Last month, I mentioned about my expired air miles due to my oversight.
Then what i didn't mention was that i managed to get the expired miles restored!
Of course, it did not come free. Krisflyer deducted 6,000 air miles for this restoration, but i guess it is better than nothing.
I called Krisflyer customer service to ask for the restoration and also to redeem an air ticket. I redeemed 32,500 air miles for a ticket from Singapore to Christchurch and Christchurch to Wellington. I still had to pay SGD198.50 for the airport taxes.
Uh huh, I am going home for a three-week holiday at end July. When i booked my ticket to come here, i purchased a round-trip ticket (paid by the company as part of my relocation allowance). So i just needed to get another one-way ticket to fly back here.
I would be departing Wellington to Auckland on 26/7 evening and will be arriving in Singapore on 27/7 (Saturday) early morning. My returning flight is on 17/8 (Saturday) evening and will arrive in Wellington on 18/8 afternoon. As it is a Sunday, I am taking the following Monday off to rest, as i expect i'd sure experience jet lag.
Now, if you are wondering whether or not i am flying back in May for the election, the answer is "no". This will be elaborated in another post.
On an unrelated note, the system go-live went on smoothly. In fact, it was one of the simplest and smoothest system implementation i've ever had despite it being the latest release that is very new to everyone and i was learning and implementing as i go along.
Wah, gotta make full use and enjoy the holiday hor, every single minute of it, girl. I'm sure it'll gonna be a great great reunion especially in conjunction with your hi school 100th birthday. I remember that you mentioned you might miss it, cross finger-eh. Don't forget to blog about it, looking forward to it :)
Oh, congrats to the go-live bring up, really glad to read it was the all smooth one. But don't get to be complacent hor. The success must be due to good planning and excellent execution, so keep it up, Pin. And, gosh, you slept so late like this, did you missing church the next day .... Cheers.
I was upset (at myself) yesterday when i suddenly remembered something and then checked it out on SIA web site:
Uh huh, 24K miles expired in Feb and were deducted from my Krisflyer account. That's actually a lot of miles, and if i remember correctly, this should be accumulated from my business trips to USA about three years ago.
I have wanted to use my air miles to redeem an air ticket from Singapore to NZ. I bought a round-trip ticket when i flew here and am going back for holiday in August. I have yet to get the ticket for coming back to NZ. I still have enough air miles to redeem that ticket even after this deduction, but i could have used these 24K miles for one more ticket.
I totally only have myself to blame. Last month i did go online and check it out. I saw the air miles were expiring and told myself that i must remember to redeem the ticket before it expired. I couldn't do so online because SIA does not fly to Wellington directly; whether i transit from Auckland or Christchurch or Australia, the route is operated by other partner airlines of Star Alliance. To redeem non-SIA ticket, i would have to call customer service and cannot do it online. As such, i could only do so after work when i'm back at the apartment. But then, i totally forgot about it and only yesterday then i suddenly realised i had missed the deadline.
Sigh, what a price to pay for procrastination. Serve me right!
Gee, you got ipad, Samsung note, Xperia mini and huawei and you still forgot !! Hope this not be the excuse to skip cooking own lunch hor (contrary, should enforcing it for the $$$$ lost).... Now you mentioned, hope your passport is ok too :) cheers.
Why not you give SIA a call to check if they let you make use of or extend the just-expired points? for my credit card points, if the points that has just expired, they'll still let me use it within a grace period.
I think i have underestimated the effect of jet lag. It won't subside so quickly.
I had only less than three hours of sleep on Monday night, but still managed to wake up at 5am+ (even before the alarm clock went off) for getting ready to go to Senai Airport. Then i worked the entire day in the KL office, but by noon time i was feeling as if i was living in The Matrix, where everything moved in slow motion. Even another cup of Starbucks didn't help.
Then, i should be going to bed earlier to get more sleep tonight. Yet, i have been working since i got back to the hotel, and am actually not feeling sleepy now! Well, i guess this lifestyle totally explains why everyone who sees me would comment that I look haggard and weary. :(
Anyway, just to spice up my boring blog a bit, am going to post up a few pictures i took in London, which is about something quite interesting.
Here is a familiar-looking bridge by River Thames. Besides Big Ben, it is another iconic symbol of London. Guess what bridge is it?
A colleague told me that a lot of people thought this is the London Bridge. Actually it is NOT; this is the Tower Bridge.
London bridge is actually not too far from it, which is just upstream from the Tower Bridge.
Yes, this boring looking bridge is indeed the London Bridge, as it was written on the bridge itself.
In case you are wondering, i did NOT sing "London Bridge is falling down" when i was there, even though i was rather tempted to do so (ok, ok, i did hum the song in my brain!). There were people on the bridge and i sure wouldn't wanna be caught singing such inauspicious song right there.
when i came across the word london bridge, it also makes me wanna sing. it can't be blamed for the inauspicious mah, the tune is nice and it's one of the nursery rhymes sing along too. i guess you're the type of person who will sing abc song when citing the alphabelts, aha ... see things slow down, gee, don't know that's good or bad one le but it sounds great coz you are being faster than the others, of course not to the extent dodging bullets like neo i believe. work faster, write faster, type faster, go back home also earlier :). okay, i know not that kind of slow mo, but if it was me i would have severe headache instead that cannot do work and think at all. take care, girl. just don't imagine yourself that you're going to fall sick. perhaps chicken essence would really help in this case. this week must be a critical week for work i supposed, so all the best.
oh, i just realize this year olympic is gonna be in london. does that mean the 4th round? cheers :)
Finally, today is my last day in UK. I am very sure that i will be back here again one day, not on business trips but as a traveller.
My flight tomorrow is departing from Heathrow at 11:30am. I am staying at the Hilton Hotel at Gatwick Airport. It takes more than an hour by bus to get from Gatwick to Heathrow, and hence i'm gonna take the 6:25am bus, which means that i need to get up really early tomorrow.
I really can't wait to get home, as i do seriously miss the food in SG and M'sia. However, i kinda dread returning to the hot weather; two weeks ago before i flew here, the weather back home was really warm (something like 33°C or more). There was also haze from Indonesia. I hope it has gotten better now and won't be that bad anymore.
Anyway, the time is 9:30pm now. I really ought to start packing and go to bed early.
33degC? it's more like scorching 38degC if not saved by the aircon in office and complex. boy, how wish there are more rains these days, but then again rains might do even worse like jams, flashfloods.
so far seems everything sounds good i supposed, and you made it to Big Ben, err, Elizabeth Tower after 2 misses :) . don't tell you've already made booking for the 4th one ... and lastly, welcome back. when traveling in KL/MY, be careful and extra vigilant on surroundings. crimes here are seriously becoming worse, so much so different than what was preached by the gov. hmm, i wonder if the next posting will be on food. enjoy the weekend, cheers.
Henry, my company does allow us to claim the transport to airport, but the taxi fare in UK is crazily expensive. It would cost more than GBP100 for the trip whereas the bus fare was only GBP25.
I am working from hotel today (as opposed to "working from home"). My reason for doing so is that i need to lock myself up in the hotel room and catch up on some of the backlog.
It's just that i am now not in my hotel room and i am not working but blogging at one of the cafe at the hotel lobby. Well, it's almost 1pm now and let's just take it as i'm taking a lunch-time breather here.
I had a great weekend walking around central London. In fact, i walked so much that my calf muscles are aching now. This also means that i really ought to walk more or start exercising.
Anyway, I can't spend too much time writing a long post here, even though there are much to share about my visit to London. For now, i am just gonna share a picture I posted onto FB:
ha, finally you got there ! but it was so dark, or is it my screen. bad news though, england lost liao, hopefully that will not jeopardize the meeting or the ambient. and all the best in work especially after the fun. keep it up. cheers.
It is the tower that had the name changed. The clock itself is still called Big Ben... or at least that was what i heard on the news broadcast when i was in UK.
By the way, it was not your screen but really dark... it was raining over the weekend. In fact, it rained all the time in UK and the temperature was below 22C most of the time... but it was supposed to be summer!
Looks like the heaven also sad over england being ousted, hope it didn't ruin the holiday and still had wonderful time. And 22degC definitely better 33degC.
You should have pampered yourself for the cab instead helping the company to save money, especially after it abused you like this. But i know you're not this kinda of person :). Take care and stay healthy gal. Such fatigue from travelling won't fell you one, you just have to believe in yourself. All the best! Cheers.
Now, in case you are wondering, there is really nothing special about a Thursday in UK for me. The title is just to show that i am writing this post on Thursday (which is Friday in SG) and i am in UK. Oh, and of course, it also means that it's just one more day to weekend. Woo hoo!
The meetings for yesterday and today were held at the hotel and hence i did not have to commute to the office. The meeting ended rather early today at 3pm, and after some post-meeting discussions, i got back to my hotel room at around 5pm. Then i decided that i should spend some time doing some research on the Web for my weekend plan.
After spending about 1+ hour on it, i more or less have formed a plan for myself. Since the day is longer now (it only starts to get dark at 9pm!), my plan is to start exploring London tomorrow evening. Hopefully i could leave on time or perhaps earlier tomorrow. Basically, my plan is to join a few London Walks for the three days, and also do a bit of exploring on my own.
As for work, well, it continues to pile up like crazy. If you imagine each task or work is a book, i would have been buried under the sea of books and you can't even see me underneath at all. But then, i decided that I will leave all the work behind for this weekend and enjoy myself. I do not wanna tell people again that, "i've been to London but i've not been to London."
Oh, and in case you are waiting for me to write about the 'drastic event', sorry, not in this post. Let's see if i am still in the mood for blogging later in the night. For now, i would like to get back to my weekend planning.
no lah, it can't really be that exagerate to compare with books burying until cannot be seen - it'd take tonnes, or the whole library to do like that, one book shelf surely not enough lor. the data is beyond human, even superhuman or computer to crunch, talk about gigabytes of files.. maybe can still see pinky finger or toe, aha. if the workload does match up with the picture,i don't think you have the mood for vacation given of your perfectionism, hehe.
anyway, do pamper yourself with weekend holiday. this is your THIRD chance already, certainly you're not going to disappoint yourself after all the hard work! and, make sure BIG BEN in your list lor! hmm, how about tube trip to france for eiffel tower?! enjoy your holiday gal, but keep a little energy left for work also in the upcoming weekdays. if you perform well, there will be more chance for you next next time. for right now, of course plan well the itinerary! have fun, cheers :)
Am in KL now and doing my best to last till 6pm. I've been having serious jet lag and only slept for less than 3 hours last night.
I reached my rented place in SG on Saturday at around 7pm. Mom came to fetch me back to JB. We went for supper after we were back in JB. We do not normally take supper but that day was an exception. I really missed the local food after two weeks of sandwiches in UK, and so we went for satay and ice kacang (because it was hot and humid in JB!).
After we got home (which was already 10pm+), i had wanted to take a bath but saw the bed and couldn't resist the temptation to lie on it. Then i fell asleep and woke up on my own at around 1am. I took a bath and checked emails & FB, and then went to bed at around 3am. I figured that i'd still have about 5 hours of sleep before i gotta get up to get ready for church.
However, to my dismay, i couldn't fall asleep at all. I tossed and turned in bed till daybreak and finally managed to fall asleep at around 8am. I skipped church and slept all the way through 2pm+. Apparently, my biological clock was still tuned to UK time, which is 7 hours behind our time.
(In case you are wondering, i didn't have much problem with jet lag when i was in UK. Normally travelling across time zones is more disruptive when travelling from west to east.)
Last night, knowing that i have a morning flight to catch, i had wanted to turn in earlier. Yet, the effect of jet lag still lingered and i only managed to fall asleep after 3am but gotta wake up at 5:30am. Surprisingly, i wasn't sleepy at all this morning and could stay awake on the flight and in the cab, but am starting to yawn now.
I am now in the SIA business lounge at Heathrow Airport. The time is about 8pm now.
My flight back to SG is at 10:05pm, and i arrived at the airport at around 6pm. A UK colleague sent me to the airport, which was about an hour drive from the office. She was the lady who went to USA for the project implementation back in year 2009 and I got to know her at that time. We have been friends since then.
It has been an extremely hectic two weeks here in UK. I checked in and out of different hotels 5 times, and went to 4 different places for meetings - Cambridge, Gatwick, Dudley and East Grinstead. Even though there was a weekend in between, i didn't go into London city centre at all. This was the second time i came to UK, and i've not even seen the Big Ben at all!
Anyway, i really missed the food back home. I am quite sick of cold sandwiches now, which was what we had for lunch almost everyday. I normally would have very light dinner to maintain my weight, but i've decided to have all the good food next week when i am in KL and worry about the diet later!
The time is 10pm+ now in UK... Yes, I am still in UK even though i am supposed to be on my way back to SG now.
I need to extend my stay here for another week because of an important meeting that will be held next week. This is an unexpected meeting that was only planned at the end of last week and hence they were not in time to inform me about it. Since i do not have anything important to do back in SG and MY for the coming week, i have no problem in extending my trip. There is however a minor problem - i did not pack enough for two weeks!
Ok, for undergarments and socks, i can always wash them myself in the hotel room. The problem is with my working attire and contact lenses.
I do not like to wear the same outfits to office repeatedly. I would always pack enough clothing to make sure i wear different outfit to work everyday. This can be resolved if i go shopping over the weekend. It's just that I am rather lazy and tired to go out. Furthermore, i have more than 10 documents to review and am supposed to work over weekend. If i don't get any new outfit over the weekend, then i'll just have to send the clothing for laundry in the hotel.
The other problem about contact lenses is more difficult to resolve. I wear daily disposable contact lenses and had only brought along 5 pairs for this trip. Now i am only left with one pair. I can go to work in the same outfit but i wouldn't be caught dead in my nerdy thick glasses, especially at our corporate HQ - for sure i wanna look my best!
You may be asking why don't i just go and get some from the shops. Well, in UK, you can't just walk into an optical shop and buy contact lenses off the shelf. It is by law that the person must have a prescription from an optometrist before being allowed to get the contact lenses. I had called a few shops and explain my situation. I asked them if they could make an exception since i am a foreigner but they said they can't do so. I must have my eyes tested (which is chargeable) before they can sell any contact lenses to me. How I miss the convenience in Singapore and Malaysia!
So what i did yesterday was to buy the contact lenses online and paid for the next day delivery charge. But then, i made two mistakes in my rush to purchase it online last evening - firstly, i didn't notice that i gotta place order before 4pm in order to get it delivered on the next working day. So i waited and waited today and didn't see the parcel. I then called the customer service and was informed that it will only be delivered tomorrow. I then asked her to change the address to the hotel since the office will be closed tomorrow, but she couldn't do so because the parcel has already been dispatched
Then, just as i was contemplating if i should go into office tomorrow (since i gotta finish up my work anyway), the customer service lady noticed that i selected the product wrongly - instead of choosing minus degree (for myopia), i actually chose positive degree (for hyperopia). How careless of me! She was smart enough to know that it was a mistake (probably i sounded too young to have such high degree of farsightedness) and alerted me about it. She said in any case, it would be wrong contact lenses for me and hence i will have to place a new order and will only get the lenses next week anyway. So, i had no choice but to place a new order; fortunately she told me that the product can be returned and i will get a refund for it.
As a contingency plan, i went to the pharmacy and bought the contact lens solution (which comes with contact lens case). Instead of throwing away the disposable lens i wore today, i carefully removed it, cleaned it and soaked it in the case for reuse. I know we are not supposed to reuse the daily disposable lenses, but this is a just-in-case measure. I hope i can receive the parcel in time next week.
Anyway, I will only be flying back on next Friday night, but then will have to fly to KL again from JB on Monday morning. Yet once again, I am travelling for three consecutive weeks. I am really not enjoying a life like this - it drains all my energy!
Oh my God! So next time have to have contingency plan to at least bring extra a few pair of contact lens with you for your oversea trip lor! Wish you all the best.
gee, don't know how to say liao when you can actually wear the nerdy glasses at least for 1 day instead ofwasting money on the solution and trouble of reusing the contacts. sigh, so much so of the image ... still, i think it is better for you to bring along the glasses just in case if the contacts might cause irritation, just-in-case. it's kinda strange to have law to forbid one to purchase in shop without prescription and yet there's workaround to it via online ordering, i read that in UK they even charge tax for food that is heated/hot, you know like the pastry tax story .. so conclusion, MY is still best place to live :). i guess with prescription, customers (like pinpin, don't be angry hor) will get the right and most suitable pair, as if they don't know about their eyesights after wearing them for so long, or being ignorant to continue to wear the wrong ones. but then, shouldn't the optical shop at least have an optometrist ready to cater needy customer? hey, what happened to your LASIK plan?! you have already postponed it for 6 months! if only you have done it earlier, you would not be in this mess. oops, i hope i did not provoke you, but that's quite a true statement .....
don't tell that you plan to keep yourself in the hotel over the weekend. you should seize this opportunity to reward yourself with sightseing and at the same time shopping for the new clothes in UK. don't say lah not enjoying, you did not board the planes 6 times like last time, and this time you are in UK, summer somemore. cheers, and to the best, pinpin. you can make it.
Ok, I know I mentioned that this post is gonna be about the rally, but as usual, once I procrastinated on it, I'm not sure when I will get to it, if I do ever get to it at all.
Anyway, I've just finished packing my luggage. And I had a tough time fitting the thick clothings into my small luggage.
Uh huh, am flying again tomorrow... to UK. I'll be there until Friday and will be back to SG on Saturday. And of course, as per our company policy, I'll be flying business class again, and this time will be on SIA A380. Woo hoo!
(I know there was news about safety concern on A380, but I would still choose this over an old Boeing 777 aircraft.)
The schedule is very packed for this trip. I'll arrive at London on Monday evening local time, and will stay a night in the hotel at the airport. A colleague from UK will pick me up the next day and we will drive to Cambridge together. We will stay there for a night and then back to Gatwick (where our corporate HQ is) on Wednesday evening. Then we will spend the following 2 days at the HQ.
This is gonna be an important trip for me. Besides work, it probably is gonna be THE "defining moment" that I've mentioned before. If it indeed is, I guess I am gonna be spending long hours writing a long post, relating the entire story of what had transpired.
wow, Cambridge! that's wonderful, especially it's summer time! have a great time there, of course you are! hmm, something must be happening though ... look forward for the good news from ya. cheers, and make sure post lots of photos hor.
Instead of sitting in the comfy 5-star The Gardens Hotel with ample space and a super king size bed, i am now in a small room with two single beds in Cititel.
This is the first time ever that i forgot to make reservation for a hotel room for my business trip. I couldn't figure out why i would actually forgot about it. I even offered Siang to stay with me if she wants to visit KL with her gal, and yet i didn't book the hotel room!
(Uh huh, Siang is back from Japan for her annual holiday again. She would be staying only for about two weeks, and i only have this coming weekend to see her and her daughter.)
Oh, and i really wanna commend the front desk staff at The Gardens Hotel. When she knew that i had not made a reservation and there was no more room available, she actually helped me to call Boulevard and Cititel to ask for room availability so that i did not need to haul my luggage around Mid Valley to look for a place to stay. I have always liked the customer service at The Gardens Hotel, and this time they proved to be really good again.
Anyway, everything happens for a reason and i take this as a message from God to remind me to be humble.
I recall that i mentioned in one of my earlier posts about how the business class to The Netherlands wasn't as good as the one i took to the USA. I also said to my colleagues that the food on the flight to Hanoi was lousy and they reminded me that it was econmy class. Then after checked in to one of the best hotels in Hanoi, i commented that the hotel wasn't really that spectacular.
So all in all, i think i am overly pampered by my company by flying business class and staying at hotels that are 5-star and above. Whatever i have now are blessings. When i leave this company, i would not be having all these anymore. Hence i really should not be complaining.
The condition of the hotel aside, Cititel is actually a place i have wanted to avoid. There are memories of this hotel that i would rather not be reminded of. I guess it is another trial for me to face the things that i have wanted to run away from.
On an unrelated note, just now when i was checking in at Cititel, a guy waiting in front of me asked me if we are near the twin towers. I told him that i am not too sure, and then he started chatting up with me, asking me where i am from and told me that he is from Portugal. Then after i have checked in and was about to go to the lift, he came over and invited me for a coffee. I declined and told him that i wanna catch up on my work (it was an excuse). He then asked me how about later in the evening after i have finished my work, and we could go get some drinks outside. I really did not know what other reason to give and hence just said, "erm, sorry, no, i don't think so."
Gee, I hope i won't run into him again for the rest of the week (especially during breakfast). If i really do bump into him again, i hope he gets my message just now and will not come bothering me anymore.
huh, you're really complaining a lot ... but sometimes complaining does help in improving the service when you are being reasonably point out the flaw (of course, i don't believe you're the type who cusses for lousy service). can't blame you for being forgetful also with hectic schedule like this mah, you shouldn't even be in KL for this week. i guess your friend and her little gal (but it's not august yet) would not mind about it though you might disappoint them a little, if only you have gotten something from netherlands, hanoi :)... is it possible that you book again for wed, thurs?
take care gal, and always stay wise, be vigilant. the security nowadays is really bad, even malaysia is ranked #19 safest in the world (don't complain-hor). and hey, don't sleep in the cab! cheers, all the best in work.
We are now on our way to the airport to catch the 10am+ flight back to SG and KL. The traffic in Hanoi is horrendous - not because of traffic jam but the sheer number of motorbikes on the road.
If you think that i haven't been blogging in the past week is because i was having too much fun, then you are wrong. If i were to sum up the entire trip in a sentence, i would say i enjoyed the conferences more than the extended stay. I would write about this trip in anothrr post. For now, i just wanna say it is true that the companions matter a lot when it comes to travelling. Sometimes i think i may be born to be a lone traveller.
The plane will touch down in SG at 5pm+. I'll have to unpack and pack again for my trip to KL tomorrow morning. As you may have expected, i am really fatigue beyond words. How i wish i can have a long break to recuperate.
Arrived yesterday afternoon with at least another 20+ colleagues taking the same flight, including all the big shots. There is only one flight to/fro SG and Hanoi everyday and so almost everyone from SG was on the same flight. A few of us were joking that all the board members of Asia region were on the same flight except my boss who flew in from HK, and this was actually a risk. Imagine that if the unfortunate happens, then there will only be my boss left in the leadership team in Asia.
I am still having slight jet lag and hence am rather tired. However, these two days have been quite enjoyable.
I didn't bring along the power supply for my laptop and had kinda used up the battery yesterday. I am now using my iPhone to blog and hence I don't intend to type a long post.
So I guess I'll end here. I ought to have an early night because there will be a gala dinner tomorrow and I bet it's gonna last till late night.
You didn't bring along the power supply or don't remember to bring along? Enjoy your time there. No matter how hard the work, still have to rest. Take care.
haiyah, why you always think of the bad things one, touchwood, touchwood... but really this is one big team together having the same flight, you're not gonna be bored in the plane lor :). hope you'll have fun (of course), and build a strong team spirit among your colleagues. And your staff understand you much much better when you are off from work, so don't give up! hmm, any itinerary drafted already? oh, even if you didn't bring the power, you can still pinjam from your colleagues too. look forward for you writing about the delicious food. cheers.
So far all have been well here at The Hague, but then that is because the actual work will only start tomorrow.
Monday and Tuesday are for the global team to do internal discussion and preparation for the workshop. The actual workshop is on Wednesday and Thursday. There will be around 20+ participants from all around Europe.
I was asked to do an one-hour presentation on how Asia is using the system. The purpose is to give the Europeans some confidence and assurance that the system can work well in our company. That was actually the main reason for having me here - as a living advertisement.
I had an "old friend" joined me today. She flew in from UK and was the lady who went to USA with us back in year 2009. She even brought me gift from UK!
I have not seen her for more than two years, and she kept saying that i look very good now even though i have put on some weight since then. I told her that she had seen me at my worst year and now i actually am considering to lose a few KGs. She told me not to, as i look just nice now. But then, of course i will not heed an advice of a Westerner, for all Asians look thin to them.
Anyway, with her arrival, at lease now i am not the only lady in the workshop. However, i am still the only Asian and that itself does pose some problems. For instance, i did find myself not getting their jokes or conversation sometimes because they would talk about European things that i am not familiar with. This seems to be less of a problem when I was with the Americans. I guess we are still more in tune with the American culture than the European, or at least i am.
They have actually arranged to gather for drinks and dinner at 7pm today but i did not join them. I thought i was gonna have a teleconference with someone from Canada tonight but then the person changed the date. I could have then gone to join them but decided not to. I figured that rather than sitting there listening to conversation that i may not fully understand, i might as well have a good rest in my room.
Oh, and about Sunday - i did not visit the city. After i settled down in the hotel room, i made myself a Horlicks drinks (thank God that i did bring a few packets of 3-in-1 with me!) and then slept for a few hours. Then at around 3pm+, i went to walk around the area near the hotel, looking for a supermarket or grocery store to get something for dinner. Too bad that i forgot i am in Europe and the shops here do not open on Sunday.
So after walking down a few streets of closed shops, i returned to my hotel room empty stomach and without any food either. In the end, i resort to room service.
Then yesterday, i had room service for dinner again. Then this evening i went to the nearby supermarket to grab some food, as i am rather sick of room service already.
Ok, the thing is that I do not feel like going to a restaurant and dine on my own. I do feel somewhat uncomfortable here because there aren't many Asians around here. So far, i have only seen two - one was a hotel guest and the other was an Asian lady i saw at the supermarket just now, probably someone staying around the neighbourhood (as she looked like a local). Hence i did kinda stand out as being different. Even though the people here will just mind their own business, i did get some glances and stares (especially babies and kids - they will just stare at me, probably because i look so different from the others, with the black hair, small eyes, flat nose...)
Anyway, perhaps there will be a group dinner tomorrow. If so, then it means i will finally get some good decent dinner.
looks like it turns out to be great, couple with fine weather :). aiyo, you shouldn't be so pessimist - you where got small eyes, but round round eyes. the babies/kids stared at you coz you're one pretty lady over there :) hmm, your friends might have set their eyes on the chocolate when you come back.
all the best to your presentation, and make the angmohs know where is malaysia ... oops, you are based SG anyway, aha. cheers, have fun.
Just checked in to the hotel after two hours since the plane touched down.
No, the journey from Schiphol Airport to Voorburg should only take about an hour, but I boarded the wrong train. I didn't know that the train does not stop at every station and boarded the train that went the same direction as the one that I was supposed to hop on. Then it passed the central station that I was supposed to change to another train, and so I gotta take the train of the opposite direction to get back to one station before. After I finally arrived at Voorburg station, I spent some time looking for the hotel (with my heavy luggage), which is actually just right beside the station.
Anyway, I guess that's part of the 'adventure' in travelling by myself to a land of foreign language.
It's now 9:50am here. I am hungry and tired. I should have bought some food just now at the airport. Now I'm considering if I should sleep for a while with an empty stomach that is growling now, or to freshen up and go out to grab a bite.
I only have today to visit around but then i am really sleepy because i didn't sleep much on the plane. The plane was not the same as the one i took for my USA trip. This was an older plane and the business class wasn't as comfy as the one i had been on before. So i may probably spend the day resting in the hotel so that i can sustain for the rest of the week.
gosh, but netherlands english proficiency shouldn't be bad compared to some other countries. and your boss is really bad to send you alone to foreign land without any accompaniment. but you handled it well, right, if it was me i will be real panic, which i tried to avoid any assignment that requires to travel alone even to modern country, ha. but hey, don't waste the opportunity not to sightseeing the country hor(and don't forget about work too). cheers, oh, take this opportunity too to impress the directors! all the best.
Am now at T3 SIA SilverKris Lounge now. This is the first time i'm here because i am no longer a KrisFlyer Gold member and could not enter the Gold lounge anymore. Business class passenger can only go to the Silver lounge.
My flight is departing at 11:50pm. It is close to 14 hours of flying time. Our company policy alows us to fly buiness for flight that is longer than 5 hours. I still remember how excited i was to be flying SIA buiness class to USA about two years ago. Now, i am kinda numb already - this is actualy a bad sign. I have been overly pampered.
My plan for this long haul flight is to watch one or two movies and then sleep through the journey. I have a very thick stack of printed documents to read for the workshop next week, but am really not in the mood to work.
Ok, i am gonna have some more free food and then head to the boarding gate. I should be at The Netherlands already when you see another post from me again.
it's just days/weeks away from the expiry, what a waste. well, take this as opportunity as one career advancement, and don't forget to have fun too in netherlands :). cheers, all the best for the meeting!
Finally, i was done with uploading all the pictures and video clips to FB for my USA trip. Phew!
Uh huh, 4 months had passed since the trip and i did not complete posting up all the pictures and videos of the trip until today. I decided that i must get it done before the end of the year.
Anyway, here's one of the clips to share - the Fremont Street Experience at Downtown Las Vegas.
For those of you who are unaware - this Viva Vision is said to be the largest LED display in the world, in the length of about 5 football fields.
The LED show was stunning but quite tiring for the neck, as we gotta looked at to the ceiling for quite a few good minutes!
err, i thought the screen in the youtube is on the side wall rather than on the ceiling... it's sure tiring to stretch your neck and hold your camera like that. but then, it's worth the experience to walk under the longest LED canopy :)
I've not been blogging as regularly as i'd hope i would.
Well, besides being hectic at work, i'm also spending time editing and uploading the photos of my USA trip onto FB. The progress is slow.
Anyway, here's one picture that i edited today and thought it would be fun to share it here.
Here's a picture taken at the entrance of Universal Studios Hollywood. Spot the different on the fountain (disregarding the tourists):
It's obvious, isn't it? Well, that's because there are two pictures put side-by-side for comparison. If i did not put the first one, anyone would have thought there were originally four figures all together.
Uh huh, there was this guy dressed like the statue walking onto the fountain and started posing with the statues.
He could have easily fooled anyone if he could stay stationary.
[Updated] Ah, right after i published the post and looked at the picture again, i noticed the figure on the left (holding the light) was also different - the hand moved! So i guess that was a real man too (but i did not notice it when i was there).
[Updated again] Ok, after looking at the picture AGAIN, i think it should be the angle of the shot that caused the difference. I do not think that is a real man.
:O i pity the guy(s) disguised as statues, have to post under the hot hot sun. didn't they have to answer the nature's call too ... it's a intriguing post indeed :). cheers.
Am in the Krisflyer Silver Lounge now, and going to leave for the gate after this post.
Slept for only 3 hours last night. Was watching the TV and didn't realise the time.
I bought mooncakes and a lot of facial products in HK. I did not leave much room in my luggage when i came here, so i gotta stuff it to the fullest last night. It almost could not fit everything. I must bring a bigger luggage next time.
Not going back to JB this weekend again. I have not been back in JB for the entire August and kinda miss home. I gotta settle my lost NRIC and driving license in Singapore next Monday; otherwise, i would have requested to work from JB on Monday since Tuesday is a public holiday.
There are still lots of outstanding work to catch up, but i'm not gonna worry about it this weekend. I really need a good rest to recuperate from the extensive travelling.
aiseh ... i thought you could make the report about the loss IDs even on saturday when you were back from LA the last time. work really does driving you nuts. it's kinda waste that you could not make use of this weekend to enjoy with your friends. and your friend would miss your mooncake brought back from HK ler ....
i wonder if your panda eyes had gotten worse than before, sigh. don't push so hard yourself on work, and get a good nice rest. if you fall sick, then all the effort would be just wasted. besides, if you work from fully recharged and in the top form, you are to be able to see things more clearly (not with pening-pening head). cheers, and have nice weekend :).
I've reported the loss of NRIC in SG via the police portal. This is solely for the purpose of Malaysian IC replacement, which requires a police report. For SG, i don't need a police report; i only need to apply a new NRIC at the relevant department (and pay a fine for losing the NRIC).
I'm now in the hotel room, rushing the slides for tomorrow.
Uh huh, it's gonna be my session tomorrow and i've not done any preparation. After i started doing it, i realised there are quite a lot of things to prepare. I'm also toying with the idea of conducting the session tomorrow in Cantonese, but it may slow down the speed if i really do that because i'd have to translate the language in my head first before speaking it. The benefit of doing so is that it will help me to relate better with the users, and also it will probably help to keep them awake too - because it's gonna sound so funny and they would be so entertained for the entire session.
I didn't do any work yesterday, for i figured that i needed a break (even though i just returned from a long vacation). I slept till afternoon, had a quick lunch and then took to train to SOGO at Causeway Bay. I only walked around for an hour or two and did not buy anything except some food stuff for dinner. HK is a crowded place, especially on weekends, and i do not like it at all. Hence i also do not enjoy shopping here either.
Then today, i went around the area near the hotel and bought a pair of shoes that i could wear with with my office attire and fit in the walking cast. Since my sprained ankle has not fully recovered yet, i cannot wear high-heels and must still wear the walking cast to protect it if i need to do lots of walking (the hotel is within walking distance to the office). I do not have any flat-heel shoes that can go with my office attire, and hence i only brought a pair of sport shoes and a pair of sandals with me. When i wore the sport shoes with my formal pants last week, it looked so odd. That was why i decided that i gotta get a pair of flat-heel shoes that are without back quarters so that my foot can fit into it even when i'm wearing the walking cast.
I did not go out or meet up with the two consultants over the weekend. It is best to give everyone a break from each other, for i'm sick of facing them, especially the emotional face of the senior consultant. I believe they feel the same too. They have their own friends here and their own plans already anyway.
Before i end this post and get back to work, here are some pictures i took over these few days:
And one of the things i love to do whenever i travel to another country is to visit the local supermarkets or grocery stores because this is the place where we get to see different products and have a glimpse into the daily life of the people there. Sometimes i can spend almost an hour in the store browsing the products on the shelves even without buying anything.
I went to the Welcome Supermart here and saw the Qoo drinks that i like, with flavours that we do not get in Singapore - soya milk and mango juice:
(I think we do not have this drinks in Malaysia at all)
I bought a can of Qoo apple juice from SOGO yesterday:
er, don't think it would be good idea for you to conduct in cantonese when you are poor with it, for not only you might not be able to think and reason properly, you might also get people to confuse and the message/reply be misinterpreted. depending the audience, sometimes speaking the language poorly with mispronunciation here and there and occasional halt will only cause more be irritated than entertained. maybe pinpin the way she speaks cantonese is indeed funny that really entertains her audience (and her KL teammates too) :). oh, HK people, like KL people are not french, the formers might be more receptive on mistakes made by non mother-tongue speaker. if the users have bad command of english, how about conversing in mandarin instead ? after > 10 years HK returned back to china, and nowadays the world economy is about china and china, surely your audience would not have problem in understanding mandarin. think win-win ( even pinpin is sounded like win-win). nevertheless, i know pinpin will know the best way, especially after rejuvenated with qoo apple juice :).
don't stay up too late hor to recharge for tomorrow great show . cheers, all the best! (the porridge and chicken rice dont look that tasty leh ....)
Haha! u speak cantonese? better no lah! I can't imagine how funny it would be. by the way if u really do so,pls record for me. I want to ENJOY it whenever I am down. thanks. :p
