This IS REALLY HAPPENING! I am really so far away from home. The furthest I've every been. I'll try to recap as best I can, what had happened, from Malaysia till now, which is approximately 9pm plus. I've just had dinner a really warm pint of ale (not really to my liking!). I'll keep my writing short, so that more pics can be put up. Hence, less cheong hei-ness! I didn't take any pics for this blog. There'll be others in the next blogs.
Yesterday, I finally had my fishball noodles or as my lil sis says, FBN. After that was the drive to the airport, which took me around 30 mins from Seremban. Yes, I was F1-ing all the way there for I was afraid that the check in counter would be closed by then! But, although I've already done the webcheckin and just needed to do a baggage drop, it still took me around 20-30 mins to get checked in! So what's the difference then right? Plus the baggage drop counter was soooo long, I ended up lining up at the normal check in counter. OK, so after boarding the plane, Air Asia being Air Asia was delayed for around 15-20 mins. Reason, one piece of luggage was lost! More bout this later. Then we finally took off, and I felt, this is gonna be one roughtflight. I flew with my Macha, or brother in law. Yes I have a macha now! Hehehehe. And I had the honour and privilledge to sit beside, not one, but two aunties. AND their whole cohort of aunties! I think cohort sounds too few, maybe batallion?! And it was basically surround sound, DTS, dolby all the way la, if you get what I mean. So I just put on my headphones and went to sleep. With really loud music, I could still hear them chit chatting. Again, chit chatting seems too mild. It was as if they were in a pub! Hehehe. So, 13 hours left to go in the flight. I looked to my right, brother in law or BIL as lil sis calls him. Fast asleep!
So in the end, I decided to do my work. I out my notes and I noticed at the corner of my eyes, a set of eyes peeping at my work. The question came: Are you a doctor? I said, no I'm not. Then, why is there a signature by a Dr.? I replied, oh I'm going for a conference in Cambridge..And other questions like, Are you from Malaysia? Are you Malaysian? Are you really a Malaysian? Are you sure you're Malaysian? I said YES! I am Malaysian! I even showed her my passport and still she didn't believe. She said in Mandarin, after she somewhat managed to con me into admitting that I do know (a little bit of) Mandarin, you look like WAI GUO REN. I said, no I'm from Malaysian. WHERE? I said SEREMBAN...OH SOLOMON?! SOLOMON ISLANDS! NO WONDER YOU DON'T LOOK CHINESE! Still...13 hours left. Then are your parents Chinese la? Got girlfriend ah? Married ah? Working as what...So after politely speaking to them, I decided to sleep la. THEN, lunch. What is that you're eating? I watched a movie on my laptop...Can I watch with you? I said, oh no sound la...Nevermind, I see the pictures only...We aunties are very noisy right? And she asked me that 3-4 times! In between were singing sessions, food sharing, I'm not joking. Turn right, BIL sleeping! I don't know why my area became the "gathering space" where everywhere came over! One auntie even asked me to swap seats with her so she could be with her partners. I said no la, I'm also sitting with my friend la. Then she gave me that sad sad sad sad sad sad look. But I guess it would've have made a difference! Imagine the noise if the 3 of them sat together! So it was some sort of aunty fellowship going on la. There even was a priest involved, apparently they were going to Lourdes, Fatima etc.Then I decided to play Sudoku, then realised I had a partner playing with me! Hahahah.
Otherwise the flight was ok la. My very first long haul flight. I met 3 other Malaysians who were going to present there. And a baby...Ezekiel who I visited during my walks around the plane. In the end, I was so hungry for dinner, it was around 530pm UK time, and I had no idea where we were. And it was around 12-1am Malaysia. Lapar lah of course! So I kept asking in between for snacks etc. BIL was nice to buy some snacks for me. Then in the end, they served dinner. Fettucine, which I thought YES LA! But then when I opened, I went, surely not enough one. So I asked for RICE, nasi lemak, briyani, anything la! Then it was sold out. But the attendants were kind enough to go search for a packet of rice for me. But came back with...tadaaaaaa...another pack of fetuccine! So, BIL was kind enough to swap his nasi lemak with my extra pack of fetuccine. The attendants were really kind. The male attendant went, cari lah nasi untuk dia. Dia dah lama tunggu makan. Kesian tau...And then there was some "dispute" between him and another female attendant, who kept wanting to serve me. I could hear, you nak serve dia? you nak serve? HMMMMMM...I wonder why...Hehehe. Well, I would say that AA's service has indeed improved by leaps and bounds. So much better than the other that proclaims to win so many awards for hospitality! And they're getting prettier as well. The attendants were really pretty on the flight. Aiyah, don't ask BIL la, he just got married so of course he'll say his usual "Pretty meh? SO SO only la". If he says otherwise, ah kena la...
Arrival at the airport was OK. Not too long a line. I got asked questions like what's your purpose of visit. By the way, I made a new passport to replace my "terrorist looking photo" passport just in case I get denied entry! Another 4-5 questions and I was in ENGLAND! Upon arrival at the customs, it seemed rather relaxed la. I saw a couple "ta pao-ing" their nasi lemak from the plane. But I'm not sure if they managed to get it past customs. Bought a bottle of wine for Soon Lock for I'll be staying at his place, BUT I dropped the bottle and it kinda damaged the cover. Well I'm not much of a wine fan, but then what the heck la! Hehehe. Later BIL walked me to the train station, and before that I had my first taste of hostility! But, I won't talk bout it la, just that a lady was a bit unfriendly! Then I took the train to Cambridge, along with Ezekiel as well. Hehehe...Arrived and then took a cab, the journey was 8P. I almost went, what's P?! Hahaha. The taximan seemed a bit grumpy at first. But the he said, thank you I think nearly 5 times. So I had to campur campur the you're welcome, cheers mate, no worries...I was hoping for those black taxis, but instead rode in a van! Came to my room and serious knocked out. Till this morning! I was confused! It was around 8-9pm. So I asked BIL, I'm confused, should I be feeling sleepy or hungry for dinner now?!
Yesterday, I finally had my fishball noodles or as my lil sis says, FBN. After that was the drive to the airport, which took me around 30 mins from Seremban. Yes, I was F1-ing all the way there for I was afraid that the check in counter would be closed by then! But, although I've already done the webcheckin and just needed to do a baggage drop, it still took me around 20-30 mins to get checked in! So what's the difference then right? Plus the baggage drop counter was soooo long, I ended up lining up at the normal check in counter. OK, so after boarding the plane, Air Asia being Air Asia was delayed for around 15-20 mins. Reason, one piece of luggage was lost! More bout this later. Then we finally took off, and I felt, this is gonna be one roughtflight. I flew with my Macha, or brother in law. Yes I have a macha now! Hehehehe. And I had the honour and privilledge to sit beside, not one, but two aunties. AND their whole cohort of aunties! I think cohort sounds too few, maybe batallion?! And it was basically surround sound, DTS, dolby all the way la, if you get what I mean. So I just put on my headphones and went to sleep. With really loud music, I could still hear them chit chatting. Again, chit chatting seems too mild. It was as if they were in a pub! Hehehe. So, 13 hours left to go in the flight. I looked to my right, brother in law or BIL as lil sis calls him. Fast asleep!
So in the end, I decided to do my work. I out my notes and I noticed at the corner of my eyes, a set of eyes peeping at my work. The question came: Are you a doctor? I said, no I'm not. Then, why is there a signature by a Dr.? I replied, oh I'm going for a conference in Cambridge..And other questions like, Are you from Malaysia? Are you Malaysian? Are you really a Malaysian? Are you sure you're Malaysian? I said YES! I am Malaysian! I even showed her my passport and still she didn't believe. She said in Mandarin, after she somewhat managed to con me into admitting that I do know (a little bit of) Mandarin, you look like WAI GUO REN. I said, no I'm from Malaysian. WHERE? I said SEREMBAN...OH SOLOMON?! SOLOMON ISLANDS! NO WONDER YOU DON'T LOOK CHINESE! Still...13 hours left. Then are your parents Chinese la? Got girlfriend ah? Married ah? Working as what...So after politely speaking to them, I decided to sleep la. THEN, lunch. What is that you're eating? I watched a movie on my laptop...Can I watch with you? I said, oh no sound la...Nevermind, I see the pictures only...We aunties are very noisy right? And she asked me that 3-4 times! In between were singing sessions, food sharing, I'm not joking. Turn right, BIL sleeping! I don't know why my area became the "gathering space" where everywhere came over! One auntie even asked me to swap seats with her so she could be with her partners. I said no la, I'm also sitting with my friend la. Then she gave me that sad sad sad sad sad sad look. But I guess it would've have made a difference! Imagine the noise if the 3 of them sat together! So it was some sort of aunty fellowship going on la. There even was a priest involved, apparently they were going to Lourdes, Fatima etc.Then I decided to play Sudoku, then realised I had a partner playing with me! Hahahah.
Otherwise the flight was ok la. My very first long haul flight. I met 3 other Malaysians who were going to present there. And a baby...Ezekiel who I visited during my walks around the plane. In the end, I was so hungry for dinner, it was around 530pm UK time, and I had no idea where we were. And it was around 12-1am Malaysia. Lapar lah of course! So I kept asking in between for snacks etc. BIL was nice to buy some snacks for me. Then in the end, they served dinner. Fettucine, which I thought YES LA! But then when I opened, I went, surely not enough one. So I asked for RICE, nasi lemak, briyani, anything la! Then it was sold out. But the attendants were kind enough to go search for a packet of rice for me. But came back with...tadaaaaaa...another pack of fetuccine! So, BIL was kind enough to swap his nasi lemak with my extra pack of fetuccine. The attendants were really kind. The male attendant went, cari lah nasi untuk dia. Dia dah lama tunggu makan. Kesian tau...And then there was some "dispute" between him and another female attendant, who kept wanting to serve me. I could hear, you nak serve dia? you nak serve? HMMMMMM...I wonder why...Hehehe. Well, I would say that AA's service has indeed improved by leaps and bounds. So much better than the other that proclaims to win so many awards for hospitality! And they're getting prettier as well. The attendants were really pretty on the flight. Aiyah, don't ask BIL la, he just got married so of course he'll say his usual "Pretty meh? SO SO only la". If he says otherwise, ah kena la...
Arrival at the airport was OK. Not too long a line. I got asked questions like what's your purpose of visit. By the way, I made a new passport to replace my "terrorist looking photo" passport just in case I get denied entry! Another 4-5 questions and I was in ENGLAND! Upon arrival at the customs, it seemed rather relaxed la. I saw a couple "ta pao-ing" their nasi lemak from the plane. But I'm not sure if they managed to get it past customs. Bought a bottle of wine for Soon Lock for I'll be staying at his place, BUT I dropped the bottle and it kinda damaged the cover. Well I'm not much of a wine fan, but then what the heck la! Hehehe. Later BIL walked me to the train station, and before that I had my first taste of hostility! But, I won't talk bout it la, just that a lady was a bit unfriendly! Then I took the train to Cambridge, along with Ezekiel as well. Hehehe...Arrived and then took a cab, the journey was 8P. I almost went, what's P?! Hahaha. The taximan seemed a bit grumpy at first. But the he said, thank you I think nearly 5 times. So I had to campur campur the you're welcome, cheers mate, no worries...I was hoping for those black taxis, but instead rode in a van! Came to my room and serious knocked out. Till this morning! I was confused! It was around 8-9pm. So I asked BIL, I'm confused, should I be feeling sleepy or hungry for dinner now?!
