Like any other software engineer being sent on an onsite assignment... i too was picked up for one :|
But the major difference was with the Destination :)... Unlike the typical US/UK/Germany...This was destination MUSCAT :)...
I finally reached
SATURDAY 11TH NOV
My flight from b'lore was at 6:15 PM on Saturday, but how can a flight not get delayed if am traveling in that... :||
It got delayed for about 1 1/2 hrs coz of a technical snag...this always happens with me... :|||...
On sat night, I reached the
If the flight had come on time... I was supposed to reach at 8:15 PM
When I reached
And then I got down from the flight, took the bus to reach the transit of airport... and there... was the actual process...which I needed to finish
- I'd to get my original Visa...
- I'd to exchange my USD with Omani riyals...
- Get the passport stamped...
So got all this done....uffff... it was 10:45 PM...
Asked ppl in airport for a phone booth... and picked up my baggage and went there...guess what???
Its not a typical STD booth where you'll talk as much as u want, come out and pay a guy....You got to buy a smart card/calling card...
So... went back again... bought a 2 OR calling card...
Called my acct manager... the line was busy!!
Called my PM...The line was busy again!!!!!!!!!! I got TENSED!!!....
Now I used my LIL but SMART brains :)... called up the hotel guy.. AL WAFA hotel... where my flat was booked...
Asked him if it’s safe to take an airport taxi and come there... he said it’s not a prob... :)
So then...I called my dad. Who was sleeping after an exhaustive day...told him things in brief...and left for Ruwi which is 30 Kms from the airport...
My flat/apartment was booked in Ruwi... that’s where everyone from the project stays...
I took an airport taxi...and old man was the driver of the cab... the cabs here were all fundu cars...it looked like u've have ONLY fundu cars here...
It was only a 15 min journey.. Coz he was driving at 110/120... !!!!!
And that was very
And the ROADS here are too good.... no wonder he drove so fast...
And the cabs are all corollas...or much better cars....
I asked the driver..."how far is the place from airport"...coz I didn’t know it earlier...he said "very far"...
And I asked him another quest....there came no reply from him... aaaah i was already tensed that it was late...
and then this :| !!!! May be he wanted me to just quietly SIT :I
Hmmm...ok now for the drive...name a brand of car...and you could see a BIG showroom....a real BIG showroom...all thru the way.....There’s jaguar/peugot/mitsubishi/porsche/honda/hyundai/mercedes/.... and just every name...
And well... sitting in the backseat...i was engrossed in seeing the roads and cars...
And there's steering wheel on left side ..Here...US style haan... and FINALLY.... i reached the Al-wafa hotel...paid the driver 8 OR!!!! That’s expensive... but it was SAFE :)
The receptionist was a nice guy...
Receptionist : "so madam[actually he said madaaam:)].. You are Swetha..."
Me: "yeah..."
Receptionist:"where are u coming from"
Me:”
receptionist:” so how's
Me:” good.." and i smiled back...
The hotel boy took my entire luggage and guided me to room... telling me how many ppl are now there in these flats from my organisation...
And he's a guy from Andhra... he was happy to know that i knew Telugu..
Then i asked him to get water... and closed my flat's door... and was inspecting it...
Ok then a few mins later...
My acct manager came to room to check if am ok, spoke for 5 mins and then i slept at 11:30....
When i got down at airport it was 28 C, so i thought its really hot temp here..
So turned on AC in room and also the fan :)
but by 1 AM, it was dead damn chilling.. Got up and turned off AC...:|
SUNDAY 12TH NOV
I was told by receptionist that he'll wake me up if i want him to every morn...
so I’d asked hotel ppl to wake me up at 6:30 next day morn...the hotel boy who works in night shift...promptly woke me up at 6:30 AM..
But i got up only at 7 :D
Got ready by 8:15... And PM picked me and 3 others from the apartments...
So on Sunday morn...we reached my client's office... which is a 15 min drive on the way to airport
had a burger in off canteen... don’t know if it was veg or non-veg... :| who cares :), didn’t bother to ask them at all :D
and i met an old friend of mine who was in Mumbai office along with me... he had helped me in Annual Bash activities last year...they all stay in near by flats...
hmmm... i now have loads of docs to read.. I might be given a laptop.. coz client is very strict on us getting laptops from
so PM has asked me to get my laptop to off from Monday :||
he said he'll be arranging one for me soon :| ...but am sure that i'll be using mine :) all thru my stay...
hmm lunch time..had Rajma chawal in noon...may be that was mixed with meat... don’t know what meat means in
i didn’t know that until a colleague told me late in eve...
now i can’t do anything abt it... can i????
at 6:30 PM.. we left for home...me and other 4 colleagues took the taxi service... its 200-300 baisa per person....
i reached flat... freshened up...switched on TV!!!
guess what... there were only Tamil/Malayalam channels coming on TV!!!
i turned it off...may be I’ll need to tune it :|
and at 9:00 PM we went out to a Pakistani restaurant close to hotel for dinner...
came back... had a chat for a while in the reception with my colleagues ...went off to sleep at 10:15!!!
MONDAY 13TH NOV
today...I got my wake up call again at 6:30...but am one lazy goose :)... one thing i'll never want to sacrifice is my early morning sleep :)
i got up only at 7:30...got ready...took my laptop.... man it’s so heavy... couldn’t carry it from hotel till taxi stand...
We reached office...I am now going thru the docs :| related to the module i'll need to work on. There are around 20 ppl from my organization working on 2 diff projects... most of them have been staying here for 10 months now ...
1 comment:
never bother to ask whether the food contains meet in it...most of the stuffs u find there will have meet in them...after all its their staple food....gym vishya yenaytu ;)
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