to those who opened their doors & hearts to us

Many thanks to those who made this trip even better:
1) Yeen & Joice, London - sorry, i dont have your pict :(
for letting me crash at your place while waiting for my flight out the following morning within such short notice :P

2) Anna & Hubert, Cardiff
for graciously accepting 8 of us into your home, despite some of us being complete strangers to you. The use of your spacious kitchen for our cooking session - hope u enjoyed the meal :), the warm beds & shower (apologies to matt to taking over his room), and the interesting breakfast conversations.

U2 trippers with Anna & Hubert in Cardiff, Wales

3) Amanda & Dinesh, London

for allowing us to use ur apartment as refuge...the living room floor space, foosball table, the fridge & kitchen, the bathroom, tv, etc. for the friendly & funny company and the nostalgic music from the good ol' gramophone. Amanda & Dinesh (photo obtained from River)

This is just me thanking a few people, but I'm sure there's also others that my fellow trippers have met along the way - thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

it all began with bowie

ground control to major tom

take your protein pills and put your helmet on

commencing countdown engines on

check ignition and may gods love be with you .....

an important point to note.
it was indeed a great opening to a great concert, the lads brilliantly used this classic tune to make their entrance.

very exciting!!!

...what they played in cardiff

Thanks to Sara and her cool digital camera, she recorded all the songs at the concert :D. Here's what they played:

Breathe
No Line On The Horizon
Get On Your Boots
Magnificent
Beautiful Day
Mysterious Ways
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For*
Stay*
Unknown Caller
Unforgettable Fire
City of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (Remix)
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Pride (In The Name of Love)
MLK
Walk On
Where The Streets Have No Name
One
Bad

Encore:
Ultraviolet
With Or Without You*
Moment of Surrender

*3 of the songs that i really wanted them to sing. Definitely a night that I'll remember & cherish for a long time. Thanks U2 and my fellow trippers!

Banksy in Bristol!

This has nothing to do with U2, but I just have to say a few words about my favourite anti-establishment graffiti artist. Banksy! He's AMAZING, but he's so mysterious nobody actually knows who he is, or what he looks like. He's pretty famous in the UK and Europe, but no one else I know has actually heard of him, so I feel the need to rectify the situation.

After Cardiff, some of us went off and did our own thing, some went to Oxford, some went to Cambridge. I went to visit my friend Louise in Bristol. That was when I discovered there was a Banksy exhibition at the museum there! Imagine how excited I was! Unfortunately, one look at the lines of people queueing to get in, and I changed my mind about going. Louise talked to one woman who had been waiting in line since 9 in the morning...and it was already 11am!


What I like about Banksy is that his work is very satirical, involving themes from politics, society, current affairs. If anyone has noticed the image of a dove in a bulletproof jacket that I sometimes use online, that was done by Banksy. It was part of a series he did in Palestine, along the Israeli Separation Wall, as a commentary on the political situation there.

Banksy actually comes from Bristol. You can see some of his most famous work just by walking around the city. Which is way better than waiting 4-6 hours to see an exhibition in a museum! It made my day to discover his 'man hanging out of a window' piece while crossing a bridge, hehe! And I caught a glimpse of another one on the way to the bus station the next morning!

Oh yeah...he does have a website. It doesn't tell you much, but you do get to see lots of other amazing pieces he's done. Please, please do check out his stuff - it's really cool! :-)

.. why the concert was awesome part deux

Here's a series of videos from the concert..

Since posting the video above took me almost 3 freaking hours, I have uploaded more clips onto YouTube, with links below:

U2 - 2
U2 - 3
U2 - 4
U2 - 5
U2 - 6
U2 - 7
U2 - 8
U2 - 9

More coming soon! Gotta renew my driving license now :)

thai indulgence in london

I'm not kidding when i said indulgence...it was probably the best and most extravagant meal (and drinks) we had in london throughout the trip - many thanks to Bill, River's brother. This blog is a bit delayed, but how can i not mention this delightful place (plus i promised river :P )

We were there as early as 6pm so that we can spend a bit of time with Bill and wife, and before they get busy with the dinner crowd. Located on High Road in North Finchley, this quaint bar cum restaurant is unassumingly simple in decor but holds many secret treasures when it comes to good food and drinks. I loved the bar area stacked with many varieties of alcohol and pictures of the restaurant staff & patrons taken over the years, as well as the napkins in the shape of the lotus flower (a very significant element in thai culture).interior of restaurant

The Foo siblings, Bill, Yean (River's sister) & River started our food adventure with a mixture of cocktails - pina colada, sex on the beach, margarita, mojito, strawberry daiquiri,mai tai & river's vodka special. I think the mai tai was the 'strongest' with hints of spices like cinnamon, star anise, etc. Although I've always like sex on the beach...the strawberry daiquiri was the best, as in light and easy to drink after a heavy meal. Surin turned red not long after the cocktails...no, he wasnt drunk, but had some gas built-up...he didnt look too good throughout but he couldn't resist the delicious meal.Cocktails ala Foo

cocktails for everyone

As for the dinner meal, i'll let the scrumptious food pictures 'speak' for themselves. We had 11 dishes in total: grilled chicken, chargrilled prawns with chilli sauce, garlic squid, panang beef (curry), yam nea (beef salad), tom kha hed (mushroom soup), steamed veggies, fresh scallops with thai sauce, weeping tiger(sirloin steak on a sizzling hot plate), spicy beef noodles and 3 varieties of rice (white,coconut & fried). Everything was soooo delicious!!! :P My favs: garlic squid, prawns, scallops, weeping tiger & grilled chicken (yes, my mouth is watering thinking about it..hihihi)who can resist all these??

And to top it all...Bill went the extra mile and prepared 6 shooters for us....he claimed "this will help you wash down the food"...not to mention get us happily drunk...hic!hic!hic!...:D

Anyway we (gladly) wiped out almost all of the food and alcohol. We were satiated, happy & giggly as we made our way back to South Quay...THANKS SO MUCH BILL,TOON & THE FOO FAMILY!!!the gang with Bill & wife, Toon in the middle

happy troupers heading back

Address:
Thai & Co bar restaurant
826 High Road, North Finchley
London N12 9RA
For more info, pls visit their website: http://www.thaiandco.co.uk/

(ps - Joanna/Polly - it's worth the visit when u're in London :D )

5 t-shirts and a cap...

.. why the concert was awesome

Ok ok.

This is a bit too late, and after you have read the previous post by Sheemster you'd probably be wondering how good WAS the concert. Lemme tell you.. it was a-mazing, fan-tastic, awe-some, overwhelming, ex-cellent, co-ol, grrr-eat... well you get the idea.

We began the day (August 22nd) with some sight-seeing around Cardiff. Many are already wearing their U2 t-shirts, Surin and Johan included.


We had our strategy in place - find our entrance, eat, drink, camp outside the gates (to grab the t-shirts on sale) After some food, River & I had this brilliant idea of showing off how far we came for U2 (People were boasting in the papers that they came all the way from somewhere in ulu UK to watch U2 in Wales). So we decided to make a banner. We had 3 hours before the concert starts (well, before the gates opened), so basically camped outside, ignored people and did our art.
It turned out sooo nice, thanks to Dylan, Johan, River, Reuben and I. Jen, Surin & Sheemster should not get credit for this :D
We ran for the merchandise counter as soon as the gates opened. Everyone went crazy. 22 pounds for a t-shirt.. Worth it what?! Someone even bought himself 5 t-shirts and a cap and slept with it. Thanks to Reuben's nosiness, we got to be at the coolest area for the concert. Well, cool enough for us. We sneaked in around 5.30pm to the standing area and made our way through the crowd to be as close to the stage as allowed (Welsh people are quite scary when they are drunk). Since U2 was only due at 8.30pm, we had nothing to do but take a gazillion photos of ourselves and the surroundings, shared miserable pieces of bread with butter (we were scared to go out in case we were not allowed to come back into the area), and Jen & Surin even played tepuk-tepuk.

But when U2 came on, our hunger just amazingly disappeared.

I will try to upload the shorter clips from the concert, taken from my point and shoot camera; now gotta ciao!

Postscript

To those still reading this blog:

We're back home in Malaysia, still recovering from some serious jetlag. Everything is moving in slow motion at the moment.

Yeah we kinda let the blog lapse, and didn't manage to post updates about the concert itself, or the rest of our activities after that. Not because we didn't want to, but internet access was a bit scarce, and we had amassed too many lovely photos and videos to upload and sort through during the ensuing hectic and activity-packed days post-concert. And after Reuben buggered off to his friend's place taking his laptop with him, blogging became nigh impossible (yes Reuben, it's all your fault).

Still sorting - and decompressing - as I write. Hopefully in the next few days and weeks we'll find the opportunity to put up more content here. In the meantime, this article which I salvaged from the Bristol Evening Post, plus this review, gives a pretty good idea of what it was like to be there. :-)

last man standing

flame to dust
lover to friend
why do all good things come to an end...

well i guess thats the way it is..
something will never change

it has been an amazing trip with the lads and laddettes, watching bono, larry, adam and edge playing in cardiff with this group is something i will cherish forever,

is hard to say goodbye to my fellow u2 trippers, first we said goobye to Johan, then today i said goodbye to sara, dylan, sheema, reuben, jen, surin. but hope to be reunited on the 4th perhaps?

Faraway, so close
Up with the static and the radio waves
With satelite television
You can go anywhere
London, Cardiff and Kuala Lumpur....

with love
river

Home..

Hello & Goodbye

Arrived home after a 5 hour delay at Stansted Airport feeling exhausted but with U2 still running through my head. Checked-in at the airport 1.5 hours before the flight, only to discover:

1. The flight was delayed one hour (they were being optimistic I guess)
2. I was on the same flight as the Kelantanese FA (see prev post, we were on the same flight in!!). They were nice enough though to tell me that I could skip their group check-in queue and go straight to the counter.

One hour delay turned into two hours. Then three. Bad to worse. All we got was one packet of shortbread cookies, a bottle of mineral water and updates every half hour telling us to wait for more updates half an hour later. That makes about nine updates in 4.5 hours. Due to a technical problem, they had to replace a part which luckily they had in Stansted. AirAsia X works in mysterious ways. I could've gone out for a few smokes in those 5 hours waiting like a waiting idiot. I could've had a few more pints with the fellers in Soho. Ah well..

Dawn at Stansted Airport

Gonna try to claim for my RM130 cab ride home and for "physical duress and emotional distress" from my AMEX travel insurance. Oh no, I'm an emo!

Look at the time! - our new clock at home

A tiring end to a magnificent trip. It was great meeting up with family and old friends. Circumambulating the Emirates. Almost missing the train back to London - thanks Uncle Eddy! Seeing bits of London, Westbury, Paris and Cardiff - the lovely and not so lovely bits - but no real bits, unfortunately despite the best efforts of good people of Pigalle. Getting picked up by Mohamed by the canal (Je suis sex?? - gladly passed up this opportunity to see more bits).

Not to forget fantabulous travelling companions and friends who helped us get tickets, get us into the (surprisingly tame) mosh pit, buy more U2 t-shirts, clear out our camera's memory cards (and charge the camera after we lost our adapter), brought us around london & paris, made us toast and tea upon arrival, spent us good bangla food etc etc. Many good memories I'll never leave behind.

And of course, U2. I almost cried during this song. Almost!

Wish I could stay on with the rest of the gang. Have a good, safe trip you guys.

Au revoir U2. I flew (and bused) 7,000 miles only to be with you. And I wasn't disappointed.

"Sleep

Sleep tonight

And may your dreams

Be realized

If the thundercloud

Passes rain

So let it rain

Rain down on me

Mmm...mmm...mmm...

So let it be"

.. finally under one roof

We've arrived at chilly Cardiff and all of us are staying at Hubert and Anna's home.

They have a gorgeous fat cat named Thunder. (Thunder the cat - Thundercat?). Will try to take photos of her when its a bit warmer outside.

We (well, River, Surin, Jen & Sheema) cooked a big feast last night for Hubert and his family and surprisingly everything was gobbled up.

Going to the castle and Cardiff town today; U2 is tonight!

drinks and dream for Dayang

this section is dedicated to Dayang, yesterday i had a dream that Dayang is going to get married.
Her mum has apparently arranged her wedding to some important hotshot from a tribe in Kuching.
I asked her, betul ke nak kahwin
and she replied, "nak buat cam maner?"
hmmm i wonder why, perhaps because we had cocktails and shooters session earlier. i guess all the drinks/alco reminds me of dayang.
anyway, cik dayang if you are reading this, attached are the drinks for you :)
jangan mabuk yer.

(Pretending to be) Posh in London

By the way, River's cousin's place is a very very nice apartment in a very posh area of London, near Canary Wharf. So nice one. Despite having very limited space it's very homely and welcoming. And very the upscale one. We get to pretend that we're posh for a few days. In fact, this area is so agreeable it even has Reuben's name on it. Reuben Power, man.

.. And we walked, and walked, and walked

We did the whole touristy thing in Paris:

• Arc de Triomph (forgot to bring water so had to drink water from toilet tap)
• Around and up the Eiffel Tower (took the lift up and stairs down – hey, got to do one of each right?)
• The Louvre (we did pretty good – 3 sections in 3 hours)
• Sacre Cour & Montmarte area
• Bastille
• A confusing audio-guided tour in Notre Dame
• Self-guide La Vilette canal walk
• Les Halles shopping (if you dont convert and take dollar for dollar, shopping is cheap here!)
  
• Flea market(s) in Clignancourt
• Latin quarter
• Cemetery where they laid Oscar Wilde & Jim Morrison, among others
• And other areas which I forget (already)
  

For the past 2 nights we had to take the cab back to our hotel in Montmarte area as we had missed the last metros, and due to our excellent ability in understanding the French language, we continued waiting at the metro station even after they announced in French that trains have stopped. (Frenchies immediately left the station, but foreigners continued to wait unaffected)

While walking around the flea markets at Clignancourt area a few days ago, we came across ‘a lovely room of death’ (Ace Ventura, 1995). It was amazing how utterly disgusted I could get by looking at the taxidermised animals – 5 adult lions and 1 cub, many many birds including owls, a black bear skin, deer head trophies, and many other things. (Shop was called the Colonial Times, sheesh kebab) Snapped only 2 photos, and left when the guy started giving me the look.

(click to see larger view)

Another time while walking (looking for, is more like it) to the metro station in Bastille area, one wrong turn got us delightfully surprised – a Harley Davidson workshop. Went around to the front where they were displaying the newer bikes (which were ni-ce!). I asked the salesperson if they could give a Harley to my friend Suja for her birthday. They were willing but they said the delivery cost to Malaysia would be expensive. I tried, Suja, I tried!

Anyway, here are some photos from our tour le Paris. Will update when we’re in Cardiff, reunited with the gang. Au revoir!

Shading ourselves from the hot hot sun

Dalida, a famous French singer who killed herself. Rubbing her boobies apparently brings luck.


Relaxing our feet (and eyes!) at Bastille.



Made ourselves right at home while waiting for sunset up on the Arc de Triomph



At the Louvre, Mona Lisa in the background (centre). Yes, many people looking at something so small.

food glorious food!!

Greetings from wetherspoon,
we just had big big breakfast and very yummy.
alright, talking about dinner, we had lovely dinner by ME
grilled chicken, salad, ham olive cheese with fruit platter (double cream and brown sugar)
oh it was good,
great to see me brother Bill, sis Yean and Amanda and Dhanesh
thanks for the living room and the beautiful view to wake up to!!! okay here are some photos of what we did
p/s going to print our tickets to Cardiff and Greenwich Market while Reuben is having a pint with his laptop as usual, Jen is dropping by soon!!
okay we will post again soon

The journey begins

So Tuesday was a mad dash of tying up loose ends at the office, last-minute printing of tickets (which were subsequently forgotten and left behind anyway), settling in a stressed pet fish, dashing to the bank and grabbing dinner, all while a torrential downpour was going on. Daniel even dropped by, sporting his newly blue hair, and hung out with us till midnight.

Dan actually matches the tupperwares in Surin's kitchen

Can I just say, everyone should really try out the new Darabif burger joint in Uptown. They have excellent patties made from 100% Australian beef, done the Ramly Burger way wrapped in egg and cheese (the 'Malaysian Moo' set), and their hot dogs are not bad either. All for less than 10 ringgit okay!

Sleeping that night was nerve-wracking though...I kept having recurring dreams of us all waking up too late to catch the bus! All I can say is, it was a relief when the four of us finally walked out of Menara Pelangi towards KL Sentral with our backpacks (+ 1 trolley suitcase).

No Reuben...it's called 'backpacking', not 'trolley suitcasing'

.. the gang is flying in!

Reuben, River, Sheema and Surin will be in London in about 8 hours.Woo hoo!

Dylan, Johan and I have been walking around Paris so much that when we get back, we could not do anything but watch tv and sleep after.

Will upload Paris photos soon! (Hopefully wont be as tired today so can write more later)

Bon soiree!

.. when we had the family reunion

So this is the Ghani family reunion at Westbury/Salisbury.

We travelled by train to Westbury (a 2 hour ride from London) to meet Dylan and Johan's relatives on their mum's side.

We saw this huge horse on a hill from the train (Uncle Eddie told us that the entire hill was chalk, so when they take out the vegetation the the base/ground is white. The horse was some Iron age thing (if not mistaken)

Visited Phil's (Aunty Sara's mum) house and was shown around the lovely garden and had blackberries (we just missed the strawberry and rasberry season). Phil is 87 years old and still drives around. Her car died on her last Sunday and she has been dreaming of a Toyota MR2 as replacement. Go Phil!
Had a big lunch with Jaron (Dylan and Johan's cousin), Becky (Jaron's fiancee) and her mum Nikki and Phil at Uncle Eddie and Aunty Sara's place, where we stuffed ourselves silly. Luan and Angus joined us later for tea.
Uncle Eddie and Aunty Sara have a nice garden too, with lotsa different vegetables and flowers. Dylan also caught a frog from the pond.
Jaron is quite surprised (happy too!) to have received angpows from Malaysia.
One of Uncle Eddie's projects. He made the entire thing himself, including the casing. How cool izzat?
I caused a stir when I said I was taking photos of owls outside the house. (Note to self: always be accurate, even when in a rush)

We almost missed our train ride back to London if not for the 100 metre dash we had to make (led by Uncle Eddie).

This post is dedicated to Jan & Kim Chee, who should've been there :)