英國趣事 / uk tsui si - 001

hello all,
i am back.
👋🏼

趣事; tsui si

英國趣事 / uk 'tsui si' / uk stories

I'd like to start a series of blogs about the fun and interesting stories

that have or may happen during my time here in the, 

soon not to be, 

United Kingdom.

🇬🇧
*

「 The Refreshment Incident 」

So my first 'tsui si'
was on the day all our crap from HK had arrived.

It took about 2-3 months via sea freight,

in total 50 boxes including small dining table, chairs etc.

The team at Baggagexs (not sponsored, duh) was absolutely great. 

If anyone needs to relocate, I fully recommend them.

Anyway, 

back to my tsui si - 

Doorbell rang, 

cp went and gathered the cats into a room for safekeeping,

and I went to open the door. 

Two middle aged gwai lo's 

(Canto slang for westerners) 

were patiently waiting.

They cautiously went up and down the stairs with our boxes,

until our what used to be empty living room, 

was filled up from floor to ceiling

with boxes.

I then realised that I was a terrible host.

I had completely forgotten to offer any form of refreshments.

I am actually an introvert,

and avoid human contact if at all possible. 

If not, 

my acting skills are quite up to par 

when needed to come across as a

seemingly functioning adult.

So I did what my HK cultural upbringing would usual do -

I offered them

water.

💧

'Would you guys like a glass of water?'

I offer.

The bigger guy looks at me as if I had said something

rude 

(?)

He could tell by my bright eyed, deer in headlights gaze 

that I had no idea.

He then so replied:

'A cup of tea would be nice.'

 ☕️

The culture shock finally hit after just 2 weeks in London.

Tea.

Of course tea!

Rookie mistake. 

I was in England afterall. 

Tea is always to be expected.

So it finally occurred to me 

that I may have actually insulted him

by offering him my common tap water.

Well now I know.

So we put the kettle on, prepared the mugs, 

and asked if they wanted milk and sugar in their teas.

Wouldn't want to make another rookie mistake

by smugly assuming how much milk and sugar they used

...

I believe we've all learned a valuable lesson here today.

Remember darlings, 

tea.

Always tea.

-

And that was that.

'sup?

i'm thinking that my blog updates are the only thing i have failed on my vision board....

i really should reflect on this....

anyway... i will be vlogging this moment in a second but just so I WRITE SOMETHING ON HERE, you, whoever is reading this, will know first hand that i am flying to the Philippines to surprise my parents later this morning!! (it is currently 1:11am... i need to be on a bus at 5am....hmmm) I don't think any sleep will be done on my part as I haven't even packed.

So yeah, I will be vlogging my entire week with them :) Hopefully my cousin remembers to pick me up. I really don't feel like being stranded at a Philippine airport.

please see attached picture of moi as my gratitude that you have read my blog. mind you, it's a really oldish picture. I mean old, I mean the time I was in Singapore for Netflix Asia end of March, so relatively out of date. But it has been seen no where else, so ta da - a secondhand-mermaid selfie exclusive!

you're welcome.

ok, now i need to pack.

JAL = love

This blog post entry is 4 months late,

but you know me,

better late than never.

So the 4-months-ago-Asha wanted to write a blog

about this holy airline :

*que heavenly music*

Now why this airline impacted me so that I HAD to review it?

It's because never have I ever flew economy

and felt like I was given a 4-5 star service.

The whole experience was just exceptional,

it was so blatantly obvious that the Japanese have got it right

and all the other airlines with their economy seating are rip offs.

This flight took place when we were flying from NYC to Japan

for our 4hr layover then Japan to HKG.

Apparently,

JAL and AA are sister airlines so to be completely honest

I wasn't expecting much.

Before I continue,

let me state that I am in no way sponsored or paid by JAL

to kiss their ass.

I am doing this completely out of the sheer love I have of them

after that one experience.

let the rain of compliments begin:

let me first start off with the cutest inflight entertainment and such.

do you see the 'inflight exercises' option?!

DO YOU?!

How cute is that?!?!?!

What airline provides that?

What airline, what country, what culture even cares about that?!

America?

Hong Kong?

China?

England?

Thailand?

Philippines?

No.

JAPAN.

THATS WHO.

Ugh,

Already so impressed with the attentiveness on screen.

And when you press the button to call for assistance,

cabin crew practically fly to you with a smile on their faces.

Their service is just so on point.

How can one airline be so perfect?!

😩Let's move on,

first thing you notice is the goddamn LEG ROOM!

JUST LOOK AT IT!

I'm 5'8 (173cm) and my dad is 6'1 (185cm)

needless to say this was our most comfortable economy 8-9hr flight ever.

here are my legs stretching forward,

look how my knees are so far away from the seat in front of me!!

these picture are to demonstrate how wide I can spread em.

there is just so much spaceeeee.

(even 4 months late and I am still amazed)

this picture is self-explanatory.
will you just look at that legroom!?!?!?!?!

we got offered green tea which was my first time drinking green tea mid air.

usually I ask for apple juice or coke but not for this flight.

hell no.

it was green tea after take off, during lunch and dinner and right before we landed.

green tea, green tea, green mother flipping tea.

YES JAPAN. YES.

girlfriend thought I was too overjoyed and was embarrassed to sit next to me.

BUT GREEN TEA AND GREAT AIRLINE THOUGH!!!

Moving on...

So you know how during dinner on airplanes,

they roll the trolley by and mumble what's on the menu 

and you just reply with whatever has the meat you prefer,

hoping for the best that you don't regret it

then covet your neighbours inflight meal choice instead.

Everyone take note,

Here is how JAL does it.

THEY PRESENT YOU WITH A MENU WITH PICTURES.

SO YOU KNOW WHAT THE HELL YOU'RE GETTING.

No surprises!!

Therefore, you can make a calm and informed decision.

If this hasn't won you over by now,

I feel sorry for you.

You heartless human being.

This is what I got and it was glory with a cup of miso soup on the side.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Mum and dad even got a small bottle of wine EACH.
😚 cuttteeeeeee 😚

bringing it back slightly,

when we were flying from HK to America 

my dad complained about the plastic cutlery that was provided during meals.

He said he lacked class and he felt like a child or convict,

so those flights did not get the Cuthbert stamp of approval.

Me?
I honestly didn't think much of it.

Cutlery was cutlery to me until JAL came into my life
and showed me how
you can eat like a respectable and civilized being in economy class.

METAL!

BEAUTIFUL METAL!

It actually came as quite a shock.

I had been so accustomed to plastic everything that

holding cutlery with some weight to it seemed unnatural.

But by god was it impressive.
JAL trusts you, JAL believes in you.
They know you won't go knifing the person next to you.
They want you to eat like an adult and they let you.
😚😚😚😚😚😚The next unbelievable thing that I had yet experience

until JAL came into my life.
This unbelievable thing
was that the aircraft had no window shade.
NO.
WINDOW.
SHADE.

As I was not sitting by the window
I was confused at first at this sight:

until this happened:

There were adjustable buttons so that you could control
the colour of the shade/filter and minimise sun light!
This made so much sense!!!!!!!!!
You've paid to be in the air,
so why need window shades??!

you can see the different shades in the last picture -

it was bright af outside but you could dim your window completely

and still see outside without the blinding glare of the sun!!!

It was just such a nice touch so that

you wouldn't feel trapped in a confined space.

utterly brilliant.

to the toilet!

The JAL toilet was the most spacious economy toilet

i've ever pooped in.

All set with your typical, run of the mill Japanese auto-toilet.

I use it every time.

How can you not?

So yeah that's pretty much it for this blog.

I can't wait for my next JAL long haul flight.

I love you JAL,

I really do.

x

[A]