Day 26
Andy had left for work that morning following our goodbyes to each other. I carried on sleeping for a couple more of hours and packed my bags just before noon. I reserved a night train from Milan to Paris the day before. My prepaid ran out of credit and my communications to my contacts were only by public phone. I left Zurich at 1pm and reached Milan about 4+ pm which had left me around six hours to bewilder around in one of the world capitals of design and fashion city. The grace of refinement and beauty in manners of the Italians had alienated me to a total tourist. The Gucci handbags, the Prada shoes, the Armani suit, the Versace perfumes, you name it... it was visible of my surrounding. Approaching the Cathedral, I went through a passage surrounded with shopping malls, inside the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II which was covered over by an arching glass and cast iron roof, a popular design for 19th-century arcades. I continued my walk searching Da Vinci museum but to my disappointment it was closed by the time I was there. The sunset in Milan had slowly illuminated by the shopping and street lights of the elegant city which had left me perceiving the scenario before leaving to Paris.
Day 27
I shared a room with two Argentineans and a random Arabic speaking fellow in a room with six beds hanging beds, three on each side. My night train had brought me to Paris in the morning. I had wasted for more than 3 hours going farther away from the Eiffel Towel until I realized it was only 25 minutes away by metro train. I had only chosen two locations due to shortage of time, the Eiffel Tower and Art De Triumph. I had been to Paris before but that was 14 years back with my family and one place that I was astounded with was the Art De Triumph, where the insane fast cars without traffic lights roundabout. I rushed for the train to Den Haag at 3.35 only to miss it since I didn't do my reservation to cross country. We took the next train an hour later and reached Den Haag around half past eight. Couldn't find any public phone and didn’t remember the name of the street of my hostel reserved room. I arrived at the train station and the first thing that was on my mind to find for Scheveningen beach as that was my only remembrance of where the Jorplace, my accommodation for the next three nights. Reached my dad by public phone once I’m Scheveningen and he told me to look for Kaiserstraat the street where Jorplace hostel. I met my sister again but this time with Don, as I checked in for my room with Don. After perceiving the sunset, we sent Doya to Ambassadors hotel nearby Centrum which was 20 minutes away by tram, where my parents had stayed.
Day 28
Pa had some consultation to get an agreement with the Dutch relating to Palm Oil. Whiles Ma, Ma's friend, Doya, Don and I gathered at the Ambassador hotel as we went for window shopping at the shops and malls in Centrum which was nearby.
Ma had showed us Noordeinde Palace which was one of the four official palaces of the Dutch royal family. Pa had studied there for his masters in business when it was the Institute of Social Studies, based in the north wing of the palace between 1952 and 1976. Ma and her friend had separated with us as she went for shopping and Doya, Don and I went for lunch with a friend of a friend of mine in UNITEN. Feisal had lived in Den Haag since he was born and was a teenage friend of my course mate, Faizal who had lived in Den Haag before furthering his studies in UNITEN. Feisal came with her younger sister and had conversed with another two friends for the lunch. A bomb threat had arisen outside the restaurant as the waiter informed us that the police did not let anyone out as they safeguarded the place only to find out it was a false alarm.
Soon later, Feisal had showed us a little more of the town as we walked to the tram station. Doya and Don went to Moduradom (miniature Holland buildings) and as for me; I went back to Ambassador Hotel to reunite with Ma and Pa. Before night falls, Ma and Pa had brought us walking along the beach of Scheveningen heading to the house where they had lived 35 years back. Ma and Pa were extremely happy as they had presented us down their memory lane with new unfold stories of their past. The year was 1974 when Ma and Pa married and lived together for the 1st year in Scheveningen at the age of 24 (and now I’m 24 doing this???) and was impregnated of Elal about a year later (No wonder he loves the Dutch football team.
Day 29
I was in Amsterdam with Don and Doya approximately to 3pm and met Azfar again minutes later. Azfar went from Rome to Milan to Paris to Munich and to Amsterdam after the split. We used the tram to get inside of the town. We walked around town with some miss direction searching for the one museum that Doya wanted to go to. We bought souvenirs at the hard rock cafe and went to the park next to the Van Gogh museum for a photo session with the 'I amsterdam' sign. Vondelpark was a few kilometers away, so we wouldn’t want to miss that, as it had an average of 10 million visitors yearly. We had a night walk just after sunset just to sneak peek a delicate bit of the nightlife before we went back to Den Haag for the night. Sent Doya to my parent’s hotel and said my goodbye to my parents and Doya as we couldn't meet up the next day and I had to overnight in Brussels to catch my return morning train the day after.
Day 30
I was supposed to meet Azfar in Amsterdam before going to Brussels but he went off just before I reached Amsterdam. I had a little walk around the town for the last time whiles waiting for the next train to Brussels. After four hours train ride, I finally arrived in Brussels at 8.25pm. I only had a few hours of the sun before the night falls. Azfar had picked me up at the station and brought me to a famous park with administration buildings nearby. Just before dark, we walked towards the town and stopped by for some dinner, before enjoying the night life in Brussels. We checked in a random hostel exactly next to the main train station so we wouldn't miss the train next morning at 7.59am.
Day 31
We were on time for the morning train and arrived in London about 10am. The initial plan was to meet Nafeez in Portsmouth, but Nafeez had to work for the rest of the day, so we preferred to be in London to finish off our remaining cash before our return flight. We had lunch at Malaysian Hall which I just realized how lovely it was to have Malaysian food after not having a taste of it for the last two weeks. I met a schoolmate of mine Liza. Adah brought me to Oxford street soon after for some shopping. I had a dinner again at Malaysia Hall. Met Ema, an old friend and met some of Raja's family, my neighbour. It's the weekends and Malaysian Hall canteen was the preferable place for a meal. We slept at Jeff's place for the night, as Hadi (Jeff's housemate) had entertained us before bedtime.
Day 32
I started my day searching of Craven Cottage as I had to get a Fulham jersey on my brother's friend request. It took me two hours until I had found the only shop that sells the jersey which was a few kilometers away from the stadium and only to find out that it was closed on Sundays. I met Jeff at 4.30pm as he was from Northampton from his working place. Again, had my dinner at Malaysian Hall and this time I met Farahana.
Day 33
Jeff brought us around town with his company car. It seems that having a car in London was really expensive as you have to pay for congestion in central London, parking which can be expensive and of cause the fuel cost. First we went to Malaysian Hall again for lunch. Then we went to Putney Bridge where I had to get Fulham jersey. Soon after we went to a shopping mall as Jeff had meeting to deal with. Azfar and I had left London Paddington at around 6.30pm heading to London Heathrow for our return flight at 9.10pm.
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