Diary: Redang Day 1

I woke up at 4 in the morning, I was quite excited. I was scheduled to leave at 5.15 a.m. so I layed in bed thinking of my gear and if I had carried everything. By 4.30 I couldn’t lie in bed anymore the excitement got to me. I woke up and got ready, as I was still early I told a short prayer, praying that this company trip would be a success and nothing bad would ever happen. Just to list my spirit up I turned on the radio and they played Snoop Doggs Drop It like Its Hot, great energy booster. I left home at 5.15; I was supposed to meet Lenny at Bangsar station at 5.30 as Jeevan was supposed to leave him. Along the way I guess Hitz.fm read my mind and played the B-A-N-G-S-A-R song. I was a bit early and I called Lenny, he didn’t pick up his call. I had a feeling deep down something was up. I called several times and o one picked up. I called Jeevan he was on the way top pick up Lenny he said he couldn’t get Lenny as well member was still sleeping as he pulled an all nighter.

Damn… that boy he is always late. I call him and he tells me to go ahead 1st and he will be there so I leave to Subang Airport. Yuen, Sharon, Ping and few RnD staff have already arrived. Everyone comes in from time to time I take a head count, Winnie Darling helps me gather the crowd. As usual there are some late idiots giving me unnecessary aggravation. Zaki ad Sharul turn up late but Nizam is the last to board the plane he comes coolly like nothing was wrong at 7.05. I was quite pissed as I had to plead the Berjaya staff to hold the plane. My plane was supposed to fly at 7.10. I sit next to Shelly in the back the whole gang is at back I guess. The reject stewardesses (they’re o MAS Airline Chicks) come to ensure that our seat belts are fastened.

The plane takes of quite smoothly. Shelly is with her iPod and reading her book and I’m still reading my Kavita Deswani. The guys at the back we making jokes and asking for some one to sing, Farah and Asmawati was seating at the back with us poor souls were left out. Lenny and Jaya were making Indian jokes poking fun of Sachin. It is a matter of time I get pulled into the conversation nobody ones to sing so we had to force someone. Sachin leaves to the bathroom and me and Eddie switch seats, when he comes out all of us make Sachin sing a Bombay song before he is allowed to get back to his seat. I think along the way we also sing Rasa Sayang. The flight was ok I guess lil unstable but bearable. We reach according to time ad we are greated by the Berjaya crew, we bypass Customs and our luggage is carried to the hotel. We arrive the resort at 8.25.

We are greated by Agnes the Assistant Manager who gives us a briefing of the resort and tells us that the wave in Redang is bit high so we can’t swim in the sea. Agnes tells me that the rooms are ready and we can check in. Pass everyone the key and I leave to have breakfast with Agnes, she was kind (& beautiful) enough to buy me breakfast. We talk for awhile getting to know each other better. She tells me that she used to work for club Med Phuket ad her contract expires and leaves to KL just before the Tsunami hits the place. How lucky of her. I meet the restaurant manager, the General Manager of the hotel. I stay lil longer to chat with her my team is all in the room, by the beach or having breakfast. They have a very limited spread but they do have the essential needs. After breakfast I head to the room. I share it with Lenny; I already gave him the key because he wanted to rest. My room was just 25 feet to the beach I had the sea view of the hotel.

Honestly, I did think if the tsunami were to hit Redang I would be the 1st to go. The wind was strong and the wave from where I stood was quite rough. I think I saw a 5 feet high wave hitting the ocean. I had a nice room cozy but it wasn’t enough to hold a night party in it. I begin to unpack placing the beer in the fridge and the liquor into the cabinets provided. I change to my beach wear and begin to scout the place; I go alone as Lenny wanted to do his thing. I see people in the beach and I head there the Malay RnD staff are they and they begin to complain to me how I organize such a trip with nothing to do. I was very down with there comments. To make it worse I SAW Sharon ad Shelly in there Bikini I couldn’t have any eye contact with them I just ran away. I met the event coordinator; Captain Zainal was a jovial guy willing to help out with any of our request. I asked if we could use the Tennis court to play futsal (our current fav sport) He said it was ok, He said he would provide a goal post for us.

Lunch was served and everyone was there but the food spread was very bad. It made my review much worse. There was a spark missing in the team later I would fin out that the spark would be my GM Lester, the second half of the team arrived at 1.40. I came to greet the second half. The family people. I met Zaifah, Maisarah and Asma husband and kid the cutest and jovial bunch was Maisarah’s kid, Iman. He had a cute cheecks ad could go to anyone in the group. Maisarah had an easy time because when it came to meal time some one would take care of her kid mostly Winnie. The other 2 kids were petrified of me. They would cry every time I came close. After lunch the guys headed to the game room to play some pool. They had at least 5 pool tables 4 foosball tables, 3 carom boards and some mahjong tables.

I still had my thing down, I assume I would be rusty as its been 1 year since I picked up a cue stick. I had a couple of games with Lenny and they I began my tutoring lesson with the gals. I taught Grayson and Ages to play pool. Grayson picked up fast and was able to play the game after just tutoring her one round. Agnes wasn’t to keen. My designers were playing foosball and they were noisy as ever. Zaki and Sharul was playing carom and some of the Chinese guys were playing mahjong. Jaya taught Sachin how to play pool as it was his 1st time playing the game. We were making ball jokes. Lester joined us after his lunch. We left at bout 4 as we had a futsal game to attend. I got ready with my futsal shoe and we headed to the tennis court. As we headed there Captain Zainal and his team was bringing in a make shift goal post. We played it at the 2 half’s of the court and began the game. It was a fun game we found new talents during the match. Sachin needed work though because he tackled everyone including his own team mate. I played defend then keeper. We won or course 5 – 3. We had some spectators who drank our refreshment courtesy of Berjaya. Michelle, Fauzah, Asmawati and Shima came for support and picture taking. We then headed to the pool to join the Chinese RnD team who were playing a good ice-breaker game. It was called monkey but it had a twist one has to throw the ball to a person of whom u call and the person you call.

Lenny, Jaya and Sachin headed to the beach to soak in the sea. Lenny swears he saw a shark hit Jaya as the huge wave hit him. We left to our room by 6-ish me and Lenny had a cold beer before we headed for dinner. We had San Miguel’s beer, it was smooth cheap and it went down real well. I took my bath and got ready for dinner. It was BBQ time I had all my roasted chicken and lamb. Winnie was holding Iman and walking around we took lil pictures here and there. At night we all gathered at Lester’s pad Winnie, Wai, Kelly, Caroline, Ming, Shelly and Sharon. We drank Scotch whisky, Rum and tropical fruit juice. I can’t say what went on as I’m swore to secrecy but what I would say is my designers were wasted except for Me and Lenny, still sober me, Lenny and Lester head to the coffee house to watch the Liverpool game. We smoke a cigar and watch the game, we leave at half time. Lenny goes to bed but I’m outside enjoying the sea breeze and the sound of the sea hitting the ocean.