Hot Afternoon at the Palace

At the reception counter of the hotel, we saw some brochures that said FREE tour. Interesting, so we inquired about it.

It was free alright. The rides to tourist spots were free but we still had to pay for the entrance fees. Fair lah kan?

So we signed up for the tour to the Grand Palace. The last time we were in Bangkok, we didn't manage to visit this grand place. This time we definitely do not want to give it a miss.

After lunch, we headed back to the hotel and waited at the lobby for our pick up. Just a short wait and our ride was at the door. We shared the van with a few Indian guys who were also from the same hotel.

A must-see sight in Bangkok - the Grand Palace - dazzling and super spectacular

Where do you hail from?

A mural on one of the Palace walls

Very artistic and detailed pillar top

One of the temples in the Palace grounds

Hanuman on guard

More decoratives

One of the heavily Hanuman guarded temples

And another temple..... 

Next: More pics of the Palace

Delayed Updates

Now that I am back to the USJ office, lunch is more colorful. Just next door there is a mall – one which is just about the right size for lunch time browsing and be back before the boss pops up at your place for a meeting. Since it is so close by, it is also the place where I'd bump into who's who (read: secretaries) in the company whose usual predictable way of greeting you would be, “Ehhhh....lama tak nampak!!”

I can be ultimately boring when I choose to be and with them I usually will not present any "sparks" that would trigger more conversations. So my standard reply would be, “Ohhh...I baru balik ke office sini. Was in CJ at the Mxxxx office for the last couple of months.” Jawapan biasa kepada soalan biasa. Orang tanya, kita bagi jawapan lah kann. And this means that I am pretty much under their radar. Dah tu kalau semua bende buat dok update in FB, of course lah the whole world would know kann... 

Dushhh...dushh...I can kick myself for this gatai tangan with my FB updates.

Anyway, last week I bumped into one of the girls and she commented that I ni dok lah travel sakan, gi sini and gi sana. Errr....betul lah tu. Can't dispute what she said lah kann. She said, “Hamboiiihhh sakan travel nooo....kejap Trengganu, kejap Siam, kejap China....” Ohhhh....how else should I reply her other than just  smile :) :) :) 

Ummmpppp.....entah macamana, this year macam terlebih pulak dah quota berjalan-jalan nih *wink*

And because of the extra millage that I have put in, putting these travel stories on the blog has become rather challenging – very slow pace if not none. As always during the travels, I took lots of pictures; the intention was to uploading them onto the blog with stories to share. 

But.......niat murni itu tinggal niat murni sahaja coz' I have not managed to do so for many of my travels. There's the trip to Bangkok with my BFFs in end of April (hah tu diaaaa....berkurun yang lalu!!) and followed by our trip to Beijing and Tianjin recently. And trip to Osaka and Kansai area last February pun belum habis cerita jugak. Ohhh sungguhlah banyaknya pending. 

Anyway, in this posting, I'll get started with some photos from my trip to Bangkok with BFFs Muni & Jupe. Though it was a just a short trip, it was a good one packed with makan-makan, shopping (of course) and catching up with our routine yakking :) 

Bangkok Trip: 30 April - 2 May 2012

The taxi that took us from airport to our hotel Evergreen Place Bangkok. For a while it made us feel as if we were in London!

After checking in, we headed straight to MBK - Bangkok's most legendary shopping mall. Located about 10 minutes walk from our hotel.

This is also where the BTS National Stadium station is.

With eight floors packed with 2,000 shops that sell everything from clothing, fashion accessories, handbags, leather products and luggage to furniture, mobile phones, electric appliances, cameras, stationery and DVDs, it was very difficult not to get distracted. 

Only this kept us from straying away......FOOD!!

We had lunch at a muslim restaurant called Yana. Located on level 5. 

Food was awesome!! What we ordered was just perfect for our hungry stomach.  

Next: The Grand Palace Bangkok

Hotel California

My assignment in a government agency in Cyberjaya was shortened. Ohh well...the truth was I asked to leave that place. The working condition was getting from bad to worst and the client - BigBadOldWolf (read earlier story about BigBadOldWolf here) was getting ridiculously out of control; making the team suffer so miserably. 

Morale was low and  BigBadOldWolf was just waiting to see us fall apart. Although I wasn't the prime target, but being a senior member in the group I was responsible and answerable for some of the scoldings and nasty emails sent about us to the Management. 

I did many rounds of soul searching and asked myself if it was worth it to stay till the end of the project. It wasn't like I can't trash the verbal abuses. In fact I was one of those whom BigBadOldWolf has the least to pick on. And in an event BigBadOldWolf even took the extra trouble to pass message to other team members asking them to tell me what a good job I have done on a speech for one of her big bosses.

I was neither elated nor proud when later BigBadOldWolf personally came to me and gave me the thumbs up. Tak ada perasaan langsung-langsung! And at that point I knew it wasn't worth it.

So I put in my letter. Yes....I tendered my resignation!! I thought the day would never come. But there I was - suddenly so lopsided in the head and so pissed with what BigBadOldWolf had done to us all, typing a letter to the Management telling them that I wanted out.

My immediate boss didn't want to accept it. Not surprising actually. He placed the white envelop on my table unopened. The project manager was the one who forwarded my letter to HR. Well, she was leaving too. Each one of us was already up to our nose gulping everything that came from the BigBadOldWolf. 

In no time I was receiving BBM messages asking if the rumors they heard were true. Some understood my reasons and some said I was making the wrong move.

My letter was forwarded to HR. And it was brought to the attention of the bigger, bigger bosses. I was then asked to discuss with HR and they mentioned that the bigger, bigger bosses (ramainya bosses kann...) had not agreed to accept my letter. Ohhh.......ada jugak like this.

Anyway, to cut the story short, I was asked to stay on and the bigger, bigger bosses agreed to pull me out from the assignment in CJ. So, I'm back in the old office in USJ and I have a long list to look into.

So how do I feel about this new development? I'm okay lah with the transfer, but it didn't feel so right about leaving the team. So to help them in this initial separation stage, I have agreed to assist them with a few of their deliverables. Well, at least until they find my replacement. Tak pe lah  susah sedikit and have more things on my plate. At least the life line is not totally cut off.

In the meantime life back in the office in USJ is already picking momentum. Was in JB for a presentation last two weeks and will be going down again this Thursday. More deadlines have been set and the bigger, bigger bosses are already keeping tap on our progress.

So apa cerita selanjutnya? Whatever happened to my plans about going on an early retirement? 

Looks like it's to be KIVed for now....... 

And suddenly Hotel California comes to mind.

"We are programme to receive.
You can check-out any time you like,
But you can never leave! "

~scribbled over the skies of Burma en route Beijing on 15.06.2012~
  

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Almost Abandoned

Gosh...this space has been too quiet. Almost abandoned..really.
Cob webs all over. Gotta clear them. Gotta make this space all lively like how it used to be.

But can it be done still?

Lost Time

The bad news is time flies. The good news is you're the pilot -- Michael Althsuler 
Bye Bye May....Welcome June

Workshop Done...Yeah!!

Don't know what's with these governm#&t folks. They just love having workshops. This one which I had to attend was workshop no 2 out of the many more which had been lined up till year end. So work yesterday and today was in Putrajaya.

Workshop venue was PICC.

Had to sit at the VIP table during the first half of day 1....boring. The only thing I liked was the flower arrangements.

And the food of course - the Malay kueh mueh served at tea break. The display presentation kind of reminds me of mahjong tiles (read: that shows how unfocused I was at the workshop!)

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Wordless Wednesday

Broken hearts, broken door knob and the latest addition to the list of broken items is this clock in machine. *sigh*

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