KL Trip Part 1

Hi everyone!

OMG I’ve missed blogging so much! Sorry for being MIA for the past few weeks but I’ve been quite busy and had no time to just sit down and gather my thoughts to actually write. So much had happened recently and so I’ll just put it down diary style. There will be no pics though.. I don't know why but I didn't feel any desire to take any photos during the duration of my trip but I hope you'll enjoy this post anyway.

24th September 2010

I was on my way to work when a colleague of mine called and told me that I was selected to go on a work-related course in Cheras. We were to check into the facility on the 26th (Sunday) and and the course would start from Monday until Wednesday.

The fax we received on the matter was very vague so we called up the facility after lunch and found out that the course would actually end on Thursday and not on Wednesday after all. Since we were informed at the last minute, it turns out that all flights were fully booked on Sunday so we had to go on the 1915 flight on Saturday.

25th September 2010

I went to the airport in the afternoon and tried to get an earlier flight to KL. I had wanted to get on the 1615 flight so I was on the waiting list for that flight... Or so I thought. The staff at the MAS counter told me that I was to go to counter 16 (Or is it counter 12? Anyway..) at 1530 to see if I got a place for that flight.

When I did so the lady told me that my name wasn’t on the list. The MAS staff failed to tell me that I was supposed to manually write down my name at counter 16 FIRST before coming back at 1530. Sheesh!

Everything happened for a reason though. I managed to bag a seat on the 1730 flight and it was an airbus. Not only that, my seat was strategically on the 1st row so I got enough leg room for even Yao Ming to sit comfortably, near the loo (No need to catwalk.. Hehe..) and best of all, near the exit..

I must say thought that I was a bit disappointed with the food. The option was between chicken with fried rice and fish with steamed rice. C’mon, shouldn’t the fish be paired with fried rice to make it more palatable? I guess they wanted to have a healthy (read: tasteless) option. Oh well..

I arrived in KLIA at about 2015HRS and had a bit of trouble locating the rotating belt to collect my luggage. Waiting for my luggage is my least favorite part of traveling. I would have visions of other passengers happily collecting their luggage until I’ll be waiting alone with only a battered umbrella that’s not even mine left on the rotating belt and finding out that my luggage(s) had somehow been mistakenly taken on the flight to Antigua or some other place far, far away..

Anyway...

I found my luggage eventually and took the KLIA Transit to KL Central where my sister picked me up. I stayed over at her place in Damansara for the night and wondered what the next day would bring..

26th September 2010

I checked into the hostel in Cheras and I saw a guy’s name listed as my roommate. I thought that maybe it’s just a girl that has been unfortunately christened with a guy’s name and didn’t think too much about it. I mean, surely the admin can differentiate a guy from a girl right?

My ‘roomie’ arrived that night with short hair, trousers, a shirt and a necktie. No, it’s not because said roommate was emulating Avril Lavigne’s way of dressing during the early days of her career, it’s because my ‘roomie’ is a guy. He was heaving and sweating because we had the good fortune of getting a room at the 3rd floor.

So did I had to share a room with him? Naw.. I’d have sued the Institution if I did. Luckily my neighbour is also my colleague so I moved in to her room. I had to sleep on the floor though (with a mattress of course, I’m no Cinderella) because each room houses only 2 occupants. Fortunately the rooms were nice and comfortable with a working air conditioning system. Pity about the incompetent admin staff.

To be continued...