rainysummer’s Neighborhood

While waiting for my luggage last night...

I lay in bed wide awake, glancing at the time every now and then.

Then there's a loud scrape on the floor above me. Like someone was moving the table across the room.

I was so tired, angry and frustrated I could not shed tears anymore. I was trying to sleep and there was this sound coming from above. At past midnight. Who would be happy?

I had called the airport earlier and was told that my luggage had been dispatched at 11pm.

Then why the hell has it not arrived yet at 1am?

Another loud scrape. Is it a table? Or a chair? Or the bed?

It was nearing 2am already.

Jesus, what's he/she doing over there? One more time... and I'm going to call that bloody room.

LOUD SCRAPE.

That's it!

I dialed the room number and a soft male voice answers, I could hear music in the background.

"Hi, sorry to bother you. I'm staying in the room below you. I'm just wondering... are you moving things around your room?"

"...not really." I could sense from his voice that he was puzzled over this call.

"But I can hear the floor scraping."

"People screaming?"

"No... just some loud scraping on the floor. Nevermind, sorry to bother you."

At least after that call, the sound ceased. Maybe he got the message finally.

But my luggage has not arrived yet (it arrived at bloody 3am).

Anyway, fast forward to lunch today.

I was seated across German AH. We met in Beijing last year, which he also coordinated and he was even nice enough to fetch me from the airport then since I was arriving a day earlier than the others.

We started talking about my lost luggage and I was telling him I barely had sleep. All of a sudden, he asked: "(Yupki), which floor are you on?"

I told him my floor and we looked at each other and burst out laughing.

I didn't know whether to be embarrassed or what. "Oh my god, you were the one who got that call last night?"

"I knew it was you... I thought the voice sounded familiar," he said.

"Sorry but I was really annoyed with the luggage and all last night."

"I know... I was moving around on my chair a lot while chatting on MSN and I realised it does really make a loud sound."

"So now you know who stays below you, can you keep quiet?" Nope, I didn't say that. It was just a thought bubble.

I don't know what the moral of this story is aside from not staying in an Indonesian hotel where the walls and floors are apparently thinner (the argument is it has lesser chances of being bombed if we stay in a local hotel than at a Western one).

I badly need sleep.

With all due respect to my Malaysian friends... your flag carrier sucks BIG TIME.
Okay, it's not entirely their fault that instead of going to Jakarta direct from Bangkok, I had to pass through KL.
That is the doing of this very stingy foundation that's sending me here in Jakarta.
But MH owes me a three other passengers big time.
First, the flight was delayed for three hours. At check-in, we were informed it would be delayed for 45 minutes. Minutes have passed since the re-scheduled take-off and there was no one, not a single soul from MH, at the gate to inform the passengers there were new changes.
This time, the flight would be delayed for another two hours +, or a total of three hours.
Sure, they provided lunch vouchers and immediately moved my connecting flight to the next available one.
I had to change time zones twice since leaving Bangkok and by the time I was en route to Jakarta, I was confused. I barely had five minutes to transfer to the gate for Jakarta and by the time the plane was taking off, I was still in the loo (I have to include this detail to show it was really a trip from hell) thanks to two glasses of water I downed. It barely even registered to me if I was on the right flight, worrying I might end up in Bali, instead of Jakarta.
And just as I was being rushed through the gate for my Jakarta flight, I asked the MH staff if my luggage was transferred.
"It's no problem ma'am since the planes are just next to each other."
A businessman from Germany with the same predicament as me said he just hoped we won't have a problem with the luggage by the time we reach Jakarta.
He could not have been further from the truth.
Finally, arriving in Jakarta 10 hours later, I stand at the carousel waiting for my luggage to pop out. And then here comes this ominous sign that says "LAST LUGGAGE". My luggage, as well as those of three other connecting passengers including the German businessman, was nowhere in sight.
We were ushered into the lost and found office and the staff located our luggage.
"It's still in Kuala Lumpur... it will be coming in on the 10pm flight," the staff said.
By this time, I was drained of energy I couldn't even get angry. It was a good thing the Indonesian staff were patient and really helpful (it remains to be seen though if they're effective as I still await my luggage).
They filled the forms and took out addresses so they can deliver it to our hotels once the luggage arrives.
I am still waiting for the arrival of my beloved luggage. The plane from KL was scheduled to arrive half an hour ago--that is, if MH was not bloody delayed again--and is expected to be delivered by midnight.
I am tired and I couldn't even do anything, much more bathe, since my stuff are in the luggage.
And to top it all, the service at this hotel was so slow and they were fully booked I got to have a shower stall room instead of a bath. The last thing I needed when I was really looking forward to soak all my troubles in a warm bath.
But no, not gonna happen.
I wanted to trash the room just to vent out all my frustration and anger at MH.
But then I'm no rock star to do that.

This is how this month looks like for me:

06 Dec Bangkok-Kuala Lumpur-Jakarta
12 Dec Jakarta-Kuala Lumpur-Bangkok
13 Dec Bangkok-Singapore
16 Dec Singapore-Bangkok
17 Dec Bangkok-Manila
29 Dec Manila-Bangkok

And in between, a yearender story on regional politics and studying the Asean economic community on top of the regular load. But I'm loving it!!!

I don't know how I ever thought of checking out Asimo while in Japan. But I just found myself asking Atsuko-chan when we had drinks how to see Asimo. And being the science and technology journalist that she was, she knew exactly how and where. So on the morning I was flying back to Bangkok, I went to the Honda showroom in Aoyama. My luck, they had an Asimo demonstration that Sunday morning. And oh my goodness, move over Arashi and Takuya, I'm in love with another Japanese. His name is Asimo. And he's a robot.

Dear BB,

I'm on my way!!!

So who isn't happy about the Golden Bell result, especially for Best Actor?

Black vs White

It's been two years since I was last there.
And I missed it so.
As Puffy Ami Yumi sing: "Tokeeeeoooohhhhh I'm on my way!!!!"

Tokyo at night

Oh so many things I want to do, I hope there will be time! I just want to sit back and soak in Tokyo this time.

This is how the Philippine president conducts rescue operations?

wtf Gloria