will i am's delayed diary

Started our day with breakfast, then morning mass at the hotel function room. Then it was off to Amman Citadel located on Jabal al Qal'a, one of the seven hills that make up the old city. It provides an amazing vista of the city where houses cover the hilly terrain like white moss. Sami says that there is a law, that states that buildings in the area must be constructed from white stone or painted white. From up there, we also got a great view of the Roman Theater , a landmark from the 2nd century. Historically, Amman Citadel was occupied by several great civilizations. The Romans left the ruins of the Temple of Hercules . There's also Byzantine ruins, and an Umayyad Palace . Next was a visit to CityMall for some shopping, but the mall was pretty dead. It was 10 am, but no shops were open with the exception of Carrefour. We spent most of our time raiding Bzuriyeh, a shop that sold premium dried fruits, nuts, and spices. Bought more Medjoul, figs, and macadamia. We...

Way back in July 2018, mum and I decided to join a pilgrimage to the Holy Land scheduled for April/May 2019. Since then, I had constantly ignored the trip until the departure date arrived. Opps. Didn't start packing until a few days before. Sis and Little Monster sent us to the airport. The check-in at the Emirates counter was a breeze. The whole group gathered at 10 PM for the pre-pilgrimage briefing. Our flight out to Dubai was at 1:25 AM, so we had hours to kill. It was my first time on Emirates and also my maiden flight on the A380. Leg room was decent on economy class and the entertainment console was good. Didn't feel much turbulence at all. No complaints about the food and service ( no cute steward :( ). The only bad thing was that mum's tray table kept falling down. Watched "Mortal Engines"  which truly was an underwhelming affair. Arrived in Dubai International Airport at about 5 AM. DBX's reputation as the biggest transit airport also means...

Sapporo was just a short drive from Otaru, under an hour. Like most of the cities in Japan, very block-ish in design, hence contains a barrage of traffic lights and cross-junctions. Parked our car at one of many public parking spots ( the one we parked at had a clamp at the bottom that only released after paying the bill ) and went on foot. Spent most of our time there shopping really. So many drug stores with Chinese-speaking staff. However, with the Payke app, you can get most English product information just by scanning the barcode. In addition to drug stores, we also went treasure hunting at Donki ( amazing selection of sex toys ), Daiso, Book-off, etc. We had our lunch at Ginza Lion beer hall. Great place for Western food. At around 3:00 PM, we left Sapporo for Chitose. Dropped mum and Sis off at the AirBnB, while Bro and I went to pump petrol and return the rental. FYI, some petrol stations in Japan have the service and self-service pumps. Unknowingly, I stopped at the sel...

Air travel is a complex system dependent on many complex things that go wrong. People, schedules, planes, and weather, just to name a few. Technical problems are the scariest of all. When your car breaks down, you just stop it by the side of the road. When your breaks down, you might have 38,000 feet before you hit the ground or sea! Not very good chances at all. Thankfully, my flight back to KL from Bandar Seri Begawan ( MH731 ) encountered technical problems before the flight. It arrived on time, but they announced a delay for our boarding. After one hour had passed, the delay turned into an outright cancellation. Wah, never encountered that before! The ground staff announced that we would be sent to a hotel and provided with meals. As if on cue, a senior flight attendant pushed a cart of in-flight meals to the gate. One guy with a constipated face ( Mr. Sembelit ) immediately rushed to the counter and protested. "I don't want your hotel and I don't want your food....

We had a long drive ahead of us. KH and I split the 300KM drive to Chitose . The expressway was quite boring with no big rest stops. Mostly just toilets and a vending machine. Pushed on and arrived at Mitsui Outlet Park , Kitahorishima at about 2:00PM. Our Mitsui Premium Outlet in Sepang has a similar design, but the selection of brands is much better in Hokkaido. Although shopping was high on the list, eating lunch was more important. The food court offered a good selection of lunch options. Miso ramen is popular in the Sapporo region, so KH tried that. I for one found it to be overpowered by garlic oil. I chose Hokkaido pork don with leek. What I ate was pretty close to what Senya serves in KL. Kudos to Senya. Found the best bargains at Rockport and Banana Republic. Surprisingly, they also have a supermarket there selling fruits and vegetables. When we left MOP, our hands were full of shopping bags. Been trying to find SK's Albion products for two weeks but to no av...