Day 2 in Vienna

still no luggage and nothing to wear. My meeting is supposed to begin at 930 am so I hit to the internet lounge killing time. I am slightly embarrased that everyone else looks very smartly dressed and here I am looking like an asian trying to look like a texan cowboy with a levi's jeans which I have been wearing for the last 3 nights and a zara long sleeve shirt tucked in which I bought yesterday down the street. I couldnt find any pair of pants short enough for me to wear. Yes I am only 5ft 6 1/2 and its not that easy trying to find a pair of pants that is short enough for me to wear in this part of the world! So I have to make do with this levi's jeans which I have been wearing since I last took the flight out of Brunei. I do look silly coming into a UN building looking like a cowboy.

To kaka amal, yes you can laugh all you want sayang but I still am the coolest dad

Waiting for my bag to arrive

its now 430 am in Vienna.  I have been awake since 12 am this morning. still there is no sight of my bag arriving.  I couldnt believe that the safest airline Air Lufthansa codeshared with the most profitable airline and the most efficient airport in the world left my luggage at Changi airport!. I flew with SQ from Brunei and I made sure that my bag was interlined to the final destination Vienna. From Singapore I took Air Lufthansa which has a codeshare arrangement with SQ to frankfurt. I wanted to fly with SQ but unfortunately I was still on a waitlist.  When I checked in at Changi and asked the nice lady at the counter if my bag had been checked in, She nodded yes and said it was on her computer screen. But somehow when we arrive at Vienna Airport, the bag was no where in sight. what a luck! I couldnt believe that this happened to me when especially I am supposed to have a meeting the next day (which is today)...and I dont have anything to wear. I came here on a pair of jeans and I cant be serious coming to a UN meeting with a levi's and an AX t-shirt?

Missing my kids and Minnieme

I dont usually travel long distance and even if I do like going to london or paris it would normally just be a weekend hop as my schedule is usually straight forward, arrive at airport, check in hotel, straight to meeting, lunch, then meeting again, dinner and check out then straight to airport the next day.  But now I am in Vienna, this is somehow going to be a my longest trip in europe. I arrived here  yesterday and I am going to stay here till friday..Whilst I am looking forward to this trip as this is a my first time to set foot on this land of mozart and beethoven, I somehow miss my kids and minnieme so badly. I  think its because of puasa..somehow I got this knack of having working visit during puasa time and worst on a 1st day of puasa.  puasa time is usually the time when the family gets together on the dinner table during iftar (breaking of the fast)..that is normally the time I get to see all my kids together on the same table. yes we have our usual weekend outings and dinners together but puasa time is always different.  There is always a sense of calmness around the table. with the exception of lil haziq, all the kids tend to behave well around the table. Minnieme and I would usually remind them on how thankful we are that food is always ready on the table. 

another durian party at Pulai Springs

I love durian. I can say I am a durian addict. It was fortunate that my visit to Johor this time was during the durian season.  So I spent no time looking for the king of fruits.  Fortunately my host was kind enough to throw a durian party the 1st night I arrived at the Pulai Springs Resort. 

JB here we come

travelling to JB via the causeway is such a wonderful experience.  The roads are wide and fortunately when we arrived in JB the traffic was less hectic.  It was made a lot easier as we were travelling as a VIP, so we were given the VIP lane. On arrival at Pulai Spring, I unpacked my bag and hit to the pool.  I needed the exercise after the durian party that we had last night at the Hotel. It was not that often that you get the MD of a 5 star hotel throwing a durian party for all our delegation. That was probably the best durian party that we had (not that I have too many).  I never knew there were so many varieties of durian..the XO, the Kucing, the Butter, the tembaga and many more..I was eating my heart out so much so that when I hit to the my room I had trouble sleeping because of the heatiness.  My I had to put the AC on full blast and still I felt so hot inside. I could have sworn that if the pool was open that night I would probably be skinny dipping the whole night!

Rainy singapore

here I am in Singapore and its been raining like cats and dogs since the day I arrived.  I checked in at my normal hyatt hotel off scotts road.  This is probably the 10th times I stay here this year..the hotel I must say is as good as ever..but I cant do much with this rain..its wet wet wet outside. wanted to go to the pool but the poolside is under renovation :-(..too bad. so I got stuck at the lounge for hours. I saw a couple of Bruneian oldies and I saw one of them drinking! huh so much for being a muslim in a supposedly Islamic country and they come out from the country they behave like a bunch of birds freed from a cage! shame on you!

off to Singapore and Johor

I am off to Singapore today on a day transit to Johor.  I have not been to Johor for years and I am really looking forward to this trip. I will definitely post some nice pics on this blog.