It's 1am and I'm flying over the Middle East somewhere near Kabul on my way to Malaysia. I've come a long way fom home at this point; I've now been in transit for over 25 hours!The turbulence has been bad at times. Apparently it's just a windy and rainy couple of days all around the world. This is the furthest I've ever been from home and I certainly have felt nerves. There were a few times before I left New York, then again before leaving Frankfurt hat I thought maybe this trip is a bit too much for me. But I've stuck it out and will be in Malaysia in about 8 hours (from when I originally typed this, on Saturday 12/3/11, it is now Tuesday, 15/3/11). I'm looking at the map of where I am and some time soon I will have to take a look out the window. We are passing by such huge mountains I am almost certain I will be able o see them from this distance! (I mean, it's the Himalayas, so what else could be expected?) The trip hasn't been bad so far. We are in economy class, but there's such large group of us that we are making the trip more enjoyable just by entertaining each other. The food hasn't been too bad. The first meal on th Singapore Airlines leg didn't have a vegetarian option, and as it is a Friday during lent I had to just pick around the chicken. The servce has been good though. The flight attendants are really sweet and interested in how large of a group we are and why we are going to Kuala Lumpur. Right now it is about 1:20 Malaysia time (which I've been operating off of since we left Boston) that corresponds to 12:20 over in Boston.
So more detail about the flights so far: our flight out of Boston got delayed by a couple of hours so by the time we got to New York we had enough time to check in and get dinner before we had to go through security again. The flight was iffy due to rain and wind (the wind is what delayed the flight in the first place) the flight to Frankfurt was also running late, but not by nearly as much. When we first got on the plane we played a little bit of musical seats which got me out of the back row. I didn't manage to get a window seat, but I'm okay. I slept for about an hour to an hour and a half on that leg of the trip. It was 8 hours, but it didn't feel like that long. I guess the concept of time is pretty lost on me right now and that would have a lot to do with it. Due to European regulations we had less than an hour to get off of the plane and go through security again. (we have now been through security 3 times). On our way to Singapore we have been served lunch so far. Once again there were limited options, but there was a fish choice (okay, fish on an airplane: not that great, but it was still Friday). Now on this leg of the trip we were able to shift around some more because some other passengers ended their trip in Germany. This has left me with Parvati on my right and an empty seat to spread out into on my left. We still have one more meal on this plane, then we switch to a new one in Singapore to get us to Kuala Lumpur where we'll meet up with Jim.
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| View out the window as the plane landed in Singapore |
I'm really quite honestly excited to be in Malaysia, as much as the flights have made me nervous. The first day will be tough; first thing we're doing upon arrival is taking a bus tour of the city. Our hosts want to make sure we stay awake I suppose, which is getting mixed reactions from the group. It kind of makes sense to do that, though. The exciting activities start tomorrow with our trip to the Orang Asli village. We were going to give them gifts, but apparently that isn't good to do so we're saving the gifts for Monday at the Borneo Child Aid School.I really appreciate the fact that Jim has given me the credit for my t-shirt idea. He has been good so far especially since he has been over in India most of the semester and then left for Kuala Lumpur directly from there a couple of weeks ago.
Another part of the trip I'm really looking forward to is getting to see Sunnie again. Last I checked my messages she hadn't responded with the time she is available, but there is no way I am leaving Malaysia without seeing her! I've missed her the past three years and really never thought I would actually get to see her again. As soon as I found out that I had the opportunity to I got incredibly excited, especially since I am the one going to visit her!
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I just looked around. It is too dark to see any mountains, though I'm still sure they're there. We are about to cross the border into India. The point we're crossing at is pretty much the middle of the western border. It is now 1:50, just 5 more hours to Singapore. I suppose I should try to get some sleep, though I'm really not too tired. If I don't though I will certainly be groggy and cranky when we land. So with that I'm going to say good night!
