Went down for breakfast at 7.30am after my colleague rang me up half an hour earlier to complain about the lack of toothpaste and basic amenities which were not provided by the hotel. So the first thing early in the morning was knowing that someone did not brush his teeth when we went down to breakfast. The restaurant was located on the far end of the first floor, and it took me some time to find it. Breakfast wasn’t a fancy affair, but the food was rather good, beyond my expectations which surprised me. Delegates from Myammar were staying in the same hotel as us too. Almost everyone who joined us at the table had a thing or two to complain. The colleague who gave me that much unwanted morning call was repeating his complain about the lack of basic amenities, and also that the lights in his room weren’t working, including the toilet’s. Our cargo staff was put in a room where the air-conditioning wasn’t working, and he couldn’t do anything after a night of pressing random buttons which was frustrating for him. The best predicament came from our boss instead, because his room smelt so bad, to an extend that even the pillows were sour, he could not sleep the whole night and was cranky at the table.
No one was in a good mood this morning. Well, I wasn’t expecting much to change since I was last here. Slacked at the lobby using their free wifi after breakfast. Was still slightly annoyed by the fact that I was up too early. After a long wait, everyone was ready to leave. The transportation the company hired was already waiting for us, and the first call we had to make was at the embassy. It was raining since 4am in the morning, so the weather was gloomy, which probably made everyone extra moody too. Met two dispatchers at the embassy which we had worked with for a separate flight handling in August. Exchanged the usual formalities, and surprisingly, met a staff (which I shall name her S), from the embassy back in Malaysia, so it was a relief for both of us to find a familiar face among the crowd of strangers. Even better, we were tasked with the immigration clearance, so it made things much more simpler since we knew each other well.
The meeting started at 10am in a large meeting room, and it covered the basic workflow and timeline of how everyone expects the flight handling to be. There was also the departure schedule (which was yet still being pushed back later and later) to be confirmed, including some other minor issues. S was telling me that she was in Brunei since last Friday, and that while they were put in a better hotel than us, she had to share it with 2 other people which made it very inconvenient. Told her that she could have mine anytime. The two dispatchers were put in an even worn-down hotel, and one of them was telling us about the cockroaches he found in his room which he then laughed it off.
By the time we were done with the meeting an hour later, we went back out to the town for lunch which was a restaurant tucked away in a hotel lobby. Had dim sum with fried rice. We wanted to do some shopping, so the driver brought us to a supermarket nearby. Our maintenance staff decided to buy a bottle of Febreeze for us all to share, because we had a few more nights to put up with the musty smells in our hotel rooms. After we were done with our grocery shopping, headed up to the entrance of the shopping mall to wait for our transportation. At the same time, a large BMW drove up, and the driver rudely parked the car right in front of the mall’s entrance. The people inside got out and we noticed that they also had a servant to wait on them. The driver later told us that these people are most likely related to the palace, but he was unsure of her status.
Made a short stop at our hotel because our boss forgotten his belongings, then continued on to the airport to start our check. The two flight dispatcher were already waiting for us there, so we went up to the ground handler’s office together. We had to walk through the new terminal to get to the old one, as it was still not open for use yet.
Collected our documents needed for our airport ramp passes, then a guy named J came down to escort us to our first stop which was the security office. The office was located outside of the airport terminal, and J who brought us there just nonchalantly said ‘Oh it’s raining.’ Yes, it’s raining very much Captain Obvious, and we were trudging in the rain and across pathways which were still under construction, making our shoes all covered in mud, putting us in a mood most foul. It was a temporary relief when we got to the security office, and waited there till our security passes were issued. We then cleared the security checks to get to the operation office, where we would set up our own control center for the next few days. There were some misgivings along the way, as some initial plans did not work out due to some miscommunication between the locals and our own staffs, so it took us a long time to straighten things out. In between, some pilots came in for their flight briefings, and told us we all look very lost. It’s only afternoon, but I was already tired by the early morning, all the rain, and nothing seems to be going right.
To get out of the office where everyone seems to be disagreeing with each other and getting on each others’ nerves, I got J to bring me to the immigration and also the office for the passenger and crew manifest clearance, which he gladly did. After I settled my things in that small office, we went back to the control center, where it took them a little more to finally get things up and running.
With that done, we moved to the departure gates through the terminal. But there were some other activities going on, so we were not allowed to go through, and the airport officials made us go back to the terminal and wait till we were called up. One of my colleague had enough of being led around, he went up to the ground handling office to voice his complaints, while we just sat around amusing ourselves. Ended up chatting with one of the maintenance staff who showed me pictures of his cute grandchild. After some time, we were allowed to go through finally. Everyone was rushing to finish their work, especially the maintenance staffs because it was late afternoon by now. Mine was mostly done, so I sat around watching the airplanes moving in and out till the guys were done.
Finally our work for the day was done and we were allowed to return to the hotel for a nice hot shower. I was famished, so everyone headed out for dinner at a Chinese restaurant. We had really glorious food!! And it was cheap! Stopped by a convenience store for some supplies, and also stopped by the Jame’Asr Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque along the way for picture.The rain had stopped by then, so it was a peaceful and enjoyable night stroll for us.
When we got back to the hotel, the staffs who were in charge of catering had a small gift of two cakes for me, which they got from the caterer. Enjoyed the chocolate cake in the privacy of my room, along with a book I had brought from home, and it did made me feel much better after a long exhausting day.
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