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Salam,
Zooming out way back before i left for Lahore, all the scary thoughts were flying in my head. Would this be a joyful and adventurous ride? Would my work be a successful one? for we hear of bombings, killings, riots and etc. in the news happening in the few corners of Pakistan.
First touched down at the Alama Iqbal Airport, the scary feeling continues, for i did had a bad weather flying that night from thailand. Big turbulence, feeling as if, the were long moments where the plane were dropping down fast, fast wind screeching sound! i berzikir taubat a lot to myself, some were crying... for after two hours later, we finally reached Lahore. By 12 midnite, 2pm Malaysian time..we were lining up for the customs check point. feeling sleepy, tired and by looking at their customs aje dah give us the chilled... the impression of dodgyness!
Worrying that our flight were delayed, and therefore, would the arrangement for hotel pickup still be on? we just kept searching for our name on the welcoming board sign. Finally came a man, showing us our name listed there, and waited outside for us. Wow, after immigration scanning, we went to grab our luggage, damn, another waiting moments for the bag, agak tak tersusun, many pakistani's were in front getting their bag, imagine small me, tryna reached out for mine? mashallah, i hampir ingat my bag were taken by sumone else. thank goodness, it was not! got it with me, and we then headed for our cab. surprisingly, we were welcome also by representative from our partner, Mr, Syed Hassan Rizvi and Mr Khalid. Brief introduction, and set our meeting tomorrow morning and off we go our ways..
Outside, breezing cold wind.. sejuknya, nyaman sgt.. but rather dusty.,. enjoying the first view of lahore at night, but scary, we had to go through many army check points before we reached our hotel. even going inside the hotel area, pun dah ada dua checkpoint.. scanned our bag.. so that is our routine i would have to say, day by day... to be scanned our stuff in and out!!
Anyhow, had me rest, in the beautiful executive suite, the very next day is our first meeting with our partner of exhibition. Feeling a little nervous meeting the whole team. waiting at the lobby. my director were nervous too for wanna to start a better future of working relationship with Pakistan, so many things have to be taken notes of. and guess what, my role here was, jeng jeng jeng, not for exhibition team aje this time. different role actually, they wanted to train me, itu agenda mereka, for next time, they could send me alone. going meeting with partners by myself. i have been hijacked into my director team, so he finally senyum said. this was just dibincangkan oleh my managing director...and diluluskan by me as well.. hampeh paul, quietly diorang ek?..So bersyukur I, for they put their trust in me, but I need to learn more, to be handling one to one.. discussing big matters.. phew! Although, insyallah, I will raise up to this new challenge.
So finally the team from our partners came, brief intro again, and we went for a short coffee-morning meeting. before heading to the expo centre.. here i was introduced to Mr, Aarij, Yasir, & Hassan. Still first conversation was very business mode. Formal oriented. :)
Soon, we headed straight to the expo centre.. along the way, i shot some view of lahore from inside the fast moving car.. (do you know how fast they drive? very fast i would say.. dangerous man..) A quick feedback from the Chief Director, Mr Aarij was "is this your passion Erwina?" photography?.. at was first i was shy, blurted out it is mostly for work! then he smiled..and..i cudn't hide it..." but yeah, am so into photography passionately.." hehe. So he then forth showing and telling me stories about lahore, and pointed out the expo centre at last stop of that drive.
Here soon after, work in progress started, Me seperti machine, mula install exhibition. Keluarkan my marketing materials.. setup machine for display, gantung poster and etc. me worked so well with the AP team.. there I was introduced to Hanif, Faisal, Shahzar, Rizwan.. and more, alamal lupa nama.. it was done until 7pm.. But they took us out for lunch at this beautiful hi-tea place earlier at 5.30pm. we had a blast meal at Freddie's. shedap sgt.. manage to catch some places near Gulberg, a famous mall area.
Everyday, working from morning til 8pm was the same routine, had a blast, i even had experienced going to a customer visit here. was so cool, but funny, in the meeting, they didn't turn up the lights.. i wanted to gelak besar, and asked but tahan aje. awat cek? tak bukak lampu? As you know, weherver pun, am a joker ma.. so keadaan ini agak bizarre untuk saya diamkan diri.. wahahaha! anyhow, as i said, the rest of the exhibition gone so well. i could be happy with report this time. so happy, esp bila i conduct and gear it with Paul! So thankful, bila balik office baru2 ni pun, my MD seem so proud, for he said Paul bagi I very good review! alhamdulillah, namun kerja now makin melambung! uiks,
eh, back to Lahore, when working me focus to me work, shot lotsa photos, but cant share here nor FB.. cos it is hak milik office. But the rest here... is my view of Lahore, so do enjoy.. Cos i had tons of good memories here. More in FB. do have a look. For i had a one day off that last day, and I told Hanif, i have no plans lagi, cuma i wanna take that 1OO ringgit malaysia nye trip to historical places run by the hotel. and tak sangka2, he came back the next day and told me, it is ok Erwina, everything is fixed for you., For Mr Yasir, will take you for a tour around Lahore.. and i was like.. WHAT? omg.. seriously??? hati mak berdebar kowt.. but for sure i wouldn't missed it.. it is truly kind if him to take me out... for Paul akan bergerak ke Karachi dulu and back staright to Thailand. so am all alone for the tour.. but am so very excited! indeed i am.. Breaking the gap, each day, at lunch, at everywhere, he said that hehas the same passion for gadget and photography as mine. huhu.. so slowly we break the gap barrier. to more informal conversation and more relaxed. You know, talking bout books, food stuff Still, my heart berdebar thinking that, i would be spending time a day with his company and sumhow, he wish to take me to where i wanna go.. I for sure wanna go to Museum, historical places, or art gallery and a little shopping will do. he then planned for Museum and Fort Lahore, there i view this magnificent Mosque, where our beloved Prophet Muhammad SAW has been there berdakwah many years ago.. most of his belongings are there at the museum. but no camera allowed, ans we went walking to the Lahore Fort, this huge fort and beautiful garden named shalamar garden.. phew, wanna to write down more, but my brain is still a little tired. hope pictures help to tell the beauty i experienced. i hope.
after the whole tour experienced, oh ya forgotten to mentioned that Hassan bhai, hanif and faisal bhai did come along and enjoy the fun.. so i have four models to photograph with.. we then went to McDonalds for a quick lunch and to Hypermart for shopping. He knew, i wanted to buy me mom and sist a kurti so, he accompanied me there..well just like carrefour, nothing much. So i went shopping My parfum with him.. same love for parfum ey mr? huhu.. goody grab mine, then we went back, but for i mentioned to him, "i hope my family wouldnt think that i betrayed them for i got nothing for them..".. after we went out of carrefoure, with my reluctant feel, just a while, he asked hassan to turn back, drive back around and went to a boutique.. he still want to help me find them Kurti.. wow, so sweet babe.
And guess what? after three boutique, i found beautiful two kurti.,.and guess who picked it? of course i did lah.. but was well approved by the guys.. so cute ey? they hardly shop for their wives, but they help me out! hehehehe.. anyhow, that was a balst. i thought the day was over, but yasir said that, he has one more stop before a surprise for me.. huh? what?
we stopped at READINGS, a bookstore, yeah.. my fav!!!!! lotsa books here, travelog, arts wow, comics, cute children books! my fav. too bad i have not enough money. wanna use my credit card, but i kinna wanna save my money for someone! i think?????? anyhow, afther book stop, he asked hassan to drive back into gulberg and stopped at sweet shop, He said, dear lady, let's go, am buying you the sweets. OMG, he remembered for i said at one of the night that, i wanna eat gulab jamon, and kat dinner place tu lak takde.. in which a da Kulfi ajer.. so he remembered it, and he's buying for me to take back home and for my family.. alamak, babe, me boleh pitam then and there jugak ok? so i went up to sweets store, and byknye kowt.. still act cool.. and terima pemberian itu dgn hati terbuka. :)
next. barulah time to say goodbye, by looking at the time, it is 7pm.. my flight at 12 midnite, so they send me back to the hotel. I could arrange for airport taxi from the hotel., so not a problem waiting there. Before sayonara, salam akhir, hik hik hik, Mr Sweet Guy, key in his mobile number into my cell.. OMG.. u know me lah kan, dah lama i tak open up to sumone new..finally i have this beautiful feeling again! a good fling hurm.. :) so that's why i would quote, a beautiful time in Lahore. at least we could still keep in touch now.
my MD says taht wal bulan ni nk hantar i lagi ke Karachi, for AP karachi exhibition. In my heart, ya allah, betul ke ni? but i byk keje, tak mungkin kowt! but if its true terserah ilahi, alhamdulillah kalau ada peluang jumpa them lagi..
In the end, I would also say here that, I've been accompanied by elites. therefore, zoom in, everything is beautiful, but i have to say, the rich are the richer and the poor are the poorer here. Going traveling alone might be all another adventure! Zoom Out back now, i would love to be there again.
