Back to the Future

Here we are at KLIA, where there's free wifi, beef noodles, clean toilets, people who all understand English properly and don't do a useless head-wobble as an answer, no cows wandering around the terminal, no stench of poo and rubbish everywhere, no beggars, no hawkers, etc, etc... Wow!

Our last experience with the Indian public transport system didn't exactly leave a glowing impression, either. Basically a bus journey from Mamallapuram to Chennai Airport which should've taken two hours ended up taking three and a bit, there was some horrendous traffic jam and for a while we thought we might even miss the plane, but fortunately it didn't come to that.

Okay, we may have been a bit harsh on India, but it is what it is - a developing country, and we've still really enjoyed our trip in its entirety, but we're definitely glad to be back in civilisation! Now we have another ten hours to wait in this airport before our connecting flight to Auckland, fortunately we have internet and power so we should be set! There are still tons of things I want to write about the trip, which I'll probably continue to on this blog even after we get back to NZ. 

Truly Asia!

When I stepped off the plane at KLIA and into the nearest loo, I was immediately greeted by the familiar (but dreaded) sight of the squat toilet. That's when it really hit me that I was back in Asia... I've only been from the airport to this swanky Malaysia Airline-sponsored hotel but already the muggy heat makes me miss Hong Kong in a strange way.

Anyway, after being warned about the food on Malaysia Airlines, my expectations were rock bottom, so I was pleasantly surprised by how relatively normal the meals were. I guess it might have helped that they must've stocked up in NZ, so I may yet revise my judgment after the flight to Delhi tomorrow.

During the flight I watched Waitress (with Keri Russell and Nathon Fillion) which was not too bad, and also Surf's Up, which was pretty enjoyable, as CGI penguin movies go... Easily beats Happy Feet in any case! Also played a bit ofBejewelled 2, Tetris and even Who Wants to be a Millionaire - we all just missed out on the million pound question, but some of the questions were so entrenched with British cultural references we just totally had to guess... But it's not nearly as fun when you know you're not actually going to win anything.

We hadn't really counted on being able to go out and see anything in KL since it's so far away from the airport and the hotel we're at, but one of James' sister's friends lives here, and we don't have to board the airport shuttle bus from the hotel until 3pm, so we'll go into town and meet her. I'm actually quite excited about seeing the Petronas towers, way prettier than Taipei 101. No offense to my Taiwanese friends, but that really has got to be one of the most inelegant buildings ever constructed.

Oh, one last thing - I am often amused by what certain countries will ask on their arrival cards, for example the U.S. one asks if you've ever been a Nazi or in a terrorist organisation, which is totally hilarious because I can't imagine why anyone would say yes, but I noticed on the Malaysia one they remind you that the penality for drug trafficking is death, and a flight attendant cheerfully reminded us as well over the intercom, so... I'm glad I wasn't trying to smuggle over any P! Ha.