Momad's Visit to London

This is a quick update, especially for Ikelah and DITH as I don't want them to worry so much. All the pictures here were very quickly Picasa'ed and uploaded.

I have been very busy the past several days since Sunday, hence no updates on the blog or Fotopages. Actually, I have been escorting Ikelah and DITH's son Momad, to an interview at St George's Hospital in London. It's for a five year medical degree course and it was held on Monday the 26th. Here was how everything went.

On the 25th of Feb, Sunday, I went to Heathrow to meet up with Momad. It was only when the passengers were getting out of the arrival's gate that I realised - I didn't know what Momad looked like! I had to text Ikelah many a times to ask about the finer details of his son. It turned out that I had actually seen Momad around three times after he arrived, but I thought he was one of the passengers from China! The only thing that made me realise it was him was the fact that Ikelah said he was wearing a black cap.

Having met Momad safe and sound, we made our way to the Malaysia Hall in Bayswater, pictured above is the entrance.

This was our accommodation at Malaysia hall - it was 10 pounds per night for me, and only around 6.50 for Momad. In comparison, the cheapest hotel around central London would be around 35 pounds per night.

The rooms were very tidy and en-suite as well! We were absolutely satisfied.


That night after dinner, I brought Momad out for a tour of Bayswater. Our destination was Whiteleys. I used to make frequent visits to Whiteleys with someone who used to live in Bayswater during his degree - Orang Kilang and with Kenakelayan too, after they got married.


Malaysia Hall has a canteen where you could buy Malay food - and for breakfast the next day, I had nasi lemak while Momad had mee goreng. This was the morning of his interview.

This is Momad in interview gear on the underground - heading towards St George's hospital - merely 40 minutes away from Malaysia Hall. We went along the central line towards Bond street ...


... Oxford Circus ...


... and whooops, stopped at Tottenham Court Road.

Momad wanted to see Piccadilly Circus, I instead brought him to Leicester Square (which was nearer) ...

... and China Town ...

... still in China Town ...


To Trafalgar Square. Behind Momad is the new, Alison Lapper statue, as well as the National Gallery.

The famous Lion Statues in Trafalgar square.


Using the Underground to travel.


Okay, enough of the excursion - back to the interview.


20 minutes later, we finally made it to St George's Hospital.

The above picture was taken after the interview (notice the "before" and "after"). Momad said the interviewers asked reasonable questions.


A coffee & tea to calm down the nerves after the interview.

Well, hope St George's will accept Momad as one of their medical students, Insya Allah.


Here's the absolutely amazing bit - it turned out that both Uncle and Auntie De work 5 miles away from St George's hospital. At 5 pm, after their work, we arranged for a meet up. We went to a Halal Chinese Restaurant in Croydon.

It turned out that the owner of this restaurant was from Malacca, Malaysia! She was quite friendly and the food was excellent. Thank you so much Uncle and Auntie De for taking us out for the wonderful dinner. It was brilliant.


Above is my only picture with Momad.


After dinner, we headed back towards central London, and made one more small excursion to the Marble Arch. It was pitch black, but using flash I managed to take the above picture - hand held! It's amazing the flash could illuminate such a gigantic structure.


Next day again, which was this morning, Momad seemed alot happier. With the interview out of the way, I took Momad for a whirlwind tour of London, starting with the Tower Bridge.




The tower bridge.


Towards the Tower Bridge.


Artworks lining the pedestrian subways.


Big Ben, Westminster.


Platform 9 and three quarters. Where do we push our trolleys to get to Hogwart's again?


The City Hall and the Tower Bridge


City Hall


London cityscape & the river Thames

and that's it! I hope Momad had fun, it was certainly enjoyable for me shooting all the pictures in London. Unfortunately it rained ever so heavily today and the weather was awful! Even so, I braved taking out the camera and shooting away. I just got back from London around 2 hours ago and here I am posting away to tell Ikelah and DITH.

The photos above are all barely edited because of the lack of time. Insya Allah I will post better looking pictures in subsequent days. My best pictures (errr, more like "less terrible" pictures) would go to my Fotopages site.

We almost got to meet another blog friend, Ayumi, as well as she's on Holiday in Dublin at the moment. It's such a pity due to unforeseen circumstances the meet up had to be cancelled - maybe next time, Insya Allah.

Okay, later everyone -- off to bed for me now -- it's been extremely exhausting lugging heavy bags around London today. Good night, Oyasumi.