THE LAST DAYS OF CRUISE AND LONDON

After Vigo, our ship sets sail for Le Havre ( France) and Paris on 5th June 2008. This takes a full 24 hours at sea during which time as is normal for the passengers treat, the ship’s duty free shops are all opened and in addition to that almost all the Atrium decks 5, 6 and 7 are used for merchandise display of watches, rings, necklaces, clothes etc. To further occupy the passengers time, a special invitation to visit the kitchen gallery is conducted in mid morning. Whilst Ainul is immersed with the shopping , I take the opportunity to join the conducted tour of this gallery - something I had missed doing in previous cruises. It is indeed very interesting to see the lay out of this great kitchen that serves food to two thousand over passengers twenty four hours a day. We are informed there are over eight hundred kitchen and restaurant workers combine and another four hundred as the ships crew and yet as we tour the kitchen I cannot see that many of them working there, but then we only cover a small area of the whole gallery. What are displayed for us to see are numerous fruit carvings for decks and table displays all ready for the day’s use. We are told that these carvings are different every day just as the day’s menu apart from the standard and regular ones also differ daily and to this I totally agree as each lunch or dinner I try to sample different food to my delight of course. As a matter of fact, once you have been on a cruise dinners with its variety of food served, you no longer enjoy or be thrilled by those served in hotel restaurants !

The entertainment for the next two nights continue to be interesting and I take part in the Final Pop Star karaoke but come out second, losing by a point to the winner. In terms of winner’s prize it matters little since everyone who takes part, and there only six of us, receives goodies from the ship. Amongst the winner’s goodies that I am given is a very nice pen with Grand Princess engraved on it. What matters is, it is a lot of fun - what with the full support of our group members presence during the competition. The idea of their presence there is to ensure that I get votes to win. As is the practice, each table is given a voting paper with names of the contestants and these papers are collected at the end of the event to be counted for each contestant. My group’s table are unfortunately skipped by the organisers - thus rendering zero vote for me. This is partly due to our members late entrance to the hall when the voting papers have earlier on been placed on occupied tables. Well, I have my fun anyway and feeling good that my group makes their presence there.

We are in Le Havre the next day but the majority of us except for Maria who decides to go all the way to Paris. This is our last dinner on board and cannot help feeling nostalgic already thinking that by tomorrow morning we will leave the ship and at the same time depart our separate ways for home. But of course for Sabri and Nuruaini, Maria and Mahatun and us two, we have a few days break in London before we head for home. Dr. Bahari and Aisya fly straight home, Wahab and Nona will stay in London by themselves at their special hotel, whilst Dr. Rahim and Dr. Zubaidah will proceed to their children’s house somewhere off London.

When we finally berth at Southampton port , we are made to wait for quite a while before our bus arrives all the way from London which is a good two and a half hours distance from this port. When we check with Karen on why the delay for the bus pick up, we are told by her that she does not expect our disembarkation to take place that early and fast and hence she schedules the bus to pick us up at noon rather than at nine when we assemble there. As usual you cannot beat the ships’ efficiency when disembarking. The night before they have given each of us special coloured tags for our luggage and these tags correspond to the destination of our disembarkation as well as to the decks of our living quarters or cabins. The luggage is taken away by seven in the evening and these are assembled at a special spot at the port’s designated area for us to pick later. Indeed everything is done ship-shape. As for our expenses on board - expenses which are not covered by the board and lodging - such things as purchases of goods and special drinks on board as well as special compulsory tips for the restaurants staff - these are all tabulated for our scrutiny and directly debited to our credit cards. The only other expense which is not directly debited is the special tip that we are expected to give to our cabin stewardess, who we are informed derive their income from the passengers tips although they are provided full board. For this cruise we incur US$1918 as our on board expenses apart of course from the others that we incur whilst off shore. This is to be expected of course .

Thus by late afternoon of June, 7, we are in London. We check in at Berjaya Eden Park Hotel , Bayswater at 35/39 Inverness Terrace W2 3JS. Our room is 217, which is an upgraded one as compared to the rest for which we are made to pay extra sixty pounds sterling. But it is well worth it since it has a fully furnished and more spacious or bigger suite with extra tables and couch and two TVs and very cosy - to the surprise and perhaps the envy of our group. However this is incidental because that is the only remaining room available to complement the three rooms that are booked by our Karen . What surprises us with the hotels here is they do not in any way resemble our hotels back home since they are located and look like a series of terrace houses. The rooms are generally small and the lifts can at the most take two persons at any one time and if they happen to have several luggages, these are taken to the rooms later on when the lifts are free. We can consider ourselves very lucky to have got this hotel since London is at a peak season for visitors when we are there. Logistically, it is well located with the shops just around the corner and the new Malaysia Hall too is just a short walk away - the place where we know we can get Malaysian food at reasonable price as compared to elsewhere in London.

After a short familiarization of our hotel’s location, we are off to find food for the day and this we start with the nearest Marks and Spencer mall. It is whilst walking towards this mall that I experience my first encounter of a snatch thief in the form of a mother and child. Earlier on I brief and warn everyone to be aware of the famous pick pockets of London and that they should all cling to their hand bags and pocket purses. There I am walking with the group but I slack behind a bit to see spots of interest when an Iranian woman with a baby suddenly make a direct approach in my path to plead for a small change to feed her baby . Instantly I took out my purse and in an attempt to find a small change therein, this woman snatches out of my purse a ten pound note. Instinctively I hold her hand and tells her to let go. She clings stubbornly to the money despite my telling her to let go. By then a few bystanders are watching the scene. I give her a big jerk and painful grip on her fingers and she finally lets loose. What a relief ! And all this happening is not even noticed by anyone from my group since their eyes are fixed forward to find their way to the mall !

London is indeed a cosmopolitan city. Somehow the city never strikes us as foreign as we see a lot of Asians and middle-eastern people walking and manning the shops, especially the food outlets which happen to be quite a lot within our hotel’s vicinity. In fact, getting food is not a problem at all. It is only a matter of personal choice and taste. We have always consoled ourselves that we could always go to the Satay House of Zaharah which is now looked and run by Fatiza, her daughter. Zaharah has advised us to take food at her place. So we assume that we could do that. In reality we find out that her restaurant are miles away and this both of us learn towards our last day in London. As a matter of fact we only get to see its doors only when we go there to fetch home something from Fatiza to her mother.

Going about the city is fun especially by bus since taxi fares will empty our pockets. Only thing is we have to get familiar with the bus routes and numbers. It is to this that I am always confused - which confusion does lead the two of us to wasting a lot of time on boarding the wrong buses and getting to wrong places. However, I cannot forget that one when I long to try the famous English scones at Herrods. Time and again I hear people who visit London, they are thrilled by the English scones at Herods. It takes a long ride by bus and after a long walk from the wrong spot where we stop the bus, we finally reach Herrods and proceed to the designated fourth floor restaurant where the scones are available for tea. The place seems crowded with people and we decide on a secluded cornered table for two and order our scones despite the waiters offer of other things to complement our tea, We are served with two medium sized scones with a small plate of buttered cream and strawberry jam. I reach for and take a small bite of the scone. After that I match it with the buttered cream and the jam. All in all I feel disappointed. It has no great taste. Presentation perhaps very impressive . I dare say, Farazil’s scones or for that matter Mazuin’s are a lot better in taste ! The bill came to Twelve pounds with the scones costing nine pounds for two pieces. To our astonishment we later on find similar scones sold at the open food stalls of the hotel on the ground floor at only a pound each !

We have great weather in London, with a mix of warm during the day and cool in the evening, a very unlikely thing in this city of unpredictable weather. Hence it provides excellent outings and especially shopping for the ladies. London often comes out with surprises for its visitors. One such surprise for me is that one time when I am searching for Ainul at Selfridges. I have walked almost all the floors in search of her when on walking along the rows of clothes and displays on the fourth floor, I happen to pass by a person who looks very familiar. As I continue to walk, I decide to take a backward glance at this person and by coincidence he too looks back towards me. Then I realize, he is the Sultan of Kedah, H.H Tuanku Halim himself ! Again at the food court of the same floor, I see a group of well dressed Malays, apparently looking for food to eat, and there from amongst them, is the ex-Menteri Besar of Kedah , Mahathir, whom I recognize from his frequent photos in the papers. Apart from these personalities, there are numerous other Malaysians, including Malay students that I see and talk too on the streets.

It is indeed very true to what most Malaysians say, London is another Asian city, which creates a very-at-home feeling to all its Asian visitors. It makes me wonder if foreigners think the same way with our Kuala Lumpur for them, since we are also very cosmopolitan especially so with the international food chains that we now have. As for other luxurious items such as fashion clothes, jewelry, watches, hand bags etc., I cannot see we need to go elsewhere to get them as they are all available here and they could be a lot cheaper too as apparent to our Singapore friends who enjoy shopping and eating in our country because their money is more expendable here. Wish we can say that for London and all the European cities that we have been to where the Sterling Pounds and the Euros seem to fizzle out like smokes for us ! Imagine a Sterling pound or two Euros for a bottle of water !

During our short stay in London, we are able to take short trips to Oxford and visit its University City where we have the typical English fish and chips which we all long to taste. The price of food in this students city seems reasonable compared to London. I really enjoy the fish and chips and teach the rest how to enjoy it the way that my cousin Tunku Besar Muhriz teaches me to eat with plenty of salt and vinegar. We also go to Ayesbury where the famous monolithic stones are and are fascinated with these stones which are mysteriously placed there as if by aliens to mark out for their landing crafts. And of course not to miss out on the ladies favourite request, we land ourselves at the shopping mall at the Swindon outlets. Where in the world will ladies miss out shopping ?

Again in our short stay, we manage to go to the theatre to see "Marguerite", a musical drama about the German invasion of Paris. The music is heavy and rather staccato for us. It is here that Ainul happens to meet a Malaysian who says that she is bringing over " Mama Mia" to KL. Lately we see the movie version of it, and it is indeed very entertaining and a must see - repeat !

After that wonderful vacation we are ready to leave for home at last by MAS on 12th June 2008. Now comes the most unpleasant part of our trip. Now that MAS is very strict with excess baggage we have no choice but to shed off a lot of our excess to hand carries and some others just throw them away ! Throughout the cruise I have been accumulating two dozens over playing cards from the ship to replenish our diminishing stock for our gin rummy, and the others relate our excess luggage weight to these playing cards. To lessen the weight I resort to take out a couple of these cards to be pocketed in my suit pockets . Imagine my frustration and upset to later on learn that Mahatun threw away a couple of these cards without letting me know of it. I could have easily put them in my coat pockets ! We threw away photo albums, cards, etc that we consider not worth taking them home and having to pay for excess baggage. The strange part about this airline rule is , they have no objection to the boxes or bags of chocolates some of us buy at duty shops after check in. We notice Mahatun buying really a lot of chocolates which can easily weigh more than five kilos !

Anyway, we all have a very good time for eighteen days and are probably ready to plan our next cruise to ..... ? Well, let the group decide that later on ! In conclusion, I still maintain my stand that the best holiday is to cruise .