It was raining when I woke. Better today than yesterday, my sightseeing day! I went downstairs and found that the cook had gone out to buy provisions. He was already due back but was probably stuck somewhere due to the rain. So breakfast wasn’t available in-house.
I wandered a couple of doors away and had a lontong (but not as I know it) for breakfast. It was a mix of noodles with compressed rice cakes, with some soup and very good peanut sauce on top. There was some cucumber and fried chicken too. Not bad!
This version of lontong had a mix of noodles with compressed rice cakes, with some soup and very good peanut sauce on top. There was some cucumber and fried chicken too.
My driver from yesterday was supposed to take me to the airport, included in the amount I had paid him. I had reminded him before bed. But he wasn’t here as it was his day off. The appointed time had come and gone, so I went with his colleague whom I had to pay a token amount.
I got to the airport a little over an hour before the 0950 departure (rescheduled from 0910). I got served immediately at check-in and went airside into the rather flash departure area. A siren sounded and my plane arrived about 25 minutes later, making it rather early.
We were led to the NAM Air ATR72 well ahead of schedule as well only to hear the engine noise get turned off (I believe this aircraft type doesn’t have an APU but uses the engine for ground power). We were sent back to the gate.
A ladder was brought out from the cargo hold to enable inspection of the left wing, the left wheel bay and then the right wing area. I suspect it was something minor like vibration as they were really looking for something not too apparent.
Despite that, we boarded and departed about 10 minutes early. Coming in to land in Pontianak, I noticed a very large Chinese cemetery which was laid out in a very orderly fashioned. Rather unusual compared to what I’ve seen elsewhere.
My self-connect time to my AirAsia flight to Kuching at 1200 had been reduced from 1h45 to just an hour now. With no luggage, I was out immediately and back airside with a home-printed boarding pass. I had around 50 minutes till departure so was very pleased to have made this connection.
Otherwise, it would have been a new ticket to Kuching and a night’s hotel. Neither would be expensive but it eats into the time I’ve allocated to spend with family.
There turned out to be a short delay 25 minute in the aircraft from Kuching. AirAsia is usually early. The reason became obvious as people disembarked. There seemed to be an endless stream of wheelchairs and elderly passengers. Likewise with our boarding queue.
Airbridge at Pontianak to my jet aircraft back to Kuching. This company seems to be the supplier of most/all airbridges in Indonesia.
The 20 minutes airborne was heaven compared to the 9h normally needed on the bus for the journey to Kuching and doesn’t cost much more.
Waiting for my pick-up at Kuching airport, there were six vans from various hospitals providing courtesy transport to the many patients on my flight from Pontianak. It is very evident that Pontianak-Kuching is a strong medical tourism route, and the crew confirmed that the high number of wheelchairs is quite common.
With a one hour time change, I was back in my own home (or rather home-away-from-home as I truly live in New Zealand) around 1500 for a 9 nights stay to be with family.
I was very happy that I was able to squeeze this little adventure into my time in Borneo. Fingers crossed, my next one should be in June!