Saturday November 21, 2009

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E-mail your poignant, funny or strange What a Holiday! experience to weekend@thestar.com.my

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Journey of discovery

In 1995, I went on a business trip with a few colleagues. We woke up at 4am to fly from Phoenix to Las Vegas. Then we took a small plane to the Grand Canyon.

We had a rushed bus tour. At 3pm, we boarded the plane and arrived back in Las Vegas for dinner. We walked around Las Vegas and saw a fantastic show which featured a pirate ship fighting a British ship. Then we went to see a stage show that had stunts involving archery.

It was midnight already. I was very sleepy. Suddenly 20 girls came out dancing in colourful costumes but were topless. My eyes widened for a while but after five minutes, I was so tired I fell asleep!!

Then we flew to Chicago. After a one-day business meeting, we rushed back to the airport. But we were late. Chicago O’Hare airport is so big that we got lost.

After checking in, we ran in the wrong direction. But we managed to find the correct gate and boarded the plane. However, a passenger had already occupied my colleague’s seat. The airline had overbooked.

The stewardess asked my colleague to step outside the plane to resolve the issue. Once he stepped out of the plane, the door was shut. My colleague was stranded. The airline compensated him by offering a Business Class seat on the next flight but he had to wait six hours.

We returned safely to Malaysia. However, I shivered when I read in the paper that a similar plane to the Grand Canyon had crashed a few days after our trip there.

BYH

Shah Alam

Travellin’ men

In 1981, my roommates, Ho and KG, and I graduated in England and were eager to see Europe before returning home. However, we hardly had any spare cash left except to buy a £100 student pass each for one month’s unlimited travel by train anywhere in Europe.

As we were short of cash, we planned to sleep mostly in overnight trains to save on accommodation. We did not have any fixed schedule, so we zig-zagged from city to city making use of the overnight trains: Amsterdam-Munich-Kassel- Zurich-Vienna-Belgrade-Venice.

If we were lucky, we would sleep on the seats, otherwise we slept in the aisle and people would walk over us. A lot of students did that. During our two-week travel, we only slept in dormitories twice, in Amsterdam and Interlaken, Switzerland.

Most of the time we just did sightseeing or visited places with free entrances and ate what we could afford. Once we bought two roast chickens and two loaves of bread in Brussels to eat on the train to Amsterdam. While waiting for the train, we all went to a post office at the train station to send postcards. Then the train came and we were merrily on our way and it was time for lunch. KG was carrying the chicken and when we asked for it, he gave us a blank stare — apparently he had left it at the Brussels train station!

We were all mad at him — lunch that day was plain bread and some drinks.

I remembered another amusing episode in Innsbruck, Austria.

It was late night, and we were waiting in a small public garden outside the train station. We saw a couple of pear trees and before long we were throwing sticks at the fruits. The fruits brought down were not quite ripe but what the heck, hungry stomachs do not complain!

Throughout our travel, the best food we had was probably the pizza at a small shop near the Rome train station.

I had to part with the other four in Pisa and return to England as I had not applied for my visa to France. In Paris, they slept at the train station where Ho’s SLR camera was stolen.

Although we were financially challenged, the trip was enjoyable and eye-opening — we discovered there was nude wind surfing in a lake in Munich. And in Yugoslavia, a communist country then, X-rated movies were allowed at the cinemas and there were rock band performances in the park.

Roland Cheah,

Selangor

Turkish delight

Hubby and I had stopped at the port town of Bandirma, en route to Istanbul for the last leg of our backpacking trip.

It had been a most enjoyable adventure, and without having completed our journey I had already given Turkey top marks for its rich historical sites, wondrous landscapes and unsurpassed hospitality.

With a few hours to kill before boarding the ferry that night, we explored the downtown streets, passing kebaperies, pharmacies, restaurants, shops selling baklavas and sundries, a rustic cinema and an open air market with fruit and local vegetable stalls.

It was a drizzly day, and since we could not go further without getting drenched, we stopped for shelter and had an early dinner at a joint serving local fare, “chap fan” style. It was in the midst of Ramadan and, hence, we were the only customers.

We then made our way back to the ferry terminal, calling it a day in Bandirma. The transit would have been uneventful if not for what happened next.

Hubby and I lounged comfortably at the passenger waiting area, where there were rows of unoccupied seats. We passed the time recounting our experiences thus far and made plans for Istanbul.

We were the only ones there, except for a few staff who were stationed behind ticket counters, about 15 feet away. One of them, a pleasant young officer, noticed us and smiled benignly. We smiled back.

A while later, all the counters closed and the officers converged in their common room. It was time to break fast. The door was wide ajar and we witnessed the staff set the table with plates, utensils and dishes. A lively conversation ensued while everyone began digging in.

Shortly after, the same officer approached us. He did not attempt spoken words but with the same smile and now visibly twinkling eyes, offered us a full plate of grapes. The other officers turned to us while this happened and also smiled. We said our tesekkür ederim (thanks) profusely and dutifully consumed each grape. He promptly returned with an assortment of savoury finger foods!

We were indeed touched by this generosity, and decided we had to reciprocate. So hubby hurriedly went to the nearby market while I guarded our belongings.

He came back with a bag of pears and gave it to the officer. Some niceties (in animated sign language and broken Turkish) were exchanged. Hubby returned to his seat and reflecting on what had transpired, we both felt it was the least we could do, offering the pears to them for dessert.

Moments later, the officer returned with a plate of sliced pears!

These gestures of hospitality we were shown throughout the country were second to none. I will always remember this incident and the young officer with much fondness and gratitude.

It would be an understatement to say that the Turks have delighted my heart.

Audrey Cheng,

Kuala Lumpur