Trip to USA_Adapting the Differences

We rented a white Camry as soon as we reached the San Franscisco Airport. The deal was good, it was $1000 for 2 weeks, without the GPS. Knewing we were not US citizen, the car rental guy handed us the GPS without any additional charges. What a nice guy!

6265- will buy this number in toto, magnum and damacai soon haha. If i win big, i'll come back to California, for sure! =)

Driving on a left hand drive car for the first time, might be intimidating for some but all you need is courage and no experience. I, myself was not convinced that i could drive. Parents had been pestering me not drive in US (coz it's dangerous), but come on... I'M IN CALIFORNIA! at least let me drive for once. For the first 5 minutes, no doubt it was tough for me and for everyone else. Then, i felt really good and with a quick adaption, i was hooked on driving. i was so eager to drive and with a great enthusiasm, i guess i had drove no less than 18 hours in total. I'll let you know more in the future blogs. Indeed, it was the very first step, that changed my life.

Back to the story. Taking the freeway (a highway that is without toll, happy!) from the airport to Sunnyvale was exciting. Colleague M drove like an expert. He said he's good, thanks to the computer games that he had been playing for years! I can't agree more. After an hour and upon reaching the Residence Inn (Marriot) on a sunny day made our day even brighter! Everything felt real good!

the entrance to the Residence Inn Sunnyvale Silicon Valley I (by Marriot), yippie!!
It's in the website, and here you go! It's right in front of me...oh myyy...i couldn't hold my excitements!!! =) This was the place where we checked in and checked out, had our buffet breakfast and dinner and did our laundry!

It was not a budget accomodation, so better watch out..It was like $155 per night (excluding tax) and we stayed there for 2 weeks. I'll let you do the maths. Our rooms are located on the opposite street. Though it was near, somehow we depended much on our Camry.

A bed for two. Yup, i shared my room with my colleague J due to some circumstances.

Our kitchen, simple and nice~

This picture is a bit blurry. It's a place where we spent most of our time. There is actually a working place right at the corner, where we did our reports and making conference calls at night~ nightmares of the trip!


p/s: I will not trade my US memories for anything. Three of us went, but sadly one of the colleagues will be leaving the company by this week. She was a guardian to us. A senior who had been to the US before so she knew what to expect. It was really fun having her around. Damn, I'm going to miss her, a lot! Sharing the same room brought us even closer. Take care buddy!


more to come...

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~~~~

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 =)

Trip to USA_Before Traveling

I've been to U.S.A!! wuhoooo....it was a dream that came true, finally...Since it was a business trip, i did not travel much, but still i appreciate every moment i spent in the States..No worries i will be back for a vacation hehe..

Before travelling to the States, there is a list of must-do items.Visit http://www.ustraveldocs.com/my/, this is the most comprehensive and useful website that will guide you from A to Z. This is also the link to submit online U.S Non Immigrant Visa (in my case) and to schedule an interview appointment. It was indeed a hectic procedure so prepare early (as least 2 months before you travel). To make it short,

1. Pay the visa application fee to Standard Chartered Bank. This is the only bank that will accept your payment. The fee varies depending on which visa you applied. I paid RM450. Keep the receipt. Throughout the visa application, you need the payment code that is printed on your receipt.

2. Prepare all the documents. Fill Up, download and print all necessary forms.
a) LATEST EA FORM
b) LATEST EPF STATEMENT
c) PASSPORT PHOTOCOPY WITH INFO (more than 6 months validation)
d) 1 RECENT PHOTO (Different from passport and size 2 inch X 2 inch, white background, no polaroid)
e) INVITATION LETTER FROM US/WORKING OR BUSINESS SCHEDULE
f) ORIGINAL PASSPORT BOOK – OLD & NEW (validation more than 6 months from the date of departure)
g) FLIGHT ITINERARY
h) LATEST PAY SLIP
i) COVERING LETTER FROM YOUR COMPANY

3. Fill Up Online Nonimmigrant Visa Electronic Application (DS-160) form. There is a lot of questions so no rush. Before you begin, make sure you have all the documents listed above to ensure there are no hiccups when answering their Qs.

4. Schedule online visa appointment. Visa interview is done at the Embassy in Kuala Lumpur. Troublesome for me as i needed to travel to KL for this interview. Anyway, it was nice having my parents with me. Luckily they knew where the embassy was. I was too nervous then. My visa appointment was 9.30am. Though i reached early i was not allowed to queue. There are people with appointment at 8am. So i needed to let them in first. I waited and waited for my round. I guess the torturing part was not the interview, it was the waiting time that i suffered. I managed to have a few conversations with people around. Sharing their experiences eased my nervousness. I thought the interview will be done in a room but i was wrong. It was just like in a bank, a one- to- one section instead. I would say, it was a systematic and smooth process in the embassy. Yahoo..i got my visa approved! for 10 years!!!

Observations:
* not so friendly security guard. Shouted ppl at the queue to switch off their handphones. Aunty A who stood in front of me, said she will make a complaint to the embassy once her visa is approved.
* The place is not shaded outside the embassy. Those ppl will be soaked on rainy days. Poor thing!
* No parking.
* Aunties carrying LV bags was a common sight at the embassy.
* Allocate 3 hours to get your visa.


- to be continued...