Today Jameelah and I parted ways. It was sad to part. But I was due back in the US in only eight days. So, it wasn’t that bad.
We had a great 30 days traveling together. And we’d never forget it. Unfortunately, we caught a snag at the airport.
“No. You cannot proceed. You were here 31 days. You must pay a $20 fee,” said the visa-checking person.
What crap! They reasoned that June 13-July 13 is 31 days because they measure from midnight to midnight. However, we were in Indonesia for 30-days time from arrival to departure time. Our argument was futile though.
I rushed backed outside to the ATM, and got $40 for us. My flight’s deptarture time was in an hour. The airport official was pleasant with us, and got us our temporary visas right away. With those in hand, we walked pass the visa checkers and into the boarding gate area.
Jameelah and I chatted for a while outside my gate. I was first up to fly. I checked in with the security guard a few times outside my gate–to make sure my flight wasn’t boarding yet. Then I heard Jameelah’s flight over the speaker, so we parted to our respective gates.
I almost missed my flight! I was the very last one to board. It was lucky that her flight called its passengers over to the gate, which forced us to part. Otherwise I may have missed my flight.
The security guard kept telling me I had time, when in fact, Air Asia was boarding the whole time (or at least for 20 min our final conversation)!!! I guess he was confused like me. He thought AirAsia would announce the flight over the loudspeaker, but they didn’t. They’re ghetto like that. Booty chatter!
I flew into Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I stayed there overnight on my way to Brunei. I tried a classier hostel in a nicer part of town. It was near a cheap Indian restaraunt (this was planned). I got my obligatory chicken tikka masala and garlic naan. Then I reserved a hotel room in Brunei via Skype-to-phone from an internet cafe. The call cost about 10 cents. I love technology. 