Last week, my family (well, not all of them; it would have been very difficult to ferry 40+ people across the border and down to Bintulu, and imagine how many rooms we would have needed!!; it's just half of them, which is still a lot!) came down to Bintulu. They stayed for 4 days. I loved it; at least it was a nice change from all those lonely nights in the hotel room; eating dinner alone and practically had no human contacts at all. I really did not mind that noise that the kids made.
The family actually enjoyed Bintulu more than I did. Probably it was because I knew I was there for work, while they were there for a holiday. They basically visited all the bigger department stores. On the way down to Bintulu., we stopped by in Miri to exchange some money and I told them not to exchange too much as there would be nothing interesting to buy in Bintulu. How wrong I was later proven! They managed to use up all the RMs on the second day and had to get some more via the ATM. Which was better than exchanging at the only money exhanger in Bintulu, which gave a lousy exchange rate.
I was happy for the kids as well, as the trip did not turn into a shopping-only trip. They went to Taman Tumbina (Tum is from TUMbuhan [flora] and bina is from BINAtang [animal]); it is an animal + flora park. The kids enjoyed the park very much. There were monkeys, deer, crocodiles, mouse deer (pelanduk! pelanduk!) and a tiger among the animals there. It was the first time that some of kids actually saw tiger and crocodiles right in front of their eyes.
Today, it's Friday and it is one of the two working days that got sandwiched between the two public holiday (Raya Haji and Xmas) and the weekend. So I decided to take today and Monday off; I'm having a six-day weekend!! Yay! But too bad, I have no plan to do much.
Come next Wednesday, I have only three more days to spend in Bintulu before I come back for good. I have to admit that the past 2 weeks I had not been able to keep my enthusiasm up much. The thought that I would be leaving Bintulu and back to work in Lumut was lingering in my mind most of the time. The past week I spent most of the time clearing off my email inbox and personal folder. I realised that I managed to accumulate s**tloads of emails in just 7 months of working there and more than half of them were not work-related!!
I have got some plans for next week: Wednesday I'm going to clear my desk and empty my file cabinets; Thursday I'll probably bring some food as a farewell gift and in the afternoon I'll be visiting a new LNG tanker and I'll spend Friday saying good-byes to friends and colleagues there.
So how was my training assignment in Bintulu I heard you say.... In general, it was good; I made new friends, established networks, saw different equipment, did some things that I never had the chance to do before, etc. One of the highlights was organising the workshop which happened in early September. The effort put in and being recognised by everyone really made it all worthwhile. As with anything else, there are a few disappointments and frustrations along the way, but I think I prefer not to mention them here.
So what would I take home from my assignment there? Well, I have some ideas of what I am going do when I am back and finally sit at THE seat. But until that happens, no one will know; I'd rather keep it a surprise!
My final day in Bintulu will be on Friday, 28 December and I will be back to work in Lumut on 31 December. Anyway, I'd like to thank all the people who made my stay in Bintulu memorable and enjoyable (upto some extend I think!). Also thanks to friends in Brunei whom I might have bored with my constant emails; your emails made the stay in Bintulu bearable and kept me sane!
I do not know how appropriate this song is, but my feeling at the moment is perfectly captured by the song!
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