Brussels: #PrayForBrussels

Hey guys, so a lot of my friends have planned their trips to Brussels but due to the recent incident, I've been asked if it is safe for them to travel so I decided that writing a blog post would help (at least as much as I can) so here you go,

It is pretty much safe so far, to me personally. People were standing together rather than against each other, despite the different believes and faiths everyone has. 

But most of the Metro stations were closed for today so it was quite a struggle to get from one place to another. We didn't have any issues with crossing from France to Belgium though, our passports weren't even checked. 

Also, mum got a bit worried if the immigration won't let us through so she wore a cap to cover her head rather than the usual hijab.... but only to find out that there were so many women in Brussels who were still out with hijab on and they didn't seem to be discriminated or mistreated. Infact, they were even there in the crowd standing with the others, mourning together. 

People were chanting and cheering each other up in the midst of the crowd mourning. No words could explain how I felt being there. Oh, and the goosebumps though.

There were military men everywhere. Most of the pictures were taken at the Grand Plaza, one of the most famous place to visit in Brussels and the building was closed, as so were there many other buildings so me and mum couldn't do much but walked around the city and had our little food hunting.

TV stations from around the world were there...and policemen were even guarding certain streets/corners

Upon arriving at Garu de Nord for our bus ride from Paris, I was investigated by the policemen who was checking my rugsack, and we had quite a conversation...

Policeman: Have you got anything dangerous in your bag?

Me: Nope

Policeman: Have you got any bad intentions with you today?

Me: Yeahhh, probably just eating lots of chocolates here in Belgium

Policeman: That's alright ;)

It was quite an amusing conversation though, hope that made him feel better with what his country has gone through... 

There were armed military man checking our bags and clothes at every station and shopping mall we entered. Most of the shops were not even opened. But this is as for today, shops and metro stations might be opened and will work like normal possibly in a couple of days I reckon. 

Since most of the train stations didn't work, the Central Station's entrance had a long queue that the queue extended till outside of the station ! People were all taking their public transports from there and all of them had their bags checked, so yeahhhh. 

Personally, I would say, it is alright to travel since they have really tight security now, which would mean that for anything to happen, would be pretty difficult. But you could tell, that the city was quite quiet and dead. I wouldn't wanna be completely liable if anything happens while any of you are travelling there, but my personal opinion would be is that, it should be safe. 

I was so moved by the spirit at the Palace though. Muslims were even standing next to other citizens/victims for Brussels, supporting their movement. It doesn't matter who you are or what faith you have or where you come from, no one, no country, deserves this.