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 :)

Get On Your Boots

Two more days left to get everything sorted before we join you guys!

As usual, I have left almost everything till the last minute, and have forgotten to do most of the important things I should've done earlier.

In anticipation of the cold (and possible rain), I have finally given my magic boots a good scrubbing, after months and months of "Oh they'll just get muddy again next time I go to the forest, no point cleaning them now". (Hey, if Surin can talk about cleaning his ceiling fans, I can talk about scrubbing my boots.) I call them my magic boots because they have served me lovingly for over 10 years in all sorts of different conditions, although I believe they are now finally giving up the fight and slowly dying on me. Sob. Boots, time for one last whirl around London, then you can go to a well-deserved eternal rest.

Everyone keeps saying that summer is being really iffy this year, so I am packing for both hot and cold weather! I know there's going to be something fairly important that I'll forget though. I'm already experiencing anxiety attacks in anticipation.

Tuesday night we are all crashing at Surin's place so we can walk over to KL Sentral early in the morning, and catch the 9 ringgit bus to the airport. Yes, we do take cheapskateness to a new level. I am proud.

And, I am bringing my little betta (that's Jamal the Fish, to you guys) to the office tomorrow, so that Auntie Dayang can give him Tender Loving Care for the next 2 weeks :-). Bye bye Jamal, be good and please don't die on me while I'm gone.

Ho hum, passport, money, clothes, shoes, bags, camera, check check check...don't know why I bother making lists, I always forget something anyway...

See you guys soon!!!

p.s. HAPPY (a little belated) BIRTHDAY SARA!!!

p.p.s. OOPS, phone bill!! :-P

p.p.p.s. River wants to know if Air Asia gives out blankets during the flight.

Postcard from london (1)

Hi mom, dad, all at home and suffering in the office,

We've arrived in London. Its quite nice actually. Much has changed since our last visit.

Now, you can order in chinese food at the airport.



There are now ample spaces to park your donkey.



And since the revolution, women are allowed to sit on the inside of trains.



Oh, and the press is much more independent and informative than back home. I read the papers everyday here.



We've been stayin with Yeen n Joice, and yesterday had a fun afternoon with Eddie, Sarah, Jaron Luan and gang. Will tell you about that soon, we're off to catch the train to paris now.

Wish you were here!

Much love,
DJ

Clueless in KL

Ok, this is my first time actually blogging :-P
Feels a bit weird. Anyway, all I know is that some of the U2trippers are already having a party in London/Paris and Geneva while I'm stuck here in KL trying to finish a backlog of work. Plus I cleaned my flat today (even did the ceiling fans!) and ironed two weeks' worth of clothes. So, this U2 thing better be good...

Now, we have here the Eye of Londres y Wembley Stadium

hmmmm now how do you two get confused? i wonder ehehhehe

ahhhh, cant wait to see you guys soon!!!

.. U2 in the house

Yeen and Joice's apartment has an amazing view - Wembley Stadium (not Eye on London as previously thought.. heh sorry Jen). Why is this important? U2 is playing at Wembley tonight.

Its so cool to know that they're here, in the same city as we are!

Walked around a lot today and we find that Londoners are generally nice people. When we first wanted to use the tube, an officer at the train station let us through without tickets as the ticket counter was closed (we wanted to buy Oyster) and told us to just get tickets at whatever station we wanted to go.

Our first stop was at Portobello market. Dylan & I ate too much cheese, from breakfast till dinner, Portobello market to Borough market. Am so cheesed out.Thats for you, Ayu.. thanks for the great tickets. We'll love it!

And look what I found at Portobello market.

Didnt have to come aaaall the way to London to be humiliated. (Note the same dress.. Suv would've immediately changed)

We met up with Johan and his friend Chauntaine at Portobello for a quick bite, then we were off to Tate Modern. Not really my cup of tea, but some paintings / artwork / sheesh kebabs (my slang for I-dont-care) were quite good. Walked into a section that showed weird, uh, videos. I was shocked.. this was art? It was more of S&M! But Suja would've really loved it. The paintings, not the videos.

Came out totally unimpressed, then saw something that made my day.. an alpaca! Almost like a llama (but it doesnt spit) and made me miss Aida.

This post is for my friends.. whom I miss :)

p.s: Surin, Sheems, River & Reubs - its cold here so bring warm (not winter) clothing. Really!
p.s.s: Names not mentioned doesn't mean not missed. There are lots of photos that remind me of you guys just lazy to upload :)

.. in the city of foxes

Not Megan Fox.

Not foxy chicks.

But real foxes!

Dylan, Jen, Johan and I have arrived in London after a 14-hour flight from KL.


The Air Asia flight to London was surprisingly spacious with a lot of legroom and good food (to those who pre-ordered the international meal - the lasagne is excellent!)

The flight was a full one tho, with lot os Kelantanese people, to our horror. Turns out the ENTIRE Kelantan football team (and their families) will be in London for friendly matches against Birmingham City and Manchaster City.

Was a bit annoyed with them when:

• seatbelt sign was turned on but they were still smugly walking around
• they walked and hung out a lot of both my and Jen's areas
• they (the whole entourage, about 40 of them) cut the queue at the immigration line. Of course they were scolded by the ang mohs (well I did too, but of course they would not listen to another Malaysian)

(By the way, one of the toilets smelled of cigarette smoke when I entered and I saw a bladdy cigarette butt in the bowl! I'm inclined to blame one of them)

Anyway, the four of us took a bus from Stansted Airport (10 pounds for one way) and arrived at chilly London Victoria Station at 2.30am (10.30m Malaysian time), 14 August.

Johan then took a cab to his friend's place, while the 3 of us waited for Pok Yeen, Dylan's good buddy, to pick us up from the station.

It was during the drive to Yeen's place that we saw something that looked like a dog but with long, bushy tail. We joked whether it was a fox, and when Yeen innocently confirmed it, all of us started screaming (it was our first time seeing a fox, so kampung I know!). We saw 2 more after that, but werent quick enough to snap a photo (even after we made Yeen turn around)

According to Yeen, the foxes are like stray dogs/cats here, and they are quite common at night. That was when we screamed some more (Yes, Dylan too)

Jen is leaving for Geneva today, while Dylan and I will be roaming the streets of London. Possibly going to Portobello area to pig out.

By the way, London at the moment is sooo not a good place to wear shorts - summer or not. Its so chilly! (So I might have the excuse to start shopping early!)

concert tickets

finally!!!!
at precisely 12.05, got a called from Sara and she was hmmm how should i put this talking(more like) sounds really exciting and in rather high pitch voice. i swear i didnt know what the hell she was on, until i heard the word "TICKETS"
WOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, i am equally excited like her, and we started to sound like teenagers over the phone screeching, (hmmmm rather embarassing come to think about it)
but WOHOOOOOOO we got the tickets. oh and the fact that she had to chase down the Fedex van, i am sure the white van man be freaked out
p/s
i wonder how the tickets look like

bon voyage

si sara, si jen, si dylan dan si johan departing today! have a safe trip and see you guys soon!!!
in case you guys need this, the address is

103 Meridian Place
London
E14 9FF

or my brother place is at www.thaiandco.co.uk

.. where's the excitement?

A few people have asked whether I'm excited to be leaving tomorrow. Actually it was more of a statement, like "Aren't you excited you're leaving tomorrow!"

I just give them one of the looks (either a bored face or a fake grin).

With tickets still somewhere between London and KL, I am not convinced I'll get to watch U2.

Until I see the tickets, I wont be woo-ing yet.

.. when do we start panicking about the tickets?

We bought our U2 tickets from Ticketmaster UK back in March, and because the mailing address for the tickets had to match the credit card that we used, it will be sent to Malaysia. They have notified that tickets will only be received 7-10 days before the concert but if we're travelling, we should email Ticketmaster 5 days before we travel (10 days for international delivery).

I emailed them on August 3, saying we will be travelling on August 13 (not all of us are going on this date, but they dont need to know this). What I got was a standard reply of "tickets will only be dispatched 7-10 days before the concert".

What tha?

Now I'm panicking.

Ooh hang on, according to Ticketmaster, our order has been dispatched. Hopefully tickets will arrive before the rest of the gang leave for UK (on August 19) so they can pick it up and bring it with them.

The gang will kill me if it doesnt.

what to wear?

dear diary,

today is 9th of August, in less than two weeks, my friends and I will be in Millenium Stadium, Cardiff at U2 concert. I am still finding the whole scenario a bit surreal, from the day panicking as Sara was getting the ticket to the time where we bought our air tickets. cleaning out the pocket as well as the credit card to fly 7000 miles away for a concert with a group of friends is something that has never crossed me mind but ...well sometimes one has to do something like this once in their lifetime, so this is mine.

Bono, Larry, Edge, Adam. here we come

p/s i am still unsure what should i wear for the concert!!!

.. when we realised we cant busk if we are not good

A few people going on this trip would like to busk before they die. At Hyde Park.

So practice sessions (only 2 so far) were held to, well, get our "act" together and memorise U2 lyrics for the concert (very important).



I was dozing off during the second practice session so I think I shall stick to being photographer while the others busk. I wont take their hard-earned money.

...Well, maybe just a bit.

.. when it all began

It all started with a simple half joke.

"We should go to their next concert!"

Which was taken seriously by us highly-imaginative (almost delusioned), adrenaline-pumped and obviously-couldn't-take-a-joke-as-a-joke people.

Booking the concert tickets was a hair-tugging experience. Trial runs were done since morning, and when the time came (5pm Malaysia, 9am UK) I gotta admit I was a bit too over-confident. Wembley online tickets were sold out within 15 minutes, and after a few credit card glitches, we got ourselves 8 tickets to watch U2 at Cardiff's Millenium Stadium on 22 August.

This is our story; 8 happy trippers going for U2.

Woohoo!