here others will follow. You didn't bore me at all and what I will be afraid most is that readers may want to read more of your comments than of what I write because you are so informative.
People like you and your other half will definitely make great tourist guides. Why not give it a try? Being paid in Euros and Pounds will definitely make it worth the effort. Malaysians will definitely enjoy a trip with you especially when you can deliver in Malay. Not many people in Malaysia understand English anymore.
After reading your comments and Kak Teh's comment really made me want to revisit Paris a second time. InsyaAllah I will be there a second time. I have a close friend from Paris who now spends most of his time in Thailand. He had offered me to go to Paris together with him on his return trip and stay at his mum's place for free. I think I should take up his offer. That should make Paris affordable hehehehe.

Kama At-Tarawis said...

Pak Zawi - I am a true-blue oghe kapong when it comes to such statues.. tokleh tengok, malu.. hehehe..

Yes, Paris is such a lovely city kan? Macam Kak teh kata, it's the atmosphere.. Paris brings out the romance in you..:)

Pak Zawi said...

Kama,
Even in London they had the details of a statue covered up. Only the frenchies don't seem to mind. Well nobody in our group seemed to mind or even took a second look. they just accept the fact that the French people are open minded and they love a work of art.
Paris has so much to offer. We have to know what and where to look for them and then only you will enjoy Paris. For a first timer to Paris, a guided tour should suffice. I shall return!

Kak Teh said...

Pak Zawi/Puteri Kamaliah,
re: nude statues
Nothing beats the Vigeland Sculpture Park in Oslo, where more than a thousand nude statues are on display...macam-macam fesyen, angle dan bentuk gayanya, tak tahu ke mana nak tengok.

anyway, our son came back from Paris last night. he was there for three days and came back with a very different version of Paris. While he likes the city, he doesnt have the same sentiments for the people.

Unknown said...

The last time I was in Paris, I didn't get to go up the tower because just as I was about to go up, I woke up from my dream. Damn it.

Syiok la seeing you having a nice time there.

Pak Zawi said...

Kak Teh,
let's go to Vigeland Sculpture park oslo then. But then if you can see live specimen why ogle at sculptures?
We didn't have much interaction with the people so we can't judge them much.

Pak Zawi said...

Cikgu,
Your time will come. I only managed to see Paris after my retirement. Even that we have to wait until our investment bore fruit because we didn't want to spend on the pricipal amount that we invested. That way we get to travel at least once a year.

mekyam said...

pok wi,

i think u definitely should take up your friend's offer. nothing beats being shown around by a local to know a place and its people better.

with lightning visits one usually has time to see only some of the usual postcard sites and interact with souvenir vendors.

but tour group travelling is not as bad as being in town only for work or conference. unless u extend yr stay or play hooky, literally all u'll see are the airports and the inside of your hotels.

as for the feeling of discomfort in the presence of black people [they need not necessarily be immigrants, recent or otherwise] in paris that are expressed by some here, i think it has much to do with one's experience.

i've heard about some of the negative experiences malaysians have had with african visitors back home. maybe this is where that feeling of wariness comes from.

i also say this based on myself. the few times i've been in paris, the colored mix of the people was to me a non-issue. in the sense that my mind only noted the plurality of the people as just another flavor of the city without any other significance.

i do admit to being pleasantly surprise at sometime finding it easier to understand the french spoken by those from the former colonies than that of the local. probably because they speak slower and their pronunciation is also accented like mine.

come to think of it, if i at all singled out colored people it'd be southeast asian looking ones. i suppose i was always on the lookout for possible cntrymen. :D

back to the point i was trying to make. i think the reason "immigrants" in paris or other non-homogeneous cities i've been to didn't bother or register with me is because i've lived most of my life not only as an immigrant myself but in a city where on any given day u rub shoulders and bump elbows with literaly all the peoples of the world. [it's probably the same with kak teh and awang goneng.]

as for the "seedy" sides of any big city, in my experience, sometime it's just poverty we are seeing. these areas need not all be dangerous and populated only by people of color or immigrants. mostly just by those who are less fortunate.

p.s. sorry for this long rambling, pok wi. ag's comment at least have the excuse of being witty and interesting. tok sedar jadi panjae lagu nih. mulo ingat nok delete jo, pahtu raso rugi pulok bue maso tulih doh... :D

Pak Zawi said...

Mek Yam,
Love your lengthy explanation. What I am trying to relate is this syndicate like colored people trying to push their wares. Once you show some interest in what they were peddling like my wife did, they will converge on you and once you started bargaining, there must be a deal or they will keep following you. These people were wary of the authorities and you could see them scampering away when they sensed that the authorities were after them. Actually I have no discrimination against the colored people as long as we feel they are not a threat to us. We tried to befriend the lady in the train.
Feel free to make as long a comment as you like the next time you come a visiting.

Atok said...

abe wi,

for the past many yrs, we go to paris almost every year; well...not exactly paris, but to marriott resort near disneyland to be exact; which is at the outskirt.

however, we don't normally venture much into central paris, apart from odd trips to stroll along champs-elysees. i did quite a lot of wondering around the city during my student days though.

but now, i've made a new friend, a 'semutar/budu man' from pasir puteh who has been living there for the past 7 years and speak french as smooth as kkecek klate. so, next time, we'll definately go 'raung-raung' paris a lot more, especially this new friend is the khalifah silat seni gayong french...hence, no need for us to be 'scared' of pak hitam, hehe.

Pak Zawi said...

Atok,
As an introduction to Paris, my first trip was an eye opener. The next time I go there I will take heed of your advice as well as Pak Awang Goneng and his spouse way how to enjoy Paris.
Your mention of this 'semutar' clad guy from Pasir Puteh with the prowess of a 'silat' exponent really excites me. Though I am not an exponent myself, I have many such friends whose life seems to be centered along this art of self defense. It would be great if we could bring along a team to test the prowess if his students in Paris? We will bring a lot of 'Budu' as a token of our appreciation to him. Atok can have some too.
Congratulations on your daughters quest as actresses in The King And I. May they become great actresses one day and return home to learn the 'Makyong' to perform at the Royal Albert Hall which I have seen with my own eyes at the other end of Hyde Park.

vt.chia said...

hi zawi...

thanks for the suggestion on starting a blog... but i am too lazy to do it... i have still a lot of places to visit, see and experience... and a lot more of golf courses to play... hehehe...

of the many sculptures and beautiful works of art, i would certainly say that there is nothing to beat rome (or roma as the local calls it)... italy have always been my favourite being a history buff myself... there are grand and beautiful sculptures in rome and (as one saying goes) everytime you step out of your hotel onto the streets of rome, you are steping out onto history... make sure you visit italy on yor next trip (not only rome, but florence and venice)...

i use vt to record and keep track of the favourite estabishments that i have visited ie as some sort of directory, not so much as a travel blog... like the restaurants, i keep details of telephone and opening days/hours so that when i need to go there again, i just zoom in to get the necessary details...

it is a pity that we have lost a generation of english speaking malaysians due to our education policy... it is sad to note that even younger thai vters, some of who are close friends of mine, speak much better english than our youngsters... btw, do let me know when you will be back to malaysia (and kota baru)...

Unknown said...

Lovely. Seems like you accidentally taken some pretty chicks photos most of the time. And you like nude photo's too .. hehe.. Wow, looks like you are on 2nd honey moon again, or how many is it now ? I think paris would be nice if you go on your own on a relax trip. More time for a stroll. Hei, bila nak pergi Europe again ? Ikut sorang..

Pak Zawi said...

Chia,
If health permits, I will do Italy next, just Italy. Italy was not in the recent tour. My spouse will be retiring from teaching soon and being retired, it will be easier for us to pick our dates of travel to fit with our pilot son's flight to Rome or other nearby cities.
I agree fully with you on the issue of English as I am keen to have our younger generation to master English which is an international language for communication. I will soon blog about it to vent my feeling about the foolishness of doing away with English.
We have been back in Pasir Mas since 8th June. What makes you think we are still in Europe?

Pak Zawi said...

Lim,
Good morning to you.
As long as my wide wont mind me, I will keep on shooting the pictures of lovely chicks. I have more of them in the next post on Europe. I will dedicate them to you.
Next trip to Europe? Can't tell for sure yet. I would love to do Italy first as suggested by vt chia above. You can join us for Italy.

Unknown said...

Thanks for the tour, great photos:)
Selamat Hari Bapa !!!!!.

Pak Zawi said...

Awang,
I will be very happy if you enjoyed the tour. Thanks for the wish and I wish you the same, Selamat hari Bapa.

Berisman said...

Pak Zawi,
I am happy to note that you enjoyed your Europe trip.It reminds me of my trips there with my family and also with my friend Awang Goneng.

Enjoy and Happy Father's Day:-)

--Adib

Pak Zawi said...

Pak Adib,
Being my first trip to Europe, every thing looked nice and brought us a lot of joy. The company that went along with us were great too. Yeah your good friend Awang Goneng remininced about the good time you had with him in Paris. Even though it was just our second meeting, they seemed like childhood buddies to me.

Kerp (Ph.D) said...

sorry lambat sikit pak Z.

reading this post i learned that both of us have a common passion for berets! ok i prefer the term flat hat but beret by any other name will still look cool on cool gentlemen like us...hehehe...i've got a few in my crib.

i dont know if i ever will get to set my wheels on Paris soil but hopefully it wont be just in a dream.

mekyam said...

pok wi,

got a bit sidetracked the other day that i forgot to comment on what grabbed my attention most among all your lovely photos of paris. it's the paris bikes-for-hire or "vélib" [for vélo libre (freedom bike)] as i think the idea was called.

amsterdam or oslo started it first (or was it copenhagen?) but what a tremendous idea. not only is the scheme green, it provides healthy exercise and alternative transportation for city commuters. also for tourists, i'm sure. definitely handy during those rare blackouts when the underground is useless, if not plain scary.

kudos to the mayor of paris for introducing it. the bikes in circulation are all new, in tip-top form and canggih2 belaka they say. your photo certainly bears this out.

i hope it becomes a reality too where i am. great if they'll put some tandems also with the bikes. two years ago when paris started it, i heard talk that our mayor was keen to introduce it here, but i guess he first has to solve the chronic bike-theft problem of this city.

anasalwa said...

Pak Zawi,
I haven't read your Europe trip entries, but I will soon. It seemed like you and Mrs. had a wonderful time.

Pak Zawi said...

Kerp,
Now i realised you are another beret lover like me. I bought my berets at the Pasar Malam in Wakaf Che Yeh, kota Bharu. Since they were still in good condition and very cheap, I bought two of them. When I saw the price in Paris, I felt how lucky I was to have bought it at the Pasar Malam hehehehe. That is why i opted for the Italian cap cos it was cheaper than the berets.
Your turn will come as my turn did come. It was a dream all the while and suddenly it came true. Maybe there will be a programme for the OKU by the government? Or you can tell your 'idol' Che Det of your desire to see Europe and he will do something for you? Nothing is impossible when you set your heart and mind to do it. All you need to do is ask and the worst answer you can get is a 'no'. That was what my late mother taught me.

Pak Zawi said...

Mekyam,
I am glad you caught on the significance of the bike scheme. It was a a noble idea indeed. I believe it was available in most cities of Europe except that the bikes in Paris was the most eye catching as they were of a model rarely seen anywhere. I love to highlight similar seemingly insignificant things and I am glad it wasn't lost on you.
It can't be implemented in Malaysia as well as theft of such things to be sold as scrap iron is just as rampant. They will steal anything that is made of iron and the worst culprit is the drug addicts who will steal anything just to get a fix.

Pak Zawi said...

Ana,
Feel free to drop by whenever you have time. Anyway you brother dropped by and mentioned that you are his sister. What a small world.
Yes we did have a great time in Europe. We have our eyes set on Eastern Europe next. Next year probably.

Kerp (Ph.D) said...

i bought a few of my berets at flea markets around here. at the most i only had to spend RM18. but being a fan of beret, i once splashed over RM100 on a Kangol flat hat. sekali sekala takpe.

thanks for the advice btw, Pak Z. maybe not TDM but i'm certainly giving it a serious consideration. but everything can only be done once i've settled down.

Pak Zawi said...

Kerp,
Compared to your price my beret was dirt cheap at RM5.00. if I bought it in France it would have cost me about 25 Euros which is way too expensive for cheapskate like me.
TDM could easily ask Petronas to sponsor your trip anytime. Well since you have your plan, i guess you will soon realize it on your own accord.