A Trip To World's Asia City....

Ok I got back. It was a tiring trip to world's Asia city, HongKong. I had no plan with me and also there was no such thing that it was conveyed to me before that I have to go there. Just the other week, I was sitting in Delhi office when I met APAC(Asia Pacific) Resource Director. He asked me what I am doing next week( this week) and I said nothing! So he mentioned that there is a program in HongKong which needs to be done and he is not able to find a good resource( tech person) to do it. So he immediately made few calls, checked my schedule with the schedule coordinators and left saying that prepare your baggage. So that's how in about 15 minutes total, I was confirmed that I have to visit HongKong and its confirmed. Alright, sounds good!

So that's how the visit got confirmed. I was already doing a program which was supposed to get finished on Thursday. So I had only Friday with me to get myself prepared as my flight was leaving on Saturday. I was traveling by Cathay Pacific airline and the flight was leaving at 3.30am. So I just got every thing set and left on Saturday morning for Delhi. As usual I was traveling by bus. Well everything was alright except one point that when my bus reached on the entry point of Delhi, it was hit by a truck in the back :-). Yeah it was a shock. Every one was like , OH MY GOD! Actually the truck driver could not control his brakes and came very near and hence the collision happened. Luckily there was nothing major happened. So we started again and finally I was there at Delhi. From there I took an auto and left for airport. There was another passenger in the bus who came to fetch his brother who was coming from Cyprus. So he also joined me in the auto. We got at the airport at about 12.45 am. It was already time for my flight so I said good bye to that guy and left. As usual there was lot of rush inside the airport. And also Delhi is getting enhanced so there was a lot which got changed when the last time I visited there. Well I got the counter of Cathay Pacific, did my baggage scanned and left for immigration. Again there was a long queue there. After about 30 minutes of standing punishment , my turn came. The immigration was a young guy only. He saw my passport snap and asked what happened Aman? Is it you? I said yeah sir its me only just the snap is about 10 years older than me. He smiled and asked so why going to Hong Kong. I told him that there is some business presentation that I have to give. As he was checking my passport, he saw that I did visit Malaysia and other Asian countries too. So he asked ( no idea why) , so you went to Malaysia too and that too 3 times , why so? There is nothing there which needs 3 travels to see. I said,I  went to see some one over there. He smiled and said find a girl here in India only ,its too costly to visit so far to see some one and stamped my passport. I said if will get time than may be will try and left. It was already 3am so we were called for boarding. Finally, I was in the aircraft.

I normally take a window seat only. As with this, you will step over some one for about one or two times only in the whole travel and no one will disturb you. But this time I got a middle seat which in my opinion is the worst which one can get. And to make things worst, I was joined by two sumo size passengers on my both sides. Said that, the flight otherwise was okay. Food was okay too. I was so much tired that I just slept without even bothered to look the in flight entertainment programs.

So at about 11am Hong Kong time, we were there at Hong Kong international airport. After the immigration formalities, I collected my baggage and bought a ticket for Airport Express which is a train that leaves from airport and drops you at Hong Kong station from where you can hire a cab to where ever you want to go. I knew that the train is a much safer, faster and comfortable way than looking for a cab from all the way from airport to main city. So I got into and left. As expected, it dropped me in the city station in 25 minutes only. I hired a cab and left for my hotel. I had already a booking in Express Holiday Inn  hotel which is on the Causeway Bay, just opposite to Times Square. I checked in and after change, just got into bed and slept. I don't know but I was so much tired that despite willing to go and have a look around, I could not find any energy to do so. I got up in the evening only at about 7pm. I was told to go and have a look at the office location so that I should not face any trouble in the morning but I again slept :-) and didn't even have any meals too in the whole day.

Okay so next morning, its "the day" and I had to start my program. So I left for my office which was in Caroline Center. I had to ask once on the way about the way but it was a breeze to find the location.

So now I had to start my program. I had an impression that there will be not more than 3 people in my room but I was amazed to see that there were actually 8 people and first time in this program, a lady too was there. To spice up things more, I had one guy, David Tin sitting from support who started working with Oracle since version 5! Ok so we got some real deal here. Its always an issue that when doesn't speak anything, the conversation becomes really tough and the interactiveness fades away. Well I had this thing in my mind already. So I tried to use some techniques of mine to conquer this and I believe to some extent I was able to do so too. All the persons were really sharp, quite but sharp. And to my disbelief there were questions right in the class , exactly what I always want to have.

I tell you one thing, if you are traveling and you don't eat non-veg, its a real trouble to get food for you. And the same happened with me too. I normally don't take lunch when I am doing a program or will take very little. I have a good breakfast which is enough to keep me going till evening. But the issue here was that in the morning , the breakfast which I could have was a glass of orange juice, a cheese burger, few potatoes chips and a cup of tea/coffee. Now there was no one whom I knew there and there was no one who was there to tell me where to go and have some thing. I was told by some one here in India, a colleague of mine that there is an Indian food joint on the same side but the way of telling was , "hmm its some where on the road, you will find it." Hmm not a good way of telling things if you ask me. So I had nothing in my lunch for three days. Just had tea and that's all was my lunch. There was also nothing that I could have in my hotel as the food joints were presenting things which I didn't understand and I could not take any risk. I was told that there is an Indian food joint some where but for that I needed to take MRT train. Now I was always very tired after the program and I need to do some work for the next day too so I couldn't take that option. On the last day, David took me to one food joint in Times Square. I couldn't get the name of it but David ordered for some vegetarian dishes and they were good. He told me that in that food joint, animal oil is not used too so I can have the dishes without being worried. Well I did enjoy the taste of the dishes. They were made of Soya beans. It was a great place. David took me around in the Times Square. Well though its really nice but I didn't find anything there to excite me. It was just "another mall", big indeed but just like any other shopping mall that you can find in your city very easily and lots like it. Anyways it was a good fun to go around even for a short while. In the evening, I was so much hungry and I told myself that I desperately need to have some thing otherwise I was going to faint. So I called reception and asked about some food joint. They told me that there is Pizza Hut. I decided I shall get a veg pizza there. So I hopped in it. As I expected , I did get a veg pizza. The only thing which I didn't like that they didn't put any sauces in my packet. I was asked to wait for 20 minutes before it gets ready. While sitting there, next to me there was a Chinese couple sitting. The gal was feeding the guy. He was so naughty and was teasing her so much but she was so much caring. Even he asked her to feed him some shake with spoon and she did that even. It was so nice to see so much love of that gal for the guy. The guy hugged her after dinner and they left. Even they were in the same elevator in which I was there and all the time , the gal was hugging the guy so tight. It was so nice to see that still people know what love is. It was so nice to see them but also looking at them ,a pain also got refreshed in the heart. That's all I can say that its just so true that with time wounds may go away but their signs never fade.   

I normally don't like to shop for myself much. The last time I did shopping for myself was when I was traveling to Malaysia for second time. Its not that I don't like it but some how I feel its good to buy things for others. That smile on your loved one's face to see some thing is worth more than buying things for you. So I wanted to buy some thing for my sister. I asked David and he told me some shops. Well he did come along with me in the evening to the place to show me the way. I searched almost all the malls in the area. I guess nearly 6 I did have a look. I am a very fussy customer and I need all the answers of my questions before you will get even a single penny from me. And if you can't handle it, well I won't be bothered even if you are selling stuff from Gucci even! Finally I was able to get some thing. There was not much time as I had other things to take care too like my booking for bus back to airport, payments and all that. So I just got what I thought would be liked and got out.

The program ended with a good note. All the guys were looking happy. They took my email address and told me that I shall be getting lots of questions. Well I am all up for it any time. A smile was there on every one's face and I guess that's a good sign. I am still waiting for the official report to come. Until I wont see it, I won't be assured but till now, things seemed to got concluded nicely and that's what is the most important thing for me if you ask me.

So finally I was ready to say good bye to HongKong. I had already booked a shuttle bus from hotel to airport. The reason was that I wanted to atleast some look on the roads with traveling in the bus. I already traveled by train and one really can't see much with the train. It proved to be a good decision and I did enjoy the travel. Finally I was at the airport. I finished all the formalities and than just was looking around. The first thing that I saw on the airport was this,

Yup, Oracle database 11g's promotion! And Oracle was nearly everywhere on the airport. Wherever you see, Oracle was flashing with different marketing promotions. I never saw this anywhere but I believe Oracle is desperate to make sure that in the business, no one gets near to it even. Good work done I shall say!

So I was finally in the aircraft saying good bye to world's Asia city, Hong Kong! It was a good trip. Despite that I didn't get much time to move around and see the place, I didn't get to find much options for my food and how can I miss mentioning it that despite the 3 continuous sleepless nights thanks to a couple's "loud noises" in the next room from mine, it was a good trip. May be some time in the future I shall go back and see the place too. If I shall get a chance, I shall look forward to explore the place more. At the moment, I need to prepare for my travel for tomorrow. I shall update the post with the pictures link later. I am still trying to get them uploaded and only able to upload the one that you jus saw. So come back for them later!