MH780 to Bangkok and my gate mix up at KLIA

 MH780 to Bangkok and my gate mix up at KLIA

At the end of October I travelled to Bangkok for a long weekend.

I didn't want to take MH796, which departs at 22:00, or use half a day's leave. So I decided to work from the lounge for the latter part of the day and take MH780 at 18:05 instead.

I arrived at the lounge around 15:30. It was quiet and peaceful so I took a table in the dining room next to the window. As it was Thursday, the new menu rotation had just started and I was pleased to see it was one of my favourites.

To start I had the potato soup, which was OK, but next time I will try the Szechuan soup. The main course was the beef tenderloin steak, which was well presented and very tasty. The service was excellent and together with the lovely food it made for a very pleasant dining experience. Apologies for the food photos as I was too hungry to take my time over them.

After my late lunch I moved to the Galleries area, where the team kindly let me use a dining table so I could get some work done. From there I also caught the arrival of Lufthansa on only its third day of operation since resuming flights to KL.

Several of the lovely staff dropped by to say hello and they really are a fantastic bunch who always give you a warm welcome. It never ceases to amaze me how many people actually read our posts, which is a good reminder that constructive criticism is welcome but abuse and rants are not.

All too quickly it was time to close the laptop and head over to the main contact pier for my flight. I was walking towards H8 while chatting with a friend on WhatsApp when I heard the final call for G8. *&$%... time to pusing balik ke G8!

After a brisk walk I cleared an empty security line, was one of the last to board and settled into 3C, my preferred seat.

The on time pushback and prompt departure were appreciated because bad weather was approaching. The first 20 or so minutes were pretty bumpy with the seatbelt sign staying on.

I had used Chef on Call to pre-book the Ayam Sambal Bali for dinner. It was tasty as usual, although it seemed a little more pedas than normal.

The Business Class cabin was full but an excellent, attentive and proactive crew made sure every passenger was very well looked after, which led to a pleasant and relaxing flight.

With 9M-MAX operating the flight there was no internet connectivity, but that was no real issue on such a short flight.

We landed at Suvarnabhumi on time and parked at F2. I made my way to immigration to try the arrival eGates for the first time.

The staff at the entrance to the immigration hall didn't seem to listen or understand. They sent me and several others to the regular foreigners' section, which had a moderate queue. Fortunately there was a small barrier gate where people were being let through to reach the eGates. They aren't as quick as the NIISE gates at KLIA and require fingerprint scans, but I was through in a minute or so.

Baggage at Suvarnabhumi is notoriously slow, but it was my lucky day. The priority bags appeared within a minute of me reaching the carousel.

All in all, an excellent flight and a hassle free experience at Suvarnabhumi.

After Bangkok I needed to get back to Singapore. MH flights were busy and expensive (they have been since the SQ deal!) while SQ offered a similar price for a direct flight on a widebody with flatbeds. Because I booked the trip less than two weeks out, KrisFlyer points for the return were far too expensive. 

I ended up with another option, which involved a downgrade and some excellent service recovery.

More on the return in a later post.

Have we all gone soft?

A post doing the rounds recently showed a water dispenser in a departure lounge. Nothing remarkable about it. However, the comments went into meltdown because a few bottle tops could be seen touching the dispenser lever.

See here: https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1FdxVoGQte/

Honestly, I despair. When I was a youngster we drank straight from water fountains in parks without a second thought. Public drinking fountains are still commonplace today in parks, stations and even airports. Plenty of people use them every day. Somehow we all survived then and we’re still here today.

Business class tells the same story. It wasn’t long ago that a premium cabin meant a big recliner and some extra legroom. Some cabins were even laid out 2-3-2. If you were in the window seat you climbed over your neighbour to get to the loo. Stuck in the middle of the three, you had someone to clamber past whichever way you went. Nobody wrote a complaint about it. We were grateful to be up front at all.

Today a seat without direct aisle access gets slated in reviews. If there isn’t a high wall and a sliding door, some travellers carry on as if they’ve been robbed. These are people getting a flat bed, a proper meal and a glass of champagne, yet they still find something to be outraged about because they can see somebody or be seen.

Lounges are going the same way. Malaysia Airlines, like many airlines, used to announce boarding calls in its lounges. Nobody thought twice about it. Most of us simply relaxed until our flight was called before strolling down to the gate.

Yet a recent survey in this very group found that 70% of members would rather have a quiet lounge. The odd announcement and a bit of chatter at the next table are apparently too much to cope with. So now we’re up and down like a yo-yo, squinting at a flight information screen on the far side of the room. It’s an airport, not a library.

Hygiene matters, of course. Privacy is nice too. But somewhere along the way common sense got lost and a sense of entitlement took its place. Every minor inconvenience is now a scandal waiting for a comments section.

We used to be a hardier bunch. I’m not sure when that changed, but I’m fairly sure social media hasn’t helped.

So tell me. Am I just showing my age, or have travellers become far too precious? Let me know in the comments.

Murtabak Supper

I've always liked murtabak. I'll happily eat one on either side of the Causeway. But I'm going to say it. Sorry Malaysians, the Singapore one is better. Not a little bit better either. It leaves yours for dust.

Same name, very different food.

In Malaysia I nearly always end up with a mouthful of onion. Loads of it. Somewhere in there is something ground up that I'm told is meat. I'll take their word for it.

In Singapore the texture is different for a start. You also get actual pieces of meat you can see and chew. A lot of places will add cheese if you ask, which sounds wrong until you try it. I now order it that way every time.

The other night I went for supper at Marhaba Murtabak Restaurant on Changi Road. It was exactly what I was after and I'd definitely recommend it if you're in the area.

So yes, I like both, but if you put them side by side I know which one I'm picking.

Same name, different league, with Singapore comfortably out in front.

Back at Nando's: A Taste of Gula Melaka

 

Two months is a long time

Being a fan of Nando's, it was a little surprising that it had been over two months since my last visit.

So what is PERi-gula Melaka?

Gula Melaka is the dark palm sugar Malaysians put in everything from cendol to kuih. Nando's has blended it with its PERi-PERi sauce. They describe the result as smoky and caramelised, the way Malaysians like it.

On paper it sounds like a strange marriage. Sweet palm sugar on spicy grilled chicken? I was sceptical. That said, Malaysians have been pairing sweet with heat for generations, so maybe I shouldn't have been.

What we ordered

My wife went straight for the chicken wings in the new gula Melaka glaze. They arrived sticky and glossy. She was sold within a couple of bites.

I played it safe with a wrap in Lemon and Herb. Old habits die hard. It was exactly what I wanted, light and fresh with that familiar zing.

The real surprise was the Fully Loaded Chicken Chips we ordered to share. Picture a pile of fries topped with chunks of PERi-gula Melaka chicken. It sounds like a mess. It works brilliantly. The sweetness of the chicken plays off the salty chips in a way I didn't see coming.

The verdict

It's a weird mix. I won't pretend otherwise. Yet somehow it really works.

Nando's tried a local flavour once before with Soy PERi-PERi back in 2021, but that one came and went. PERi-gula Melaka feels more confident. If it sticks around, I suspect we'll be back sooner than two months.

Sweet, spicy and a little bit Malaysian, it's a Nando's I'll happily go back for.

Nine Years Later, The Man In Seat 12A Is Back

Back in 2016 I wrote a post asking why people stop updating their blogs. Two years later I stopped updating mine. The irony isn’t lost on me.

My last post went up on New Year’s Day 2018. Nearly nine years have passed since then. A lot has changed, although some things never do.

I’m still commuting between Singapore and KL most weeks. Airlines on the route have come and gone. My seat has moved too. These days it’s less often 12A on a low cost carrier and more often a full service carrier, with the occasional business class treat when the stars align.

What never stopped was the eating, the travelling and the grumbling about things that should work but don’t. I just stopped writing it down here.

So the blog has had a tidy up. There’s a new About page explaining the name. A few long standing issues have been fixed too, from a typo in an old post title to sidebar widgets that stopped working years ago. Every post now has a proper description for search engines.

The old posts are all still here and will soon get simpler labels so you can find things more easily. Many describe restaurants that have since closed. Each of those carries a short note saying when it was written. A fresh design for the blog is also in the works.

From here the blog will cover life, travel, food and aviation. There will be more travel and aviation than before, with trip reports, lounge visits and a closer look at how airlines really work. Expect restaurant finds and the occasional Friday Frustration too, for the moments that test my patience.

The first proper post is about food, naturally. It goes live later today.

Nine years is a long gap, but it’s good to be back in seat 12A.

11 years of shuttling between KL and Singapore

Looking back to October 2017 it marked the 11th year work anniversary in Singapore which naturally means Ive been shutting back and forth between KL and Singapore for 11 years.

In 2006 I was unable to find a suitable role in KL so started looking across the causeway for something to tide me over until a role become available in KL. At the time, other than visiting some good friends there I had no desire to stay in Singapore for any extended period. I guess like most expats the ease of living and safe environment make it a place you can easy call home and it grows on you.

Since the inception of my weekly commute the travel has changed and not necessarily for the better. Back in 2006 the joint Singapore/Malayisia airlines KL-Singapore Shuttle was in operation and no budget airlines were plying their trade on the route.

I look back fondly on the shuttle service because it was gloriously simple in that you bought an open ticket with no name from a special counter, took a number, queued up and when you were called to the check-in desk you wrote you name on the ticket and boarding pass was issued.  A percentage of seats were reserved for the shuttle and once the flight was about to close any remaining seats were filled by shuttle ticket holders. The fares were fixed, schedules shared between Singapore and Malaysia Airlines and if the flight was full you could usually run around to the main ticket desk and get a confirmed ticket on the next flight.

The advent of budget airlines means that most people believe that the cost of flying has become cheaper between the 2 cities.

What we have now is a myriad of airlines and fares with one common trait, at peak period they are a lot more expensive. For us commuters this generally translates in into the need to plan far ahead, commit to a flight and usually pay more.

Many years ago, I worked shifts and at the time I used the luxury buses that ply the route. I generally think that they are best way to travel if you don’t mind the slightly longer journey and that you don’t encounter any delays at immigration or on the highway.

Fast forward to 2017, owing to my work schedule bus travel isn’t really an option these days owing to congestion and travel time on a Friday/Sunday.

These days I fly and for the last few years I’m increasingly frustrated the flights have now become very tardy with many delays (especially Malindo and Malaysia Airlines).

To compound matters KLIA immigration seems to have become a real bottleneck in the past few years with queues of up to 2-3 hours at peak times and to compound matters some of its staff are rude and not proactive. It’s not uncommon to see certain queues empty and the staff playing with their phone whilst the foreigners queue is understaffed and in painfully slow.

Like most frequent travellers I have a few travel hacks to lessen the pain and more about those later in another post.

As 2018 draws closer I do wonder how the game of cat and mouse to get the better fare and options will pan out.

Malindo Air who are the relative new comer have increased their fares with the flexi business fare increasing by 50-60% almost overnight. This has made the flexi option very expensive and in many cases uneconomic. My perception is that peak period (Fri-Mon) fares seem to be forever creeping up with the budget carriers increasing the ancillary fares at every opportunity.

That's it for now and lastly I would like to wish all readers a Happy New Year.