Excuse me but there is something in the luggage

There was  a huge luggage bag made of cloth deposited next to me . It was just a bit worn but since there were no other seats available , and it looked clean, it did cross my mind that I could make use of its sturdiness to support my tired head . Soon I begun to drift off to lala land .

Then I heard the odd sound . Was I dreaming ? Made me annoyed enough to open my eyes and frown . 

12000 miles from Beijing

Snapped this pic in front of the Madame Tussaud ' s promotion counter at Siam Centre .

All of a sudden this Chinese lady waltzed into the shot . Personally , I think she is absolutely stunning and more beautiful than the wax model up front .

Someone once tried to sell me....

Fresh from reading Bitt DoubleIS's post just now ,which I find so true and somehow touches a similar chord in me , I feel I have to pen this down .

This year especially, I've shoved my travel plans in the backburner .

All the crazy shit that's been going on in the world has really gotten to me. 

My number one deterrent used to be crime and to a certain extent xenophobia, spreadable diseases and seasonal weather annoyances . Not protests nor currency issues . I got no problem with that . Then ( excuse me but this may be taboo but let's just get it out in the open now ) my other concern in recent years , was to avoid destinations where China tourists are flowing in by the masses . But I'll not get into naming those places . Just won't see me there anymore . Have witnessed enough horrible incidences to put me off quite a bit thank you . Really have no problem with China citizens , just hate coming into contact with the crazy tourists and rude service staff . Let me get that straight before you launch into a anglophile tirade. 

But now with rising Islamaphobia ( don't think you are not affected even if you are not Muslim ) , the refugee crisis , global terrorist attacks , the threat of war ever looming and that US travel advisory effective till almost the end of February 2016 ... ok , I tell you what , I'm taking a breather .

Until it gets a little bit better , I will be looking at safer destinations domestically and regionally ( but that depends on where too ! )

Your bag has so many stickers

Well, that's exactly what the airport guy told me by the time I got to KLIA.

Have to disagree. Don't think I have so many stickers, since I've seen people with much more. Then again, bags are so cheap in Malaysia especially Langkawi where I got my battered pink shell from. So I shrugged and he somehow allocated me window seats allllll the way to my end destination.

Earlier on , I had taken a domestic flight via MAS

3 important traveller apps for destination Istanbul

So let's just say you wanna go to Istanbul but don't wanna go on a full tour because by Day 4 , you're so tired of living in and out of your suitcase , sitting on the coach for so long till you can't feel your ass no more and when you do get up, you feel like a living zombie....it's time to go FIT ( free individual traveller ) my friend.

The hotels you stay in may have lesser stars but at least you will hop back on the plane without the middle part of your tour programme forgotten ( which part of the country was I at again ? ) due to being over stressed and over herded to the point of developing a mental block leading to temporary amnesia. Now, if you're ready to take that first big step forward and DIY your own trip, you'll wanna download this first app.

1. 

Discover Istanbul from Turkish Airlines.

Firefly pin

Was scheduled to fly down to KL yesterday, with Malindo. Without notice, at the last minute, in front of the check in counter they told me it had been cancelled . First time it's happened to me. How about that? 

So, me and this other businessman , we quickly trotted over to Firefly and bought tickets on the spot. The way he went about it, told me I should forget about the refund and let it burn. Everything went smoothly after that.

Once landed, got my flight rescheduled to an earlier slot. RM75 penalty charge mind you.

" Gimme one of that too, please " I pointed to the RM10 pin.

Swear the stewardess gave me a surprised wide eyed look.

This kind of pin would cost around RM50 at Hard Rock.

Don't look surprised dearie. Wore it pinned to my bag. 

Try picking this

Have been cracking my head over how best to outwit street thieves. You know, the kind that bumps into you 'accidentally '.  Just not willing to loose any amount of cash or card to them. Yes, I'm gonna try to rise above the problem. Toyed with the idea of sewing secret compartments on my clothes. Moved on to looking at moneybags. Until I recalled, from past experience, that they feel very uncomfortable indeed . Forget it. 

Exaggerated travellers tales

Some of my people are really funny. They like to cook up tales about the places they've been. Sometimes it's just based on presumptions. Other times they paint a good picture out of fear for " loss of face"

Overheard yesterday at an office here is one example.

She : " You all don't go to Istanbul. I regret going. Shouldn't have gone on tour there "

They : " Why ? What happened ?" 

She : " Aiyooo, you know .... that ISIS is so near aiyoooo....can see the smoke from the bridge lah. We were all so scared  " 

Travel pillow - beginning to be an obsession

It started with a McDonald's / The Incredibles , U shaped neck pillow. Bought it for between RM10/15 ( I think ) from a Taiwanese street vendor instead of from their counter . I still keep that. Only the baby is gone. Lolz.

Well, that was the spark, I begun lusting each time I was in the airport, but alas, the prices were a bit too much. No, a turn off. RM50 and above. Crazeeee man....no way.

The Travel Blacklist checker

Yep, another Matta Travel Fair is just round the corner.

However this time, don't be caught offguard if you have taxes due to the government.

Cos even if you owe them RM200 from milleniums ago, your dream destination will be a no go.

I mean, you took all that trouble to plan for your trip, I'm sure you'll want to save yourself and your family members from the embarassment of being stopped at our Immigration counters, right ?

Plus they've made it so easy for you to check . Just enter your Malaysian IC number in the space and click submit.

Type "Semakan Status Perjalanan" 

into google search and click on the corresponding link.

Should look something like the site above.

Ten airports before getting fixed

Don't usually wrap my bag but this time I did. Call it sixth sense or what may you but perhaps it would have been more damaged if I had not done that because it arrived minus 3 working legs when I landed on the 18th afternoon in Istanbul.

Took time out , filed a report at the airline office

and was advised to take it back to KL-Penang for repairs seeing how there simply wasn't enough time for it to be done in Turkey.

I could have taken it as a bad sign but nothing was going to get in the way of me enjoying Istanbul to the max. No.

So let's count how many airports it has been through....

KLIA 3 times

  

Penang - thrice

Personal encounters with some horny men in Istanbul.

Since I went solo this time, I found out for sure, that when you are a single female foreign traveller and you walk into the Aksaray metro area at night you are really asking for trouble.

 I had 2 men ( both older, separate times ) pretending to walk with me ( like I was with them) , one tall baldish well built Jewish looking guy sticking to me at the traffic lights, another 20ish shorter man leering and grinning at me until I got the hell out and  reached the safe area of Aksaray tram stop area which is about 200 metres from the Aksaray metro area.

I also had my voluptous derriere prodded sneakily from behind the cover of a canvass bag on the tram itself in Sirkeci, by someone who looked Cumberbatch ( shocking ! ) , my hand held and caressed by someone who looked like Mika . The Mika lookalikealso attempted to put a necklace around me but I ran off quickly before he could.

And then there was this fellow.

Strange bedfellows and a bunch of bananas

Redhead offers a chirpy " Hi ! " to the our new dorm mate. German girl says " Hi ! " back and breaks into a smile.

She wasn't in the night before . Passed us at breakfast in a weird huff without making any eye contact.

Israeli girl : " And you are from ...? "

German     : " Germany "

The redhead's eyes almost pop out , her face changes. Turning from soft and bubbly into a hard fiery Hellish stare. Beezeejuls. 

Me , I'm taken aback cos I was happily watching those two getting to know each other initially.The eye language is a universal thing among us women. The German went like blank for a moment.Fact 3 of us went like blank for a while until miss centrefold stormed out of the dorm. Shit, what's going on. God.That was not only awkward, it was so darn scary and uncomfortable. We didn't talk. I knew she was upset, but I really didn't know what to say that would make her feel better.

Enter the German

The cute flame haired dorm mate of mine bounced back in. She was a real busy bee with lotsa grooming and personal things to attend to, but today she had something she really wanted to share with me.

Me   " What is it ? "

She  " Look "

She pushed the pictures she'd developed into my hands. Excitement uncontained , she was flushed and glowing.

Crap ! She went skydiving on the Pampas ! Damn, My eyes opened wide , I stared at the picture of her,cheeks flailing strapped to the instructor . She giggled.

Me " Woaaaaa.....you went what ? What's this ? You jumped out of a planeeeee ?

She " uuhhh" ( this is one vivacious bundle of sunshine, I tell you )

Me  " so how much did it cost you "

After conversion, at that time, I'll put it around RM500.

Toyed with the idea but figured time was not on my side. Besides I had to survive till the end of my stay . Thus although I would have been mad enough to jump back then, it was simply out of the question.

Because I was oohhing , aaahing and cooing, the Aussie could not take it anymore and climbed up to our level. Adoi...

Were they Mossad ?

2001 

A week or so had passed , when rioters burned and looted Chinese shops in the Argentinian capital and the aftermath of that event, was the first time I found myself right smack in Buenos Aires , travelling in on a sponsored air ticket . Knew there was trouble, but was totally ignorant about attacks on the Jewish quarter in the 90s . Only found out about there even being a Jewish quarter in BA, like yearssss later. 

Probably no one targetted me since I didn't look that Chinese to the locals (cos at one of the transit points, an officer mistook me for a Peruvian ) thus I was able to walk everywhere on foot without any threat to my personal safety.
But I did turn heads because not many orientals took this path after such an incident, with nary an ounce of fear in sight . Ho yeah, I was fearless. I still am. I think. 

Hi, nice to meet Jew

Why am I even writing this piece ? 
Well, because I don't believe that all of them are a Jacob Rothschild. 

A whole generation of their young people are leading a nomadic lifestyle travelling around the world, because they don't want to be enlisted in the fight against Palestine by their government. Very kesian you know ?

The story below doesn't reflect this, as I only found out about their predicament later , in another destination. But that's another story for another day.

Still all real life stories need a start , so read on below if you like. 

When wanderlust strikes again

My feet get itchy when yet another travel fair comes up. Although that means that my pockets will surely bleed , I never wanna cure myself, no, not just yet . And so I pore through the adverts on the net and the print media. Lusting, planning, wondering if I can land myself yet another great bargain like what I got for Istanbul . Travel agents, huh, they can do magic when they want to. Yeah, even during super peak season . It's up to you to find them.

7 hour encounter with a holiday neighbour from hell

Not going to go into t00 many details but this is what happened.
At around 11pm, our neighbour moves in.

Turns out, he and his friends have taken 2 rooms and we are sandwiched between them.These fellas idea of a fun time,are to leave their room door wide open, play loud music,get wasted on the balcony while making phone calls, drinking beer, eating kacang, singing,talking, laughing extremely loudly.

Din goes on till around 1am till I hear someone exasperated yell 
" OOOOIIIIIIII !!!!!!!!" 
"DIAMMMMMLAHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

Drama begins.

The most drunk of the lot starts getting emotional 

He yells back 
" LUUUUUUU  DIAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMM !!!!!"

A lesson learnt in Istanbul

When I landed in Istanbul, because of my prejudice formed from reading material posted by travellers on the web, I spent the first 2 days behaving like a typical moron of a tourist, so cocooned in my own safety net, just afraid to engage and make eye contact, and ending up letting these nice people down. 
Self preservation. Or so I thought.

Until I somehow got caught up in small talk with a young trader.

Thieves in the skies

Reposting this alert I found on facebook.

While I have no way of verifying its authenticity, I have personally witnessed 2 incidents where passengers lost their personal belongings while onboard a plane.

One man lost his mobile, another his laptop.

Both incidents happened years ago , the first, only discovered, after landing in Sydney, the second, en route to....Hong Kong. In the latter, the air stewardesses implied that all female Chinese Nationals onboard were the thieves.