Juniper
54 people in the 1st ikhlas.com Tour to Turkey
Ever since I was a child, I’ve always wanted to visit Turkey, it seemed so exotic especially when I read about the powerful Ottoman Empire. Then my dream finally came true when I joined ikhlas.com’s 7D/5N tour to Turkey, covering Bursa, Cappadocia and Istanbul. We’d also be on Air Asia X’s inaugural flight to Istanbul on 14th November 2025, we’d be part of a historical and momentous event. The flight would depart from KLIA2 at 9.40am and a few days prior to the departure, we were given an online briefing on what to prepare for and expect from the tour. We were asked to be at the airport by 5.30am which is really early!
After checking in my luggage (I travel light and my bag was just 9.5kg), I had breakfast at Burger King which turned out to be the worst BK ever as the beef patty was tough and the fries were as dry as wood. Of course, the price for this set was double the price of non-airport outlets. I should have gone next door to O’Brien’s instead.
An airline’s international inaugural flight is a special occasion and Air Asia X’s inaugural flight to Istanbul is no exception. They literally brought out the bells and whistles as there was a lot of cheering going on from their staff. It was certainly a very merry occasion as H.E. The Ambassador of Turkey to Malaysia, Emir Salim Yuksel and CEO of Air Asia X, Benyamin Ismail were in attendance and they officially launched the inaugural flight to Istanbul.
A night flight to Istanbul would have been more ideal as a morning flight means landing in the evening thereby wasting an entire day but I am guessing the airline couldn’t get the timing for an evening or night flight because who doesn’t want to land in the morning plus it’s a lot more restful to fly at night. My seat was quite comfortable and fortunately there was no one seated next to me.
Our first meal (included in the tour) was chicken rice not long after we were in the air followed by char kuey teow 2 hours before we landed at Sabiha Gokcen Airport, Istanbul. This is Istanbul’s secondary airport, equivalent to our KLIA2. The char kuey teow tasted better than the chicken rice which was too salty and the chicken didn’t look like the chicken we are used to in chicken rice.
As we walked out of the aircraft, lo and behold, there was a feast waiting for us. A very lovely Turkish buffet consisting of Turkish breads and pastries. I was among the first to partake of this wonderful array of food and was grateful for it as I was rather hungry despite the 2 servings of food. I found the spread very interesting and wanted to ask what each and every food was but there was no time to indulge as I had to head to immigration and collect my bag.
After we gathered outside the arrival hall, we met our local tour guide, Jan who is quite fluent in Malay or maybe I should say Bahasa Indonesia as he spent 2.5 months there. We then went outside to a chilly Istanbul to get on the bus which would be our mode of transport for the duration of our stay. No time to admire Istanbul as we were whisked away to Bursa, 2 hours away.
As soon as we arrived at our hotel in Bursa where we were to spend a night, we were ushered into the cafe for a simple yet appetising dinner. However, I didn’t have much appetite as I was thoroughly exhausted and this is when I was informed that I had to share a room with someone.
That “someone” was an influencer (one of ten on this trip) and she was already in the room when I entered. The room was small and two single beds filled the room with hardly any room to spare. The bathroom was bare save for refillable body soap containers. No shower cap, face tissue, shampoo, conditioner, cotton tips and you can definitely forget about a vanity kit. I had to wash my hair with body soap which made my hair really rough and unmanageable.
I should mention that there was only one elevator in this hotel and that elevator was so small. Every time the elevator opened at the lobby, there was hardly enough space to fit 3 people and their luggage so we all had to wait our turns to get in.
