London Gathering 2005

Friday, 7 October 2005

Today we're heading to Cambridge before went to London to attend a gathering held by PPI-London located in Indonesian embassy. They sort of invited us to some gathering to meet with the other students around UK and people who work at d embassy. Neat, huh?! Well, Indonesian people do love "kongkow2 alias kumpul2" (translated = hang out together in a specific places). Anyway, our Indonesian Society called "PPI-Bournemouth" decided to go to Cambridge first.

I woke up in d morning with joy and thrilled, because i couldn't wait go to there. We used 3 rented cars and I was in d white smallest car with Adit, Syahlan and Davina. Then we stopped to get a fuel, but everybody left us behind, so...we didn't really know where we should go. In fact, we were circling the roundabout near ASDA twice!!! God...that was horrible, the journey hadn't started yet, but we already get lost in the Bournemouth, silly....But thanx God, we finally there...in the highway. The other cars told us to be faster, so we did. We always try to be carefull with the speed camera (i just knew this system). That was one of d reason why we're so late compared with the other cars. Then, we passed several services, and the funny thing was...once we passed the "X" services, the other cars called and told us to go to "X" Services. Mannnn...we were just passing it through...Really...bad communication among us...But it was quite funny, though...

So...we were one step ahead...Yippy!!! But then, the other cars were passing through us, again..Hiks...Yes, our car was old, it couldn't go faster than 100mil/hour...and we were in d back again. But then, we got lost anyway..because of the stupid A40 highway, we were supposed to turn left, but we kept on going...so...we were lost. Fortunately, we were not completely lost, we were just taking the long road, not d short cut...Hehehehehe...For me..it was quite a long journey. We spent like almost 5 hours and a half to go to Cambridge. Then we stopped at another service to meet with the other car. So, totally...there were 4 cars. In rush, we headed toward Cambridge, because we already late for d gathering.

The most funny and annoyed thing was d meeting point in Lorry Services. We heard "Holiday Inn" as the meeting point, but in fact it was "Days Inn". Hihihihi...and they told us to search for "Welcome Drink", while what we could find is "Welcome Break". Oh dear...it was really funny!! But we managed to meet each other. When we finally arrived in Cambridge, we were so busy looking for a parking place (oh, btw...our driver - Syahlan, made me get a little heart attack, because we did U-Turn in a busy road...God...everybody was honking on us). We paid like 1pound and 50p for d parking lot. Then walked to Cam River. This is one of d pic taken while we were walking along side d river :





Then, we rented a boat than we did punting on Cam River. It was faboulus and awesome!!! I can't believe it, so peacefull...Our punting guy was quite crazy, he always teased us and made us screamed, because he frequently unbalanced the boat. I was in the small boat with 4 guys. While d other on a big boat, but it was not a problem for me. So, here is one of d pic taken by Koko :




After 30mnts "punting" (they cheated on us, they said the punting will take 45mnts...!!!), we went to London. But againnnnnnnnnnn....we got lost!! Oh man...it was really a horrible journey...but fun at d same time. :D We tried not to be panic and kept ourselves on a good mood. But we were completely hopeless when we realised that we didn't know where we were...Than we asked some1 from d road, and you know what...that guy was very kind, he gave us a map!! Oh...he was our saviour!! Then, we finally on London, but we still didn't know where to go...We were circling the Aldgate a dozen times, then found Barbican Centre. Then we called one of Adit's friend to ask for direction. Luckily, we managed to find d right direction, big thanx to Davina, because she was insisted on looking at d map and learnt about it. All of us were really hungry, because we didn't have anything except a cookies from me.

We finally reached at Indonesian Embassy at 8.30pm, while we were supposed to be there at 4pm. I was so hungry, so i directly went to the food table, and took d plate and all d food. Hehehehehe...We thought that we were d only one who got lost, but actually d other cars hadn't arrived yet, except Jaja's car. Well anyway, it was really a wicked journey, and i was knackered..I met with d other Indonesian students, and had a nice conversation.

And..at 11pm, all of us were waiting for d other in front of d embassy. An hour later, a police's car came, and asked us what exactly we were doing. Maybe they thought that we were somekind of terrorist or something (because our embassy located near d American Embassy) hehehehe...it was really a funny situation. Finally our friend finished d meeting, so we could go home. Oh yes, stupid us!! We spent 8pounds to pay for d parking!! While actually, we didn't have to pay, because it was already midnite!! Oh...what a waste of money. :(

Well, here one of d pic we took from in front of d embassy :



I reached Bournemouth at 4am, and directly did my sahur with Aziz, one of ma flatmate.

Whatta Journey...
Blimey...

PS : Thanx a lot for Syahlan, Adit and Davina...We were really a solid team...