Malaysia: Wakey Wakey

02/23/2014 - 02/24/2014

We got into the hotel late. The three of us took our time to settle in: figuring out the Air Con and the score in the Gold Medal game (Yay Canada). My flight the following day was at 7:10 so I asked for a wake-up call. The shuttle came at every hour on the hour so I needed to be downstairs by 5:00. My wake-up call was at 4:30. Just brutal. I blindly grabbed for the phone and ended up flipping it over. I got up and walked outside greeted by darkness.

Gradually more people came down. I met a Canadian who works at one of the universities in Seoul and an Environmental Studies Student from the states. The E.S. girl is here for reasons too complicated to understand in the early hours of the day. I was one of the first people to get into the shuttle bus that morning, with the prof from Seoul. The last two people down were a man and a Muslim woman. At this point there was an empty seat up front with the driver and one next to the prof. I had to move to accommodate the woman who can't sit next to a man she's never met before. That was the first culture shock of the trip. I guess shock is the wrong word; I'm just not used to the custom. We, the North Americans, made enough small talk to make the ride seem shorter than it was (fun fact Denmark had 17 HOURS of sunlight in a month during the winter of 2013) then got out of the shuttle and went our separate ways.

I went through the airport rapid-fast thanks to online check-in. I got to my gate and wandered in search of food. Buy+Fly was the only place open with something substantial to eat. The rice here, there's something about it. The grains seem buttery, soft, and not clumpy at all. Ideally I wish I could take some back with me but I feel Koreans would take that as well as one takes a slap in the face.

I was on the plane before the sun was up. Now, above the clouds, the sky is a bright blue. I land in Tawau and will wait in the airport for my friends plane to arrive in three hours. I'll have no idea what I'll do but I'm hoping to get some flip-flops because the toe thong on my left one continuously pops out.

As I sit here, too tired to read, I'm realizing that having a mobile device to watch TV is a very good investment because I don't think airplanes will install personal TVs anymore because of smart phones and tablets.