Taipei, June 2009.

I am lazy to update my blog, hence here are some photos for you to enjoy.




PEN (Penang) to TPE (Taipei) via HKG (Hong Kong) on CX (Cathay Pacific).




“Breakfast”, PEN to KUL. (For flights departing from PEN, CX sometimes stops at KUL to pick up some passengers before proceeding to HKG.)




Post-departure drinks, KUL to HKG.




Watching Top Gear on the IFE.




Lunch. KUL to HKG. Portion was small.




Pre-landing drinks. Plain water.




Hong Kong International Airport. I love this airport, plane spotters paradise!




Lunch. HKG to TPE.




Shilin Night Market (士林夜市).




National Taiwan University (台大). It happened to be the university’s convocation when I went there.




Longshan Temple (龍山寺).




Jiufen (九份).









They have a dog looking after the shop.














Sunset at Jiufen. Wish I have a DSLR…




Chiang Kai-Shek wife’s car.




National Palace Museum (故宮博物院).




Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall (中正紀念堂).




Taipei 101.









Taipei 101.




























Love at Taipei 101.




101.




Shinkong Mitsukoshi (新光三越).









Danshui (淡水).
















Confucius Temple (孔廟).




Baoan Temple (保安宮).




Ximending (西門町). This is the famous “Ah Chung Mian Xian” shop, where everyone stands to eat as no tables are provided.








101 again.

















Magnificent view of Taipei.




Damper baby.




Taipei 101 outdoor observation deck.








Wufenpu (五分埔).

















Eslite bookstore (誠品書店).




TPE to PEN via HKG on CX.




Lunch. TPE to HKG.




Takeoff! HKG to KUL.




Post-departure drinks and snacks, HKG to KUL.




Dinner, HKG to KUL. CX gave me TimTam biscuit? What happened to my Häagen-Dazs ice cream?!




940km/h. Probably the fastest speed I have ever travelled.




Snacks and drinks, KUL to PEN. TimTam biscuit again. Haiz...

I love Taipei. Will pay a visit again soon. =)

20 June 2009… I have not seen you for almost five months. Is everything okay?

Thank you for giving me the chance to get to know you.

Thank you for using the wallet I gave you; it represents me, and it gets to travel with you wherever you go.

Thank you for making me a more matured person.

Thank you for giving me so much bittersweet memories.

Thank you for being part of my life.

Happy birthday, hui.

AK6536 Revisited, JHB-PEN

You remember you had written a trip report of AK6536 last year, but since AirAsia had been awarded “World’s Best Low Cost Airline”, you decided to rewrite the report to see if AirAsia is doing any better compared to a few months ago.

You left your room in Singapore at around 3pm for the 9pm flight, what to do, you kiasi ma… The massive traffic jam at the causeway frustrated you, but fortunately you were accompanied by your friend who was taking the same flight. You took around one and a half hour to clear customs of both sides, which was ridiculous. You reached the “City Lounge” in Johor Bahru and bought a RM8 bus ticket to go to Senai Airport, where you will be taking your flight.

You finally boarded the airport bus at 5.45pm and left Johor Bahru city centre, but apparently something went wrong with the bus in the journey as you noticed the bus was powerless and the driver switched off the air conditioner. You kept your fingers crossed; you had to reach the airport early.

You felt relieved when Senai Airport came into your sight.



















You alighted from the airport bus and proceeded to the terminal. You went to the check-in area to see if the counters for the flight to Penang had been opened. Somehow you noticed this machine sitting quietly at a corner at the check-in area:
























It was a self check-in machine. Never used it before, you decided to try it this time. You keyed in your travel itinerary number and followed the instructions on the screen.

The kiosk was easy to use. After getting your boarding pass, you proceeded to the counter to drop your check-in bag.

This is your best-looking AirAsia boarding pass; no more Tesco-receipt-lookalike boarding pass.

After checking-in, you went to have an overly priced burger as you were starving.

You decided to go to the airside of the airport to see if you could do some plane spotting, and you saw this:

A special-livery AirAsia A320, 9M-AFW

You also noticed another AirAsia A320 parked next to the assigned gate of your flight. You presumed this aircraft will be taking you back to Penang later, and you were correct.

At 8.30pm (exactly half an hour before the scheduled departure time), boarding call was made. You promptly queued up and boarding began shortly. The cute AirAsia cabin crew took your boarding pass, tore it and returned you the stub. At the same time, she mumbled something like “Please sit according to your seat number, thank you.”, and you noticed she also said exactly the same thing to the one standing in front of and behind you in the queue. Poor girl, if the cabin was full, she had to say it 180 times in less than 20 minutes. (Gate closed 10 minutes before departure.) Apparently the introduction of “Pick-A-Seat” had added the workload of the cabin crews.

Notice the “Pick-A-Seat” advertisement.

Aerobridge was not used for your flight. You went down the stairs and walked towards the plane parked on the tarmac. You decided to take some photos of the plane from different angles.

Something funny happened. You heard someone blowing whistle, and you thought “Oh crap, is it because I am not supposed to take photos of the plane?” You pretended you did not hear it and walked straight to the aircraft. However, the ground crew who blew the whistle stopped you, and yes, what you thought was right.

“You are not supposed to take photo here!” Ground crew said.

“So sorry.” You apologized.

“If you take photos of the plane, you will interfere with the aircraft communication system you know?” The ground crew said.

You were like “WTF?!! This is definitely the most absurd reason given for not allowing me to take pictures of the aircraft.” You understood you should not take pictures on the tarmac if the airport also houses a military airbase, but Senai Airport is just an ordinary airport! You decided to ignore the dumb ground crew and boarded the plane.

Boarding

Yeap, you did notice some improvements. A pretty cabin crew stood beside the aircraft door and greeted you, and another one stood near the bulkhead. She looked at your boarding pass and told you where your seat was, complimented by a nice smile. From here you knew AirAsia is not just any budget airline. You proceeded to your seat, 7C, which was an aisle seat.

AirAsia A320 safety card.

Your attempt to get a cockpit shot before pushback.

The boarding process was pretty smooth, with cabin crew occasionally helping passengers to stow their hand-carried luggage into the overhead compartment. Song like David Archuleta’s Crush and Kelly Clarkson’s Behind These Hazel Eyes were played through the PA system throughout the boarding process. Better than Malaysia Airlines’ boring music, you thought.

Boarding completed in 15 minutes, and doors were closed. The aircraft pushbacked at 8.50pm, 10 minutes before the scheduled departure time.

Cabin crews demonstrated the cabin safety procedures when the aircraft taxied to the runway for takeoff.

The cabin light was dimmed for takeoff. You noticed the flight attendants walked about the aisle and turned on the reading lights for passengers who were observed reading. A nice touch.

You were bored and began to search for something to read in the seatback pocket. However, Travel360, the AirAsia in-flight magazine could not be found. It must had been taken away from the aircraft by previous passenger. Heck, even the airsickness bag was also missing! What if you suddenly suffer from motion sickness?

Small legroom, as usual. Notice the missing in-flight magazine, buy-on-board menu, and airsickness bag.

The meal cart did not take long to appear. However, you noticed not many people are buying food or drinks. Unless one is super hungry or thirsty, it is not really necessary to get anything from the cart for such a short flight. After finishing the meal service, cabin crews were seen walking about the aisle with large black plastic bags to collect rubbish from the passengers.

Arrival announcement came on at 9.35pm and the seat belt sign was switched on. The aircraft was soon on its descent and approach for Penang International Airport.

The aircraft touched down at 9.47pm, 18 minutes earlier than the scheduled arrival time.

As you were disembarking from the aircraft, you expected a staircase, but the aerobridge was used instead, and it was not raining. Weird, but nice nonetheless.

AirAsia did not disappoint you, and you were quite sure that it does deserve the title of “World’s Best Low Cost Airline”. Only if the ticket price could go even lower… =)

Exam

Exam.. 6 papers in 11 days. Quite bad compared to last semester, and to make it worse, the subjects are tougher than previous semesters.

I love exams, because I love the long holidays after exams. I hate exams too, because I do not like to study day and night, and force myself to operate at high efficiency.

I am so going to pamper myself after this exam.

Melamine Biscuit

Me eating melamine tainted biscuit?