# Trafalgar Green!

Let's take a short break before going to Santorini, and let's visit Trafalgar Square, which has been transformed into a green space today.

2000 square metres of turf would cover the square for two days to promote green villages in city under the Visit London's campaign. The turf was sourced from the Vale of York.

As we were already in China Town, we decided to drop over at the square to have a look at the rare sight of greeneries in London... and we saw this.

It was amazing to see that a small patch of grass would attract such a massive crowd! Makes me wonder how deprived Londoners are of greeneries...

We decided to join the crowd on the grass to enjoy the long-waited sunny weather in London.

When the weather is sunny, and when there is some greens to relax on, we can definitely see some bottles of beer in the scene as well. These guys below sure know how to enjoy a picnic.

We hang around there, looking at random people, watching the sunset, and just chilling out. As the blazing sun went down, the whole square was bathed in golden light...

Here are some people riding on the magnificent lion, enjoying the sunset.

I looked up and saw Nelson's column in golden glow, reflecting the beautiful sun rays.

As we were leaving the square, we saw a peculiar pagoda! On closer look, we realized it was actually the church under construction. It was very interesting how the construction work produced an illusion that transformed the church into a eleven-storey high pagoda. (And it looks good too!)

For comparison, this is how the church looks like originally...

That's a nice little trip to a GREEN Trafalgar Square. If only it can be green all year long...

# Greece - Athens (1)

We arrived at the Athens airport at around 4a.m. in the morning. It's still to early to go down to the city centre, and we are still feeling tired as we have not had a good sleep on the plane. Here is what Athens airport looked like early in the morning...

And here is how we looked like early in the morning...

After some attempts to get some sleep, interrupted constantly by the airport announcement, we finally decided it's time to go down to the city centre. We took the bus down to the city, and it was then I experienced the driving skills of Greeks. Boy! How the bus driver sped! As we sped down the highway, we realized that every other car was also on full speed. It was certainly a thrilling experience sitting in a rickety bus which threatened to run down anything that came between it and its destination.

Don't underestimate the ability of the bus...

We met up with another travel partner, ZZ, at Syntagma Square. There was a saying that "No matter where you have to go in Athens, if you can find Syntagma Square you can find your way there." Shows how famous and central this square is in Athens, if not all of Greece.

The square has a long history. The name Syntagma means Constitution, and many major events have happened here - it has witnessed the WW2, it has survived the battle between communists and governments, it has gone through its own civil wars and battle between communists and right-winged governments in 1940s, and it has marked the beginning of the Cold War. More recently it has been the place where massive political rallies took place.

At present time, Syntagma is a large public square with nice walkways, trees, benches and cafes.
It is a place to hang out, hold holiday concerts and festivals.

We walked to the Parliament Building nearby, which was formerly the King's Palace, built between 1836 and 1840 by King Otto. The palace was guarded by elite soldiers called the Evzones, who were selected for their height and strength. Their official uniform foustanela, the pleated skirts, which were worn by Greek fighters in the 1821 revolution. Like the guards at Buckingham Palace, they endured endless tourists taking their pictures or observing whether they make any movement at all. We witnessed the change of guards, during which the Evzones did some march with interesting kick steps. I particularly like their sarouchi shoes with the small furry balls at the front.

The change of guards - to be precise, the Evzones

To get to our next destination where Acropolis and all the ruins are, we cut across the National Garden, which was like a tropical paradise right in the middle of the old and dusty city of Athens. The garden was so tropical that for a fleeting moment I thought we were back in Malaysia.

So tropical!

There was a small zoo which has been known to have Bulgarian wolves, antelopes, monkeys, a lion, etc... But we only managed to see some chickens, ducks, some birds, and LOADS of cats and dogs. Apparently the duck and turtle population was also out of control. Interestingly, despite the over-population, don't ever think of sneaking away the ducks/turtles, as they are the "property of Greek State". ^_^

National Garden

I shall end this first part by quoting what Henry Miller wrote about National Garden in 1939:

"It remains in my memory like no other park I have known. It is the quintessence of a park, the thing one feels sometimes in looking at a canvas or dreaming of a place one would like to to be in and never finds.

Seeing lovers sitting there in the dark, drinking water, sitting there in peace and quiet talking in low tones gave me a wonderful feeling about the Greek character. The dust the heat, the poverty, the bareness, the contendedness of the people, and the water everywhere in little tumblers standing between the quiet, peaceful couples, gave me a feeling that there was something holy about the place, something nourishing and sustaining."

- from Inventing Paradise: The Greek Journey 1937-47

A peaceful morning in the National Garden

(To be continued... )

More photos at my Flickr site.

# Canary Wharf

This is is London's traditional financial centre, The Square Mile, Canary Wharf. These three buildings are the three tallest buildings in UK - One Canada Square, HSBC Tower, and Citigroup Centre. Although not as impressive as US's skyscrapers, these are considered some "WOWs" for UK.

I have been to Canary Wharf a few times to visit friends, and I could always feel a difference between the place and the Central London.

Central London is full of people and activities, and lots of buildings scattered everywhere. People are rushing, crowds are shoving, street-sellers are shouting out prices of their goods, shops are busy, shopping streets are packed full of crowd, weather was crappy as usual traffic was haphazard...

Canary Wharf is full of tall buildings, and lots of working people wearing suits, carrying solemn looks. The place is spacious, and cleanliness is maintained. I like the cleanliness, but somehow, I feel some feelings of emptiness when I was there a few times.

I don't know how to describe it, the place seems perfect and nice, well-planned and well-maintained, but it lacks of a feel of... life. I know it's somewhat a crazy notion, but that's the feeling that the environment gave me.

Just like these statues, the place feel the lack of "Living Qi"

Perhaps it is due to the fact that the whole place is such a concrete jungle that the "Qi" that it exudes is that kind of cold, metal "Qi".

The "metals"...

Perhaps it is because the city garden is man-made landscaped that it look too fake.

Perhaps it is due to the fact that the place is only full of working people, looking serious and rushing for work during weekdays; and become lifeless during weekend when nobody is around.

Some French-style open air cafe. Only difference was the seats in France were full, here most are empty.

Perhaps it is because I have been too used to living in places in London like Wood Green or Whitechapel which are so pack full of activities, street markets, all kinds of people (different races, different backgrounds, different social classes), where almost everyday we can hear police siren going off or see police cars zooming past. (Hmm... it's starting to sound a bit like the dodgy end of London now...)

Perhaps I'm a bit too particular about places, but I prefer a place which there are some communities and people and activities, where we can observe life going on, than a place which are clean and beautiful and well maintained, but somehow you just don't feel you belong there in someway.

Canary Wharf is really nice and clean and meets all the requirement of proper town-planning. I enjoyed my leisure strolls with friends at the place, I enjoyed the calm feeling I have with the quiet surrounding. But somehow, I just can't feel I can actually belong the the place like that.

More photos taken in Canary Wharf.

Paris (Day Two) + Passports Mania

After a long disappearance, built not only on love with Malaysia, but also snowballed on guilt of having not been keeping touch, YD timidly peered out to the windows of blogspere, awaiting angry blows, or worse, disappointed sighs. Have I gone overboard in MIA this time?

Some of you have guessed correctly. Yes I am in love - in love with Malaysia, its food, family and friends, and erm... with somebody. (*blush*) I must admit that I am bad at balancing the time of going out and going online...

Anyway, that's another story. In this post, I have to finish my uncompleted story, which also leads to a worrisome experience in Malaysia.

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On the second day of Paris, we woke up early to visit the Eiffel Tower. Bustling along with the Parisians on the Metro was an eye-opening experience for me. The people were rougher than those in London, and politeness was certainly not the way to go around in the subway.

After the long ride, we arrived at the Trocadero station, saw the magnificent tower, and proceeded to line up to buy the tickets. It was then we realized the horrible truth - our passports were gone!

The passports, alongside with 100 Euros and 100 Swiss Francs, were kept in our travel pouch, which dad kept in his trousers. Yet it disappeared mysteriously during our morning journey with Parisians in the packed Metro train. Fast like a flash of lightning.

Our schedule was ruined. We rushed back to hotel to double check, just in case we left them in our room, but alas, we didn't. Luckily I brought along the contacts of Malaysian Embassy and made photocopies of passports and travel documents. We called the Malaysian Embassy and was told that we need a valid police report and photos before we can report this case to the embassy.

Well, we went to a local police station, and found out that none of the policemen speak English, and there was no translation service available in the station. We ended up in reporting our case in gestures and drawings, until now I am doubtful that the policewoman who attended to us really understood all our body languages. We spent more than an hour there, with most of the time wasted on trying to understand one another.

The helpful police officer.

After getting our police reports and photos done, we rushed to the Malaysian Embassy, as the time was running out and the office would be closing soon. After a journey which seemed like forever, we reached the station, and literally ran all the way to the embassy.

The office hour of the embassy has ended (3pm), and the staffs were actually having a farewell party for an ambassador. We begged the clerk and explained our situation to her (we have to depart for Switzerland tomorrow), and she, being such an angel, decided to help us out. Thank god!

The clerk (a.k.a. the angel) gave us many forms to fill in, including the one to report loss of passport, one to apply for emergency certificates and one for records. While we were filling in forms, the angel went to persuade the officer who had initially declined our case since it was past office hour. Thanks to her help, the officer nodded ok.

The long wait in the embassy.

We were very lucky to have such great help in foreign country. We were luckier to have an emergency certificate processed immediately and given to us by the end of the day. We settled everything at around 6pm, thanked our angel and the officer again and left the embassy.

The rest of the trip was brief. Our original plans of spending a day in the Lourve was cancelled. We persisted in going up the Eiffel Tower, but when we came down, there was a downpour, which lasted for about half an hour. Luckily the day was longer during summer, so we had more time to spend outdoors before bedtime. We spent a short time OUTSIDE the Lourve (it was already closed), where dad did his Tai-Chi routine and drew attention of many other tourists. hehe...

While dad was doing Tai-Chi, I decided to have some fun with the Lourve.

We spent the evening in a quiet little restaurant and enjoyed the Poisson soup, then we strolled along the Seine, onto the island, passing the Notre Dame and the Latin Quarter. It was a tiring day for us, but yet we relaxed as we walked along the river, in the romantic atmosphere.

Our saviour of the day - our emergency lunch which lasted us the whole day

This is indeed a memorable trip to Paris. Dad, who already disliked the haphazard traffic and the rude culture, and now coupled with this misfortune, decided that this might be his last visit to Paris. The silver lining of the cloud, is the warmth and the helpfulness of the many angels we have met in the city - the hotel staffs, the police officer and the embassy workers. Thank you very much for your kindness.

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Update:
The passport problem dragged on until we were back to Malaysia. To reapply for new passports, we were told to refill the same forms we filled in while in Paris, due to the lack of coordination of the local imigration offices with overseas embassies. The local imigration officers told us that the process of reapplying new passports could stretch more than one month, and we needed to translate the police report into B.Malaysia, take oath in court, and wait for the HQ to assess our application. Worse, we would be black-listed for loss of passports. But the most frightening prospect was that I might not be able to get my UK Visa in time to go back to London, with this hullabaloo stretching on...

Update 2:
We were lucky again! Someone found our passports (without the money of course) and handed back to the embassy. And thanks to the angel (the clerk) again, she managed to arrange a fast delivery of our passports to us. After the many visits to the imigration office, and the visa centre, I finally got my new passport done, and my UK visa renewed just in time! Phew!

I must really thank all the angels who helped us out. Without them, we would still be stuck in dealing with the immigration office now. In our life, there are so many people who have crossed paths with us with just brief encounters, yet, their impact in our lives are profound. Their kindness touches our heart, their helpfulness makes the world a better place.

It brings me to think about the many friends who have always been there, who care, who watch out for me. It brings me to think about you guys who are reading right now. I am very lucky to have met you in this path of life, and I thank you for your friendship, your care, your kindness. Thank you so much for being there.

# Paris (Day One)

(Note: I won’t put up the a lot of the photos of the famous tourist attractions, I believe we have seen them too many times on TV/ Internet/ Magazines. Hence lots of the photos would be from some small things observed in the trip)

Arriving at the ever busy Gare du Nord made us realize how foreign we are. Everything is in French! We got our Carnet and headed for our Hotel.

At the moment we stepped into the Metro subway, we noticed the mass of people, from all backgrounds, all classes. Unlike what is normally portrayed in advertisements, Paris is not as romantic as the public think. There are beggars, street people, gangsters and lots of dodgy-looking people – certainly didn’t paint a very good picture for Paris

Unlike what is said by friends (“Nowadays all French speak English!” They assured me before I went), most of the people we encountered, except for the well-known tourists attraction sites, speak French and no English. There were some unpleasant encounters where some people are very unfriendly knowing we do not speak French, but overall, the people are still ok.

The traffic/ driving in Paris certainly terrified me. I mean, having got used to the polite driving in UK, where pedestrians rank first, I am quite amazed seeing cars zooming past us while the pedestrians’ light is green; or cars cornering and nearly hit down a bunch of people by roadside, then hooted as loud as they could; or cars bumping other cars many times before parking into a parking bay (Now I knew why it’s called a car BUMPER!)… Priceless experience.

The streets are not clean either, except, again, for the main tourists attraction sites. But looking on the bright side, it’s much better than our own country. Our spirits died a little after looking at the dirty streets/ crazy traffic/ suspicious-looking people/ etc… but we reminded ourselves that French cars are one of the upper range cars in the world market. Dad likes French cars a lot…

Off we went to our first stop – Sacre Coeur, a neo-Byzantine Basilica famous with the beautifully adorned dome. It represents the national reconciliation of and hope after the defeat of France in 1870 War against Prussia. The basilica took 45 years to build, and its interior is decorated painstakingly with a myriad of mosaics. Inside Sacre Coeur, religious believers were praying silently, while the painting of Jesus on the ceiling glowed in soft golden light. We took our time to savour the beauty and calm our minds.


A path by the side of Sacre-Coeur brought us to the Montmarte area. We arrived at the place Emile-Gourdeau, the authentic art square flocked by artists.


No, we didn’t manage to get our portraits done, but we did have some French crepe for tea, and got “robbed” for ordering a €3.00 500ml mineral water! One thing that fascinated me a lot is the culture of Parisian to sit by the sidewalk, under the sunshine and watch the world goes by. Reminds me so much of our “mamak stall” culture. But more interesting in a sense that they all faced to only one direction – OUTWARDS – looking into the streets. We followed their gaze to see what they are looking at, only to find another stretch of cafés opposite, full with people gazing towards this direction!


We found Moulin-Rouge later after getting lost in the small winding streets in Montmarte. The time as well as the price of the cabaret shows put us off, since our hotel is at a more quiet (and far) part of Paris, and dad has seen cabaret show in L.A. before anyway.

We got to Concorde to admire the impressive square with its obelisk and two fountains, which are gifts from Egypt in 1836. Jardin de Tuileries is lovely, but we were a bit surprised to find walking path covered in sand (quite messy to walk in). Only later we found out that ALL the pavements in the parks in Paris are covered in sand. How interesting. I guessed I have got too used to the tar/cement walkway in London parks. Reading the signboard enlightened me that Jardin de Tuileries is in fact one of the UNESCO World Heritage List for its cultural/ natural value.

We walked along Les Champs-Elysees, which as usual, was full of crowd, and lots of cafés, banks, cinemas, car showrooms, branded stores, etc. Apparently this street is the favourite hangout place for Parisians, but I lost interest after a few minutes. Just like any other shopping streets in the world – crowd, shops, sales, sales, sales. I quickened my pace to reach the end of the walk.

(One of the few things that managed to catch my attention while walking along Les Champs Elysees - the little girl admiring herself in the mirror in some branded shop... I forgot which)

At last, we got to the Arc de Triomphe at the end of the street. We passed through an underground tunnel to get there – it stinks so badly of urine! Commissioned by Napolean, the monument was dedicated to the memory of an unknown soldier who died in WW1. The Arc is certainly magnificent, though I am still haunted by the fragrance in the tunnel.

(Dad and I! Tadaa!)

(Some antics we saw at Arc de Triomphe)

So far, our meals have been mostly baguettes, baguettes and more baguettes… I wonder how people bite into the rock-hard bread and still manage to keep their teeth. I would prefer to soak them in hot soup and have it soggy. ;-P

At night, we fell asleep exhaustedly, accompanied by the cacophony of noise outside our hotel, by construction work, by lorry passing by, by people shouting, by baby wailing…
(Our window view - houses with traditional french windows, plus lots of unwelcomed activities at night)

# City of Bath

Continuing from the post about Stonehenge...

After visiting the mysterious stonehenge, our next destination is the City of Bath - one of the oldest city in UK.

One of the most significant landmark is the Pulteney Bridge and the Weir. We took a stroll along the river. Watching the ripples at the weir is definitely a great relaxation!
(To get the weir into the pic, I had to extend my already-freezing hand over the edge of the bridge walls, nearly dropped the poor camera...)

We had a great time walking around the city, exploring every corner of the streets, tunnels and shops. The sunshine was extraordinarily good for UK weather, and it seems like almost everyone in the town has come out to have a nice sun-bathing. We explored some local markets and shops. There was once we saw a "White Shop", which sells everything in white colour, and before long we saw a second shop called "Yellow Shop". Here's the "white" shop... (some ppl might argue these shops contain elements of racism)

We did not enter the Roman Bath House and the Pump Room, due to its unreasonably high price. It was a bit disappointing because I have done quite some research online about it before coming, but the 8.50 pounds is quite a rip-off for a short tour around that place. But anyway, reading about its history online, and looking at the abundant photos online, has more or less provide the picture about the place, so we didn't feel too bad.

We went to other attractions like the Royal Crescent, Sally Lunn (the oldest house in Bath from 1482), the markets and many other interesting small shops.

Instead of focusing on the normal "tourist attractions", I think I shall post some photos of the not-so-normally-seen-corners of Bath. These little discoveries, many of them normally unnoticed, certainly brought surprises and happiness to us. Perhaps, you have noticed the little things too, during your trip there? *^_^*

For example, not only that the shops have peculiar names, even the streets too. Should we keep our voices down when walking on the Queit Street? And the Gay Street sounds interesting too...

Check out the allocation of DOORS in unexpected places! The top part of the photo shows one which is located right next to a roadside stairs. The bottom part shows a very random door which appear in a wall (double-storey high). Imagine walking out of that door and realize, "ooops..."

and how about Jane Austen's centre?

Also, remember to check out the many interesting small shops around the city!

One of the best surprises we got when roaming around the markets is to find our country flag! There is this small but wonderful shop which sells the flags of all countries in the world! (the owner claims so). Well, I found mine!

# Stonehenge

Finally, we've been to Stonehenge! I've always wanted to visit this mysterios place since my first year in UK, and finally we've done it.

Six of us rented a car and started our "journey to the west" (from London to Bath). It was quite challenging driving in UK as none of us have really drove in UK before, and only one of us have international driving license. Some road signs are a bit confusing, and there are many turns that we actually missed 2 turns during our journey. To add on to our anxiety, the only driver with the international licence is used to left-handed driving! ... But luckily, our journey turned out to be quite smooth, except some small misses and confusion.

Our first stop: Stonehenge
The sunshine was so good! So I am quite happy with the photographs we've taken. Here it is - the famous stones!

A little bit of facts and myths...
Stonehenge, built at around 3100 BC, at Wiltshire UK, was a myth that has yet to be solved. Various speculation about its uses include astronomical purposes, human sacrifice, pagan worships and religious ceremonies. It was constructed in three phases - the earthwork, the arrival of bluestones, the arrival of sarsen stones, and some rearrangement. (More details)

At the first sight of the stonehenge, I realized it was smaller than I have imagined. Yet, its magical effect still caught my breath. Although it is no longer a complete circle as it has been, the stones still exuded an air of mystery. As we stood gazing at the structures of stones, I somehow felt being tranported back to time. The wind seemed to be whispering in my ears about the old myth; there seemed to be sounds from the past echoing in the wide plain; the place actually felt ancient to me.

Despite having known about stonehenge in books and documentaries, I can't help pondering about the same old questions that have been asked many many times. Why did people build it? Why the efforts of dragging the bluestones, and why the construction and reconstruction? Why does it have such an appeal even after so many years?

I decided not to write a long essay of its history, myths and facts here. Reference can be made from some links like Earth Mysteries, Wikipedia and others...

But I do wish to share this feeling of awe at the sight of these magnificent stones. Its immensity and its grandness still held power over people, or at least, over me.

There is a phrase from the commentaries that I like, "Even if the stones are removed and all that is left is the empty plain, this place would still be a mystery with the untold ancient stories and memories."



(Bath trip to be continued...)