DanielYKL

Europe! After months of traveling in Asia, we finally made it to Europe. From Istanbul our journey took us through Greece, Bulgaria, former Yugoslavia, Austria and finally Germany. We did not stayed long in these countries as we were in a hurried to get to our final destination and also we ran short of money. Most of out times are spent sleeping or waiting for trains at the train stations. We did not have enough money to stay in hotel, so we hang out at the train station waiting room. We took a train from Istanbul to Thessoloniki in Greece.  Stayed there for just a couple of nights, and took another train to Sofia in Bulgaria. We did not stay in Bulgaria, we just passed through the country and went straight to Belgrade in Yugoslavia. Here we stayed for a few days to get our visa for Austria, and then head for Salzburg in Austria. From Salzburg we took a train all the way to Munich, Germany.

When we finally arrived in Munich, we were lost. We don’t know what to do. Yes, we have finally arrived at our destination but we don’t know what we were doing there. We don’t have any friends or contacts. We don’t know where to go and rather where to start. We were running out of money. We survived just on milk and bread for days. We hang out at the railway station just waiting and wondering what to do next. Then one day, we saw a Chinese guy around the railway station, and he looks Malaysian to us. So we approached him and asked for information. He was our saviour! He took us to a place called Leopold Strasse in Swabing and told us that we could find many other Malaysians hanging out here. True enough after a day or two we met a friend from Penang, who then found me job at a restaurant as a kitchen helper. I was staying with this friend in his apartment which has no hot water or heater for a couple of months till I found a place of my own. I started off as a kitchen helper but progress to be a cook after a year there. Life was great, got a good job and nice place to stay and lots of friends to hangout with, till one day the law caught up with me. All these while I was working without a permit. In another words, I was an illegal immigrant. After working for two years there, I was arrested and put in prison for 4 months before they deport me out of Germany and back to Austria. Yes I spent 4 months in the German prison while waiting to be deported. I cannot complain much about the prison life there compared with the prison in Malaysia.

After, I was deported out of Germany, I was sent to Austria. And from there I find my  back, passing through once again Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and finally India. Spent another few months in India before retuning to Penang by ship.