Back to front

Well thankfully after less than four hours (as compared to the four days it took for my baggage to return to me when i was in Portland) we managed to get all four pieces of baggage back safely and without anything missing (i suspect that a twelve-pack of alkaline batteries for my camera that i had stored in my lost baggage was taken by someone - unless i am a total toot and the batteries are sitting pretty somewhere in my room at home now - and that is a very distinct possibility). But in order to get the bags we had to drive back to RDU (Raleigh-Durham Airport) from the house we are staying in mere hours after arriving there from the airport in the first place - but the alternative would have been to wait for four more hours (after one am even) to get the bags delivered to our doorstep. Whatever it is, i'm thankful that the bags are back, and that our hosts here are so hospitable and accomodating to bring us here and there.

So tomorrow's when i'm supposed to move into my dorm - quite blur as to how the whole process will turn out - and since the past two days have been so topsy-turvy and there are so many things to recount, i shall attempt to do so from the most recent events back - memento style, for the sake of better recollection.

Well, firstly, now that i'm here, just to let you all note that the time difference now is a very convenient twelve hours- which means whatever time it's here in pm, it's there in am and vice versa - a very simple formula, at least until daylight saving time comes into effect...

The baggage incident was quite annoying, both because ALL of our baggage did not turn up at the baggage claim (unlike the first time when only my most unimportant baggage went missing), and there were many other passengers on the flight who were in the same boat as us (and considering that the plane in total sat less than a hundred people, the baggage handlers at Dulles missed out a sizeable portion of the baggage... Well at least it's found =l

The whole plane journey from San Francisco to RDU via Washington Dulles was rather uneventful (until the end when the missing baggage more than made up for the uneventful journey) The ride from Dulles to RDU was especially strange since we spent more time waiting in the stationary plane and taxiing around the runway than we did in the air itself - you would have thought that with so much extra time to kill they could have double-checked the baggage to make sure that all the passengers' bags were on board...

The time in the transit area was pretty uneventful - have been to the San Francisco United domestic transit terminal so many times that there's nothing new to see - i paid another visit to the familiar face from See's Candies - yup she still was there - it seems that no matter what time i go past the store over the past three years she's there

She's the one on the left, btw

Security wasn't that big of a deal as i thought that it would be - yes they were repeating ad nauseaum about the no liquids and gels thingy, but the screening process itself was pretty much the same as it was before - the security guy was a friendly chap who said that he stayed in S'pore for a few years and is doing the security job as a summer break from his day job as a lecturer at UC Berkeley - cool stuff...

We got to the airport at around 2am - and the flight was only at 7:54 - so there was basically a lot of waiting around - really dull stuff - the highlight perhaps was the midnite to four am two footlong subs at $9.99 offer - but the subs weren't that good - think that the sandwich artist was as sleepy as i was...

Took a bus from the greyhound station to the airport - thankfully we met this kind lady who was very helpful in giving us directions. My mother also asked the many Filipinos around for help - it's marvellous what using the right language can do for you - much more than what milo could ever do...

The greyhound ride was better than the previous one i took - still lots of opportunity to observe the people around and reflect upon how blessed i've been (and therefore how much is expected from me), but it was four, as opposed to eighteen hours long, so more tahan-able i guess... One funny thing that happened was that two Mandarin-speakers were asking the people across the aisle from them whether they had reached their stop yet - but since they could not speak English and the other people obviously could not speak Mandarin, there was no success there. In stepped me with six words that would go a long way to make things easier for us all - "hai2 mei2 dao4, xia4 yi4 zhan4" - the Chinese man responded with grateful thanks, and i wished that my p5 Chinese teacher who kept on scolding me wang2 ba1 dan4 last time was there for me to gloat at him =p

The whole time in Fresno was a good time of relaxation for me, since most of the time we stayed in. Although i normally am not one for going to the same place only a year after visiting it previously, thought that it was a time well-spent nevertheless.

Of all the shows to chance upon while channel surfing in Fresno...