Travel – The world as I see it….

I have been to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 3 times before…

First time in December 1992 – on my first trip back to India from US as a Student… with a group of friends from ASU. We had a day break and visited a few places that day.. only have a couple of photos from that trip.

Second time in 1997, while working for Motorola, came to Malaysia to give training in our QA software… went to the island of Penang, Malaysia.

Third time was also in late 90s… don’t remember exact time.. but didn’t go out of airport.

Since 2005, I started traveling to India via Europe mostly… as more european carriers added flights and Delta, United and others joined in. So haven’t travelled via Pacific in 7-8 years. So this time when a great fare sale came up on Malaysian airlines during Thanksgiving, I decided to take this route. I could have connected in Chennai (Madras) and reached Hyderabad earlier, but decided to take the day break in Kuala Lumpur to revisit the city after a long time and take the direct flight to Hyderabad late in the night. So started my 18 hour day in KL.

We arrived 4:30 a.m. from Tokyo to KL… most of the airport is still sleeping… not much activity. Got through immigration and customs in 5 minutes and was out in 20 mins… at the train station. There is KLIA ekpress.. a 28 minute ride from KL International Airport to KL Central station.. the fastest train in southeast asia (as they claim). It started right on time at 5:20 a.m. and arrived exactly 28 minutes later as scheduled. The train had free Wi-Fi and at that early hour there were only a handful of us on the train.

Central (sentral as spelled in KL) was also barely active. I booked room in Le Meridian, which was supposed to be next to the station. Google Maps showed I had to walk 1.2 km (0.8 miles) to get there… I was contemplating taking a taxi, then asked the one security guy that was there and he said it is close to walk straight.. and there it was just across the street… so Google Maps is not always 100% accurate 🙂

Checked into the hotel… with my elite status, they allow early check-in and put me on 15th floor suite. For the price I paid, it was one of the best hotels I stayed in… Since I was sitting/sleeping at an angle for 28 hours.. decided to take a quick nap… and before I knew it… it was 8:30 a.m.

Got ready and went to the club lounge on 33rd floor (views attached)… tried to locate the Petronas towers from both sides of the floor – couldn’t find them. They are supposed to be visible from most of KL. Later I found out that they were on the side of the hotel. After a good breakfast checked with Concierge and figure out taking a train from the station is the best way to get there… so around 10 a.m. set out to visit City Center.

The central station has so many different routes and options, it took me a little while to figure out where to go and which train to take. After getting on the right train, it was 5 short stops to KLCC station – Kuala Lumpur City Center… it was the center indeed. The train station itself was on the lower level of a mall… you walk out and right across the street and the towers are within walking distance. The new mall “Suriya KLCC” was really high end with all top brand stores and stretched a few city blocks and also connected the 2 towers.

Once I reached the towers, I took selfies and a few shots of the towers like everyone else from the park across the street from the towers. Pictures really don’t do justice when it comes to these tall buildings. Then I went inside the towers to see if I can score a ticket to the skybridge (the bridge between the 2 towers, half way up). Looks like the tickets are sold out online, I should have checked, so I decided to just walk around and do some window shopping.

One amazing thing was the minimum security around the towers. Other than a few occasional cops/security guards, no metal detectors, X-ray machines… what am I missing here? Do they have no threats? Will this kind of normalcy ever come back to US? Probably not.

After an hours of walking around, decided to get back to hotel… had a buffet lunch at the hotel that offered 5 different cuisines (Japanese, Chinese, Malaysian, Indian and Western) – then decided to not take another trip out… I was tired from lack of sleep and had another quick nap.

Checked out of the hotel around 7:25 p.m. for my 10:30 flight… later found out it was too early. I was able to catch the 7:30 p.m. train at the hotel and reached airport exactly at 7:58 p.m. Passed immigration/customs in less than 10 minutes… didn’t expect that. The airport security was also so minimal.. no need to take computer out, shoes off… again, almost reminded me of pre-9/11 days.

Kuala Lumpur definitely offers a cultural diversity… You see Chinese, Indians, Malays and a lot of other ethnicities… you will see huge mosques and also Indian temples. I am not sure how day-to-day life here is, but it sure has its own intrigue… I enjoyed my visit and am glad took the day break…

I missed a lot of flights some international, some with long delays and overnight stays, but this story is the one I remember the most.

It happened in 1997, but I still remember as if it happened yesterday. I was working for Motorola then and had a round the world trip that stopped in 6 countries to do training for our software. The last stop was in India on my way back home. I was in Madras (Chennai now) at my Brother’s place along with my parents and had a flight to Bombay (Mumbai) and connecting on Swiss Air to Zurich/Atlanta/Phoenix.

Believe it or not, travel in 1997 was so different, no cell phones (at least in India), security where you can walk to the gate, Smoking sections on planes and lot less airlines. At that time there were only 2 airline options in India – Indian Airlines (Govt Run) and new and upcoming Jet Airways. Motorola booked all my flights and at that time we had business class travel for everyone going international. My flight from Madras was at 6 p.m. – reaching Bombay around 7:45 p.m. and my international flight from there at 1:20 a.m. – so I had 5 1/2 hours layover. I checked in around 4:30 p.m. at Madras and they told me that the flight is delayed by 2 hrs due to late arrival of aircraft (this excuse remains current even now). So I thought that will cut my wait in Bombay, so no issues. Some people rushed over to the last flight from Jet Airways to Bombay and they accommodated a few. My agent said, since my ticket was in First Class, they don’t have an option in Jet but she thought I should make it in plenty of time. My parents and brother were tired of standing, so I told them to leave around 6:30 p.m. and went to the lounge.

7 p.m. – Was notified that flight is now 3 hrs late and will reach Bombay at 10:45 p.m. – still got 2 hrs + to catch my connection..

8 p.m. – The flight is now 3 1/2 hours late – will reach Bombay at 11:15 p.m. – getting a little too close to comfort.

9 p.m. – the plane is here – just a matter of loading people and taking off… everybody is on the plane by 9:30 p.m. – yes, I may make it after all…

9:50 p.m. – why are we not taking off? What? someone is missing? – they have to figure out if he/she dozed off somewhere or went back home..

10:15 p.m. – we are closing doors now – estimated arrival time mid night – 1 hr and 20 minutes – I can still make it right?

10:30 p.m. – why are we still on taxiway? Lots of international flights landing, we are not cleared yet…

10:40 p.m. – finally took off – Captain comes on PA, apologizes for the delay, that was not in his hands.. will STEP on it and get us there as soon as he can.

12:15 a.m. – landing in Mumbai – just barely 1 hour + left… I am now thinking my chances are 30-40% to make the flight – most flights close an hour before take off.

12:20 a.m. – I spot a baggage guy and ask him I can get bags quick since I will try to rush to the international terminal, he asks my bag color/type – disappears into the bottom of plane, comes out in 3 minutes with my 2 suitcases… I still remember his face… what a help!

12:30 a.m. – come out of domestic terminal – the only option to get to International terminal is to wait for a shuttle (yeah right) or get a cab… I only had a few Indian Rupees left… Enter Mr. Singh (I don’t remember his full name) – he asks if I want taxi, I said yes to International terminal – he said 500 Rupees – I said, I only have 200, he says, you got dollars? Yes, $20 (equivalent of 720 rupees at that time) I will take you… I said let’s go, told him I have 40 mins now to make it… he said, get in back seat and DUCK… what, yes, duck?. He said, there are about 10 speed bumps between here and International terminal… and he is not going to slow down… ok? I said yes and here we go….

That was the craziest 10 min Taxi ride of my life… Mr. Singh was honking, swerving, jumping speed bumps… and he got me to International terminal at 12:40 a.m. – he said – “RUN, I will get your bags”… I trusted him to follow me, not to take off on me, and started running and I saw him dragging my 2 suitcases behind into the terminal. I reached Swiss Air check-in counter at 12:45 a.m. – 35 mins to take off… then I find out…

LIGHTS OUT!!

No body home. I guess they closed the counters, Mr. Singh arrives, says sorry, that he will wait outside if I needed taxi to take me to a hotel… I go over the counter and find couple of employees doing paperwork in the back. I showed them my ticket and asked what are my options…

12:50 a.m. – The Check-in Agent calls Gate Agent and says “I have a Business Class passenger arrived late from a connection, if I send him in, will you be able to take him?” – the gate agent says – “we will give you 10 extra minutes and close the door at 1:30 a.m. – no exceptions…”

Here we GO!!

Picture this… Me running with my computer bag, The agent with radio and my boarding pass, one of the attendants with a trolley with my suitcases (too late to check bags, so they have to take it to the gate)… dodging the peak passenger traffic at Bombay airport, trying to get to the gate…

1:05 a.m. – Immigration counter – got permission to go through Crew line – #4 in line…

1:10 a.m. – get to the counter, the agent tells the officer, we are in a hurry, trying to get me to the gate… now, this is another face I still remember… he goes, “SO?” He checks my passport, green card, looks at me and says “Where is your Facial Hair? Is this really you?” – I guess I had a goatee in my Green Card and clean shaven at this point… he was in no hurry to stamp on my passport. I had the urge to jump over the counter, the story would have been much more different If I did…

1:15 a.m. – finally at X-ray – again through crew line… will we make it?

1:20 a.m. – security done… wouldn’t you know it, the plane is at Gate 10 and we are at Gate 1 🙂

I don’t remember how many people I knocked down and scared off, it was a last ditch effort run… 1:28 a.m. – at Gate 10… The Gate agent was in touch with us over radio through out and was looking for us to show up..

The guy pushing my suitcases goes down the stairs to get them loaded, I gave him whatever Indian rupees I have left, got to the boarding door.. there is a flight attendant standing at the door and gets my boarding pass and yells to the gate agent who was walking away….

HEY, ARE YOU SURE THIS GUY IS IN BUSINESS CLASS??

Those words still echo in my ears… was I too young? too Indian? Looked like crap from the running? WTF, I am right here holding my boarding pass…. after the confirmation from Gate Agent, she lets me to the left into Business Class… then I realized I was the only the 2nd Indian looking guy in the entire business class section … ouch!

I couldn’t call till I got to Zurich to notify my family that I actually made my flight… since then I made a few and missed a few, but on that exciting day, a few people stepped up to help me… the guy at plane to get my bags, Mr. Singh, The agent at check-in, the guy running with my bags… I am thankful to all them for not only helping to make the flight, but also for the experience and memories…

The world as I see it….

Tag: Travel

Revisiting Kuala Lumpur….

Now that was a close call…. my most memorable travel story.