Flight Log of Malaysia Airlines Flight 765 and 1450 from Siem Reap to Langkawi with Transfer at Kuala Lumpur
Time to leave Cambodia as I picked up my luggage from the hostel and was immediately greeted by the waiting Tuk-Tuk driver on the street, who gave me a mystical smile (as God knows how many times in the previous days I had turned him down), who agreed to take me to the airport at a price of 4USD.
So 15 minutes after my first and last dusty Tuk-Tuk ride at Siem Reap, I was by the entrance of Siem Reap International Airport. No, I did walked like 50 meters from the main road, as there was sort of 1 USD Tuk-Tuk entrance fee imposed by the airport.
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Once in the airport, it was like back to civilization from the chaotic Siem Reap streets. Although that civilization didn't last long with the presence of some Chinese tour groups (their flight seemed to hit some delay, which added to the chaos).
I was to perform a 70-minute separate-ticket international-to-domestic transfer at Kuala Lumpur, which was only possible with through-check of my bags. Luckily, Malaysia Airlines was among the almost-extinct rank of airlines that through-check bags on separate bookings, although this did take the check-in lady some time.
It's Siem Reap, so expectedly the immigration officers were "politely implying" bribes, which I "courteously" turned down.
A far cry from the usual filth in this country.
At the shops, the Chinese tour group nannies were happily trying to exchange all their remaining United States Dollars, guess they are not the most seasoned travelers.
Flying between Siem Reap and Ho Chi Minh City for the day..
I’m wondering why a Lithuanian carrier could fly so freely between two Asia countries..
Strange thing was that this aircraft served regular passenger flights, yet Cambodia Angkor Air didn’t seem bothered to print it.
When performing web check-in for my flight, I found quite to my surprise that seat 5A (first row economy) was available for choice, as these seats were usually locked for premium status customers. Since I would be transferring at Kuala Lumpur, getting off the plane faster never harmed.
Not that much more spacious compared with the other rows of the economy cabin, but no more worries about pushing my knees against the seat back in front.
But since there's no ground storage, I tried very hard to push everything I needed for the flight (laptop, earphones) into the tiny pocket in the front, which wasn't that easy.
Oh by the way, there's USB charging port missing for Malaysia Airlines first-row economy.
Sitting on the left of the plane, I once hoped to catch a glimpse of the Angkor Wat's from above. It seemed that ground visibility that day didn’t allow.
Cloud be some ancient ruins.
Obviously the plane wasn't thoroughly cleaned in Siem Reap. What’s worse, since the first row of economy cabin doesn’t have ground storage during takeoff, and between me and my tissue papers in the overhead bins sat a soundly asleep baby, I had to wait for the cabin crew for meal services to wipe that out.
And meal services were like 30 minutes after takeoff.
Chicken and Rice. I really liked Malaysia Airlines' idea of adding flavors to what would otherwise be just plain rice, like the ones on Chinese carriers.
Sadly, there was too much cloud over Kuala Lumpur that day. Based on the GPS tracks, I should be able to get a clear view of KLCC towers should there be no clouds.
With an AirAsia A320 parallel approaching.
We arrived at Kuala Lumpur basically on time, and international-to-domestic transfer at KLIA was basically like up the stairs, 50 meters, down the stairs, immigration (with no other people waiting), 50 meters, sit and relax.
Well, not as modern as the ones in Siem Reap.
Since it was a short flight to Langkawi, we didn't enter runway 32R at full length for takeoff. Guess they would never allow such maneuvers were never allowed in China.
One terrible thing about this orange juice was that, it was filled too full that it spilled over all over the tray table (and my cloth) upon opening, which did created quite trouble for me to clean it up.
Just before landing, I got a glimpse of Cenang Beach, where I would be staying for the next to nights.
And Langkawi Airport was a have-nothing walk-yourself airport, with some not-so-stunning views of sunset accompanying us on the way to baggage claim.
Guess my bag was put on the plane last because of the transfer, it was among the first to come out. After that, it was taxi ride to the hotel, booking next morning's mangrove expedition, and some sound sleep.
(Oh, did my bag ever clear customs or not?)
END