Things done in 2010

So fast, 2010, just flew by and in a couple of weeks time, it will be 2011 already.

Still very fresh in my mind in 2009, I have celebrated the New Year's Eve with my best friend and family members in a dinner in KLCC.

Below were the things I have done in 2010 in random order:

• Celebrated New Year Eve of 2010 with my friend + his wife and my gf and my mom with a dinner in KLCC
• Proposed to my gf in one of the tallest building in Malaysia and.....
• My girlfriend became my fiancée
• Watched live ballet performance for the first time (although it is more of a comedy)
• Upgraded my mobile phone by buying a new phone
• Send my fiancée to the airport as she took a flight to the US for her company posting training for a year
• Miss my fiancée a lot
• Being selected to look after Australia and New Zealand sales for my group and travel extensively across ANZ
• So much travelling / flying that I was upgraded by the airline to an elite class
• Got a cake from my niece and nephew for my birthday. No celebration just simple cake cutting
• Mom celebrated her 70th Birthday, my brother and me organized a small birthday dinner / party for her
• Posted back to look after SEA mainly Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore
• Got the keys to our new house
• Started and completed the renovation work of our new house
• Got extensive help and learn a lot of things from my fiancées parents on the new house renovation
• Learn to install down lights
• Moving house for the first time in my life into our new house
• Got a 40 inch LCD TV as a new house gift from my uncle
• Stop playing indoor football after a "scary" accident. Lucky I fully recovered after that
• Started hiking (hills and reserved forest) together with my colleagues
• Started jogging around the park in front of the new house
• Shifted to new office as the old office cannot accommodate the whole team as we have expanded due to extensive hiring
• Tasted "Kopi Luwak" for the first time. Its a kind of coffee in which the raw coffee bean is first eaten and digested by an Asian Palm Civet cat, then when the cat 'poo', the coffee bean is collected and process. One of the most expensive coffee in the world
• One of my Aunt passed away
• One of my close colleague (and teacher) left the company to venture on his own. He is the one who taught me the most about water treatment
• Officially a Tzu Chi Volunteer after attending their volunteer training
• Now I am a regular dental assistance in Tzu Chi Free Clinic

2010 have left lots of memories in my mind. Lots of sweet and tearful, many ups and downs, joy and sorrow, happy and sad occasions throughout the year.

Overall, I would rate it as an exciting year that have enriched my life experiences both in personal and working aspect. Seen lots of new places and experienced lots of new things in life.

Hopefully in coming 2011, I will continue to learn and improve... Looking forward for the coming 2011!!!!

To all my readers out there, HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011 and have a Great Year AHEAD!!!!

Started Jogging

Since shifted into my new house few Saturdays ago, I started to use the park in front of my house for evening jogs.

Started it with some fast walk and started to do some half rounds on the smaller route but amazingly, within a week or so, I can manage to cover whole complete round without stopping.

I just can't believe it myself. Human body can adapt and be build up so easily. Now my target will be a full round without stopping and hopefully as time move by, I will be able to do a few rounds without stopping.

Hope I can keep this up.

Shifted to New House

Last weekend - 13th of November 2010 (Saturday), finally after nearly five months of renovation work, we shifted into our new house.

This is a totally new environment for both my mom and me in which for the last 33 years (as I remembered for me) and 40 years (for my mom) we never shifted before. We have been staying in the same place all these while.

This place which we shifted into is nearly double the size of our old place. Besides that, this new place is gated and guarded in which safety will not be a major concern. We can happily leave the gate wide open, and not be too worried about passerby / strangers walking into the house as to enter to our area, those who are not staying there need to register themselves with the guard giving their ID card and their car number plate taken down.

Shifting house is a major task. With the help from my family + relatives and a few good friends, the major shifting process took place on Sunday (14th November 2010) morning. I have got a 30ft lorry from my office colleague which this lorry have a lifting platform mounted behind the back to ease the loading into the lorry and unloading it again at the new house.

I was on leave on since Friday (12th Nov 2010) until Wednesday (17th Nov 2010) happens to be a public holiday here. So have a 6 days straight of days off at home to unpack and re-arrange the new place.

Now, have been comfortably settled into the new place and my mom seems happy with the setup although everything is still very new to us. Need to adjust to our daily routine and new location of the things we use to put.

Today is the first day of me in the office and took a new drive route to work. The drive was smooth as many people took leave to continue straight for the weekend since its already Thursday today and weekend is the day after.

The renovation took lots of effort and coordination, inputs and discussion with lots of people inclusive of my fiancée, my mom, my brother & sister in-law, uncle and cousins inclusive of the contractors and suppliers.

One of the best design item in the house that almost everyone that came will say its beautiful is my prayers' cabinet which was designed by my fiancée dad. He really put in a lot of effort into make the design looks really great. Also he had design my kitchen cabinet setup which was really beautiful. Thanks Uncle!!

Trip to Hanoi, Vietnam

On Monday (18th Oct 2010), I took a flight to Hanoi, Vietnam again.

This is the 2nd trip I took for this upgrading project and I am book into a different hotel. I am enjoying the advantage of holding the Silver Card of an airline where I need not to queue up to check in as they have special counter for me to check in.

Perhaps I am too used to travelling for work, I did not pay special attention to the flight departure time. I told my regular cab driver to come and pick me up at 0700, but my flight is only at 1045am. If I were to pay more attention to it, I would have booked the cab at 0745 instead. So I am an hour too early to be at the airport.

Therefore, I ask my cabbie, which is also a friend of mine, to go for breakfast instead of going straight to the airport. He took me to a shop near the airport which serves 'wan tan' noodles with add ons like steam chicken, BBQ pork, roast pork etc. We had our breakfast there and then departed to the airport and still much time to spare.

As I arrived in Hanoi, two of my local Vietnamese colleague (Short as his name means short in Chinese, not because he is short and Pail as his name means pail in Chinese) pick me up from the airport with our company driver and company car. We came to the hotel and then went for a cuppa local Vietnam coffee which I never miss whenever I come here.

We had our discussion in the coffee shop and I took a short rest in my hotel room and at 1830, both my local colleagues came and join me for dinner. We went to a shop which Short took me previously. It is a shop where they have a good variety food which is some kind like 'economy rice' I get back home. We ordered a few dishes and have it with rice. One thing I found special is that one of the vegetable we ordered is basically cabbage which is simply boiled in hot water. Then, my colleague requested for a hard boil duck egg. Yes, duck egg.

Where I come from, duck eggs are normally salted in which they are marinated in salt water for approx 40 days to make it salty. But, they way they have it here is different. They just add on a very very salty fish sauce to it to make it salty and it is used to dip the boil cabbage. Something special / different. FYI, the locals here eat their vegetables in a very health manner. Most greens are simply boiled with plain water and dip in fish sauce for taste. No oil use in the process, hence their greens as they serve on the table are a bit yellowish. Perhaps that explains for the slender bodies of the ladies here.

Then, as usual, I never miss to scroll into DVD shops to see if any movie series catches my attention. I bought a very popular Hong Kong cartoon - McDull, which my lovely fiancée recommended to me when I went to visit her in the UK previously.

After walking for about an hour scrolling down the busy streets of Hanoi City Center, we adjourned and both Short and Pail went back home.

This morning started early. I woke up at 0630 am and took my breakfast at 0700 and left the hotel at 0730. The drive from the hotel to site is only about 40 km (max) but this drive took an hour to arrive. Its because they drive at a very low speed as streets in Hanoi is full of motobikes and there is virtually no traffic rules. People ride and drive from all directions and one amazing thing is that they are able to coordinate themselves so professionally and never bump into each other. At least I have never seen it before - touch wood.

Spend the whole day at site today, had meeting with the customer and followed by the contractor. Had lunch at the industrial area canteen where they serve you 4 dishes and just charge VND20,000 per person (approx USD1 per person) and unlimited amount of rice - eat all you want.

After lunch, we went back to the site for some discussion and left site at about 3pm and reaching back to hotel an hour later. Upon reaching the hotel, I catch up my work e-mails which have been sitting in my inbox for the whole day and at 1830, Short came over and we went for dinner together.

This time, he took me to a noodle restaurant. It seems it is very famous here in Hanoi. Basically, they use marinated slices of fish and when you order, they serve it in a small little wok with fire and fry the fish in the wok as you eat.

Then, there is just unlimited amount of dill and spring onions for you to "cook" or rather fry together with the fish and eat together with the noodles - Vietnamese noodles. Its kinda nice and something different, but its a bit too oily as the fish is frying inside oil and when you pick up the dills and spring onions out from the wok, it will be drench in oil.

After dinner, we took a walk at the night market, and after walking for about an hour, we ended up in a stall to have some coconut water to quench our thirst before I came back and update this blog.

Will be working full day at site again tomorrow and will be leaving Hanoi back home on Thursday afternoon.

Trip to Maldives

Yesterday (14th Sept 2010 - Tuesday) I took a flight from KL to Singapore on transit to Republic of Maldives.

I have came here before many times during the course of a project which we my company was awarded a job here back in 2007. Now after approx 3 years, we are on the final run of this project and I was invited by the customer here for a final review and defect rectification meeting.

During the course of this project, there were many ups and downs. I myself had learned a lot of things while running this project. The project was to build a resort island from once an island devastated by the 2004 Tsunami.

While in transit in Singapore, I met the customer's Project Manager (JC) which is one of the most calm and cool Project Manager I have ever met. We had our initial discussion and flew all the way from Singapore arriving at about 10pm in Male and on transit for another flight to a place call Gan, which is the south most group of island in Maldives.

Then, in the transit flight, I met with another contractor which was also invited here for this meeting. This contractor supplied the interior design for this resort and he personally had been stationed and worked here for the last 2 years.

Upon arriving at Gan, I checked into a local hotel while JC and the contractor I met checked into one of the most expensive hotel here in Maldives. While in the airport, we were checking out ourselves where are each of us staying and the contractor actually mentioned that I should grab the offer the customer (which is the owner of the hotel). The villa they offered to us is at USD250++ per night. Normal rate for this villa is about USD1,250 per night. What a bargain!!

I did not check into this hotel is because it is too expensive for our company rates. Hence, upon arrival in Gan about 2am, I proceed to the hotel my colleague here booked for me.

However, in the morning, I called my boss and explain to him that I am willing to pay the difference in the cost to take this bargain to stay in the customer's hotel, however, to my surprise, my boss says proceed to check in and don't worry, I can claim it in full. I was so happy with it and immediately, I packed and checked into this hotel.

We had our meeting where all the contractors came at 10am and it lasted until 12pm when we break for lunch and then at 3pm, again the meeting continue with individual contractor which lasted until 5pm.

Upon coming out from the meeting, I checked into my villa - Water Villa no. 247. This is call Water Villa because the villa is actually sitting about the Indian Ocean with water flowing under me.

Me and my colleague took a dip in the Indian Ocean, which is first time for me even though I have been here so many times. I fully enjoyed the villa facilities and setup. This hotel group is one of the high end hotel group in the world, hence explains for the price of their rooms and villas.

During the construction phase of this project, when we first heard the rate of they are going to charge, no one ever dream of staying here. It is for the rich and famous which can afford and willing to spend above USD1,000 per night stays. Not for us ordinary working people.

Well, here I am now, in my Water Villa no 247 (actually its villa no. 47 - 2 is just indicating the type of villa), blogging this entry and enjoying every minute of it. I take it as a company paid holiday for the hard work and effort I have put in over the last 3 years to make this project a success and bring it to a closure.

Trip to Hanoi

On Monday (23rd August 2010), I left home at about 0745 for the airport and flew in to Hanoi, Vietnam for work. There is a new project here which we had just secured.

The flight was about 2 and half hours. Landed in Hanoi at approx 1.10pm and coincidently I met my colleague which is from Singapore in the luggage collection area. So we both then met with a local engineer here and we went straight to the customer's factory. On the way there, the skies turn grey fast and upon us reaching the customer's industrial area - Noi Bai Industrial Park, the rain started and couple with strong winds. It is some kind of storm brewing and it lasted for about 1.5 hours.

After the rain, I went to the plant with the local engineer here and did our survey and we discussed some of the works to be done here. At about 3.30pm, we left the customer's site and checked in to our hotel - Boss Hotel. The room was acceptable and I was placed on the 4th floor - room 401 and my window overlooked the main street.

My colleague with his team proceeded to the conference room to have their own discussions, but I went straight to my room to start working on my e-mails. There were 45 mails waiting for me in the mail box.

Then, the local engineer took us to a shop nearby where they serve local food. It seems this shop was popular for glutinous rice. The bowl of rice came with fried eggs and some kind of fish cake. There is also come simple condiment, cucumber marinated in vinegar. It was simple and nice.

Then, the local engineer left for home while me and my colleague from Singapore took a walk along a lake. Lake seems to be something popular here in Hanoi. It seems on 1st of October 2010, Hanoi will celebrate 1,000 years of founding and all hotels were fully booked for the period of 15 days.

After the walk, we came back and rested.

This morning - 24th August 2010 (Tuesday), I started my day at 0730 with breakfast with my colleague at the hotel restaurant. Then, at 0830, the local engineer again came with the driver to pick us up to drive our way to meet the suppliers. The first supplier has a big setup here in Hanoi. I doubt they will be interested in doing this 'small' project for us.

The meeting lasted for about an hour before we drove to a 2nd supplier's office. From the meeting, it looks to me these 2nd supplier is more interested to do this project with us. They showed their interest and went through the scope of supply very throughly. The meeting lasted for about 2 hours and by the time we finish, it was already close to lunch time.

Again, our local engineer took us to a local shop. This shop is some kind of a economic rice shop I find back home. We ordered a few dishes - namely chicken, soup, local vegetable, some of the shop's specialties.

After lunch we proceeded to another FRP supplier's place and this visit was brief as this owner seems to be doing the job half heartedly. I am not at all impress with this supplier. To my surprise, this owner actually works as a security officer and have 3 stars on his shoulder as he was on his duty uniform when he met us.

After this visit, as we were on our way back to the hotel, I suggested to my colleagues we go get some coffee and the local engineer took us a coffee shop. I had my cuppa espresso - local coffee bean. The moment I drank, the butter taste was overwhelmingly thick in the mouth. I enjoyed it a lot. Then, just opposite to this coffee shop, there is a shop that sells the coffee powder. I bought some arabica coffee beans grind into powder to bring back with me.

I just got back from dinner with my Singaporean colleague. We took a cab to the restaurant. Unfortunately, the cab driver was not honest. The meter clearly showed VND24,000, he insisted that he wanted VND200,000!!! No joke man. Both of us got down from the cab and went straight to the restaurant and seek the restaurant staff to sort it out with the cab driver. We ended up paying VND40,000. I learn a new trick. If you are in trouble with the cab, go to the restaurant that you plan to dine and get them to help you.

Dinner was nice and simple. We had chicken with sticky / glutinous rice, bitter gourd stir fried with eggs, deep fried bean curd with pepper and my colleague order a beef wrap. Unfortunately, I do not eat beef, hence, he have it all for himself. The price is also quite reasonable. Two of us dine with one beer each, the dinner cost us VND233,000 = approx USD12. I took the restaurant card so that next time I am here, I know where I can eat. Of course, there were lots of place to eat around Vietnam, and I am not a fuzzy eater, so its not going to be a major issue with me.

Furthermore, I have a local engineer here which can take care of it. We travel around with a company employed driver with car, so transportation is not an issue.

Tomorrow morning, there will be another customer's visit at 0930 and after that we will work from our hotel. On Thursday, we have scheduled 2 suppliers visit to site to show them the scope of work and I am leaving back home on Friday for my long weekend. 27th August 2010 (Friday) its a public holiday in Malaysia, and so is 31st August 2010 - Malaysia Independence Day (Tuesday). So I took the Monday off as a replacement leave.

So now, here I am in the hotel reading Malaysia newspaper and watching TV and of course writing this blog. I am sure that's the same thing I am going to do tomorrow night as well....

Trip to Philippines

On Sunday (15th August 2010) evening, I boarded took a flight to the Philippines and as soon as I landed in Manila, I have a connecting flight to another island call Bacolod.

I was lucky that in Manila, I have a very good friend who came to the Manila Terminal 1 airport and gave me a ride to to the Terminal 3 for my connecting flight.

The flight from Manila to Bacolod is approx an hour. When I landed in Bacolod, another colleague of mine pick me up from the airport and took me to the hotel which is approx 30 minutes away, distance of approx 25km. There I met up with the sales person in-charge and we all had dinner together at the hotel.

Bacolod is a small town, where the main industry there is sugar production and it seem this town itself supplies for approx 90% of the sugar used in the whole of Philippines. The appointment with the factory facility manager was scheduled at approx 9am the next day.

The room suppose to have internet WIFI connection, unfortunately, for whatsoever reasons, it did not work from the room, hence, I have to go down to the lobby to use the facility.

On the second day, (16th August 2010), after the meeting, my colleague took me to the air line agency and try to change my ticket, unfortunately, the airline they booked is a budget airline, hence, no changes is allowed. I was initially schedule to fly out from Bacolod on Tuesday noon and tried to change it to the same day itself, since the meeting ended earlier and scheduled.

So I have no option but to issue another ticket for the return flight from Bacolod to Manila.

On that evening after arriving in Manila, my colleague booked me into a hotel which is quite near to the office. The flight from Bacolod was delayed for 20 minutes circling above Manila city as it seems the air traffic was busy.

Upon checking into the hotel in Manila, only I realize that I have accidentally left a collar T-Shirt in the hotel in Bacolod. I immediately called the hotel there and they found the T-shirt. I was kinda relieve as I can ask my colleague to collect it from the hotel and have it couriered back to me.

Went out for dinner with this colleague of mine, we went for Mediterranean food. I had the lamb stew which was good. Enjoyed it a lot.

This morning, this colleague took me to our production facility near Laguna to inspect some parts which they ordered from oversea and they are not able to make the head and tail of it. So I did my best to have the unit explained to them and hopefully they are able to use it now.

The boss of our Philippines office was really polite, he knew I had came into the Philippines to assist his team, he insisted that we have lunch together. We went for Japanese food which was good.

Now, I am sitting here in the airport, using the free WIFI to update this blog while waiting to board on my plane back which is schedule to board at 1800 hrs and leave 30 minutes later. I am expected to touch down at 10pm in Malaysia.

Overall, it was a good and fruitful trip.