Married PJJ (Perkahwinan Jarak Jauh) is no small feat, although its becoming more common nowadays. Notwithstanding that, when Ayah was working in Penang, it's kinda routine for Ayah to fly to Labuan (baru kawin la, katakan hehe..) And with Ai*asia around, why pay more? KL - Labuan used to have 2 flights per day for Ai*asia - one in the morning, and one in the evening. Until it is reduced to one flight per day, at 7.35 am! Now everybody can fly, except that it's damn early in the morning!
With not many choices left, Ayah usually takes Penang - KL flight at night, and then catch the Labuan's flight tomorrow morning. So, where to stay that night? First time Ayah pulled an overnighter, it was at L*CT. Remember, this is way before L*CT is expanded. Sardine-packed. The chairs that are flat enough to sleep is made of steel, so it's chilly to the bones at night. The chairs that are of fabrics and plastics are curvy to sit, but not comfortable to sleep. (Nice combinations, right?) Scenes of families and backpackers lying down mattresses are aplenty. And picture this, imagine only 3 restrooms serving those huge masses.
Yet, what can they do? It's supposed to be a cargo terminal, after all. Why would they throw money into a temporary place, when they have a new one in construction? To overnight at LCCT, to me, was really a horrible choice.
Then, the following trips, Ayah explored other options. What if Ayah go sleep in K*IA airport? Better, perhaps? So, Ayah asked around and got to know that there's a bus running to and fro LC*T to K*IA (buses folks call it MTB for Main Terminal Building. L*CT is a part of K*IA.) So, Ayah took the bus to MTB and there you go, flat fabrics long benches at every floors, waiting for people to sleep on them. The toilets are also much much cleaner. The only disadvantage of K*IA over LCCT is that the frequent announcements of flights, not like LC*T where there's no flight at midnights till mornings, but Ayah is OK with that.
So, the RM3 for the buses (now it's RM4) in exchange of nice overnighter at K*IA, is definitely worth it. If Ayah feels like it, Ayah brings a laptop, open and Wi-Fi around for a while before sleep.
Wi-Fi limited to 2 hours only = Cost- saving measurement?
Anyhow, Ayah has shares of memories of being an overnighter. One time, when Ayah was at B*rger King, enjoying late dinner, a long line of foreigners appeared in queue. It's really really a long line, towards the exit door. Guarding them, are R*LA officers and police. Oh, it's a line of illegal immigrants that were going to be sent to the PATI depoh rupanya. Wow, with these many, I wonder how many moolah has our Government spends to feed them at the depoh.
There was one time, a group of Indians that went for dakwah in Tawau, boarded the same bus with Ayah from LC*T to KLIA, to catch their flights back to India the next morning. Ayah ushered them to the nearest benches in front of surau while practising the teeny weeny bits of Urdu vocabs with them. It made them happy and talked back to Ayah like Ayah was a native speaker, until they realize that Ayah's command in Urdu is very very poor. Asking them to make doa for Ayah, we parted our ways.
Talking about poor command, there was an incident when Ayah was using the laptop in LCCT, that a Vietn*mese guy came asking politely, if he can 'borrow' the power outlet for awhile to charge his cellphone. Behind him, were 2 Vietn*mese girls, probably 'tumpang sekaki' since they were shy to ask. Idle times when they were charging their phones, made Ayah struck a small conversation in English, like "where you're from", "who are these ladies", "cuti ke?"etc. Realizing that his Malay and English were not that good, Ayah has to play guessing games on what he's trying to say. Better than being quiet, at least.
Ok, this is getting too long, and it's 1.30 already. Guess Ayah should pack up and look for empty benches to sleep now, and catch the flight tomorrow morning. Good night!
