Flight to Vancouver - Part 2 0 lalalas
And so I arrived in L.A. about 40 minutes later than scheduled. I went through U.S. customs - meaning you have to take off your shoes, take out your laptop and declare your stuff and shit like that, which took a while and I got questioned a bit because I was bringing some herbs for my friend.
But, by the time (7.40 p.m.) I reached the check-in counter for LA-Vancouver flight (which is Alaska airlines), they told me I was too late jor. Unlike CK that lucky bitch, I got no first class or shit like that. I got stranded in L.A. instead. My first time missing a flight. It was pretty shocking and I asked the girl at counter what to do. She suggested that either I re-book for next morning (6.30 a.m.) or ask MAS what they could do since the late arrival was the reason I'm stuck here.
So I chose to ask MAS lor. Then walk back to the terminal where MAS' counter is. And hell, they're only gonna open at 9.40 p.m. With my left fist raised in the air, I said "Malaysia Boleh" went back to the Alaska counter to ask another person because you know, I thought miracles might happen and I might get to check in and get first class... cheh, turned out that I wasn't in luck.
Nothing to do, I walked around the terminal while waiting for MAS counter to open (damn MAS, why are you treating me like that?). I found a place that I can plug my laptop's power adaptor to, so I was kinda planning to stay a night at the airport lor. Why not, I'm a bachelor what, and pulling all-nighter is nothing new to me. Besides, I have tonnes of stuff on my laptop to keep me entertained for years. But internet was damn expensive so I couldn't like online for whole night. After this shitty planning, I went to MAS counter again but it wasn't time yet so I wondered around. Just for the sake of curiosity, I went to ask at the information counter whether I can stay at airport for the night. Surprise, surprise, it's a NO! According to that guy, if you do that, the police won't let you. So my master plan was foiled before it was put into action.
Finally the MAS counter was open. I went and ask the MAS people what I should do. Since my plan of staying at airport was thwarted, I was desperate. I have no choice but to succeed. So as a safety precaution, I hid most of my money and my ATM cards in my bag, so that if the MAS personnel won't help me I can use this reason to "persuade" him. But luckily I didn't have to. The officer gave me a voucher to spend a night at a nearby hotel complete with dinner and breakfast (which should usually be the case, according to the Alaska girl). Sadly I couldn't enjoy the dinner because by the time I reached the hotel, the restaurant already closed. And my flight was so early I had to leave before it was open. What the heck!
Anyway the hotel room was very nice.
TV, Nintendo, big fluffy bed, free internet, fridge, toaster oven, bathtub...everything! Too bad I was alone.
Next day woke up at 4 something to take a bus to airport then flew to Vancouver (finally!) A lesson for me: next time when choosing a connecting flight make sure there's at least a two-hour waiting time, or else who knows what might happen. Well, at least I got to experience missing a flight and it wasn't that bad, and it was a bit exciting in a way..
Farewell to M'sia - Flight to Vancouver (Part 1) 0 lalalas
After 3 long months of (unproductive?) holiday, I've finally embarked on a journey back to Vancouver. There were happy times, depressing times, and maddening times in Malaysia, but I didn't manage to get done there. Maybe it's the comfort of home, or the good food, or just me trying to find excuses. But I'll dearly miss the durian (I think I had it five times or more) and my family (esp. my dear mum).
Anyway lets talk about my flight to Vancouver. It's pretty different from my usual flights. August 5: When I went to check in, there was some problem. From what I gleaned, there wasn't a seat with the same number for Taipei-LA flight as my KL-Taipei flight. So that poor girl in the check-in counter took at least half an hour to decide that I should have a different seat for Taipei-LA flight. Not her fault that she was born stupid really, though. Anyway my mum and I were so worried that we'd miss the flight (who knows?) but I got in alright. However I was a bit disappointed that I couldn't take photos with my family and the friends that came to send me off (hope you weren;t muttering, "Long and good riddance" under your breath). ANYWAY HERE'S A BIG THANKS TO HX, LIMYS, WAN NA, JENNY, CS, AND CK FOR COMING TO THE AIRPORT!!!! Wait, CK is in Tasmania...
The flight from KL and Taipei took about 4 hours, and I have to wait for an hour and a half at Gaoshiung airport for the connecting flight. Then the flight to L.A. took about 14 hours. MAS was good, as expected of one of the five 5-star airlines in the world. The served food is really good (not as good as first class though, ck) and I liked the air hostesses' tight-fitting kebaya, although their makeup (like what? 5-cm thick?) is too much. As usual, I was just chugging the movies all the way. What else are you gonna do? Sleep? What a waste of time. Lemme see, I watched Fracture (great movie), Next (Ok-ok), entrapment (Ok-ok), Yella (foreign movie, dunno what's happening), Mukhsin (by director of Sepet, Yasmin Ahmad - pretty good movie), and Seducing Mr. Perfect (not bad Korean movie). So I didn't get much sleep at the flight and feel like shit after it ended, and the dehydration didn't help either. So I landed in L.A. feeling sleepy and a bit sick....
Bye Malaysia (for now) 0 lalalas
29th of August, 11.50 p.m., I boarded the airplane to Frankfurt, Germany from which I'll take another flight to Vancouver, Canada. A kind friend of my mother drove my family and I to KLIA (Thanks auntie, although you were a bit late). So touchingly, the Si Da Cai Zi (Cai as in Fei Cai) - CK, CS, YS, and Ah Hey - came to bid me farewell. They even gave me a pink T-shirt as a parting gift (Thanks, cowboys)! After inciting vows to continue to be faithful to each other (as well as to keep in touch) and a ceremonial (as opposed to useful) briefing and lengthy photo-taking sessions and a heart-wrenching and tear-inducing farewell, we marched off towards the check-in counter.
After an hour or so of waiting and some procedures,we boarded MAS' MH0006. In addition to that, my nailclipper passed the screening ('cause it doesn't have a blade) and so did my dvd which contained the pirated version of the excellent unwatched movie of the Shawshank Redemption. I did it, Ben! The flight was mostly pleasant, I'd say. The air-hostesses wore close-fitting attires, the food was excellent and the alcohol was.... intoxicating. We get to choose what we want to watch from tens of channels on a small screen located on the back of the seat in front. I tried out the vacuum-sucked toilet hole and it was pretty cool. What else? There was a hot French chick sitting a seat and an aisle away from me. The space between the seats were a bit narrow and it's bloddy cold in the plane. My only serious regret was that my friends get to enjoy the golden club member seats while I and another guy that's going to UBC enjoy the economy seats. To my bewilderment, despite the difference, our tickets cost about the same.
While I repeated the routine of watching movie and sleeping, we reached Frankfurt airport, which looked like an industrial area. The Germans looked pretty much like those I've seen in games (Gothic series, Return to Castle Wolfenstein). Good job, game developers. And they have a sort of counter for smokers with the ever effective warning of "Smoking kills". After queueing for an hour or so to get my boarding pass, there wasn't much to do. I saw some people quarreling over cutting queues (which involved the chick I mentioned above). Then I went around to look at the shops, the bar, the McD. The first cultural shock hit me: there were magazines which features topless girlies on their front page. CC, stop drooling, will ya? The newspaper's price was exorbitant: I saw one at 1.5 Euros, which is more than 5 times the price of The Star in Malaysia, not to mention the thinner content. The other items were also very un-affordable, and I lost my interest in buying anything.
Finally my friend and I (both UBC student) get to board the Lufthansa's plane to Vancouver, AC9101. Checking in was a bit troublesome. I have to show my passport, offer letter, financial affidavit,and traveller's cheques and answer a few questions. For a moment, I thought there's going to be a problem as the officer looked very hard at my affidavit.I worried too much.
On board of the Luthansa plane, I automatically compared it to MAS, in which MAS prevailed. First, MAS's seat was slightly more spacious. And the hand luggage space was also larger. The largest gap, though, was the on-board entertainment. While on MAS you can watch all you can (hmm, this reminds me of Street Fighter) and want, you have to watch what they let you watch on Lufthansa, and there're only 2 movies to watch, not to mention that the TVs were shared instead of 1-per-person on MAS. However, Lufthansa wasn't that bad. They have a wider choice of alcohol: the Bailey's - a mixture of something sweet (maybe caramel) and alcohol was my favourite. Lufthansa has more toilets (although the vacuum failed to suck out the (yucks!) toilet papers. Another advantage of Lufthansa is that their passengers consists of more (foreign) beauties than that of MAS. In addition to that, I saw with my own eyes and spectacles the wonderful scenery of Greenland on route to Vancouver, a breathtaking sight if you ask me.
After 10 hours, we reached the beautiful airport of Vancouver. Both flights were enjoyable and fresh to me, although I myself wasn't fresh (despite my being a freshman) because of the long flight hours and the lack of sleep. After going through the immigration, we collected all our stuff and documents, and jumped into the welcoming arms of my senior, Mat Shafiq, who, being not warned about the delay of our flight and the short stint with the immigration, waited for us an hour earlier than our arrival. Happily, we took a taxi to UBC, my new home. Vancouver is a really beautiful city, something we hardly find in Malaysia, whose cities are constantly marred by the heavy traffic and air polution and inefficient public transport and busy people who are always chasing after Time. The air was very cool, which I compared to the old Genting Highland when boys were boys and girls were girls.
My senior helped me to move in my new residence in Cariboo House, Place Vanier. Fortunately, I live on the 4th floor and there's no elevators, which is a boon to my health and fitness. The campus is very beautiful; it would take me months to take the photographs of the gorgeous scenery. The people there are helpful: A guy who didn't know me greeted me, "How's it going? Are you looking for something?" and he showed me the way to the International House, where I got some materials for my international student orientation, known as Gala, tomorrow. Drivers patiently stopped when I was about to walk through the zebra crossing. At the moment, I don't feel very comfortable with the people's (what I call) over-friendliness; I'm much more used to passivity, as I think most Malaysians do. It's going to be tiring greeting and offering to help anyone you meet and don't really care about, isn't it? Somehow I think of myself as being inferior to them, both in nativity and height. Ah, worrisome brain.
Tomorrow will be better! (I hope). Sorry mom, you asked me to be disciplined and sleep early, yet I failed you on my first day here.
p/s: I'll update the photos later, ya?
