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Monday, November 16, 2009
Kuala Lumpur 2009 - Day 1
Yet another excursion to Malaysia. This particular one would be the second time Jinjun and I flew to Kuala Lumpur to attend a concert, the first being the Lord of the Rings Symphony in 2008. This one would be for Igudesman and Joo, two excellent comedians and musicians.
As like most trips, this one began with a flight. Or rather, it began when Jinjun came over to my house in the morning to do random preparations for the flight. We slacked around, basically, and waited for my mother.
As is RIMB tradition, we arrived at the airport later than we wanted, although we were still on time. We collected our boarding passes at the check in, then performed the ritual of passing through immigration through the automated gates. Having some time, we decided to walk around, take photos of aircraft and get some snacks (though we ended up with but a single ice milo each due to exorbitant prices). While walking around, I took stock of the renovations that Terminal 1 was undergoing, hopefully for the better.
At 1545, when boarding was due to start, we proceeded to D47, as requested. However, when we got there, an empty gate greeted us.I should have foreseen this, in fact, I did predict this. However, cost won out over the convenience and comfort of Singapore Airlines in this instant. We waited and watched as aircraft after countless aircraft taxied by with no sign of our aircraft.
At 1635, our aircraft, 9M-AFN, finally pulled into the gate. Relieved, we proceeded to take up our seats, front left of the aircraft in 1A and 1B. This was my first time on AirAsia (unless you count the 737-300 of Thai AirAsia), and I must say that the leather seats were comfortable. However, looking at the legroom of the normal seats, I'd have to say that if not for the exit row seats, my life would have been much worse.
We taxied over to runway 2C and took off, flying over Tekong and giving Jinjun and I wonderful views of Changi Airport. My spirits soared with the aircraft, as I was finally back in the air. No matter if it's a Singapore Airlines A380-800 or an AirAsia A320-200, I simply love flying (though there is one airline-aircraft combo above all else). The Airbus A320 continued northward, towards Kuala Lumpur.
We had earlier pre-ordered meals, and they were served in good time. I must say that the meals were good, though quantity was slightly lacking. Still, it was impressive to have a meal service on a flight less than an hour in length.
Soon, 9M-AFN broke through the cloud layer and touched down on 32L in Kuala Lumpur International Airport near Sepang. The taxi to the Low-Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) was uneventful, and the skies were turning dreary. Disembarkation was via pull-up airstairs, and I was surprised to see that the walkway to the terminal was, while sheltered, open on both sides. This was not very presentable, but did give good photo opportunities, although the only aircraft there were a Tiger Airways A320 and an AirAsiaX A330.
When we got to the immigration counter, we proceeded to fill in our arrival cards - or tried to anyway. The pens provided at the counters had no ink. I guess this being a LCCT, ink was one of the items on the cost savings list. Eventually, we made it through, queues being quite short, and proceeded to find our bus bookings.
On advice from a friendly passer-by, I established that taking the bus would render reaching KLCC on time impossible. We thus decided to find our way to the main terminal of WMKK and try to take the KLIA Ekspres over to the city.
Spot the difference:
WSSS - Free shuttle bus from Budget Terminal to T1, T2 and T3
WMKK - 40RM taxi from LCCT to KLIA
You get the idea. The ride to KLIA was dreary, given the low-lying black clouds and heavy rain. Nonetheless, we made it and found our way to the platform via a series of elevators, not all of them correct.
The train left the station at 1900 on the dot, and steamed electriced its way to KL. On the way, we hit upon the idea of creating a travel video, the results of which can be seen in the videos page. Aside from that, the trip to KL Sentral Station proceeded uneventfully.
Upon reaching KL Sentral, we changed over to the KL LRT that would take us to KLCC, and made it there with some time to spare. We collected our tickets, met up with Pauline and proceeded to the hall.
The concert was great, though I preferred the next day's performance. This would most likely be due to fatigue on my part, I was exhausted. Still, I quite enjoyed it. Following the performance, we met up with Calvin, who had just arrived from Singapore on JAL, a much better airline than AirAsia, and headed for the hotel, where we ended the day with a McDonalds meal.
All in all this day was a good start to our trip, and I had high hopes for the next two days. But those are another story, which will be told in due time.
Till then.
Posted by Aaron