The one good thing about having to get up at 'stupid o'clock' in the morning is the lack of traffic on the road. And so after the alarm went off at 5am! The ever generous 'North London Chappie' dropped TC and I off at Heathrow airport bang on schedule; at 7am - enough time for my 'I'm not going to be so neurotic' travel buddy to worry about the banana she had left on her hall floor, the beetroot in her fridge and the wilting tulips on her dining table!
We waved goodbye to our 'chauffeur' and checked in. TC tried her usual: "I don't suppose there are any free upgrades available?" with the check in lady, who in return looked down her nose at us with disdain and replied: "There are upgrades available, but you have to PAY for them".
We smiled genially and headed off, tails between our legs, to the departure gates with all the other plebs.
Breakfast was filling, once we had finished moving from table to table to find one that wasn't too cold for TC and then we went for a mooch around the shops. I was desperate to find a sun hat as I don't usually wear one and they are de rigour once a lady turns 50. But strangely there are no shops in terminal 4 that sell that kind of attire. TC however managed to buy a pair of noise isolating 'ear bud' headphones for the flight and then proceeded to worry about re-Infecting her already infected ear from the bad cold she'd been suffering with the week before.
We boarded the plane and for some unknown reason, had to wait an hour before take-off. But at least there was no one suddenly taken ill, like last year on our way to The Philippines, or the dreaded 'UFO' (unidentified foot odour) that we suffered the year before that on our way to Indonesia.
Finally our flight took off and we settled down to watch various movies on the first leg of our Air Malaysia 12 hour flight to Kuala Lumpur and so far, impressively, TC has not mentioned anything about the foot she fractured back in the summer, then bruised a couple of months later from wearing a new pair of DMs (she sent me photos: one of the foot and one of the Doc Martins whilst waiting at A & E) or the folds she felt she had developed on her eyeballs! (Don't ask!)
Things could be looking up ...
And now, here I sit, writing from The Grand United hotel, in Yangon (formerly known as Rangoon), the old capitol of Myanmar, after our second flight went without a hitch.
Myanmar is the largest nation in SE Asia with over 51 million occupants. A similar size to Turkey and a tad larger than France, the country borders Bangladesh, India, China, Laos and Thailand.
In 1989, ruled by the military junta, the name was changed from Burma (so called because of the majority ethnic group living here - the Bamars) and back to its original name 'Myanmar' to make it more inclusive of all the other minorities living here.
We have just returned from our group meeting and first dinner out. There are 11 of us: mostly Brits (even a South Londoner!!), a Canadian and an American, with ages ranging from 30s through to 70s - a nice eclectic group. Food was delicious and not expensive at all, but tomorrow is when the adventure really begins.
Having neatly 'unpacked', TC is passed out from jet lag and I'm close behind, so let's hope that sleep is kind to us both, we have to be dressed and breakfasted by eight!
See you tomorrow and Cheyzooba (thank you).
So far so good.✈
ReplyDelete