Alright,before we get to the heavy stuffs,lets rewind a few hours before.As soon as we landed in Shanghai that Friday afternoon,a few of us planned to hit the famous shopping district in Shanghai,Nanjing Road,just right before dinner time.At Nanjing Road,I managed to restrain myself from spending on the desirable unnecessaries and had fun watching the rest clearing their pockets.
As for the usual routine of nightstop in Shanghai,it was always a Mongolian treat right after shopping,then finally back to the hotel.But that night,we modified the routine and headed towards a new happening halal Indonesian restaurant not far from our hotel.It was called the Bali Bistro.
The dishes were not that bad.Tasty but I regretted ordering its ayam penyet.Some might aware of how critical my intolerance towards spicy food was and still is,but not this company.The 3 of them practically laughed on how I reacted towards the incredibly spicy ayam penyet and how I desperately gasped for air after tasting it.
Stewardess Janny,Co-pilot Farez,myself & steward Faidz.
Since I was bloated with glasses of water and not even full yet,I dragged them to our usual eating spot in Shanghai,a Mongolian restaurant for some juicy lamb skewers.We didn't actually sat there and ate,we walked and ate,enjoying Shanghai's night air.
Fun was over so it was time to hit the sacks.Before we went out earlier,all I have time for was changing into my casual attire and let my hair loose off the croissant while in the room.As I reached my room after dinner,usually the 1st thing I would do was turning on the TV,so I did.It happened that the TV's volume was at its maximum,99,and it blasted loudly as if the previous guest had organized a party in there!I quickly turned the volume down using its remote but it took me awhile to figure out which were the volume buttons as everything on the remote was scribbled in Chinese.Then the volume slowly went down from 99 to 50 and below,but as it reached number 30++,it automatically went up to 99 again eventhough I was clicking the minus button!I kept on clicking the minus button,panic with the extremely loud sound but it wouldn't budge!
I continued doing whatever that crossed my mind such as knocking the remote by the desk and chair to make it work again,but that big freaking number 99 was there on the screen,as if it was challenging me on a duel!Running out of idea on how to turn down the volume,I switched off the TV immediately and called front desk to send a technician up to my room.
The technician that came up hardly spoke English,so he just nodded his head as I told him what happened to the remote that wouldn't obey me.When he turned on the TV,of course as expected,the volume was still at 99 and with just 1 attempt,the technician managed to turn the volume down using the remote.It magically obeyed him without question.The technician tested the remote further by clicking other buttons as well,and it looked like it didn't need a knock on the desk or chair.The technician gave me a funny smirk and passed me the remote,and of course,the remote worked pretty well.
By 11pm,I already had garfield eyes as a sign I couldn't stay up longer.I fell in a deep sleep,with the lights and TV on,just the way I loved it.But guess what happened at 2am?
I was awaken by the sound coming from the TV and again...the freaky 99 was on the screen!The TV blasted so loudly that I almost had a heart attack when waking up.I searched for the remote around me,guessing that I've accidentally turned up the volume while sleeping,but to my dismay,it was perfectly placed NEXT to the TV,ON the TV rack,totally OUT of my reach,where the technician placed it last!Can you believe that?!I got even more stressful when the remote decided not to obey me again.I kept on clicking on the minus button but nothing worked!I quickly approached the TV to look for its manual button somewhere around its frame and finally,that manual button obeyed me.Pheww!!
As I crawled back into bed,the hairs on the back of my neck all stood up.The room felt colder and suddenly,it occurred to me that the warning given by a fellow colleague was absolutely relevant.She told me her spooky experience in a particular room at our hotel in Shanghai while she was nightstopping there a few weeks ago.She was disturbed by the flickering of her bed lamp at 3am & when she decided to freshen up in the bathroom,it was locked from the inside.Panic,she called the the front desk to send someone to check it out after a few attempts of trying to turn the knob.But as the attendants arrived at the room,with just 1 attempt,the bathroom door was opened and obviously unlocked.
As the flashes of her story was playing on my mind,suddenly my window was tapped.When I turned to look at the window,the tapping stopped,but as I tried to shove myself under the duvet,the tapping started again.After awhile,the tapping turned into knocking as if somebody out there was angry that I didn't bother checking it out.Only God knew how I felt at that moment,so I turned to God.With all the hairs at the back of my neck still standing up,I tapped the Yassin application on my iPhone and started reciting it.I recited it til it was finally 4am and all the tapping/knocking bullshit disappeared.I managed to tuck myself in and slept peacefully.
That night,I wasn't the only 1 haunted.It turned out that a supervisor of mine didn't get her sleep due to disturbances too.I didn't wana believe that our hotel accommodation in Shanghai was haunted coz we've been staying there for decades and nothing as such ever happened to any of us until recently.But at this point,I'm almost hoping there was a ghost in my hotel room.Otherwise,I was probably cuckoo.Out of my mind!
Well,the creep show didn't stop there at the hotel.There had been creepy shows on our flight back to KL itself.But this time it wasn't ghost,but very bad luck that followed us around.1st,our aircraft was grounded for 4 hours in Shanghai due to technical problems.We patiently waited til the engineers gave us the thumbs up for us to go.After we took off,there were incidents took place in the economy.An attention seeking passenger yelling at a crew in the cabin with his index finger pointing straight at the crew's face wasn't enough to create havoc.Adding up,a passenger collapsed on the cabin floor after he had his dinner.It was lucky that all of us were trained being first aiders in a medical emergency situation to attend the victim.Necessary aids were rendered to the victim before 2 medical doctors traveling as passengers on board came to help.It turned out the victim was suffering hyperglycemia,and suffocation due to poor ventilation in the cabin caused by passengers themselves.
Remember folks,when you travel on medium to long haul flights,avoid from shutting the air vents above your head off.The air vents help to ventilate proper oxygen in the cabin to inhale throughout the flight.If you folks feel cold,turn its direction away from you but don't ever shut it off.Wear a suitable attire when traveling to avoid uneasiness or lack of comfort while onboard.If a sleeveless shirt or mini skirts are your idea of comfort inflight,then don't push the freaking attendant button complaining that the cabin is too cold for you.
Okay,looking at the condition where I am home alone right now,I'm guessing it is enough of spooky stories for a day.Before I forget,Salam Aidil Adha to my family members,dearest Muslim friends and blog readers.Hope you've enjoyed your korban and continue to enjoy the public holiday tomorrow :)
