This was a snapshot of the Indian food on the table mainly for my Indian friends.
View from the hotel in Kuala Lumpur
Converse Store in KL (this is for you Morgan)
Sample shot of the mall
Toilet in India
KLIA Express Train
picture of view from train
Whoa...that was a LONG haul. I left the hotel in Cancun at 9:20am, and I ended up leaving Cancun on SATURDAY around 11:40am. I left Atlanta at 6:20pm, and I landed in Mumbai around 8pm. I left Mumbai at 11:55pm and landed in KL at 7am on MONDAY. The long flight from Atlanta to Mumbai is by far the longest flight I have done, and I was really worried about how I would entertain myself. Thankfully, it had those little tvs on the back of each seat, and I watched lots of tv shows and I watched Sex and the City - the movie. The served this chicken Indian dish that was really good, and I had a really nice man sitting in my row who lives in Milwalkee now but is from India. We were lucky and had the middle seat empty. Trying to make sure I stayed plenty hydrated (no evil stones needed!), I must have gone to the bathroom a million times so I was glad that I had an aisle seat even though I originally wanted a window. I read, slept, and watched the tv thing. The time actually passed MUCH faster than I thought I was.
When we arrive in Mumbai, there is major confusion on where I should go. Delta finally tells me to go to the right where it says International Transfers. I only have a transit ticket, so I can't leave the airport. I get to the desk and this man asks where the Delta rep is that was supposed to come with me. I say that they told me to walk around this way. Back to the gate I go and return with a Delta rep. Then, they sit me in this room, take my passport, take my baggage claim, and take my itinerary, and they say that I cannot be released until they claim my luggage and take care of my immigration. Ok, seems ok with me at this point. An hour and a half later, I am freaking out. Even though I had over 3 hours between flights, time is ticking and they are not talking to me. I finally demand to know what is going on and ask for my passport back. They say that they cannot find my luggage and that they cannot "release me" to Malaysia Air without it. Finally, I send an email to Mike and Mark and hope one of them is by their email. Then, this other baggage man comes and says he unloaded it and it isn't there. So, I am frantic now as I picture myself stuck here waiting on luggage that nobody knows where it could be. I know Mike is out getting Sophie and Morgan, so I call Mark. He called Delta and found out that my bag was stuck in Atlanta. Thankfully, the Delta lady he spoke to pushed a message out that they could see. This message allowed them to release me. WHEW.
Then, I went through Immigration and went to my gate. I got another big bottle of water. I was amazed at KFC and Burger King in the Mumbai airport. I also had to go to the restroom pretty badly after all of that waiting. So, I wheel my bag in and almost pass out when I see the toilet. There is no seat. While I certainly have heard this before, I guess I wasn't prepared for it, and I especially wasn't prepared when I needed to go badly. To keep from getting too graphic, there are these stairs and I have a briefcase on wheels. I have a bit of a challenge getting it in the room without getting it wet. Then, I try to figure out what to do. I am so not sure I did it correctly, but I went. :)
I board the flight to Kuala Lumpur, and I prepare for another 5 hours on the plane. This one has two seats, then 5 seats, then 2 seats in each row. I have an aisle again, and thankfully, it also had the little tvs. This flight seemed to drag, but I did sleep for an hour or two. We land and it is 7am. What a shock to my body! I rush to the restroom, and I am shocked to find that the same hole in the floor toilets are there. I have heard how modern KL is, so I was surprised. Again, not a big deal after I get over the surprise, and I take the little train to the Arrival Area. Since I have no baggage to collect, I ask where to report my missing bag. I find the desk and fill out my report. She says that it should arrive tomorrow 0n the same flight I came in on. She says to call with my room number when I can.
I take the KLIA Express service to the hotel. It was great. I had a porter who came along (at no extra fee - ha ha), and he carried my luggage (I don't really have any except the briefcase!) onto the train and RIDES it with me to the central station. He then takes me to a driver who takes me to the hotel. It was nice.
The Mandarin Oriental hotel is really nice. Unfortunately, they only have smoking rooms available even though I had a guaranteed confirmed room for last night so that I would have a room when I got here. I think, "How bad can it be?" I laugh about how ironic it is that I never could seem to get a smoking room when I smoked, but now that I don't I get them ALL the time. I walk into the room and it is awful. SMOKEY is an understatement. YUCK! They bring some spray stuff and say they will try to move me tomorrow if they have a room available. The spray does help thankfully.
I take a quick shower - aahhhhh. I start to flood the bathroom as I didn't understand the drain. OOPS...Thank goodness there were a lot of towels. Then, I can't get the hair dryer to work as it appears you have to hold this little button down. Since I only have dress slacks and a dress shirt and the outfit I have worn for 2 days, I am pondering what to wear. I need the dress outfit, so I decide to go back to the plane outfit. LOVELY....
I decide that I should try to iron my slacks and shirt. Hmmm...can't get the iron to work. I finally figure out that the plug has a little switch on it similar to the switch on a power strip. Whew.
I meet Christy for breakfast. The buffet is amazing, and it even had chocolate chip pancakes. Morgan would have been proud. I can't get my phone to work, and Christy says she had to take the battery out of hers. Hmmm...the iphone doesn't have a removable battery. Finally, I find out that I need to pick a specific carrier. Once I pick it, then I can call out and use email again. WOO HOO! I talk to Mike and Morgan, and they are doing well even though Morgan is still doing homework and is falling asleep. I miss them a lot already.
Now, I need to stay awake to get on this time change, and I need to have something to wear to dinner. So, off to the mall I go. The mall is right next door, and it is a multi-floor huge mall. I finally find a department store kind of place, and I got a shirt, some face powder, brown eyeliner, and some lip gloss. Oh yeah, I also got deodorant. Whew...I think I am set until tomorrow now.
So, it is now 3:23pm on Monday here (2:23am at home), and I am in the room. Christy and I are going to go do some exploring soon before dinner. I will update more later!
Update from Monday evening!
We went to dinner at an Indian restaurant. It was really good. We had buttered Naan, rice, samosa for an appetizer, chicken tikki masa for dinner (some people had Rogan Josh and Prawn Biryani). It was really good.
No comments:
Post a Comment