CNY 2025 - the return trip

Having a united dinner during CNY was one of the important matter for Chinese and I had been struggling to comply with this arrangement since my return to work in the Ghost Island.

These years, I had strived to arrange a trip so that the whole family would returned and had a united gathering.

The planning was disrupted as I had to wait for Ving’s examination date to be fixed. It was quite late when everything was sorted out; double A was out from the preference and I could only place my hope on the CP.

The ticketing was complicated one as Ving and Xian would be travelling back earlier and Yun and myself would be back 6 days later.

The purchasing process was a heart pumping one as the returning date should be on the same day and I hit the hard deck during the last phase while I booked ticket for Yun and myself. The failure to entering the final payment phase of purchase was noted and after 40 mins of struggling; I finally got it through. Average price was rm2500 per ticket and I was glad to be able to closed the deal safely.

It was a lousy plan; the returning flight from KUL to HKG was A321 and from HKG to KHH was A330 which was vice versa from the home going phase. We had to be trapped on the smaller A321 seat for 4+ hours. But nothing to complain as I consider myself lucky to secure a seat doing a late hour booking.

For the CNY escape to materialized, a long streak of shifts had lined up for me prior to the takeoff.

I still remember the day of Ving departure. I slept by 11pm and woke up by 3:30am. I helped Ving and Xian doing the final preparation and left the hut by 4:45am. The airport was crowded with passengers leaving for Korea and Japan. The CP counter was quite empty and we were third in the line. The check in was smooth and I had given Ving and Xian a final hug before they entered the restriction area at 5:45am.

I had headed back home and sunk into the sofa for the next 30min before I headed to job again at 7:05am.

It would be another 5 shifts before my turn of boarding the plane back home.

The next 5 days was a streak of long and boring shifts. I traveled between home and the desk and utilized most of the time in the house placing everything in order before my departure.

Meanwhile Ving had attended her cousin wedding which was broken into two part, the pre wed party with open house buffet dinner and a ballroom wedding dinner at a luxury restaurant. She had however fallen ill after the ballroom dinner. From her symptom, I presumed she had influenza however I was still D-48 hours before my flight.

Yun had joined me for a late dinner D-30 before departure while she wrapped up her project and came home. It was a memorable night where we were shattered by the most stunning earthquake since 921. The quake lasted for more than 5 minutes and it stopped before we decided to evac from our home.

Shaking continued for the next 20 hours and I finally reached home from job 8 hours before our departure. Leaving home with wave by wave of earth quake hitting was an unpleasant feeling, but as there was no turning back for me at the point, I could only surrender my faith to the Great one.

I glanced through my luggage and double checked everything before I headed to bed at 1am. I was truly disturbed by Ving’s illness. I loaded whatever it was necessary hoping that I did not miss anything.

I had bet my luck driving straight to the airport parking zone that day. There were many parking slots when I sent Ving and Xian off. In the past the credit card offered a great deal of goodies when you pay the flight ticket with the card. However goodies were shredded to kacang putih; no more Priority Pass, no more free parking even you owned an Infinite card. The goodies were reserved to superior infinite grade holder who need to pay a non-negotiable annual fee of at least 1kRM; not my cuppa of tea at the moment.

I spotted a spot near the international terminal and headed toward the counter. I rested at the gate by 6:30am. Unlike the last year heavy queuing session at CKS; everything was smooth.

I fell into dreamland before the flight take off; even though the seat size of A321 was slightly better than the double A. The fatigue aggregated from the past 3 week of straight shifts had finally crushed my spirit and I was awakened by Yun when the staff served the meal. Shaomai with fried noodle, favorite for both of us. Sadly speaking, it is a shame that no coffee nor tea was served after the meal. Cheap coffee or tea doesn’t seem to be a great offer but yet it was enjoyable taking a sip of some sugarless drink after meal.

CP landed promptly at HKG airport. Yun and I took a slow walk to the transit gate and passed through the gate smoothly.

It was another 2.5 hours before the next flight. We tour around the Disney outlet and eaten a snack meal at one of the food joint. Expensive as usual and frankly speaking, Malaysia Cantonese food are still the best….

The flight to KLIA departed on time and the meal was surprisingly nasi lemak with a small scoop of sambal; definitely beyond par but yet no fish prawn also ok la…

We landed on time and boarded the KLrapid to KLIA2 to picked up our car from PRAC rental.

The process was not smooth as I finally realized that PRAC doesn’t have an office at KLIA2 and the car needed to be sent over from KLIA1. However, if I had picked up the car from KLIA1 and returned it tomorrow at KLIA2 it would be a surcharge from different pickup and drop off location.

I had booked an Accord but a new Camry hybrid was delivered instead. It was my second drive with Toyota’s hybrid and the driving experience was great and fuel efficient.

The evening jam was packed as usual and I managed to reach home by 8:45pm.

Ving appeared weak and had been laying the whole day with minimal food and water intake.

I fed her with the Oseltamivir and crossed my finger she would be well before tomorrow afternoon...

The night ended after we had a great meal at a local mamak shop. My bro in law Tango, Xian, Yun and I had placed order 4 rounds before we stepped out from the shop. All kind of roti, mee goreng, nasi lemak and 2 glass of drinks per person....

When we reached home, Ving was much better 3 hours after taking the medication….