Hazia’s Reflections

At the end of our training (previous entry), we were asked to name one participant worth mentioning who had helped us in a special way.

I ended up calling 6 people over one incidence on our first night. Somehow, I left our room key in the chalet. It was already past 11pm when my roommate and I returned. We had to get up early the next day to get to the surau 10 minutes before Subuh.

To make matters worse, the chalet did not have an overnight reception. The administrative office was closed and there was no staff in attendance. It was not as simple as getting a master key from the reception like most hotels. Iritatingly, when my colleague called, the chalet owner did not pick up. What happens if there is an emergency??

Luckily, the chalet’s 2 new staffs attended the course with us and stayed overnight. They went to the owner’s house nearby to get the key. They weren’t even sure whether they could reach him.

While waiting, 3 male participants looking down from their balcony saw us pacing near the stairs. They came down and offered help. One tried climbing our balcony to open the door. Unfortunately, it was locked from the inside. Another guy used my expired gym plastic card to swipe through the front door. The door knob inside was already at a sorry stage, there was no more knob, only the round key in the centre was left. We thought the door was not strong and could be forced open, like on TV. Oh, how wrong!

The guy came close to breaking the door down when the 2 chalet staffs re-appeared with the spare key. The moment we opened the door, we saw the little key hanging onto a small rectangular plastic key chain. It fell onto the floor. This has never happened before:)

Wise words from the course:

Work is an Ibadah and one should be sincere while performing it.

The most sophisticated communication tool in this day and age is ‘the heart’ and the main barrier to communication is ‘ego’.

Solat is the pillar of religion as it is the basis of development in life and organisation.

The individual’s formula for excellence consists of:

1) Personal - life mission and vision

2) Professional - develop own potential to the maximum

3) Interpersonal – for the goods of others

We were to complete 20 hours of Ibadah per day. Hmm… not impossible if you include:

1) Ibadah Asas – Fardu Ain - 6 Pillars of Iman, 5 Pillars of Islam

2) Ibadah Sunat

3) Ibadah Umum – Fardu Kifayah – Good intention (niat), Sah by Syariaat, good implementation, optimum, Not skipping Ibadah Asas, good Natijah

‘You can’t erase your mistakes. So, you should make the best out of it. Since people would choose to see the negative sides of everything you do, why not turn the situation to your benefit. Make as many mistakes as you can and learn from the consequences. Let this place be your testing ground, a place to prepare for a better future.’

Yeah, I had a long conversation with my friend just now. She used the right term - a TESTING GROUND. If I don’t adopt that thinking, I could head towards a nervous breakdown.

One gravely unpleasant encounter after another. Top it with my immediate superior (IS) shallowness and tendency to jump to conclusion based on 1 person or 1 group’s feedback and then, jumped on me. Just like all jobs, regardless of how good you think your performance is, it has no value if the person who appraises you does not share the same view. Another disadvantage that I have is that IS wasn’t involved at all in my recruitment.

And now, someone has just added another ‘black feather to my cap.’ It all started well a few days ago. My dream finally came true. The ‘torn in my butt’ new staff that I hired myself tendered her resignation after two months onboard. She was damn arrogant, refused to look at me when I spoke to her and she had this defiant look on. Since she first came on board, she had all sorts of craps & problems. I’ve had enough.

Unfortunately, I was too caught up in my busy-ness to notice one deadly development. She worked hard to make herself look good to the other departments and socialised all out with them to make them like her - all before making her dramatic departure. In her exit interview, she blamed everything on me. That really fired IS up.

She wanted to talk to me yesterday to get everything off her chestI I told her straight off what I thought and what the others thought of her. That she didn’t utilised her skills and expertise despite having held a senior position before. Also, she was reluctant to take on responsibilities. Anyway, I apologised to her if I had done anything wrong, nothing to lose in doing that. She ended up doing the same. A few minutes ago, I even contemplated asking her to stay. She hasn’t got another job yet. I guess I wasn’t as tough I thought. No! Don’t make hasty decision, especially since I already have her replacement, an internal candidate, a soothing-to-look-at religious guy.

My 2 senior staffs also took the opportunity to make me the scape goat. They complained about her all the time, that she wasn’t pulling her weight and they had to work harder. However, they secretly gave her the impression that they were ok with her. Whoa! It was good that she wanted to talk to me. She was so emotional about it too. Now, both of us knows the ‘other part of the truth’. I tested the water & threw darts here & there to each of them separately. One ’sweat’ while the other avoided eye-contacts, so… they were definitely guilty as charged! Children!

Hell, hiring her was a really big mistake!! Testing ground indeed. I have to remember a lesson that I learned in the hotel industry - ‘Expand your circle of influence & reduce your circle of concern.’ In layman terms, don’t listen to people’s negative remarks. It will bring you down.

Let them ‘answer’ in akhirat. God is fair.

Guess what? I’ve just got a new holiday plan before Ramadan. My new best friend has asked me to go with her to Kudat to visit her pet bro’s factory, the one she matchmade me with 2 weeks ago. Let’s call him Mr Coconut, I’ll leave out the reason, hehe…

She said during her last few matchmaking attempts over the years, his reply was "macam tu lah" (like that lah). So, she didn’t pursue. When she asked him about me, he said "ok, boleh (yes, can)." That made her estatic. Especially since her family is leaving the country soon, her husband was just assigned abroad. She didn’t want her pet bro to be lonely.

Unfortunately, his speed is killing her and me. Being my impatient self, I want to move fast. Yes or No? She was equally impatient, if not more. She asked him many times. The summary is that he wanted to approach this slowly, claimed that he is older and wiser and knows how to handle it. He also didn’t want us to fight, considering how close we are. He said he’ll wait for the RIGHT TIME.

He had turned down her few attempts to arrange a follow-up date for us. Obviously, he thought it was her who was so fixated on bringing both of us together. So did her husband. Little did the guy realised who was behind the charade. I got her to do all the dirty work for me, and she did it gladly too. Hehe… I had a feeling that he wanted to be in control - he subscribes to the old school where a man makes the first move.

Yesterday at lunch, she unveiled more and more. Initially, she told me that his last girlfriend (6 months ago) - whom he wanted to marry but decided against - was insecured and jealous of her. I hinted that probably it had something to do with his only daughter who is 14. Out it came - she does modelling for advertisements, a very pretty girl but spoilt and overly attached to her father. I wasn’t surprised, he has raised her alone ever since she was 3.

She said he turned bitter after the divorce. It was as if he became a different person. He had to sell his house and move in with his older sister.

To make matters worst, I think my friend is also too attached to him, like she was jealous of his daughter. She wanted us to be together but at the same time, she didn’t want us to abandon her. Probably she did it without realising, but she turned my request to have a one-to-one date with him into a threesome, and later she invited several more people. Her husband told her off. Mr Coconut must have felt the same way because he said he was busy, initially he was excited about it.

Being an extrovert, my friend enjoyed larger company and assumed we have the same personality. I made it clear to her. We may seem alike but we are total opposites, I’m an extreme introvert. I don’t like ‘3′. If things work out, it’s either I hang out with her OR I hang out with him OR she hangs out with him.

My preference is still one-on-one. I hated complex things and I thought that this old man’s life was way too complicated for me. I was about to give up, especially since she said she had a single 35-year old friend who was dying to be introduced to me. That sounded simpler and much more appealing.

Suddenly today, she had news. He wanted to say ‘hello’ to my boss since she is my supplier, and he is her business partner. She said this is a very busy time for my company, so he has to wait another 2 weeks.

But, I get it. He wants to say ‘hello’ to me too. This is the RIGHT TIME for him to make the next move. He wants it to look like a coincidence, or in the course of business. Yes, old people know better.

Like she said, at least he lets me see his appealing and not appealing sides. She knows him well, she couldn’t say the same with her 35-year old friend.

And I saw the kindness on his face when we met. I had a good feeling about it. I know that at least appearance-wise, I passed. So, I said ok, I’ll give your pet bro a chance first before moving on to others:)

The will-writing exercise during my religious course cum nature retreat last week inspired the story below. The main character is based is on a guy I reunited with only recently.

On the Road with Her - 1st Cut

That Saturday, Manan drove the converted white truck into the compound of Nur Lembah Pangsun eco-chalet. He whistles softly to himself.

Fresh village air greets him. Tall, faded mountains wave from far, far away. The majestic pond ahead forms the heart of the land. Two stretches of buildings flank it on the left and right, their designs inspired by traditional Kampung houses on stilts.

He has a feeling that this time around, he would stay much longer than usual.

Manan looks at his watch, tea break is due in ten minutes. Soon, the course’s participants will rush out like a flock of geese and pass his way. He climbs out of the converted truck and closes the door. He walks to the back of the truck and rolls up the canvas sheets. The neatly arranged rows and rows of books of various sizes and colours always make him smile. He imagines them returning his smiles, revealing two long rows of white teeth. He laughs.

He has taken extra care to display them so Nurlia’s own work would be the first to capture visitors’ eyes. Her novels stand at the edge of the display, followed by her memoirs, poems and short stories collections. Other books by her favourite authors line up the racks deeper inside the vehicle.

He wants her to be happy with what he had done, he is proud of Nurlia. Even though their encounters were few, he feels like he knows her well. Her quirky characters grab him, her words dance on the pages, her plots always surprise him. He is embarrassed that he had not taken to reading until they were reunited right there. Much later, he discovered that the protagonist in her second novel resembled him. She did not deny when he asked. He felt flattered, and shy too.

He strolls along the path, crosses the bridge and sits down on one of the white stone stools. This is a good spot to observe them without anybody noticing.

He watches the group approaching the truck. Several women pick up the books and glance through them. A man notices the sign on top and reads out loudly ‘Nurlia Nasir’s Mobile Library – Books for all’. They gasp.

“Hey, she’s my favourite author!”

“Yes, mine too. I wonder who takes care of this.”

He gets up and walks towards them. “Assalamualaikum.”

“Waalaikum Salam.” They chant simultaneously.

“I’m Manan.” He shakes hands with the men and nods at the women. “I’m the librarian.” He chuckles.

They smile.

“This is an awesome library, Pakcik. How did you come up with the idea?” The young woman speaks.

“The author handed me this unique project in her will.”

“Really? You know the late Nurlia Nasir? What was she like?”

“What was she like? He does not believe that he could answer that question.

(more)

I was sent to yet another training by my company from Wednesday to Friday, the last one was only held last weekend. Well, I actually looked forward to this one due to 2 reasons, 1) it was held during weekdays and 2) it was a religious course.

The venue, a budget eco-chalet in outskirt Hulu Langat, was inspiring. The kampung air and achitecture, refreshing scenery, maroon lecture hall, ala boarding-school dining hall and yellow & green surau with uneven steps, and my favourite, the majestic pond in the heart of the land … all came together to form the perfect picture.

I think none of my colleagues was prepared for what lied ahead. It was so effective to the extent that I actually called my parents the one moment I got home yesterday - to seek their forgiveness for all my wrong-doings. That was really a big deal for me. My mother was impressed and was considering organising one for her association.

The founder ustaz said that he had enough of preaching to religious-minded people. Now, in his twilight years, he wanted to reach out to the ‘other group’ and offering corporate training packages meets that intention. The aims were to turn all of us into ‘Mukmin Professional’ i.e. of pure hearts and competent and to open our ‘mata hati’. We were introduced to ‘reversed parking’ - to remove our shoes in opposite direction before entering lecture hall and surau to avoid traffic afterwards:)

He utilised modern technology and innovative learning techniques for maximum impact. These include heart-gripping video clips, meaningful nasyid songs by popular groups, outdoor games, nature appreciation session and Qi-Kong. We prayed jemaah at the surau 5 times a day, with the male participants taking turns to azan and qamat. Doa/ Wirid Taubat was chanted after each prayer to ‘soften’ our hearts.

After 2.5 days, the course concluded with a shocking module on ‘preparing for your own death’. Bear in mind that the participants’ age range is from 25 to 36. Yeah, that young, imagine! The room was dramatically turned into a funeral scene, with a fake jenazah bundled in white cloth placed in front, burning incense, dim lighting and we had to sit on the carpet. We were then instructed to write our own will. An example was given of a former participant’s will, the 26-year old man died 3 months after attending the course and a copy was sent to his family.

One’s main mission in life should be planning to get to heaven. DEATH is not the end, it is rather the beginning of another life without an end. Roh has to pass through 360 ‘joints’ in the body on its’ way out, pausing many times in grave pain.

I think the second most touching module was ‘Overcoming life’s barriers.’ No matter how religious you are and how hard you work, the little sins will stand in the way of your mission if they are not well-taken care off. The KEY to these sins is DERHAKA or ‘not respecting one’s parents.’ I’ve heard this point many times, but the ustaz’s preaching really hit. Several participants were shedding tears, not me of course, hehe…

Video clips that I couldn’t get out of my mind:

a) A girl in Aceh who turned herself in to be punished by Hukum Hudud for Zina as she feared punishment in the afterlife even more. Wearing white telekung and dress, she kneeled on the floor while the punisher, in black, his face half covered, whipped different parts of her back in between a few-second pauses. Her expression wasn’t clear but the only sounds heard were the cheerings made by young male spectators watching from above.

b) A new bride who lost her husband in a helicopter crash 1 month after their wedding. She was crying on his coffin which was wrapped by the Malaysian flag, asking for his forgiveness, etc

c) Animation on doomsday during Nabi Luth’s period. Fireballs fell from the sky indicated the seriousness of homosexuality lifestyle at that time.

I really enjoyed the outdoor game. It may seem simple - each group has to appoint a blind man to pick up treasure and avoid poison – but the implementation was something else. We had to create and use a code based on words covered during our lecture to instruct the blind men. Example: Syurga – front, Neraka – back, Dunia – sit, Akhirat – stand, Wajib – treasure, Haram – poison. We made a mistake of naming our blind man ‘Roh’. All groups were using the word eg sequence of Roh – Rahim - Dunia – Alam Barzakh – Padang Masyar – Akhirat. It was so confusing. Anyway, my group became the overall winner, we scored the highest points:)

During nature appreciation session on the 2nd night, we sat around the pond. Each group has to credit one of God’s creations eg plants, rocks, river, sky, etc. The most meaningful to me was ‘the sea’. It changes after a certain period, you won’t be caught in hard time or sadness forever. The tide will change. It reminded me of the most painful period of my life eg over a year ago.

My newly found best friend had wanted to matchmake me with her pet brother for a while already. Well, I’ve  only known her for a few months, we met through work and clicked. We know when to strategise and when to lighten up.

He is 46, divorced for 10 years and has a 13 year old daughter who lives with him and his elder sister. She said that though he is a member of the Northern royalty, he is a straightforward businessman, and not rich. I do know that several members of his family are old friends of my parents.

Yesterday was the day. She picked me up from her husband’s office building at around 5.45pm, I had a meeting with him. After that, I adjourned for Asar and then changed into a new green top at the washroom. Off we went to The Curve. She was dying to dine at this Warong Penyet. Luckily, the guy was late from Rawang, his meeting dragged on. So, we had time to order a wide spread and attack the food to our heart’s content. The Daging Penyet was fantastic, so were the Satay and Mee Bakso.

We then adjourned to Starbucks for coffee. We chose a quiet corner and arranged 3 sofas so he would sit facing me and she sits at the side. We didn’t realise that there were several Starbucks there and he was waiting at another. He was flustered when he finally arrived. We shook hands and he plopped down opposite of me. We looked at each other, he smiled slightly. That was the only time I felt a mild electric current between us. He seemed okay, sweet looking, a bit cranky though. Due to age? LOL!

Unfortunately, in our effort not to greedily stuff ourselves in his presence, one fact didn’t cross our mind - he hadn’t eaten! We had only taken a few sips of our coffee. So, my friend helped carry my venti ice latte which was already in a plastic container to another venue, we left her mug of COD behind.

On the way, at Asam Pedas - this Malay diner with a Spanish quartet performing at the entrance, we bumped into several corporate figures that he knew. It was a social outing, so I was surprised when he formally introduced my friend and me to them. We ended up at Vivo upstairs. We brought outside drink ie my latte, so it wasn’t polite to sit inside. He sat opposite my friend, I sat next to her. He complained that it was hot, I tried asking the waiter to re-arrange the tables so we’d sit under the fan but he said that’d be too much trouble for the poor guy.

He ordered a thin-crusted Pepperoni Pizza and my friend and I shared a Volcano Mud dessert. It felt like ages when the food arrived, I had a feeling that his crankiness wouldn’t go away until he eats something. He was gentleman enough, served us both a piece of the pizza. I don’t care much for Pepperoni, but that was delicious. Yeah, we ate again. LOL!

I have to say that this wasn’t like other blind dates or matchmaking attempts that I’ve been to. I was dead tired, so was he. My friend had to do a lot of talking and navigating. He spoke a bit, I spoke  a bit. My friend and I refrained from yakking to each other only. That’d be so much easier than trying to include him in our conversation.

Hmm… I wouldn’t say that he wasn’t accommodating, but I’ve to say that he wasn’t very attentive. Probably, he stuck very close to being himself. Come to think of it, neither was I. I didn’t ask him any question about himself, not even one. That was so unlike me.

On the way home, my friend confessed that she was glad that I didn’t. That would be childish to a man of his calibre. She said that she had tried to matchmake him several times. Though he spoke little last night, he spoke to me much more than he ever did to all her other girlfriends. She took that as a good sign.

She wanted to know my thoughts. Well, it was neutral. I was neither interested, nor not interested. If anything, he has to make the first move. I won’t attemp anything to get the ball rolling, I’m way pass all that. She sms me this morning that he said he won’t mind being friends with me. I asked her to give him my mobile no. We shall see:)

Development since my last entry? Hmm… susah jugak jadi lady boss ni:)

Let’s stick to the same topic - ‘Antara 2′. Pizza hut has been playing hide and seek or ‘main tarik tali’ or whatever it is called. He acted nonchalant but everytime I asked, he insisted that he was interested. He even sounded hurt when I said I was re-considering, that the move may ruin his career.

Just now I bumped into him before a meeting with the Ministry. I invited him to join us, and my boss (IS) was all for it. Pizza hut also strategically positioned himself in front of IS and supported his jokes, etc. I watched them both quietly, I only spoke when information was needed. Yeah, I kept some arrangements away from IS, so, there were times when he simply had to shut up and let me do the talking because he didn’t know the answer.

As I observed how IS responded to him and how he charmed the man, I realised something. Hiring him would be a big mistake! There was no doubt that IS liked him a lot, but that was way too much for comfort. IS would use Pizza hut to strengthen his own positioning, for his own political agenda. He did that already with own ‘little group of supporters,’ but with a budding politician like Pizza hut -the guy could take him miles. That is too much hanky panky and I don’t want to be part of it.

I was hoping to catch up with Pizza hut after the meeting. Imagine my shock when I found out that he was rushing to town as IS had just invited him to lunch. Nothing fancy too, just a kedai kopi near his office. He claimed that they didn’t talk anything out of the norm, though at first he thought that I told IS that I was considering hiring him.

In the cab on the way back, Pizza hut called me. He was shocked and felt bad that he didn’t wait for me and offered me a lift. He wanted to know where I was and wanted to come and get me. Hmm… I didn’t expect a lift, I just wanted to talk to him about the vacancy and close ‘my account’. So, I declined.

I felt betrayed. Man, he is my friend, and yet he was socialising with the enemy. He could hang out with IS but he had no time to hang out with me. That was my slot that the ape took.

Anyway, I think God wanted to show me the way. Pizza hut wasn’t supposed to be in that international trade mission meeting. I nearly didn’t make it as IS planned to take my new staff only, obviously he wanted to take all the glam to himself. Man, why do people worry about me taking the limelight away from them? I thought I was low-profile enough. LOL! Unfortunately, or fortunately, my staff was on leave. IS claimed that he left a few things ‘hanging’. When I asked him what exactly were ‘those things,’ it was all the stuff that I was working on. IS had no choice to but to let me go. LOL!

Okay, to cut a long story short, Pizza hut and I ended up having a cup of coffee at Chawan after work just now. He picked me up from my office. Luckily, I had made up my mind a few days ago to hire Humble instead. So, my dialogue started punchily. Yes, I think it would be a good career move for him, but being in my department would limit his contribution. He can contribute more in another 2 departments, including 1 headed by my sworn enemy.

Again, to cut a long story short, we both agreed that I should hire the other candidate ie Humble. I learned that actually, he hadn’t thought about jumping ship. He wanted to go into business instead, he was already looking. He was simply half-tempted (by the extra money) and half-flattered (by how highly I regard him) with my proposition. Oh boy, I couldn’t wait to see the look on his face when he discover who the other candidate is, yeah, his own colleague:)

Oh, bad news, Pizza hut saw IS ‘approaching’ his female colleague when he was at their office - the one that he asked me to hire but I refused. I hope the ape won’t insist, otherwise, there’d be another battle between us and the vacancy would last for months as I stubbornly refused to do what he wanted.

He made one electrifying comment though. He said me being result-oriented meant that I was consultant-material, not management material (process-oriented). Okay, maybe I should start focusing more on processes, rather than attacking tasks in half the time at random order in my own way; and many times without proper prior approvals too (though I would re-track and cover later on). But I still believe that the best corporate leaders are those who focus on generating results without neglecting the processes.

That was a good insight, especially since he was frank, and he wasn’t afraid to speak up to me like others. We adjourned for Maghrib prayers at the mosque nearby before he sent me home.

I had to work yesterday, and my, the day brought its’ own set of dramas. LOL!

During an event last week, at lunch, I mentioned my long-time shortage of staff. 2 candidates have rejected the offer, so I was still short. Mr pizza hut semi-jokingly offered himself. I pondered for a few minutes before thinking… why the hell not? So, I asked him to consider. Perhaps the position is lower but the salary would be much higher, he’s currently with an NGO, so he’s not earning much.

He has in-depth industry knowledge and a high level of psyhical and psychological endurance, plus a wide pool of relevant contacts. Yeah, the perfect candidate to assist me with my battle at work. With his strong character, agressive ways and years in the industry, he may even outshine me. But I wasn’t even bothered about that. This is not a popularity contest. I’ve been in PR for 10 years, I’ve had enough of glizt and glam.

Now, there is one problem. We went to the same varsity, graduated in the same year and are holding similar posts, though his income is only half of mine. He would really have to swallow all his ego to work for me. Is money that important, plus better future career prospect?

At first, he appeared interested, asked me the salary range, etc. Then, he mentioned his worry about his boss’ reaction, the political figure was my classmate and his classmate in varsity. We both knew what the man was capable of. No more reply from him, so I assumed that he was not serious. So, I moved on to Plan B.

My new senior staff really like Mr pizza hut’s colleague, they went for a trade mission abroad together recently. Let’s call him Mr Humble. This guy may have similar experience and exposure to him, but their personalities are totally opposite. He is low-profile, soft spoken and very polite. But, make no mistake, Humble is used to running around and doing psyhical work. Actually, I hinted the vacancy to him when we first met but he didn’t catch it.

My staff helped do the dirty work of asking and pushing the guy. Yesterday morning at the event, he told him that he wanted to discuss with his parents first, he was getting married and there were several changes to be made to his plans. His fiance was all for it though.

All looks well until I met Mr pizza hut again yesterday, at the same whole-day event. I casually mentioned his lack of interest in the job and me moving on to Plan B. His face changed. Oh! So, he was interested! Apparently, both of us have big egos. He didn’t want to look keen and I didn’t want to appear as if I was pursuing him. LOL! We talked some more and he requested that we meet up next week and discussed as friends first.

At first glance, Humble is a safer choice because he’s a follower and won’t go against me. His present position is also 2 levels lower than Pizza hut, so I won’t have any problem to process his recruitment. Cons: He’s too close to my new senior staff, there is a barrier in communications, he tells the guy things that he doesn’t dare tell me, segan kot.

Pizza hut is riskier. He’s a front-of-the-scene person, old staffs may straight away pounce on him. They’ve known him for years, they may feel threatened or jealous. Bosses also make get rid of me, with him on board. Yeah, the guy is that strong. On the other hand, my 2 senior staffs won’t bond too closely with him, I think. In fact whenever I mentioned hiring Pizza hut, I saw the ‘troubled’ look on their faces, unlike how keen they were if I wanted to hire Humble.

Yesterday too at the event, my eyes were snapped open. My old senior staff asked my new senior staff to go for lunch without asking me, it was as if she didn’t even see me. And off, the guy went. I was left alone to man the booth. My alarm bells went off - they were getting too chummy. I’m not blind. With Humble on board, their power will increase to a clique of 3. That was way too dangerous for the department.

This little incident would affect my decision strongly. Also, at the end of the day, Pizza hut and I are friends. I hope he won’t backstab me. Well, if he even dares to cross swords with me, he’ll feel the sting of the Scorpion. LOL!

On my 2nd day in Cairo, I was determined to see the Pyramid of Gyza no matter what. It was a busy morning, 2 dashing Egyptian men picked us up at our hotel at 8.30am. I was the only woman, so I got to sit comfortably in the front seat while the 4 men had to squeeze in at the back.

Off we went to see HE the Malaysian Ambassador to brief him on the trade mission. It was interesting how he put it in order to encourage Malays to do their own business, ‘berniaga itu sunah nabi.’

Then, we visited Al-Ahram, Egypt and Middle East no 1 newspaper. Security scanning was like at the airport. They lined up portraits of their Presidents for the last 100 years of existence on the walls.We discussed an advertisement for our forum which was due in 2 days. That was really close. It was fun, an unusual experience for us to negotiate with a bunch of Egyptians, not all spoke English. LOL! My Arabic-literate colleague had to vet the text. 

And finally, I took off for the pyramid, I had to rush back to catch the hotel’s group tour at 11.30am. Mr pizza hut wanted to go but was still torn in-between leaving the other guy, God knows, maybe he felt ‘guilty’ wheezing off with me, just the 2 of us. So I took off alone.

I had an excellent tour guide with a Masters in Egyptology. He was charming and spoke excellent English. Education was compulsory for their profession in the country, showing how much pride they had over their history and legacy.

To my luck, it was off-season, so group tour consisted of only 2 American women and me. Yeah! When we arrived, it was burning hot at 40 degree. Number of tourists was less than my fingers. The mother was asking the guide all sorts of questions under the hot sun. I tried to find a shade at first but couldn’t be bothered after that. With 1 of the 7 wonders of the world standing in front of you, who cares about the heat!!

At first the 2 women didn’t want to go inside. But because I wanted to, they decided to join me. Our guide advised us to enter the smaller pyramid. Imagine, we had to leave all our belongings with him while he waited outside, what a huge risk!

The experience was one in a million. It wasn’t what you find inside, it was more the process and challenge of going in. We had to bend down our back and bend our knees to enter the narrow passage. Both the women had knee problem. My neck felt stretched. We came upon an empty space and didn’t feel like continuing. Luckily, this French couple came down and told us it was a short way up, we could do it. This time we climbed up and bend our back…. all the way up.

We came upon the heart of the pyramid. An old man was waiting for us. He invited us to sit down near the empty tomb and gave us a narration of the oxygen-generating walls, the ancient rituals and all. The 2 women took turn chanting ancient prayers in a lowered platform near the tomb.

The process of going out was something else. Fearing that I would get claustrophobic, I rushed out in front of the old woman, behind the young one. My legs movements were forced. Man, I ended up with sore thighs and knees for the next 5 days.

It was unforgetable. Especially when the old woman said something very meaningful to me - ‘I would like to thank you for being adventurous. If it hadn’t been for you, I wouldn’t have gone in. I would have missed such a unique experience.’ Yeah, she said that. Only then did I feel like I was really, really in Egypt:)

Upon arrival in Cairo, the first place that I wanted to visit was the Pyramid of Gyza & Sphynx. It didn’t matter that I had just came off an 11-hour flight from midnight onwards, sleep wasn’t important. On the way to the hotel, I asked the guide. He offered to arrange immediately after we have breakfast at the hotel.

Mr pizza hut wanted to go too but it would take him and the other guy quite some time to get to my hotel. He wouldn’t let me go alone though. They had taken a public taxi to their hotel, he said the people were very rough. He asked to dismiss the guide, saying that we can go on our own a bit later.

I did, took my own sweet time and had just came out of the shower with my hair dripping wet when he called and said they were already downstairs at the hotel lobby. How did they do that, when I called 10 minutes earlier, the other guy was still in the shower.I got ready in record time to meet them to find out that they hadn’t even had breakfast. Man!

I followed them food hunting. We found a cosy little outlet down the street. The main attraction was the Shawarma Chef, he reminded me of the five-star Chefs that I’d known. His aura was strong. I wasn’t wrong. He used to work for all the five-star brands all over Europe and Middle East but had retired. Fascinating. His beef and chicken Shawarma with pickles was too sour for me though.

After that, the other guy said he had to settle his ’satay’ for the event and he thought there won’t be enough time to visit the triangular wonder. The ’satay’ supplier even offered to take us there. One more excuse from him finally made me realised that he had no intention of going in the first place. Mr pizza hut missed his ’signals’. It was 3pm then. The hotel receptionist later confirmed that the tour had to start by 11.30am. The pyramid closed at 4pm.

A whole day wasted!!!

p/s: Oh, in case you’re wondering about the blue ribbon below, I had to bring it all the way from KL in a plastic bag on the plane. They said it would be difficult to get ordinary things in foreign land. Well, the locals admired it and said it didn’t come like that in Cairo, hehe…