Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Business Trip to US_Short But I Treasured Every Bit Of It!

The city that i worked in California is not Cityville or Smallville. It is known as Sunnyvale, probably because the weather is always, mostly sunny?? nahh, i'm not sure how the name came from..

Extracted from the Wikipedia, "Sunnyvale is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. It is one of the major cities that make up the Silicon Valley located in the San Francisco Bay Area".


Silicon Valley is a place that i believed everyone from the semiconductor field would like to drop by. Tadaaa!! I watched so so many movies and played so so many games! ^^



I didn't feel like leaving the plane ;)



The thing that i felt most in US, was the weather. Before traveling, I was VERY excited yet a bit anxious about how my body will respond towards the cold weather. I've never been to a cold country before. Since it was June, we had a cool spring (~ 15degree celcius). "Best time to visit US!" that's what they were saying. And yes, i ENJOYED the cool breeze air a lot. Lunch time was more relaxed.. The coolness was fantastic, especially at night. I don't think i had jetlag, but somehow i don't feel like sleeping when it's time to sleep (2,3am). I knew i had less time to spend in US (silly of me!), so what i did was, i spent my sleeping time, staring out of the window, enjoying the air, the moon and the darkness of the sky, which i never did in Msia :P Don't worry, i still get my sleep, 4hours?? ;P Though the weather was good in CA, i had dry, chapped lips from day one (4th June) till the last day (22nd June). Oh boy, that was the horrible part! My lips was sooo dry that the skin peeled off easily and bled helplessly ;( I did miss the hot and humid Malaysia. Seriously, it's hard to sweat and believe it or not, throughout our stay in CA, there was no rain at all, not even a single raindrop. Imagine how dry this place is!


Beautiful~~ (taken outside our inn, Residence Inns Silicon Valley 1)
by Marriot

More to come~~~~



Saturday, September 24, 2011

Trip to USA_Blessing in Disguise

My flight to US (4th June 2011)was like this: Penang to Singapore to Hong Kong to San Franscisco



I still couldn't believe the fact that i'll be going to the US. Well, anything could stop me from going there, so when the weather was horrible on my day of departure, i mentally prepared for the worst. That was when i prayed really hard.




Bad weather at the Penang bridge =(


First obstacle passed. Yahoo! The plane was a bit delayed but still we managed to board the plane to Singapore. Phewww.....

......Second obstacle occured. No idea why and i still couldn't understand why the pilot delayed the landing once it reached the Changi Airport. The delay worried us. Luckily we were seated at the front of the plane, and we dashed out to our departure gate, running all the while...



but somehow, we missed the connecting flight!!! WAUU....In my entire life, it was my FIRST TIME missing a plane (Imagine how nervous i was)..The airport authority directed us to the counter and got us another flight on the next morning(from Sg to Korea to San Fransisco)....This obstacle was not within our control at all.......aaaarhh...i just want a smooth journey, that's all....In our plan, we thought of having a light and easy weekend in CA, shopping probably.. but now, all dashed....we had to spend it in Singapore...



Anyway, nothing else that we could do. No point of complaining. They gave us 3 complimentary rooms (a night stay at Crowne Plaza Changi Airport), a buffet dinner and breakfast, and a $5 phone card. Wau, very nice of them, i thought we were gonna be stranded at the airport till the next morning.



Let's see what we were offered..




Fuiyoh, this hotel is fantabulous! Not sure if it's 4 or 5 stars hotel.



This is what i called blessing in disguise ^^



This was my weight before the buffet dinner.


And this was my weight after the buffet dinner. HAHAHA...Gained 1.4kg within an hour. Cool =)



This was what i had for dinner. Of course, this was only a partial portion of what i had hehe.. I enjoyed the food very much ^^

After dinner, we took the MRT as my colleague had not been on a MRT before. Since we did not have any SGD ($) with us, we exchanged only a few dollars at the airport (since we won't be here after tonight). But silly us, the amount that we changed was only enough for 1 way. By the time we realised it, we were already on the train and worse till, we were on the last train. If we were to take a bus or a taxi back to the airport, we needed cash., and it's almost late midnight..and out of a sudden, my conscious mind told me to get some cash from a passenger near me. Or should i say, i begged for money, i really did (huhuhu....only a few dollars la).. oh noo...yah, my colleagues laughed at me (and they still do until today), but that was the only thing that i can think of.. It's better to beg now than later..I didn't want to beg in the middle of the street haha. I guessed i have the survival skill ;P ..Surprisingly, that young man understood our predicament and gave me some dollars...Halleluyahh, the SECRET works! Ask and you will receive.. hohoohoo...Anyway, I did not take his money after he told us, the train will travel back to the airport as the last train. Just stay in the train, do not get out from it. Things did worked out well. From this short back and forth journey, i did learned a lot:



1. Be calm, think far and think wide...count your cash before you buy your train ticket (even though the train has already arrived).



2. Sometimes, we need to be thick skinned to save yourself from trouble. Ask for help.



3. Be good to everyone; you'll never know if he/she will help you one day.



4. There are still nice people around.



5. Do not travel at night. Do not take the last train. Very risky.




A very tiring night indeed. It was already midnight when i reached my room. Resting at the bathtube while watching movies was one of the best time i had. And guess what i found on the TV screen? "Welcome Ng. Enjoy your stay at Crowne Plaza Changi Airport". Cool. I was indeed enjoying myself in that room =)