CNY 2025 - the return tripHaving a united
dinner during CNY was one of the important matter for Chinese and I had been
struggling to comply with this arrangement since my return to work in the Ghost
Island.
These years, I had
strived to arrange a trip so that the whole family would returned and had a
united gathering.
The planning was
disrupted as I had to wait for Ving’s examination date to be fixed. It was
quite late when everything was sorted out; double A was out from the preference
and I could only place my hope on the CP.
The ticketing was
complicated one as Ving and Xian would be travelling back earlier and Yun and
myself would be back 6 days later.
The purchasing
process was a heart pumping one as the returning date should be on the same day
and I hit the hard deck during the last phase while I booked ticket for Yun and
myself. The failure to entering the final payment phase of purchase was noted
and after 40 mins of struggling; I finally got it through. Average price was
rm2500 per ticket and I was glad to be able to closed the deal safely.
It was a lousy
plan; the returning flight from KUL to HKG was A321 and from HKG to KHH was
A330 which was vice versa from the home going phase. We had to be trapped on
the smaller A321 seat for 4+ hours. But nothing to complain as I consider
myself lucky to secure a seat doing a late hour booking.
For the CNY escape
to materialized, a long streak of shifts had lined up for me prior to the takeoff.
I still remember
the day of Ving departure. I slept by 11pm and woke up by 3:30am. I helped Ving
and Xian do the final preparation and leaved the hut by 4:45am. The airport was
crowded with passengers leaving for Korea and Japan. The CP counter was quite
empty and we were third in the line. The check in was smooth and I had given
Ving and Xian a final hug before they enter the restriction area at 5:45am.
I had headed back
home and sunk into the sofa for the next 30min before I headed to job again at
7:05am.
It would be
another 5 shifts before my turn of boarding the plane back home.
The next 5 days
was a streak of long and boring shifts. I traveled between home and Job and use
most of the time in the house placing everything in order before my departure.
Meanwhile Ving had
attended her cousin wedding which was broken into two part, the pre wed party
with open house buffet dinner and a ballroom wedding dinner at a luxury
restaurant. She had however fallen ill after the ballroom dinner. From her
symptom, I presumed she had influenza however I was still D-48 hours before my
flight.
Yun had joined me
for a late dinner D-30 before departure while she wrapped up her project and
came home. It was a memorable night where we were shattered by the most
stunning earthquake since 921. The quake lasted for more than 5 minutes and it
stopped before we decided to evac from our home.
Shaking continued
for the next 20 hours and I finally reached home from job 8 hours before our
departure. Leaving home with wave by wave of earth quake hitting was an unpleasant
feeling, but as there was no turning back for me at the point, I could only
surrender my faith to the Great one.
I glanced through
my luggage and double checked everything before I headed to bed at 1am. I was
truly disturbed by Ving’s illness. I loaded whatever it was necessary hoping
that I did not miss anything.
I had bet my luck
driving straight to the airport parking zone that day. There were many parking slot
when I sent Ving and Xian off that day. In the past the credit card offered a
great deal of goodies when you pay the flight ticket with the card. However
goodies were shredded to kacang putih; no more Priority Pass, no more free parking
even you owned an Infinite card. The goodies were reserved to superior infinite
grade holder who need to pay a non-negotiable annual fee of at least 1kRM; not
my cuppa of tea at the moment.
I spotted a spot
near the international terminal and headed toward the counter. I rested at the
gate by 6:30am. Unlike the last year heavy queuing session at CKS; everything
was smooth.
I fell into
dreamland before the flight take off; even though the seat size of A321 was
slightly better than the double A. The fatigue aggregated from the past 3 week of
straight shifts had finally crushed my spirit and I was awakened by Yun when
the staff served the meal. Shaomai with fried noodle, favorite for both of us.
Sadly speaking, it is a shame that no coffee nor tea was served after the meal.
Cheap coffee or tea doesn’t seem to be a great offer but yet it was enjoyable
taking a sip of some sugarless drink after meal.
CP landed promptly
at HKG airport. Yun and I took a slow walk to the transit gate and passed
through the gate smoothly.
It was another 2.5
hours before the next flight. We tour around the Disney outlet and eaten a
snack meal at one of the food joint. Expensive as usual and frankly speaking, Malaysia
Cantonese food are still the best….
The flight to KLIA
departed on time and the meal was surprisingly nasi lemak with a small scoop of
sambal; definitely beyond par but yet no fish prawn also ok la…
We landed on time
and boarded the KLrapid to KLIA2 to picked up our car from PRAC rental.
The process was
not smooth as I finally realized that PRAC doesn’t have an office at KLIA2 and
the car needed to be sent over from KLIA1. However, if I had picked up the car
from KLIA1 and returned it tomorrow at KLIA2 it would be a surcharge from
different pickup and drop off location.
I had booked an
Accord but a new Camry hybrid was delivered instead. It was my second drive
with Toyota’s hybrid and the driving experience was great and fuel efficient.
The evening jam
was packed as usual and I managed to reach home by 8:45pm.
Ving appeared weak
and had been laying the whole day with minimal food and water intake.
I fed her with the
Oseltamivir and crossed my finger she would be well before tomorrow afternoon...
The night ended
after we had a great meal at a local mamak shop. My bro in law Tango, Xian, Yun
and I had placed order 4 rounds before we stepped out from the shop.
When we reached
home, Ving was much better 3 hours after taking the medication….
Source:
CNY 2025 - the return trip
