Malpensa airport was a big place for three Malaysians to find their ways out. haha.. Mr. W who is my hubby's colleague took the role as a tour guide. He had stayed in Italia for 5 weeks during his first trip compared to my hubby who only stayed for one week. Thus, Mr.W was automatically chosen to be responsible for guiding us to our next destination Ternate, where our apartments are located.
Instead of taking the train, Mr.W claimed that it was cheaper to ride a bus. Off we went to the nearest information counter and asked the man in charge on how to get the bus tickets and where to board the bus. He informed that we could do so outside of the building. Once outside, the cold blast air hit us on the face....Oh my..".this is supposed to be the Summer season yet it is way cooler than Malaysia," the usual self of me started on complaining...Lucky that I had a blazer on me and the extra thick sweater was given to my hubby to keep him warm.
Each of us dragged our luggage to the nearest bus stand. We looked around and discovered another bus stand on the other side. We got confused at first. We didnt know which one was the right place to wait for the bus we intended to board. Not long after that, came a bus to pick up some passengers and only then we knew we were at the wrong bus stand. As to ensure that the other bus stand was the one that we were looking for, we headed back to the exit door of the terminal building and asked one Italian man about it. He spoke a lil bit of English but he managed to reassure us of the place to get the bus to Gallarate .
Funny how I felt to be a foreigner at such foreign place. There is always a first time in everything we do right..right..?
We waited and waited....the bus was still not in sight..I grabbed the camera and went snap..snap and snap until my hubby got irritated..hehe...I ignored his im-gonna-hit-u look and smiled innocently....he had to take my photos you see....that's what made him felt so disturbed..haha
The excited me..!!
The cold hubby
Two married engineers
If I am not mistaken, the bus came later after one hour had passed. On board, we took our seats and enjoyed the short ride to Gallarate, the train station where we could take a ride to Ternate.
The bus tickets
When asked where we were supposed to go next, Mr. W took out the documents he had with him and checked the address to our apartments. He failed to notice the word Ternate and mistakenly assumed that our apartments were in Sesto Calende instead. I was not aware that we were heading to the wrong place since I hadn't the vaguest idea of where everything was to begin with..LOL.
Stepping off the train at Sesto Calende station, we started to pull our luggage all the way to the place where Mr. W and my husband thought it was to be. We crossed a lot of roads, walked along small streets, jumped away at the side of poops on the sidewalk, stopped local people to ask for directions and rested in front of a store to catch our breath. It was Sunday and most of the stores were all closed. We had no clue where we were at that time and there came a local couple walked towards us. They spoke English and helped us navigating our destination. We were shocked to find out that we were actually lost.
I was hungry and thirsty. I took out the chicken pie which I got from the flight and finished it all in a few bites. Then we set off to the train station once again. Glad that the Italian drivers were all polite on the road. They stopped their cars at the sight of us and let us crossing the road safely to the other side.
When we reached the train station, we looked for ways to buy the tickets to Ternate. FYI the counter was closed on Sunday. There were no machines for the tickets like we had in KTM station. ~sigh~
We had to board the train first and waited for the train conductor to come and got the tickets from him. (Actually in Italy, those who boarded the train without tickets or with unvalidated tickets [you had to punch the card through a small puncher machine at the station], the passengers will be fined.
We didnt get fine by the conductor. Lucky eh? Phew..
One thing that I want you to know about Italy is, everywhere you turn (especially in dark alleys, along the railways, old buildings, abandoned vehicles), graffitis are everywhere.
The train station underground tunnel
Despite my fear of the above phenomenon, I did enjoy the scenery, though...the culture the people portrayed and lots more.....tell me who is not gonna have fun when travelling?? ..It was a memorable getaway... I wished we had more budgets so that I could shop till I drop haha...
Wait for the next blog entry...i'll continue the rest of the story. \(^0^)/
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