Lagos Day 2 till final days...

Trying to blog from Lagos but unable and my excuse will be :

1. I stuck in the training room
2. Connection in the hotel ...very very bad.

I reached Lagos last Sunday and it has been an eye opening experience. Despite all the bad stories that people has portrayed to me, it happened otherwise to me. The people that I met generally very friendly. Of course the security is a bit tight and the part that is not safe to be alone in the city might be true. But the authorities and people that I deal with are all reasonable.

I check in a Elion House hotel, a small hotel in a compound. They are guard house and it's actually gated like a prison. The hotel maybe is a 3 star hotel at our country ...but it cost as good as you stays in Sheraton or Ritz Carlton. I am not complaining as I already set my expectation right. The bed are comfortable at least and it's clean. We are not allowed to eat out or going out to the city by ourselves as the chances to get robbed are high. So room service everyday. Food not bad at all. They use a lot of spices and sometimes can be very peppery to.. but I am ok with that.

Lagos basically is a city, so they are building everywhere. Old building...very very old. They are few big house usually in a compound and they are fenced up like prison. Interesting to see that not only the big house is being fenced up, but also the house in the slum area. When I said a slum, if you watch slumdog millionaire, well that is how it's look likes.

I went into the office the next day and finally meet face to face with my team mate. All of them are young...my age more or less so we blend in easily. Their first language is English if I'm not mistaken and they are other 3 language that makes the national language. They speak fluent English and I notice they are very straightforward. You find mat saleh straightforward...I think these people are more bold. If they ask question and you answer it in a long winding story , they will just intercept and says " I ask you a question, can you please answer it". If you are not answering the question then they will repeat it again.

There's nothing much to tell really as I am just limited from hotel to office everyday. The traffic are massive and the roads are bumpy. We stayed in the Island and according to them the Island is much more safer than the mainland. You should always lock your door as if you are caught in the traffic, high chances to get robbed. They just takes whatever you have, that is why you are not suppose to bring lot's of money with you. But overall, as long you don't take any chance, play safe by following the guideline given by the company you should be fine.

Well what do I gain from this trip?

Personally I get some me time by chilling out by myself after office until the next day. It's really rewarding as since you can't go out anyway then you get just to stay in the bed and being served like a princess. They don't even let you iron your own clothing so I have to handed over everything for them to do it for me.

I gain experience by going to an Africa country. It's an experience and it might be true as what my former boss told me. Go there once and never return ;).I might return to another Africa country cos I haven't seen African as what I saw in the TV. Must get that experience.

Work wise, of course it will be easier for me to support them from KL. As now we see each other face to face, I am sure we can work together better. Oh, you see, African people have a very nice skin especially the ladies. I cant stop staring at their skin during the training session as even they are dark....the skin looks very shiny and delicate.

I did not do any shopping there....no chance at all, as my trip is a short one. They can't bring me out for shopping unless if I have a weekend there. Even persuade me to stay one more day...but I guess I miss my kids already.

Travel with an oil company what you cannot miss is to travel in Business Class with style. I gain by experiencing different aircraft for my trips from old to the First Class seats. Now I am sitting here in the Lounge waiting for my next flight and wondering...can I set my next milestone? To afford travel in business class for family trip in the next 5 years ? Will see :D

See you peeps in KL.