Seeing the family again

13 November 2017

Inflight from Delhi to Kuala Lumpur, I managed to doze for about 3h with the aid of a sleeping pill. I woke up feeling much better.  I thought my chest had improved in the dry filtered cabin air, as opposed to the mildewy rooms in the highlands or the pollution of Delhi.

I caught a glimpse of one of the senior crew in the galley, wearing disposable hotel slippers and his shirt out and tie undone.  Not a good look.  Some of the crew had been rather rude and offhand to the passengers too.  I think it is a fact of life on flights to/from India on South-East Asian airlines and I have seen worse on Singapore Airlines.

On the other hand, the pilots were exemplary in their announcements.  Unexpectedly though, there were a few quirks in the pronunciation.  “Delhi” was “Del-hi” instead of “De-lhi”.  Bay of “Bengal” was pronounced “Bay-ngal”.  It’s a Malaysian thing which is natural even for me these days.  For us, the correct pronunciation for “Singapore” is “Si-nga-por”.  It gets amusing on the Australian flights where all the crew refer to “Brisbane” as “Bris-bayne”.

We arrived on time and I had a seamless connection to Kuching.  Uber had a surge pricing when I tried to order a ride.  I waited but it didn’t go away and paid more than normal my usual rate to my apartment.  But it was still cheaper than a taxi.  I’m back in Kuching again to spend time with family.

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