Back from Brunei
It's 10:12pm now (23 Sep 2009). Am still on the Air Asia flight AK797 to Kuala Lumpur. Have slept enough hence feeling bored, then just take some time to write.
This is another quick trip, reaching Brunei last night 8pm+ and left tonight 8pm+, an exactly one day trip. Half of the day was spent in the hotel :)
Tell you what, this is the first time I stepped on the Borneo island. There are actually a few options - Air Asia, MAS, Brunei Airlines (my boss said, they ask you to pray before boarding). Due to financial considerations, I said okay with Air Asia, though I did not like the touch down time at 11pm. Based on my previous experience, 50% of the flights were delayed.
Last night, the flight arrived earlier than scheduled. Upon arrival, I found the airport quite nice, at least looks more advanced than the Jakarta airport. Another thing is, from the point of stepping out of the plane, you don't really have to walk far to reach the customs and arrival hall. While queuing up for customs clearance, I already saw my boss sitting somewhere, but was a little unsure.
The first sentence I said to him was "you cut your hair till so short ah?". That's why.
Seeing him flipping through magazine instead of working with laptop, I guessed his laptop must have run out of battery. And I was right!!
A local partner, Chin Txxn, picked us from airport, then drove us to dinner. I was impressed he could speak Cantonese (Brunei is an Islamic country, and 70% people are Malay), later only I knew he's originally from Klang. No wonder!
The hotel was not bad, at least the shower was strong. After talking to Chin Txxn, we got more information about the next day's presentation. Then my boss said, "gam man yau pai zou le" (translation: that's lot more to do tonight), although I had prepared the presentation slides. Before heading into my room, my boss said, after you settle yourself, come over la.
Not too bad still. We just worked for around 2 hours plus last night, inclusive of talking nonsense and teasing each other. Around 12am, I was able to say goodbye and he continued watching the Iron Man, which he stopped one month ago.
I like working with him coz it's just like working with a knowledgable friend/senior, except that a friend/senior does not have the rights in determining how much I get paid each month ^^
This morning, after a not-so-nice breakfast, we shopped at the supermarket downstairs (spent $1.5) and walked around the area. Actually Brunei is just like another small town in Malaysia. You couldn't really feel you are at a foreign land. There are quite a number of Chinese restaurants though the Chinese population is just about 10%. The Japanese food in Brunei is cheap and comes in big portion.
At 10am, I checked out my room and put my luggage in AC's room, then we headed to the partner's office to download emails, check emails and do some work. The meeting with client started at 12pm at their office (they are off from work at 3pm during Ramadhan month).
If you ask me how was the meeting, overall, I'd just say, they talked quite some nonsense (the so-called lame jokes which I found not really funny but still pretended to smile a little).
In the past, I went out with boss and looked at how he present, and helped to jot down the queries. Nowadays, we share the presentation "load", where I'd present the product part, whilst he is responsible more for "advanced" sales talk, which always make the customers quite happy (I really need to learn this from him). Of course, when more technical items are asked and he thinks are not manageable by me, he'd also help to answer.
After lunch, the technical guy (Chinese) from client's company, met us at the restaurant for more "private" talks. Honestly, hearing them speaking about products, vendors, mobile technologies all the times, I felt a bit bored also, but no choice, had to sit together there and listen.
Later on, went back to office, worked for awhile, then it was time for me to go to airport. Chin Txxn sent only me to the airport (takes only about 10 mins car drive). AC takes tomorrow morning's flight, leaving Brunei to KL.
Don't know why, this round I don't have much enthusiasm to take photos. Maybe coz the place is not too special (very similar to Malaysia), or there seems to be an intuition telling myself that I'll come again for further discussions. Hope so... and also hope that I can stay longer after work (half or 1 day will be sufficient) to walk around and discover some "truly Brunei" stuff.
At the airport, I had my worst experience with Air Asia. You know, I lined up in a not-so-long queue for nearly 1 hour for my turn to check-in. I can't understand why their motion could be SO BLOODY SLOW. Only 2 counters were open, and another one had a guy sitting there idling, waiting for the passengers with overweight baggage to go over for additional charges.
Air Asia, you break my record again!
Useful info: Airport tax of Brunei Dollar $12 (appx RM28) is applicable.
Sightseeing: We passed by this beautiful Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque day and night. Awesome! Brunei is quite a nice place - small, and not crowded. Could always see blue sky and white thick clouds.. maybe the day's weather is nice?
Unexpected Encounter: Normally the customer would like us to deliver ASAP. Usually we would promise 2 months for delivery time. This is the first time the customer responds with "2 months? So fast?" Argh...
This is another quick trip, reaching Brunei last night 8pm+ and left tonight 8pm+, an exactly one day trip. Half of the day was spent in the hotel :)
Tell you what, this is the first time I stepped on the Borneo island. There are actually a few options - Air Asia, MAS, Brunei Airlines (my boss said, they ask you to pray before boarding). Due to financial considerations, I said okay with Air Asia, though I did not like the touch down time at 11pm. Based on my previous experience, 50% of the flights were delayed.
Last night, the flight arrived earlier than scheduled. Upon arrival, I found the airport quite nice, at least looks more advanced than the Jakarta airport. Another thing is, from the point of stepping out of the plane, you don't really have to walk far to reach the customs and arrival hall. While queuing up for customs clearance, I already saw my boss sitting somewhere, but was a little unsure.
The first sentence I said to him was "you cut your hair till so short ah?". That's why.
Seeing him flipping through magazine instead of working with laptop, I guessed his laptop must have run out of battery. And I was right!!
A local partner, Chin Txxn, picked us from airport, then drove us to dinner. I was impressed he could speak Cantonese (Brunei is an Islamic country, and 70% people are Malay), later only I knew he's originally from Klang. No wonder!
The hotel was not bad, at least the shower was strong. After talking to Chin Txxn, we got more information about the next day's presentation. Then my boss said, "gam man yau pai zou le" (translation: that's lot more to do tonight), although I had prepared the presentation slides. Before heading into my room, my boss said, after you settle yourself, come over la.
Not too bad still. We just worked for around 2 hours plus last night, inclusive of talking nonsense and teasing each other. Around 12am, I was able to say goodbye and he continued watching the Iron Man, which he stopped one month ago.
I like working with him coz it's just like working with a knowledgable friend/senior, except that a friend/senior does not have the rights in determining how much I get paid each month ^^
This morning, after a not-so-nice breakfast, we shopped at the supermarket downstairs (spent $1.5) and walked around the area. Actually Brunei is just like another small town in Malaysia. You couldn't really feel you are at a foreign land. There are quite a number of Chinese restaurants though the Chinese population is just about 10%. The Japanese food in Brunei is cheap and comes in big portion.
At 10am, I checked out my room and put my luggage in AC's room, then we headed to the partner's office to download emails, check emails and do some work. The meeting with client started at 12pm at their office (they are off from work at 3pm during Ramadhan month).
If you ask me how was the meeting, overall, I'd just say, they talked quite some nonsense (the so-called lame jokes which I found not really funny but still pretended to smile a little).
In the past, I went out with boss and looked at how he present, and helped to jot down the queries. Nowadays, we share the presentation "load", where I'd present the product part, whilst he is responsible more for "advanced" sales talk, which always make the customers quite happy (I really need to learn this from him). Of course, when more technical items are asked and he thinks are not manageable by me, he'd also help to answer.
After lunch, the technical guy (Chinese) from client's company, met us at the restaurant for more "private" talks. Honestly, hearing them speaking about products, vendors, mobile technologies all the times, I felt a bit bored also, but no choice, had to sit together there and listen.
Later on, went back to office, worked for awhile, then it was time for me to go to airport. Chin Txxn sent only me to the airport (takes only about 10 mins car drive). AC takes tomorrow morning's flight, leaving Brunei to KL.
Don't know why, this round I don't have much enthusiasm to take photos. Maybe coz the place is not too special (very similar to Malaysia), or there seems to be an intuition telling myself that I'll come again for further discussions. Hope so... and also hope that I can stay longer after work (half or 1 day will be sufficient) to walk around and discover some "truly Brunei" stuff.
At the airport, I had my worst experience with Air Asia. You know, I lined up in a not-so-long queue for nearly 1 hour for my turn to check-in. I can't understand why their motion could be SO BLOODY SLOW. Only 2 counters were open, and another one had a guy sitting there idling, waiting for the passengers with overweight baggage to go over for additional charges.
Air Asia, you break my record again!
Useful info: Airport tax of Brunei Dollar $12 (appx RM28) is applicable.
Sightseeing: We passed by this beautiful Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque day and night. Awesome! Brunei is quite a nice place - small, and not crowded. Could always see blue sky and white thick clouds.. maybe the day's weather is nice?
Unexpected Encounter: Normally the customer would like us to deliver ASAP. Usually we would promise 2 months for delivery time. This is the first time the customer responds with "2 months? So fast?" Argh...
4 comments:
Reading from your blog today i feel you are quite boring this trip ..ha ha .. and especially when you say 'Bloody Slow' , i think it really pissed you off ....
Blue sky and big white cloud are common in borneo. Why? cause less cars and less industrial zone. =)
i suggest u write directly to tony - he has a blog & has put an email which he says will reply.
peter, yes, the local partner told us the same.
quachee, thanks for the info. found his blog and email address, and my email has been sent!
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