You can have a fantastic holiday, with tan and tatoo, until you reach KLIA...

And this is not the first time!

I had one of the best holidays in my life in Bali. Five better-than-perfect days! From the day I arrived all the way to the moment I reluctantly boarded the aircraft at Ngurah Rai airport to head back to KL. Bali waived me goodbye with a beautiful sunset (will post the pics soon!). Such a beautiful finale to a wonderful holiday.

I did not to check in my luggage because I do not trust the baggage system in KLIA. I have heard nightmares faced by family and friends.

I carried everything with me as hand luggages of a notebook, camera and tripod and clothes. Pretty heavy, but hey, my stuffs are too precious and they have to be with me all the time.

Once touched down at KLIA the plane docked at Gate 8 which is right at the end of such a big airport (but most of the time quite quiet), and guess what? There was no trolley at the gate so I had to carry everything all the way to the aerotrain. I have faced this several times local and international arrivals.

At the duty free shop and the cashier could not even speak properly to fellow Malaysia and didn't really know what they were doing and what sort of promotion applicable to HSBC credit card holders.

As I reached the immigration, I had to try several times before the stupid scanner can recognize my thumb print. Why bother having automated system when they still need an immigration officer to be at the machine all the time.

At the arrival hall, there were people offering illegal taxi services. I couldn't be bothered. I gave them my disgusted look.

KL Sentral is another hell hole.

When I reached KL Sentral via ERL trying to get a cab (which we have to pay more than the street rate for no bloody reason. I mean there is no added value in the services they provide and yet we have to pay extra. And sometimes then don't even have a cab! Why???). I had to wait at the taxi counter for several minutes because the computer was down. No apologies given. In fact the girl who attended the both was showing her tentrum!

Finally, when I got a taxi, the driver just waived at me and expected me to load the luggage myself into the boot.

That was NOT the end of it!

When I entered the cab, it's was smelly and the driver drove very slowly on the fast lane.

I mean, what is up with this country?

There are better cabs in Bangkok, Jakarta, Singapore and Bali.

We are way way behind.

When people say Singapore is better, we get upset. Hell lo!!!!!

This year, Malaysia is going to be 50 and it's VISIT MALAYSIA YEAR 2007...

Good luck!

How can we give a good lasting first impression to the tourists if we can't even get the door into our country in order?

We may have been around for 50 years, but we have so much more to learn and to improve.

Ishhhhh!