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Overseas Assignment 2009: Bored Trip to Brunei – Part 4: The Conclusion

Brunei Airport

This will be the final post and continue from Part 3 of the Brunei Business Trip Assignment. I woke up early at about 8 am despite setting my alarm to sound at 10 am.

Despite the fact that I hung a “Don’t Disturb” sign on the doorknob, the housekeeping ladies still had to ring on the bell and shout “Housekeeping”. That woke me up – damn those hotel staff who can’t read simple English!

I was awake and I could not go back to sleep. When I opened the door, there was no one at the front. Damn that hotel staffs that can’t read simple English and could not bother to wait for the door to be answered.

I had breakfast and was contemplating what to do next. I still have at least 6 – 7 hours before I can check out and head to Brunei International Airport for my flight back home. Perhaps I should catch a movie and spend my time in the shopping mall nearby.

I checked on the screen times in the newspaper and saw I had enough time. I got dressed up and walked to the lobby. Dark skies stopped me from proceeding further. It was about to rain and although I know that I could make it to the nearby shopping mall, I was not sure whether I could make it back before the rain starts. The fact that I was leaving Brunei in a couple of hours, I did not want to risk being trapped in some malls and miss my flight.

I went back to my room and dozed off. When I woke up, it was time for lunch. Thankfully the hotel’s restaurant had a good menu on the display and the food was good but there were still 3 more hours to go.

Brunei Airport

(The Brunei International Airport is not big but it was adequate with shops and plenty of empty comfortable seats)

It was already raining by the time I hopped on the hotel van. It was a short drive from the hotel to the Brunei International Airport and I made it in good time. There was plenty of time to check in the baggage and loiter around the airport for the departure. I found a nice spot to sit down and watch the passengers at the terminal.

From afar, there was a big group of young students waiting for the flight from Brunei to the Middle East. Most of them were wearing the same coloured clothing but wearing just slippers. Seeing the students wearing slippers, I somehow had a feeling that they are taking the plane for the first time – a kind of reminded me of those Bangladeshis who took the plane for the first time when my flight was on transit in Dhaka years ago.

I walked to the boarding area but was surprised to see that there was no plane waiting for us. It was still raining on the outside. There were just several minutes left before the stated boarding time. Almost everyone started to wonder whether the flight was delayed. There were some announcements on the overhead speakers but I could not hear them well – some idiotic passengers were talking very loud near me.

Slowly, news got to us that the flight has indeed been delayed and it will be another 2 hours before the departure can be confirmed. The flight to the Middle East seems to be delayed as well, apparently, some of the passengers had gone missing and they were being hailed on the loudspeakers several times.

Brunei Airport

(The passengers are ready, the ground crew is ready but the flight was not ready)

The airline staff was fast to provide drinks and cookies at the boarding area but the delay was too much for some people – they conveniently went out, pass the security checkpoint and back to the main terminal area. As for me, my stomach was already full, so I decided to stay put at the boarding area. 2 hours would pass fast, I said to myself.

A group of tourists from Taiwan settled down in one corner and start watching some Chinese drama on one of the laptops. The battery on my laptop was flat, so I started to hunt for a power source and found one several steps from the boarding area.

There were no chairs nearby, so I sat on the floor and start using the laptop. It was unfortunate that the airport did not have any free wi-fi for the passengers – they have internet but one need to register first.

The rain had died down by the time my flight was confirmed and was ready to leave. I should have been home early for dinner but I end up reaching home at almost 1 in the morning. What an eventful flight back home.

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