Friday, February 20, 2009

Friday, February 13, 2009

The Bangkok Trip


I left for Bangkok last thursday for a meeting with our partner Kamol and a very lucrative potential business partner who is also flying in from KL to meet up with Kamol. Our first meeting was in KL sometime in December and this time, he would like to meet up with us in Bangkok to assess our operational capabilities before proceeding to the next step.

My flight was the first flight out to Bangkok on Air Asia, AK880 departing at 7.50am. Ayah has his routine IJN check up on that day, so Kak Ngah took the day off and followed him. So, early thursday morning at around 5.50am, all of us drove to LCCT to drop me off while ayah send Mak to her office before proceeding to IJN with K Ngah. Boarding time was at 7.20am and by the time I checked in, it was already 6.45am, so I decided to enter the departure hall and perform my Subuh prayer at the surau inside.

Th flight was 3/4 full, but I still managed to "conquer" three seats to myself, heheh... As usual, I will have the Pak Nasir Nasi Lemak for breakfast (which I never failed to do whenever I am on Air Asia but I do feel that the taste is not the same as before). The flight arrived on time at 8.50am Bangkok time and since there were only a handful of flight that morning, Immigration was a breeze. Caught the public taxi at Gate 10 and headed off to Baiyoke Suite at Pratunam area. I reached there around 10am but managed to check in (its ayah's "official" hotel for his monthly meeting and golf excursions, hence the early check in privilage and good rates) and I was given the room on the 29th floor. I like this hotel because the last time I was here during the fasting month, they actually prepared "sahur" for me.

I then took a taxi to Kamol's office on Suksavithaya Road (off Silom Soi 9). It was my first visit to the office since they shifted and its actually not bad at all. From there, Kamol and I drove to the airport to pick up our guest who flew in on MAS (well, with RM150 million annual sales, travelling full service airline is not a problem:). While waiting for him, Kamol remarked that tourist seemed to be coming back to Bangkok, judging from the number of people we saw arriving. After around 30minutes waiting, we met Mr C and exchanged pleasentaries. Of course, among my first question to him was about latest development on the Perak state government fiasco.

To save time (Mr C has other appointments too), we arrange for lunch at the office where Kamol's assistant bought some Briyani from the Halal restaurant behind the office. The foodwas not bad at all and after everyone has settled down, it was down to business. The meeting went well and we presented some radical ideas which I am pretty sure Mr C did not expect but he seemed to be considering it. Once our meeting was over, we sent Mr C to his hotel and after that that Kamol sent me back to Baiyoke.
We were supposed to have dinner with Mr C but since he already has some prior engagement, Kamol will have dinner with him tomorrow night as I will be flying back to KL on the 3.10pm flight. After resting for a while (and watching the movie "American Gangster" on HBO), I headed for Al-Maidah Restaurant, a Halal place just behind the hotel. Al-Maidah can a bit pricey but the food is good and the portion is quite huge. After having the Naan and roast chicken, I walked to the nearby 7 Eleven (they seemed to have it at every corner) and bought some drinking water and tid bits. Then, its back to the hotel and a good night sleep.
I woke up just in time to perform the Subuh prayers. Breakfast is at the Sky Lounge on the 43rd floor and view from there is simply marvellous. After breakfast, I decided to walk around the many shops around the hotel area though a lot of them are only started to open. I wish I had more time but well, I am here for work, so I checked out early and headed to the office.