Tire Training in Bangkok 29/6/08 - 5/7/08
















Arrived SG about 11:30pm last night. The one week course is over and we've all "graduated"! Haa.. we each received a certificate for the completion of the course. Had a sense of satisfaction and learnt quite abit about tires. Very playful and enjoyable trip! Happy times always passes by faster..

Alright our 7 days in Bangkok..

Day 1 Sunday:
We gathered at the Budget Terminal @ 4pm for check in and for some snacks and drinks after that. Our flight delayed about 30mins. Haha we were saying what a "good" start. Arrived BKK time 8+pm. Hotel people came to fetch us and we went for dinner together with the driver at one of those roadside stalls. The noodle soup and pig trotters were good! Many stray dogs there.. Then to Rama Garden Resort Hotel. Wow.. that's my first impression when I reached the hotel, it's better than we expected (cos heard from those who went that this hotel is quite ulu). We each got a room but Lydia and I shared one cos we are scaddy cats haa. All including our course mates were on level 3, Kenneth 3084, Simon 3094, Ivan 3095 and us 3096 and we left 3097 empty. Haa first day gotta rest earlier as lesson next day.

Day 2 Monday:
Bus waiting for us 7:30am outside the hotel. Off to BFTCC for our course! Distance is really farrr.. not sure how many km but it took us about an hour to reach there. Haha and most of the time we slept throughout the journey. First thing was introduce ourselves. I had to say I'm from Customer Service dept. and not logistics haa. Learnt about the tire construction and the materials used. First 3 days' lesson was on technical part and last 2 days were for sales & marketing. Two technical lecturers, Mr Yamazaki and Mr Thierry. Sales & Marketing - Mr Kenny. Lesson goes on bla bla bla....
Class ended about 5pm everyday. As usual, dinner at the place we had the day before. But, halfway through, heavy rain poured and had us all soaked. We went in to a restaurant just next to the roadside stall. Ivan's treat for this meal as he felt quite guilty I think. Ordered Phad Thai, stir fry pork, squid and pig's trotter. The food was not bad but we preferred the roadside stall instead.

Day 3 Tuesday:
Visited the Nong Khae Factory. That's where the tires are being manufactured.
Class we hands-on to balance tires as well as dismount and mount tires. We were given a coverall to wear plus gloves. Size S coverall was still too big for me.. think I look like a santa claus haha..
Took the hotel coach to Central World and walked to MBK. Nothing much, 4 of us settle for our dinner at a Thai restaurant. Ivan was sick thus didn't join us.

Day 4 Wednesday:
As usual, wakey for our course. Back to hotel about BKK time 6+pm. To dinner.. We tried the Japanese restaurant in the hotel. Hehz.. using the credits cos BFTCC gave each of us 500 baht daily. Back to hotel bathe and sleep.

Day 5 Thursday:
Went to the Thai restaurant in the hotel. This time round with Esther from BSAP too. Shared a few traditional thai dishes like pineapple rice, phad thai, spring rolls bla bla..
Early back to room for revision to prepare for our exams the next day. Slept slightly later think about 12+am.

Day 6 Friday:
First half of the day, lesson. Then after lunch, exams! Yeah.. results not out but we got our certificates first. But bad news is.. gotta send our cert back if we fail the exams and also the results will be sent straight to our young boss. Haa.

Day 7 Saturday:
Free birds! Went to Chatuchak shopping! Many stuff we can buy actually keke.. lotsss.. Hmm initially I still had 2000+ baht and just this day all gone.. left with only 70 baht and I had to borrow some from Simon keke.. But, the best spender was our Mr Ivan haa.. bought sooo many clothes for his gf and himself haa.. and even got a big bag (for those selling stuff) to put them. Lolz.. and no doubt he's always making us laugh.

Forgot which day we went to the italian restaurant.. shared pizzas, squid ink spaghetti and some garlic breads.

I believe we all had a good time huh?! I always kana tease by them.. Haa.. all the fun and laughter. We felt sleepy almost everyday haha.. yawning and yawning away. The sales lectures was sort of dry.. and one funny guy from Bridgestone M'sia - Christopher, he called himself the BSTM - Bridgestone Trouble Maker haa.. kept asking questions.. making us even more Zz..z..z..zZ... haha.. But one good thing was, quite a few breaks in between. Just outside the classroom.. there were coffee, tea, ovaltine and some small bites like cakes, pineapple tarts and cookies.. we esp like the smooth & yummy butter cake! Also, we will walk around and to the garden outside to take some pix..

Sometimes after our dinner we also had some drinks at the lobby lounge. Relaxing with the music and piano.. :) Overall, this is very rare and wonderful experience for me. Thanks to Binter (the Co. I'm working for) for this great chance. I enjoyed the learning process and the chats we all had during and after class. Some of them might be going for the advance course some time in Nov. Ok shall post some other pix when I got it. :D

Tmr is back to work again. The routine admin and logistics stuff OH..!