WEATHER: Airports and planes
HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: Everything ran to plan
BUMMER OF THE DAY: My breakup with Zeme…….
WORD OF THE DAY: Tomorrow is a new day
DISTANCE TRAVELLED: 3592km
So travel this afternoon I travel 4 countries, 3 flights
and 19 hours. I always ask who wants to
be me on these travel days and funnily enough no-one puts up there hands. My transfer wasn’t until 5.30pm and I was
going to head to some of the shopping centers that were close by the
hotel. But after I finished breakfast at
10.30am and headed to my room to pack as it happened Zeme was online and we
talked a little before I mentioned that I was unhappy and that we couldn’t be a
couple anymore. It was the hardest thing
I had to do and there were still a lot of things left unsaid that he just
wouldn’t understand. It’s the best I
could do and I will follow up with a phone call in a few days. Damn it was hard, for so many reasons but
unfortunately life continues on and me with it.
I really like this Buddhist quote:
“Teach this triple truth to all: A
generous heart, kind speech, and a life of service and compassion are the
things which renew humanity.”
And with this in mind my journey to Africa
continues. This has not waivered my
decision and it has not dampened my faith in love. I probably should have chosen a better time
as now I have 19 hours of airport and plane travel to brood on my decision or I
guess I can look at the upside and think about my future, the future that I am
now back in control of and the challenges that lay ahead of me, even if it all
does look really scary!
I got my bag packed for airline travel once again and I
had forgotten just how big my bag is when it is all done. It really lives up to its monster name that
is for sure. My arm is still healing but
it is getting better each day that passes and I need to make sure that the
monster doesn’t do any unwarranted damage.
To me it weighs more than 22kg, but I haven’t bought anything new, I
think it just maybe that I haven’t carried it around for the 4 weeks that I am
now finding it too big. I like the
lighter travel and this realization now after nearly 20 months of traveling. DORK. I
checked out of my room at 5.15pm and I got the same dufus guy I had yesterday
checking in telling me I had 3 rooms booked when there clearly was just
me. Well it was a rigmarole again paying
for the 2 cokes, one from the last stay and by the time he had all that sorted
my transfer had been waiting 10 minutes.
When I got into the van and we had pulled away from the hotel I then
remembered that I hadn’t paid for the late check-out. They had a 1000peso hold on my card and the room
charge was 1250peso so I am guessing that they will just charge my card to the
remaining amount. Can they do that if
they don’t have my authority for the difference? I guess they can and at the end of the day I
need to pay, right.
My flight time wasn’t till 9.10pm but with the Manila
traffic so bad, especially at 5.30pm being rush hour, as if the rest of the day
isn’t as bad anyways, is the reason they collected me so early. I was fine with that, I prefer to be early
and have extra time, especially when there are connecting flights involved on
multiple tickets. I was flying Jetstar
Asia to Singapore and after a 6 hour layover I was flying Malaysia Airlines to
Kathmandu via Kuala Lumpur. It seemed a
good idea at the time I made the bookings and I now remembered I was saving
over 600AUD to do my flights this way rather than try and get it all on one
ticket. I could have saved a little more
money travelling Jet Airways which are an Indian airline, but I would need a
visa and I didn’t have time to get one, so paid the extra 100AUD to fly
Malaysia, which has always been a good airline to travel with anyway. The transfer took 1 hour and as we pulled up
to departures there were lines of people everywhere. So the traffic isn’t only confined to the
roads I see. After my bags had been
scanned for access into the terminal, with my bags on a trolley I took a walk
around the large terminal that had check-in counters on all 3 sides of the
building. I couldn’t see a Jetstar Asia
counter so I went to the information desk in the middle and she told me
check-in counters 14 to 20. So I started
for the counters and there was a huge line up what looked like it was in front
of counter 16. So I asked the man in
front of me if he was flying Jetstar Asia and he said yes. So I figured I was in the right line. Lucky I wasn’t in any hurry as the line was
100 long, I swear it was massive. I
waited about 15 minutes and there were now people behind me as the line moved
it snaked away to the right to counters 25-30.
I think I may be standing in the wrong line, so I asked the man behind
me who he was flying and he said Thai.
Yep I believe I was in the wrong line and when I moved out with my
trolley I could now see counters 14-20 and there was people checking in but
no-one waiting. What a goose! I stood in the wrong line for over 20
minutes!!! So I was next up and my bag
weighed 22.7kg, so it was nearly exactly the same when I arrived. It certainly felt heavier than that let me
tell you. I have been waiting for Jetstar
to pull me up on the weight, as I had only paid for 20kg and my bag has been
heavier than that, but no-one has batted an eyelid, so I won’t complain.
All checked in and after passing a security check point
there was a departure tax to pay of 550pesos.
Gee they really grab ya with all these taxes. I wonder if they know the rest of the world
includes them now in the ticket price. I
was lucky I still had 700pesos on me, but worst case scenario they also had a
cost of 13USD so assuming you could pay in US if you didn’t have enough
pesos. Once you had paid and a sticker
stuck on the back of your boarding pass there was the scanner to go
through. They had a men’s line and a
female line and then you were finally through to the departure terminal. It is a full on airport and you certainly
need extra time to get through everything from actually getting there to
checking in and all the security. By
this time it was 7.15pm and we were to board at 7.55pm so I had some time to
kill and 150pesos to spend. I spotted
some free internet, so I jumped on to see if there was a message from Zeme,
which there wasn’t, and then I looked at spending my left over money. 150pesos is like 3.45AUD but I wanted to
spend it and figured I better get something to eat with it as I am not sure
when I will be able to get food once I get into Singapore, we arrive in at
12.30am and I am not sure what will be open at that time. I am thinking that BK (Burger King) won’t be
open at that hour and I wouldn’t be able to get my Singapore fare of drumettes
and my passionfruit Iced Tea. I was
waiting in the departure lounge when I heard the call for another flight and it
was heading to Darwin!!! Of all
places. It was a good omen I thought, of
things to come, not just with my flights but next on my journey. For those of you who don’t know, I grew up in
Darwin and that is also where my mum passed away in 2008.
Our flight left on time at 9.10pm. I like the Jetstar Asia flights, their planes
are new and the arm rest is those high ones, so my leg doesn’t make them but up
so high. We were travelling on an A320
with a configuration of 3x3. I tried to
take some night time photos from takeoff leaving Manila, and it can be tricky
when you are travelling at 300km an hour, but I took like 20 and got 3 good
ones I believe. I wonder if I will see a
sunrise today as well? I LOVE window
seats. It was a 3 hour and 40 minute
flight and soon after take-off I had fallen asleep. Lucky as I had a lady sitting next to me that
also fell asleep, but she had the bobbing head action going the whole flight
and nearly rested on my shoulder a few times.
So starts my travel day of 4 airports, 3 flights and 19 hours to get me
to my final destination of Kathmandu in Nepal.
We arrived into Singapore’s Changi International exactly
at 12.30am. I now had a 6 hour and
twenty minute layover till my next flight.
Even though that sounds like a long time, it is good that the flights
connect as such, so I don’t have to pay for accommodation. I haven’t transited Singapore at this hour
before so it will be interesting to see what is open at this time. The information counter was not manned, so I wasn’t
able to get my Wi-Fi codes but I was still able to check my emails and Facebook
before heading down to the customs hall.
This was my 6th visit in the last 6 weeks and the customs
hall was the busiest I had seen it and that was at 12.50am. Weird.
I had to wait 25 minutes to get processed and when I was at the counter
I asked the customs lady what time the airtrain stopped as I had to get from T1
to T2. She said it stopped at 2am for 3
hours and then restarts again at 5am. So
I had 45 minutes which was fine, I knew it wouldn’t take long to get through security
and out the other side. Again I had to
collect my bag as I was travelling on separate tickets but time was on my side
and there was no rush, except to make that airtrain before it closed. I got a
trolley for my bag, they were scanned on my way out and then I started to make
my way to the train and you could imagine my surprise when I passed a Burger
King and it was open. But I was in T1
and I didn’t want to fluff around till I got to T2. So when I got to the escalators, the monster
was thrown on my back and I waited 2 minutes for the next train and found
myself at T2 by 1.30am. As I have transferred
between terminals so much I have to say nothing looks familiar, each time it
all looks different. I am not sure if I
am just coming in from different entries, as I am pretty good at remembering
landmarks, or I am totally just losing it.
Either way on my way from the train to the main terminal guess what was
open and shining like a halo-BK!!!! Well
now I was where I should be I ordered my 6 drumettes and my medium passionfruit
Iced Tea and then pulled up a booth for the next 2.5 hours. I wrote some of my blog, I updated my diary, listened
to some tunes and read my trip notes for my upcoming tour as I had no idea on
what I was actually doing for the next 2.5 weeks. It doesn’t look too scary except for the 2
days of rafting on the Seti River. I was
always a little worried about this and now with a dodgy arm I am wondering how
I am going to go. I don’t want people on
tour thinking I am a fattie trying to get out of doing some exercise. The river rafting isn’t until day 10, so
hopefully people will get to know me before then and know I am not a lazy so
and so. It is amazing how quick 2.5
hours could go and even though it was 1.30am in the morning those drumettes
tasted delicious!!!!
The check-in counters normally open 3 hours before the
scheduled flight, but when they are early morning flights this is not always
the case. I packed all my stuff up at
3.45am and thought I better go an scope the layout and make sure that all was
going to plan. My laptop was on its last
juice anyway, so if I saw a power point that would also be a bonus. So I made my way into the main hall and looked
at the departure screens and I had to get to counter 9 for the Malaysia
Airlines check-in. When I got there,
people were already waiting but there were no staff there yet, so I did a lap
of the terminal looking for a power point and they had them but they were
literally all under lock and key. They
had little doors over them and were padlocked shut. I guess I won’t be charging anything check-in
side. I know there are point’s airside;
so I will just do it when I get through.
The counter opened at 4.15am, I checked in with no dramas, security was
passed, customs was cleared and I was back in to the departures.
The departure lounge didn’t open for another hour, so I
just jumped on the internet to kill some time, took a walk around and then sat
down at the Orchid Garden that they have in the terminal and organized some
money, got out the address for the hotel in Kathmandu, got informed on the transfer/taxi’s
once I arrived and felt I was now all information’ed up. I had some Thai Baht that I had to exchange
so I tried 2 booths looking for Nepalese Rupees but they said I had to get them
when I arrived, so to be on the safe side I got the baht exchanged into USD,
you can never have too much USD and I should really start to look at getting my
USD stash back up as it is a great currency to have in Ethiopia. I just happened to arrive at the gate at the
right time when it opened and I was the very first one into the lounge which
was awesome because I was able to snag a seat that had a power point attached
to it and I was able to put some life into my IPod as it was running out of
juice.
We boarded on time and left on time and were in the air
at 6.50am. I knew the flight wouldn’t be
long to Kuala Lumpur but it was only a 45 minutes…..hardly seems worth all the
fuss of everything for a 45 minute flight.
There were a lot of business men on the flight, so I guess they can get
to KL and back in a day, like a flight to Sydney, but with passports, extra
check-in times and security. I had the
seat next to me free and as we took off there was a stunning sunrise, on my
side and I was able to get some great photos.
Have I told you today I love sitting at windows? It was another great view from my window with
islands, white beaches and beautiful blue waters, all that seen from 20,000ft
in the air. The flight was that short
there was time to eat a packet of supplied peanuts and a glass of juice before
it was time to prepare the aircraft for landing. Wouldn’t it be nice if all flights were that
long? Speaking of flights this was my 79th
flight and I was on a 737-800 with a 3x3 configuration and it wasn’t the most
comfortable flight, the seats were a little pinchey and I was thankful it was
only a 45 minute flight.
We arrived into Kuala Lumpur at 7.45am and my next
boarding pass stated that we had to be at our gate at 7.55am. The good news was the flight didn’t leave
till 8.55am, so I knew I had some time up my sleeve but not to furf around too
much. We came into gates B and I had to
get myself to gates G. It was nice to be
on a connecting flight where I didn’t have to collect my bag and recheck
in. I felt like I was skipping a step
somehow but it felt great all the same.
Some-one else was in charge of moving the monster for me. Once I had located where my new gate I had
time to go to the toilet, freshen up and then through security and into the
departure lounge. KLIA offer free Wi-Fi,
so I was able to jump on and check email and FB (still no message from Z) and
then we boarded and departed on time at 8.55am.
Now I used to scoff at people who asked crazy questions
like what side of the plane does the Captain sit on, what side of the plane
should I sit on if I want to see the Himalayas’ and I now understood why. I have some friends travelling and they got a
magnificent photo from their plane window of the Himalaya’s and I wanted one
to, but was I on the right side of the plane?
It was a full flight and breakfast was served pretty much as soon as we
had leveled out. The staff were very
abrupt and the way they spoke to passengers was cringable, I felt so bad, but
the passengers didn’t seem to care, the staff pulled faces and laughed between themselves
and I think it was the worst service I have ever seen. They weren’t rude to me, if anything they were
super nice to me considering the way they were treating the rest of the flight,
probably cause I was one of few ‘white’ people on the flight. Once breakfast was collected I curled up and
slept for 3 hours till we were told to prepare the cabin for our arrival and it
was at this time the captain made an announcement that we would get our first
glimpse of the Himalayas’ of you were sitting on the right side of the
aircraft! That was me and they looked
stunning. What I had failed to do was
have my big camera out and my little camera was not cutting the mustard of
getting a good shot. Dang it. But to watch mountain range for the last 30 minutes
of the flight was amazing and to think there were people on this flight that
were going to be climbing them was crazy and inspiring at the same time. It was a picturesque run into Kathmandu with
massive green mountains with hillside terraces and homes, seeing small villages
in the valleys between each of these magnificent mountains and the roads that
ran along the edge of them clearly visible.
Finally we arrived into Kathmandu at 11.10am. There was a funny time change of 2 hours and
45 minutes from Singapore, which is weird, but there it was and I had been on
the road for 18 hours and I tell ya it felt like it. I was shattered. Kathmandu’s airport, Tribhuvan International
Airport, felt like you had stepped back in time. There are no aerobridges here, the terminal
is a ground floor affair built in red brick and there was nothing modern about
this place at all. Which surprises me,
it is the only international airport in the country, there are thousands of
people who visit here to climb and trek Everest and base camp and this is the
welcome they get. What looks like a
Russian 1940’s airport. I am not one to
judge, but it was pretty dated. Once we
were transferred from the plane to the terminal by bus there were a few ways
people could go. We all had to fill in
arrival cards (they were not given out on the flight) and then there was a
local line, a line for people who needed visa’s, a line for people who already
had them and then a local line who needed visa’s (this one didn’t make sense to
me). But before I went through I wanted
to get some cash and I had a toilet stop I wanted to take. The money changer was busy, there was no line
as such, you just stood near the window and sort of just pushed your way into
be served. I did note that they were all
men, there wasn’t one woman exchanging money at all and I got my turn and
handed over my 100USD and got 8300pesos back.
Gee how good am I at my 83 times tables?
So now I was cashed up, toilet free and I was ready to clear
customs. By this time the people that were
getting their visa on arrival were still in line where I was able to sashay
right up to the people with visa line and got stamped straight in. I was lucky I had time in London to get my
visa, but you can do it on arrival here, it just takes time.
Once you were through it was into the baggage collection
area and here it was just as old as the arrivals hall. All brick and not very inviting at all. The trolleys were free (old but worked) and
then it was the hurry up and wait game.
The thing with an airport like this is everything is done manually. So the bags were slow to come out and so I
had time to people watch and I just wonder how their bags make it on the
flight. Some of them were MASSIVE; I kid
you not they make my monster look like a baby.
The Nepalese people are not that tall and I swear some of the bags were
nearly (slight exaggeration) as tall as them.
They were all either plastic wrapped, tied up in like a kilometer of
rope (or both) and clearly labeled on the outside with flight numbers and
addresses. Seriously 90% of bags were
like this. I find it funny that people
all crowd around the carousel when their bag isn’t even coming yet, it’s not
going to make it come any faster and I doubt if you will miss the bag if you
just stood away a little from the belt.
The good thing about not having a transfer booked is that there is no
pressure on you to feel bad as there isn’t anyone waiting for you on the other
side. My bag finally appeared after
waiting 35 minutes. There were still a
lot of people to get theirs so I wonder how much longer they had to wait? But I was on my way out.
I had read that there are prepaid taxi services when you
come out of the terminal to the right and they were right. I asked what the price was once I gave my
hotels name and I was told 650rupees.
Intrepid notes said 400rupees but I looked around and the taxi men
outside the secure area looked a little manic and for the sake of 3AUD at this
point I was not going to gripe and I also saw a board behind him with all the
pricing on it and I could see Thamel where my hotel was located and it said
650. Okay, so I wasn’t getting ripped
off. So I paid and I was assigned a
driver and taken to what they call a taxi here in Nepal. The cars are small and generally Indian made
Suzuki Maruti cars and very run down.
People have told me about the crazy driving of the Nepali’s drivers but
my guy didn’t seem too bad and I have seen a lot worse in Ethiopia and now the
Philippines. I am staying in the tourist
area and I could tell the second we hit it as you could see all the westerners
walking the skinny streets as the cars and bikes dodged them. There seemed to be a lot of souvenir places,
but the shiny modern ‘buy a magnet here’ they looked older and selling more artifacting
looking stuff and heirloom kind of jewelry.
I will definitely come back down here in the next few days. There didn’t seem to be much traffic and we
arrived at the hotel within 25 minutes.
I had a USD in my pocket to give him and I got a little cranky when he
asked if I liked his driving that I could tip if I wanted. I hate when they ask, but I have him the dollar
which is way beyond what should be paid.
The Intrepid trip notes say that 20-40 rupees is plenty, the 1 USD works
out to be 83rupees for him! Well isn’t he
lucky today.
I walked to reception and the lady behind the counter didn’t
even smile. Her first question to me was
I with Intrepid. My reply was yes and I
was told that breakfast wasn’t included.
Well welcome to you too. She just
had attitude and when I was given the form to fill in I was down the other end
of the counter and she left it up her end for me to come and get. WTF.
So I got it and walked back to where I was and filled in the form as
requested and just as I was signing my name she said I only had to fill in the
email address section and not the rest.
Well you didn’t tell me that, so with tude come tude and in the end I
think she may have had the last laugh as I got a key that had 520 on it, which
meant I was on the 5th floor of a hotel that had no elevator. Mental note to be nice to receptionist no
matter how rude at hotels with no lift. The
Wi-Fi isn’t free here, so I bought a card while I was there and was offered the
service of the bell boy and his eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw
the monster lying there on the floor. Let’s just say it was a US Dollar well spent
and well- earned up 5 flights of stairs with that sucker. Sorry buddy.
So it was 1pm. I am in Kathmandu and I am knackered and a
little hungry. I decided to watch some
TV and just kill time till I could go and have a very late lunch and an early
dinner at 5pm downstairs. There is an
indoor and outdoor area that is lovely with big carved chairs and lights and a
nice little ambience about the place. It
is nice to speak English and to be understood.
Sitting there eating my dinner there were groups of people coming and
going and a lot of them sounded French.
There seemed to be also a lot of Germans as well. I was able to load my photos from my flights
over the past 24 hours, get some blog done over a cold coke and then I was back
to my room at 7pm with the intention of finishing a blog and uploading it, but
the second I sat on the bed I was out like a light and woke up at midnight to
turn off all the lights, change into my PJ’s and head back to bed.
What a day.
I am in Kathmandu and I am a
single woman again. I am still not sure
how that is sitting with me and I have yet to have a good cry about it all, so
I am guessing the next few days I will have a breakdown somewhere and hopefully
I will get it done and be able to start my new and last tour with a new breath
of life. Welcome to Nepal.
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