Do I catch the train or do I fly?
The flight is fast and easy, but the train has a certain symmetry, considering how I entered Malaysia. Plus, no risk of turbulence.
But I’ve been spending a lot of time on Malaysian trains during this trip and I’m tired.
The others want me to join them on the flight, Turbli says it should be smooth. I keep the flight booking, drop the train.
Either way means waking up too early. No breakfast.
A wheezing Grab driver takes us south to the airport. There are serene views of the morning sun over the sea. We pass factories for familiar brand names: AMD, Bosch, Braun, Reneses.
Penang International Airport has a single, mid-sized terminal. Despite checking in online, we all have to go to the check in desk. Luggage and boarding passes. Then we pass through immigration and security, both smooth.
Airside is one of those classic Malaysian airport designs, a long straight run of panoramic windows overlooking the runway and the arrival concourse, with a line of shops behind. There are not many eating options, a couple of coffee shops, a Nooodles chain outlet and duty-free and souvenir stores.
Our in-bound aircraft is running late. I watch a couple of other flights come and go before our yellow-and-white (bananas and cream?) Flyscoot aircraft arrives, Wings of Change.
This is my first Airbus NEO aircraft, an A321 NEO. Boarding is done in zones, the rear first, us second last.
The black leather seats are narrow and thin with a lack of a rear pocket except for the printed materials, the emergency card, the menu and shopping catalogue.
It’s not particularly comfortable, but neither does it have to be for this 1.5 hour flight.
The overnight rain has cleared and blue sky with high cloud is overhead, though darker clouds hang over the mountains to the west. I hope that it will be a safe and smooth flight.
The old Chinese aunty in the next seat interrogates me and then starts discussing exchange rate values and compares expensive destinations and I just don’t want to talk about it. I have no control over the rates. They are what they are, too late now.
Scoot doesn’t allow headphone use during taxi, take-off and landing, which is annoying. The taxi and take-off run along the tarmac are both very bumpy, hopefully the worst of today.
We enter a steep climb and turn off to the east with wonderful views over Georgetown and the bridge. Then we penetrate the low cloud layers, only a few bumps, and the pilots navigate around bigger convective clouds, future potential storms reaching skywards.
Things settle down at cruise, the pilots making small corrections to avoid clouds. They know this route.
I have a short snooze, but mostly look out the window and listen to a flying playlist on my MP3 player, admiring the vastness of the tropical sky.
Before we know it, it is time to descend into Singapore. Down through the cloud layers, land visible again below, then ocean as we approach Singapore from the west.
There would be fantastic views of the city, if only it wasn’t covered by low hazy cloud. Our path seems free of any substantial clouds. Instead we can see the rows of ships and small islands in the strait.
Around the big island we fly, then we turn on for the final descent. The golf course, the huge MRT marshalling yards, hidden bunkers for the airforce and finally the runway! Welcome to Changi!
We are back in familiar Terminal 1, not the low cost terminal, following the same path to immigration as our first flight on this trip.
Once through, we drag our luggage to Terminal 2 and catch the MRT to Expo, then change to the Downtown line to Bencoolen. Everyone is hungry and getting cranky.
The Downtown Line seems very deep underground. Our hotel is between the two exits. The room is small, but functional, like a Japanese business hotel. At least the third bed is a proper one and not a sofa bed
We immediately head out for lunch. B and Alex discover a Lala (cockle) bee hoon (noodle) restaurant in the Fortune Centre and decide to eat lunch there, as it will be closed for Chinese New Year from tomorrow. I continue on to the Albert Food Centre and eat laksa, nasi lemak and apom balik. Too much, but it is my first proper meal in maybe 24 hours.
We wander around some more, but I’m getting a bad migraine. After an afternoon nap it still hasn’t gone away.
B and Alex set off to find a Don Don Donki store for a sushi dinner while I stay in the room and rest my aching head.
It still hurts.
