Saipan? Where???
Got a job assignement to Saipan from 11th Sept to 14 Sept... 1st thought that came into my mind is...Saipan... never heard of that. Is is a ulu ulu country or just a deserted island??? Search the internet for more info and suddenly looked forward to visit this small island after looking thru its introduction.
Saipan is actuallly under the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), which is under the US rule. The exact location will be the intersection at the east of Philippines and the south of Japan. There is no direct flight from Singapore and I have to fly 6 hours to Seoul for transfer and then another 4 hrs to reach Saipan.
And things did not go smoothly for this trip. I was held up at the Saipan Airport as I could not tell the custom officer which hotel I am going to stay for the next few days. My agent suppose to arrange for me and email me the hotel and his contact number but I did not get the required info when I fly off at Singapore. Therefore, when I am unable to provide the name of the hotel, the Saipan custom refused entry and ask me to call agent... and I don have his mobile number! I try to call agent office, and you know what, my cell phone was unable to get any network signal. In the end, I borrow a phone from the officer and call the agent office, which of course no one pick up the phone as it is 2am in the morning ... I told them my agent should be waiting for me outside the airport and they ask me to wait while they check. And it is kind of funny cos I was asked to wait together with 2 ladies who overstayed during their last trip. And everyone is looking at us, the kind of stares which despise you and make you uneasy. When the officer finally came back, she told me she could not see anyone waiting for me outside. I managed to persuade them that I am here for official job and they finally let me through.. after 1.5hrs... Sigh!
Outside the airport, I was like a lost soul walking to and fro, hoping to see the agent. After waiting for an hour, I gave up and took a cab and went to the nearest hotel. What a way to start my trip! The next day, the agent finally contact me and fetch me to my vessel.
Saipan at night is... messy. It is difficult to shop around as you can find a lot of fitness centre and massage parlours all every corners of the street. Don think I need to explain further what service they offer... keep pestering me whenever I walk past them....
I have the whole day free on the 3rd day as I have finished my job. Finally I got the chance to go to the beach which is just rite at the back of my hotel and it is really really beautiful.White sandy beach, clear blue sea and sunny blue sky...shiok ah! Went for a swim in the sea and after that the hotel swimming pool. Wanted to capture the sunset with my camera but the cloudy sky dampen everything. And I forgot to tell you, most of the tourists on this island is from Korea and Japan. And therfore, you will get to see a lot of Korean and Japanese babes wearing bikini everywhere! Whahaha!
And you know what, my luck keep turning its back on me. When I reached Seoul and about to board the plane back to Singapore, I was stopped by the custom again. This time round, they told me they are unable to find my check in luggage from Saipan and it is lost in transit... NB... so heng meh! Since the plane is flying off they can't do anything and thus ask me to report in Singapore airport...
It has been 3 days since I lost my luggage.. and there is still no news from airport... where are you..........
1 Comments:
Koz! What a nice place but what a luck. You damn funny. Didn't hear you mention when I saw you at Sembawang?? Next time I will be smart when I go Saipan.. haha.. Take care!
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