The Journey Started...

Yup. I did feel overwhelmed n started to feel the dread to write. But at the same time my mind is bursting n fingers itching to write! Ironic!





Pakistan Internet Connection

You see... Zubair's Pakistani pc is down n needed to be reformatted or smtg. so i had no access to internet. there were A LOT of internet cafes at the main streets n bazaars as well as petrol kiosks. but he didnt allow me to go to any of it bcos he said its not a gd place since most of the patrons go there to watch porn. Like.. huh???



Then on my 7th day, we finally managed to coax his cousin to bring his CPU n wireless phone to get connected. he fixed it fine tt night, I was too tired to login though as it was past 1am by the time we finished watching the old video clips he had in his pc... the the next day the internet refused to work!!! after that we spent the night at another aunty's place for 3 days n the CPU was taken away... :(



On the last hours at Aunty Farzana's house, i found out her neighbour has internet n went over to use it. Zubair warned me tt Pak's internet is very slowe... i understood but didnt think it would actually take THAT long. It took like 5min to dial up n load the home page. Another 5 min to load my blogspot n yahoo mail... then suddenly the windows were not responding. so had to losde that n reload all over again. I started to draft a short note to say "im still alive" when the electricity played me out. I just gave me right then n there.


At the airport while waiting for our flight back to spore, we found free internet stations. But only had 20 mins, n still as slow as ever... perhaps just 30% faster. but shouldn't that hv bn broadband???


i kept notes on my pda though n thank god for it else i would've forgotten everything only hafta rely on photos from mty camera... which i discovered i was quite shy to use. prolly bcos i was afraid pple wld get offended or my hp get robbed. haha


My First Flight Alone


That Sat of my flight was a hectic day with two morning classes on as usual. Fortunately, the 2nd class was down w 2 students which means i finish 1 hr earlier. Then i hailed the cab to The Harem - a Muslimah spa all the way in the east. I bought a package that would finish in 5 hours n it was 1pm when i reached there.



It was 6pm n we were doing the last part, hair treatment n my mummy being mummy, was URGED me to come down in 5 minutes or else! see... my parents were picking me up from the spa w my 2 packed luggages n then we'll go straight to the airport. Crazy? prolly. but all in the name of meeting the hub after some 7 weeks!



Flight was due to take off at 9pm. why didnt i panic regardless of mum's incessant reminders? cause i already checked in online. that's why.





Nontheless, we reached there, slightly after 7pm, checked in the bags n got the boarding pass n even had time for a meal at popeye's! Nur, Long n yayan came afterwards. n mummy measured nur n yayan right there! fortunately we had a corner table. hehe





At the checkpoint, i was holding back my tears. No i wasnt really sad to go. damn i was excited! i was just afraid of my impending 20hrs journey alone. What if i didnt make it back home? That would hv bn the last time i see them!



Alhamdulillah wa shukru lillah, SIN - BKK went fine. Before i was really worried abt how to spend my 12hrs transit at bangkok. Praise be to Allah, i took the lift to 3rd floor n when i turned left, i found a Muslim prayer room n swiftly decided to spend the night there.















I saw a Sudanese lady just settling in too. We shook hands n introduced ourselves. She's Nawal who's residing w her husband n children in nz, n making her way to Sudan. she asked me a few things abt Spore n how our muslims r doing there. We came to talk abt sudan and shia. she, at first, didnt know Shia existed. she said in Sudan, there are no sects. There are all muslims. Period. Only when she migrated to NZ did she hear about it.





cant help but be reminded of ahmad thompson's travel, where he met a lot of Sudanese...
N me being alone, spendin the night in a musollah, just put me in an adventurous mode! LOL



i brought hawaiian chix n cheese sadwich fr spore. it was 8am n wanted to eat bfast but don wanna get too full i cant at on d plane so i offered this caucasian lady sitting next to me a half. She declined saying she's hvg stomach prob. prolly she's telling the truth but i cldn't help imagining tt she didnt trust me. You know "dont talk to strangers (esp if they wear tudung)" n all.




so i went to offer a muslim bro at the prayer room. he said he's full already n nobody else were there. he started asking me, "r u fr msia?" I said, "no spore" n he asked ph spore has muslims too? n i said yeah. craving to talk to somebody i asked him r u gg to pak? he said yes n i said oh we're taking d same flight n he started asking me wat m i doing there n whereabouts does my hub's family stay. it suddenly hit me tt i shldnt b talking to MALE strangers who is abt to take a 6hr flight w me gg to the same country while im alone, so i answered shortly n excused myself to the washroom.




there i gave away my sandwich to the cleaner who was only happy to receive it.




this made me realise how more diff it is to do charity, to trust, to share food. very unlike ahmad thompson's time.




i also resolve to accept any other muslim's offer of food even if i dont like it.




like the night before, nawal offered me fruits, i took the prune tho hesitantly since i was already full n i m not really a fruit lover.




but afterwards, she offered me a piece of sweet biscuit made of cashew n coconut. i tried to refuse politely but she insisted me to take it saying its sweet. i took n ate politely in return but took like 15min to finish it? LOL. But now i knew i had prolly made her happy by doing just tt.







the airport is so big, it took forever to reach gate c5, smtg like 20min walk? n the stores all look familiar n has several outlets tt for a moment i tot i was walking in circle. but at long last i reached the gate abt 8min b4 boarding time at 10am.

i dont know whether to feel awkward or thankful tt i was wearing a skirt n blouse instead of a shalwar kameez. i hv a feeling i might feel super embarassed if i had worn the latter but feel just as out of place in the current outfit.

Passengers lahore bound are mainly males. i wld put it as 80%. Only one other female was travelling alone the rest accompanied by hub n babies or parents.

Inevitably, i was seated next to a guy. Nope i really didnt talk to him excep to say sorry a couple of times to go to the bathroom. I had a window seat. Embarassed as i was, i still prefer to bother the aisle seated person than being bothered! haha selfish me.

TG 505 is so damn uncomfortable!! SIN - BKK plane was so much nicer! this is such an old unit. how could they put an old plane flight a long haul on a DAILY BASIS???? It was so stuffy... the head rest too straight. everything was wrong. They were playing Rush Hour 3, i didnt bother to watch as ive already seen it. Tried to sleep but it was TOO HOT.

After the movie's finished, n w just 1 more hour to touch down, i asked my neighbour if he would mind me switching on the light n he said no not at all go ahead n so i brushed up on my Urdu.


To be continued....