This is just an observation ya, not a judgement. *wink*
Getting to the Putrajaya International Convention Centre (PICC) on Saturday for FFM21
definitely wasn't the most pleasant experience for me. *laugh* Where do
I start? Well, first off, the road at the last 2 junctions from PICC were closed for a car race and the policemen on duty at that block-off told me that I was to make a detour via Dengkil to get to PICC,
which was technically just right in front of me! Disgusted after being
harassed for my phone number by the officers in-charged, I sped off,
looking for the first road sign that would indicate a direction to Dengkil.
I drove on for a good 20 minutes with no luck. Turned around, used a
different turn-off, but still no sign. Not even a trace of the word Dengkil on ANY of the road signs in Putrajaya. *laugh*
Because of so many incomplete, inconsistent and misleading road signs, I was lost in Putrajaya
for a good hour before I finally found the Information Centre right in
front of the Prime Minister's office. It was just past 6pm in the
evening and I was already an hour behind schedule, so I quickly
parked my car in the deserted area and rushed towards the 'centre'.
Putrajaya information centre
empty car park
The
Information Centre door was locked and clearly, nobody was around.
Visible on the glass door of the 'centre' was its operational times.
For Saturday, Sunday and public holidays it was from 8.30am - 7pm. So technically, it should've been open. *wink*
I turned to look at my watch
again. 6.10pm (which is 10 minutes fast, by the way). No luck. Perhaps
the person on duty was on sick leave or something. Benefit of doubt
given. All I wanted was to get directions for an alternative route to PICC. That was all. So I decided to call the tourism hotline. 1300 88 5050...
"For English, press 1". I pushed button '1' on my handphone keypad. The only answer I got was a bored-sounding "Hullow", although I was expecting something a little more elaborate like, "Hi, this is - speaking, how may I help you?" or at least, "Hullow, how may I help?"
even in the most boring manner. Okay, that aside. Anyway, I went on to
explain the fix I was in. That I needed help on directions to PICC from where I was at the Information Centre.
The next reply I got to that was "tunggu sekejap" (translated from Malay to English as "wait a while")
and then the tourism theme song went on. I suddenly remembered that I
had pushed button '1' for English earlier, but nevermind. *laugh*
During the good 20 minutes I was put on hold, I managed to take some
snapshots with my camera to accompany this post.
Indeed, pictures paint
a thousand words. *laugh* I finally gave up and cancelled the call. 20
minutes. Couldn't take any more of the music that was playing. Couldn't
believe that was the national tourism theme song.
Hmmm... but that's another story. *laugh*
Having no other choice,
I resorted to driving around with as much hope I could gather to take
me to my destination - PICC. After exploring almost 3 quarters of the town, I
finally arrived at a deserted cross junction. The traffic lights were
not functioning but I decided to follow my instincts and go ahead, along that
deserted road. It led me to the back of PICC! Finally, the chase was
over. *laugh* Technically, I had been on the road in Putrajaya itself
for almost two hours. On the brighter side, without that experience, I
wouldn't have this tale to tell...*smile*
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