Luckily, I managed to get up on time despite lack of sleep. Actually there were 3 simultaneous field trips organised by the secretariat but I stayed on for the wrap-up meeting. We discussed how to strengthen the regional cooperation between countries, follow-up actions and came up with a few solutions. The session ended at about 12 noon.
I then checked out and made a quick dash to Balikbayan Handicrafts. The choices of handicrafts here are more than that of Kultura and more affordable...hehe! I bought some table cloths and fridge magnets. I wish I could purchase more but I didn't have the time as the embassy people will be picking us up at 2 p.m.
Unfortunately, till 2.15 p.m., no car came so I called En. Zaaba and En. Adli. We were told that they were picking up Malaysian delegates who were at the domestic airport, arriving from Cebu Island. We were all getting nervous when our transport didn't arrive at 2.45 p.m. as we needed to be at the airport at 2.50 p.m. (2 hours before departure time). My bosses had already suggested that we take a cab since 2.30 p.m. but the embassy people insisted that we wait.
Our car finally arrived at 2.50 p.m. We were getting nervous when we saw the traffic, we were informed that it was a normal traffic on Friday as people were rushing to balik kampung. I think we arrived at the airport at about 3.20 p.m. and was glad we didn't take a cab coz the queue at the airport was unbelievable. En. Zaaba settled everything for us. We were so thankful for the embassy's hospitality. By the time we passed the immigration counters, the final call for MH705 was made.
Touched down at tanahairku at 8.20 p.m. Alhamdulillah, I am home!
So that's my Manila story. I would like to thank the Malaysian Embassy officers, En. Adli and En. Zaaba for their hospitality, our liaison officer Graziella @ Gloria Macapagal for her assistance and for taking good care of us and to Dr. Ruth from the Philippines Public Works Department, whom I was acquainted with.
-THE END-
No comments:
Post a Comment