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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.

To Sum Up The Week

1. The whole family went back to Melaka during the Chinese New Year break (more details at babychikjournal.blogspot.com). As usual, a lot of thoughts were put to making sure the journey will not be spent too much on the road and indeed the journey was really pleasent. Are there less people going back to their home towns or a lot of them are taking advantage of Plus' offer of discount for travelling during off-peak period ?
2. My son reached a very important milestone this week - dah boleh meniarap! He seemed pleased with his newfound abilities and been at it for most of the time!
3. Driving to work on Wednesday-Friday was truly heavenly. Barely any traffic on the road.
4. Met up with an old friend from my primary school days. I haven't met Yong Sean since after the SPM examinations. Even when I was in MCKK, we would meet up during our school break. A lot of catching up took place and since Singapore is just a bus ride away, I could always look him whenever I am next in the Lion City.
5. The online store is on track for launch Feb 1, 2009. Get ready for it :)
6. Also, its time to put something from the past behind.

I am 34 today

I turn 34 today. My wife would be laughing when reading this as I have been telling her that every year my age will be a year less than it actually is :)

Also today is the inaugration of Mr Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States of America. I remember watching "Are you smarter than a Fifth Grader?" where one of the question is on the inaugration date and it was told that January 20th was the date since 1937.

Physically... me

Its already the second week of 2009, with 50 more weeks to go. 2008 wasn't such a bad year (especially with the birth of the apple of my eyes:) but really hoping for 2009 to be a better one. Good signs are there but with the current economic situation, it will be more challenging than before.

Year in year out, there is always this one thing that will be on top of the list. Lose the pounds, brother. Again, year in and year, not happening as planned :)

I am not in the best of shape, when it comes to fitness. By weight and girth of the tummy, I would be catergorized to have in risk in god-knows how many types of disease, hehe! Not to forget the history of heart problem and hypertension in the family.

Every year I resolved to shed those unwanted (and un-neeeded) pounds and its not because I want to fit into some old Dockers pants (it'll be nice to fit in those, though) but its because I know that the longer I am in this current physical shape, the more risk I am taking with my health. True, ajal maut di tangan Allah but I do want to live long enough to see Amir Haris (and insya Allah, his siblings) grow up and become a Muslim that I would be proud of.

Now, where is that nice Docker Pants that I could fit if I lose another 5kg ? Heheh...

Gaza... are we just sitting here doing nothing ?

Are we?

The scenes on the TV during news everyday really breaks the heart. For innocent children to go through such deathly and traumatic experience is totally unacceptable. Israel is nothing but a war-crazy county hell-bent at obliterating the people of Gaza from their rightful land.

Multi Lingual

At best I am only bilingual : Bahasa Malaysia and English.

Rightfully, I should be able to command three more languages: Arabic, French & Mandarin.

Back in MCKK, we were asked to choose between Japanese and Arabic as our third language. I am not really sure what made me choose Arabic (I do believe I was trying to be more Islamic at that time, hehe) but I did quite well in my first two years. It helped that I had one year of Arabic at the "sekolah agama petang" so in form one, it made me look good ! However, as I moved up form (with SRP being the priority in form 3), I was neglecting the language and when I did took the SRP Arabic Paper in form 4, I was pratically marking the multiple choice answer sheet without actually reading the questions. Rugi tak belajar dulu...

In PPP/ITM, I took French. Yes, the thought of mastering the language of romance was a good enough reason to learn it. It was two semesters of "berbelit lidah" but I had so much fun learning it. Our teacher even gave us frenc name and mine was Jacque. It sounded cool, until I found out that Jacque in France is as common as Ali in Malaysia (No offence to the Alis, ya?) Lack of practice (yea la, kat mana nak pakai French in Malaysia ni ?) slowly diminish whatever proficiency I have in that language. Rugi tak practice...

I started work in 1998 and took my masters a year later. After completing my masters, perhaps due to lack of active social life (read: NO girlfriend), I decided to take the Mandarin class offered by the Language Academy of UiTM. At that time, I have two salesperson under me who are chinese-educated Malays and I thought with them around, I could at last have somebody to practice with. I took three semesters of Mandarin (which means that I am half-way through the Intermediate stage) and I was having a good time surprising some of my suppliers and clients when I spoke to them in simple Mandarin :)

Alas, due to lack of practice (my two salesperson left for greener pastures)... you know how this ends :)

2009

Its the first week of 2009 and with so many gloomy predictions on the economic climate for 2009, one tends to think that things just look almost impossible. A lot of industries has already felt the brunt of the downturn and even my small business is not spared the repurcussion : cargo movement at the port seemed to be slowing down.

In spite of it all, I truly believe that in times of crisis, there is always opportunity available for those who are willing to look hard for it.

Prefect Leadership Programme : MCKK

I have lost count the number of times I have gone back to Kuala Kangsar at the beginning of new year to play a small part in the leadership programme for the school prefects. I was among the first participant when it started in '92. Although there are some old boys who made fun of our effort but hey, this is one way I am giving back to the school, so buzz off :) Its heartening to see a group of young men with so much potential and not afraid to speak their mind.

This year, managed to sneak two golf games during our free time too :) Played a round at Taiping Golf Resort and another one a the KK Golf Club. Unfortunately the course was a bit soggy due to heavy rain during the week.

Outing at Restoran Puteri

We had an outing with the families at Restoran Puteri, TTDI last sunday.

Politics in everything

Malaysians can really incorporate politics into almost any topics.

I was browsing through a well-known local automobile site and the moment I open the reader's comment, lo and behold...

... all sort of comments relating to BN la, UMNO la, PR la, racism la..

... lets just enjoy reading about cars, boleh tak..

Happy Annivessary Honey Dearest :)

Our annivessary this year falls on Aidiladha, so it was a belated dinner for Honey Dearest and Me.

We had dinner at San Francisco Steak House which is like a two minutes drive from our house. It was the first time for both us to be having dinner here and indeed it wonderful. Both of us had steak but it was the dessert that proved to be the piece de resistance... the apple pie a la mode.. I would definitely be back for more

Honey Dearest, it has been a wonderful two years and I look forward for many years to come.

I love you so, so much.

DEDICATED TO THE FOURSOME BEHIND US AT KGPA ON DEC 4, 2008

Yes, this posting is dedicated to you guys. You old f**ts know who you are.

It was suppose to be a nice game of golf for my friend and I at KGPA. I have never played at KGPA, thus was really looking forward to the challenges of the green. Since there were only two of us (and we are expecting rain later in the afternoon), we played at a reasonable pace.

It must have been at the second hole where we notice these old f**ts playing behind us. We kept quite a reasonable distance with our pace and when we teed off at the fourth hole (which is a Par 3), these old f***ts were hitting shots approaching the green of the 3rd hole. My shot was spot on, landing squarely on the far side of the green while my friend had the unfortunately sliced his shot to the right of the green, quite a distance from the green.

While my friend was laying his shot, I managed to two put my ball for a par and waited for my friend to complete his shot. I was standing outside of the green by the tree while my friend's shot landed in the bunker. My phone suddenly rang (it was a call from the office) and I picked up the phone. Suddenly I heard a voice from far:

"Cakap telefon, woi, tak payah main golf la! Gi balik la"

One of the old f**ts shouted from the tee box and another shouted something incomprehensible (these are old f**ts anyway).

We ignored them while my friend finished off his shot as fast as he could.

Wei, old f**ts... "aku dah amik shot aku, and aku answer the phone kat bawah pokok tepi green, bukan kat atas green tu, b****h!"

"Ingatkan main pandai sangat. Yang pakai seluar panjang dgn setokin tutup seluar tu, OB jugak shot... you Org T** C**** ."

Things you would like to say

How things have changed ever since the last GE..

...............................

On this rainy day

Alhamdulillah, things have started to pick up again on the business front.

A new business opportunity presents itself in the form of an untapped captured market (who could have asked for more) and a great source of distribution channel. Obviously it is easy to get giddy over the possibilities but at this juncture, it is very important to not overstretch the already limited resources. With the economic outlook not expected to look rosy for the next few years, this discovery gives a sense of hope and an avenue to ride the economic uncertainty.

Talk about a moment of inspiration... while buying burger at the stall last night, I thought of something that the burger stalls can do with my beef and poultry products. I called the owner and we are meeting this friday where I will show the product concept to him. If thing works out tell, heck, it will be a new product offering at ALL burger stalls ALL over Malaysia... :)

The rain has subsided.

MCOBA Dinner

Long Overdue Posting..

On November 8th 2008, I attended the MCOBA Annual Dinner at the Hotel Istana, Kuala Lumpur. My attendance was truly at the very last moment due to come unforeseen cancellations by my other batch mates.

Adri took the lead by booking a table under our batch and managed to get ten of us in no time. A few of our batch mates who are now big shots in their "kementerian" and "company" attended the dinner under their own table, so it was qute a merry reunion of sorts for the class of 1992. I came to the dinner with Don (who got lost while on the way to my house, my fault for giving faulty directions) and we were greeted by sea of people in the hard-to-miss college striped tie. Batch members at our table were Vyn, James, Bogak, Aca, Ganj, Adri, Sarly and Badak while KE and Reza were seated at the CIMB table.

I do not wish to elaborate on the dinner itself (lest I offend some old boys who worked hard on the performance that night) but it was the after dinner gathering at the Pavillion which was really memorable. Nope, nothing took place that would worry the missus back home. Suffice to say, you guys rock!

The Last Few Hari Raya Open House

I would have missed it if my staff didn't remind me that today one of our biggest client is having their Aidilfitri Open House. Its the same every year, they would have their towards the very end.

The company may be my biggest client but not too long ago, it has something to do with my father and I. You see, not too long ago, we used to be a significant shareholder of the company. How we were removed is a stuff for novel (which one day, I will write) but I guess the point I am trying to put across is that in business, your friends and your enemy can switch in a blink of an eye.

Anyway, I arrived at their new installation facility located across from their current premises. The place has yet to be used so instead of putting up tents like they normally do around their compound, they have all the table and chairs indoors. The place looks good after being spruced up. It used to be a pet food factory but after it was auctioned, the new owner rented the place to the company for their project.

I met a few of the people who were around when I was there. I even bumped into an ex-staff of mine (another lesson in life.. about friends and enemies, the likes) and we chit chatted about the old days and days to come. He's doing rather well and I am happy for him. Perhaps we can work on some projects together.

The Aqiqah

Alhamdulillah, Amir Haris' aqiqah went well on Sunday, 28/10/2008.

It was a very good turnout of family and friends.

Haris slept throughout the Marhaban and Potong Jambul, heheh...

Market Reach

You can sometime be amazed by people around.

Just now, I had a chat with the cleaner who cleans our office and discovered that she could probably get me more market for some of my products as compared to some of my sales force. We sometime tend to overlook the smaller markets where personal relationship counts for everything and how the "local" factor can sometimes tip the balance to your side.

Worth exploring...

More Work Updates

1. I spoke to Kamol (our partner in Bangkok) today and he has some very promising news on the french buyer who will most likely purchase frozen ready-to-eat meal for the French market from our company. Way to go brother!

2. Without compromising who the "impossible client" is, I really wish she would stop insulting my products and not be so high-handed. I could easily refer her to her company's tender committee or even upper management but I do not wish to create trouble for her (though Allah knows how much she has spoilt my days and weekends too). Can't wait for the meeting this week where I will prove her wrong in front of her management (she called for the meeting, not me).

3. Whenever I provide my service to my client, I try to put myself in their shoes and I try to make sure they don't spend more than neccassary. However, it amazed me how some of them would waste money on storage fees; something they could easily avoid if they just provide us with the documentations on time.