Click HERE to read DAY 1 entry


Lepas dah snappy², mek minum coffee la (to keep me awake – mek couldn't afford to tidur, kang dengan aku sekali kang DELAYED keluar dari bilik, NAYA JA!), tgk tv la, itu ini – pup pap pup pap dosi 4.30am. Terus mek double check with Mathilda, one of the KLAS peep yang sunggoh baik hati bersms dengan mek, for any updates on the departure. Org Jakarta katanya, contract keje 2 tahun dengan KLAS. Hehe. So dia ala² terus kasik 1st class service kat mek dah clients mek, sebab mek spedo dia katanye clients mek bukan taraf VIP, tapi VVIP! Hiks! Terus nih, attentive gile! Then showered bagai semua, at 5.10am mek kejutkan clients mek itiew and terus met them at the lobby sebab Mathilda cakap confirmed 6.50am departure. While waiting for my clients to turun ke lobby, mek lepak² dengan Mathilda and si Sam, Emirates ground manager for that day. He also very der attentive nih, helpful gilos – like, nak ensure everything went smooth for my guests, and me of course. Hehehe...

My clients turun ke lobby sajork, katanya nak terus proceed ke terminal. So all of us skipped breakfast yang diprovidekan kat Pan Pac tu (menyesal pulak aku pi skipped breakfast itiew. Yer lah, 4 org clients mek, boleh pi dok kat lounge Business class itiew. HABIS, mek!? Melepasss lah breakfast kaedahnye!)

So from Pan Pac lobby, katanya naik buggy itiew, transported five of us from the lobby ke level 3 lift ke tingkat 5 for departure. Kesian lah pulak si Mathilda tu keja berkejaran dari Pan Pac ke terminal. Hiks!

And then lepas dah cleared immigration, and security check bagai, naik the aero train to satellite terminal, terus Mathilda ngan mek escorted my clients ke Business Class lounge for foreign airlines itiew... tertelan japs air liur thinking about the meals, snacks, drinks yang ado dalam lounge itiew, and also pasai pi getek skipped breakfast kat Pan Pac itiew. Terus sentap, pi Delifrance! Hahahahaha! Makan laaaaaaaaagi katanya!

Pastu as mek dengar the final call for EK352 itiew, mek nampak ade another buggy dok tunggu kat bawah lounge tu. Amboi si Mathilda nih, layan sakan nampak clients 'VVIP' mek itiew. Hehehehe... siap dengan si Sam dan sorang lagi staff Emirates, Danny, dok tunggu kat buggy tu. Kalau camni la service utk VIP / VVIP pax naik Emirates with the help of KLAS staffs, mek rate 1st class sundal!!! Very good! So lepas tu, clients mek turun jer dari lounge, mek nampak muka clients mek macam... "Owh wow, this is beyond expectations" katanya – hahahah mati la slogan MH tu! And away they were taken to gate C22 for immediate boarding. Mek ngan Mathilda pon berjalan sajork ke C22 which was like, not ler jauh sangat dari lounge tu.

Sampai je ke gate, SENTAP! EY (economy) pon belom boarding. Ape nih!?!?! Nih mesti crew Emirates lambat kasik clearance for boarding. Benci betul tau. Tapi mujur clients mek macam, "Ok jer" kaedahnye. Kalau depa naik upset, mek lagi la nak naik hangen. Client mek punye wife tu sempat bisik kat mek "Ala, biasa la... EMIRATES... nama jer 1st in the world – tapi kau tgk la sendiri..." Nahhh! Mrasalah itiew Datin sudah sound laser lite² katanya, sambil Dato' itiew senyum² sinis sajork kat staff Emirates yang dua ekor tu. Hehehehe. Anak² diaorang masih MAMAI katanya – macam... "Errr... kite kat mana ni???" haaa cam tu la ghuponye. Hehehe...

And so, lepas tu, boarding (it was a 2 classes Airbus A330-300s sajork), mek joined my clients naik kot Business Class, tolong depa stowed their cabin bags, pastu mek proceed ke seat mek. Seat mek 1st row EY, so tak der lah jauh sangat dari diaorang yang mek dah booked last 2 rows of Business Class. Senang, kang kalau depa nak ape², mek ado. KAN?

Dah duduk dalam plane tu, tgk jam, 6.50am, NAN ADO pintu ditutupnya lagi. DELAYED lagi katanya 3 pax still missing. Hish! Tunggu punya tunggu, nah, 7.20am BARU "Cabin crew; please prepare your doors for take off". Hanjeng sangat! Mek dah mula hangin balik sebab mek tak mo delay lama², kang connecting flight aku dari DXB (Dubai) ke IST (Istanbul) kang terlepas kang, HOW!? Tapi mek dosi double and triple checked katanya – mrasalah our connecting flight to IST tak der affected. Cuma our transit time in DXB jer jadik pendek from 11 hours ++ (siap check-in kat Le Meridien Dubai tau!!! And siap boleh keluar jalan² in Dubai city centre lepas breakfast tau!!! MELEPASS!!!) to 4 hours and 35 minutes only katanya. And since it's a 'less than 8 hours transit, dinch perlu dan dinch bols keluar dari Airport katanya! Upset lagi!

And so, lepas tu, we ols semua departed from KUL onwards to DXB – 6 hours and 45 minutes flight katanya. The flight was ok, pretty bumpy throughout the whole journey. Lepas 1st service, which was a refreshment service (sandwich kosong sajork), mek nengok brapa banyak movies ntah, siap main game lagi, sebelum mek pi check dengan Dato' tu, just to ensure semuanya ok, and lepas tu mek zzzzz tak hengat donia. Seat sebelah mek kosong, so, mrasalah stretching metching! Hehehehe...




And then woke up, just in time for light meal service. Food was ok la kot – had this ape tah noodles with chicken tah. Ok jer. Nuthing fancy. Tapi dalampada mek dok memakan tu, mek nengok la jugak service Emirates ni. Relatively if you wanna compare with MH, I'd say Emirates punye service, tak sehebat MH punye service. Serious. Not because mek ex crew MH. Tapi kalau dibanding-bezakan oleh org lain yang pernah mrasa both airlines, mek rase ramai akan agree dengan mek. Service cart MH siket punye elok jer set-upnya. Emirates punye, HAIYOH! Oven insert tu boleh dia letak atas cart? Mano elok! Hodoh and very der lah! Mek tak suke! Meaning, diaorang tak buat meal loading dalam cart/ trays dalam galley. Depa buat depan² penumpang. So very der, macam, tak elok lah. Mek tak suke!


Lepas tu, at around 10am ++, kiteorang arrived in DXB. Dah sampai DXB tu, mek pon gi la menghanto again Dato' and Datin and their kids tu ke Emirates Business Class lounge. Lepas dah depa masuk pi lounge tu, mek pon, pi la membakar jantung mek. Lepas hisap dua tiga batang, mek jengjalan kat airport tu punye Duty Free shopping area. Jalan² saje ke? NAN ADO! Mek shopping katanya – mek beli Nokia 6111 katanya! Mrasa lah hp mek tu unique sebab keypad dia ade tulisan Arab sundalll! Kau ada? HAHAHAHA!

Lepas dosi shopping mopping, pi la ke cybercafé, berchatting kejaps katanya dalam sejam. Sempat mek chatting kat TB mek itiew, walaupun tak ramai yang ado. YM pong sempat online nih, siap show status "Live from Dubai" katanya... hahaha!

Dan tanpa disadari katanya, time to fly, again! So mek rushed pi dapatkan clients mek kat lounge tu, dan terus proceed ke gate E36 for immediate boarding. Dinch perlu checkin' in bagai as kami already checked-in terus ke IST. So boarding pass semua mrasalah dosi ado. Dan kaedahnye, sampai jer ke gate, ade scene ok! Ade this one local passenger katanya tak dapatkan visa utk keluar dari DXB dan masuk ke IST. So dia tak leh nak board the plane. Pastu yang jadi scenenye, sebab dia cakap, Emirates tak inform pa per pasal Visa masuk ke Istanbul tu. So jadik la scene. But for me la kan, bab bab Visa nih semua ni, hang sendiri la kena bukak mulut tanya agency hang or tanya airline ke ape ke just to clarify. Ini nak expect Emirates habaq – awat dia ingat dia sorang jer la pax yang nak ke Istanbul tu? Kezi lah...

And then, lepas dah nengok scene kezi tu, kiteorang terus boarding. This time, t'was a 3 classes Boeing B777-300s. Yang Malaysia Airlines punyo, 2 and 3 classes Boeing B777-200s sajork. Yang ini lebih panjang siket katanya dari the 200 series. So again, mek boarded the plane naik ikut Business Class, sebab nak menolong stow the bags semua. And again, depa duduk last two rows in Business Class, dan mek pulak in 1st row Economy. Selak curtain divider tu jer, nampak la mek. Hehehehe...



The flight from DXB to IST memakan masa like 4 hours and 20 minutes and they were serving another light meal. This time mek hamek chicken breast with Arabic rice katanya? Mek nengok dan raso cam Briyani sajork? Pa per jer – janji, boleh telan. Tak der la sedap mana pong. And along the way, mek buat kawan dengan sorang pompuan duduk sebelah mek nih. Sembang² dengan dia, itu ini, tup tup dosi dengar announcement before landing dah. Aiyoh. Cepat la pulak 4 hours flight tu berlalu. Tarkik lah. Mek lagi suka. Dok dalam plane tu pun bukannye menarik pa per pon! Hiks! Crew semuanya cikki; ciktan ade la 2 3 ekoq tapi tak melerts pon. So boring la the flight. Hehehe...



Landed in IST at around 6.45pm... outside temperature was around 14 degrees although sunny kaedahnye – and windy too! Keluar dari aircraft jer, dosi boleh rase sejuk kat aero bridge tu. Maybe it was the airport, mek speku. So lepas dah cleared the immigration (sedeh lah, dari dulu time² mek fly sampai now, IST Attartuk Airport tu, nama jer besau, tapi, system nan ado. Immigration clearance pong slow – tak macam KLIA kita), and amik baggage bagai semua, kiteorang proceed to arrival hall, and terus keluar² je, mek dah nampak muka si Ibrahim, agent mek kat IST tu. Sebelum nih agency mek deal dengan partner dia, si Cenk tu. Tapi kali ni, Ibrahim tu yang will be taking care of my clients. Tgk rupo, can do! Mrasa!!! Hiks!

And so lepas dari airport, 1 hour kiteorang drive ke Conrad Bosphorus Hotel (curlassttt transport, van Mercedes itiew! Mek sker mek sker! And obviously clients mek pong turut suker katanye!). Kenapasal jauh sangat? Well actually, kalau nan ado heavy traffice, 40 minutes leh sampai ke Conrad tu. Tapi, since jammanation yang maha teruks (as usual la Istanbul tu!), jadik lah sejam lebeh kurang. Hehehe. Along the way tu, mrasalah kami dapat melihat itiew tulips pelbagai warna. Cantiks sangat! Cuaca pun just nice, dah nak gelap malam katanya. Sker la sker!!!!

Sampai jer ke Conrad tu – mak aih! BUSY GILE hotel tu. Agent mek dah warned me earlier through the phone waktu mek buat booking dulu – Conrad tu time mek pi tu, memang tgh sebok dengan conference Islamic ape tah. And Conrad tu, memang a well-known 5 star hotel yang selalu busy dengan conference tu conference nih, event tu event nih. Tapi since mek nak jugak bookkan hotel room kat Conrad tu utk VIP clients mek, so, MRASALAH! Kat lobby, siap ade security check ala² macam kat boarding gate kat airport itiew tau! Tu belom mek cakap, dari gate hotel, nak menuju ke hotel's lobby/ porch area tu, kena go through 2 security check also. Penat sundalll!!!

Lepas tu, mek check-in kan clients mek, siap sempat mek pi lari naik ke bilik diaorang nak ensure everything was like ok and as per booking (2 deluxe connecting rooms with Bosphorus view), check itu check ini, baru mek lepaskan clients mek naik ke bilik. Dahhh mek feeling cam bodyguard/ PA pulak instead of a travel agent, HOW? Heheheh... tak per la, janji they're happy.
 
So lepas tu, mek tak balik ke hotel mek lagi (Yer, mek dinch dapat bilik kat Conrad sebab full house – so mrasalah mek check in ke hotel Green Park at Taksim tu, like 10 minutes away dari Conrad) Sebabkan jalan tgh jam, mek dinch berani lah nak pi check in hotel mek dulu, and then pi balik Conrad sebab nak amik clients mek pi dinner. Kang dengan jam tu, dari 10 ke 20 minute, jadik sejam dua delayed kang. Malas aku! So mek tunggu jer kat lobby hotel Conrad tu dengan si Ibrahim tu, sambil isap² rokok. And then MUJUR mek tak pi balik hotel mek – sebab clients mek naik ke bilik dan turun balik ke lobby within 15 minutes jer. Express! MEK LIKE! Hehehe...

Ok before mek go on and citer, meh mek citer kat u ols sikit pasal Istanbul, serba sediks la yang mek tau. Istanbul nih ade 2 areas. Asia side and Europe side. Asia side nih ala² macam more to residential area. Manakala Europe side nih, dia macam, city centre, banyak historical sites, business centre, and etc., like Europe nih lebih busy la if u wanna compare to Istanbul Asia. And Istanbul Europe nih pulak, dibahagikan kepada dua bahagian pulak; The Old City and The New City. Mrasalah tempat clients mek stay and also hotel yang mek duduk tu, di New City. Old city nih actually merupakan tempat yang banyak historical sites and scenes. Get it tak? Hiks! Ok – itu jer FOR NOW info tentang Istanbul. As mek citerkan lagi nanti, kalau ade pa per info yang perlu mek citerkan, mek akan habaq, NAH?

So, where was I tadik? Owh yes – dinner. And then, lepas my clients dan anak² diaorang dah ready, kitaorang semua went to Kucupazar for dinner (Kucupazar nih in Istanbul Europe, The Old City). Going to The Old City area, jam tak seteruk macam nak ke The New City and also Istanbul Asia. So the ride was like, 15 minutes jer. And dekat² nak sampai ke restaurant tu (tah ape nama tah mek dosi lupe), mek nengok, drizzling katanya. Tapi kejap jer – Thank God. Kalau idak, berhujan² nih, upset jer tour nih jadiknye, kan? So ok – dinner. Dinner was at this local Turkish restaurant. Kecik jer restaurantnye (for me, the smaller the restaurant is in Istanbul, lebih GRAND sebenarnye and lebih personalized and lebih fancy), tapi the meal was superb!!! And restaurant tu, VERY DER full house! Penuh dengan manusia² local yang baru balik kerej la apa la semua tu. Dan mek prasan, majority guests kat restaurant tu majority semuanya ciktan. Mana pi cikpuks semua tatau!? Makan kat umah sajork kah? Hiks!





Lepas dinner, terus balik ke Conrad hantar clients mek yang mek dapat lihat dosi keletihan. It was somewhere 11pm something (mrasalah waktu Malaysia 5 hours ahead of Istanbul – so 11pm Istanbul means 4am in Malaysia) and it was kindda late. The children were exhausted I can tell. And so was I. So lepas hantar my clients, BARU LAHHHH mek ke hotel mek kat Taksim tu. It was ok – the hotel and the room. 4* hotel, ok la. Melampau laaa nak pi duduk 5* jugak. Mau semput bigbossdaddy katanya! LOL!

Checked in, pastu unpacked, kemas² baju² dalam closet, had a nice, long, hot shower, and then minum hot tea, pastu – zzzzz!!!

Bersambung...