Flying to Kuala Lumpur
Today I fly to Kuala Lumpur for a couple of nights en route to Maldives. The Maldives flight leaves in the morning at 0840 and I didn’t fancy an early connection from Kuching. Overnighting in Kuala Lumpur would be time-consuming with transport so I made it worthwhile with a two-night stay.
With a flight departure time of 1405, I had a leisurely morning till heading to the airport around 1100. It was an unusually fast run, getting me to Kuching airport 2h15 before the flight. With no luggage, I had plenty of time and food before boarding the AirAsia flight to Kuala Lumpur.
It was nearly like clock-work turning the aircraft around but they missed their 25 min turnaround, with doors closing one minute late.
I didn’t order any food on board today but the prebooked and saleable meals took forever today. They have gone upmarket with their optional combo beverage that comes with the meal.
The combo drink is no longer 3-in-1 but they offer a choice of coffee blend/roast and milk vs coconut milk, hot vs iced. Or a fizzy yuzu drink to be made up. Lots of cutting sachet, stirring.
Luckily the government or military be ticket combo still get Nescafe with creamer and sugar. Otherwise, they may not have had time to complete the entire service.
Around KL Sentral again
I’m staying in the KL Sentral area again due to easy access to the airport. I treated myself to the return train ride this time, even though it saves only about 20 mins each way.
With a short evening today and an early start the day after, the time savings makes a significant difference but a big price difference of MYR26 by bus vs MYR90 by train.
Landing at 1650, I had just missed the 1615 train and waited briefly for the 1635 one which got me to KL Sentral around 1710, after reaching a maximum speed of 145 km/h. It was a short walk to the Double M Hotel nearby.
I dropped my bags and immediately headed out to the barber for a wet cut-throat shave for MYR12, up from MYR10 mid-year. I don’t think it was inflation but just discretion as the official price list gave a range, which I think depends on the complexity of the job
With my clean-shaven look, I walked around the NU Sentral and found that Decathlon is now open in there, stacked above Uniqlo which was in turn above Donki. This would be heaven to some people and would be for me as well, if I had been in need of anything right now.
I took a yummy Indian dinner at my now somewhat regular ABC Bistro under the monorail line.
Feeling stuffed, I walked dinner off at the mall again and wandered into the Eco Shop which I had been to in Kuching. Almost everything was MYR2.40 either each or for a twin/triple pack. The few exceptions were large items at MYR10!
I ended up buying a few little things and then a small pack of detergent elsewhere in case I can’t get enough shampoo along the way for hand-washing.
The day ended with some papaya and mango in the room before bedtime.