Merdeka 曖昧

Among all the air stewardesses, there’s only one that matched my expectation, a cute meimei jiejie with short hair and seductive full lips by the name of Yen Ching. At times, the thought of acquiring her email addie or cell phone number did come across my mind, but, think about the troubles that might drawn me alive, I decided against it with a heavy heart.

Two meals were served throughout the 9 hour jonrney, dinner and breakfast the next day. Thinking of I chose roasted pork rice over some noodles, while for breakfast, it was omlette instead of porridge for me.

What about my new neighbour ? She had exactly the opposite for both dinner and breakfast.

Seems like she’s over powered by the personality trait of quiet I supposed, never bother to talk for most of the journey. I asked if she wanna some magazines, she just shook her head.

She fell asleep. Since the seat was too narrow to be comfy, I advised her to lift the handle between her seat and the empty seat, so she could enjoy a wider space.

Before long, she woke up and started reading her manga in darkness, as after dinner, lights were off thus cabin was pitch dark. For the studious type like this blogger, an overhead reading light was turned on. I told her to switch on her reading light, she again shook her head.

I tried to sketch a portrait of her. But she couldn’t stay in the same pose for more than 90 seconds. Every time she changes her pose, I’d have to fill in the blanks with my imagination. I could somehow sensed that she’s a bit uneasy being sketched without I first asking for consent.

The warcraft aircraft began to descend. I was thinking,

“Beef noodle, 80 bucks NT$. Potstickers x 5, 20 bucks NT$. Missing the chance to talk to this sweet girl, priceless…”

Therefore…

(to be continued…)

Today is the longest day in my life. I would take off in Taipei at 14:10 of January 15, 2006, and after a flight of 9 hours plus, land in Vancouver at 08:30, again of January 15, 2006.

But first, I must have my breakfast.

To their credit, the hotel did provide breakfast. And it tasted lovely too. But I was not going to leave Taiwan with my yummylicious beef noodle and fried dumplings alone in wilderness.

Therefore, I was in the same shop again. This time the order was taken by a 20 something lady. And I ordered the same stuffs again. Perhaps the noodle and the fried dumplings had already expected my patronage eagerly.

When everything was done, I walked back to the hotel, and the shuttle bus to airport was waiting. I have signed up for this trip too, the one at 10:40 am. Up I went, picked up my luggages and entered the bus.

I must have been smart to check-in the other bag of my straight to Vancouver, and off we left for airport.

There new Terminal 2 of Taipei airport is now open. That’s where my flight will be waiting for me, or vice versa. But the bus would have to drop off passengers going to Terminal 1 first.

When we reached Terminal 1, apart from those destined to board their flights here, a middle-aged fellow female passenger who’s going to Terminal 2 rushed out of the bus…

“I must make sure they don’t remove my bags from the luggage compartment and leave them in Terminal 1…”

Very thoughtful, eh ? And it was this thoughtfulness that triggered a mass exodus of passengers to check if their bags are safe and sound.

I had my seat changed to one next to the aisle at the check-in counter, with no idea who would be sitting next to me. I had been assigned a window seat when I checked in in Kuala Lumpur, but my aunties advised against it. “Else you’d blocked by others when you wanna move around…”

My first-ever boarding onto jumbo Boeing 747-400 was delayed a little bit due to late arrival. Passengers were advised to board at stages, with those with little kiddies first, followed by those taking the First and business classes, who forked out like multiples of what we paid, then those who were given seats at the rear part of Economic Class, and lastly, the rest, yours truly inclusive.

Think it’s a brilliant plan to reduce the congestion in the cabin during boarding ? Think again. It was as jammed as Federal Highway during a downpouring Friday afternoon.

Just when I thought I could have all the three seats between the aisle and window to myself, a little girl with a big guitar turned up… And ended up neighbouring me throughout the flight…

(to be continued…)