AirAsia + LCCT = Apprentice + Amazing Race + Monopoly

It was the most memorable and unforgettable trip in my life, so far. Though I've never worked a single day in my life as an engineer, on 31 Jan 2007, I've forgotten that I'm not a CAD/CAM engineer.

8 young engineers and 3 retired teachers missed the AirAsia flight to Hanoi on this auspicious day of 31 Jan 2007. To cut the long story short, here's the letter I sent to NST:

We're the 11 people who failed to board AK 762 to Hanoi from LCCT on 31 Jan 2007 due to the misleading information on displaying boards in LCCT. On that
day, which was our first time boarding a plane in LCCT, we were interviewed by reporters from the New Straits Times while waiting for the checking counter to open. We praised AirAsia for its cheap airfare and good service. (1 Feb 2007, NST, Page 6) What a mockery it was when we found that we were fooled by the the displaying boards in LCCT. To add salt to injuries, we're all highly literate engineers and international frequent flyers. The big board at the LCCT main entrance displayed the Time, Destination, Check-In Counter and Remark relevant to each and every flight. Under the Remark column, some counters were tagged "MASUK" while others were simply left blank. Probably, we're pampered by the comprehensive system in KLIA. The displaying board never said "OPEN" and we kept on waiting patiently.

While idling at the waiting lounge, we kept on checking the television monitors (as shown in the photo below). The television displays were exactly the same as those in KLIA. Some flights were indicated as "CLOSED". As for our flight to Hanoi at 1500, the indication was "AT LCCT". Having sensed nothing amiss, we were all waiting for the words "AT LCCT" to turn "OPEN" in order to check in.

By the time we suspected something was not quite right, it was already too late to check in. Though the plane was still on the ground, it was not opened for boarding anymore. When told about the misleading television displays at the waiting lounge, the AirAsia personnel imperiously said that those televisions did not belong to AirAsia and thus the television displays were not updated. In fact, we were told to not look at the screens in the first place. Under such circumstances, a sane man could wonder which information displaying board is to be referred to? Oh... we were told to "OPEN" our mouths to ask around instead of waiting for the boards to indicate "OPEN". We were chaffed for not making it to the plane while the remaining 161 people were safely on board.

11 of us learnt a good lesson from this unfortunate and unusual encounter. Low Class Communication Terminal is meant for illiterate people who ask around for information instead of reading the displaying boards for information.

No point crying over spilt milk, we berganding bahu to solve the flight problem. We were like the participants of all the TV reality shows jumbled into one. From the moment we were refused to board the AirAsia plane AK 762, the "Apprentice" show began. It was 15:10. We called up Vietnam Airline to buy tickets. Failed to secure tickets on 15:55 the same day, we booked tickets on the following day. Meanwhile, we tried hard, but failed eventually, to get quotation from MAS airline coz all hotlines were busy due to the MAS (31 Jan - 6 Feb) Travel Fair.

It's about project management. Things happened and we need to solve many things at the same time. As we've signed up a tour package in Hanoi and we've paid USD 600 deposit, there was an urgency to inform the travel agent in Hanoi, informing him that we missed our flight and the itinerary had to be replanned. Thank God that the train to Sapa was at 10pm Vietnam time and thanks to Dr Mahathir that Malaysian time has been adjusted to be the same as Sabah time back in 1980. Thus, we can still stick to the original DAY 2 itinerary after flying a 3+ hour journey to Hanoi on the following day at 15:55. If Malaysian time = Vietnam time, we definitely can't make it to the train station in Hanoi in time. (mathematical and geographical skills applied.)

Problem: How to contact Mr Dzung , the Hanoi travel agent? Scenario: His contact number was in the email. We need Internet access in order to get to Mr Dzung and subsequently to cancel the hotel accommodation and dinner for the nite and lunch on the following day. Constraints: No Internet cafe in LCCT. Nobody brings along a laptop. Solution: Must get back home immediately.

Scenario: We called up 2 airport limo, one heading to Puchong and one heading to USJ. Problem: The one heading to Puchong came first and the driver couldn't change his destination to USJ. Solution: Rearrange the team members.

As I've said, everything happened at the same time. On the way to Puchong, negotiation between 2 travel agents to get a lower Vietnam Air flight tickets took place in the airport limo. Negotiations were carried out on 2 handphones while the 3rd handphone was used to sms the namelist of 11 people that was crucial for flight tickets issuance. Negotiation skills applied. Typing and spelling skills applied too. Thanks to M&M (already known that married women are price slashers, we came to realise that just-married women are good at bargaining!), we managed to get the lowest air fare at RM 770 per person for a one-way trip to Hanoi.

Scenario: Travel Agent ABC in Bkt Bintang offered RM 770. Travel Agent XYZ in Kelana Jaya offered RM 783. Travel Agent ABC said all-in was RM 770. Travel Agent XYZ said all-in was RM 783 and it was impossible to go lower than that, implying that Travel Agent ABC was hiding some charges from us. Problem: Whom to trust? As businesses are good at hiding miscellaneous charges from customers, we anticipated hidden charges not revealed to us until we did payment. Solution: Try our luck.

We reached Puchong at 17:00. As we're running out of time, email, yahoo messenging and sms are deemed slow and unreliable. We made an international call to Hanoi to briefly discuss about the 7D6N-change-to-6D5N tour arrangement. Concurrently, flight tickets negotiation has reached a mutual agreement. Scenario: 1 Feb is Federal Day cum Thaipusam, thus, it's a public holiday in both the Wilayah KL and Selangor. Constraints: We have to collect our tickets before 18:00. Solution: Amazing Race has begun and Zeta, the driver, was our team-lead. (She yearns to participate in the TV reality show of Asia Explorace. So, we gave her a chance to show her true colours!) It was a test for her driving skill at 17:30, KL rush hours.

Hold on... The Apprentice not yet ended. Problem: How to pay for the 11 flight tickets which were summed up to RM 8470? The person who has the cheque book doesn't have money in her current account. The person who has money in the current account left the cheque book at home. No charges incurred if paid by cash or cheques; 3% charge will be incurred if paid by credit card. 3% of RM 770 is RM 23.10. We're all engineers and too good at mathematics that the 3% charge is too huge for us to bear. Solution: Use cash. The USE CASH solution leads to another problem. Problem: Do you have so much cash with you?

Actually, I was ashamed of myself for not putting on the banking/financial thinking cap. By right, we can issue a cheque and only bank in the money on the following day. Nonetheless, it shows that we're good people who don't spend future money. So, 5 of us went to MBB. Only 4 can withdraw from the ATM machines coz the odd one uses RHB ATM card pulak. There was not enough time for us to locate the nearest RHB branch. Out of 4 people, only 2 people got sufficient funds in their MBB accounts. Sufficient fund or not sufficient fund was not the issue now. The real issue: maximum ATM withdrawal amount is RM 3000 per day.

RM 3000 + RM 3000 + RM 1500 + RM 900 = RM 8400. Ngam-ngam sahaja!. Just now I thank God and Dr Mahathir, now, I've to thank Ti Kong. We're playing the game of Monopoly now. We managed to squeeze our accounts dry to come up with RM 8400, just short of RM 70 to meet the target amount of RM 8470.

We just detoured to get the cash. Now, back to the Amazing Race to reach Bkt Bintang from Puchong. Surely we couldn't make it by 18:00. The sale personnel was very kind to wait for us until 19:00.

Tick...tock...tick...tock...HoNK...HoNK....tick...tock...tick...tock...vrOOm....vrOOm...

Finally, we reached the ticketing office at 18:30. Escorted by 2 tall guys, one of whom is a kungfu master, we were on our way to make the transaction. One hand pays money, one hand collects tickets. The Amazing Race team-lead was left waiting in the car coz it's difficult to get a parking.

At 19:30, we were queueing up to have steamboat dinner at Sunway. Finally, 5 years after we graduated from UM, we managed to have a steamboat gathering at Sunway. If not mistaken, we've been talking about the Sunway steamboat since our 2nd year in UM. Failing to board AK 762 made the steamboat gathering a success, after 7 years.

Like a typical episode of The Apprentice, what did the participants do after the project was over? Yes, it's blaming time. Between 18:45 to 19:30, on the way to Sunway, 5 CAD/CAM and Manufacturing graduates started to blame each other for the miss-flight incident. From TQM course, we learnt about finding root cause with a fish-bone diagram. Many fish-bones were conceptualized. That was why I said I've forgotten that I'm not a CAD/CAM engineer.
Last but not least, pity the handsome kungfu master who has missed his Ipoh-KL bus in the morning. In one single day, he missed a bus and a plane.

Day 1

Okay... we came to our familiar airport, KLIA. Having learnt a lesson in LCCT, we stood in front of the check-in counter even though it was not opened. We gained one more "wisdom". Seeing 11 of us jamming the counter, the KLIA personnel opened the counter for us to check in.

Flight from KL to Hanoi takes about 3.5 hours. On our 6D5N trip, we just managed to cover the northen part of Vietnam. Vietnam is a very long country where it's not possible to cover Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in a week. The distance from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City is about the distance from KL to Bangkok.

Having paid RM 770 for the Vietnam Airline ticket, of course we were served a proper meal on board and free-flow of beverages. KeiKoh was really a "drinker". He drank 2 cans of Calsberg + Seven-Up, 3 glasses of fruit juice (Apple. Guava, Tomato) and a glass of red wine.

The tour guide, Mr Tan fetched us from the airport. Everything was well planned. We were carried around on a big private van. Upon touched-down, we paid the full amount of the tour package. We couldn't be refunded for the 1 night hotel accommodation + dinner we've missed. After much discussion, we paid USD 276 for a 6D5N tour package, instead of the original USD 279 for a 7D6N tour package.

Eat...eat... and eat. We reached Hanoi at 6.30pm. It was eating time, again. We had our dinner in a very classy restaurant. It exuded the Malacca's Baba-and-Nyonya feelings. Drinks are not included in the tour package. We had to pay for our own drinks.

After dinner, we headed towards the railway station. Our train departed from Hanoi to Sapa at 10pm. We took the 1st class sleeping berths to Sapa. Each and every train compartment has many private rooms, a toilet and a washing basin. Each private air-conditioned room has 4 sleeping berths. Each sleeping berth costs USD 20.

Day 2

Kik...kok... kik... kok... Lulled by the rhythm of the train while drifting to dreamland. Awaken by my body's biological clock after 8 hours. At 6 pm, we reached Lao Cai (pronounced as khai) train station. In chinese, Lao Cai means Lao3 Jie1, i.e. old street.


From Lao Cai, we need to travel for about 1 hour to reach Sapa, the former French hill resort. The weather was cold, about 5oC. It was very cold for us, who were caught unaware of the cold weather without bringing along any suitable clothes.


After buffet breakfast at the hotel, we explored the Sapa Market. Ethnic minority people converge from the surrounding countryside to sell their embroidery, silverware and handicrafts and to buy provisions at the market.

Majority Vietnamese are Buddhists. About 20% are Christians. More and more people are having my religion - shui4 jiao4. Standing at the compound of the Catholic Church just next to the Sapa Market, our tour guide, Mr Tan talked about some historical culture of the Sapa people. In those days, young boys and young girls came out and mingled around in the market on Sunday. The boys would play some musical instruments to impress the girls. If the girl liked the boy, she would open her umbrella.

There was a story of "rob-a-wife". If a boy liked a girl, he could take her to his house. The girl would have to stay there for some days before the boy proposed to her parents about the marriage. Phew! Sounds like "kidnap" to me.

After lunch at the hotel, we visited a nearby hill tribe village named the Cat Cat (pronounded as Kat Kat) Village.

It was drizzling in the morning. The temperature plummeted. Without a proper wind breaker, a rain coat could trap heat and keep the body warm. After a tiring journey out in the wild, I love the fireplace at the hotel.

Again, we had dinner at a fancy restaurant. Beer in Vietnam is cheap, compared to Malaysia. 1 US dollar for 1 bottle of beer.

Day 3

Today, we're having a full-day 12-km village trek. We set out after breakfast. No more buffet breakfast like yesterday. Each person was entitled to have one set of breakfast only. We ordered extra sets and foot our own bills. Things are cheap in Sapa. We just have to pay MYR 5 per person.

We walked down the road, passing by the Sapa town before we came to a small path. Small path down the valley leads to villages of minority tribes. We were going to visit the Black H'mong people in Lao Chai village and the Zay people in Ta Van village.

City dwellers like us have to cover up our slow walking speed by taking photos along the way. We snapped a photo for every 3 steps walked.

It's about basic living. Those people live in simple huts. They plant their own rice, farm their own vegetables and rear their own chickens, ducks and pigs. They even harness water energy for daily chores using this simple mechanism (see video attached)

We had a picnic lunch in a shed. We brought along some bread, cheese, ham and fruits.

There's a lot of bamboo. They are used for joss stick manufacturing.

Along the way, there were many kids selling handicraft for 1 dollar. One dollar... buy from me?... One dollar...

This boy will be a successful architect in the next 15 years! Malaysian kids are rich and pampered enough to play with Lego. Sapa kids play with the real bricks.

Next, we visited a stone carving shop before we crossed the final bridge that ended our 1-day trek. Our van was waiting for us. I suffered from sore thigh and calf after the 12-km walk.

From Sapa, we went down hill to Lao Cai (pronounced as Lao Kai). Lao Cai is very near to China. We managed to snap a few photos at the China-Vietnam border.

We departed from Lao Cai to Hanoi at 9 pm. Everybody was exhausted and zzzzZZZZZZ... except one person who failed to sleep. You'd know who the person was in Day 4.