Friday 13 March 2009

Travel Fair at OGDC, Seria 01.03.09

I had trouble waking up on a weekend, Sunday morning. But, I had to. Earlier, I literally had to grit my teeth each time I logged on to Royal Brunei Airlines' website to check on flights going to Bangkok. After the first check, the price had went up from 300 over to 500 over! I couldn't have been more thrilled when the travel fair at OGDC was announced over the radio! I simply was just not willing to spend the extra 200 because of flight tickets fluctuation.

The drive to Seria at about 7 was refreshing. Mum was saying her rosary like she always does when we go on road trips while my sister almost had her bedroom in my car. She curled up in her duvet, tucked herself on her pillow and lazed at the back seat.

When we got to OGDC, we were excited because we got a nice shady parking spot. But, we were too early. That wasn't going to keep our excitement down. So, we went to Seria town to grab our favourite Seria Kolo Mee. We have not been to the new food court which all the Chinese hawker stalls have moved into and was having a little trouble finding it. The street which had a lot of Chinese walking to and from their cars gave us the signal. I've never seen that many Chinese people in the streets of Brunei on a Sunday morning!



Conveniently, a lady came to take our orders as we planted ourselves on the seats. I had my usual Seria breakfast order, Teh Si and Kolo Mee. I didn't quite like the bean sprouts and would have preferred the usual dose of green "Chai Sim" with the noodles.



While I was waiting for my order, I couldn't help but looked at the people around me. Families and old friends came and chatted away. The noisy atmosphere was somewhat "kopitiam-ish". The food court was a lot cleaner than the old one. I remembered the blue walls that fell short halfway before it reached its high ceilings, the dirty drains just right outside where you would eat. I miss the old one though. People sat on long benches and tables which they had to share with other customers. It had a nice old feel to it even though it was dirty and I thought the food was WAY BETTER then. And, it had more openness than walls, welcoming the breezy air on any hot afternoon. At the food court here, it is a contained building.



So, here we were back at OGDC with the fair just opened. How pleased I was indeed when I finally purchased my 324 dollar ticket to Bangkok! I was tired of rechecking the website and hanging to this hope of the price ever coming down. So, I booked and bought the ticket at the spot which granted me to spin my fortune. I did and settled with a simple gift. The whole time, I couldn't care less about anything else that was going on at the fair. I got my 324-dollar ticket, I was grateful. I mean, how timely can this travel fair be to be held just two weeks before I fly and having flight rates that were really low, even for flights that are just a week or two away! It was a blessing shot down to Earth, just when I was getting desperate. When I was spinning this wheel-of-no-fortune-for-me (I never had luck with these sort of things. Maybe my life's statistics is just bad when it comes to chance), I didn't even take a second to see what was up for grabs. They said spin it and I did. And, I was still happy to get a luggage tag.



A sweet lady from RBA was beckoning me to try out this new Online Check-in system where one can check-in online 24 hours before departure. She was looking rather earnest so, I thought, we'll just give it a shot. God knows when I'll use it. Maybe even for this upcoming flight. I followed her instructions for her sake. It was just a beautiful Sunday and a great day for me. Putting smiles on people's faces seem like the thing to do then. The procedure was as easy as booking an online ticket. Just filling a web form with your details and VOILA! You're checked in! They've opened up a special counter at the airport for the luggage of people who did the online check-in. So, look out for those counters if you did the checking-in online.



My sister was snapping random shots of OGDC and its park. So, here's the back of OGDC's barrel-looking building.


While we were driving out of the area, we caught a person filming a skateboarder. The guy on the right was holding a camera as he waited for the skateboarder (middle) to perhaps pull a death-defying stunt. The assistant was with the umbrella, perhaps dreading and waiting for the shoot to be over.


A fire-breathing tower


On the Seria field, we have reservoirs lining along the main road that links to other parts of Brunei.


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