After work on Christmas Eve, I headed over to Mel's house to get together with some friends for dinner and to skype with friends who had gone home this past year. It was so good to spend the beginning of my vacation with good friends. I eventually headed home and began my all-nighter (as I always do before a flight) of packing and getting ready. At some point in the early hours of Christmas Day I got to skype with my Dad until I left for the airport at 5am.
When I left Korea it was -10 degrees. This posed a serious question of what to wear on the way to the airport to stay warm, but also how to wear as little as possible to avoid lugging around clothes I would not wear for the duration of the trip. So I walked to the airport bus stop wearing a scarf, a long sleeve with a flannel fleece on top, fleece lined leggings and knee high socks with crocs. Luckily I did not have to wait more than a few minutes before the bus arrived and I promptly sat down and fell asleep. Upon arriving at the airport I found out that my flight had been delayed an hour. By this time Yvonne had landed in Taiwan for her layover so we chatted. I was a 7 hour flight away from being in the same city as my sister again after a year and a half. During this time, I advised her to make sure she didn't use all of her battery so we could connect easily in Kuala Lumpur as we were landing hours apart in different terminals. I also clarified that she brought an adapter for her phone charger. We also decided that she would send me a message to let me know where she would be so I could find her when I landed. Do you sense some foreshadowing here?
Seoul Sunrise at Incheon International Airport
My flight was less than memorable, I have become really good at sleeping at any given time, in any position (aside from normally in my bed this past week) so I did what I do best - slept! I was super excited when I landed in Kuala Lumpur knowing that Yvonne would already be there. This quickly diminished into annoyance when I turned on my phone and found that Yvonne had updated here Facebook status yet neglected to message me as to her whereabouts. The hunt begins. I spent some time calling and messaging her and looking around the arrival area at my terminal before deciding to head to the other terminal. I had to wait an agonizing ten minutes for the train but finally I was on my way and made my way with the help of airport staff who recognized my lost soul to the other arrival area. It was coming up to an hour after I had landed at this point. Walking into the arrivals area, I hear an "Ash" and there she is, the target has been found. Turns out, her phone did in fact die, and she didn't have an adapter. By adapter she thought I meant charger as she did not know what an adapter was.
What a relief! From here we headed back on the express train to head to KL Sentral on our way to Reggae Mansion, the hostel we would be spending our night at. On the train we met another traveller and fellow Canadian, Daniel who was on vacation from teaching in Taiwan. Turns out his hostel was in the same area as ours and since I already knew the way there, he tagged along with us. I love meeting new people while travelling. We made it to KL Sentral and I embraced the familiarity of the station and finding the LRT line. I think being in Kuala Lumpur in July really made this trip easier and less stressful than it could have been otherwise.
It has always been somewhat of a tradition in my family to have lunch at McDonalds on Christmas Day. Ridiculous I know. But it all started way back when I was 15 and worked there. I would work Christmas Day every year which meant my sister and Dad coming for lunch to spend time together. Even when I left that job, we still continued to make McDonald runs for lunch every Christmas, and so the tradition continued. After getting acquainted at Reggae Mansion we met up with Daniel and the three of us enjoyed some McDonalds. Yvonne chose a spicy burger and was not let down by the spiciness of it, it was even too much for her to handle.
Afterwards, we decided to go to the Petronas Towers. Unfortunately I didn't quite remember how Mel and I walked there the last time so at one point I stopped and asked for directions. It took quite a few locals to be able to decide on the direction and in the end we decided to walk back and take the subway as it was starting to rain. Hopefully Yvonne will post the footage of this wonderful encounter. Coming out of the subway, we walked in a full blown thunder storm. So unfortunately this is the best it got for Yvonne and the Petronas Towers.
Trying to wait out the rain, Yvonne did some shopping and then the three of us grabbed a drink at a small bar attached to the mall. The rain did not let up so we headed back to Reggae Mansion to get a few hours of sleep before our early morning wake up call to catch our flight to Tawau at 7am. Yvonne and I did stay up for a few hours as she repacked her bag and displayed all of the swimsuits she brought for me (as only have two is unacceptable). It was nice spending time together! We were hoping for better weather on the island, and it did not disappoint!
<3
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