It is the 12th and final day of our trip to the UAE. In the blink of an eye twelve glorious days have passed us by, before we knew it, we were coping with the gruelling task of organising and packing our large cargo bags.
In twelve whirlwind days we relived old experiences while gaining new ones in both the chic and hip Dubai as well as the decorous and majestic Abu Dhabi. Our escapades would not have been possible without the meticulous planning, thought and care put in by our lively and mischievous hosts Ginny and Sern, to whom we will always be grateful to.
We again hoped that we were worthy accomplices to the brilliant mad hatters of tour guides that are Ginny and Sern, deftly darting here and there squeezing every ounce of fun into each thrill-a-minute action-packed moment during the days they could spend with us.
We were due to board a flight with Air Arabia (Sharjah to Kuala Lumpur – G9923), scheduled as follows:
- Departure 01 Feb 2020, 14:50 (AE time)
- Arrival 02 Feb 2020 02:00 (MY time)
We loaded our cargo bags into Timah for the last time, and after an hour and a half reached the Emirate of Sharjah. Rather then head straight to Sharjah’s International Airport Ginny and Sern took us to Al Qasba for brunch.
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| looked an awful lot like Sungai Klang |
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| only posher |
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| it was a quiet morning |
We had brunch at a Syrian restaurant called Beit Setti that overlooked the Qasba Canal, a large river-like body of water that reminded us of the River of Life (near the Masjid Jamek), a project that had failed to achieve its initial objectives but has managed to beautify the areas surrounding Sungai Klang and Sungai Gombak.
If done right the River of Life could have very well turned out like the Qasba Canal. Well, that is what we think anyway. We then settled down and had us some Syrian breakfast.
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| we sat outside, by the canal |
We had a hard time later recollection the dishes we had at Beit Setti and enlisted Sern's help with the names of the dishes:
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| zaatar pizza |
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| omelette with meat |
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| cheese omelette |
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| plain omelette |
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| zaatar pizza with cheese |
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| with plenty of bread and pickles |
After brunch we took a little stroll along the canal before having latte at the local Caribou Coffee, before heading to the airport.
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| colourful pedestrian bridge |
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| there's even a mosque much like Masjid Jamek |
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| very Sungai Klang-esque |
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| having latte by the canal |
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| it was time to go |
It was a little tricky getting there and we missed a turn, so we had to double back. No matter since we had plenty of time to spare. It was Ginny and Sern’s first time at the airport, which they found ‘cute’.
We arrived close to 1pm and after saying our goodbyes to Ginny and Sern we proceeded to check in our luggage. All the effort of packing, re-packing, organising and re-organising our luggage (that involved leaving some articles of clothing behind!) paid off when our luggage was weighed. It came in at 60.2 kilograms, just 200 grams overweight, and the lady at the counter just waved us on without further remark.
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| miraculously close! |
We were thankful that we had checked in online the day earlier, and was able to avoid the chaos that ensued at the manual check-in counters. Ginny later texted us to tell us that the counters for Zone A were handling passengers departing for Abha, Amman, Cairo, Baku, Tbilisi, Jeddah, Gizan, Muscat and Kuwait, and they were all checking in at the same time. Thank goodness!
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| we've seen worse at Air Asia's counters tho |
We then made our way up a flight of escalators to the Immigration Check Point. We managed to use the Smart Gates and it was a breeze. No cameras were allowed from this point onwards so this was the only photo we had from when we headed to Immigration:
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| we used the super fast Smart Gates |
Brendan was (and always is) feeling hungry so we squeezed a quick trip to the McDonalds at the departure hall and by 2pm swiftly made our way to the departure gate. We were asked to board zone by zone, and since we booked a row of seats near the front we were asked to board last.
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| Brendan's go-to joint |
We boarded the plane at 2.45pm and was in the air shortly after. This time the flight was smooth with very little turbulence so I actually enjoyed a long nap.
We touched down at KLIA at about 1.30am local time of the following day, and got home close to 4am. We then unpacked and had breakfast, and fell asleep at around 7am.
To this day I always have on me a memento that will constantly remind me of our 12 magical days and 12 mystical nights in the Arabian land; Asim’s perfumes:
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| courtesy of Laura Mars Perfumes |
Thus ends our adventure.Till the next time!
