Traveling for 9 days: sales training in KL

On November 23-27, I was in KL, Malaysia for training and followed by kick off meeting in Hua Hin, Thailand in Nov 28 - Dec 1, 2009.

I was already sick before I departed to KL. I saw my doctor but not my physiotherapist. I had medicine with me for my coughing.

DAY 1, Nov 23, 2009

With three of my colleagues, I flew Malaysia Airlines MH 710, departed at 11.10 from Jakarta.
From KLIA to our hotel (Boulevard Hotel) we used two Airport Limos, cost RM 74.30.
Boulevard Hotel is located in Mid Valley City, Lingkaran Syed Putra.
The room rate was RM 295, no bath tub in the bath room, no internet connection.
Hotel provide internet connection in several packages:
RM 30 per day, and RM 150 for a week.

The hotel is connected to Megamall. It's a big mall. I could spend hours there just to see stuffs that are not available in Jakarta, i.e. make ups!
I bought lots of make up stuffs.....
We had dinner at the mall at Little Penang Cafe.

Hotel building from Pool view

My room, the bed is narrow!

Pool from my room (23rd floor)

DAY 2, Nov 24, 2009
The training started today.
We had lots of group tasks and presentations.

Dinner at Madam Kwan's: Nasi Lemak, Tea Tarik, Ice Kachang



DAY 3, Nov 25, 2009

Training for Consultative Selling Skill continued. We had a great time today when we did the "paper clip" game. Each of group must come up with a list of things we can do with paper clip.
Groups that have same paper clip function must cross it out and there's no score counted for that.
We were so crazy argueing about it, we laughed outloud.

Dinner at Secret Recipe.
I noticed, somehow, the service in restaurants where we have had our dinner for three nights was not good.
We were attended slow. Most of the waiter/waitress didn't pay attention to us. The dirty dishes were not cleared up as soon as possible.
We tried to be back in the hotel as soon as possible because we had a homework for tomorrow class.
I ended up sleeping at 3 AM!


DAY 4, Nov 26, 2009
Last day of training. Today's topic was about planning for key account. Very interesting.
Group dinner was held in a seafood restaurant (I forgot the name). During that night, we also had farewell dinner for the Sales Manager who is resigning.
The Malaysia office has the tradition to shout outloud when they cheer for the beer.
We sang karaoke and danced madly.
At the same time, I felt so mellow. That night was Takbiran Night, I was supposed to be with family, rejoicing the moment.


DAY 5, Nov 27, 2009
Today was Eid Adha. We were far away from family, right now we only had each other.
A Malaysian colleague offered to accompany us to do Eid pray in Mesjid. He picked us up at 7 AM (which was quite early for us, because Shubuh pray starts at 6 AM in KL).
He brought us to his grandma-in-law. We greeted his family members and introduced ourselves, then we went to the mesjid on foot.
Quite interesting experience, people just went to their houses right after the pray. In Indonesia, we usually sit and listen to the preach after pray until it's over, but here I only found around 10% of people still stayed.

The colleague was a great host. During breakfast, we had wonderful dishes: Lemang, Rendang, bumbu satay, and Popia. For dessert, we had Coconut Jelly, chocolate cake, hot tea and hot coffee. We were full, and suddenly his wife said they will serve Briyani Rice. Alamak! Where in our stomach we can have empty space for the rice?
We just needed to pass that opportunity. It was almost 11 AM, and we'd have our short meeting in the office (What? meeting on holiday??? Yeahh.....) so we asked for permission to went home.

Yummy breakfast

The short meeting was held for a short briefing of 2010 plan. There were Philippines and Vietnam team there. Lunch in the office with Pizzahut. We went to the hotel early. I was so tired, I and my room mate took 2 hours of nap. The plan for tonight was to go to KLCC, but we just exhausted. We spent the last night in Megamall (again!) and to The Gardens, a new mall accross Megamall, more luxurious. Dinner was in the basement, at Nyonya's color. I had Laksa.
I bought additional make up stuffs, hehe....

X-Mas Tree in The Gardens

Dinner at Nyonya Colors, The Garden's basement

Fountain in front of The Gardens

That's my hotel

My coughing got worst. I had back pain and chess pain because of constant coughing.

Trip to Hanoi, Day 4 (Sept 9, 2009)

Today, the vice president of the hospital is having an important event, the launching of ELSA 2010 website at 11 AM. There were several surgeries but they are urological cases which my surgeons didn't cover in Indonesia.

We went a bit late to the hospital, because it was just to attend the event.

The event was topped by opening two bottles of champagne. Cool.....
So, what to do now? The day was still early, the ceremony ended at 12.30 PM.

We stopped a van taxi, and one of my clients told him to take us to Military Museum. Too bad, it was closed because it was lunch time, they open again at 1.30 PM. Miscommunication happened with the young taxi driver. When we told him that the museum was close, he went berserk. He said he didn’t know that the museum closes. We said it was alright; we were okay and will wait. We presumed that this guy thought we wouldn’t pay for his service just because of that. We went to another museum, but it was close too.

Later on, we had conversation with our taxi driver. His name is Van Anh, 23 years old, he studies English at a course place. Sometimes when we laughed, he thought we made fun of him, he asked us why we were laughing at suspicious tone. The whole day, we rode his taxi. He didn’t mind to wait for us and took us from one place to another.

So, while wait for the museums to open, we went to Temple of Literature (Van Mieu – Quoc Tu Giam). Entrance fee is VND 20,000 and a brochure cost VND 3,000. It was dedicated to sages and Confucian scholars and used for training talented men for the nation.. We saw tombs with turtle heads as marker. In the middle of the yard, there is a big pond where live turtles too. At souvenir store, I bought Hanoi Map. The one we had from our hotel was not complete.



After visit to the temple, we asked Van Anh if there’s another mall in Hanoi beside Vincom Mall. He brought us to Tran Tien Mall. It was smaller than Vincom. My client was looking for money exchange place. He found a bank on the ground floor. An old lady outside the bank offered us higher rate, but it was too late. She was not official, same like my souvenir shop.
It was time to go back to Military Museums (address: 28 A Dien Bien Phu Road, Ba Dinh District). Entrance fee is VND 20,000 per person and to bring camera in we must pay VND 20,000. We left our bags with the officer at the entrance gate. Hmmm, don’t they know that we can still take pictures using our Blackberry and our cell phones? It was fascinating. We saw much stuff from the war, even plane wreckages, US helicopters, missiles, etc. The weather was very hot. It was 3 PM so 3 hours to go before we can break our fasting. We can do it!


We’d like to continue to Mouseleum while my other client would like to go back to hotel because he was tired. But then we changed our mind. We were tired too. Better spent the time resting in the hotel.

In the evening, I took them to a restaurant by the lake. It was in the same building with the café we went on the second evening, but it was on second floor. We were attempted by the dishes pictures they display on the wall next to the stairs. It serves Vietnamese dishes. We ordered vegetable spring roll, roasted duck, sautéed vegetable, fried fish Hanoi Style, water spinach and tofu. We canceled our steam rice because we ordered so much. They had live traditional music. The singer asked where we are from, then she sang famous “Bengawan Solo” song. She gave each of us a rose. Very nice (of course at the end we tipped her).

Trip to Hanoi, Day 3 (Sept 8, 2009)

Today had four cases. For me, number of cases was considered high! Still felt tired and sleepy in the afternoon. After had my early breakfast this morning, I didn't continue my sleep. I checked and replied office e-mails.

The surgeons in this hospital are more fluent speaking French than speaking English. Maybe because of historical relations, and also at the last one year of their study, they go to France to finish the study.

At the end of the day, we went back to the lake. I bought pink dress for my niece. I exchanged money at the store, somehow they offered better rate (USD 1 = VND 18,000) while at the Tourist Info Shop, the rate was USD 1 = 17,270. The rate in our hotel was still better, USD 1 = 17,820





Other souvenirs I bought


A lady from Malaysia said that she even got better than mine. This morning she exchanged money at gold shop, the rate was VND 18,300!

We had dinner at KFC. Oh my, we went far from Indonesia, and here we only had KFC??? Can't complain to my clients, lol. Unfortunately, they forgot to include one of my client’s order. He got angry and complaint to the staff and he got his meal, free of charge.

We asked a man whether there's a mall in the area. He informed about Vincom Mall, so we went there. He suggested to take Manlinh taxi because it’s more safe, in terms of driver and charges.

Went there, hung out at Highland Coffee and had some coffee there. Discussed several things with my client then we went to hotel. I was online for awhile then went to bed.

My Malacca trip, Day 2

APRIL 18, 2009

We continued the lecture and other sessions (e.g. the forming of O.R. nurse association).
One interesting session was about personal development lecture about creating image by grooming ourselves. The institution which gave the lecture gave a make over to four of my Malaysian colleagues.

The dinner was held in the ballroom, started by our 100th anniversary of stapling technology. I was one of the stapler displayer who moved around the ballroom carrying one model of old generation stapler.
After dinner, we had karaoke for awhile, followed by sightseeing in Jonker Walk area. It's a night market opens only during weekends.

My Malacca trip, Day 1

It's been awhile since my visit to Malaysia.

Last weekend I had a chance to visit Malaysia again. But this time I stayed in Malacca.
Malacca is located on the West Coast of Peninsular Malaysia facing the Straits of Malacca, about 147 kilometres from Kuala Lumpur between the states of Negeri Sembilan and Johor.


APRIL 17, 2009
I flew by Air Asia (yeah..... my Vice President's favorite), flight no. QZ 7562 from Jakarta.
I and my colleague accompanied ten O.R. nurses for ASEAN O.R. nurse meeting (April 17-19, 2009). The event would be followed by our sales training (April 20) and midyear review meeting (April 21).

We landed in Kuala Lumpur at around 10.30 AM local time. Usually Air Asia land at KLIA, but it's been shifted to new aiport, LCCT (Lower Cost Carrier Terminal). It's small but still have shops and cafes.
We were picked up by two vans. Malacca is 1.5 - 2 hours away from the airport.
Unfortunately, the engine of the van that I was riding was over heated and it just stopped just after 15 minutes we went out the airport!
So the driver called his office to get replacement and he also called up the other van. The other van turned around and went to us. My driver said it would take 40 minutes to get the replacement. It was a hot afternoon and we were in toll way.


We decided to go in to the other van, moved all of our luggage to its trunk, although the driver it wouldn't fit. But we did! We were crimping inside, but at least we were moving.
The driver played house music and rap music, what worsen it was that it was in Mandarin!

After 1.5 hours, we stopped at a resting point, the engine was at border level of heat. The driver had lunch, while the rest bought some drinks. I and my colleague bought drinking water for our guests. Not long, the replacement van came so we moved again to the new van.
On our way to hotel, we saw a car accident in front of us.

Finally, we arrived at Avillion Legacy Melaka Hotel.
As the Team Coordinator, I made sure hotel check-in of our group members and distributed the gimmicks. After got refreshed, we went to the ballroom and the event started.
Tonight's dinner was at Portuguese village settlement. They performed traditional Portuguese dance and song. Roasted oyster with butter and garlic was soooo yummy!

Bangkok Trip, Day 5, Going back to Jakarta

Yesterday was my last day for the trip. We had half day lecture and quiz. After that we had our lunch in the cafeteria on 7th floor of the building. Thai team has prepared the menu for us.
Sui Ying managed to take a picture of us. We had to eat fast because it would take at least 1 hour to our animal lab. It’s located in Mahidol University, Veterinarian Faculty.

Everyone in the van was sleeping on the way to the university. When we reached the place, we had our weekly teleconference with our big boss. I let my direct supervisor to talk for the team.

I only had half way through doing the Lap. Low Anterior Resection because it was already 3.30 PM. I and Mr. Kim must catch the plan. We were worried that the traffic will be bad, especially it’s Monday. It took only 1 hour from the university to airport. I said goodbye to Mr. Kim before entering the airport as our check in desks are in separate location.

I had to complain again when I checked in. Airasia charged me 7 kg of excess baggage, Baht 165 per kg. My baggage was 22.7 kg. They said the limit is 15kg. I told them my baggage was more than 15 kg when I departed from Jakarta and Airasia Jakarta had no problem with that. And the staff said it doesn’t apply in Thailand. Whaaat??? How come it’s not standardized? Soooo silly. Anyway, my training binders caused it so I can claim to office. But still, I was disappointed.

Since the boarding time would be at 7.45 PM and the time was still 5 PM, I had enough time to do my prayer. The airport muslim prayer room is nice as compared to Jakarta airport. I had my Zhuhur and Ashar prayer there then working with my laptop until Maghrib time came. I had my dinner at Tate Café, at Level 3 of the airport, same level with the prayer room. There are many restaurants there to choose. I was hoping to see Dairy Queen because I was craving for strawberry banana ice cream they are promoting.
The S & P café in the airport doesn’t serve ice cream and cakes as they do in the other place across Dusit Thani Hotel.

I started to move to immigration section as time was 7.00 PM. Passing the immigration section I found a beautiful piece of art. It’s a long statue of Thai people holding long snake. I didn’t have a time to take the picture of it. Also, there’s a throne-like seat near the statue.
Many shops inside. Damn, The Creamy & Fudge is there, Dairy Queen is also there. Again, no time to buy ice cream, must hurry up to gate F4. Even there’s a corner of Thai spa products that I’d like to buy some from if I had enough time to shop.

I must go through a security check. I pulled out my laptop, took off my blazer, let the officer checked my bag and the dried foods I brought. When I arrived at boarding room, Airasia officers checked our handcarried bags. They weighed the bags, if they are exceeds 7 KG, we must pay the excess baggage. Oh man, Airasia really pissed me off on this trip! My handcarried bag was 14 KG, excess of 7 KG. The problem was that they said it was too big to be placed in the head storage so they must check it in. Means, the excess baggage was not 7 KG, but 14KG! I said I had my laptop inside it, I didn’t want to check the bag in. They asked me to keep the laptop with me. I only had plastic bag so I put the laptop in the plastic bag.
The amount to be paid was Baht 1,980 (12 KG excess baggage after I took out the laptop). When it was in the check in counter, I could go to ATM to withdraw some money, but at that time I only had Baht 500 and IDR 450,000! My credit card is over limit, so I really didn’t have that much to pay them.
Since it was boarding time, they accepted whatever money I had. They took Baht 500, so they only charged me 3 KG.
I didn’t mind to pay the excess but how Airasia did it really made me angry and upset. They should have weighed the handcarried bags at check in counter so passengers have chance to get some money from ATM or exchange their money. Another thing is that their regulations must be applied in any countries. Isn’t it strange Airasia in Jakarta let me go with my excess baggage then Airasia Bangkok charged me?????

The flight took 3 hours 25 minutes and I didn’t feel comfortable at all sitting inside the plan. I needed water but they ran out of it, so I must buy orange juice. What’s the problem just to stock the bottled mineral water on board?
Not to mention I kept thinking about my handcarried bag which didn’t have any lock. If I had a choice, I would have not chosen Airasia to fly for flight that is more than 2 hours. But it was my Vice President’s decision.

There’s another story during the hectic of my overweight hand carried baggage.
There were 2 females from Indonesia who wanted to boarding but they didn’t have boarding pass. One is at age of 40s and one is still a teenager. They can’t speak English. So I approached them and asked what happened. They came from village and will work overseas as house maids. They came from different labor agents. I saw their plane tickets. The older female will fly on January 20 while the girl must fly that night. I feel bad to see their situation. I wanted to help but I must board my plane. They are in other country and don’t know English at all. They showed airport staffs their documents but they don’t understand what the staffs said. I pray for them.

Bangkok Trip: Recertification Day 1

It's Sunday, and we must get ready early in the morning for our recertification training.
Left hotel at 8.15 AM (it was instructed to leave hotel at 7.45 AM) but since it was Sunday, traffic situation was alright.
It was my first time I wore high heels for the whole day.

Had early dinner at Savoey Restaurant with the class. Our table was located at the back yard of the restaurant, which is by the river. The view was not that pretty, we only saw one big boat and some factories.
The food last night was better compared to this one.


After dinner, the van dropped us at Siam Paragon. Can't help it, I wanted to buy some underwear and lingerie there. I asked Melvin from Singapore to buy me jack fruit cracker and cashew nut since he was going to MBK Plaza.

After shopping, we went to Health Land again with boss and my two Malaysian colleagues. We had foot massage for THB 250.

Bangkok Trip: ASCS Day 1

Woke up at 5.45 AM, said hello to my colleague who slept in the extra bed next to main bed.
We got ready, wore our uniform polo shirt. We went downstairs to 2nd floor, looking for our restaurant. It was hidden, quite far from the lift. I met the rest of the ASEAN team and surgeons there. The food was placed in a corner. Not much of a food choice, especially for me who is a muslim.

After breakfast, we went in the bus provided. The traffic was quite alright, not as pact as I'd imagine. The venue was in Dusit Thani Hotel.
I meet my surgeon, introduced him to my boss. Then I just mingled.
When lunch time, I and two of my Singapore colleagues went across to S&P café for lunch. Not long after that, several colleagues and my big boss joined.
After lunch, I and my Philippines colleague went back to hotel to change clothes. My boss was getting ready with the costume.
When we got back to venue, my boss was in traditional Thai outfit. She was beautiful. The rest of Thai staffs were getting ready and conducted rehearsal.


Before gala dinner, I had chit chat with Asia training director and Vietnam country manager who’s an Indian. We had some drinks, listening to live traditional Thai music.
We took a seat near the stage, Philippines surgeons sat on the same table.

Our dinner menu was this ….. (will be posted)

Beside speeches and live band, we watched several performances of Thai dancing.
We had a nice time that night. When we got to hotel, we helped my boss to undress. Very hectic with those accessories she had on.

Bangkok Trip: ASCS & Internal training

My last visit to Bangkok was in March 2006, , so I was looking forward for this trip. Thanks to my boss who recommended me for attending 4th ASEAN Society of Colorectal Surgeon and our recertification training.

My flight with Air Asia was at 4.20 PM, so I left house at 12.30 PM with taxi. I didn’t have any problems or felt uncomfortable when I checked in. I even felt excited as starting in January 2009, our government didn’t charge airport fiscal to citizens who have Tax ID. Previously we were charged IDR 1 million whenever we traveled overseas. Now, for those who don’t have Tax ID, fiscal cost IDR 2.5 million.
I hung out at Starbucks for around 1 hour.

When I went inside boarding room, it occurred to me that I was going to fly with Air Asia, which doesn’t serve any meals, and I didn’t bring any food. Air Asia only sell some food on board. Now, the flight to Bangkok usually takes 3 hours. This will be my longest flight time with Air Asia. Usually for me is only 2 hours, either go to Kuala Lumpur or Medan.
I had some fruits in my bag. There were no entertainments in the plane, only airline’s magazine, and not all seats have it.
I bought small mineral water for IDR 12,000. I didn’t have appetite to eat. I was hungry, but Air Asia only sells instant noodle or roated peanut. Can we eat that for dinner? Naaahhh………… So I ate my fruits instead.

After taking a nap for sometimes, I finally landed in Bangkok. I realized there was something new with the airport. It looks so modern.

I took a taxi to go to my hotel. After talking with taxi driver, I found out that it’s a new airport.
It’s called Suvarnabhumi International Airport. The location is further than the previous airport. I needed to pay THB 70 for toll. Taxi surcharge was THB 50, and the taxi fee was THB 395.
I was staying at All Seasons Sathorn Hotel. It’s in Sathorn area, where there are many embassies in that area. I had this awkward feeling when I saw the hotel. It’s a small hotel, small parking lot, I meant small! Had a nice welcome drink. Lift was small, but baggage trolley can fit in there. Narrow corridor with tiles on the wall, feels like walking in a hospital corridor. I think it’s an old building got renovated.

Do you want to know my impression when I arrived in the room? Furniture is modern but there’s nothing fancy, no wall-to-wall carpet, no bath tub, only shower, I needed to ask for hair dryer to their house keeping. Can’t do anything since the whole team was staying in here.
The hotel is operated under Accor Group, and I got complimentary internet connection, that’s I liked….. Room rate was USD 68 and I shared it with my Malaysian colleague.

Anyway…. My room mate wasn’t there. Time was 10 PM, I was hungry. I read the room service menu, wasn’t interesting. So I decided to go to Suan Lum Night Bazaar to get light dinner. The hotel staff said it only takes 10 minutes walk to that place, Lumpini train station is also 10 minutes from hotel. So I walked. It was safe, and weather was nice, not hot. Quite cool, very different to year 2006.
I had beef kebab, papaya salad, and carrot juice. After that, I looked around the shop area. I wanted to buy a wedding gift for my friend. I bought fuchsia bed cover for her, THB 650, opening price was THB 1,200. My land lady asked me to buy her orange scarf, THB 350. The seller offered bed cover THB 799, after discount was THB 750. That’s it, no more shopping. Must save my money.

I walked back to hotel. I’ve informed my boss that I’ve arrived. Went to sleep at 1 AM, my colleague went in at 2 AM while I was sleeping.

Third weekend in Shanghai

Today we have half day lecture although I didn't focus on the lecture. Yeah, I kept falling asleep during lecture. I felt bad.

The weather is better than yesterday night. After we got back to our hotel, we took some rest for 1.5 hours and went to Super Brand Mall, Pudong, again. It took 1.5 hours to get there because of traffic jam. I and Linda fell asleep in the taxi. We were so tired.
We had dinner at Tang Palace again. This time with different menu. No dim sum.

After the meal, we started to do window shopping. Well, not completely, cos we ended up carrying that shopping bag, hehehe.

I decided to buy a shirt for my niece and pijama for my little nephew in Uniqlo. I bought big size so they can wear it later on.
That's the christmas tree from Uniqlo in the lobby area of the mall.

After finished shopping, we walked to The Bund. Accross the mall, is Pearl of Oriental, the landmark of Shanghai. We didn't want to miss the opportunity to take some pictures.

The weather was so nice, I was enjoying our walk, even though it was quite cold. We arrived at Haagendazs ice cream shop and ordered Banana Split and another type of ice cream set. They have chocolate ice cream fondue, cost RMB 218! A family seated next to our table ordered that one.

We wanted to go home, but when we were out of the area, it's the back of the mall building, we found Hooters! The EBD team has been to Hooters for several times for their get-together-dinner. So, we decided to go there to check it out. After some drinks and chicken wings, we went home.

Wow, what a Saturday night!

Class dinner, Dec 5, 2008

Had class dinner at this Japanese restaurant in Warner Inn Hotel. They've got this grilled oyster with spinach and mayonaise sauce on top, served with the shell. Also grilled prawn with mayonaise sauce. It's "all you can eat" set menu. Yum, yum.










Had massage in Fortune Hotel, finished at 1.30 AM. Man, it's -1 degree Celsius! We jogged from there to hotel, but it made us having chest pain due breathing the cold weather. My nose was freezing and start running.

Shanghai Trip, Week II

Whoaaa, too busy to post my daily activities. Well, here's the summary of week II in Shanghai.

Nov 25, 2008

Dinner with boss and Malaysia Team at an Italian restaurant, La Famiglia, owned by a Korean. It's accross my hotel. I had Sweet Pumpkin Cream Soup and Seafood Pasta with Tomato Sauce (cost RMB 83). Yummy!

Nov 27, 2008
Went to small shopping center at Jin Hui Road to check out the bags and luggage. Want to buy laptop trolley. Ended up by buying two knit blouses (RMB 85) as it's so damn cold here. I plan to buy a coat, and some more knit blouses.

Dinner at a Taiwan restaurant, had Seafood Udon (cost RMB 25). Found a Turkish resto accross the shopping centre. It was windy that day. Imagine this: cold weather with wind, brrrrr.....

Nov 29, 2008

Went to Nan Jing Road. It's like Orchard Road in Singapore. Wow, a lot of people there. We can't even walk slow to enjoy the view.

Dinner at hot pot restaurant near hotel.

Nov 30, 2008

Shopping at Jin Hui Road, lunch at Turkish Restaurant, massage in Fortune Hotel Health Club.

Shanghai trip, Day 8 (Nov 23, 2008)

It's been raining since Friday night. When we went out to downtown, it was still raining. We had lunch at Tang Palace Restaurant, serves Hong Kong Style Dim Sum. This restaurant is located on 6th floor of Super Brand Mall (Pudong area). Taxi cost RMB 55 from our hotel. There were many people waiting to be seated, so were we. Danny and Roland were wondering around while we, girls, waiting inside restaurant. While we were waiting, they served free orange juice.

I didn't imagine that the restaurant will be big, but once you enter the table area, it's large. I asked Linda and Lisa to order something that I can eat (vegetable, seafood). So many things served, even only eating dim sum I can feel so full. Below is the waitress preparing us jasmine tea.

After lunch, we went window shopping. My boss purchased some stuffs. I need to buy moisturizer and body lotion as the cold weather breaks my skin and my hair feels coarse.
We went downstairs to Watson. There I bought Neutrogena face moisturizer for oily skin, Pantene shampoo with milk protein, Pantene conditioner, and Vaseline intensive care for dry skin. Also, bought face mask.

After that, we went to supermarket to buy fruits.

Danny and Roland still wanted to buy something, so I and Lisa decided to hang out at Iceason, gellato parlor, while Linda was in Uniqlo (dept.store). I ordered vanilla gellato with chocolate corn flakes. It cost RMB 35.

It was late afternoon, so we must go back to hotel. We would have a weekly exam on Monday, so we must study and make some summary of our one week material.


Studied from 8.30 PM til 1.30 AM! So tired, phewww........

Shanghai trip, Day 6 (November 21, 2008)

Today we had animal lab class. There's nothing I can say except I was sad seeing the animal. I got over the sad feeling, but something has made it worse!

I've got an Indian colleague which was very very very annoying, like he knew everything, but all he did and said was crap! Sorry, but that was the reality. His other Indian colleague even couldn't stand him.

I got through the day, eventually. I expressed my frustration to my boss who is in other group.

Shanghai trip, Day 4 (Nov 19, 2008)

a. Dinner at Turkey restaurant. I thought my friend told me it's a Turkish restaurant, that why I was excited to go there to try. But when she said it's not halal, I asked why because most of Turkey people is musli. It turned out that the restaurant is a chinese food restaurant which serves Turkey meat.

b. Downtown of Shanghai is 30 minutes far. So I don't think I can go there until Sunday when we are off (but still need to study for Monday quiz). My hotel is located at Min Hangg District.

c. If in Jakarta we can find so many Indo Maret or Alfa Mart (type of mini mart), in Bangkok we can find 7-Eleven in every corner, and here we can find Lawson.

d. I don't understand Shanghai's traffic here. The steering wheel is at left side, they drive at right side, but the most annoying thing is that the traffic light doesn't work. Even when it's red, so many vehicles keep going on, making us the street walker to have extreme precautious when crossing the street.

The way taxi driver drives, uughhhh.....so scarry. I may suggest you to close your eyes when you are in taxi.

e. Note for myself: next time if I go overseas for training and business meeting, must bring formal clothing, e.g. suit or blazer. I couldn't bring those because it will take up space in my luggage. I have brought sweaters and other clothes for winter.
My room mate brought a lot of clothes and shoes, I think my boss did too.

Shanghai trip, Day 3 (Nov 18, 2008)

Planned to wake up at 5 AM, but ended up woke up at 6.30 AM. I went to the gym. Used treadmill and lifted some weight, 45 minutes of working out.

This will be my morning routine:
- Fajr prayer at 5 AM
- One hour exercise 6-7 AM
- Take a shower and get dressed, 30 minutes
- Have breakfast, 30 minutes
- Go for training 8.20 AM
If possible, another exercise in the evening.

Better study in the morning because we are still fresh.

The hotel staff bought me China Mobil SIM card, cost RMB 150. Unfortunately, the instruction is in Chinese.

Today's class ended early, 4 PM! Whoaa, thank you Dick. I had a chance to go to buy a pair of new shoes. Yeah...my shoes' front sole tore up due to long storage. I didn't realize the effect, otherwise I'd bring another shoes.

Lisa accompanied me to the shopping mall. Went to Trust-Mart supermarket. It's like Carrefour in my country. Found a simple model with my size (yippie...!), price RMB 119.

New Shoes

Bad Shoes

Tonight I had dinner at the same restaurant. This time I had transparent noodle, with Tom Yum Gong like broth, with vegetables too. Cost only RMB 5.
I asked hotel staff to help me on using the new mobile number. It took me 30 minutes !
I tested outgoing call by calling my baby (in Texas, USA) and my sister in Jakarta.

I took shower, did my prayer and go upstair to meeting room because our instructor came. Entry exam result was distributed. I passed! Yeaaaaa.........

We reviewed some of today's material, then I continued studying in my room with Lisa (colleague from Malaysia) and Baron (Philippines).
I'm using the internet connection from Lisa.

Now I'm going to bed. It's late here.

Shanghai trip, day 2 (Nov 17, 2008)

After Fajr prayer, I studied again, because there will be entry exam and we have to get 90% otherwise we must retake the test.

Had breakfast at the restaurant on the 1st floor then I went back to my room to get my stuffs. Met all friends in the lobby as we were waiting for the bus which will take us to training location. It was only 15 minutes to get there.

Went to auditorium on 3rd floor. The opening session was done my Training Director who's a Chinese. Then we took our entry exam, coffee break and first session of the class started. We were separated based on the focus of products we are handling. My class room is on 3rd floor.
After that exam, I was relieved. Didn't want to try to review it because I was so stressfull.

I realized that this training is very different to those which I have attended. It's very intensive, I won't have much free time to go online or go to explore the area. The training period has been reduced from 5 weeks to 4 weeks, even on Saturday we'll have class. Sunday will only have few free time because must study for weekly test.
I won't have time to think of other things beside work and training.

First day was tiring. We finished at 6 PM, it's already evening. Arrived in the hotel, I put my things in room and went with my Indonesian colleague for dinner. There's muslim restaurant across the hotel. None of us speaks Chinese, so we only pointed the dish pictures on the wall. I chose noodle with sweet and sour sauce with vegetable. The noodle is similar to Japanese Udon. It cost RMB 7 only but the restaurant didn't provide drinks, awww.....

The taxi from training location to hotel cost RMB 15.

I had 2 hours before our group study session, so I took shower and did my prayer. I decided to go to business meeting room early and read there instead of waiting til 9 PM.
At 10 PM I went back to my room.

I must get local mobile phone number, the hotel staff suggested to buy China Mobile SIM card. I had difficulty with my Indonesian mobile number. I wasn't able to send message to my sister when the night before I was able to do that.

Shanghai trip, Day 1

I woke up at 4.30 AM. I did my fajr prayer and took a shower. Checked things to bring. I didn’t want to miss them out. My taxi arrived at 6 AM. Arrived at Soekarno Hatta Airport at 6.30 AM. I checked in and relaxed at executive lounge at 7 AM. I’ve got my boarding pass for the next flight in Hong Kong, so it would save time.
Wow, everything was fast. I called my baby at 7.30 AM as promised and we talked for awhile. While waiting, I used my time to read training materials. Gosh, can I remember all medical terminology in the book?

My flight was CX 718 Cathay Pacific, destination Hong Kong. We departed at 9.15 AM. I was seated by the window. Food was nice, I picked Beef Rice for lunch. I watched “Get Smart” for flight entertainment. Fell asleep for sometime and read again. Hong Kong Airport is surrounded by mountains and it has sea at the other side.
We landed at 3 PM local time, flight took around four hours. I didn’t have much time to enjoy the airport because my flight to Shanghai was at 4 PM. Alas! When I headed to transfer area, the queue line was long. Suddenly an officer asked some passengers to go to other transfer area. I went there, but I was lost!
The place was far and when I asked an officer, she told me to go back again. I‘ve lost 30 minutes of my time! Thank God, the first transfer area (at E2) had shorter queue line. Still took time for me to pass the inspection gate. When I got near to the boarding gate, an officer was in a hurry and called the passenger for Shanghai. I arrived at the gate on time. I went on the bus.

The airline was DragonAir flight number KA 896, a Cathay Pacific group too. The plane is small. I was sitting by the window again. I don’t know why, but my seats were at the wing, so I couldn’t see the view. So much for window seat. Flight entertainment was a short program about practical joke. For dinner, I chose fish and potato. The other option is Chinese Dim Sum, but I doubt if it’s halal. Dessert was Haagen Dasz ice cream, strawberry flavor. The flight took around 2.5 hours. I arrived at Shanghai Pudong International Airport at 6.30 PM.

After immigration check, I took my baggage and queued for taxi. I showed the hotel map and hotel address in Chinese. It was all toll roads, and it’s so wide. The steering wheel of the car is at the left side. It cost RMB 154 from airport to my hotel (Dijon Hotel). When I arrived at my room, I was amazed. It has spacious living room. Then I found out there are two bed rooms, and one of them has been occupied by my colleague from Malaysia.

I took sometime to unpack and get myself used to the situation. I checked the map to find hotel location. It’s not located in the heart of the city. I may need time to find some places and some stuff I need here. Lisa, my colleague, showed up. We haven’t met before. She told me that she’s having study group at the other room. There are four persons from Malaysia and two from Philippines. I went there with her. Introduced myself then start studying. Wow, these people are serious. All silence when studying, only chit chat for five minutes when I got there.
I was a bit dizzy, so I decided to go back to my room. Maybe it’s not my style, studying together with many people. It was better for me to freshen up, take a shower, do my pray, get relaxed, and study by myself. I’m going to read for awhile, go to bed early and study more after Fajr pray. Oh, I really need the luck I can get.

Hope I can hit the 95% score tomorrow.

Shanghai trip preparation

The day before I went to Shanghai (Nov 15, 2008), I had to complete several personal things. I wasn’t able to do them because my boss was in Jakarta during the week and we had a guest speaker from Singapore. On Friday I went to Bandung for the lecture.

1. Cleaned up the house, don’t want thick dust when I arrive next month. Asked my house assistant to come by twice a week.
2. Exchanged the money to get USD and CNY.
3. Bought Chinese dictionary, in case I’m lost and need directions in Shanghai.
4. Printed information regarding muslim restaurant and prayer times in Shanghai
5. Took some stuffs at my sister’s place: clothes and make up.
6. Discussed family matters with my sister, things to do while I’m away.

So much to do, so little time. Not to mention that I still need to study. I’m going to miss my niece and my little nephew. I asked my sister to call me once or twice a week using her cell number because it’s cheaper than me calling her. Her cell phone operator has a special code for international call so it will get lower rate.

I searched the internet to find Shanghai weather information. I must prepare for cold weather.

Here are the stuffs I bring for this trip:
1. Clothes: I only bring 6 blouses with matching hijab, 4 trousers, 2 t-shirts and shorts, 4 long sleeve shirts, 2 training pants
2. Shoes: one pair of work out shoes, one pair of pumps
3. Make up: foundation, sunblock cream, powder, eye shadows, lipstick, mascara, cleansing milk, facial soap, night cream, eye cream, eye make up remover, face tonic.
4. Toiletries: body shower gel, body lotion, hair tonic.
5. Medicines and vitamins: for cold and stomach problem, Tahitian Noni Juice
6. Instant food: noodles and porridge, in case I’m bored with the local food or to save some money.
7. All kinds of charger for my cell phones and camera.
8. Al-Qur’an
9. Study materials
10. Laptop

The airline allows only 20 kg of baggage, so I weighed my luggage, it was 18kg something. The lady in the check-in counter said they still allow up to 25 kg.
I didn’t have the chance to study today. Decided to go to sleep early (11.30 PM was not early, lol)

Capsule Endoscopy Training, Kuala Lumpur

Trip to KL: Nov 28 - Dec 1, 2006

Training: Nov 29-30, 2006

==========================================================================

My colleagues from Singapore, Yap KC, went to Capsule Endoscopy (CE) distributor meeting in Hamburg last September, after that we had an internal training for the updates of CE, done in head office, Kuala Lumpur.

November 28, 2006

Arrived in KLIA at noon, I and Susan went straight away to Concord Hotel, checked in, put our luggages in the room, then looked for lunch, Nasi Kandar stall located behind the hotel. Usually I'd go to office after checked in, but this time we didn't have enough time. It was already 4 PM.

Called Jeonine to fix dinner appointment tonight at KLCC food court.
We'll meet up at 7 PM. Great, we'd have time to take a nap :)

Yeny and Cynthia asked us to check out Vincci sandals at KLCC. While waiting for Jeonine, we checked out Vincci's store. Crowded!

After met Jeonine, we went to 4th floor and started searching for our dinner menu.
Alicia joined us. I ordered Phat Thai Noodle, yummy! It's halal. Big porsion.
I have been missing this since 2003. I tried this food for the first time at a training in Bangkok in 2003. But everytime I went to Bangkok, I didn't order it because I was afraid it was not halal.
I also ordered Es Campur.
KC later on joined us after arrived from Singapore by bus.

Back to hotel with a full stomach.

November 29, 2006

I couldn't wait to have breakfast at Melting Pot Restaurant in Concorde Hotel.

They have changed the lay out and got new furnitures. Love the food!

KC gave us interesting materials on CE updates.

Lunch provided: a big cheese burger and big glass of coke.

Alicia took us for dinner at KLCC, this time to Little Penang and it was on office! Yippie, can save the allowance.

I ordered Penang Laksa. I was still full thus thinking to order a light dish. To my surprise, came a very BIG bowl of Penang Laksa. From the picture, you'll think it was not that big.

Trust me, it's a big bowl!

Then I went to Kinokinuya Book Store to buy Henry Wisnu's order: Michigan TOEFL Book. Not to forget Vinnci again!

Still quiet difficult to find a right model, a right color, and the right size for me!

November 30, 2006

Breakfast again at Melting Pot. So many food to choose. From Chinese breakfast, Malay menu, and American Buffet.

Today lunch is on office again. Sany brought us to Madam Guan. Wow, the seats were full. But we managed to get a place for our group.

I ordered Rice and Chicken and Sagoo Malay for dessert. The rice was similar to Hainam Chicken Rice.

We were at the restaurant for several hours. CE discussion was moved, from office meeting room, to the lunch table.

We got back to the hotel early and went to Bukit Bintang. Susan wanted to find some dried food and stuffs. We''l meet Alicia later on who promised to bring us to Kedai Mamak. It's like a food court, but serving more Indian food. We tried Roti Canai with Egg, Roti Tissue, Cheese Nan, etc. The unique thing was every dish was served with curry, same curry.

Cold tarik tea was nice.

Oh, my father is on Aceh trip. We sent text messages to see how things were.

An urgent matter came up. Aesthetic Team needed us to pick up some goods ordered by their dermatologist.
Boss was upset, Paulus and Diana SMS us, asking for our help.

December 01, 2006

Our first plan was no need to go to office this morning. But due to the order, we had to pick it up. Then went to KLIA.

Wow, they have Wi-Fi connection at the lounge. Note: not boarding lounge, but the area where you can just sit and enjoy the atmosphere.
They've got World's Best Airport Award!

I bought a box of chocolate filled with durian. Interesting.

Sadly, one week after the trip, my father passed away