The fortnight

These are some of the highlights of my two weeks since I've arrived in Besancon two weeks ago.

LE TOUR DE FRANCE 2009.

The Tour de France was in Besancon on the 18th of July. Besancon was the pit stop of the day.

Kami iski menunggu di siring jalan utk liat the cyclist melintas..

The sponsors held a 'parade' on the streets and some gave out free gifts..



Us proudly wearing our free gifts! HAHA..
and here they come!


Alan trying out her new SLR camera..

CHILLING ON THE ROOFTOP

Some of the girls occasionally come over to my appartment to play singstar and mainly to chill out. And on this particular day, we took the advantage of the beautiful weather and hung out on the rooftop.

NASI LEMAK

Then there was this one day when most of us were craving for Nasi Lemak.. Fortunately for us, Hamzah (Mejah) volunteered to cook Nasi Lemak for us. Thanks Mejah!

Dap dap!
Mejah's cats: (L to R): Domprey, Sam (or Jasmine) and Laila
Domprey kambang
Domprey posing in front of the camera.. PC
L to R: Ayie, Mat, Alan, Sasi, Mas
Domprey manjaaaaa~ huhu..


Other than that, we went fishing near Pont Battant.. It was a spontaneous decision.. And all we had with us was a takeaway Subway cup and sandwich bread crumbs (as baits) from which we had bought to eat lunch on the river bank.. It was no surprise we didn't catch any. Haha But it was fun. And no, we didn't take any pictures pasal kami sorang2 inda bawa camera =(

My brother's coming tomorrow at 2pm.. I have classes from 8.30am-12.30noon everyday now. And every Friday afternoon from 2pm-5pm, the school organises a field trip to nearby towns. It's not compulsory though.

This Sunday my friends and I are going to Plage d'Osselle (Osselle beach. It's a man-made beach located around a lake somewhere 15km outside Besancon) for a picnic. Can't wait!

Esok aku start skulah.. sigh~ pukul 8.30am lagi tu! *yawn*

My brother is coming this Wednesday (5th August). He'll be here for a week. I hope my schedule's not too tight so I can bring him around. Not that he's never been here before.. But I like being the tourist guide.. =) But I love to be a tourist than a guide.

Anyway, The KAZU Netball game was held yesterday and from what I can see (from the blog and facebook), I would have to say congrats to the AMIGOS6_MADU3 team (eventhough I secretly wanted the Red Crocs to win)..

I would also like to congratulate my sister, Amalina on her scholarship. She's going to study at University of Leicester as of September 2009. She's coming to the UK end of September. If you're reading this, with the time you have left in Brunei, I hope you'll take the advantage you have to learn how to cook soto, nasi lemak etc. Cause I'll most probably visit you in Leicester during my December holidays. And once you arrived in London, jangan lupa tagih Abang Alim for your present from me. Once again, congrats and I'll see you in December insyallah.

And I think it's about time for me to buy a new camera.. camera apa baik ah? Aku mau Canon pulang.. but I dont want those large SLR camera. Don't see myself carrying that one kilogram camera around everyday. So any suggestions?

Hello people!

Here are some of the photos from the eurotrip.. If you want to see more of the pictures, just click on the name(s) of the place(s).. (Budapest, Bratislava, Krakow and Auschwitz)

BUDAPEST, HUNGARY...
The house of TERROR.. The roof has "TERROR" written on it. The builing is used to be one of the Nazi's secret police buildings during the WW II in Budapest, Hungary..

Heroes' Square with the Millenium Monument in the middle.
On the foot of the millenium monument.. Macam Nelson's Colume di Trafalgar Square, London or the Siegessaule (Victory Column) in Berlin)
The Great Synagoge, the largest synagoge in Europe and the second largest in the world.

Budapest is actually made up of Buda (the hilly part), Pest (the flat part) and the Daunbe river which 'separates Buda and Pest'. The major bridge linking both Buda and Pest is the Chain Bridge.
background : Buda (hilly part of Budapest) as seen from the Citadel
background: Pest (flat land of Budapest) as seen from the Citadel
background: Buda, Daunbe river and Pest... You can also see the Chain Bridge whick links Buda and Pest
The Hungarian parliment; the second largest parliment in Europe after the British parliment.
The chain bridge.

BRATISLAVA, SLOVAKIA...

Slovakia was part of Czechoslovakia until the country split up into Czech Repubic and Slovakia in 1992. I've been to Prague (capital of Czech Republic) in February 2009. And so, there I was, a few months later, exploring the other part of the what used to be called Czechoslovakia..

When we were there, it was really hot! Brabis!

our arrival at the main train station

Our first stop was the Devin castle (which is in ruins sudah).. It's an hour bus ride from the city centre.. And from the bus stop, we had to hike our way up along the winding paths to reach the entrance. Sudah tah d bus nada aircond.. Bejalan kaki naik ke atas with the hot sun above us made it tiring..
On the way to the entrance of the castle, we had to stop under a shade..
Finally, the entrance
in the castle compound
There.. the ruins..
The Morova river which is connected to the Daunbe river.
panas! and paksa naik lagi bukit...

The town center.. Di sana banyak macam statues of random people like the Paparazzo, the men at work, the guard and the man on the bench.. and the statues are scattered randomly in the town.. =D

Men at work
the town square
the paparazzo

KRAKOW, POLAND

Out of all the european countries I've visited so far, I think Poland is the most Catholic country ever in Europe. Cause in Krakow, there were over 15 churches/cathedral around the town center.. And the city center isn't that big.. Satu hari melawat jalan batis pun cukup.. And that one day, when we went to Auschwitz, it was on a religious public holiday.. On the way to Auschwitz, at around 9am, we passed a lot of small villages and you could see the villagers with their family in nice attires walking along the main road to go to church.. It was the first time I saw anything like that in Europe.. And that reminds me of orang jalan kaki ke masjid untuk Sembahyang Jumaat. Especially time ada tahlil di Tutong (lapas orang Sembahyang Jumaat) pasal biasa nya kami pakai jalan lama dari Sengkurung ke Tutong and melintas orang ke masjid lah..

ohhh and and the day we arrived, we went to the park around the city center lah.. and we saw groups of nuns with the 'penguin' uniform (that you would see in movies such as the Sister Act) feeding the piegons and bezikir on the bench with the tasbih on the other hands. Baru tah ku pernah liat ni.. biasa d France, nuns durang ada pulang 'betudung' tapi durang pakai baju biru and dress durang three-quarters and short sleeved.

At the Main Market Square.


cute ah building nya
Wawel castle.. (castle jua.. naik bukit jua.. muak wah)
inside the Wawel Castle..

one of the synagoges at the Jewish Ghetto just outside the city center. Dodgy tampat nya..
with our Thai friends whom we just met at the hostel..

AUSCHWITZ, POLAND
Oswiecim (the Polish word for Auschwitz)
the canteen with barb wired fences surrounding it (as seen from outside the gates)
The entrance of Auschwitz I

HAIR from victims of the gas chambers.. Read the details below:

The barracks are now used as museums
between the barracks and the gas chamber..
inside the gas chamber.. Victims are asked to stripped off their clothes before going to this room to be killed.
the Crematorium, Tampat durang bakar orang

This is Auschwitz II (Birkaneau), 3km from Auschwitz I. The compound and killing 'facilities' are a lot bigger hence than Auschwitz I, so more people died here.