A night of luxury before a month of adventure!

I’ve been lucky with my flights to India. For the Perth to KL leg I had an entire row of seats to myself and from KL to Dehli my travel agent managed to get me an emergency exit window seat (meaning extra leg room with a view). I do believe that you can induce luck with careful planning but sometimes you get lucky just ’cause.

Last night was the best rest I’ve had in months! I’m glad I decided to stay at the Concorde Inn Sepang for my stopover rather than toughing it out on a lounge/chair at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. The staff were quite friendly. Although the porter had a habit of disappearing and one of the concierges had a little trouble with English. Or maybe just with my English. I shouldn’t assume. The inn resembles a gated community with rooms grouped into blocks of pitched roof single-storey buildings After a rest, shower and change I opted to get dinner takeaway (“bungkus” in Malay) from the “mamak” 3 minutes walk out of the compound. It’s unusual for a female to walk alone in a place like that so I definitely felt self-conscious and was on high alert. I definitely wouldn’t have taken the stroll in the dark and I made sure to say hello to the security guards before leaving the compound. It doesn’t hurt to take precautions. By the way, the meal was delicious and filling for only AUD3! That was the highlight of my transit – eating Kway teow goreng and drinking sirap bandung on the king-sized bed watching a ‘Revenge’ marathon! Haha just what I needed!

The wake-up call came in right on time and the buffet breakfast was fantastic! Check in, immigration and customs was a breeze (thanks to that Australian Permanent Resident visa in my Myanmar passport – I really do feel that it makes a difference in cutting down all the questions asked and the suspicious looks). On the KL to Dehli flight I found myself seated next to a lovely Indian man returning home temporarily from his job in KL. He was kind enough to share his tips on surviving the Indian heat, avoided illness, eating well and (not) tipping.