Philippine Airlines

The Filipinos are world famous for their hospitality. During my long trips to the Middle East, I always look forward to being served by a Filipino service staff. They are always friendly and efficient. And more often than not, mistake me as one of their own.

As such, you can imagine my excitement to learn that I was going to be flying Philippine Airlines for my trip from Kuala Lumpur to Davao via Manila!

The flight started out pretty much the same, we had the usual boarding announcements requesting families with young children to board. I quickly got hold of my Friend Suan, and told her, “let’s board my overgrown daughter!” So we were the first to board. I was looking forward to being greeted by beautiful Filipinos on board the aircraft. To my utter disappointment, the crew turned out to be a bunch of elderly and overweight people. However a sweet but slightly plump stewardess happily welcomed me on board.

I found something very interesting on the flight. A senior stewardess and a tall and quite attractive (but slightly overweight) steward seemed to have a serious attitude problem. You simply had to see the look of utter disinterest on the steward’s face as he did the safety demonstration. He seemed more interested on what was happening outside the aircraft. He kept staring outside the window. The senior stewardess on the other hand looked more like a school headmistress than a stewardess!

To be frankly honest, there was nothing really wrong with this flight! Philippine Airlines is in fact so much better than many airlines in this world. During the domestic sector between Manila and Davao, the service onboard had improved tremendously! In fact the age and weight of the crew had dropped substantially as well. The problem is, I compare every other airline with our very own Malaysia Airlines. I travel a lot, and till today, I have yet to find an airline better than Malaysia Airlines.

I had the fortune of flying Philippine Airlines again from Manila to Davao and then back again to Manila. My perception of the airline this time totally changed. The crew were young, good looking and seemed to go out of their way to make our journey a pleasant one. A few drawbacks for the airline however was the fact that no inflight magazine or any reading material other than local newspapers were carried onboard. It’s times like these that I truly appreciate the little extras we get on Malaysia Airlines. The food on this domestic route too left a lot to be desired. The meal was served in plastic bags and comprised a bun, peanuts and chips. Really pathetic!

Traveling

Traveling! I both love and hate it! There are two types of travel I do, one is for work, the other for leisure! I’ve always loved to travel! Oh! the thought of flying, visiting new places, eating new types of food and most of all, staying in a “luxurious” hotel room. I was so glad therefore when I landed a job that provided me with ample opportunities to Travel.

My first “real” job, (by “real”, I mean a job I truly loved and wanted to keep.) was with Thai Airways International as a Passenger and Cargo Sales Representative. I was truly proud of my job! I had always wanted to work for an airline simply because I loved planes and the romance of flying.

While with Thai, I would fly off to Bangkok at east once a year for training and many more times for short holidays. Taking a plane was almost like taking a bus. I had a wonderful time working for Thai. There was absolutely no office politics. In fact we lived like one big happy family! It was a really sad day for all of us when it was announced that Thai would stop its services to Kota Kinabalu.

I sadly left Thai and went to work for a credit card company for another two years before landing a job with Shangri-La’s Tanjung Aru Resort. This is where I truly started traveling. My first destination was Hong Kong.

Three years later when I joined the Fairlane in Kuala Lumpur, I started traveling more extensively to Sabah, Sarawak, Singapore, Bangkok and Berlin! Today as Director of Sales & Marketing of the Dorsett Regency, the first half of my year is always spent traveling. The ASEAN Travel Forum, this year in Davao, Philippines in January, Australia in March and almost the entire Middle East for more than a month in April and May. Love it? Well, yes and no. I do love meeting new people. However, I do not enjoy the long flights in economy class, immigration, Customs, Security and living out of a suitcase. My waistline also constantly expands on trips like this.

Well, This Monday, I’m off to Davao and then on to Manila! I’ll keep you posted on what I think of these places.

School part 2

So, everyone hated me… Yes, life had turned into a nightmare overnight! The only thing I could do was to totally avoid everyone. I started going to school very early before everyone. At recess, I would rush up to the school library and lock myself inside the librarian’s room. After school, I’d wait for everyone to go home before leaving! This was the darkest moment in my life. I had no idea what to do. My only “friend’ was my classmate James. The few other friends I had in class totally avoided be outside the classroom. I did not blame them.

Things however started to change when I decided to stare my fear in its face. What I did next would surprise you! The following year (form 5) I ran for School Parliament Chief Minister (School Council President)! I knew I would never win. I used the campaigning period from class to class to actually eat a large slice of humble pie. I actually apologized for my arrogance and outburst the previous year. You know what? It worked!! I actually won a few seats and got about 30% of the votes. There were three of us running and I got more votes than the third person! I guess, I was finally forgiven. The name calling had stopped. I learnt to smile a lot. Most importantly, I was finally able to walk around school with my head no longer between my legs!

By the time I was in form 6. Everything had changed. I was chosen as Minister of Information! Basically, I was in charge of all the school announcements and the weekly school assembly. I mastered the art of crowd control without resorting to scolding or name calling. Today, my mastery of the art of public speaking, largely stems from the lessons I learnt here at La Salle.

I enjoyed form 6 thoroughly! I had the time of my life here! Realizing so many of my dreams, including; Editor of the school Magazine, President of the Career Guidance Club, founding the school Radio station, winning the school talent quest – Bakat La Salle and most importantly made some lifelong friends here including my best friend!

School

Someone once told me that I should enjoy my childhood and school because it would be the happiest time of my life. That thought made me miserable! Why? I hated my childhood and I hated school.

I was the only boy in the family until I was thirteen. I grew up in Tawau. In those days, Tawau was this little town in Sabah. Now it is a very big municipality! My dad built us a very nice wooden house on stilts in a quaint little village not too far away from the town centre. It was a lovely home with green creepers climbing up to the roof and then cascading down providing the home with a lovely natural canopy. It was built next to the Kuhara river. Later my dad did some expansion work and built an exercise cum yoga studio below the house. I had a lot of fun in this house.

Yes, I had a lot of fun. The sad part of it was that I had to have all this fun by myself. My mum would never allow me to play with the neighborhood kids. The reason? She did not want me to pick up “bad language” or play in the river like the other neighbor kids. I had quite a bad start in learning social skills.

To make matters worse, I was sent to study in a Chinese school where everything was taught in Mandarin. I hardly spoke any Chinese in those days. This, coupled with my poor social skills, forced me into isolation. I never made any friends until I was in primary six, by which time, I had already mastered Mandarin.

By the time I went to Secondary school, language was no longer a barrier. However, my social skills were at its all time low. I was very self absorbed and thought of myself as being better than everyone else. To make things even worse, I changed school secondary school four times! From Tawau to Petaling Jaya to Kuala Lumpur and then back to Kota Kinabalu.

Ask me now about my school life and it is all a blur. However, I must add that I had the best education of my life while in La Salle Secondary in Kota Kinabalu. This was the first place I learned to eat humble pie. The story is quite interesting…

When I was in form four, I was given the opportunity to organize the school English speech contest. I put in a lot of effort in organizing the event. I also represented my class in the contest. While delivering my speech, the entire school gathered in the assembly hall was not paying attention. Instead the jeered and booed. Half way through my speech, I stopped and scolded everyone. I told them that the school hall was not built for animals and if they wanted to make animal noises, they should step outside and do it. Then I calmly continued from where I stopped in my speech.

That day was the start of my learning curve… I won the speech contest but also won the wrath of the entire student body. In one short day, I had gone from a relatively unknown to the most hated student in the school. Everywhere I went, fellow students would chant “animal”!

How I overcame this? Stay tuned….

Soong Mei Wen

Her name is Soong Mei Wen. I first met her in lower six. There was really nothing special or outstanding about her. She seemed quite plain and to be frankly honest, I never really noticed her. But when I finally did take notice, it was clear that she was an outstanding person.

I the days of yore, I was not a particularly “liked” person. It’s only in the last ten years or so that I discovered that I was a self centered, manipulating person that was only nice to another person when there was something I could get from them. Of course, I still am very much this person. However, having realized this, I consciously correct myself and try very hard to think of others before me and be nice to veryone unconditionally. But this is a whole other story that I may write about another time.

To be frank, I never truly had a real friend (as if its such a big surprise) until Mei Wen came along. She was the first person who truly understood me and accepted me for who I really am. She has stood beside me even when it was not the “cool” thing to do. She was and still is the person I can simply pour out my heart’s contents without fear of being judged.

Micheal Jackson’s Ben. This is one of my all time favourite songs. I think this song embodied true friendship perfectly. The words go something like this…

Ben, the two of us need look no more

We both found what we were looking for

With a friend to call my own

I’ll never be alone

And you my friend will see

You’ve got a friend in me

(you’ve got a friend in me)

Ben, you’re always running here and there

(here and there)

You feel you’re not wanted anywhere

(anywhere)

If you ever look behind

And don’t like what you find

There’s something you should know

You’ve got a place to go

(you’ve got a place to go)

I used to say, I and me

Now it’s us, now it’s we

(I used to say, I and me)

(now it’s us, now it’s we)

Ben, most people would turn you away

I don’t listen to a word they say

They don’t see you as I do

I wish they would try to

I’m sure they’d think again

If they had a friend like ben

(a friend)

Like ben

(like ben)

Like ben

You know, I’ve always felt that Ben would be the song Mei Wen would dedicate to me. She’d change the words to Bren, most people would turn you away. I don’t listen to a word they say. They don’t see you as I do, I wish they would try to. I’m sure they’d think again if they had a friend like Bren. Yes, she was the one who stood by me when others would not. But seriously, I have been so lucky and blessed to have a friend like Mei Wen. In life, very few people get such friends. I’m so happy that I found mine! And you know what, I wish you will find yours too!

Oh! How I hate dentists

I can’t really remember the first time I visited a dentist. My only recolection is pain, pain and more pain! Oh yes, I hated my dentist. In the olden days, all they ever seemed to want to do was pull your teeth out!

I realize today, that a lot of my teeth problems stemed from sheer neglect when I was a kid. I remember a period when I got by without brushing my teeth at all! Oh, what a fool I was!

I started really taking care of my teeth when I was about fourteen. By then, I already had a mouth full of silver fillings! And guess what? I still hated my dentist.

My first serious tooth mishap saw me having a tooth extracted due to a terrible tooth infection.

I got my first bridge then and had "so called" perfect teeth for a little while. However, the day after Princess Diana died, I fainted (nothing to do with her death) in the gym, split open my chin and broke another tooth! Sigh! Till today, I have yet to mustered the courage to undergo another bridge.

I have been seriously thinking about it lately, and i just might go for it! My dentist today is Dr. Samuel Tseu. Believe it or not but this doctor is a childhood friend! Come to think of it, two other classmates of mine also became dentists.

Samuel was not even in the same school as I. In fact, I knew his sister before I got to know him. During my school days, I always represented my school in public speaking contests, and Samuel’s sister always competed against me. She always won! (Oh! How I hated that). I never got a chance to beat her. Her brother, Samuel however was a whole different story. I managed to beat him all the time! Ha ha! So, that’s how I got to know Samuel.

Until today, we don’t really spend too much time together, but when we do, I feel I can totally empty my mind. We seem to always be on the same wavelength! I always wonder why we don’t spend more time together. Today, Samuel is an accomplished actor and singer. Plus he is also my dentist.

So, do I still hate dentists? Well… maybe not all of them!

I Should Be So Lucky...

I should be so lucky! Hey, this was one of my favourite songs way back when I was in school. I would always say “I should be so lucky!” when I wished for things that seemed a little out of my reach. But still, there was never any ever any reason not to dream!

One of my dreams was to be able to “one fine day” present the news on TV! Now, those were the days when TV3 had first started its broadcast to Kota Kinabalu. I will never forget the glamour Wan Zaleha Radzi and Mahadzir Lockman brought to our news reading. I remember telling a friend of mine; “one fine day, it will be me whose presenting the news!” He gave me a look and said, “hmm! When that days comes I’ll sell my TV!” I gave him a nasty look and he quickly added, “and buy a bigger one!”

When I finally decided to leave Sabah and move to Kuala Lumpur, one of the reasons I gave my mum for the move was the fact that I had to move to the capital to realize my dream to present the news on TV.

So, it came as little surprise to my folks when I started presenting the news about a year after coming to this big city. First with the now defunct Metrovision and later with RTM. I now present the English bulletins NEWS ON 2 on TV2 and PRIME NEWS on TV1.

I should be so lucky? Hey, I AM SO LUCKY! This is why I always tell the younger generation to always believe in the “impossible” because what the mind of a man can conceive and believe, he will achive!

Nokia N70

I just simply love techonology, I think it is the best this that has happened to us! It has truly changed the way we live. I remember our family’s first phone. I still remember our phone number… 76123

That’s right! In the olden days there were only 5 digits to telephone numbers. I did not really have any friends who owned a telephone then. I was only about 7 years old. I remembered how excited we would all get to receive a call. We (my sisters and I) would all rush to answer the phone.

My dad on the other hand turned into the phone scrooge! Yes, he would not let us talk for more than three minutes at a time. I tried explaining to him that (in the olden days) the charge was the same irrespective of call duration, but he would not listen. Later I got my own line…

Today my cellphone is my lifeline. I truly love it beyond words. My latest phone is the Nokia N70. I took the photo on the right with it! This phone has very sentimental attachments to me. I am quite sure I will hold on to this phone for more than a year!

True Beauty...

There are beautiful people and then there the truly beautiful.

The first time I met her, I did not really appreciate her true beauty. Yes, I'm talking about the lady on the left. My dear HR Manager, Ms. Jusnewanwati Osman. Or as she likes to call herself Jus Osman.

This photograph is one of my all time favourites because it truly captures the essence of the person behind the smile.

Sometimes, at a glance, Jus may seem detached and uncaring. She seems to be always doing things befind you and it may irritate you. However, once you truly get to know her, you quickly learn that she is simply performing her duties as a HR Manager.

The one thing I appreciate most about Jus is her ability to listen to criticism and act on it accordingly. I have on many times high lifthted my frustrations to her and she has adapted herself to the situation.

There was a time when a family member needed some HR advice. I called Jus to see if she would talk to that person, she happily agreed and gave that person some solid advice!

You should be so lucky as to have an HR manager like Jus!

It's about Being nice

Ever wondered why some people are naturally nasty? I've always reflected on this. It seems to me that there are many people out there who are always looking for means and ways of putting another person down? Why do people do this? Is it a way to make oneself seem better than one is truly feeling inside? I think so. This is why, I always try so hard to to be nice to everyone around me. Before lashing out at someone, I always ask myself whether any good can come out of it. Only then will I act on it.