Long Awaited story of how we left hong kong!

Hey heeeeey!

Well i haven't be able to write anything in a long time because; well you'll soon find out how stressful my last stay in hong kong was, then after that we went to tioman where you'll soon find out how my agency got really anxious because there was no internet on the entire island, and finally back in singapore i didn't have time to write anything either because i was with Claire and we were busy meeting all our old friends!
It's been full up for quite some time folks! But now i finally have time to once again sit down and write a post in peace!

Ok so i'm going to start with everything that happened prior to the tioman trip, if i have the energy/time i will continue to write about the tioman trip, if i can't i will just post this, that way i won't delay the post any further hehe.

Well 3 days before Claire and my departure from Hong Kong, i went over to the agency to drop off my book, settle finances and bid farewell!
It was nice, i took some photos of them, they took some photos together with me etc.
Then before i left, Vani, the head of the office informed me that there would be a typhoon on wednesday! The freakin day we leave Hong kong with a ferry to Macau where our flight back to singapore leaves from! OOOOMMMGGGGG!!!!!
Claire and I had been joking about this when i booked the tickets, i remember saying "haha imagine if a typhoon blows up on the day of our flight, closing all the ferry terminals hence preventing us from reaching Macau, hence causing us to loose our flight. . . which btw is budget which means we can't change dates" I said something like that. . . .. this is probably cleaned up significantly but you get it ;)
I remember Claire saying "Yeh, knowing our perfect timing with everything, that scenario isn't impossible"
When i got home i was distraught, not only was i pissed and worried about the typhoon interfering with our plans, but;
- Daniel, the guy who Claire and I was goin to spend our time in singapore with, told us a new roomate just booked the empty room, so we now had no place to stay because grandma is too freaked out by germs.
- I could not get a hold of Claire and she didn’t have any keys so i was worried she was locked out somewhere.
- The Panuba Resort (The resort in tioman we preliminarily booked) personell refused to pick up their phone, so we couldn’t confirm a room.
- I called Tiger Airways and consulted them about the possibility of a refund in the case of the typhoon interfering with the Ferries from HK to Macau, hence preventing us from reaching the airport. . . . Apparently a refund was impossible, because it is a budget airway.
- Now. . . . the worst part. . . . what finally cracked me. . .
I started viciously slamming my fists in the bed. . .
Claire and I were planning on staying in Tioman until the 6th, in fact, the only reason Claire was comming back to singapore instead of her original plan of returning home to asutralia, was becuase we were headin to tioman.
I open my hotmail to check my emails, there’s one from the agency.
I had previously sent them an email about our plans. . . .. now they tell me that i have to be back in singapore the 2nd for a few fittings.. . . . . SMACK in the face it hit me. . . . basterds i thought. . . .i was soooo soooo soooo ANGRY, i was FURIOUS. . . . I called the agency, i had a long convo over msn. . .. but nope. . . i couldn’t get them to change the date. . . . i was boiling
- I couldn’t think of what to do. . . everything was falling apart, i was so lost, i was distraught, i really really wanted someone to talk with. I remember wishing that either mom or dad would call and help me out. But i just sat there trying to figure out what the h*ll to do.
It was one of the worst hours i’ve ever spent abroad.
And i still couldn’t get ahold of Claire and ask her for any opinions.
However, finally Claire arrived home, i explained the situation, and she calmed me down. . . . Now time for solutions.
With the help of mom, we found accomodation at Fred & Susan’s home.
I decided we’d head to tioman already the next day, (That is, one day earlier than we anticipated) book a hotel and spend the night, for safety’s sake.
Panuba inn. . .. still no response
The fitting thing. . . . Claire said she could live with it. . . we’d still have a fair amount of time there, and we brought up lots of stuff we could do in singapore which we still have not done.
For the rest of the day we packed a bit and went on with whatever it was we did that day.
The next day (Teusday), i went online and booked a hotel in Macau, then we headed off to the post office where Claire was going to post some of her baggage home (That woman can SHOP i tell you. . . she was way overweight).
After wrapping a big box and signing several documents, we grabbed a cab home.
And what do ya know? The radio announces that the typhoon will hit one day earlier than expected (That is. . . today).
They were also kind enough to mention that ALL ferry activity will cease at 6pm. . . .. . Great. . . . it was about 5pm then. . . I started panicking. . . .
When we got home we started smashing the remainder of our belongings into our luggage, i naturally began to sweat despite the aircondition.
Well. . . at 5.30 we finally threw in the white flag and decided it was impossible for us to finish packing, grab a cab to the ferry pier, book a ferry and then catch the last one before 6pm. . . . .
I was lost. . . I was shaking of stress and i was worried as shiet . . .
I called around to EVERY ferry company. . . everyone in hong kong is retarded. . . no one can answer any simple questions. Customer service is a f*king joke in HK.
Only information i could derive from the calls was that we weren’t going anywhere that night. .. .
So. . . i said screw it! Now we go eat at Pizza Hut and drink beer. . . .
We did. . . and it was amazing. . . . love pizza hut. . . love beer.
We decided we’d wake up at 7 am the next morning and start calling the ferry terminals again, to see if any ferries to Macau were still running.
So. . . next day. . . Wednesday. . . .the day of our flight.
I wake up. . . start looking up the numbers on the internet again, and begin making calls. Barely any ferry companies were open.
I went back to sleep, set the alarm at 8am.
We called around. . . . but as usual the customer service is mentally challenged in HK. (You can tell that at this point i was so fed up with that bloody city i just wanted to leave. . . . Claire felt the same. . . Unfortunately we really really really dislike that place)
I was speaking with Cathy over msn at the time as well, she suggested we go down to the pier and check with the ferry personell in person.
So we got ready, grabbed a cab and headed to the pier.
Turns out certain ferries are going and that the earliest one we could catch was at 12.30pm. . .. . . . . i was worried however, we were REALLY pushing the timing, the man said that it would take 2 hours to get to Macau. That means that we would arrive in maccau at 2.30pm, leaving us 30minutes to reach the airport and check in before the check in counter closes. That’s right, before the check in CLOSES. It was stated clearly that no exceptions would be made, if you’re not there before 3pm, you’re screwed.
I personally have never been in macau so i had no idea how long it would take to get from the ferry pier in Macau to the airport. . . . we were REALLY pushing it.
However, we decided to buy the tickets, head home, grab our luggage and head abck to the pier.
I had to carry claire’s luggage down the 12 fleets of stairs. . . . . she buys a lot but she doesn’t have the strength to carry it all haha.
Oh btw, i had called Tiger Airways once again, and they had told me it was possible to change the date of the flight to singapore, as long as the change is made 4 hours before take off. There would be a few additional fees and ofc we’d have to pay the price difference between the new ticket and the one we had already purchased (I had found the cheapest one on the net, and the alternative would have been at least 500HKD more!)
Anywayz!
We got back to the pier, i went and queued with the luggage while Claire went to fetch lunch.
When she came back she had bought a shitload of sushi, and it was cheap!. . . . I was starving as well. . . the sushi was DELICIOUS!
Now we were both all happy and amazed that we got a ferry to macau after all! We were pretty certain we would make it to the airport, and finally we were breathing normally again.
We went through all immigrations etc and boarded the ferry.
We continued eating the sushi while waiting for the ferry to initiate it’s journey.
Once we had finished our sushi, i took out my laptop and we began watching the movie ”Tenacious D: Pick of Destiny” (Hilarious movie if you haven’t seen it).
We were laughing and happily watching the movie, relaxing, snacking on something we had bought .. . can’t remember what.
In the meantime about 80% of the boat’s passengers were vomitting their guts out.
It was a really rough journey, and I told Claire about that time i had gone to bintan with my family, and pretty much only Dad, Kim and I were the ones that weren’t vomitting. It was a REALLY rough ride hehe.
In fact. . . it was so rough, that it stopped! The bloody boat stopped out in the middle of bloody no where, big waves and heavy heavy rain were pummeling us.
In all honesty i was a bit scared, you know; that little cold sweat that breaks out when on an airoplane and suddenly turbulance hits you with an unusual force, and you begin to question how much the vessel can take? Well that’s kind of how i was feeling. . . . btw, while i’m writing this i’m sitting in seat 43F on the flight to melbourne. . . . how exciting! :D
Ok back to the boat;
I had more things to worry about than just my life as well. . . Claire and I got VERY concerned about the boat stopping, seeing as how we were on such a tight schedual. . . . . I decided we wouldn’t make it, so i tried calling Tiger Airways, and ofc. . . Neither of our phones were working. . .
When we finally arrived in Macau, i showed no mercy anymore. I did not have time to be Mr.niceguy anymore.
I got Claire and myself out of our seats as soon as i saw a glimpse of land.
Unfortunately we could not reach our bags which we had stowed a bit further away from the entrance. The reason we could not get to them was because pissing first class passengers were prioritized to leave the boat first, hence they had put up red rope blocking second class from queuing by the door. . . .. FAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRKKKKKKKK!
I was once again in my stressfull trembling state.
Finally the boat docked, and as soon as the first class passengers had left the boat, i began furiously pushing my way past everyone in the queue toward our bags, firmly gripping Claire’s hand and dragging her along behind me.
I ripped out our bags and we started getting off the ship when some bloody indian stepped in between Claire and I.
Remembering how Macau Claire that i would rush ahead and try to beat the crowd, saving her a spot for when she manages to push through.
If you’re curious of how long it took the singaporians and I to clear the immigration last time. . . . .well it took more than an hour . . .. and i couldn’t allow that this time.
Still panting and trembling i ran past everyone i could, reached the immigration and to my delight i saw that there were several lanes still empty.
I waited. . .
I waited. . . .
I wate. . .. . WHERE THE HELL IS CLAIRE?!
Finally she came and she said her bag got stuck in a net on her way to the immigration. I shit you not. . . someone REALLY didn’t want us to catch this flight. . .
We only had 2-3 people infornt of us.
We cleared the immigration in no time.
I was really stressing Claire, i just pushed forward and forward without uttering a word.
Then to my fear i realized we had no Macau money at all, so i was like SHIT SHIT SHIT SHITTTTT!!!! Because we needed to pay for a cab.
So i got Claire to change some of her remaining HKD into Macau money, luckily it barely took anytime at all. . . still freaked me out.
We ran outside, i checked the time. . . . .15 minutes left. . . .SHIIIIEEEETTTT!
I ran around and asked people WHERE’S THE CABS?!!!!
We got pointed in a direction and started rushing off toward the Taxi stand. . . . .
Then to my dread. . . .
I saw that the taxi queue, was so long that it bent once and people were starting to queue outside the designated queing area.
It was over. . . .. that faint flicker of hope i had, everything i stressed through. . . lost. . . . no point. . . . I felt sick in my stomache. . . .. I was breathing heavily and my head felt a bit dizzy.
I took out the phone, tried calling tiger airways to see if they could make an exception and rebook. . . . . shit phone still didn’t work. . . .
We waited in the queue, very intensley following how one person after another got their cab.
Time was really running out, but miraculously we managed to get a cab when it was 10 minutes left before the check in closed.
That little flicker of hope sparked back to life and i once again began my furious rampage.
I rammed our luggage into the booth of the cab and ushered the woman to drive the hell to the airport.
I didn’t even care when the booth couldn’t be closed properly and the lady said that straps weren’t necessary.
We got in the cab, and as i was counting seconds, i was thinking. . . what else could possibly go wrong?
I’ll tell you what else could possibly go wrong.
THE SERVICE OF F*KING HK AREA PEOPLE IS WHAT CAN GO WRONG!
Our cab driver. . . she was a goddamn JOKE!
(Pardon my language, but i feel it gives more of a realistic feeling to how i felt hehe. . . and oh yes i was screaming out cursewords loud enough for many people to hear at the time)
The booth lid. . . . flipped open, i yelled at the bloody woman HEY HEEEEEEEEY THE BOOTH THE FRIGGIN BOOTH!
She’s like ”Oh. . .”
Fking moron. . . .
So there we go, she stops the car and walks out to put the straps on, i was chuckling inside the cab, much like dad does when he’s agitated and can’t really believe that what’s happening is actually happening. More time wasted. . . . time which we deffinitely do not have.
We drove and we drove, the time grew closer to 15.00. . . .
The time reached 15.00. . .
The time passed 15.00. . .
At 15.03 we arrived at the airport.
Claire hurriedly paid the bloody woman, while i ran outside jerked off the straps without the driver’s assistance, ripped our luggage, started RUNNING inside with my bag, while yelling at Claire who was just exiting the cab ”I’M GONNA RUN AHEAD!”
I ran toward the slide doors, they didn’t open, i yelled out, almost as if i was yelling at the people sitting outside ”WHERE THE F*K IS THE DOOR?!” everyone looked at me. . . i couldn’t care less.
I finally found the slide doors and ran inside, madly, close to insanely flinging my head back and forth i finally spotted the Tiger Airways check in.
I ran toward it.
There was a guard there.
An X-ray machine.
The gaurd asked where i was heading, i spoke more calmy this time (With good reasons), i told him singapore, but i was still quivering and panting from the stress. My eyes and nostrils flared open.
I see Claire come running toward me.
I ask the gaurd. . . are we screwed or do we still have time to check in?
I caught a glimpse of a watch in the airport showing 15.05. I kept reading what it said on the ticket over and over in my head; ”… CHECK-IN CLOSES AT 15.00 NO EXCEPTIONS”
. . . .. .
. . . .
. .. .
. . . . ..
.. . . .
. . . .
. . ..
. . . . . .
.. . . . .
. . . . .
.. . .
The gaurd laughed.
And as if he broke out into song;
”No problem, you guys have lots of time, chill out”
I think i stood there for a while without uttering a single word, i needed time to comprehend what i had just heard.
I had time?
I would actually make it to singapore?
Maybe you don’t understand, but after what i went through those two days, this was like lifting a refrigerator off my chest.
I was so relieved i can’t even begin to tell you hwo i felt.
To increase my nervosity and unwillingness to loose money, i was also extremly worried about my economy the last few weeks in hong kong because i had decided i would make a trip to australia. . . . and well, for about 6 years now i have always wanted to go to australia, so naturally i wanted as much money as i could possibly have during this trip.
I was worried already about my economy, imagine if i had lost thi flight and had to pay for a new one?
Anyway, both Claire and i were so relieved, i couldn’t help but laugh, and smile all the way to the check-in. Even Claire agreed. . . .it felt unreal. . .
I could not believe i was about head back to singapore and then head off to paradise in tioman for about a week!
I loved every second of it. . . . i felt sooo sooo sooo good.
Once inside the airport, we went and grabbed a few well deserved beers.
And i will not lie to you, on the flight we drank whine, and in my opinion, we deserved it. . . . after all that stress that took off at least 10 years of my life. . .. a well deserved beer was JUST the thing i needed!
It was a wonderfull flight. . . . .. . and Unbelieveable flight.
And when we finally arrived in singapore, Fred, Susan, Cathy, Guama and Gong Gong were there awaiting our arrival.
We went and ate chicken rice. . . . superb. . .. both Claire and i were so happy to be back in singapore!
Now i can finally post this part of my story, the remaining parts will come soon.
I land in Melbourne in 27 minutes, i.e if we land exactly on schedule!
I can’t wait. . . i miss Claire very much, and i’m eager to explore melbourne

I also miss all of you very much

Lotsa Love

/Alex


PS.

Lena
Hello my Dear Godmother!
My appologies for taking so long, i've heard you've called mom and asked if i was ok haha, and i assure you, i'm just fine!
Hahahahahah nooooo no no no no i wasn't planning on tattooing Claire on me, and i'm not sure i will get a tattoo, but i'm just playing around with the idea of tattooing "Stora Essingen" on myself somewhere hehe.
Yees isn't that dessert french? Seems like something you would enjoy anyway! Maybe we can grab one when i get back!
Lotsa Love! Hope all is well!
Oh btw, You should deffinitely try and get Facebook working, because i put up a lot more pictures there, and can more frequently update facebooke than i can my blog!

Farfar
HAHahahahha! Oh my my my. . . .. you do lead a tuff life do you not?
I feel obliged to let you know that a lot of my female friends adore you haha. Especially now after the comments on my facebook, you're a funny man farfar!
Are you sure wine interferes with sleep?. . . who cares is what i say . . . Knocks the shite out of me during flights ;)
Hope your problems will one day be oblivious. . .. actually i don't. . . what would life be without problems? The more problems you have, shows what a rich life you must have!
Hahaha, well hope you don't get too fired up about them though ;)
Lotsa Love!

Farmor
Nice hearing from you!
I heard about you vacation over the phone with my parents!
Hahahaha jaaa jag är nu i Claire's hus, och sover i hennes rum .. . vi har redan stökat till rummet rejält. . .tydligen enligt hennes mamma är hon lika organiserad som jag är. . .. hahaha jaja!
Jag saknar höst i sverige! Det finns en särskild lukt i luften som får mig att minnas lååångt tillbaka, det är så underbart!
Har bland annat träffat Claire's mormor som växte upp i sverige, vi talade länge om sverige hahaha.
Hoppas allt är bra med er!
Lotsa Love!