For the first time I experienced Air Asia landing 15 minutes ahead schedule. I was very happy and relieved by that, because at first I was worried Air Asia might retime its schedule until almost 3 hours like had happened to me twice during my second trip to Vietnam. If that happens, I might miss my next flight to Jakarta. Although my first impression of Kuala Lumpur was good, staying another night this time would leave me in debt.
I stepped down the plane and entered hot air. Unlike on my first time, there was a very long queue at the immigration check. Since I boarded the plane, I had noticed that there was a big group of young Vietnamese wearing black and white. Judging by their looks, they don't look quite educated. Now, on this immigration checking line, some of them seemed not to understand the meaning of "Malaysian Passport" and "Foreigner". Well, having traveled to Vietnam three times in less than a year, I am not surprise of that.
My mind was about to travel back to Vietnam when suddenly a young guy standing in the line next to mine broke in with his voice. "Dari Indonesia?" (= Are you from Indonesia?)
"Iya, dari Indonesia." (= Yes, I am from Indonesia.)
"Abis dari mana?" (=Where have you been?)
"Dari Hanoi." (= From Hanoi.)
He looked behind me and continued, "Sendirian?" (= Alone?)
"Iya, sendiri aja." (= Yes, just by myself.)
"Sendirian??" (= Alone??) He shook his head again and again. He didn't say anything since then.
Minutes passed. A man in uniform appeared behind the desk for Malaysian citizens. He waved his hand at me. Does he think I'm Malaysian? I turned my head around. He waved harder. I pointed at myself while putting on a confuse look. Now he looked rather irritated. He nodded fervently.
I still thought I was mistaken for a Malaysian. When I handed my passport, I was ready to seem him look irritated and tell me to go back to the foreigner's line. But, he didn't. He looked into my passport, read my form, and said, "Transit saja?" (= Just transit?)
"Ya, transit saja," I answered. (Yes, transit only.)
He looked rather unsatisfied.
"Don't worry," I said, in my heart, "I'll be back."
But I did say loudly to him, "Terima kasih." I meant it, because he had kept me from standing in an endless queue.
"Sama-sama," he replied.
His voice was like music to my ears. You can't imagine how wonderful it is to hear words in a language that doesn't require effort to pronounce and comprehend.
At the "Baggage Reclaim" I watched the conveyor belt turn round and round and round. Before I went to Vietnam, I always brought my tripod with me into the cabin and it was always okay. But when I was in Tan Son Nhat Airport (Saigon), my tripod got rejected. I tried to explain that it was for taking pictures.
"Yes, I know," said the man in green uniform which to me looked like the soldiers in war movies. "But you can hit someone with this," he continued and swung my tripod left and right. I had to go back to the 1st floor to have my tripod checked in.
"Do you know that I can hit you, too, with this?" I asked -- silently in my heart.
Since then, in order not be tempted to hit someone with my tripod, I always had my tripod checked in. However, this time it seemed like I had to take the risk of avoiding that temptation. Although it's not an expensive tripod, I am a person who values things for the time spent together over the money paid for that thing. This tripod has been with me since I was a dumb photographer until I developed into a less dumber photographer.
Not to mention the time I had already spent queuing at the immigration line, it seemed the longest time I had to wait at a Baggage Reclaim to get the sight of my beloved faithful tripod. The conveyor belt was getting empty when I finally spotted got it. Ah.
Next, I headed for Body Shop to buy "Vitamin E Hand & Nail Cream" which seems to have been discontinued from all Body Shops in Indonesia.
Next to next was this:
Usually the last thing is always the best part, but it wasn't this time. The last thing was checking in for Kuala Lumpur - Jakarta flight. I don't understand why Air Asia doesn't divide the line for per destination for Indonesia Destination check in lines. In LCCT, there's a special area for Indonesia Destination which includes all the flights to cities from Aceh to Makassar. Either you are flying to Aceh or to Makassar, you can queue at any line in this area. However, Indonesians are "smarter" than that. Indonesians can choose to stand in between any part of the queue.
A woman in front of me said to me, "Why is it so confusing like this? I can't see in which line I'm actually standing."
A woman from an ethnic group in Java pushed her full loaded cart into the middle of the line I was queuing in. "Bu, ngantri donk. Jangan bikin malu orang Indonesia," I said
She instantly pulled back her cart. Several minutes later, I saw a man, apparently her husband, came next to her. He told her something in an ethnic language and then they pushed their cart into between another line. Not my line, but another line.
Kuala Lumpur, see you again in September.
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