Penang

Travel week! I am teaching Continuous Improvement techniques in Penang, Malaysia this week.

Getting here was quite an adventure. From Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, we were on time, getting there about 3:30 pm. That's an 11-1/2 hour flight. But they told us to circle the airport for 45 minutes. The pilot said that we had enough fuel to do that. Then they told him he'd need to circle longer. For that, we didn't have enough fuel. So he skedaddled up to Penang to refuel. I asked two different flight attendants whether they'd let me off the plane, since that was my final destination, but we weren't at a gate, and of course, my luggage couldn't get off the plane. Nope, I had to play a Tetris game and watch 2 TV shows while we sat on the tarmac at my final, longed-for destination. Penang is not prepared for a bunch of twin-aisle planes, so it took an hour to get a fuel truck, and after that the tow bar had been taken by another plane, and after that KL told them they were still closed. The pilot said that he could see nothing wrong with the weather, the airport, nada. We finally arrived 4-1/2 hours late, and everyone had missed their connections.

They told those of us who were going to Penang to go through immigration, but we didn't need to get our luggage since it would go on to Penang, and then to go to J18 to get new boarding passes. Three of us, one German, one Chinese and me, wandered for miles looking for immigration and being redirected. Then, we were told by immigration to go back where we came from (another train ride). We found a KLM counter with a long line, and when we got to the front of it, they said they wanted us to go through immigration, then to J18. Fine! We made another run at immigration, this time with a dozen or so Australians who were trying to get to Perth. Or at least to a hotel for the night, because by now it's 10 pm. I had not been able to call the driver that was picking me up because I foolishly packed his phone number in my checked bag. I finally got hold of Nasreen, the WesternGeco admin assistant, who texted his phone number to me and called the hotel for me. By now, we have missed our original 6:20 pm flight, the next two at 8:20 and 9:15, and we're hoping for the 11:50 pm flight. We found J18! That was a long line, but we were faster getting there than the Aussies, plus we had the Chinese woman do the talking. She got a verbal okay for the flight, but we had to go back (again) to the luggage carousel to get our suitcases. Then we had to come back to that counter in a half hour to get boarding passes if he was able to get us onto the already full flight. He was trying for Business Class. Off we trotted, talking our way back through security to the luggage place, but it's been 2-1/2 hours since the plane landed, and there is no sign of our suitcases. We go to "Lost Luggage" (they call it "Delayed", not "Lost"). We stand in line for 15 or 20 minutes, and not one single customer has moved. Could NOT believe it. Our last food had been 9 or 10 hours before this. I convinced the others that it was more important to catch the plane, so back we went to J18. Our Chinese friend walked past the line and stood to one side of the counter. The guy there had gotten us boarding passes. Success! 

At least it seemed like success. Can we snatch defeat from the jaws of success? We went to gate B9, check in, and I look outside to verify that yes, there is a plane. Then they tell us to go to gate B7. Okay, there's a plane there, too. But the gate attendant can't get the crew to go to B7. They went to B2, where there IS NO PLANE. We all have to troop over to B2 and wait for the plane. About then, I was on hour 29 of my trip. We took off after midnight, and landed safely at Penang (again). We three went immediately to Delayed Luggage, and they said no, we had to wait for all the luggage from the plane we came on. Maybe ours was there. After we once more did not get our suitcases, we had to file delayed luggage claims. I tried to text the driver but it didn't send. However, he was still waiting for me when I got out. It was about 2 am. By the time I got a shower and hand-washed my underwear, I got 3 hours sleep. In the morning, I had to iron my socks and underwear because they were still wet. Smooth socks!

My suitcase came late afternoon Monday. What a relief to find it after work, at the hotel. I celebrated by booking my very first facial. That was really a wonderful hour.

Meanwhile, the air is so opaque that it was impossible to tell whether you were seeing a shadow or an island while you crossed the bridge. Sumatra was having huge fires, and it is just west of Malaysia. They are "wild" fires, but the farmers love them. They can't afford earth-moving equipment, so they just burn down the forests to clear the land. One of my students missed a day of class because she had to take her asthmatic husband to the hospital. The air was opaque from Monday through Thursday. Friday, you can see the sky again.

I've had really good food, though.

I really like Nasi Lemak, which is rice cooked with coconut milk. It is served with chicken in sauce (left bowl-chicken rendang), hardboiled egg with a brown crust, peanuts mixed with dried fish strips, and cucumber. The right bowl was too spicy hot for me. The other really good meal was Chinese food in Dragon-i in the nearby mall. Not at all like American Chinese restaurants, really. I didn't bring my phone, so no picture.