I just arrived in Galway yesterday morning after spending more than a weekend in the city that never sleeps, London. The story was that I planned to attend an event organized by the Malaysian Students Department, London entitled "Seminar of Islamic Leadership" over the last weekend. The name had been given and was looking forward to the seemingly grand event but suddenly the department deferred the seminar to a yet-to-be-announced date at a very late notice, where at that time my friend and I had bought the flight tickets already. After having some thorough discussion with my friend, we decided not to waste away the money that we've paid to the Ryanair so that was how we ended up in London for about3 days or so.

Honestly London weather was extremely hot that it tanned the skin and kept us sweating all day. Sweater and cardigan were definitely a no-no, instead their places were taken by shades and a bottle of still water, the latter to keep us well hydrated of course. It was an inch away from Malaysian climate I suppose and the air was even drier than Galway air, isn't this what we call SUMMER?

We managed to stroll across London quite deep down to the depths of it. The three days had us completely jaded at the end of every single walk that we always yearned for nothing as we got home except for some rest and slumber... and food too apparently ;).


The Saturday and Sunday didn't give us any better chance as the Jubilee line was closed on both days so we had to ingeniously find alternative routes and pay attention to the announcements and transportation updates. In spite of this I thought the London transport system deserves a kudos for being able to have everything carefully plotted. The alternative buses provided in place of the not-on-duty tube were very helpful even though we had to walk an extra mile and squeeze our brain hard in order to figure out where to go and which bus were we meant to take. Navigation and map-reading skills progressively developed over that course of time surely ;).

We allotted the Friday for shopping but I ended up getting nothing for myself off the streets. Ya the stinginess and fussiness that once grew in my flesh were just difficult to peel off now hehe. Next we went to Greenwich intending to have a gawk at the imperative line that I once heard the name of in Geography classes; which draws vertically across the globe- the Greenwich Meridian. However the ad hoc plan gave us a rough outcome- the place was closing when we got there. The long walk in the park to reach the line seemed endless that we agreed not to press on but changed our route to the London Central Mosque instead.


The London Central Mosque wasn't the most beautiful mosque in the world but I was completely delighted and thankful that I just realized there it happened to be my first time in the year performing a prayer in a mosque, how pathetic! Furthermore the moment we got lost in the hectic London traffic trying to find our way to the place we incidentally ran into a Portuguese lady who works in London and was also heading to the same place. Alhamdulillah, what more could I wish for then?


Cotswold saw us the next day appreciating the beauty of London countryside in the London suburb. Now I knew that there was also a nature side of London that could be found somewhere within its borders, and the small Cotswold might be enough if we want to take a small break from the hustle and bustle of city life. Following that in the afternoon we paid a good sum of money to go in to the Ripley's Believe It Or Not Odditorium in London. Once in a lifetime admission would suffice I think given the jaw-dropping ticket price, as what in there were those weird stuff and some videos like what we would watch on its tv programme as well as some games like mirror maze which were not too bad really.

On the subsequent day I stepped my feet for the first time in the largest Carboot sale of London, first time ever at a carboot sale actually. The business is very straightforward, bring out what you've got to offer [off your carboot of course], set a price and simply put them on display. It could be anything at all from gleaming trinkets to potteries to a scooter! The setting reminded me to the morning market or Pasar Tani that I used to go with my mum every Friday back in Malaysia. Oh memories! Anyhow of all the cheap items offered, all I got was the Advanced Banter Book of Quotations at the price of 1 pound when the initial proposed price was 14.99 pounds. Others who went along with me got themselves wall decorations, board games, books, jewelry box etc, fine!

In the afternoon without delay we headed over to the Gunther von Hagen's Bodyworlds & The Mirror of Time exhibition in London that once took place in Dublin. If in Ripley's Odditorium we were allowed to take as many photos as we wished, this exhibition went totally the other way around. No cameras, no foods and beverages, no touching, no everything! [This photo on the right was taken from the link that I put- A man holding up his skin].

Anyhow it was a stunning work I have to say really. The job was so delicately done that he sliced up each layer of real human bodies very carefully to preserve every single part, and it was indeed a huge success. For example there was this one plastinate of a man riding a horse; the man was cut into 3 layers making it looked like sort of three men on the horse; the first man was the one with the skin, the second man was made up of the muscles and the third man was made up of the bones. To make an extra effect even the horse was beautifully dissected exposing its muscles and the horse-rider was holding his brain on one hand and a hockey stick on the other. And they're real human [and horse, I think] body[s]. Impressive! I can't say more to explain how great the work was as you'll only be able to admit it if you saw it with your own naked eyes.

The funny [or annoying? Nope, lol] part was that I was asked not once but twice about my age. On the second time the guard in the room politely asked for my ID to prove that I'm above the approved age i.e 16 as he said I looked so young lol. The reason for this was because there was this one part of the exhibition showing the human reproductive organs which was indeed very frank and overt. No need to explain this further but it was quite disturbing seeing some plastinates with improper acts being displayed. Not really improper as in improper but maybe we don't need to be too honest in sending the message? I don't know.

Seeing how brilliant the dissection work was done sparked in me how skillful Gunther von Hagens is. Yet again that brought me to how remarkable the human body is and so how Magnificent God is. Subhanallah.

"And on the earth are the signs for the certain [in faith] and in yourselves. Then will you not see?"

[Adh-Dhariyat, 51:20-21]

The more we look into ourselves the more we realize how great God's creations are thus how Great He The Creator is.

And so I shall end my travelogue here.

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