Here I am…

Well, here I am in Sungai Petani in Kedah. This is the main landmark – the clock tower in the town centre…

…and this is the police station. It looks like it occupies an old building with its colonial architecture. Personally I feel that such things should be restored and preserved as symbols of our rich heritage inherited from years gone by…

These are the old shophouses which certainly look like it is high time they get a facelift!

One great difference between this town and Sibu is that I went past rows and rows of shops and I did not even see one coffee shop whereas in Sibu, there is one in almost every other shop! I only passed by one nasi kandar place along the way before coming to a bridge across Sungai Petani…

Now if Clare feels that the Rejang River is like teh-see, what does she think the water in this river resemble? Air ular? CocaCola? And amazingly, I saw no less than THREE huge iguanas in the stinking murky water. I really wonder how they are able to survive. Perhaps the new state government can do something about it? After all, Singapore River was like that in the 70s or even worse, and now it is a tourist attraction. popular for river cruises and what not.

My daughter and I were heading to the main attraction in the town centre – Central Square…

where we had our dinner at…

Pardon me, sir…but shouldn’t it be Master Choo’s Kitchen? My daughter had this Japanese pork chop dish…

…while I had this spareribs rice…

I like that bamboo thing in which they serve the dish. We also has some siew mai…and this bun with chicken curry dish…

After my delicious home-cooked beef curry just before I left Sibu, this one was a disappointment. It was not even as good as the curry in the giant bun that my friend in Bintulu used to buy for me! At best, everything was nice enough and the prices were reasonable. All that, with drinks, came to a bit over RM25.00. However, I would not say that any of it was so very nice that I really must come back again. Sorry, it just wasn’t that great!

Looking at the town centre, I must say that Sibu is definitely a very much nicer place and a lot more pleasant to the eye. However, today I went to another part of Sungai Petani and was very impressed, but that will have to wait till another post…..

What you see is what you get…

Well, what you pay is what you get when you travel by the cheap airline where the aircrafts look like toppled-over tomato sauce bottles and in KL, you will have to use the LCCT – the Low-Cost Carrier Terminal, or in other words, LC = low cost = low class…

And if you are on transit, like me…they cannot let you check in all the way. I had to make sure that there was ample time for me to arrive and proceed to check in for the next flight (45 minutes before take off) in case the flight was delayed or something. I arrived at 11 something on schedule…and my flight to Penang was at 2.50 – more than 3 hours to go, and the counters do not open until two hours before the flight. Never mind! I took the opportunity to look around, this being my first time at the place. There is this passageway that will take you to the departure hall, right beside the Coffee Bean outlet…

Well, I did not go that way…as my nicotine level was dangerously low, so I went out of the building and later, came in through the main entrance into the departure hall. For one thing, there are no seats, except for a few at one little section for the elderly and disabled…and I cannot qualify for the former as the cheap airline has raised the age to 65 – nine more years to go! Maybe I can claim to be the latter…as there are many things that I can’t do anymore! ROTFLMAO!!! No questions, please; that’s for me to know and for you to find out! So some of the people had to sit on the floor…

…or in the heat in the waiting area outside, inhaling the fumes of the vehicles dropping off people just a stone’s throw away…

It reminded me of a bus station…but then again, isn’t this what the terminal is all about? Low cost = low class? There were some seats available but it was near impossible to get to them. I do wish people can be more civil, courteous and considerate…and park their trolleys by the side so that they will not block other people’s way…but then again, isn’t this what LCCT is all about? Low cost = low class? Of course, you can choose to sit in one of the dining outlets…if you can manage to squeeze in and find a seat, that is…

I think there are some eating places a short distance from the terminal…but I had no intention of going all the way in the heat so I went back to Coffee Bean – and there, what you pay is what you DON’T get!!! I had one iced coffee and a slice of apple crumble…

…and that was RM20.00! Ouch! That hurt! I could imagine feasting at Ruby’s with that kind of money! People were saying that at such places you can sit as long as you like, use the free wifi and what not…but here, you see all kinds of creatures hovering over you like vultures, squeezing in between the tables…and giving you some kind of threatening looks as if it were a crime to be eating alone! I finished what I had ordered despite the fact that the apple crumble was nothing to shout about (RM10.50) and the coffee was nowhere near Ruby’s (and for RM9.50…I could have at least 4 glasses at Ruby’s!!!) Anyway, enough said about the daylight robbers and let’s move on from there! Now, if you have the misfortune of going somewhere via this LCCT, you have to check the display to see whether the counter is open, and only if it is, take note of the number and proceed straight to it.

There is a no-baggage lane but if you have any to check in, you will need to go through security clearance. No frozen foods allowed, and definitely, NO durians….

Omigawd! Don’t tell me there are still people around who do not know that?…Oops! I forgot! This is LCCT, right? Low cost = low class, so what do we expect?

So proceed to check in for your flight, but don’t forget that low cost = low class and you will get to meet a lot of NCAA (No class at all!) passengers with tonnes of luggage…and they are NOT willing to pay for excess baggage – so they will juggle bags or juggle the things in the bags…to get down to the stipulated baggage allowance, never mind that they are holding up a queue that is already a mile long!!!…Having checked in, I had to go to the departure gate for domestic flights which meant that I had to go back through where I came as the gates are at the right hand side, somewhere after the display boards. How odd!!! But thank goodness they have seats in the departure lounge…

…but gosh! The toilet was SO dirty – wet all over, the bin overflowing with tissue paper that was scattered all around it on the floor as well, mops and brooms simply dumped everywhere…! Ah well! After all, it’s low cost = low class!!! And if you think that’s about it, think again because that’s not the end yet! My flight was delayed by some 15-20 minutes, not because of engine trouble…not because of bad turbulent weather…but because of the mad scramble during boarding! Gee! I thought I would only see that in Sibu…and in Sibu, at least, there is method in their madness…and everybody would board on time and there would not be any delay!

Well, I have always used the other airline…and my daughter too, and since the air fares are getting to be not so very affordable, I was thinking that maybe it is time we try the cheap airline. After going through all that, I think I will just fork out the money for my girl to travel in comfort, minus the hassle every time she wants to come home for the hols. After all, she most certainly deserves it as she managed to secure a scholarship to further her studies and I have saved a whole lot of money on that….. I’m certainly not pampering her too much. am I?