Flying to KL
I had trouble falling asleep last night with a sense of bloatedness. And I had to get up in the middle of night, emptying my belly completely but it wasn’t liquid and was a one-off. I don’t think it was diarrhoea but perhaps the oily pad see ew I had for lunch or the coconut sticky rice with my mango.
Waking up at 0700 I didn’t feel good but eventually felt fine enough to attempt the public bus trip to the airport from diagonally across the road around 0800. After about 30 mins, the supposedly quarter-hourly bus never turned up so I ordered a car on the Grab app, getting to Suvarnabhumi airport around 0910.
The AirAsia X counter opened a little more than 3h before the 1255 departure and I checked in exactly 3h before departure. It took 30 mins to get airside and enjoy the lounge, not that I was hungry.
At the gate, the A330-300 turned up about 45 mins late but had a long-ish turnaround. The APU may have been unserviceable as air-conditioning was supplied by two ducts. Cleaners boarded as well, which is unexpected as on the narrowbody aircraft, cabin crew clean the aircraft on the turnaround.
We managed to depart about 30 mins late and landed about 20 mins later than scheduled, at 1635. I had made plans to meet up with Alice for dinner at Pavilion Bukit Bintang and see the Chinese New Year decorations.
Chinese New Year decorations
I normally take the bus from the airport down to KL Sentral which takes about an hour (sometimes only 50 mins if from Terminal 2). It’s as little as 20 mins longer but less than a quarter of the price.
But tonight, time is of the essence and I managed to hop on the train which departed an hour after touchdown.
After quickly dropping my stuff at the Double M Hotel near KL Sentral Monorail, I continued to Pavilion Bukit Bintang where I enjoyed the Chinese New Year decorations in the atrium. So much has happened since I was here six weeks ago to enjoy the Christmas decorations.
Alice had been stuck in gridlock traffic and when she turned up a little later, we had dimsum for dinner, having long chats simultaneously about our recent travels and happenings in our lives.
Chinese New Year decorations in the atrium of Pavilion Bukit Bintang.