Merapi hot clouds in Solo (where planes dare not fly)
" Saya balik kampong nih"(Obama in Jakarta)
great friends on escape from Solo: Jay, Elizabeth and Susheela
I'm just tired, OK? (at Soekarno-Hatta Airport, Jakarta, waiting to go home)
Beautiful Sari, my Solo friend
Munir and friends in his session
Harriett (from Florida)Greetings from Jakarta where Obama just left (we missed him by a day!) More on him in Jakarta later.
My paper was rescheduled to the 2nd day cos' the other keynote speaker was not able to fly into Jakarta and I had been requested to speak in his slot. Not a problem with me cos' had I spoken on the first day with the other 2 keynotes, we would not have so much time for Q&A.
Then I found out from Air Asia website, my flight home on the 12th would be postponed to the 15th! I was really depressed..it meant Merapi was getting worse (when perhaps, airlines were cancelling flights due to economic reasons and not safety but we don't really know)
Anyway, I was so grateful there were 3 other fellow Malaysians (on the same flight as I was from KL to Solo and we met at Solo airport and chatted..hi gals! They are Susheela, Jay and Elizabeth ~ all academics from 3 different unis)
I am grateful to all 3 cos' they were very smart and quick to fix the stranded problem.Soon after they sat in my 'keynote' session, they started looking for ways to get out of Solo! And I will remember this for the rest of my life: they included me in their 'escapade plan' and we managed to fly to Jakarta on Lyons Air yesterday (soon after lunch).While it was sad to leave our Solo friends (the nicest people on earth! very refined people), it was important to return home safely cos' Merapi was unpredictable.
We just flew to Jakarta and would think of getting another flight to KL from there.It was a right decision (Elizabeth was the smart one to not rush and buy tics from Solo..Airliners and agents were making 2-3 times more profit cos' they knew people were desperate to get out) At Jakarta Airport, we checked with Air Asia if they could re-route us ...yes they could! No charge. Alhamdullilah, we saved RM1000! Jay said we'd get up at 3 am to see if we could leave on the 6 am flight.We did, begged that they'd allow us on the flight but fully booked (we slept at the Airport Hotel..shared ramai2, 2 beds)
And now we are enjoying our foot reflexology at the airport while waiting for our flight home.I hope no more cancellation.The clouds do not look so good and MAS and other international airliners are still not running.
It's been like living in a war zone for spoilt KLians like us but hey, we made and met great people!
My paper was rescheduled to the 2nd day cos' the other keynote speaker was not able to fly into Jakarta and I had been requested to speak in his slot. Not a problem with me cos' had I spoken on the first day with the other 2 keynotes, we would not have so much time for Q&A.
Then I found out from Air Asia website, my flight home on the 12th would be postponed to the 15th! I was really depressed..it meant Merapi was getting worse (when perhaps, airlines were cancelling flights due to economic reasons and not safety but we don't really know)
Anyway, I was so grateful there were 3 other fellow Malaysians (on the same flight as I was from KL to Solo and we met at Solo airport and chatted..hi gals! They are Susheela, Jay and Elizabeth ~ all academics from 3 different unis)
I am grateful to all 3 cos' they were very smart and quick to fix the stranded problem.Soon after they sat in my 'keynote' session, they started looking for ways to get out of Solo! And I will remember this for the rest of my life: they included me in their 'escapade plan' and we managed to fly to Jakarta on Lyons Air yesterday (soon after lunch).While it was sad to leave our Solo friends (the nicest people on earth! very refined people), it was important to return home safely cos' Merapi was unpredictable.
We just flew to Jakarta and would think of getting another flight to KL from there.It was a right decision (Elizabeth was the smart one to not rush and buy tics from Solo..Airliners and agents were making 2-3 times more profit cos' they knew people were desperate to get out) At Jakarta Airport, we checked with Air Asia if they could re-route us ...yes they could! No charge. Alhamdullilah, we saved RM1000! Jay said we'd get up at 3 am to see if we could leave on the 6 am flight.We did, begged that they'd allow us on the flight but fully booked (we slept at the Airport Hotel..shared ramai2, 2 beds)
And now we are enjoying our foot reflexology at the airport while waiting for our flight home.I hope no more cancellation.The clouds do not look so good and MAS and other international airliners are still not running.
It's been like living in a war zone for spoilt KLians like us but hey, we made and met great people!
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