My first big trip to a farther destination was to perform the Umrah when I was 8+ (I loved to say I am 8 plus when asked of my age) and then we went to Istanbul after Umrah. I remembered my mom telling me upon entering Masjidil Haram. "Nampak tak kotak hitam kat tengah-tengah tu? That is Kaabah". Wait a minute, I thought. That was what I learned in school. I didn't know that performing Umrah meant that I was able to see the Kaabah. How fortunate I was to have seen it in front of my eyes at such a tender age.
Then when I was about 9, my Dad planned a trip to France to visit his ex secretary who followed her husband who got posted there. We were all very excited and had handed the letter to the Class teacher informing them of our absence in school for a month. Unfortunately, the big plan was cancelled and my Class teacher was always snickering and repeatedly asked me when I was going to ooooh France. Sampai loh ni, tok sapa sapa France..
Then one fine evening when my Dad arrived home after work, I remembered clearly of a letter my Dad had asked my mom to read out. It was some sort of bonus that my Dad had received for some travel allowance . And when my cousin was graduating in Warwick, my Dad planned a family trip to the then oh so glorious England. Kalau dalam ambience kat Malaysia, orang kata nak pi London!!
And that was when I first heard of the Beatles. My brother had a walkman with a mixed tape of The Beatles and Neil Sedaka. On top of me looking cool, or so I thought with a Walkman, we were so like Kool and the Ganag travelling around England in a caravan. Talk about being a hippie! I rewinded and played the Beatles and Neil Sedaka throughout the whole journey. I go ape, Happy Birthday Sweet 16, Can't buy me love.
So when my friends and I visited Liverpool last weekend, I knew I had to visit The Beatles museum, since it is the birth town of the fabulous four! And of course at every mention of London or England, I would fondly remember their songs. " I wanna hold your hannddd" was probably my favourite song as a child .My siblings and I would belt out this song while my 1st brother strum on his guitar. But my 1st brother, who always have to be different from others, made us listen to the one in Deutsch. it sounded the same but it was " Komm Gib Mir Deine Hand". So for a very long time, I thought the lyrics were "Come give me Diana's Hand".
You know how we all are, just singing to whatever we think the lyrics are, as long as it sounded the same.But hush hush, I still do it till today.
The fabulous four!The museum told the history of the Beatles from the formation right until the break up of the Beatles.
I used like the Spice Girl and my brother had the original Spice Girls t-shirt!
Andy Warhol inspired art.After we were done with the Beatles, we went to the city centre for lunch. After searching high and lo for Halal Nandos, we settled for Crunchy Chicken,which tasted anything but crunch chicken. More disappointment. We didn't go to the famous Anfield stadium because for one, I am not a football fan, and two, Naim who is a die-hard Manchester Fan followed us on this trip to visit Old Trafford!.
Since I had been to Manchester last summer, I didn't really bother on sight seeing around Manchester. This time around we went to Manchester because it was Syuk's graduation. Myself and Jaja did not attend the ceremony,but Amna did. Anyway congrats to Syuk!! Engineer ye bukan pomen
Halal Nandos in Manchester!
My wajib jump picture, infront of HRC in Manchester.