The mission would
start after 10 days from our Kansai trip. It was a row of shifts after my
return and physically I was exhausted. To make the situation worse; I had a
very bad attack of asthma due to the dust from the room while we resided in
Kyoto. I had been thinking from time to time during that period about quitting
the mission. It was a struggle but after praying, I had gotten no sign of
telling me to step back.
The final day had
come after a long shift. I managed to pack my luggage and brought everything
that I could remember to do so. I did not properly listed out what I need and
just packed whatever I could think of. Food should not be a problem and there
was a hospital nearby where we were staying; I thought I would be good. I was
still worried about my condition and did not mention anything to Ving, Xian and
Yun.
Most of my team
members were residing up north and opted to depart from TPE; I did not joined
their lineup and was able to find myself another flight route. They had taken
MAS which would be flying TPE-KUL-DAC. My flight was Thai airway which would be
flying KHH-BKK-DAC. Both flight was 30min apart arriving in DAC and departing
from it on return. It seems perfect for the team.
I arrived on time
at the airport and proceeded to the counter hoping that I could do a early
check-in and have some snack at the lounge as my late lunch.
When I approached
the counter, the ground staff had referred me to the payment counter after
telling me that they would need a longer time to process my check-in. I noticed
that there were 1 pair of mother-daughter and another senior lady waiting
beside the counter. Apparently they were in the same shoe as I did. From time to time, the mother
had anxiously approached the payment counter asking for info. The KHH check-in
counters for foreign flight companies were mostly outsource to local flight
companies (EVA or China airline) and there would be a foreign staff to lead the
operation. The payment counters were mostly manned by the staff from the
foreign flight company.
The Thai-smile air
ground staff who was manning the payment counter had taken our passports (4 of
us ) and was busy using her LINE to communicate with her counterpart in
Thailand. As I saw the rest of the passengers completing the check-in process,
our check-in was still stranded at the counter.
I had asked the
local ground staff about the condition and she told me that our booking with
the connecting flight operated by Thai airways from BKK were good but the
booking from KHH to BBK which was operated by Thaismile was no way to been seen
on the computer; thence we were not able to proceed with the check in.
Apparently it was a database synchronization problem. Thai airway did not
update our booking to the Thaismile database. 2 hrs had passed and the flight
was 40min away from departure and the Thaismile ground staff was still
struggling with the LINE and the check-in terminal computer. I was hungry and
tired as I did not had my lunch. The local airport staff had approached the
Thaismile ground staff and telling her that they were going to closing the
baggage lane but the ground staff replied firmly that she would ask them to
re-open if they dare to do so….
For a moment, I
thought the great one had answered my prayer and let me rest for the next 7
days peacefully in my home. It was my fantasy of course and I finally got my
boarding pass after 2.5hrs waiting at the counter. I proceeded through the
immigration and security check. I had no time to grab any food and headed to
the gate.
While waiting for
the boarding, I had a strange feeling about this trip…It was a bad start; from
the planning phase to the boarding part. However every obstacle were countered
and I was about to start the most perilous journey of my life. The only thing
that made me felt better was that I had remembered to triple my insurance
coverage just in case….
I boarded the
plane waiting impatiently for my meal and drunk a few refill of soda before I
had fallen asleep. It was an uneasy sleep as I knew the most difficult part of
the initial journey was awaiting me when I arrived at DAC.
