I was imprisoned in Malaysia!
It is indeed a fact, I was imprisoned while in Kuala Lumpur. It was for a very short time. The time was about 10pm while everyone else was either sleeping or about to go to sleep. Poor me, was imprisoned with no help, especially as I can’t speak Malay except greeting some one “good morning” or “good night”. These two sentences wouldn’t get me out of the situation.
The date: 22nd July 2011.
Place: Near Masjid Jamek in Kula Lumpur, Malaysia.
Crime committed: Attending nature’s call after 10pm
I and my wife went to Malaysia on the popular LCC airlines called Air Asia. The fare was dud cheap. The return flight from Delhi to Kuala Lumpur (KL) costed us just 5000/- INR. Of course not per person but for both!! Otherwise why would I call it cheap. By the way LCC stands for Low Cost Carrier.
It was a spot decision to book these flights without thinking. This was because such cheap tickets get sold out in no time. We were lucky to get these for July 2011 (booked about 8 months back). As such there was no time for proper planning on routing and dates. We booked ourselves for a trip to Langkawi too from KL. We had to check-in and out a number of times into hotels.
As the fare was so low we also tried to do the same with hotel accommodation and chose Citin hotels both at KL and Langkawi. They were good (I mean quite neat and simple), they reminded me of the Etap hotels in the Europe. At KL we stayed in Citin Masjid Jamek for the simple reason that the hotel is a minute’s walk from the Metro station. The hotel is situated right behind Little India shopping arcade and adjoining Masjid Jamek.
The flight Air Asia D7 2507 was very good, the seats and the interiors were quite clean and bright. The outside and the inside of the craft we see a lot of red color making it look bright. The flight arrived before time and we rushed to catch the Skybus (operated by Air Asia) to KL Sentral. It is an hour’s journey passing through green patches of coconut and palm trees making it a cool welcome to the country. At KL Sentral we took a cab to the hotel and paid him MYR20.
The lobby of the hotel was jam packed with people checking out and checking in. It seems to be a very popular hotel. The time around 8 or 8.30 am and worried as the check-in time is 12noon. Luckily Adilla was at the reception, the girl I spoke to a few days before and she obliged us by allocating a room (but with a connecting door, which I didn’t want). She said she will move me out next day. Early check-in at no extra Cost!!. The staff were nice to us.
See how I made you read all this keeping the suspense. You wanted to know about my imprisonment.
It was 22nd July (we were moved to room#804). After long hours of shopping and a late dinner we arrived at the hotel after 9.30pm. I went to the toilet to relieve myself and to change into
night dress. After relieving myself and changing my pyjamas, when I tried to open the door, it wouldn’t open and to my horror found that there was no lever to turn the latch. It got locked and nothing to operate. So frantically called my wife for help. She didn’t have anything on the outside to operate it either. She called reception.
10 minutes passed and no one came. She again called, they said that the maintenance guy is on leave!!. 10 more minutes passed and no one came, so she called and shouted at them. They sent the security guy ( a guy from Punjab). A hefty guy, powerfully built and tall but without any ideas. He tried a lot, almost hammered his way in. I had to warn him about the glass door. My wife passed a small scissors through the small opening between door and the wall. It didn’t help There was a window at the far end and even if I went out the window I didn’t dare to cross over the next window at the 8th floor. I always wanted to do paragliding – definitely this was not the way. The security guy passed on many box nut spanner bits and one of them fitted on the latch spindle with the help of toilet tissue. I forced it tight and turned, Voila! The door opened to my relief. That’s how it happened. I was locked up for more than 40 minutes against my wishes. Luckily my next flight was 18 hours away.
Next day I had the lock removed totally, lest some one else will be imprisoned! And possibly no one is sharing the room. God help them. I wonder what I would have done with out a phone and if I was alone in the hotel locked up like this. I will cross the bridge when I come to it. May be I will always carry my mobile phone to the toilet!
Read more on Malaysia trip in the other articles being published shortly.
It is indeed a fact, I was imprisoned while in Kuala Lumpur. It was for a very short time. The time was about 10pm while everyone else was either sleeping or about to go to sleep. Poor me, was imprisoned with no help, especially as I can’t speak Malay except greeting some one “good morning” or “good night”. These two sentences wouldn’t get me out of the situation.
The date: 22nd July 2011.
Place: Near Masjid Jamek in Kula Lumpur, Malaysia.
Crime committed: Attending nature’s call after 10pm
I and my wife went to Malaysia on the popular LCC airlines called Air Asia. The fare was dud cheap. The return flight from Delhi to Kuala Lumpur (KL) costed us just 5000/- INR. Of course not per person but for both!! Otherwise why would I call it cheap. By the way LCC stands for Low Cost Carrier.It was a spot decision to book these flights without thinking. This was because such cheap tickets get sold out in no time. We were lucky to get these for July 2011 (booked about 8 months back). As such there was no time for proper planning on routing and dates. We booked ourselves for a trip to Langkawi too from KL. We had to check-in and out a number of times into hotels.
As the fare was so low we also tried to do the same with hotel accommodation and chose Citin hotels both at KL and Langkawi. They were good (I mean quite neat and simple), they reminded me of the Etap hotels in the Europe. At KL we stayed in Citin Masjid Jamek for the simple reason that the hotel is a minute’s walk from the Metro station. The hotel is situated right behind Little India shopping arcade and adjoining Masjid Jamek.
The flight Air Asia D7 2507 was very good, the seats and the interiors were quite clean and bright. The outside and the inside of the craft we see a lot of red color making it look bright. The flight arrived before time and we rushed to catch the Skybus (operated by Air Asia) to KL Sentral. It is an hour’s journey passing through green patches of coconut and palm trees making it a cool welcome to the country. At KL Sentral we took a cab to the hotel and paid him MYR20.
The lobby of the hotel was jam packed with people checking out and checking in. It seems to be a very popular hotel. The time around 8 or 8.30 am and worried as the check-in time is 12noon. Luckily Adilla was at the reception, the girl I spoke to a few days before and she obliged us by allocating a room (but with a connecting door, which I didn’t want). She said she will move me out next day. Early check-in at no extra Cost!!. The staff were nice to us.
See how I made you read all this keeping the suspense. You wanted to know about my imprisonment.
It was 22nd July (we were moved to room#804). After long hours of shopping and a late dinner we arrived at the hotel after 9.30pm. I went to the toilet to relieve myself and to change into
night dress. After relieving myself and changing my pyjamas, when I tried to open the door, it wouldn’t open and to my horror found that there was no lever to turn the latch. It got locked and nothing to operate. So frantically called my wife for help. She didn’t have anything on the outside to operate it either. She called reception.10 minutes passed and no one came. She again called, they said that the maintenance guy is on leave!!. 10 more minutes passed and no one came, so she called and shouted at them. They sent the security guy ( a guy from Punjab). A hefty guy, powerfully built and tall but without any ideas. He tried a lot, almost hammered his way in. I had to warn him about the glass door. My wife passed a small scissors through the small opening between door and the wall. It didn’t help There was a window at the far end and even if I went out the window I didn’t dare to cross over the next window at the 8th floor. I always wanted to do paragliding – definitely this was not the way. The security guy passed on many box nut spanner bits and one of them fitted on the latch spindle with the help of toilet tissue. I forced it tight and turned, Voila! The door opened to my relief. That’s how it happened. I was locked up for more than 40 minutes against my wishes. Luckily my next flight was 18 hours away.
Next day I had the lock removed totally, lest some one else will be imprisoned! And possibly no one is sharing the room. God help them. I wonder what I would have done with out a phone and if I was alone in the hotel locked up like this. I will cross the bridge when I come to it. May be I will always carry my mobile phone to the toilet!
Read more on Malaysia trip in the other articles being published shortly.
No comments:
Post a Comment