The Arch. Journey

Experiencing Culture all the way from KL, Malaysia to Paris, France - PART 1

D-Day Before ( 10th Sept' 14 )

Had been busy for assignments for few days before the trip and only manage to tidy up the luggage the night before the flight & also got my money exchanged the day before the trip. Everything seems so rushing and I did not think much on what to prepare for the trip before that, so when the night come.... I spent 4 hours just to pack a simple small luggage. And this was the least stuff ever that i brought for a long distance trip just because want to make myself easy to drag it along for every moves there.

What I brought in the luggage: Med-thick clothes, Long coat, Pants, Dresses, Thick socks, Scarfs, Medicines, Travel toiletries pack, Adapter & Chargers, Extra hand-carry bag...

After packing, getting ready for the stuff to bring along in my handbag. The stuff i brought with me everyday during the trip *with additional trip schedule & handphone:

D-Day ( 11 Sept' 14 )

Starting to keep thinking of what else i forgot to bring since I woke up. Due to the luggage size, i brought stuff as minimal as possible. I used to travel with luggage of triple size larger even though just travelling back to hometown. But this time I went somewhere further with a hand carry size luggage! Challenge accepted that i can live with limited stuff for 10 days!

Flight was 7.30pm depart from KLIA & transit at DXB (Dubai international Airport) for around 6 hours then to CDG (Charles de Gaulle Airport). I went to airport after having roasted chicken rice as lunch which is the last rice meal before the 11 days of no rice days. I reached KLIA before 3pm and spent an hour with family in the airport before meeting the classmates.

After everyone gathered and done the luggage check in, it's time to go to our gate to waiting for the boarding.

But need to transfer to another terminal by train for international departures first.

So.... Readied!

Before boarding, small incident happened that Vijay's Baggage Claim Card dropped somewhere and made some of us (who not yet get on board at the back of the queue) panic because we thought without that card, the baggage cannot be claim later. Our face turn green and in the end he just got on the plane without the claim card. Luckily that was not a big deal after that.

I only get excited after got in the plane instead of before that throughout the whole preparation time because it is so huge inside and of course the comfortable seating. Last but not least, I kept observing every flight attendants & was like WOOOWWWW! It was not like 1 or 2 foreigner (*typically "angmo") that you will see on the street. That made me more excited to see more later on! So that was the first image about the foreigners before the trip started.

Before the flight took off, everyone already start to watch movies. But not for me, i played musics all the way because i can't look at the shaking screen even though most of the time the flight is stable.

I heard that Emirates is one of the best airlines so yeah, I am just happy with the services and food that they provided. Non limited drinks including wines & liquors! For FREE.

First meal served and taste good. Actually the amount was too much for me. Too full after this.

Next, SLEEP all the way with some musics till we reached Dubai. After travelling 5545 km, we were here.

Noticed that a lot of glass are used in DXB.

The oasis of Dubai airport.

Saw the high temperature reading outside of the plane but too bad cannot get to experience the temperature outside even though I am already in the territory of Dubai, can't even step on the land of Dubai. Tried to look around the airport for any opening but failed. Gave up at the end and got some sleep in the airport because cannot bear the tiredness for 6hrs50mins flight & the sleepiness due to jet lag.

I personally like how the Dubai Airport to be in long-shaped. It will not confused the tourist where to go, it will be either from front to back or from up to down.

Simple yet easy understand routes.

After few hours of messy sleep on chairs, finally it's time to fly to France. We departed at 4am something and after another 6810 km, everyone landed on our destination Paris safe and sound!

Collected our baggage and heading outside to take the bus to metro station.

Enjoyed the view outside of the bus and noticed there was a lot of corn field and Graffiti arts. At some point, i am just so speechless. Whenever there is wall, it was full of the graffiti arts. So I googled it up whether is was vandalism or arts.... Here's what i got: Some Europeans see graffiti as a way to "reclaim a city and shape the environment."

But the building styles on the street were just too different as compared to Malaysia.

Notice the roof style?

Loving how the buildings there got their own significant style. So Malaysia's are just squarish shop lot what...

See see see! See their urban planning! Those neat concrete block. View from Eiffel Tower.

Haussmann style: Baron Georges Eugene Haussmann (1809-1892) who modernized the city of Paris by re-construct them not just street patterns, but city facilities, public monuments, building facades, sewer system etc... His approach to urban planning was responsible for the "look" of Paris (long straight, wide boulevards with cafe and shops, open space for parks/markets/garden). Haussmann style buildings typically having few floors to house several families.

The first stop was the famous identical structure: Eiffel Tower.
Small incident recall back: Some strangers tried to steal from Nano but luckily everything went fine after all. Bee Doo Bee Doo: PICKPOCKET ALERT!

To be truth I almost cried out for the first sight when we walking toward it. Luckily i got my sunglasses on so no people saw my teary eyes. Heh. Too touched to see Eiffel Tower in person! *True 100% feeling, no cheat ok. Unbelievable, Amazing, Gorgeous, Stunning!

Walked so far with heavy luggage just to get this complete profile shot!

Cannot imagine how romantic it is if get to dine up there, guess they are all couples up there.

We took the lift to went up the tower and this is the view from the lift. If I ever got a chance to come back, I want to take staircase!!

Eiffel tower took 2 years to complete the construction and it was made from wrought iron. The tower has 3 levels for visitors which the third level is 906 ft from the ground but we couldn't go to the highest level. So we got on to the second floor by lift and the view from up there to the city was just too incredible & fascinating! Every blocks of buildings are just too neat. Salute to Baron Georges Eugene Haussmann!!

View towards Palais de Chaillot in the opposite, saw a lot of people take photo of Eiffel from there and that position is the most perfect angle! But we didn't go there.. SO...

Tried to find an angle to get the Eiffel and me(us) shot.

Few attempts few at last just give up, cannot fit. CANNOT

The only 1 that fitted me and Eiffel, others were all with strangers photobombed.

Extra informations about Eiffel Tower, second platform was where we took wefie!

We got late lunch after this and it was the first meal in Paris.

Cheese & Ham Omelette. Delicious! Look little but actually very full after this.

Sparkling Water which was hardly accepted by most of us.

One funny experience: We didn't know how to order water, plain water? tap water? Ended up with sparkling water. Don't really understand what the waitress talking about too so just OK,Sparkling Water. We started thinking did we ordered wrong thing after the bottles were served. Is it Alcohol? Got bubbles inside. *Face Palm, feel shame on myself with these little knowledges I got. But at least this time learned something about the types of drinking water...?

Everyone got tired with dragging the luggage all the way from airport to Eiffel tower and YAY finally can go check in by taking the nearest metro station to our hotel. It's already almost night time but the day still bright. The days there get darker later than Malaysia. The sky get totally dark around 9pm. Rooms assigned and time to rest. Some of us went out to walk around at surrounding after bathed. And we discovered something big: