It was the last day of the week and as usual I was gearing up for my busy weekend schedule. I was meeting my tech lead to discuss about the issue the customer had reported. Just then my cell phone rang, it was my friend. He told my PM was calling me and asked me come over to my seat right away. Then when I went over to my seat to meet my project manager. She said the customer had mailed us that I had made a grave mistake in the project and they had blasted me in the mail. I was amused at the same shocked because I had done everthing perfectly, I was schocked also because my PM was telling me in such a calm manner.Then my PM told me that the customer had asked me to go Singapore where I will be having training on some new tool. That made me very happy as it was only training and I will have more time to move about the city. The date was not fixed and my visa was not ready. So I called up my home and told the good news to my mom, she was very happy to hear that. I was very happy that day at the same time I knew it would be boring as I was the only person to be going to the customer place.
It was Monday, March 26th, the customer told that I had to be there on Wednesday. So the PM of other team in Essilor called me up and told me that I had to leave for Singapore tomorrow. I was totally taken by surprise; they told me that I had to go to Chennai to get my visa. That day when I told my parents I had to leave tomorrow, they blasted me because I had not packed any of my luggages. But with the help of my mom packed my luggage.
Then on March 27th I left for Chennai in Kingfisher flight. Everyone were telling kingfisher airliners were the best and when I boarded the plane I got to know why everyone had such a good opinion about it ;-). I reached Chennai by 7pm and there I had a problem as the airport authorities did not allow me to take the luggage with me as there was no place in the plane. I had given the airhostess my baggage. But when I got down the Security said he wouldnt allow me to take my baggage. Then I showed the name on my luggage along with my driver's license. I was cursing myself for not forcing the airhostess to give me the luggage pass. Then I went to the International terminal in the airport. My flight to Singapore was at 12:50 am and I was there by 7 30 pm after collecting my visa. I just made myself comfortable by sitting on a nice comfortable chair. There I saw all the people who came and bidding farewell to their loved ones by crying and saying all those sentimental dialogues like please call me after you reach there etc, that made me feel much more sick. I was wondering if this is how things are going in India what would be my case in Singapore.
Then around 9 45 pm they allowed us to go in for security check. Then I went for immigration check. I knew a little bit of tamil. So I just asked some question to the immigration officer in tamil. That snapped back at me asking if was from Sri Lanka, I was taken back by surprise, I knew my tamil was bad but I had never thought it would be so bad :-(. Then I was amused to find out that he was from Bangalore. I had made a fool out of myself. Then finally all the checks were over. I decided to have dinner as I was feeling very hungry. I went to a bakery were for the first time in my life I had pay 100 bugs for a slice of bread and butter. Then they made a call for all the passengers to board the plane. The plane this time was Indian Airlines. They had just changed the paint of the plane to give it a new Look. The interiors were as shabby as ever. They began to serve breakfast at 2 am in the morning which made feel sick again. They also served beer, whisky and cold drinks. The person next to me drank four tins of beer. Finally I went to sleep; I knew tomorrow there would be no time to sleep.
It was Monday, March 26th, the customer told that I had to be there on Wednesday. So the PM of other team in Essilor called me up and told me that I had to leave for Singapore tomorrow. I was totally taken by surprise; they told me that I had to go to Chennai to get my visa. That day when I told my parents I had to leave tomorrow, they blasted me because I had not packed any of my luggages. But with the help of my mom packed my luggage.
Then on March 27th I left for Chennai in Kingfisher flight. Everyone were telling kingfisher airliners were the best and when I boarded the plane I got to know why everyone had such a good opinion about it ;-). I reached Chennai by 7pm and there I had a problem as the airport authorities did not allow me to take the luggage with me as there was no place in the plane. I had given the airhostess my baggage. But when I got down the Security said he wouldnt allow me to take my baggage. Then I showed the name on my luggage along with my driver's license. I was cursing myself for not forcing the airhostess to give me the luggage pass. Then I went to the International terminal in the airport. My flight to Singapore was at 12:50 am and I was there by 7 30 pm after collecting my visa. I just made myself comfortable by sitting on a nice comfortable chair. There I saw all the people who came and bidding farewell to their loved ones by crying and saying all those sentimental dialogues like please call me after you reach there etc, that made me feel much more sick. I was wondering if this is how things are going in India what would be my case in Singapore.
Then around 9 45 pm they allowed us to go in for security check. Then I went for immigration check. I knew a little bit of tamil. So I just asked some question to the immigration officer in tamil. That snapped back at me asking if was from Sri Lanka, I was taken back by surprise, I knew my tamil was bad but I had never thought it would be so bad :-(. Then I was amused to find out that he was from Bangalore. I had made a fool out of myself. Then finally all the checks were over. I decided to have dinner as I was feeling very hungry. I went to a bakery were for the first time in my life I had pay 100 bugs for a slice of bread and butter. Then they made a call for all the passengers to board the plane. The plane this time was Indian Airlines. They had just changed the paint of the plane to give it a new Look. The interiors were as shabby as ever. They began to serve breakfast at 2 am in the morning which made feel sick again. They also served beer, whisky and cold drinks. The person next to me drank four tins of beer. Finally I went to sleep; I knew tomorrow there would be no time to sleep.
(The first Picture I took in Singapore)
Finally around 8:30 Singapore time I landed in Singapore. The airport was different than all others I had seen in my life in India. It was so clean, sophisticated, and so modern with state of the art technologies. I was just dumbstruck by watching such an airport. Then I got a taxi and was proceeding to the Hilton hotel. The taxi driver asked which state in India I came from. When I told him I was from India he said that he had visited Bangalore a few years back and he liked the climate. When asked why he was there, he told he is an insurance agent and he driving taxi as a part time job in the morning, he had been there to Bangalore to attend a conference. He also told me the places to visit and also told that on wednesday night its called as women's night. All the ladies would get free drinks in all the pubs and bars in the Orchard road, which is similar to the M G road in Bangalore. He asked me not to miss that, as though I was going to miss that ;-) though I dont drink.
(The famous river side view)Then I came to my hotel and then left for office. It was a long day in office, the french trainer was taking a lot of time in training and I left office at 8 pm and I didnt had my dinner yet and I did not want to miss the party which would start in my road. So the customer took me to a Indian restaurant in Little India. Inside I felt I was back in India. After having my dinner I took the taxi and headed to my hotel. It was nice place at night especially with everyone in a party mood. Though I was alone IU enjoyed the atmosphere. I was roaming in that street till 11pm in the night. Then went to bed.
(A place to take rest in the Red Canning Park)The rest of the days were same as usual, I had to work till 7pm in the night and then go to some Indian restaurant and have dinner go to some new places and then go back to my hotel. Sometimes I went to the swimming pool at night which was in 25th floor. It used to berelaxing swimming there and also you could view the orchard road which was much more exiting. On Saturday I went out on myself to have the tour around the city. I had the map of the city which had all the important places marked in it. There they had metro in which one could travel easily. I almost completed all the places in the city by evening. Then I was wondering what I should do for the rest of the day. Then I saw there was a night safari in the city. So I decided to go to that place. The night safari is the first among its kind. Here all the nocturnal animals are kept on display. These are kept just few hundred meters away from the road, that too there was no cage around it. I was very happy to see the animals so close and I felt the money was well spent and it was worth. While coming back I saw there was a big screen in which the live telecast of Manchester United match was being relayed. So I decided to get down there and watch the match there. It was awesome experience for me as these are not common in India. So I watched the match till the end there and when the final whistle was blown and Man U had on the match all the people there were screaming Man U anthem in a chorus. It was a great experience for me. I then reached my hotel around 11 30 thinking about going to the beach tomorrow morning. I woke on sunday a little late, I was getting ready to go to the beach, then it started raining. I was very disappointed and stayed in my room. I didnt even had my breakfast, I then went up to the gym did a few work outs. The rain then stopped around 1 pm. I decided to drop the idea of the beach and I went to have my lunch. Then in the evening I went out to do some shopping.
(One of the few shopping malls in Orchard road)The rest of weekdays I had a hectic schedule and wasnt able to do anything. Thus on wednesday night I left Singapore. I was exited to leave that place as I did not have a good time there as I was alone. While leaving I got a Merc E class which was a taxi. The driver drove to the airport in just 25 mins. Evn though it was 3 45 am in the morning there were a lot of people, this made me remind myself of Bombay where people never used to sleep. The airport entrance was well decorated and with all the tight security in place. There I met a lady who was coming from LA to India and she was a chatter box. She was talking as though she new for a long time. It was really boring to have a person who is a chatterbox and she was asking all about how Bangalore had changed, when she could have seen it for herself. Finally I got into the plane and it took off. It was a nice view from the sky. The airport was huge and you could view the port also. I could see a few cruise liners in the sea and there were four of them. Finally I reached Bangalore and I felt pretty happy reaching back to my home. Thus my first trip abroad was over and though there were a few bad moments I was satisfied with my work in the clients place and also about the trip overall.
