Kota Kinabalu, Sabah - The Journey

HB is full of surprises. OK... need to rephrase that. He is full of spontaneities which make us surprised or sometimes panicked. Yes, that's more like him ;-) Like when he surprised us with a 2 meter tall pine tree. He was home alone for a weekend (technically was only for like 14 hrs, he was doing daily flights) & bored, visited a nursery & planted that huge tree at our front yard. I was in rage, the girls were thrilled. At that time the tree looked rather out of place. Being the tallest, mounting the other trees which I was familiar with. Now, I begin to enjoy the new make over of my garden by dear HB (hopefully have the time to blog about it). My garden table now is quite shady with the other 2 trees accompanying my surprised tree, a bamboo & a fir.

Right, back to what I was intended to write here. Last Wednesday, HB was supposed to operate a five days trip & scheduled to return on the coming Sunday. However, on Thursday he was informed that his flights on Saturday were all canceled & he was only to operate a single sector evening flight back to KL from Kota Kinabalu (KK). In other words, one & a half off day in KK! What do you reckon he did? Yes, he bought tickets for us to fly to KK.

Of course he did inform me over the phone but I was really not convinced. Such short notice & I doubted he was able to get hold of the tickets. So, when he rang me up on Thursday night telling me to pack things up I was speechless.

I hate packing. Don't mind selecting the attire & all but when it comes to packing itself... ergh! HB has been doing the packing all this while whenever we are holidaying. Glad that I found a big luggage which I could dump almost everything... Nothing at all like what HB stresses "space saving" & "travel light". I even packed myself 3 pairs of shoes! Hahaha!

My ma was concerned over me traveling with 3 girls & a baby. True that we were to join HB's flight at KLIA but from the house to the airport, we were on our own. She insisted to send us off but I refused. It is just a short drive from my house to Putrajaya Sentral. In fact, it is safe to leave the car there. At last, she gave in & there I was together with the girls starting off our journey to KK, first by car to the LRT Station.

Nadeen was in a good mood. Entertained by her sisters' excitement. Singing away & talking endlessly about the trip. I parked my MPV quite near to the elevator. Still we had to make about 50 meters walk. Luckily the weather was on our side. If it rained, it would be a major problem.

I instructed Yasmin to take charge of Nadeen in the stroller. Wardah volunteered with our huge luggage & I did not trust anyone to handle Balqis but me. That girl had a couple of disappearing stunts (you can read here) & I was not going to crack my head with another.

We had to cross a road. Even though it was not a busy road, I did not take a chance. I was the sergeant major controlling my troop. First Yasmin with Nadeen, I was in the middle with Balqis (being at the centre was easier to take control over either Yasmin or Wardah) & finally, Wardah struggling with our red & yellow luggage.

As approaching the elevator & Yasmin was already safe on the pavement, I allowed her to go ahead & wait for me in front of the lift. From far I saw a man (perhaps a security guard who was normally there but this one was not in uniform) leaning against a pillar very near to the elevator. I assumed he was in his dreamland. With one hand hanging on to Balqis, I helped Wardah. Once she was also secured on the pavement I headed towards Yasmin.

Wardah was enjoying herself maneuvering the wheeled luggage. Seeing her approaching I told Yasmin to press the lift button. It immediately opened. Yasmin with Nadeen & Balqis went inside. I was still outside holding on to the button for the lift to remain open. I didn't realise the broken cement right in front of the lift. That slowed down Wardah. She was using almost all her energy pushing the luggage which was really about her size. Remember the man I mentioned earlier? He was less a meter away from the luggage. I was wrong, he wasn't asleep. His wide awaken eyes were actually trailing us without any sense of attention to assist. Not that I couldn't manage but come on, the little girl was only a meter away struggling & he was sitting on his arse with legs stretched.

After Wardah's couple of tries failed, I instructed Yasmin to press the open door button & ran to drag the bag. I was too pissed off to even look at that self-centred thing. Good thing none of the girls realised or I had to start preaching about egocentrism!

We were early by 10 minutes. HB kept calling to check on us. I assured him things were under control. As usual traveling with them 4, I got the attention from the public. Am not sure... were they admiring my adorable girls, impressed with my single parenting or confused over me as the eldest of 5.... ;-O

The girls with our luggage waiting for the LRT to KLIA

While waiting I was sharing a bench with this young man. Looked like a college student to me. As the train approaching, I was again frustrated & disappointed with this Malaysian attitude. He grabbed his small bag which looked almost empty & rushed forward. He was standing right in front of us instead of offering a helping hand. A supermom had to do what she had to do. I secured the luggage first with Wardah helping, next the stroller with Yasmin assisting & of course holding Balqis's hand all the time. We did not have the chance to sit together. Yasmin & Wardah babysat Balqis (was eyeing them all the way) & I was guarding our luggage & stroller with Nadeen still in a joyous mood.

In the LRT

Nadeen seemed to understand & was happy all the time

KLIA was the last stop, so I did not have problem leading my troop out. Headed straight to an MAS counter to check in. That somehow took me about 15 - 20 minutes. The girls were occupied with Nadeen, taking turns pushing the stroller.

Once I was done, Nadeen was crying for me. I knew that she was sleepy. I carried her & let Balqis sit in the stroller instead. Since it was still early I offered them to snack at Burger King. At least with them busy eating I was able to nurse Nadeen. By then HB had touched down from Penang.

At Burger King

HB met us at the waiting hall. He brought the girls in first, leaving me with Nadeen who was sound asleep in the stroller. Wardah requested to sit with Yasmin. I allowed her, since my previous experience before, Balqis was not that difficult to handle.

The trick was to get her occupied. I brought along her activity book & colour pencils.

There was a problem though.... it was this girl.

She got bored. Nobody was playing with her. Sneaked to join the party... and

managed to grab a pencil. Good thing Balqis acted fast.

I fed her instead.

Yasmin & Wardah were seated at a different row. Still I could monitor them from my seat.

Balqis & her dinner. She finished off the pasta cheese all by herself. Big appetite for a small girl. Notice the sunset?

After meal, I found Yasmin & Wardah quietly doing the worksheets they brought along. Their test was in a week time.

This flight to KK was via Labuan. There was a transit of 25 minutes. Here are the girls with the engineer in Labuan, Iswadee who is our supplier to our duty free chocolates ;-) HB buys in bulk through him whenever he flies to Labuan.

Wardah was always in the cockpit whenever allowed. A photo with the co-pilot.

At last, we were in KK. Posing at Kota Kinabalu International Airport.

* to be continued