48 Hours

This is one thing that I like about the people in Dubai. They are fast. On my last evening in Saigon,I made a long distance call to our travel co-ordinator in our office in Dubai.

Me : "Mallesh, I need you to change my flight. So listen..I'm in Saigon now. I need to get into the first flight to Kuala Lumpur tomorrow afternoon. You must make sure I have 48 hours in transit in Kuala Lumpur and then change my return flight to Dubai from Kuala Lumpur. Clear?"

Mallesh : "I need to check. Give me half an hour."

Me : "Fine, thank you"

* * * * * * * * * *

Within 10 minutes, Mallesh called me.

Mallesh : "There's Malaysian Airlines at 16:30 tomorrow and Emirates flight to Dubai at 00:30 on 7th Feb from Kuala Lumpur. But there is differential cost, who will pay?

Me : "How much?"

Mallesh : "AED 1,560"
Not that much, but I can really buy many stuffs with that (cheap-skate thinking).

Me : "Can't you put me into Economy class so we don't have that differential cost?"

It's the instant thought that came from creative accounting.

Mallesh : "No. You'll NOT be covered by insurance if you board an economy class. Company policies don't allow you to travel for business without insurance coverage"

Now he talked like a smart a**.

Me : "Ok. I'll pay"

Mallesh : "We'll send the e-ticket to your e-mail, which e-mail?"

Me : "Yahoo"

Mallesh : "OK"

Me : "Thank you, Mallesh"

In less than an hour, I received the e-mail and my mind had already reached home.

* * * * * * * * * *

Saigon is indeed a nice place that I wish to come back. No, definitely not for shopping. I had enough this time. There is this Cu Chi tunnel that I want to crawl into. It was a network of underground tunnels used by the Viet Kongs in their war against the Americans. It was located about 70km north of Saigon. It never occur to me that I could convince Madam Personnel Manager or Miss Operation Manager, the shopping queens, to come along. So I passed the idea. Further north of Saigon there is a coastal area which is claimed to be one of the most beautiful bay in the world. Far from the coastal area, there is waterfall and lake of Da Lat. The night before I left Saigon to KLIA, I was only able to google at the photos of the places that I missed this time around.

Well, perhaps someday I'll be there. In the mean time, so long Saigon...

* * * * * * * * * *

The flight from Saigon to KLIA was only 1 hour 55 minutes. We touched down around 7PM and I left the airport after half an hour. I didn't call my wife to inform about my 48 hours transit in KL. I planned it to be a surprise. So she would probably still be at the hospital or in her car in the long traffic queue on the Federal Highway. So I went to my mother's house, had dinner there and took my car, a 7-year-old Waja which is now driven by my mother. Then I went home. It was about 10PM. My wife was watching TV (She's not a typical medical specialist who reads medical journals and stuffs at home. At home she watches American Idols, Akademi Fantasia, Macam Macam Aznil and the likes). My daughter was struggling with her homework and my son was arranging his Power Rangers toys on the coffee table. When I came in.... it was a good surprise!

* * * * * * * * * *

So the next day, I bought a sushi set for two and a bento set from Subang Parade and brought them to UMMC. I had them as lunch with my wife in her late lunch break. Then I drove back to fetch my son from his school. After that he suggested that we went to a new playground that he has never been and I agreed. So he was a happy boy playing in the playground and I was the sleepy dad trying to catch a short afternoon nap. My daughter was happy to see us waiting for her at her school gate. In my Waja, we had this little conversation.

Hadiff : "Papa, are you quitting your job in Dubai?"

Me : "No. Why? You want me to?"

He nodded.

Me : "But I like my work there. You've been there, don't you like Dubai?"

Hadiff : "I like.... but I miss you"

Me : "You really miss me? Or you just want to have me to take you to the playground"

Hadiff : "Mmmmm. Fifty, fifty...."

He heard the word 'fifty, fifty' from the animated movie Madagascar 2 and he uses it frequently whenever he gets confused. Funny little fella. Aimi didn't say much. She seemed to have some words choked in her throat.

Some valuable hours out of the 48 hours were wasted in the traffic jam. The traffic in Klang and part of the Federal Highway had been worse than I last remembered. My wife took half day off on the second day but we had wasted the hours at the bank and on the phone talking to silly bank officer to sort out the problem with my credit card from a Malaysian bank. Anyway, the transit was short but it was worth it. I was happy to be with my family, even for a while. My flight back to Dubai was emotionally painful, after having to say good bye to my wife, my mom and my kids. Hadiff's word kept echoing in my mind....fifty, fifty.