:: jotting the lines ::

Many of you, fellow blogger kawan-kawan knew I was away on business trip to Singapore. Yah, somemore I left a cheeky note on Daniel’s blog telling him I would be off to Singapore in a few minute times. But I bet you don’t know what happened on the way.

I did not even have the excitement if you ask me since my weekend was packed like sardin. I was so deprived of a day-off. The only thing that stirred my emotions was my Korean partner’s visit to Malaysia. I have always wanted to meet her and show her around Kuala Lumpur. And of course to visit our world’s tallest towers that were humbly hidden in the haze.

I would say, my trip to Singapore was really fruitful except with some drama happened on the way. As Michelle was teaching me Korean, the pronounciation of consonants, vowels and some easy phrases. I spent almost two hours learning Korean in the coach, read as well as write. But not until when she taught me how to say “I am on my way to Singapore…”, something came across my mind.

“Gosh! I forgot to bring my passport!”

Those who were not deaf or awake had probably been appalled by my sudden scream. Especially my boss. I heard her crying, “OH NO!” from her nap. Lucky she did not react saying, “Oh, that is really thoughtful of you!” (that’s her favourite line). She probably went insane if she really said that. Then, there was around 5 sec of silence and all their eyeballs focusing in me. I slapped my face to see if I was dreaming. No, it wasn’t a dream.

“So how? How do I get to Singapore without a passport?” I asked myself.

As I was thinking of HOW, my boss looked at me calmly and asked me not to worry. My colleague suggested some not-so-wise idea which is to ask my parents to drive down to Johor and pass me the passport. Another one asked if I can obtain a temporary pass to Singapore. This seems to be a good idea but to make sure it works, I got my Singaporean friend to check every possibility on that. They all returned my call and said sorry, no that is not feasable. How I wished Singapore immigration accept our MYcard and I don’t need to go through the hassles. After all is just a bridge like crossing to Penang what.

Howsoever while I was still in state of panic, my boss detailed out that I should call home and get my family member to send the passport over to the coach company. I could see the light bulp blinking above my head when she said that No wonder she is my boss. She helped calling Airebus and request for special urgent assistance. Greenlight was given and they agreed to deliver the passport to me on the next coach departing at 20:00. The stones of my heart immediately dropped down to half the weight. Then I called my dad to help deliver the passport to Boulevard hotel where the ticketing counter is located. You can’t believe how badly I was scolded by him on the phone. Most of the people sitting around me could roughly hear what he said. But I deserved it, didn’t I?

I was seriously and stupidly rationalizing why was I not carrying my passport. Was it because this time I took a coach instead of flight that’s why the word “PASSPORT” did not register into my mind? How could I only remember buying famous Bee Chean Heng Bakkwa (some marinated grilled pork meat), pork floss for my fellow regional partners? My mind was circled with all sort of questions of why did I not have my passport.

While everybody waived goodbye as they passed through the immigration at Johor second link, left alone poor Vicky sitting on the broken bench waiting time pass. I thought to myself, it was still fortunate enough to have Reader’s Digest accompanying me. I took them out readng page by page in details like it was never before. Soon after 10 mins sitting on the bench, someone approached me. It was the immigration officer.

Officer: “Amoi, you buat apa duduk sini?’ (Miss, what are you doing here?)
Me: “Ha…saya lupa bawa passport.” (Err..I forgot to bring my passport?)
Officer: “Aiyoh…ini macam kamu pun boleh lupa ka? Apa sal kamu lupa?” (Raised eyebrow, looking at me pittifully and said how can you forget bringing your passport?)
Me: “Errr… memang tak boleh ingat kenapa” (Really don’t know why I forgot)
Officer: “Mesti terlalu miss kamu punya boyfriend la!” (Surely you miss your boyfriend a lot)
Me: -_-”
Officer: “Sudah kahwin ke? (Are you married?)

What the heck? What is to do with marriage and forgot bringing passport.

Anyway, these bunch of immigration officers are never the same like whom I had seen before. They had their sweetest smiles on their faces and most friendly manner in their hearts. I told them I should be getting my passport by 00:00 on 22 Aug. Each one of them took their break and talked to me as and when the outbound flow was not heavy. Well, if you think I was not embarrased with my forgetfulness then you are really wrong and should leave me being your friend.

Officer: Kamu kerja mana? (Where do you work?)
Me: Di travel line. (Work at travel industry.)
Officer: Aiyoh…ini macam sendiri kerja di travel pun boleh lupa bawa ke? (With puzzled look, how can you forget since you’re in the travel trade?)
Me: -_- ”
There were two of them been extremely nice to me. We talked about a lot of things, ie their personal encounters with drug trafficker, bringing fictacious passport and with those suspicious looking people. One of them had even offered me to drive out to have dinner when his shift was due. I rejected him nicely and suggested it would be better if he could offer me a bottle of mineral water since I was really thirsty.

The place where I sat was quite stuffy, once of the officers noticed me sweating so he slided the window to allow some cool air flow through me.

I really wanted to extend my gratitudes to many people who showed their kindness along the way.

1. My dad and sis - They delivered the passport to hotel, really sorry for contributing a great loss of dead cells if not because of my intense incident.

2. My boss - Thank her for being calm and rescued her careless subordinate.

3. My colleagues - For checking with the drivers to confirm which immigration check-points we passed by and to bring so much laughter after the whole ordeal.

4. Fairuz ticketing officer of Airebus - Keeping my passport safe and sound at the counter.

5. Shamsul, cabin crew of Airebus - Patiently answered all my panicky calls and keep my passport safe throughout the whole journey.

6. Immigration Officers - For changing my perceptions towards government officers, hey, they are a bunch of nice people around too! Thanks for the drinks although it’s not Peel Fresh that I had asked for. My Bahasa Malaysia improved well after speaking to all of you.
7. Some friends - who got my message and helped praying for me.

Especially to No. 3 and 4, it was an immense effort offered by them in which some of us would not even commit to do so. I will definitey write a thank you letter to Henry, executive director of the company to tell him that his guys did a fantastic job. I did ask them if this was their first time having “sotong” (blur) people like me. And the answer is YES. *sigh*

Of course I can’t help but to thank God for journey mercy to have angels protecting me all the way. My God opened my eye sights and see many things in different pespectives this time.

All I want to say about my Singapore business trip on 21 Aug is a fruitful yet unforgettable one