Abu Simbel Templefoto tokasidNokia 3110c
6.00pm10 hours before ETD: I was still in the clinic. My replacement was supposed to be here by 6pm. But my girls have told her to try make it by 5.30pm.
Its Monday. And on Monday I can't just go out from the room before my replacement is here, for Mondays are usually busy days for the clinic.
If I don't get outta here within 15 minutes, more patients might request to see me and not my replacement. Where is she?
At 6.15pm , my replacement came in, apologising profusely. I told her its okay, don't worry( I'll still pay you as usual) and I gotta be out immediately. In the waiting rooms several regulars smiled at me, but I told them I have to get going and they have to see the lady doctor instead. All said okay doc! but one guy seemed upset. I knew him and why he came that evening to see me!Kaki MC la tu!
I droped by at Don's place for solat before heading home.
Packed,unpacked and re-packed: The past few days, my wife had been busy.Packing her things and mine. The trip is gonna be for 12 days. And we decide just one baggage for both of us. Another one for Hafiz.
So out come the 'beg Haji', a canvas bag which had zipper at its bottom which when you unzipped it will make the 'beg Haji' taller!Most of our clothings are in there. And for our hand luggage we put 2 books.For me it was Watchers by Dean Koontz and for Mrs TA ,GUIT by Awang Goneng. And some junk food like kacang goreng, asam and Haw Flakes.And not forgetting the faithful fellow traveller, the Maggi Mee Curry flavour!
Few days before that we went shopping for winter clothings( advised by our tour guide), we got a very thick but comfortable jacket for Hafiz and a pair of gloves for me. I borrowed a jacket( looks like army jacket to me) from Pak Karim and Mrs TA got her old wool jacket bought in Brastagi years ago. And Hafiz had a new pair of shoes( which is not shoes for the school)
Our flight will be at 0410am and we must be in KLIA by 0200am.
Angel, out tour guide from
PARLO Tours told us to meet her either at counter J or K.
Bye Melaka.....: I had arranged for Pak Karim and my PM(pak mentua/FIL) to send us to KLIA. Initially I planned to start off at 9.00pm, so it won't be very late for PK and PM to drive back. However, we found out that Dr Asri the Mufti of Perlis will be giving a maghrib kuliah that night in Brisu. I know I'll not be able to attend so I asked PK and another friend Hj Usop to go.And I told PK to be at my house at 2300 hrs.
All the bags are ready.Passports :ready. US dollar: ready.Credit cards(not mine):ready.
Handphones: fully charged. MP4: fully charged and songs downloaded. Traveller's charger adaptor: ready.
By 2230 hrs, PK arrived and we had some coffee while the baggages were put into the trunk.
MM(mak mentua) was already crying before letting her grandson go with us. I know she would want to follow us, but I too know she is in no condition for the trip. Not with the cold winter and lots of walking and climbing to do in Egypt.
4th December.Tuesday.
0000 hr.KLIA( its not Kambing Lembu Ikan Ayam okay!!): I drove to KLIA just before 2300 hrs and by 0030 am we were at counter K's seats. There were lots of travellers around mainly of Middle Eastern countries. We didn't see anyone we recognised and its still to early to call Angel. I'll call her at 0200 am I told my wife.
PK and PM stayed for a while and I told them they don't have to wait if they don't want to. There's nothing they can do here. We salam and PK and PM left.( They missed the Banting-Salak Tinggi junction and had gone via the KLIA-PLUS route which is further. PK and PM arrived in Melaka at 0230 hrs and went straight to Subaidah Nasi Kandar for a hot teh and capati/tosey or Nan).
At 0200 am I called Angel. She was already at counter J, dealing with the tickets and luggages.We went there and saw our tour group had assembled, all looking very sleepy. After 45minutes, everything was settled and we were given our tickets.We headed down the escalator right to the immigration check points. Everything went smooth there and we made ourway to the airport train point. None was there so we had to wait for 5 minutes before the 'bullet train' came and took us to gate C12.
Before checking in, I told Hafiz to take his wudhu and wear the quff( a pair of leather socks), so it'll be easier for me and hm to perform the solat subuh on the plane.
( If one had done his wudhu' and wears the quff, whenever he re-do his wudhu, he doesn't have to wash his feet like always,he only had to wipe the top of his quff with his wet hands. For a traveller/musafir, it will be valid for 3 days and 3 nights. For a non-traveller it is valid for 24 hours. There are few hadith shaheh on this quff thingy).
Checking-in and the plane!the plane! The plane! ( no Tatoo or Ricardo Montalban here I assure you.LOL!) :
There were shoutings after the body scanner and luggage scanner. A female Airport security personnel was in the heat of arguement with a middle-aged lady. I couldn't make out what these two were shouting for both were shouting at the same time. It reminded me of our Dewan Parlimen.
Another security guy told us to leave our mineral water bottles( the big ones) at their counter but allowed us to takethe smaller ones. The shouts have stopped abruptly when I heard the middle -aged lady said to the security woman: " You don't have to shout to me.I can hear you well"
Security Woman(SW): " Tadi saya sudah cakap baik-baik sama you...kita minta you buka hand-luggage nak check saja, tapi you degil tak kasi apa pasal?"
MAL: " I know,but why must you open my bag? Orang lain you didn't check one!"
SW:" Orang lain punya sebab di luggage scanner nothing suspicious,madam. You punya kita kena check.Kami cuma ikut procedure keselamatan. Kalau everything okay,kita tak ambil apa-apa dari you.Tadi saya sudah explain tadi you marah saya nak check beg you."
MAL: " Okay lah okay lah...check my bag lah...I have nothing to hide"
After a brief checking, the lady's bag was cleared and she allowed into the depature lounge. As she entered ,many were glancing at her. She was alone and appeared lost.Looking left and right.Looking for someone. Angel, out guide came to the Lady and asked her to take a sit. Aha! The lady is with our tour group. That sounds trouble.( and something did happened to her, poor thing. That will be later okay guys!)
I haven't finished listening to Nakal(GIGI) when we were asked to board the plane. It was Qatar Airways.Boeing A330.
We were to land in Doha for a transit before taking another another plane to Luxor. Our transit will be for about 1 hour in Doha.
Now, I rarely travel overseas. So I can't compare this A330 of Qatar to others. Well I've flown with MAS to Sabah ,Beijing,Bali and Medan. I've taken AirAsia to KT and Kucing before. I've taken Garuda to Jogjakarta.
Interior of A330 looks small but the arrangement of seats into 2-4-2 formation made us comfortable though the leg space is less than desirable. But a plus to this Qatar flight( which I didn't had before) is the entertainment console and nice meals.
For entertainment, each seat is allocated with a 7 inches LCD TV console with your own remote control.There's the various movies for you( almost near Doha only I knew you can select the movies and songs!!Goblok) from Bourne series,the Contract,Stardust,Harry Potter, Rottatule, Hairspray,Transformer etc. And the songs! What do you want? English,Hindi,Arabic,Chinese,French,Italian,Spanish,Malay and Indonesia. And yes,Japs and Koreans too. There's U2,Led Zep, Doors,Pink Floyd,John Lee Hooker,Muddy Waters,BB King. And there's Pat Methany.Of course there Michael Jackson!!And there's the videogames too.Unfortunately, we can't blog!! Kalau tak......
Most of the passengers are asleep(those from Denpasar,Bali) or are falling asleep(from KLIA). I can't sleep. I have to look constantly at the windows. I need to know when Subuh is. Somewhere above Aceh, not Subuh yet. Somewhere above India not subuh yet. I think it was somewhere above the Indian ocean that I can see a thin white line expanding at the horizon that I knew its time for subuh. After re-taking my wudhu'( and wiping my quff), I manage to perform solat subuh sitting. Alhamdulillah.
Qatari Airway mealfoto tokasidBQThe foods on Qatar Airways was great(for me at least) or maybe coz I was really hungry. I finished everything they served.In fact some of Mrs TA's food 'jumped' into my small tray.
The cabin crew were of different nations and friendly. And none wore skirts like our AirAsia girls.
As night turned into bright beautiful morning it was an amazing sight to feast on.From total darkness the color spectrum becomes lighter and lighter with various degrees of yellow,orange and red thrown in followed by grey and blue.
Morning has brokenfoto tokasidBQAlmost 0700 am(Qatar time) the captain announced that we will be landing very soon and he took the plane downwards ever so gently. Finally he landed smoothly.Very clinical landing. You don't feel the bounce or the tyres rumbling hard on the surface.
Everyone was eager to get out of the plane. Almost 8 hours of sitting will sure make your ass sore. I'm sure we have hundreds of sore asses that morning, ever willing to jump of the plane to have a small walk to relax their limbs and make blood flow again.
Doha International is small if you compare to KLIA. They don't have the 'bullet train' but they have this broad buses that reminded me of golf buggy. 3 buses were there to take us to the terminal.The terminal is small,maybe a quater of our KLIA in size, but its very nice and cozy. They have a shopping arcade just behind the immigration counters and the above level is where most gates are with a big Musollah, eatery, several toilets and a smoking room( so hazy that I thought the KL jerebu had made its away across the Indian Ocean).
Kom Ombo: sunsetfoto tokasidBQNext: Doha to Luxor.
Kandungan posting mungkin ada kena mengena atau tidak dengan makhluk yang hidup atau yang telah tiada.Kalau sapa-sapa terasa nak buat macamana kan. Sapa makan cabai melaka dia pedaih laa
