VL Travel

Gare du Nord

The Euro Star that runs from London to Paris operates like an airport. There's custom, there's check in and boarding time to adhere to. And goodness, the immigration officer was pretty horrendous! I felt like I was treated like an illegal immigrant! (O for Officer) Where are you staying in London? (M for Me) 116 Sussex Gardens. (O) Where is that? (M) It's near the Paddington Station (by now I'm pretty good with London di). (O) How long are you gonna stay in UK? (M) 7 days (by this time I'm super irritated di cos the tone he used was pretty condescending!) (O) What is the purpose of your visit? (M) I'm here to attend a worldwide hub conference (O) Who is it organised by? (M) An ad agency (I did mention the name). (O) What company are you working for? (M) Maxis a telco in Malaysia. (O) What? (M) MAXIS IS THE NUMBER ONE TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPANY IN MALAYSIA AND I'M HERE TO REPRESENT MY COUNTRY FOR THE CONFERENCE!!! Macipet ar. Can't he fucking see I'm carrying a big ass LV paper bag? Illegal immigrant will spend money on LV meh! Pui! I'll never ever visit Paris again! Not like there's anything great about it! I prefer London anytime!

Chaotic Paris

Paris is one hell of a chaotic city. Just look at the train station! For one, the sign boards are poorly displayed. Then, the people are rude. Not sure if it's because they speak very limited English. And even if they do speak in English, it sounded damn weird! The pronunciations are if they have a stuffy nose or mouth full of phlegm! And everywhere you look, there are blacks around! Not trying to be prejudiced or whatever but really, I felt unsecure the minute I reached Paris.

Euro Star

Am at the Euro Star station. Taking a train to Paris. To and fro ticket cost £149. The trip will take 2 hours and 45 minutes. And tho so near, Paris is one hour ahead of London in terms of time zone.

Italian Pizza

Not sure if it was cause I was hungry but the pizza was damn nice lor. Me and Rochelle (the agency woman from Philippines) ordered 1 pizza, 1 salmon sth and 2 sparkling water. Cost us £18.

No Smoking

Here in London, smoking is prohibited at all indoor areas even at hotels. So in between breaks (of the conference I'm attending, everyone just stood outside the hotel to smoke. And this letter box looking thing, it's an ashtray. Lucky thing, London is still better that Singapore as in you can smoke anywhere outdoor. :)

London Eye

Finally! Took a ride in the British Airways London Eye. It costs £15 per person and the entire circle took about 30min. Here, one could have a 360 view of the entire London. Pretty cool. :)

Underground Tube

The transport system in London is pretty good. For someone whom has only used the LRT or KTM back home less that 10 times, it took me only 1 day to familiarise myself with the routes. By the 2nd day, I was already traveling like a pro, zap-ing in and out of the stations with my Oyster Pass. By the 3rd day, I must have got this I-know-where-I'm-going sort of look cos ppl started asking me for directions. :) Here's a pict of a really loooooong escalator to the Underground. The platforms are usually located very deep under.