The City Strikes Back!

We decided to postpone (again) our flight to Delft from the 5th to the 7th November due to Sadia’s worsening condition on Saturday night. The eleventh hour decision was consensual and hinged on the fact that by Tuesday, Sadia would finish her five-day antibiotic course. As predicted, Sadia got slightly better and we were elated that we made the flight change for a good cause. We even remarked that these extra two days was a nice breather from our prior hectic schedule.

Little that we knew of what was about to happen. How we would laugh now at that impetuous remark.

That Tuesday, after finishing with packing and house-cleaning, we finally got down to the car at our parking bay around 4:30 p.m. – about 15 minutes later than our ETD. We didn’t have much reason to worry since our flight had been fixed and confirmed for that night. As planned, we wanted to drop by my grandma’s place in Kampung Baru to say our goodbyes. While driving there, we remembered the one thing that we had put on hold to do – that is, to call MAS for seat reservation so as to enable us to book a bassinet for Sadia. However, when I spoke to the customer service rep, she said that our booking for the flight was CANCELLED!!! Oh gosh! What the heck? She then reiterated that the change that we made on Saturday night was reflected for the flight on 6th November. That could not be! I distinctively remembered the date when I asked for the change – it coincided with my friend, Ning’s birthday. I, for one, am a stickler for dates – ask anyone that knows me. The rep put me on hold while checking the availability of seats for the flight on 7th November. Luckily, there are still seats untaken for the MAS flight. Initially, she wanted to put us on the earlier 2310hours KLM flight (since MAS has co-sharing arrangement with KLM) but we insisted on the MAS flight since each seat comes with its own individual miniature interactive TV screen.

We were unnerved by the cancellation of our deferred flight and decided to forgo visiting my grandma since (a) we were stuck in a bad jam (surprise!) near Kampung Bare enroute to Chow Kit area and (b) we had to ensure the flight availability and seat arrangement as soon as possible in KL Sentral. The jam was so terrible that we only reached KL Sentral around 5:45 p.m. Fortunately, we were confirmed for the flight and checked in our baggage in KL Sentral save for a box that we needed to seal up properly in KLIA. However, since there was no more bassinet left for Sadia the person placed us on a four-seater so that we could occupy the whole row. She assured us that no one else would be put on our row owing to the fact it was not a full flight. By 6:20 p.m., we exited KL Sentral with the intention to go to my parents’ in Kota Damansara. Oh yeah, forgot one tiny detail. We had earlier booked a taxi to pick us up in KD to go to the airport around 7:30 p.m. after depositing our car in KD. However, it was raining cats and dogs the moment we went out of KL Sentral. If you are not familiar with Murphy’s Law, this is the right time to get acquainted with it – When you expect things to go wrong, it will!

If you are not yet familiar with KL, a typical pelting rain with low visibility PLUS after-work rush hour equals to MASSIVE, not-able-to-budge JAM! We then called up the taxi service to move the pick-up time to 8 p.m. By the time we reached Bangsar enroute to Seri Hartamas, it was almost 7 p.m. At that point, we had thought we could make it in time to KD. However, after we reached Bangsar’s steep decline going to Sprint highway the heavy rain made us confused the underpass turning to Seri Hartamas with the entrance into Kerinchi Link!!! Egad!

Once we entered Kerinchi Link, there was no turning back and the jam on the Link was even worse than the Chow Kit’s that we had to change the taxi pick-up again to 8:30 p.m. When we came down from the Link into Mid-valley area, the traffic came to a stand-still (again)! So we made a calculated move by entering Mid-valley, paid the ticket and went out the exit at the other side of Mid-valley ‘mountain’. Sadly, the jam didn’t let up there and we were worried that we might not be able to catch the taxi in time. We even contemplated driving straight to KLIA with the car. Our dad would then come and pick up the keys from us at the airport. To make matters worse, Sadia was having a bout of diarrhea due to the antibiotics, lack of appetite and teething. One of her ‘episodes’ occurred while we were stuck in traffic, thus making her more antsy and irritable. To say the least, we were stressed to the max!

It was as if this nightmarish jam marathon amid the torrential rain is KL’s parting gift for us. For scorning her, for ridiculing her, for leaving her!

As fate would have it, we managed to inch our way from the massive roadblock into the relatively empty lane that led us directly to the Federal Highway and back into Kerinchi Link again. From there, we drove to the Seri Hartamas area enroute to NKVE highway that would in turn bring us to the KD toll exit. We finally arrived around 8:35 p.m. Can you imagine being stuck for two hours on your a** in the confined space of a car! By then, our taxi also just appeared at the porch in KD’s house. It got lost for a while trying to locate the house in the pouring rain.

After short goodbyes with my parents, elder sister and her family and my younger sister’s daughter (my other siblings were not at disposed) as well as quickly cleaning Sadia’s mess, we boarded the taxi for KLIA. It was almost 8:50 p.m. In the mad rush, I left Sadia’s toiletry bag that contained, amongst others, her decongestant nasal spray. We almost reached the turning to the KD toll entrance when I realized this and wanted the taxi to go back but my husband said we were already late and could just buy new ones at KLIA. He also comforted me that we have another spray at home in Delft (which we later found out was nowhere to be seen!). At that point, I broke down in the taxi – it was an exhausting and nerve-racking day. Also, it was compounded by the fact that I didn’t get the chance to properly and leisurely say goodbye to my other family members whom I won’t see until September 2007, God willing.

After settling our box at the check-in counter and dressing Sadia up for the flight, we finally sat down for dinner at 10 p.m. in Sbarro’s at the international Satellite building. We wolfed down our dinner before making our last stop at Starbucks. The incomparable Caramel Macchiato and scrumptious banana chocolate muffin would be indelibly marked into my memory for many years to come.