MAR 6, 16 .. HONG KONG NORTH TO ULAANBAATAR MONGOLIA

Let’s see if I actually get the post I plan to write today written and published. My post of yesterday MAR 5, 16 will enlighten you as to what I am talking about.

Don’t ask me why but I feel-the-need to write more about my flight from Hong Kong to Ulaanbaatar last Tuesday the 1st of March. Not that I haven’t already shown you more than a few photos thereof.

Rhetorical Question: How do you successfully go-back-in-time.

When I took Patti to the airport to fly back to Anchorage on February the 25th from Hong Kong / Kowloon the two of us did NOT walk with our baggage to the nearest Hong Kong Airport Express Bus pickup location.

To SAVE PATTI a lot of ‘wear-and-tear’ I opted to get a taxi. Little did I know then that a major change was about to take place in my exiting process to get out to Chek Lap Kok (Hong Kong ) International. The taxi SAVED ME a lot of ‘wear-and-tear’. Odd that in helping Patti I helped myself also. For a mere (on average) HKG $ 45 / US $ 5.81 life suddenly became much easier for me.

Fast .. No issues with waiting for the Airport Express Bus .. No risk the bus would be full and pass-me-by .. No ‘handling’ my luggage (getting it there and on and off the bus all tax my body) .. and why?  To save a mere few dollars.

Silly no? In the U.S. I routinely pay US $ 50 maybe more to get to the airport and ‘think-nothing-of-it’.

So this trip began with a taxi ride.

Checking in at the Airport Express Station.

Enjoying the superlative ride-on-the-train out to Chek Lap Kok International.

Arriving at the airport.

THE DRAMA ..

.. OF MY PEANUT BUTTER SAGA ! Click onto the below link in case you missed this saga!

https://babakaps.net/?paged=2

Odd .. When the dust had settled from the above DRAMA .. And I was past Security and Immigration .. A boarding gate for my flight was not posted.

Long LONG story short .. I had a five (5 count them) hour delay.

My flight on Mongolian Airlines (second down on the above flight departure board) .. OM 298 .. that was scheduled to depart at 1:25pm (13:25 Hrs) actually pushed-away from our departure gate at its re-scheduled time of 6:35pm (18:35 Hrs). To this moment-in-time I have no idea of why the flight was delayed. I don’t remember ‘The Captain’ in the cockpit even mentioning or apologizing for the delay.

IT’S NO WONDER YOU DIDN’T HEAR WHAT THE GOOD CAPTAIN OF THE AIRCRAFT MAY HAVE SAID! YOU WERE ON-THE-PHONE TALKING NON-STOP TO PATTI.  WELL IT IS A GREAT WAY TO EASE THE STRESS OF SECURITY AND THE 5-HOUR DELAY AND FINALLY BOARDING THE PLANE. FUNNY HUH? MY THINGS CHAT-WITH-ME AND SO TOO DOES THE COMMITTEE INSIDE-OF-MY-HEAD!

In all of my experience dating to last July 2015 .. this was my 4th outbound departure for Ulaanbaatar from Hong Kong .. the flights left from either gates 501 or 502.

So I decided that .. I assumed that .. when the plane did leave it would depart from gates 501 or 502. So why not go out to them and wait out there in the satellite terminal. Makes sense no?

Getting to departure gates 501 / 502 is not any easy chore. You have to take a shuttle bus out to a satellite terminal sitting by itself in the middle of nowhere. Below is a photo of the area from which this satellite terminal bus departs. I should-have-known that only gates 501 / 510 are in the satellite terminal shouldn’t I?

A photo of the shuttle bus. You can see were are right out in the middle of nowhere.

So? So based on my previous experience I went out to the satellite terminal to await further developments.

The two prior departure gates that I have departed from Chek Lap Kok International flying up to Ulaanbaatar.

AND TO PASS THE TIME PATTI AND I CHIT-CHATTED  .. MANY TIMES.

Finally the departure board showed an assigned departure gate .. Gate 511.

“Hum-m-m-m-m ..”  I said to Patti speaking from the satellite terminal .. “This is a new departure gate for me. I think I had better find out if Gate 511 is here in the satellite terminal.” .. “Chek Lap Kok is a gigantic place and I might have to travel a mile or two to get to Gate 511.”

SO OUT AND OFF GOES YOUR CAPTAIN IN SEARCH OF GATE 511 ..

Sure enough Gate 511 is NOT out in the satellite terminal.

SO OUT AND OFF GOES YOUR CAPTAIN IN FURTHER SEARCH OF GATE 511 ..

Onto the satellite shuttle bus back into the main terminal area of Chek Lap Kok I went.

On the far left side in the below photo you can see (isn’t life one learning experience!) that gates 501 / 510 are the only gates in the satellite terminal. 

And?

Off to the far right in the above and in the below photo you can see Gate 511.

There-you-have-it. Due to leave at 13:35 and (it turned out to be the actual time) now due to depart at 18:35. A nice five hour delay.

BACK ON THE PHONE FOR SOME MORE PATTI-TALK-STRESS-RELIEF-THERAPY ..

You have to realize that the ‘Peanut Butter Drama’ that I experienced in my getting through security really got me ‘worked-up’ and slammed my metabolism into ‘overdrive’. I can’t suddenly ‘just come down’ from such stress instantly. So chit-chatting with Patti was wonderful.

Now I see clearly as to why I wanted to write this post. It serves me as a form of catharsis (Catharsis noun .. The purging of the emotions or relieving of emotional tensions ..) and is a vital part of the process of putting the flight ‘to rest’.

Finally onto the shuttle bus we all piled!  But we did NOT go back to the satellite terminal. The check in process was done at gate 511. The shuttle bus headed directly out to our plane.

Up the portable steps and .. Here we go loop de loop .. Here we go loop de li ..

I settled down into my seat and watched the next shuttle bus arrive and its occupants come aboard the plane.

Wowie !! It looks like we really are going to leave.

I HEAR A VOICE .. “CAPTAIN OH CAPTAIN” .. “WON’T YOU PLEASE SNAP MY PHOTOGRAPH OH CAPTAIN!” ..

Yes indeed no problem! You are very handsome!

We have pushed away from our boarding location out in the middle of nowhere on the Chek Lap Kok tarmac .. We are on the way sports fans.

Just the writing of this post re-excites me about the life I am so blessed to be living. I LOVE I CRAVE WHAT I AM DOING!

IF THE ONLY PRAYER YOU EVER SAY IN YOUR ENTIRE LIFE IS THANK YOU .. IT WILL BE ENOUGH.  meister eckhart ..

“Thank You Oh God of Abraham for my life! My prayer today is that I continue to strive to find .. and to the best of my ability .. perform your will for me!”

We are next! I could feel the vibrations from the airplane in front of us taking off.

We have lift off at 18:58 Hrs Tuesday March the 1st 2016. The sun is setting and we were due into Ulaanbaatar at 18:05 Hrs or about one hour ago!

More of God’s masterpieces of beauty.

Immediately below is a photo of another outstanding meal on Mongolian Airlines. Just wonderful.

“Captain! Did you just say a meal. As in singular! Implying one meal!” .. “Captain! This is a program of honesty!”

Look very VERY closely at the above and at the below meals. Focus on the green vegetables on the plate on lower left of each photo. Now focus closely on the orange vegetables on the plate to its upper left above the green vegetables. 

“Trust me.” .. “Have I ever lied to you before?” .. “These are indeed two individual and two separate meals.”

IF THE ONLY PRAYER YOU EVER SAY IN YOUR ENTIRE LIFE IS THANK YOU .. IT WILL BE ENOUGH .. meister eckhart ..

“THANK YOU OH GOD OF ABRAHAM .. MAKER OF HEAVEN AND EARTH .. I really needed to eat. AND it was so nice to have a little bit of extra room on the flight. Oh God of Abraham you amaze me!”

NO! I am not talking while the flavor lasts. Gullible watched in .. wonder / amazement .. at things that seem to just happen with and to me!

HAPPINESS IS .. 

.. An empty seat next to me so I could ‘spread out’ ..

We have arrived .. Off the plane we all go .. Here we go loop de loop .. Here we go loop de li ..

Immigration .. My-Oh-My .. Internationally Immigration never changes .. 

Here we go loop de loop .. Here we go loop de li .. Into the baggage claim area.

It is God’s Truth .. My little blue stuff sack .. Oh-So-Proudly carrying my two large jars of peanut butter .. Was the absolutely and positively the last piece of baggage off the plane. When he showed up the luggage-conveyor-belt stopped cold. I was so relieved to see him!

HELLO !!

We .. All of us .. made it !!

In signing off here I will close by saying that I really have felt a lot of catharsis from the stress of this flight as I put this post together.

Smiling .. Cap ..

• ← MAR 5, 16 .. WHAT ON EARTH IS .. MAILER DAEMON ..
• MAR 7, 16 .. MONGOLIAN IMMIGRATION AND THE COLD WEATHER .. →