It's a horrible thing when the alarm rings in the middle of the night. I soothed my pain by taking another hot shower. It helps to wake me up and who knows when I'll get a shower this nice again. I never like to pass up the opportunity. We were amazed at the number of people waiting to catch the shuttle at 5:15 am. Does Air Asia schedule all of the flights for the crack of dawn? We had been given so many warning about the size and pieces of bags we can carry onto the Air Asia flights that we paid to check a large bag and kept our fingers crossed that we could carry on our much reduced backpacks.
Fortunately, we made it through without any trouble. We sat in the area before the security scan and drank our water.
Scanner – Can you open your bag?
G- Yes.
Scanner – You cannot take this.
G- It's peanut butter. It's not a liquid, gel or aerosol, so according to your list, it's ok.
Scanner – No. I must take it.
P- (whispering to Gina) Let it go.
G- GGGRGGRRRRRRR!!! Why didn't we think to put the peanut butter in the checked bag?
P- Because we read the list of excluded things and it doesn't qualify.
G- This is the worst part of air travel. The 9/11 terrorists accomplished far more than they could've ever dreamed. As a result of their actions, people all over the world have to be tortured, under the false pretense of safety, for the rest of our lives. It aggravates the shit out of me!
P- I know, I know. That guys wife probably told him as he was leaving, “Steal some good stuff from the travelers today! Bring home a surprise for the kids.”
G- Yeah and when he spotted our Skippy, he knew he had hit the jackpot. Damn! Damn! Damn! Why didn't we put it in the checked bag? Oh well.
We sat in a holding room with no sign of airplanes. When we were called to board, we were lead outside and walked, for several blocks, past the baggage sorting area and hundreds of suitcases.
G- I can't keep my peanut butter, but we can walk past these unattended suitcases. We could put a bomb in one of those suitcases.
P- No we can't, because he took our explosive peanut butter.
G- I hate flying.
P- Me too, but you hate everything at this time of the morning.
G- Very true!!!!
We finally arrived at the plane and climbed stairs that had been pushed up to the plane. I've only boarded a plane in this manner 2 times, when we left Belize in 2006 and in Cancun in 1982 or 83. It seems weird to walk out onto the tarmac. The flight was 2.5 hours and uneventful except for the fact that we were surprised to learn that we lost an hour from KL to Chiang Mai, Thailand. We had booked a room at Wild Orchid Guesthouse on the recommendation of Mike & Hannah. We paid 450 Baht (about $15.00 USD) per night for an air con room with a king size bed, TV, mini fridge, and a private bathroom with hot shower. We also arranged for a pick up from the airport, and we were met by Ron, a Dutchman, and the owner of the Wild Orchid. We were delighted when we arrived at the guesthouse and were immediately allowed to check in. It was only 9:00 AM.
There were many restaurants around, so we grabbed some breakfast and went to the room to take a nap. After our nap, we walked around the neighborhood to get acquainted with the area, and lounged in the guesthouse breeze way on the very comfortable chaises. We were very tired, so got in bed very early and took advantage of the myriad English speaking TV channels available in our room.
