Bienvenue à Paris !! (Welcome to Paris!!)

I have been to several places in Europe, and Paris so far is the best place I have ever been. Most tourist attractions are easily accessible with Metro (underground tube). Forget the car and board the train! There are lots of interesting places to explore, and halal food are easy to find. My advice to you my friend, buy the Paris Visit Travelcard. Available in 1,2,3 or 5 days. We bought the 5-day pass for zone 1-6. You can go literally anywhere in Paris and its suburbs with this pass. We went to Disneyland and Versailles as well! Not part of the plan but it was well worth it! We had unlimited access and this pass also valid for bus and cable car!

People often relates the Parisians (the people in Paris, as oppose to French) as sombong bongkak. Well, they proved us wrong as they were actually quite helpful. They just don't understand English very well but they were always willing to help. Learn a word or two of French language like bonjour, merci, pardon and excuse-moi will be handy.

The famous Eiffel Tower

Leaving for Paris on Eurostar, at St Pancrass International

The ice sculpture at the station - they changed colours!

As soon as we arrived at Paris Gare du Nord Eurostar station, we were picked up by my French friend, Henri (de Parseval). He was my labmate a year ago and now is back in his hometown. After checking in at the hotel, he took us to Eiffel Tower and his house was only 15 minutes walk from the tower! As we sit for dinner at his house, we can see the sparkly and glittering lights of the tower. Amazing.

Henri's mom cooked us a nice meals - tagliatelle with roasted chicken (gerenti halal punyer) and ratatouille! Remember the tiny little mouse animation called Ratatouille? That's the one! That's what we had for our dinner. Don't get me wrong, it was not the mouse we swallowed down but Ratatouille is actually a combination of aubergines, courgettes, yellow and green peppers, tomatoes and onions - a classic French vegetarian dish. It was yummy!

Image taken from http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2903/ratatouille
The delicious ratatouille

The really lovely family, thank you ever so much

We had 3-course meal that night. A French tradition - to have a snack before dinner. We were having a small talk while munching the pistachios and peanuts, washed down with a selection of tomato juice, orange and apple juice. Dinner started with main meal followed by cheese course. We were introduced to different types of cheese, produced from different regions of France. It's all so typical...French and cheese....they are just part of each other. Dessert was a traditional tart tartin, the upside down apple tart, made from freshly picked apple from de Parseval's own apple farm.

Image taken from www.bellemaisoninc.com
Tart tartin

One for the album...............

After dinner, Henri's dad took us for a small tour around Paris. The view was breathtaking! So lively even at the midnight hour, with tourists overflowed the Champs-Elysees and along the Seine river. Beautiful.

Paris - City of Light

With Henri and his father

On Day 2, we went to see the ever so famous Eiffel Tower. I can't believe my eyes....it was really tall with massive structure. Tourists flocked the area and ramai penjual kaki jalan selling all sorts of souvenirs. We also menyibukkan diri at the Champs-Elysees, menjamu mata with the designer's fashion house. Nak beli tak mampu, tengok pun jadi le.

The National Opera Gallery? Lupa la nama tempat ni

The famous Champs-Elysees, with lots of designer premises





Di kaki Eiffel Tower

Alia with her giant cotton candy

Paris, along the river

Here's Paris for you. Wait for the next travelogue in Paris very soon. The journey continues 'til Day 5. Tunggu.......

So for now, au revoir!!

A Journey Down South

Image taken from http://www.wemburymarinecentre.org/

This trip was made partly to visit a relative who resides in Plymouth, partly to celebrate my success. Alhamdulillah kerana dengan kebesaranNya aku lulus tanpa sebarang kerumitan. The upgrade session was held a day before Raya Haji. I was so nervous but thankfully everything run smoothly, even the examiners a.k.a the advisors were really nice that day. Semoga jalanku sentiasa dipermudahkan oleh Yang Maha Berkuasa. Amin.

The journey to Plymouth (in Devon), took us more than 5 hours due to slow traffic and showers. It was freezing cold down here. Albeit the killing weather, we enjoyed our trip at the Wembury's rockpools seaside.

The surfers
A National Trust site

2 manusia yang kesejukan!

We spent our weekends wandering around Devon - at Marjon College, Torquay seaside area and Paignton Zoo. Alia has never set foot in a zoo and I was eager for her to see the many animals there. We spent more than 3 hours at the zoo and I think Alia did enjoyed the trip we made, as she kept talking about animals on our way back home.

At Paignton Zoo in Devon
The zoo entrance

Having a chill at the playground - in the zoo!

The cute 'little' giraffe

The zebras
Tengok the peacock kat belakang tu..sungguh jinak.


Filling up at the restaurant
The orangey/pinky flamingos

At St Mark and St John (Marjon) College

The famous seaside of Torquay

It was such a fun weekends for all of us.

See you on another journey!

Fieldwork at CEH, Edinburgh

A few days after raya, we headed off to Peebles, Scotland for my fieldwork. The driving took us 8 hours and we arrived at the B&B around 10pm. Tired and hungry, we were aghast to be welcomed by a very old lady. Really old....dah bongkok tiga! She owns and runs the place all by herself! Tabik spring betul. Bila aku siasat2 (biasa la...aku kan inspektor sahab), rupanya umur dia dah 81 tahun! Larat dia runs the 2-storey B&B sorang2.....

The room was masssive, with high ceiling (ala2 Edwardian/Victorian style?) and full of character. The furnitures were large to compensate for the big room. Terasa lavish pun ye jugak. We had full English breakfast (minus the sausages), cereals and puddings, in the morning. Not bad la. Cumanya puddings tu aku rasa from the tinned one so memang agak kureng le.

Welcome to Scotland!

English border

Rest area at the Scottish Border

Northumberland, among the most beautiful in England

Alia got her own bed at the B&B - not 1 but 2 ! White and fluffy.

English style B&B. Antique furniture and lace everywhere. Yang tak best, katilnya kecik sebab we got 3 single bed...so mama and ayah share the same bed, Alia got 2 to choose from!

Posing depan B&B tue....

Backyard garden at the B&B. Full of roses of different varieties.

White bench for a relaxing afternoon....
The view was spectacular

Here we are...in Peebles

Old town of Peebles

After having our breakfast we drove off to the Whim bog. Researchers from Centre of Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) have been conducting the research since 2000. So I will utilize the ready-made respond of algae towards diferent treatments of wet and dry nitrogen deposition. Senang sebab tak payah tunggu bertahun-tahun untuk tengok result, susah sebab kena datang lagi next year for the transect study and kena kira algae tu individually under the microscope. The next day, we went to CEH head office in Edinburgh for data analysing tapi malangnya they were reluctant to let me anywhere near their hi-tech microscope 'cos their technician was off sick that day. Abis camno? Makcik pun blah le....pegi duduk kat Travelodge and berkurung kat situ, siapkan report. Even so, sempat le jugak jalan2 sikit.

Lady at work...sejuk giler ni!

Me and my acting supervisor.......

Tengah mengorek algae off the peat bog. Yang macam rumput tu ialah Calluna vulgaris, common species in heathland ecosystem.

Ibunya tertonggeng2 bekerja, anaknya sibuk berposing.

One for the album

Sempat le kami jenguk Royal Botanic Garden kejap....siangnya berkurung in the hotel room je...buat keja.

Taman oh taman

This part of the garden, bau wangi......

Impressive! Mesti susah nak maintain kan..tingggiii

Tropical glass house kat belakang nun tapi dah tutup so bergambo je le....

Alia the butterfly

Penat berjalan, bertenggek plak.

Then esoknya sempat gak kami pegi Heriot-Watt university, tempat hubby blaja dulu. Hajat di hati nak gi jumpa his ex-supervisor...saja la nak say hello but (as expected), he was not in. So kami melilau in the area je.....

School lama hubby

Tasik kat depan school

Anak daraku yang suka berposing






With one of the co-founder, Mr Watt.

Sepanjang kat Scotland, kami makan kebab and masak nasi kat hotel. We brought along our old rice cooker since my hubby cannot live without rice. Berasap2 bilik hotel tu....takpe la, janji kenyang perut suka hati. Oh, for those yang nak tour Edinburgh, dengan 3 pounds bus ticket you have unlimited ride around Edinburgh for the whole day. Parking space was a nightmare so baik naik bas. We all hari tu tak sempat sebab last day baru perasan offer ni.


Jumpa lagi!