Paris and Lyon....

Salaam and hi dear all,

Paris and Lyon...

Viva Palestina Land Convoy 5 had an eventful day today.

Let me see. Where shall I begin....

Oh, let me start from the place we slept last 2 nights- the beautiful Community Hall, Paris. All the men slept on the normal floor area, whilst women get to sleep on the upper level along the wall areas.

Of course, we all slept using our sleeping bag, and the hall provides a very nice and cozy place for us. Just right, like they said it!

As I was too tired from the drive, I slept almost immediately. So much different from my nights before that when I couldnt sleep out of sheer excitement thinking of me setting foot in Gaza!

Later that night, I just found out from a friend that this area we are staying in France, is twinned with Sabre Shatila! Imagine that! I must research this when I go back...

Or perhaps, my unpaid PA would want to do it for me? Lol! (Yes Zab, I am talking to you!)

Next day, among other activities, we had an amazing experience parading our convoy around The Square which I can safely say an equivalent to the Trafalgar Square. We literally stopped in the inner part of the roundabout and at road sides too!

The crowd was amazing. The convoy drove into town honking and attracting attention for the Palestinians cause.

There are also activists giving out pamphlets to the passerby.

Most of the Parisian gave us the thumbs up! And we wave the Palestinian flags too. I believe, there are some youtube videos already posted on this.

Later at night, we have a meeting with George Galloway, and because of the multi-lingual community we have in the convoy, everything had to kinda be translated. It was so interesting to listen to other languages...

Then, we all zzzz off happily, preparing ourselves for the journey the next day to Lyon.

Next day, no, I mean today, at 7.30am we are all set to leave Paris moving towards Lyon. It is about 400km away.

On the road, one of Malaysian's van light went kaput! But it wasnt serious, so, we are going to repair it in Milan.

Yes, Milan! We are going there after reaching Lyon, inshaAllah!

And as I sent Zabrina my latest text msg, I have arrived in Lyon, and had a great time eating yummy cheese, salad, french bread and chicken cooked with lots of green olives... Burp... alhamdulillah...

Now, this is why I keep telling people it is hard to shed pounds during missions- the hosts are always so gracious and too kind. We all end up eating more food when we are on a mission than when we are in KL!

And right now, some Viva Palestina reps are meeting with the Mayor of Lyon, including Sis Azra from Malaysia. While the rest of us, driving around parading our beautiful vehicles that have Viva Palestina stickers all around it!

Oh, and since Sis Azra is with the mayor, I am driving the van all by myself. Chewah!! So amused with myself coz it is a right-hand drive... not easy, you know.... sometimes my brain a bit confuse...just a bit lah... :))

And some of the beautiful French people tried to talk to us, but, unfortunately, I can't understand them. What a wasted opportunity.... Zab asked me to use sign language, which I can try, but not sure how successful I will be... afraid if I 'sent' the wrong message... you know, coz different sign for different culture...

Anyway, needless to say, we are going to sleep here today before continuing our journey tomorrow, inshaAllah.

Here are some pictures for you guys from my journey up to now.

Tomorrow, we will be driving about 338km or 210miles from Lyon to get us to Milan.

Beautiful Italy, here we come!!




(happily posted by the unpaid PA- Sis Zabrina for her heroic boss- Azura...)





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