Cheap but not so cheap now

Travelling by air has become more affordable these days. Before Air Asia made its debut, there was only Malaysia Airlines and everyone had to fly MAS to get from one place to the next within Malaysia.

I still remember it used to cost an arm and a leg to fly between Kota Kinabalu and Kuala Lumpur, one month's salary to be exact. Thus trips back home to Kuala Lumpur were a once-a-year treat which had to be saved up for. That was why I missed most of my siblings' weddings, especially when they didn't fall during the school holidays.

Air Asia has made it possible to make more trips back to Kuala Lumpur with its cheap fares and no frill flights. Its online bookings have also helped people become more computer literate.

MAS lost out to Air Asia because its fares were comparably more expensive. Unless their tickets were paid for by the company or institution or the Government, people opted to fly with Air Asia, especially when the company brought in new airplanes.

Then MAS decided that if it couldn't beat low cost airlines, then it would be wiser to join in the fray for passengers and they introduced the different air fare tiers. A passenger could select the fare he could afford to pay.

In the beginning it was a good bargain, as the fares were considerably lowered and you had free meals plus 20kg baggage checked in free and seat numbers were issued so that you needn't rush to queue up in order to get the seat you wanted. Plus the train direct from the airport to KL Sentral is a time saver.

Travelling by Air Asia means that you have to get the bus from the Low Cost Carrier Terminal to KL Sentral and that takes almost an hour. My grouse is that the buses never leave according to the schedule. They only move when the bus is full. The driver never helps the elderly passengers to retrieve their bags from the luggage compartment. Many of the buses are not in tip top condition. This is something the management should look into.

Well, good things seldom last. MAS has increased its fares. Where it was once possible to pay RM136 for a return flight ( Kota Kinabalu-Kuala LUmpur) a one way trip is now at least RM144. I can only say that MAS will lose more passengers to Air Aisa. Its current full flights may not be full for much longer at the rate that they are increasing the fares.

I managed to get a return flight to KL by Air Asia ( all in, including food, baggage, seat selection & the bus round trip ) for only RM142.

Forking out less money for a ticket means more trips so from now on, Air Asia will have my patronage.

One criticism of Air Asia is that its staff are not well-trained to handle passengers who tend to take advantage. Passengers pay to select their seats and the Hot Seats cost 5 times more than the other seats. Then when the plane is airborne, those who did not pay for the hot seats move there and the cabin staff just keep quiet, especially when the culprits are the Mat Sallehs. The double standard here has to be stopped. They subscribe to the policy that you get what you pay for but in this instance, it is not so. This makes other passengers, including myself feel peeved.

The announcement that all passengers have to keep to their allocated seats falls on deaf ears. The management should just do away with hot seats and let passengers pay for the seats on a first come first served basis when they go online to book their seats.

Another negative point is that flights get mysteriously cancelled or delayed. A well-placed source said that if the flight is not full, the company would reschedule and the passengers are bumped off to a later flight. This is bad practice because it inconveniences the passengers.

Well these are the things that have got to be resolved. Malaysians are a ver tolerant lot but we do have our rights and certainly the right to good service and attention.

Swinging along the Highways

My goodness! Kuala Lumpur has really changed. This time it's the roads. They weave in and out, one on top of the other and it's absolutely a nightmare for someone like me, who can hardly recognise the city where I grew up.

I only know the old roads of my childhood when I used to walk home from school. My school, formerly known as the Methodist Girls' School, was located on a hillock near the railway station, the old iconic railway station. On the next little hill was the British Council which is no longer there and the hill is now occupied by the National Police Headquarters, Bukit Aman. My school now has a neighbour in the form of the National Mosque. It was not there when I was at school. Where there used to be just a simple road leading to the town padang (field) there is now a tunnel and a flyover. There is also an underpass so that pedestrians can cross the busy road safely

In fact this underpass was the scene of the murder of a schoolgirl who was walking to school in the morning. It was dark, then, I believe and she was attacked and killed.

The road system is totally alien to me now. I was given directions by my brother to return along one of the highways to Kuala Lumpur. We had had "bah kut teh" breakfast together in Klang and he then went on to do his errands. I was quite confident that I would be able to make my way back home to KL but oh boy! Was I wrong!

I got onto the KESAS Highway but with the number of cars zooming past me, I missed the exit where I should have left the highway to get onto another highway which would take me back to the area where we live.

So I found myself driving my significant other to Seremban, a town in the neighbouring state of Negri Sembilan. I kept reminding him, "Look for the signs that say Kuala Lumpur". We went through 4 tolls before we saw a small sign "Kuala Lumpur" pointing to the left. Wow! At least we did not have to go to Seremban!

So, dutifully I followed the signs and wonder of wonders, there was one saying "Bangsar" where we live. So eagerly I drove along, looking out for "Bangsar" signs when suddenly, there were no more signs and the road came to a fork.

Oh dear! Which should I take? Right or left? Mind you there were cars behind me, already honking because I had slowed down, not sure of where I will be headed to, since I was in unfamiliar territory. Then I took a gamble. I turned right!

So following my intuition, I drove along, cautiously, still on the lookout for any sign that would point me in the right direction. Then "Bangsar" magically appeared!

I found that we were on a new highway ( tolled of course) called the NPE. Our countrymen are very fond of such shortforms. What NPE stood for I didn't know but it didn't bother me so long as it will take me to where I wanted to go and that was home! I finally found myself along the familiar Jalan Bangsar and boy! Was it good to get home at last!

We had taken twice the time to get home. What should have been a 40 minute journey turned out to be more than an hour and we had to pay extra toll.

Of course during the Deepavali do at my sister's. I had to tell my brother what happened and he couldn't understand how I could have missed the exit which he had told me to head for.

Well, well, it was a good experience and we certainly saw a bit more of Kuala Lumpur and different skylines. I think a woman's intuition plays a part in negotiating the maze of roads in Kuala Lumpur. Just have to follow that gut feeling.

Quo Vadis?

Eating seems to be a national pastime for Malaysians. No matter where we are, whatever time of day or night, there will be people patronising food stalls, pubs, cafes and road-side stalls, some of which are open 24 hours.

There is food galore in Malaysia, from local cuisines to western and fusion. A multi-ethnic society has the edge over others as the cuisines will be different, all the more to enjoy. Many of us live to eat rather than eat to live.

However, if we continue to eat the way we do, without restraint and without any thought for the expanding waistline and increasing figures on the weighing scale, we will keep putting on weight.

Somewhere in the back of our mind, there lurks a small inkling that perhaps we should consider cutting back and make some effort to lose weight.

If we are overweight and make no attempt to lose weight, we are coasting downhill to a dark future. A future with heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes as our life-long companions. Perish the thought!

But hey! It's not all gloom and doom! It's still not too late to reverse.

You can still put on the brakes to your eating habits.Just check out your BMI ( Body Mass Index)at my website http://peggy-chan.com