So, here we are, we have safely arrived in Malaysia and have been "deported" into our hotel room for the next 14 days. I'll have a lot of chances - and time - to write about our hotel, but first: the journey. Before we could even leave, we had to overcome some challenges (see previous post), but once we were on our way it all went quite smoothly in fact. Except for the very first step: getting to Brussels Airport. We walked to Leuven station (with our heavy bags...) nicely in time to catch a train that would bring us to the airport a bit more than 2 hours before our flight. However... our planned train was somehow exceptionally not going to stop at the airport. So we had to wait for the next one, not too much later luckily, yet it caused a bit of stress as we didn't know whether this one would be OK. We already had Lal in standby to drive us to the airport - thanks Lal! - just in case, but there was no need. It came, we went, we arrived.
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Waiting for the second train, with our 20kg bags.
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Our 13:08 train didn't want to stop at the airport, so we took the 13:24 instead
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Once in the airport it was really easy, and there were very little travellers. We walked through a temperature check, went to the Qatar Airways check-in and were greeted personally by the Qatar staff! "Mr & Mrs Michiels, travelling to Kuala Lumpur?" They were very well prepared, because they had done their homework the day before by checking our papers in advance. So we basically checked in very quickly, no issues at all. There were very few other passengers, and definitely few Belgian couples (none?), so that's how they recognised us. Still, wow, impressed! Later on, when boarding the plane, another Qatar Airways staff addressed us personally, wishing us a good trip to KL. Amazing! We flew Qatar Airways several times, and their service has always been top, but this time it just exceeded everything. Total fan!
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Thank you Qatar Airways, what a great example of customer friendliness! Tip to the other airlines: being so customer oriented does not cost more, but creates happy and loyal customers. Just saying...
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Very short queue at security, no queue at immigration, officers in a good mood because of that, only a quick question to verify whether we live in Malaysia - otherwise we were not allowed to leave I guess. Despite the low numbers of passengers, most shops were open and more importantly: Starbucks was open. So we had a last coffee before going into quarantine, soon. I have to admit, it was so nice to go on a big trip again, walk through an airport, take a plane.
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| 2 ice lattes please! And yes, they were really nice! |
I realised that I hadn't flown for more than 5 months (since we arrived from Taiwan, 28 March), and thinking of it, it may have been around 25 years ago that I didn't fly for such a long period of time! Wow, so surprised... Let me add to that, that while in Belgium (and France), we walked, cycled, used public transport and a few times a car - an electric share car even! As we also try to minimise our ecological impact on a daily level, we must have been very carbon friendly these months. Good CO2 citizens! Most likely causing as much (or more) emissions with our 1 flight to Malaysia, as we did in the entire 5+ months in Europe...
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Safety first on the plane: mandatory face mask and face shield - for the entire duration of the flights
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Anyway, we had a smooth 6h trip to Doha (Qatar), an easy 2 hour layover at Hamad Airport - which was relatively busy, definitely busier than Brussels, but not compared to previous visits obviously. We arrived in Kuala Lumpur after another 7,5h smooth flight, with around 45 passengers - more than I would have expected - but with plenty of space to sleep a little. From touchdown to hotel took us about 4 hours, not too bad at all if you hear some other stories.
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Yep
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I haven't been to the cinema for years, but see many movies while travelling. Star Wars, perfect: no thinking, just watch... Oh yes, and I did see some Friends episodes as well!
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Sadly we couldn't visit Jochen en Sofie in Ankara, but we did bring them a very quick visit while practising super safe social distancing principles
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The whole process was very well organised, impressive. You get escorted in small groups from arrival to immigration. There we followed several steps:
- Temperature check
- Check Letter of Undertaking - which was funny, because we had properly prepared this, but apparently we had a version with the wrong ministry written on it; so we had to redo it on the spot, even though it was exactly (100%) the same form... Ah yes, bureaucracy...
- Wait for PCR swab test, get it done; don't know when we'll have the result in fact
- Pay for your PCR test - RM 250 pp, thank you (around 50 EUR)
- Actual immigration: first a final check at the immigration office whether you're really allowed into the country (the officer checking me clearly did not know the SOPs, but it got done), then passport check and stamp at the immigration counter
- Another form to fill, for the bus transport and hotel stay
- Wait in the bus queue until sufficient people (20)
- Escort to baggage claim
- Escort to exit
- Wait to board a bus
- Get onto the bus and go!
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Back to school: make 2 lines, 20 people in total, follow the leader
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At the bus, baggage is being disinfected (the guy in the white suit with the blue canister on his back) before going into the bus. Thorough... Too thorough???
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So all in all, this process took 4 hours from landing until the bus left - no complaints here! We were told before boarding the bus, that we would be going to the Hilton in PJ - and were all happy to hear! We actually did not go there - but where we went (or in other words, where I am now) that's for tomorrow, otherwise I won't know what to write for 14 days! Enough for today folks!
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We are now officially a PUS: Person Under Surveillance. The term "Home" is misleading, because the quarantine is at a hotel - compulsory. All this happens through an app called "MySejahtera" - you guessed it, compulsory to install. It also does contact tracing and the works...
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