WOW! My first biz trip to Jakarta, to some how cool can it be huh. It was an eye-opening trip for me, I wasn't quite keen and forward looking to work or play in such a chaotic country but was a tremendous learning experience.
At first when my colleague told me that the traffic jam there could be comparative or even worse than the Woodlands checkpoint on weekends, I didn't believe it. When we arrived and were heading to the hotel, I was horrified by the several long trail of cars and were crawling in the traffic jam. It took us near 2.5 hrs just to get to the hotel and what took me by surprised was the rubber time that the Indons would not mind. We were suppose to have a meeting at 4.30pm but were late due to the massive jam and reached the meeting venue at about 6ish and they were totally cool about it.
Working with people across the borders is really a huge challenge, we have to take into consideration their culture, working attitude and mentality especially in developing/less developed cities. My advice is to work with an open mind and with little/no expectations, discount your efficiency by 70% and be prepared to constantly take breathers. I had the opportunity to work with the events organisers and caterers, never the same or near to local standards. I realised that we (Singaporeans) should stop complaining about our service standards, customer service, etc. Wait till u have a chance to work with others with a wide cultural gap... U'll be shocked. In Singapore, I must say that most service providers try their best to accommodate to unnecessary demands/requests and value add in areas that they could. Overseas it's a different story, they were unable to comprehend your request, lots of compromise, patience and a sane mind needed. To put across crudely, they are an events organisers (EOs) that does not use much of their creativity nor brain power, they work with hands and not brains (am not referring to all, just this particular one). ;)
As for the caterer, he was hell of a tiko/hum sup. He was literally 'flirting' with Dav, OMG. He even wanted to name a prata dish after her and kept asking for a photo-op with her and poor me was dragged into it. =/
What is work without play! We went to Bandung and Mt Bromo. Wooo, Bandung has lots of factory outlets, gals will love this place... cheap cheap apparels. I love the weather in Bandung, so cooling at night (as if it's autumn) and Mt Bromo was fantastic. First time in 30 yrs, I got to do 3 very thrilling things, 1) Watch sunrise, 2) Ride a horse and 3) Climbed an active volcano.
Priceless experience...
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