London, Sarajevo & Venice

We arrived London on 24 Oct and the cool breeze of the Thames river cruise with seagulls hovering above and the scenic London city horizon was breathtaking and picture-perfect. Then dinner with RISM UK Chapter, presented a paper on KM, interviewed new members, met RICS president and shopped at M&S and bicester village were all we could cramped in two days. Then it was off to Bosnia & Croatia.

The scenic countryside and the weather in Bosnia were amazing and the old bridge in Mostar was remarkable.10 years after the devastation, development could be seen and Malaysia has major investments in Bosnia. But the scars still remains. The faces of Bosnian, the bullet-ridden buildings, the videos of the relentless bombings, the remains of tunnel of hope, all were grim reminders of what happened in Sarajevo. It was heart-wrenching and with guilt we realised how the world stoodby doing nothing for 3 years while women were raped, men were tortured and killed, and childhood were taken away. They were betrayed by their own countrymen, neighbors and fellow Muslims. It could easily happen in Malaysia if extremists kept on playing the racial cards. 

In Croatia I was amazed with the enormous water-tide horn that sounded like melodious frogs croaking  and the biggest circular solar panels that provides electricity for the lighting of the park at night. The Croatian seemed abit arrogant compared to the Bosnian. Lunch and dinner comprised fresh vege with olive oil & vinegar and either grilled fish or grilled chicken. By the forth day we were yearning for Malaysian cuisine - thank you to Dato' Rahman for obliging. As for the currency we brought Euro and 1 Euro (RM4.7) equals to Bosnia KM2 and Croatia Kunna 7.



Then there is Venice - 12 of us stayed another day as the rest of the group went home. The adventure began with the picturesque scenery of Venice as in the James Bond-Daniel Craig movie. We soaked in the ambiance of the St Mark's Square, the confusing alleys & maze, the frantic search for the Rialto bridge, the melting pot of people, glass products, masks, & hosts of other souvenirs, not forgetting LV, Prada, Gucci, Channel, Salv Feragamo (sebok tanya harga aje with whispered remarks of the price being a fraction in Shenzhen!!). Back in the hotel we had hilarious memories of bringing up the suitcases in a small lift with no buttons !!! I hosted a spontaneus dinner party in my room feasting on balance food we brought, cheese & crackers we stowed from the breakfast buffet, hot drinks with Liz's semi-conked water heater, buns & butter Anne bought, and ikan bilis, sambal daging & fruit cake compliments from Datin Ropiah. Shopping for loved ones still continued at Dubai Airport on transit and the in-flight shopping in the Emirates flight. It was a fitting end to an incredible trip. Now to read those numerous books I bought stuffed into the already bulging suitcase.

 

All of us in front of Zagreb Mosque, Bosnia