Leaving for Kuala Lumpur, then Bangkok

Sunday, June 14, 2009--Kuching to Kuala Lumpur

I am packed and am hoping for no weight problems for my flight. I am flying Air Asia for the first time today. It is a low-cost airline that is popular here. The checked weight limit is 15 kg. Because my bag usually weighs about 19 km, I paid for an extra 5 km. When I checked in for my flight to Borneo, however, it was about 20.4 kg!! I've finished reading two books that are no longer there, and one of them was a BIG book. So that means I should be okay.

At the airport, there was confusion checking in. There were 4 windows open, and one had a sign for my flight number and a long line. The other windows had no signs and had only 1-2 people in line. I got in the line that had the sign for my flight. But as time passed, I kept seeing people leave the back of my line to go to the other counters. They were getting checked in! There should be one queue, or they should have signs up at EVERY counter saying which flights they are serving. My bag, by the way, weighed 18.6 kg, so I was okay. And they didn't weigh the carry-on luggage which I thought they might do, since their website also sets a 7 kg limit for it. I think mine was about 5 kg, so I would have been safe.

The flight on Air Asia was okay. There was very limited seat room, but the person in front of me did not lower his seatback. In fact, few people seem to do that now. I guess they realize how uncomfortable it makes the passenger behind when they do. Anyway, the flight was fine. I had a nice spicy biriyani which I had pre-ordered. I took the bus which had also been pre-paid to get to downtown.

My friend Chris was at the bus station to meet me when I got to town. We had made arrangements to go to the mountains together for the night. He is a gambler and had enough points to get us a free room at Genting Highlands, a major gambling resort about an hour outside of town and located on top of a mountain. We got there, however, only to find that all 6188 rooms at the resort where he normally stays were full. He had not made an advance reservation. We drove back down the mountain about 8 minutes to another nice hotel and got a room there.

I had heard about the Genting Highlands. I had expected them to be much like the Cameron Highlands where I have been near here--an old resort where the British used to go in the summers to get away from the heat. But the Genting Highlands are new. They have been purposely developed as an entertainment mecca with casinos, amusement parks, hotels, etc.

We ate at a small local place that is popular with people who go there. They gave us large quantities of chopped raw garlic. We put some in a small dish and poured soy sauce over it. Then as we ate our food--fried rice and a crispy noodle dish with seafood--we stirred in portions of the garlic to add flavor.

After dinner, we went to the casino. Chris showed me a game he likes called Big/Little (or is it something else similar to that?). It uses 3 die and one votes for either a big combination number (less than 11) or a big one (ll or more). If there is a triple, everyone loses unless someone has specifically bet on there being a triple. Anyway, he showed me around about 30 minutes. Then he began to play. I wandered around looking at everyone noticing that most people were 50 or over and that few young people were there gambling. I got a pastry to eat and had a couple of free non-alcoholic drinks. Then I was bored. I went down to the hotel lobby and sat in a chair. I had brought a book with me and I read.

Chris checked on me a couple of times, but he was enjoying gambling and wanted to continued. I eventually finished my book, Of Love and Other Demons by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It was a very well written, but disturbing novel. I gave it 3 1/2 stars out of 4. After that, I became bored. Fortunately, Chris came down about 30 minutes later. We walked through the indoor theme park that is attached to the casino/hotel. Then we went to the hotel. It was about 1:00.

The hotel has a calendar which has a section that suggests the best times for good things to happen through the day. It's a Chinese form of guidance. Anyway, because of this calendar saying that 3-7 a.m. would be good, Chris got up at 3 and headed back to the casino. I stayed in the room and slept.

Monday, June 15, 2009--Genting Highlands to Bangkok

I spent much of today feeling tense. First, I awoke at 8:00 and got ready to leave. By 8:30, there still was no sign of Chris. He was still gambling. We had already figured out that I needed to be at the bus station no later than 10:00 to catch a bus to the airport. And it is an hour drive from the Genting Highlands to downtown Kuala Lumpur without any traffic problems. Also, we had a free breakfast Chris had been talking about since we arrived that I expected him to want to eat. Finally, he arrived about 8:45. We ate breakfast which was mostly Asian foods, but also included toast, peanut butter, and jams which I enjoyed. By then, it was 9:15, and he was about to get in the shower. I reminded him that I was supposed to take the bus in 45 minutes! So he packed and we left.

On the way down the mountain, I could tell he was tired. He drove cautiously and occasionally left his lane or put on the brakes suddenly. I started trying to keep a conversation going while wondering whether I would ever make it. As we drove into KL, there was a traffic jam, but it proved to be a temporary clog-up caused by the police checking out every car passing through. However, when it was 10:15 and we were nearing the bus station, we got into stalled traffic due to an accident. It was obvius I would not be able to get to the airport in time via bus. Therefore, Chris decided to leave the lane and go on the adjoining expressway and drive me straight to the airport--another 45 minutes or so away.

We finally did arrive at the airport about 11:15--fifteen minutes before I needed to be there and a LOT earlier than I would have arrived if I had tried to take the bus. I got checked in with less hassle today at Air Asia. Then Chris and I visited while he ate more food at McDonalds.

The airport at Kuala Lumpur has a low-cost airlines terminal. That was where we were. It's further out than the main terminal. And it is built more like a temporary structure than the usual grand terminal. It has no jetways, and people walk to their planes outdoors for quite a distance from the gates. Indoors, there is a/c, but the terminal looks more like a warehouse than a terminal. It is fine, though, and it allows the airline to pay lower fees and, therefore, have cheaper fares.

It was interesting that the emigration procedure to check us out of Malaysia was a slow process. Usually, that goes fast. But I noticed it was the processing of the foreign workers (especially Indians) that was slowing the process. My guess is that they had entered on a tourist visa rather than a work visa and had over-stayed the length of time that was allowed. I couldn't hear the specific questions, but they were being asked many.

Today, I ate a different dish on the plane. It was good, too, but not nearly as good as the biriyani I had yesterday. I turned to the entertainment page of the onboard magazine and completed a couple of puzzles to pass the time during the flight.

It was a long day of travel. I didn't arrive at my hotel in Bangkok until 17:15. At the airport, it took a VERY long time for the luggage to arrive, and then it came through so slowly with bags spread far apart. But I caught a quick bus from the terminal. Then I switched to the MRT subway to make a better and faster connection for getting to my hotel than I otherwise could.

I was disappointed upon my arrival to find that the wonderful breakfasts I have always enjoyed at this hotel will be different this time. There are few tourists here, so they no longer have the huge ballroom buffet. Instead, breakfast in served in a lobby in the cafe. I am still hoping for something good, but I doubt that it can be much compared to what they used to offer. I had been looking forward to those breakfasts for the past few days!!

Heavy blowing rain began within 30 minutes after I got into the hotel room. Thank goodness I made it here okay in advance. I organized things and watched TV for about 2 hours. By then, the rain had turned to a sprinkle, so I left to eat and come to the cyber cafe. That's when I got another surprise. Most of the neighborhood that had existed across the street from my hotel is gone. Fortunately, the street with the cyber cafes is still here, but the market, the small restaurants, etc., have all been bulldozed. I guess there will be another huge shopping development built, as if Bangkok needed another one of those!!

Spending Update: I spent $377.77 (including two air tickets) during the 11 days of the second pdart of my visit in Malaysian Borneo for an average of $34.34 per day. Over the 35 days since I left Texas, I have spent $1580.85 for an average of $45.17 per day.

Note to Grethe and to Jens and Robert: My many mails of the past two weeks keep being returned to me saying that there was a failure by Webspeed to accept them. You need to contact Webspeed and see what the problem is. Jens, I have a birthday card for you for the 17th, but I doubt if you will get it if Webspeed doesn't get their problems fixed!