ktm – pkr: stranded at the airport

after a good night’s sleep, i woke up at 6.30am coz my flight to pokhara was at 9am and i needed to be at the airport 1 hour before.

hotel breakfast…

oh, before i proceed, i wanna show you this:

how impractical is this for a keychain? that’s why i always left it at the front desk when i go out.

the domestic airport’s check-in counters. check out the antique weighing machines!

water dispenser in the waiting room before boarding. see the 2 glasses there? most of the people will use those, instead of the white plastic disposables. they’ll just wash it, fill it with water, drink it and wash it before putting it back. a bit backward and icky, but so environmental friendly! anyway, they used bottled water to fill those tanks up, i saw it with my own eyes.

as mentioned, my flight was at 9am and was supposed to take 25 minutes… but 15 minutes into the flight, there was an announcement by the captain that the pokhara airport has closed due to bad weather and we were gonna turn back to kathmandu airport. i was stunned for a while… now what??? i had a hotel reservation in pokhara and my pokhara guide and driver would be waiting for me there! and what about my return flight from pkr – ktm the next day? would that be burnt too?

back at kathmandu airport, i asked the people at the counter. they said they’ll wait for the pokhara airport to open before announcing the next flight, but there’s no saying how long that’ll take. i tried calling my tour agent with my cellphone, but don’t know why, i can’t make any calls out. seems like digi was experiencing some issue with the roaming codes for some countries. then at the boarding hall, i saw a phone there with a sign that said, “free local calls”. imagine my relief!

so i called my agent and told him what happened. he asked me what i wanna do: to wait for the next flight or to cancel my plans to pokhara and they’ll arrange something else for me (like bring me to nargakot instead, where i can take a mountain flight to see the himalayas from the air). i said i’ll wait for an hour and if there’s any flight out, i’ll take it. if not, then i’ll go with plan b.

i befriended a young nepali guy (actually he chatted me up first, coz i guess i kinda stood out from the crowd) who was also going to pokhara for a short getaway. i don’t remember his name, but he helped me take this photo with gil the globetrotter ami-inu.

at about 10.30am, we were called to board the plane again. i quickly used the free phone to inform my agent before passing thru the gate. but then we sat in the plane for quite sometime, without any movement. and again, the pilot’s voice came on, informing us that the pokhara airport has closed again and we had to get off the plane. wth!

again, i called the tour agent to inform him of the delay. and again, i said i’ll wait for another hour. this time, there were quite a few passengers who were pissed off and were making a fuss at the counter. don’t they understand that it’s for their own safety? they wanna risk their lives by having the plane flying and landing in bad weather, just because they don’t wanna be late getting there? *sigh*

bored with all the waiting…

at about 11 something, close to 12pm, i saw a lot of people crowding around the airlines counter again, and they looked like the same crowd from my flight. then the young nepali guy, who was walking pass me from the counter, told me i can go collect my snack. at least they bothered to pacify us with some peanuts and coke, even though it wasn’t not their fault the weather was so bad. and because i was sticking out like a sore thumb, the guy at the counter served me first instead of the noisy locals there. i didn’t even have to jostle like the rest. talk about discrimination! :P

at about 12.15pm, we again got called to board the plane. i called my tour agent and told him that this will be my last try. if i’m still unable to get to pokhara, i’ll give up and opt for plan b. but fortunately this time, we were able to arrive at pokhara safely.

the airport at pokhara is even more run-down! the arrival room (i won’t even call it a hall) is like an abandoned building, with part of the wall crumbling off! sorry, didn’t take a photo of it coz i had to see to my luggage.

after checking in to the hotel spectacular view, i set out for some sightseeing with my guide and driver.

first stop was the international mountaineering museum

then i was brought to a cave with a hindu temple in it and photography was not allowed. anyway, nothing really much to see there lar. i think our batu caves is more interesting.

next was devis fall, a very rapid waterfall that got its name when a swiss woman named mrs. devis who died after being swept away while bathing there with her husband. you can see how rapid the waterfall is if you click on this link.

next, i’m brought to see this suspension bridge

and the last place for the day was this seti river. the water is white in colour, because this river runs through a series of limestone caves before arriving here.

as you can see, there’s not much to see in pokhara. that’s why at every small attraction also we need to pay an entrance fee.

back at the hotel in the evening. the room has a nice view of the fewa lake, the lake that made pokhara a popular getaway destination for tourists and locals alike.

as it was still early, i decided to venture out on my own, as well as to look for some food. other than the breakfast at the hotel, i’ve only had the packet of peanuts the whole day and i was starving! chatting with the young nepali guy at kathmandu airport earlier, i found out that the typical nepali meal is the thali. so i set out in search of this.

i wandered into this 4 or 5 star hotel with a nice restaurant and ordered this, a chicken thali. and it’s not expensive at all, considering it’s a hotel restaurant. i think it’s only npr 280 (≈ rm 11.70), with an additional npr 50 (≈ rm 2) for a glass of lemon soda.

walking along the fewa lake (some spelled it as “phewa”) on the way back to the hotel. as nepal has no sea, this lake is the main source of seafood for the people in pokhara.

pokhara is very different from kathmandu in the sense that it’s less congested, has less traffic, not so polluted and less noisy.

as it was still early, i decided not to go back to my hotel yet and was taking a longer walk when i stumbled upon this concerto cafe. so i went in for some desserts… superb rum raisin gelato!! a few moments after i took this photo, the electric power went off and plunged the whole town into darkness. but it seems like the people here are used to this, as they quickly cranked up their generators and its business as usual. the power came back on quickly tho’, much to my relief, coz i was starting to worry about having to take my shower in the dark, with cold water!

back in my hotel room, the wi-fi signal sucked, so i turned in quiet early. might as well, coz i had a very early start the next day!

dxb – ktm: flying cattle class

waiting for boarding…

flydubai, emirates airlines’ budget flights…

cattle class. that’s how one would feel when flying budget. well, i guess budget flights would be the natural choice for workers flying back to their home country. and with so many nepalese working in dubai, it’s no wonder that nearly 90% of the passengers on flydubai flight bound for kathmandu are nepalese. not that i have anything against nepalese, but the way some of them act can really give you a bad impression of the people as a whole.

dunno if they really don’t understand english or really obstinate, but some of them really act like boh tak chek (hokkien: never go to school). this guy was still talking on the phone even after numerous announcements for us to switch off our phones. and he was not the only one! even the flight attendants don’t seem to care! *rolls eyes*

then my 7.00 am flight was delayed for more than half hour, because some passengers didn’t board the plane after checking in their luggage.

after numerous calls for them through the p.a. system, the crew decided to fly off without them. but they had to remove their luggage from the plane.

it really makes one wonder. how can someone just “forgot” their boarding time like that? these kinda incidents always make me think back of my late poh-poh. she was always flying off to hong kong and china by herself to visit my uncle, and never once had she missed her flight. if an elderly, illiterate woman, who can’t understand a single word of english can find her way around the big maze of an airport, i really don’t understand why other younger, literate, working class people can’t! looking at the picture above, it’s obvious that those luggage belonged to a whole family, and not a single individual stuck in a toilet somewhere due to diarrhea. *rolles eyes*

ok, enough of ranting. not a good start to a long-awaited adventure, right? so, i arrived at kathmandu airport at about 1.00 pm nepal time, and quickly found the sign with my name on it. i’m just so glad that i’ve booked my driver and guide in advance, coz the whole airport, the people waiting outside, the taxi drivers and tour agents accosting you trying to get you to engage their service… it’s all pretty daunting.

anyway, as soon as i got close to the guy holding the sign with my name, he grabbed my bags from me and asked me to follow him to the car. but once he put my bags into the car boot, he turned to me asking for tips! as it turned out, he’s not from the tour agency at all, but just some guy tying to get extra tips by helping tourists to carry their bags. and my tour guide allowed it! the guide and driver were just sitting in the car, waiting for this “porter” to bring me to the car. weren’t they supposed to do everything, instead of making me pay extra for such things?

the streets of kathmandu are a total chaos! most of them are like the roads in our kampung baru (malay: new village), without road dividers or traffic lights. and they’re really using their honks to their fullest. every little obstruction, it’s honk!! honk! HONK!!! phew, what a noisy place!

after stopping by the tour agent’s office to make the balance payment for my package and checking into my hotel, we set off to our first stop: boudhanath stupa, a world heritage site.

said to be the world’s largest stupa…

around the square of boudhanath stupa, there are little shops selling souvenirs and there are a few featuring the thangka painting. i feel the guide purposely brought me into this shop with the hopes that i would buy something and he’ll get a cut from it. coz when i went in, a guy in there proceeded to explain to me about the materials used to make the paints, the canvass, the meaning of the medallion and the images etc., to get me interested in them. really feel like when we go to china and the guides would bring us to the jade factories, tea shops, chinese medicine factories, jewelry shops etc. that really put me off and i lost interest for it immediately!

giant prayer wheel…

next stop is the swayambunath stupa, also a world heritage site.

also known as the monkey temple…

view of kathmandu valley from swayambhunath stupa, which is on top of a little hill…

smaller prayer wheels… that guy there is my guide in kathmandu, badri.

see why it’s also called monkey temple?

after visiting swayambhunath stupa, it’s already evening. so i was dropped off at my hotel for the day.

my room at kathmandu resort hotel…

but i’ve not had anything to eat since 4.30 am and was famished! so i wandered off again on my own in search for food. it’s a good thing that my hotel is in thamel, the part of kathmandu where most tourists stay.

since it’s a tourist area, they have all sorts of restaurants. i chanced upon this korean restaurant in a side street, and since i was craving for korean food, i decided to give it a try. i know, many of you are thinking that i should try the local food right? hehe…

surprisingly, the bibeembab was really good! even the kimchi was nice. at least they didn’t incorporate in some weird local vege as replacement, as what happened in siem reap. and they’re cheap too! total bill for a bibeembab (with 5 complimentary side dishes) and a bottle of coke came up to (if i remember correctly) only npr 300 (about rm 12.50). the waiter and waitress were nepalese, who can’t really understand my english, but i still managed to have a small chat with them and they said that their owner is a korean. too bad i can’t remember the name of the restaurant… :(

a side street of thamel…

after dinner, i took a walk around thamel. it’s really a very touristy place, with shops catering to tourists. their streets are really a maze, and i had to really pay attention to where i was going so as not to get lost. but i only walked about for a little while, coz i got really irritated with all the honking vehicles!

they also have baskin robbins, ok? dun pray-pray…

on the way back to my hotel, i saw a baskin robbins shop! whoa!! i bought 2 scoops just to see if they’re any different from those that we’re accustomed to. they didn’t have the regular flavours that we know, but the taste and texture are really that of the brand. i guess the shop can only survive in thamel, with all those tourists around.

so that ended my first day in nepal. as per my previous post, i had to take an early flight to pokhara the next day, so i slept quite early that night, after a good shower. oh yeah, i have to mention here that the tap water in kathmandu tastes and smells really weird! and yellowish in colour too! i had to be really careful not to swallow any when showering, and used bottled water to brush my teeth! :D

*more photos in my fb, if you’re my friend there (soon, maybe tomorrow – it’s late and i need to go to bed to avoid getting nagged by my parents tomorrow!)

namaste from kathmandu!

hehe, so happy to know that all the 3 hotels that i’ll be staying for this trip have free wi-fi! but too tired to blog. it’s been a long day, not to mentioned tiring due to lack of sleep. will post about this trip when i’m back in the comforts of my bear hill home, ok? in the meantime, i leave you with this shot, taken from budhanath stupa, the world’s biggest stupa.

prayers in the wind…

ok, going to sleep soon. flight to pokhara tomorrow is very early!

woo-hoo, vacation!

my vacation has officially started! ok, not really. i’m still at my apartment, obviously. but my bags are packed and i’m ready to go! my first flight is at 7am, it’s now 1am, so i decided not to go to sleep but to update everyone here about my trip. noticed that i said “first flight”? well, i won’t be going home to m’sia straight, but will make a “detour” first. hehe…

namaste! this is gil the globetrotter, the ami-inu who will be my travel companion this time… ;)

my first stop would be to nepal, where i’ll stay one night in kathmandu, before flying to pokhara the next day. pokhara, also in nepal, is a town next to a lake and is said to be a very beautiful place. it’s about 8 hours drive from kathmandu, depending on the traffic condition, so that’s why i chose to fly. it’s only 25 minutes via the air, so it really saves up a lot of my time, coz i’ll only be in nepal for 4 days. anyway, i’ll stay one night in pokhara and then fly back to kathmandu for another night’s stay before flying off to my next destination…

…which is new delhi, india. actually my decision to stop for one night in india was quite impromptu. originally it was only nepal, and then back to kl. but since all the airlines from nepal to kl will transit in india, i decided that since i’ll be going to india anyway, so might as well just stay one night there and see what the place is like. coz truth be told, india has never been in my list of places to go, and i’ll never wanna go there under almost any other circumstances.

anyway, in new delhi, i’ll be going up to agra to see the taj mahal before flying back to kl. agra is about 5 hours drive from new delhi, again depending on traffic condition and my schedule in india is really very tight! but the tour operator has assured me that we’ll be able to make it back to new delhi to catch my flight at 9.55 pm. so just keeping my fingers crossed.

so in short, my journey will be:

dubai – kathmandu – pokhara – kathmandu – new delhi – agra – new delhi – kuala lumpur

complicated neh? hehehe… actually for all these places, i’ve already engaged tour agencies to handle everything for me, with private guide and driver. actually i could’ve just taken public transports and do like what N and i did in siem reap. but since i’ll be traveling solo, and these places are not exactly renown for their safety, i thought i’d better pay a lil bit more money to be safe.

nice girl natalie, who went to nepal 2 years ago, kept reminding me to be careful of my belongings when on the streets, and to be careful of people trying to sell me weed. weed as in marijuana! on the streets! she also reminded me numerous times to be careful of my luggage when checking in at the airport, coz of drug trafficking. how scary is that?!

then when another colleague, an indian, he found out that i’ll be going to india alone, he looked at me as if i’m mad. no, he actually asked me out right if i’m mad. then while i was still wondering how i can get to agra from delhi, i saw on the internet that there’s train service between these 2 places. so i asked my colleague if it’s easy to travel by train. again, he looked at me as if i’m some alien from outer space and said i probably won’t even make it to agra before i disappear into thin air and not even a strand of my hair would be found again in 20 million years. so better be safe than sorry lar, i guess.

the last time i traveled solo was right after i graduated, where i went to singapore on my own for more than a week. well, i can’t say i was on my own in singapore, coz i was staying with my cousin there. just that since she’s working, i went out exploring on my own on most days. so in actual fact, this coming trip will be my first truly solo trip. so now, the feeling is apprehension mixed with excitement. also a tiny bit of heartache for the amount of money i’m spending for this entire trip. solo traveling is really blardy expensive!

neeways, i’m not sure how often i’ll get to go online while traveling, but i’ll try my best to update my locations on facebook, so that if ever anything happens to me (touch wood!), at least it’ll be easy for the authorities to track my last location, right? of course, hopefully nothing of that sort would happen lar.

of mee hoon kueh…

been craving for this for quite some time, so i decided to try making it 2 weekends ago. i mean, how hard can it be, right?

yellow mee hoon kueh…

no, it’s not hard, but because i was only cooking for one, it’s quite difficult to control some things. for example, we’re supposed to knead the flour with water and egg. but because the flour needed is of such small portion, i didn’t even have to use water! i just broke the egg onto the flour and kneaded. that’s why the mee hoon kueh turned out to be yellowish. hehe…

anyway, i didn’t have anchovies, which is the main ingredient for the soup. the only anchovies i can find in the markets here are from india, and they looked quite weird. not at all like the anchovies we have back home. i also can’t find any ikan bilis stock cubes here. we have more varieties of knorr and maggi cubes here, compared to back home: chicken, beef, vege, tamarind and even pork. but don’t know why, no ikan bilis! *note to self: buy dried ikan bilis and ikan bilis stock cubes on my next trip home.

for the soup base, i put in prawns, dried shrimps (which is like redundant coz i already have prawns, but dun care lar), chinese mushrooms, chicken slices and some chinese cabbage that i bought from the chinese grocery store. the soup turned out quite nice, but the mee hoon kueh was too thick! so it’s not that nice. i should have thought of pressing it out with a rolling pin or a bottle to make it thinner. anyway, will give this another try when i get my ikan bilis.

making mee hoon kueh reminds me of my late poh-poh. when i was very young, while all the adults go to work and the bigger kids go to school, i’ll be left at home with my poh-poh. so most of the time, i’ll be messing around in the kitchen, while poh-poh was cooking lunch or doing whatever that adults do in the kitchen. i particularly loved it when poh-poh cooked mee hoon kueh, coz she’d always let me knead the dough and later when the broth is done, let me help to pull out the dough into small pieces to be dumped into the pot. then when it’s done, she’d ladle out a big piping hot bowl of mee hoon kueh for me, but won’t have any for herself because she’s a vegetarian.

i guess that’s the reason why i love mee hoon kueh so much. it reminds me of those innocent childhood days, all those precious time spent with my beloved poh-poh. for me, this particular dish would forever be my comfort food. it reminds me of a time in my life so long ago, where there was someone who spoilt me rotten and who held me so dear that in her eyes, i could do no wrong.

ok, stopping now before i soak up my sleeves…

dressing like a pro-rider…

i went shopping for my equestrian apparels today… how do i look? :P

in full apparel…

previously, other than my helmet, i went for my lessons in my normal clothes, meaning a pair of slacks, a t-shirt and my brown hiking shoes.

then i discovered that i always end up with bruises in my inner calves. coz as we’re riding, our calves will be rubbing against the leather of the stirrups and sometimes a bit of flesh will get caught in between the leather and the horse’s body. sometimes our ankles will also hit the stirrup metal, causing bruises. so now you know why riders wear boots when riding. it’s not for fashion hor!

then i discovered that my fingers will always get blisters, coz they’re always rubbing against the reins, which are made of leather. hence the gloves…

and as i get more advanced (not advanced as in pro, but more advanced as compared to when i first learnt to ride), we’re required to start whipping the horses to make them go faster (with the trainer’s reassurance that they won’t hurt one bit). up until now, i’ve always used the trainer’s whip, but as they were not so expensive, i decided to get my own.

soft leather-like thing at the end of the whip. i gave my thigh a tiny slap with it and it hurt like hell! which was why i always only use it to slap lightly on the horse, much to my trainer’s exasperation coz my speed didn’t pick up at all! :P

actually i only bought an ankle length riding boots. i’d love to wear those knee length boots, but as i have such extraordinarily big calves, that i think only the phua chu kang boots will fit me! argh!!! so i had to go for ankle length boots and half chaps. half chaps are these covers for the calves, something like sleeves but worn on the legs to protect our calves.

ankle length riding boots and half chaps… sorry for the blur photo! click here for a clearer picture of how half chaps look like.

the riding pants, called “schooling breeches”, also has an extra layer of reinforcements at the calf area, for extra protection. it’s form fitting for ease of movement, as well as to increase the touch between our legs and the horse, coz we also cue the horse with our legs to get them to do what we want.

now, maybe you’ll ask, “since you have the extra padding in your breeches and the half chaps, why do you still need to buy the riding boots?” well, remember when i fell down twice previously? the 2nd time that i fell, my right foot actually got caught in the stirrup and my leg was still hanging onto the horse while my whole form was lying on the ground. it was a good thing that sebastian stopped when i fell. if he’d continue to trot, he’d be dragging me along by my foot! the reason my foot got caught in the stirrup was because i wore the wrong shoes. a pair of hiking shoes has more spikes and better gripping soles. but for riding, we want to wear something that has a bit of heels so that our feet will not slip too far into the stirrups and get caught in it, as well as will slip out easily in case we fall.

actually, looking at my photo now, i see that i’ve bought the wrong helmet. it doesn’t match the rest of the apparels at all! the helmet looks like it’s more for horse racing than for equestrian. should’ve gotten something more pretty and charming… haiz, too bad lar.

chicken porridge…

made this last weekend, coz i bought some chicken breast fillets and had to finish them up.

chicken porridge with wolfberries and conpoy

just a typical weekend meal… but dunno why, even though i blanched the chicken, it’ll still produce the “white stuff” in my porridge/soup. maybe i didn’t blanch it properly?

claypot chicken rice…

i made this some weeks back, but didn’t post it up due to sheer laziness… :P

in satisfying my crave for claypot chicken rice…

been craving for this for quite some time, so decided to google up the recipe and try to make it myself. i found a few versions on-line, but in the end, decided to use the one sent to me by absolut ginger. it’s her mom’s recipe, and i chose it for its simplicity.

but my first attempt didn’t turn out quite so nice… coz i didn’t really measure out the amount of sauces used, but just went by my intuition. a dash of sesame oil, pinch of salt, a dollop of oyster sauce etc. the result was too salty!! so obviously i’m not that seasoned a cook yet to be relying on my “intuition”… hehe…

and no, i didn’t cook it straight in my claypot, coz i’m not sure if it’ll work on my electric stove (something like a hot plate kind). i don’t want the claypot to crack while cooking… think of all those mess i’d need to clean up! so i used the rice cooker method as per the recipe.

neeways, here’s the recipe absolut ginger sent me, in case anyone wanna give it a try:

chicken - chopped in small sizes.
garlic, pepper, sesame oil, oyster sauce, black soya sauce, soya sauce, chicken stock (knorr cube or ajinomoto)
my mom would stir fried chicken first.
1. add oil. put some chopped garlic into wok. stir garlic until brown.
2. pour chicken in it.
3. add in oyster sauce, thick soya sauce, soya sauce, pepper, a little sugar, maybe a little chinese wine if you like.
4. add some strips of ginger if you like.
5. cook until gravy is thick.
6. add in chicken stock/cube.

cook rice as usual - when the rice is almost cooked, pour in the chicken. stir. leave for 20 minutes. then add some sesame oil (as you like). stir. garnish with shallots, spring onions and red chilli.
serve while it's hot.

may give this another try, when i get another round of craving for claypot chicken rice ;)

lavender me time…

a pot of tea, a good book, a whiff of lavender, a basket of craft and a dose of tbv/k-drama… ah, blissful weekend!

who visits you when you sleep?

i was sleeping peacefully and was vaguely aware of myself rolling to my left to continue sleeping on my side. then suddenly, i felt a slight stirring behind me, as if there's someone sleeping next to me on the bed, as well as a slight sinking of the bed. i thought, "ah shucks, not again!" and started chanting.

i tried to chant out loud, but no sound came out of my mouth. i can't move a muscle nor even open my eyes. but as soon as i started chanting, i can feel the "pressure" lifting off me with again, some stirring on my bed as if a heavy object has been lifted off the surface.

when i felt that i'm completely free to move again, i opened up my eyes and saw the clock reading 4:00am. damn! my heart pounding, i quickly looked around my room, but everything is in order as they should be. but now that i'm wide awake, i'm just angry. another interrupted sleep! blardy hell! took me more than an hour to fall asleep again, and then it's time to wake up for work. double damn!

actually this is not the first time this has happened to me. the first time was during my secondary school, form 4 i think. scared the hell out of me! up until now, i've experienced it for 5-6 times, in bear hill, in bkt jalil, and now in sandland.

according to chinese lore, this is called "pei kwai jak" (cantonese: pinned down by a ghost). in other cultures, they refer to it is "hag phenomenon" or "old hag syndrome". basically, the symptoms are about the same, with slight variations depending on the person. at first, i too thought that i was visited by some supernatural thingy. the first few times, i daren't even tell anyone. then another time when that happened and i told my parents, my mom said it could be because i missed my gongyo the night before.

then lately, i came across an article about "sleep paralysis" and the symptoms are what i've experienced, except that i had them while lying on my sides instead of on my back as reported by many others. so there's actually a scientific explanation for it! but they still can't explain about the hallucination (is the sinking sensation of the bed and stirring behind me really a hallucination?) though.

anyway, i'm more calm now, whenever i'm "pinned down", coz i know it's not really a supernatural visitation and i'm not about to be possessed by a ghoul or kidnapped by the aliens. but that doesn't dispel the initial fear when i feel the first stirrings behind me. after that, i'm just hell pissed that i'll have trouble going back to sleep, which will make me even more pissed! why am i always being inflicted with all these sleep problems??