Of Domestic Flights and Fabrication Yards

It has been nearly a year *gasp!* since I was last on a plane. Yup! Ever since I found out I was pregnant and boarded the plane home from Sakhalin, I remained on the ground – due to the fat tummy of course! Furthermore, the Dutch oil company had assigned me to a local project - which eliminates most of the opportunities for flying out of Malaysia. My boss has no qualms about me going off for a training course outside of KL, but this time, it was by choice - I chose not to attend any training this year simply because I cannot bear to be apart from Aiden, even for a day!

But then again, I was not happy when I received my new Silver Krisflyer (downgraded from Gold) card, and a letter from MAS – “Although our records state a slight lag in your Enrich Silver requalification tally, we truly feel you are one of the deserving few to retain your Enrich Silver status”. Perrgggghhh! I feel so downgraded!!!

Therefore, when my boss offered a team building session cum visit to the MMHE yard in Pasir Gudang, I jumped at the chance to organize it (plus increase my Enrich points!). Well yeah, I am also the Project Engineer for the team – I guess it is part of my work scope. Haha. No extra brownie points for volunteering eh?

So off we went to Johor! Due to the economic crisis, we were faced with cost cutting issues. Therefore we were only allowed to make it a day trip, so we had to take the earliest flight out! I left home at around 545am (bleary eyed due to sleeping late the previous night making pineapple tarts and kuih makmur - see previous post). The line to check-in was crazy long!!! Thank god I could make use of my Enrich Silver by using the business class check-in line even though my ticket was only an economy.

The domestic flight hall. Haven't seen this for more than 3 years! The last time was when I was on a business trip to Labuan back when I was still under the Dutch oil company's Graduate scheme.

Kecik jer duty free domestic hall!

First flight out! Picture looks blur because I was too embarassed to take a picture of the TV screen. So had to zoom from faaaaaaaaarrrrrrr away!

See how early it was? Gelap lagi!

Ooohhhh that's the boss arriving. Time to board the plane!

On the plane, I slept the whole way. Thankfully, I was seated beside Ang, a colleague of mine. Hence, I wasn’t obliged to speak to him, and vice versa. So we snooooozzzzed all the way to Johor. Arrival at the Senai Airport, we were greeted by two chartered MPVs which brought us to Pasir Gudang.

Why is my Boss seating at the back? Kesian, the occupants of the other MPV could not sleep under the watchful eyes of my boss! Hehe!

We took the new highway to Pasir Gudang. Toll was free!

Arrival at the MMHE yard.

The gate where normal people have to register. Us? We aren't normal people! We breezed through the gate macam anak raja...

Okay no more pictures. Mana boleh, dah sign secrecy agreement with the company!

We spent the whole day in the MMHE yard with two good full hours under the blazing sun – checking out the Gumusut project’s latest progress. It was mind blowing how complicated it is to fabricate such a giant. And it was breathtaking when we climbed up to the topsides deck – to finally see how massive it was! Truly remarkable!

Okay okay, violate sikit. You can't see much, can you?

After the long day, we said our goodbyes to the Fabrication Team and left the yard at around 4pm. Again, snooze time. I think it was the unbearable heat plus fasting. My Muslim colleagues and I bought a few tidbits to have on the plane in anticipation for break fast – and I was charged RM12.50 for a bottle of juice! *gasp* But there was this simply scrumptious cheese cake on sale, however I refrained myself from buying it as we were going to break fast with something better! Pan Pacific, here we come!

We touched down at KLIA at around 745pm. It was the first time for most, walking through the glass tunnel bridge towards Pan Pacific. There was even a buggy which would make round trips between the airport and the hotel. And it was such a scrumptious feast! Everything under the sun! From Malay cuisine, Western delights, all the way to Japanese Sushi and Soba! They even had a chocolate fountain which you could use to coat your marshmallows *heaven*. I gobbled so much food I could hardly walk by the end of the dinner!

After salam raya (asking for forgiveness, konon!) with everyone and saying our goodbyes (it was after all my last day of work – I was officially on Hari Raya holiday!), hubby picked me up and off we went to Bukit Jelutong to pick up our ordered kuih raya. Can you imagine we have a total of 11 types (9 bought, 2 made) of kuih raya this year! Haha... I got a bit over excited. It is, after all my first Ramadhan plus Syawal in Malaysia since me and hubby got married.

So, if you want a taste of my vast selection of kuih raya, jemputlah datang ke rumah! Selamat Hari Raya!!!