Just came back from outstation trip to Sandakan yesterday for another project's meeting there and it came across in my mind that it's actually my last trip to Sandakan in this year... which I think worth penning it down here.
There will be still more Sandakan's trip to come next year but let that be another chapter left to be told when the time comes. Was it the 7th or 8th trips altogether already since I was assigned to handle this particular project when it started a few months back?...I seem to have lost counts already the exact number but this one would surely the most unforgettable one as I was 1 HOUR LATE this time around...Quite an embarrassing experience.
The story started the week before when the 1st notice of meeting was issued to be on 2:30pm but last minute the client changed it to 10.00am with another notice issued on Friday's afternoon, being the reason... oleh kerana desakan kerja yang tidak dapat dielakkan (typical government department reason). The office already booked my flight earlier at 9:05am KK-Sandakan based on the 1st notice, so I was thinking no need to change as I thought I still can make it on time not realizing that my flight was MASWings (fokker) which took longer flying period (55 minutes) and I only knew then that it has a bad habit of being 'delayed'. So, when I arrived at the airport after rushing from office-home-airport, (I didn't sleep the whole night as I was busy preparing drawings to be given to the contractor), to my disappointment our flight ( I was with the C&S engineer on that same plane) was delayed to 10:10am...Matai la...Didn't expect such thing would happened when to our assumption that the sudden meeting was supposed to be a 'strict' one since the project's work progress was not so good during the last recent meeting (actually only about 2 weeks ago). We were expecting the main contractor including us, the in-house consultants would be under fire for the slow progress on site. Everything seemed to be wrong from the beginning and my hunch was that something really 'bad' going to happened in the meeting.
So, we flew from KK-Sandakan on time (finally) and it was raining when we arrived at the airport. Only the main contractor's supervisor was there to pick us up and went straight to the meeting place. As expected, all the others already arrived and were waiting for us... the 'YB'... as they jokingly 'greeted' us when we arrived. So I just put up my widest smile (sambil tahan muka tabal la ni) and apologizing to everyone for the unexpected delay...apa bole buat kan. Luckily, the client was 'lenient' in their remarks and though the contractor's progress was still behind schedule during the presentation, we were left spared from anymore 'verbal embarrassment' during the meeting...nasib baik inda kena tembak lagi... The client's return flight was on the 2.00pm plane, so the meeting was conducted quite fast considering that only a few minutes left for a quick lunch at their favorite place (kedai mamak) before making their way to the airport...leaving me alone behind with the contractors' geng since my return flight was on 6:50pm...huhuhu.
Went down to MPS at the town centre with the contractor to submit drawings for other project then later we lepak at the Servay Supermarket somewhere along Batu 8 (if I'm not mistaken)...minum-minum...just to burn some time before finally the contractor sent me to the airport to go home..That's how my last trip to Sandakan this year was like and maybe I'll be rambling more about this particular project next time as it got something to do with preparation for a big event next year, June 2009. So, stay tune...
P/S : I meant to post this right on the night after I arrived home from the airport, but I felt asleep halfway through..hehehe. I really need the sleep after staying up the whole night before.
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