Farooq was still asleep when we woke up, so we snuck out of his house to head to the airport. Dropping off the car was easy enough, maybe too easy. The man simply asked, “Where did you park it?” Without knowing anything about the airport, I said, “Over there” and pointed in a general direction. That seemed to satisfy him, and we were told we could leave.

Cindy and I split up to go through security in order to quicken the process. I popped out the other end, but Cindy was nowhere to be found. About ten minutes later, my very frustrated wife appeared and told me she had been detained. Apparently the Omanis couldn’t find a record of her visa and didn’t really know what to do after that point. I guess the default action is to let the person go.

Oman Air was expectedly posh and pleasant. I didn’t see any teddy bears being offered, but the food was good, the amenities were comfortable, and the service was excellent. Things took a turn for the worse, however, when we landed at Kuala Lumpur.

Our flight was continuing onto Singapore. Due to this reason, we think, passengers were required to show their boarding passes when they disembarked the plane. It’s an odd policy, since obviously the passenger was allowed on the plane due to having a boarding pass, and a person who couldn’t produce a boarding pass would be… sent back to the plane for a free flight to Singapore? Unclear. Most importantly, they didn’t tell us upon boarding that we had to keep our boarding pass, and Cindy lost hers.

When exiting the flight, she was harassed by the only mean Malaysian man we’ve met thus far. After threatening to send her back on the plane (for a free flight to Singapore?) I showed him our e-ticket on my phone and that seemed to satisfy him. Nevermind that he never checked Cindy’s passport to ensure that she was the person on my e-ticket. Whatever. Crisis averted.

With an angry wife in tow, I knew the only thing I could do to make her happy again was to feed her. Luckily, we were in Kuala Lumpur, or KL as it is affectionately known. Our hostel recommended a famous hawker street five minutes away. Sounded perfect, and it was. The sights, sounds, and smells of East Asia really need to be experienced by everyone who has a chance. After being in Central Asia and the Middle East for about a month, I was ready for the sound of a banging wok and the feel a plastic stool under my butt, al fresco of course. More importantly, Cindy was definitely ready (above).