Woke up after being sick all night - what the heck is with me being sick on Thursdays? I spewed on the plane from MEL TO KUL, I was sick last Thursday in Kuching and today I'm sick in Singapore!
After literally dragging my carcass out of bed at stupid o clock, (i really was pretty sick last night, I smashed down some buscopan before I went to sleep) it was time to pack my bags - it seems that having a big suitcase means that I had a license to "do big shopping" lol. I bought slippers, cushion covers, a sarong with a sarong clip and gifts for people at home plus dresses in Chinatown. I had my Lego brick set and a lego mug from JB, a couple of souvenirs from Lamgkawi, Penang and Kuching; and all my shopping from Singapore.
Singapore is still a shopping paradise, particularly if you are tiny. Last time I was here I couldn't buy anything except shoes because I was over 120kg. This time I was able to take advantage of the great Singapore sale that technically ended up 28th July but was still in full swing for me! I didn't plan my trip around the GSS, it was just a happy coincidence! A large here is a size 12, an XL generally a 14 so I've been happily buying mediums and larges.
Shoes and branded sportswear are very expensive in Singapore. They're 40-70% cheaper in Malaysia and it looks like I'll have to buy another small 4WD suitcase as I haven't even hit Petaling street in KL yet lol
I was feeling VERY ordinary so I elected to get a cab to the airport. It was only SGD $21, so I felt okay about it. I couldn't cope with the MRT feeling this sick and tired with all these bags! It would have involved walking to Chinatown station, boarding a train to Outram Park, changing to an east (green) line train, then changing again at Tanah Merah to the Changi airport line. Three trains? No thanks. I do that enough in Melbourne, so not doing that on holiday as well!
Changi has changed quite a bit. There's now three terminals, extra shops etc that weren't there six years ago etc. it's a freaking massive airport with awesome facilities - free wifi everywhere, lots of power points to plug your gadgets into, plenty of space, sleep pods, nap areas, free calf and foot massage machines, etc. However, not a lot of variety on the food front and its miles of walking between food outlets. It's mostly nasty at fried food too.
The gate for my flight was meant to open at 11:30 but we didn't get into the gate lounge until 12pm. The flight was leaving at 12:30 (supposedly) and we still hadn't boarded at 12:15pm. At 12:19 we finally boarded and they closed to doors and pushed back at smack on 12:30pm. We didn't leave early, we didn't land early and the pilot keep throttling back the engines so it was a full one hour duration flight. Stupid Singapore :(
On landing at LCCT, it was five minutes walk to the terminal and then another five minutes to clear immigration & grab my bag. Melbourne Airport, this is a third world airport in a developing country and I was out on the street in ten minutes. You've got a lot to learn!
I headed for the skybus to KL Sentral and had a good laugh at the antics of the bus captain and ticket sellers. Too hard to explain unless you've been to Malaysia, so lets just say they have interesting places inside bus shelters to stash the keys to the bus. LOL
So now I'm on my way to KL Sentral to buy a taxi coupon to go to the hotel. I expected it should be RM12-15. It was RM10 six years ago! I was right. It is RM13 from KL sentral to the hotel. Its gone up a whole RM3 or about AUD $1 since I was here last in 2007. And the taxi counter is in exactly the same place!
Anyway, I went to the hotel and dropped off my stuff. I started to unpack and then had a horrid feeling that I'd better ring the flight simulator people and Find out when my flight simulator experience was. Good thing I did, because it was now 4:30 PM & my simulator booking was at 6 PM. Turns out that subang airport is one hours taxi ride away from the hotel.
I caught the monorail around to KL Sentral Station and then tried to get on a train to subang jaya station where I can get a taxi to subang airport. Unfortunately the KTM train system takes a completely different ticket to the one that monorails as and as a result of trying to find with the ticket sales were, I missed the train
So I ended up buying a taxi coupon to Subang Jaya. RM34 later I had the ticket in my hand and thought I was home and hosed. Unfortunately it was a 40 minute queue for a taxi and then 60 minutes of Taxi ride.
I had to call the flight simulator company on the way to tell them i was going to be very late because I was stuck in traffic. They said no problem, I said excellent. The trip involved three tollbooths and I have no idea exactly how many highways we went on that but it was at least three different ones.
The flight simulator experience itself was incredible. I have a new found respect for pilots as there is so much to remember and do for takeoff and landing. Cruising not so much, autopilot does most of the work except for the occasional change in speed, heading and turning. I chose to take off and land into Sydney airport, which I've done as a passenger about a hundred times. I wanted somewhere familiar just in case!
Golly - rudders, brakes, flaps, landing gear, airspeed, headings, way points, artificial horizon, altitude...my head was spinning. My takeoff was a little off course because holding that baby steady is hard work and I couldn't exactly reach the rudder pedals! Cruise was okay, I engaged the autopilot which did some of the work but i still had turns, headings, speed and altitude to contend with. My landing was a bit of a fail, I was off the runway and into the grass a bit - LOL.
The pilot did tell me I had done a pretty good job for a girl though and was impressed with my knowledge of planes. I told him I'm a plane geek and love to watch planes take off and land, don't mind watching air crash investigation and love take off and landing as a passenger. In fact, take off is my favourite part - I love the bit where you're sucked into the back of your seat!
After the flight sim I was totally pumped, until I had a one hour wait for a taxi to the nearest train station (Subang Jaya) where I got on the wrong train and had to get off at the next station, get on the right train in the right direction and return to KL Sentral where I had to grab another RM13 Taxi back to the hotel. I then had dinner and finally got to do some laundry in the stinking sweaty 100% humidity of the hotel laundry room on the 7th floor. It was so good to have clean clothes again - LOL.
Bedtime - tomorrow I have my half day tour and best of all, it's up the Petronas Towers at long last! Yay!
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