Saturday morning, we once again had to go through the ritual of packing up our 6 suitcases to head to the airport. Pall and Homm were of course on time and ready to transport us. We were closer to on time this morning than we had been any other morning, but were still about 10 minutes late. We traversed the 5 km or so to the Siem Reap airport, and arrived to what looked as if it was a business that had not opened for the day yet. There were no other cars around and no people visible as we pulled up. This was certainly not what we’re used to in terms of airports. Our drivers wished us a final farewell, and we did the same to them. Homm said he’d love to be our driver again when we come back to Cambodia, “…”like, maybe tomorrow .” They were truly great companions for our travels, and I am very glad they were lucky enough to get the crazy American family at the bus stop with way too much luggage.
Our itinerary for the day had changed a bit since when we first booked our trip. We were supposed to get to New Delhi via Bangkok. However through the bankruptcy of Kingfisher Airlines, our travels were redirected through Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. To further prove the theory of 6 degrees of separation, my seatmate on the plane from Siem Reap to Kuala Lumpur, was a Panamanian women, who lives in New York, and apparently knows the head of Blackstone (Emdeon’s investors) and sees him often in her building in New York. We talked quite a bit about the economy, and the market crash of last week. In the middle of the conversation, Natalie, who was across the aisle from me, leaned over and informed me that Alexandra had a fever. Oh no. She had slept much of the prior day’s afternoon, and we hadn’t thought much of it, but a fever was something else. I immediately jumped up to grab the antibiotics.
My seatmate told me that KLIA (Kuala Lumpur International Airpot) was a going to be a decent place to spend the day, as it was a nice airport. So when we landed, behind something that looked like an old factory, I was a bit surprised. I figured the inside must be better…well, no not really. Only half of it was aircondioned, it was all very crowded, and very cramped. And definitely didn’t seem the type of place the woman next to me on the plan would have referred to as a good place, as she seemed to have a bit of a discriminating taste. Our bags were being delivered here, so we ended up needing to go through immigration to pick them up, and then recheck them for our next flight which was 7 hours later.
We then looked for the Malaysia airlines counter to see if we could check in. After going around and around, looking for the check-in counter (everything was Air Asia) we couldn’t find it. Ultimately, I did find a Malaysia airlines kiosk with someone sitting behind it. I asked her where we check in, and she said I need to go to KLIA. … I thought I was at KLIA… How do I get there? Taxi or bus, 20 minute ride. This had me a little baffled. Really? Yep. This seemed very strange. I pulled out my phone, and looked at the map. It seemed to indicate that we were on the southern tip of KLIA. I was trying to envision asking a cab driver to take me to KLIA, and him looking at me like I had 3 eyes, because of course I was already there. After sitting and talking it over at a Starbucks (score!), Natalie decided to wander around and see what she could learn, so I watched the bags and sat with the girls, while she went digging. Sure enough, 10 minutes later, she came back with the same information. So we made our way over to the taxi stand.
Once we got there, we unfortunately learned that you need to buy the taxi ticket inside the airport. So the girls waited outside, and I headed in. I followed the direction of where the taxi line attendant pointed, however when I got back into the building, I didn’t see anything for taxi tickets. A man however did come up to me while I was looking for the ticket counter, and told me he had a metered taxi that I could use. I of course declined (as this is typically a scam/rippoff). I tried to find something that indicated taxi tickets, but could find nothing. I checked all the signs, and one on the ceiling said tickets, which led back the other direction. I followed that for a minute when of course I quickly realized it was referring to airline tickets, and turned back towards the room I was just in. The taxi tout asked me if I was ready to use his taxi yet. I said no thank you again. There were two security people in front of a doorway that said secure area do not enter. I asked them were the taxi tickets were, and they pointed in the direction of the aforementioned secure doorway. I asked “I can go in there?” and they said “yes.” Hmmm…of course I can. So I head into that room which was where the arrivals were, and there was the taxi stand. “How much for a taxi van to KLIA?” Answer: “97 Ringgit ($35).” Uggh. I had 39 Ringgit in my pocket from some change I got on the plane from some food I bought. Not enough. So I had to go back through the other room, received another smile from the taxi tout, and went to the currency exchange. I received the necessary Ringgit and went past the taxi tout again “Almost got it” I said. I bought my ticket, and waved it towards the tout on the way out.
From here, we went and found our luggage, and then proceeded to find our driver out of the 50 people or so standing with placards at the exit. As we made it to the parking garage we were of course swarmed by people helping to load the luggage on to the roof rack of the car, looking for a few rupees. I gave them a trivial amount (as I hate paying for help I didn’t ask for, as a rule)
Our driver seemed friendly enough, and he speaks fairly decent English. As we drove through Gurgaon, retracing many of the steps I took 4 years ago, I was surprised at how much additional development has occurred. Gurgaon, which is a suburb of New Delhi, had its first highrise office building built about 14 years ago, today there scores, and many new ones under construction. Additionally, there were many brand new high rise shopping malls that we went past, movie theaters, and other entertainment venues constructed in ultra modern looking steel and glass.
On the way there he said that he would call the owner of the company (Namaste India Tours, not to be confused with Namaste Tours India) Jawahar, so that I could talk to him. He apologized for not meeting us in person, and we talked through the plan of the remainder of the trip, and settling payment. Payment was due either tonight, or in the morning, but did need to be before the trip (so as to cover fuel, tolls, and lodging for the driver). Aside from that he wanted to make sure everything was alright. Also, he had provided his cell phone and home phone number for us to call in case there were any issues.
After about 30 minutes we made it to the hotel room, and checked in. Natalie and Kalyssa exhausted, and Alexandra not feeling well. After checking in we received 2 keys for our 2 rooms, and headed upstairs. The girls room was across the hall from Natalie’s and my room. We got into theirs, and dropped off some bags, and tried to get into ours, but the key wouldn’t work. I returned to the front desk to inform them, and they gave me a new one and asked me to call from the elevator lobby on my floor if it didn’t work. I went up and it did work. I put the keycard in the holder by the door (required to engage the electric-common in most hotels overseas) brought a few bags in and went out to tell Natalie (who was in the girls’ room) that the new key worked. As I walked out of the room and heard the door shut, I winced….the key was still in the cardholder inside the room. I’m locked out. I knocked on the girls’ door, and let Natalie know that the key worked…..and I’ll be heading back downstairs to get another one. I slinked shamefully back to the front desk, and explained what I just did, eliciting a chuckle from the man behind the counter. He gave me a second key (which most places won’t allow without a fee) and I returned to the room, careful to not lock myself out this time. It was already late, and our driver was meeting us at 7:30 the next morning for the long trip to Agra, so we quickly turned in.
Our itinerary for the day had changed a bit since when we first booked our trip. We were supposed to get to New Delhi via Bangkok. However through the bankruptcy of Kingfisher Airlines, our travels were redirected through Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. To further prove the theory of 6 degrees of separation, my seatmate on the plane from Siem Reap to Kuala Lumpur, was a Panamanian women, who lives in New York, and apparently knows the head of Blackstone (Emdeon’s investors) and sees him often in her building in New York. We talked quite a bit about the economy, and the market crash of last week. In the middle of the conversation, Natalie, who was across the aisle from me, leaned over and informed me that Alexandra had a fever. Oh no. She had slept much of the prior day’s afternoon, and we hadn’t thought much of it, but a fever was something else. I immediately jumped up to grab the antibiotics.
My seatmate told me that KLIA (Kuala Lumpur International Airpot) was a going to be a decent place to spend the day, as it was a nice airport. So when we landed, behind something that looked like an old factory, I was a bit surprised. I figured the inside must be better…well, no not really. Only half of it was aircondioned, it was all very crowded, and very cramped. And definitely didn’t seem the type of place the woman next to me on the plan would have referred to as a good place, as she seemed to have a bit of a discriminating taste. Our bags were being delivered here, so we ended up needing to go through immigration to pick them up, and then recheck them for our next flight which was 7 hours later.
We then looked for the Malaysia airlines counter to see if we could check in. After going around and around, looking for the check-in counter (everything was Air Asia) we couldn’t find it. Ultimately, I did find a Malaysia airlines kiosk with someone sitting behind it. I asked her where we check in, and she said I need to go to KLIA. … I thought I was at KLIA… How do I get there? Taxi or bus, 20 minute ride. This had me a little baffled. Really? Yep. This seemed very strange. I pulled out my phone, and looked at the map. It seemed to indicate that we were on the southern tip of KLIA. I was trying to envision asking a cab driver to take me to KLIA, and him looking at me like I had 3 eyes, because of course I was already there. After sitting and talking it over at a Starbucks (score!), Natalie decided to wander around and see what she could learn, so I watched the bags and sat with the girls, while she went digging. Sure enough, 10 minutes later, she came back with the same information. So we made our way over to the taxi stand.
Once we got there, we unfortunately learned that you need to buy the taxi ticket inside the airport. So the girls waited outside, and I headed in. I followed the direction of where the taxi line attendant pointed, however when I got back into the building, I didn’t see anything for taxi tickets. A man however did come up to me while I was looking for the ticket counter, and told me he had a metered taxi that I could use. I of course declined (as this is typically a scam/rippoff). I tried to find something that indicated taxi tickets, but could find nothing. I checked all the signs, and one on the ceiling said tickets, which led back the other direction. I followed that for a minute when of course I quickly realized it was referring to airline tickets, and turned back towards the room I was just in. The taxi tout asked me if I was ready to use his taxi yet. I said no thank you again. There were two security people in front of a doorway that said secure area do not enter. I asked them were the taxi tickets were, and they pointed in the direction of the aforementioned secure doorway. I asked “I can go in there?” and they said “yes.” Hmmm…of course I can. So I head into that room which was where the arrivals were, and there was the taxi stand. “How much for a taxi van to KLIA?” Answer: “97 Ringgit ($35).” Uggh. I had 39 Ringgit in my pocket from some change I got on the plane from some food I bought. Not enough. So I had to go back through the other room, received another smile from the taxi tout, and went to the currency exchange. I received the necessary Ringgit and went past the taxi tout again “Almost got it” I said. I bought my ticket, and waved it towards the tout on the way out.
Here’s the point, where I realized this whole thing was an institutionalized racket. Very curious where KLIA was when everything indicated I was already there, I followed my GPS on my phone as we drove to the correct airport. My map showed the airport to be a vertical oval with a road around 75% of the perimeter. We were on the bottom of the oval and began to drive counter clockwise around it. After about 15 minutes (and $35), we had gone 3 quarters of the way around the oval, and then went back towards the center. As the crow flies, we now had to be no more than a quarter miles from where we started. Why in the world these two areas aren’t connected by a tram of some sort makes no sense to me. Nonetheless, we got out checked into our flight, and we wandered the airport for several hours until our flight, and enjoyed a nice Malaysia café for lunch. (Kalyssa ordered a bowl of Malaysian soup (which seemed similar to Viatnamese pho) and just about cleaned the bowl.
At 6:00pm, we boarded our flight, and continued onward to Delhi, India. I remembered from my last trip, that the Delhi airport was extremely old and dingy. The décor seemed somewhat similar to a Chicago subway tunnel. I remembered the immigration line being extremely long and slow (see my blog from 4 years ago.) So I told Natalie and the girls we needed to be ready to run as soon as the plane landed. An interesting comparison between Hong Kong and India, while in Hong Kong, people will clearly cut in front of you and try and squeeze there way through. In India people don’t seem to be quite as aggressive, but there isn’t much consideration for personal space, and the disembarking process seems a bit chaotic, but has a natural flow to it. Therefore when the plane landed, I jumped up Amazing Race sytle and grabbed our bags, somewhat blocking the aisle until everyone of us could get out in front of me. We executed this flawlessly, and were one of the first 10 people off the plane. We hustled like crazy through the airport, (which I was amazed to see has been BEAUTIFULLY redone. We were one of the first to make it to, and through, immigrations.
From here, we went and found our luggage, and then proceeded to find our driver out of the 50 people or so standing with placards at the exit. As we made it to the parking garage we were of course swarmed by people helping to load the luggage on to the roof rack of the car, looking for a few rupees. I gave them a trivial amount (as I hate paying for help I didn’t ask for, as a rule)
Our driver seemed friendly enough, and he speaks fairly decent English. As we drove through Gurgaon, retracing many of the steps I took 4 years ago, I was surprised at how much additional development has occurred. Gurgaon, which is a suburb of New Delhi, had its first highrise office building built about 14 years ago, today there scores, and many new ones under construction. Additionally, there were many brand new high rise shopping malls that we went past, movie theaters, and other entertainment venues constructed in ultra modern looking steel and glass.
On the way there he said that he would call the owner of the company (Namaste India Tours, not to be confused with Namaste Tours India) Jawahar, so that I could talk to him. He apologized for not meeting us in person, and we talked through the plan of the remainder of the trip, and settling payment. Payment was due either tonight, or in the morning, but did need to be before the trip (so as to cover fuel, tolls, and lodging for the driver). Aside from that he wanted to make sure everything was alright. Also, he had provided his cell phone and home phone number for us to call in case there were any issues.
After about 30 minutes we made it to the hotel room, and checked in. Natalie and Kalyssa exhausted, and Alexandra not feeling well. After checking in we received 2 keys for our 2 rooms, and headed upstairs. The girls room was across the hall from Natalie’s and my room. We got into theirs, and dropped off some bags, and tried to get into ours, but the key wouldn’t work. I returned to the front desk to inform them, and they gave me a new one and asked me to call from the elevator lobby on my floor if it didn’t work. I went up and it did work. I put the keycard in the holder by the door (required to engage the electric-common in most hotels overseas) brought a few bags in and went out to tell Natalie (who was in the girls’ room) that the new key worked. As I walked out of the room and heard the door shut, I winced….the key was still in the cardholder inside the room. I’m locked out. I knocked on the girls’ door, and let Natalie know that the key worked…..and I’ll be heading back downstairs to get another one. I slinked shamefully back to the front desk, and explained what I just did, eliciting a chuckle from the man behind the counter. He gave me a second key (which most places won’t allow without a fee) and I returned to the room, careful to not lock myself out this time. It was already late, and our driver was meeting us at 7:30 the next morning for the long trip to Agra, so we quickly turned in.
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