Gem Island - Day 2

I tried to wake up for the sunrise for day 2 ... mission just failed... *sigh* Reason being the king size bed was so comfortable... by the time i woke up it's already 8am... Sun already rose :-(

According to the resort manager, the sunrise could be viewed from my balcony... just a few steps from my bed to the balcony... TZ was too lazy to wake up from a comfortable bed. 

Anyway, since i already up... Took a quick shower and headed out for some morning shots. The scenery was different from the afternoon.

Scenery from the jetty

It looks like Croc, no sound... but it's definitely not Croc :-p

Nice Beach to chill out

View from the Lobby... crystal clear water

Resort Jetty 

Lobby of the resort

After taking couples of nice shots of the surrounding, I decided to take some picture of the cute little young turtles whom were taking their breakfast... some of the turtles were learning how to swim from one end to another... there was a Canadian lady... she was so excited when she was standing @ the edge of the turtle pool... I hope she was not excited on seeing the gruesome scene of the young turtles were feeding on the fish... :-p

Young Turtles was fed on Fish... Gross but anyway... welcome to the real world :-p

Closer view of looking at these turtles

Canadian lady was very excited when looking @ the young turtles

Lady in Red was staring @ the cute little turtles

I was sitting @ the edge of the turtle pool too for about 30mins. I was observing the activities happened within the turtle pool and its surrounding :-> While doing this, i got inspired on how the young turtles learnt to swim and swam from one corner to another corner without giving up although it wasn't a smooth journey... The scene has triggered me on what i was facing and inspired me of not giving up my Uganda job although i was fed up on waiting and thought that i should move on... By watching how the young turtles swam and survival skill... I kind of got some ideas on how i could negotiate with the management... 

Young turtle learning to swim

My stomach has calling for food... it's time for me to get my breakfast... so headed to the restaurant and few minutes later... breakfast served :->

After breakfast, i placed all my gadgets back to the safe. Got changed and hit the beach for my first snorkeling... there were no picture on snorkeling for privacy purposes... kakaka :-> I spent most of my morning doing the snorkeling... Guess what? there were three dudes just arrived and they were sitting by the beach... as usual I just started the conversation and invited them to snorkel together... but the answer from them were "we will join you tomorrow for snorkeling, we just arrived today" So, i left them on the beach and back to my another round of snorkeling before lunch...

At a bout noon, my energy was low and I headed back to the room, got myself washed and changed, then headed for my lunch.

Mix vege with Squird

Fish curry (I don't think i'm sharing with the turtles :-p )

Nice Fruits platter

Fried Chicken

View from the restaurant while waiting for my food

Another shots from the restaurant

After lunch, took a quick nap until about 2pm... Let my food digested... got changed to my swimming trunk and once again headed back to the beach for the afternoon snorkeling... This round i went out to the coral garden at the back of the resort... I was not comfortable to snorkel alone... so i invited myself to join this couple from Dubai... they were good and they were okay for me to join... We swam out quite far and managed to see sharks... I was stunt for a while... fortunately i didn't become the dinner for the sharks... A good experience to see the sharks live!

I was so tired by the end of the day and very lazy to take any picture too... I had an early dinner. When i about to leave the restaurant, i bumped into the three dudes again... they invited me to join them for dinner.. I sat down for a while and we introduced each other. The three dude that I met were Simon, Alvin and William... hehehe... this is me TZ! I met new friends along the way and during my vacation. When their dinner was served, i just made a move (i was also very tired) and headed back to my room and straightaway hit the bed after a whole day of snorkeling. 

PS: I met 3 dudes, 1 couple from Dubai, 1 couple from France, one couple from UK, 1 lady from Canada... but i did not meet any gals... *sigh*

Previous entry: Gem Island Day 1 

More picture: Gem Island Snap Shots by TZ

TZ is taking out Coffee Bean from his list...

I'm @ Coffee Bean now connecting to the internet after having my simple lunch over here. Reason i chosen CB was that i like their Salmon Bagel... Yummy! Drool Drool...

Anyway, after sitting @ the corner of the cafe for quite sometime. There were 5 times the connect was automatically disconnect and i have to reconnect again, it was so annoying especially half way chatting with my frenz... So, i decided to check with the person in the counter... they mentioned that Coffee Bean are using Airzed... The infrastructure of this cafe was sucks... I think I better stick with Starbucks. No more Coffee Bean for TZ... :-(

TZ starting his new job in August

I was having a meeting with the management that contracted me... I will be starting with my new job in August 1st 2008. Finally, i got all the outstanding items iron out yesterday evening. At least i know what i would be heading... *phew*

I'm looking forward to get started with my new job and get ready to leave KL for Uganda... :-> Will update the exact date when i will be leaving Uganda later once i got everything settled... Stay tune eh!

Gem Island - Day 1

I woke up @ about 4am to get ready to leave for the airport. Dad sent me to KL Sentral and i managed to hop on the 5am bus... got myself checked in 1 hr later and left KL @ 7:05am. 

Early Morning @ LCCT Terminal waiting for flight

Kuala Terengganu from the plane

Kuala Terengganu Airport

Reached Kuala Trengganu @ 8:00am... without wasting anytime, i hired a taxi and headed to Marang Jetty to get the 9am boat over to the Gem Island.

Marang Jetty

Arrived @ the Gem Island Resort at about 9:30am...

Resort Jetty

On our way in we saw plenty of jelly fishes which triggered what Jian have commented in entry regarding TZ need a break!... *sigh* To tell you the truth, i was cursing Jian for saying so... The jelly fish has spoiled my day 1... :-(

JellyFishes in the sea

After Checked-in into the room, since I would not be able to hit the water for snorkeling, i decided to chill out in the room balcony for a while and headed to the surrounding of the resort to take some picture...

King Size Comfortable bed

Napping bed

Open air shower, only bird can see u taking a shower... ;-p

Chill out in Balcony sitting on this chair ... nice nice! So relax

Lunch was served @ 12:30pm... since i purchased the full board package, i don't need to worry of what to eat... the chef has planned for all my meal during my stay. The first meal was yummy!

Sweet and Sour Prawn

Fried Gai Lan

Rice with some deco

Fried Chicken with sweet sour

Dessert

After lunch... I just walked over to the beach and sat by the beach... once a while, walked over to soak in the water, before soaking in the water... I tried to use what Jian has commented in my blog... "flex some muscle around the beach and scare away the jellyfishes 1st b4 u jump in! :) "... it worked ... I didn't got stink by any jellyfish... and to my surprise less and less jelly fish near the beach :-p Yuppie! my snorkeling day would start on day 2. I spent all my afternoon sleeping by the beach as i was so tired after waking up on 4am.

I was sleeping @ this netting bed

At about 5pm after we got the electricity backup... I went back to the room and get myself washed. Picked up my camera and heading for sunset shots.

Dinner was served @ about 8:30pm...

Mushroom Soup

Chicken Chop

Dessert

After dinner i went to take some night shots and later called it a day. I hit the bed at about 10pm and it was the earliest time that i hit the bed for the past few months... Anyway, i could not stay long outside the room... Mosquitos were everywhere... i donated so much blood :-p

Quite and clear water ... I like the reflection

That's it for Day1 ... stay tune for Day 2 and 3 eh!

More picture : Gem Island Snap Shot by TZ

breakaway....

TZ will be off for his short breakaway in 7 hours... I just finished packing and going to hit the bed soon... 

Here are the list of important items

D70 SLR - Checked

Canon A520 - Checked

Toiletries  - Checked

Snorkeling Gear - Checked

Swimming Trunk - Checked

Goggles - Checked

All the Charges - Checked

Voucher for Gem Island Resort - Checked

Air Asia Booking # - Checked

iPod - Checked

Of course all the necessary clothing, anyway if i don't have enough clothing or forgot to bring my swimming trunk then i could always lying nude on the private beach... muhahaha... (in fact, this is a private island thot) ;-)

Now... All set, I'm ready to go... Gem Island Here i come

TZ need a break! ...

I'm leaving for Gem Island on July 10th 2008 and will be back on July 13th 2008. I need to clear my mind and think about what's my plan for next week to close all the gaps... This is a quick decision to temporary getting away from the noisy, polluted KL city... I will be traveling alone... I need some quiet time alone...

Anyway, here's some picture of this resort that i'm going, i got them from the gem island website... the resort is very nice ... I hope the water quality is good and i would be able to enjoy some snorkeling... :->

hehehe... I'm bringing my camera... will share with all of you those picture taken by me later eh!

for more information, visit Gem Island Resort

Is the waiting worth?

I got this job offer on mid of May 2008... I meant the job @ Uganda, Africa. Until today i was still not able to get started due to the delay over the other side. In the case of the delay, i had ran into some financial instability right now. I was unemployed and my reserved is getting less day by day... *sob sob* I would not be able to sustain my usual lifestyle soon... No Starbucks for me, No Fitness First etc ... *sigh*

1.5 months ago

i was getting this job... the person that discuss with me for this job was in such a hurry to get an experienced project manager to handle their project in Uganda, Africa. Single i'm single, adventurous and experienced in Project Management... I was highly recommended by another friends of mine to join this team... Guess what? I got this job within 3 days including the negotiation...  as a person like me whom like challenging job, different environment and culture, working with new faces... i quickly read through the proposal that they provided to me within a day i feedback to them that i would be able to take up the project... It's was the 2nd fastest decision making in my life after the purchase of my condo with nice KL view (which i made the decision within 2 hrs before i bought my condo) Later, the persons that offered me this job also requested me to fly off to Uganda in three weeks i.e. early June 2008. I was so excited and blasted the news to all my families members and friends... they were congratulated me and some of them actually can't believe i accepted this job and going to Uganda.

June 2008

I was studying my Certified Supply Chain Professional exam @ the time i accepted my job. Due to the needs of me leaving Malaysia for Uganda at mid of June... I have no choice but postponed my exam to December 2008. At that moment, i was a little upset as i wanted to finish the CSCP as soon as possible. Early June 2008, I got the news that the project was going to push for two to three weeks...  this is the 1st push... I was patiently waited for a new date. As the professional project manager, delay on the project is very common in the real life... so i did not make any compliant/comment but patiently waiting for next date of departure... at the same time continue to enjoy my vacation. By end of June which is the newer date to leave Malaysia... again the news was to push to July... I started to be uncomfortable. I still told myself since i waited for quite sometime... must as while wait for another 2 more weeks.  At this time, my friends and families members started to ask me whether this project of what i got was a true project... I ensured myself and my friends/family members that project did push out and this is a true project ... so i moved on with early July with less confident as before... I was so happy on June 25th 2008 (Wednesday)... the team told me they need to start the project on July 7th 2008... They need me to get ready to fly off to Uganda on July 5th 2008. My motivation got boost up again and excited to take up the challenging project. As i started to get myself prepared to leave on July 5th 2008... on June 28th 2008 (Friday) early morning, i received a call from the person in charge and the project got pushed again... I thought finally i could get started and get paid... but the project let me down again... *sigh*, i was stunted at that moment when i got the news and did not know what should i response... i was demotivated and asking myself whether should i proceed with my contingency plan i.e. get another job... But another side of me telling myself to proceed with this as i have been waiting for so long... So what should i do?

Today (July 7th 2008)

According the 1st revised timeline, I should have started my job by now... happily understanding my project, meeting my customers... living in a new environment, new culture with new faces, of course blogging about my stay in Uganda... But now, I'm sitting in the Old Town Cafe drinking Malaysian's White Coffee *sigh*... Why i could not get the job i wanna to start fast? Somebody please help me to smoothing this roadblock and let me have my challenging job kicked start and get what i suppose to get ... Anyway, i felt down now and need some time off to think about what is my next step, should i look for a new job or proceed to close the gap that i have with this job... I need a break now. If you are my future team member whom happen to see this, please don't let my feeling impacted your enthusiasm on starting the project... I just wanna to say it out so that i will feel better. ;-)

I have drafted some items that i need to close...

Problem statement

1. The contract is not as what we agreed upon <-- a disappointment and signing the contract is pending...

2. There is no fix or tentative timeline to kick start the project <-- push could go beyond August etc.

3. I was not pay for waiting to kick start <-- No income for TZ :-(

4. My enthusiasm of working in this project is going down <-- Need some afford to bring this up

5. My financial status is unstable <-- need to serve my loan and expenses on food, petrol etc...

Next Step

1. Reopen the discussion on the contract items which i see it's a gap

2. Giving the management team a fix dateline and move on if they could not fulfill

3. Need to raise the unfairness on i did not get pay for waiting to get the project started.

4. To fix the enthusiasm... this is up to how the others items.

5. I think i better execute my backup... as the Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs motivational model... I think i need to solve the lowest level immediately...

I don't wanna to write so long but this is one way that i could express my thought and feeling which i will feel better after doing this... Anyhow, the 5 main problem statement still pending for me to solve thought. *Sigh* 

What do you think?