I think I had not mentioned how did I had to go for this trip right?
Well, once upon a day, the DG called me and a colleague up to his office and said:
"I would like to nominate both of you to this workshop in France. But I'd like to know whether both of you would be interested?"
SAY WHAT?!
But of course, we kept our composure and politely but firm answered," Yes,of course we'd go. Thank you Dato' "
Then there were 2 monkeys jumping up and down outside his office -____-
So to cut the story short, all 4 of us were already on our way to Marseilles via KLM
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| the departure night.yup, the whole family sent us off ;p |
As I mentioned before, it was a 13 hour flight journey from KL to Amsterdam and
I we were so hungry but we can't find any suitable food at the airport (KLM only served 2 meals during the flight). I must admit that we didn't do our proper homework on the airport before arriving and we were too weak and distraught to ask anyone where we could find proper food. My hands and legs were shaking so I finally satisfied myself with a cheese roll, which was originally intended for the baby.
Then we continue almost 2 hour journey on connecting flight to Marseilles..
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| Queue at the Schiphol immigration check point |
and finally arrived..
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| googled image |
The given hotel was
Mercure Hotel, located in the city centre. I think the facility and room layout is similar to Cititel Midvalley, KL
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| the room |
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| the bathroom |
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| view from the room. on top of the hill is Notre Dame de la Garde |
From our research, there are many Muslims in Marseilles and it is mentioned that it's not a problem to find a halal food outlet around the city. Apparently, they don't advertise the halal logo like we do in Malaysia so you have to ask around. Of course, they don't speak English. But hand gestures and hungry looks help.
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| our first try in Marseilles. see?very small halal writings. |
I would say the hotel is strategically located in the city. It's walking distance to the Vieux Port which sells local souvenirs and fashion streets with brands such as H&M, Mango and many more. You can find quite a number of halal food outlets nearby the hotel and the closest one is located just opposite the hotel called Mix n Wok. It is a Thai fusion restaurant which serves warmly cooked pastas, noodles and rice, The restaurant is managed by Algerians and Moroccans and one of the guys can speak English.Unfortunately, they are only open during lunch and closes at 3 pm. I must also tell you that they are very nice and friendly. The first time we came they gave Hannan's rice free of charge and gave free mineral water and Coke the other day.
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| Inside Mix n Wok |
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| the food. priced at 6.60 Euro each. |
Breakfast at the hotel is simple, not much choice but we liked it very much. Everyday
I we would have pancakes, chocolate rolls, croissants and 2 slice of breads with double omelettes.*grin*
The temperature was around 13 degrees, and it started raining on Saturday morning, the day we flew back to Malaysia. So we didn't have time to do much shopping (which is a blessing, because I would have swiped my cards for potentially regrettable reasons - thank you God)
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| ini dua org sgt seronok jln2 while ummi was having class |
Some tips and reminders for travelling to France:
1. learn basic conversation in French. trust me, this helps a lot
2.bring whatever packed/canned food for your baby because he/she might not adapt to local food
3. rice and kebab at arab restaurants mostly are priced about 5 euros.
4. There's a city tax imposed on every tourist at 1.50 euro per day
5.bring medication (for fever,flu), rubs/ointments and plasters for blisters and sakit2 kaki
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