The preparation for our stand was done quite last minute, just about 1-2 months before the exhibition date which is on the 3rd - 5th of November 2008. I was in charged for the fixtures, decoration & layout, flight and accommodation but lucky my colleague Carol had been a big help during that time as she was a seasoned traveler and exhibitor. She was in charged for exports and I really need to learn a lot from her. Sometimes I still don't get the export terms and the flow. You have to be well versed with all the container sizes, ports, shipper, liner, forwarding agents, FOB, CIF, Bills of lading and all sorts of certification. I think I still prefer selling chocolates locally - save all the hassle.
When we departed from KLIA, we had so much trouble trying to check in all our baggage. It took us almost an hour trying to negotiate with the staff behind the desk because we wanted to check in 7 cartons of goods and 1 box of POS materials. We were faced with a lady staff with PMS (pre-menstrual syndrome) because her face was sour all the time and she refused to be leanient with us. In total, we have exceeded almost 75kg of weight and was charged RM5k for excess baggage. Gosh, I've never paid so much for excess baggage, or rather I have never paid any. Usually I just passed it off by pleading and some flirting. If that was bad enough, not until you hear that our flight departed at midnight and arrived in Dubai at 3.30am! We had to pay for an extra day of accommodation and the flight sucked because it was so full and uncomfortable.
We had the whole day on 1st for sightseeing and then on the 2nd, we went to the Trade Center to set up the stand. Me and my colleague had to move the cartons from the van to the main entrance of the centre without any trolley. After that, my GM managed to borrow one trolley from the contractors to help us transfer the cartons to the hall, which is about 200m away. He looked so funny pulling the trolley like pulling a cow admist such a modern structure.
The set up was completed in 5 hours with the help of the contractors. We had no idea how to stick those ink jet stickers without spoiling it. After that Carol and I filled up the shelves and the display with the boxes.
I really like the exhibition here. It was so unlike China where people are so uncivilized. They took your catalogues and then sell it as recycled paper outside the centre, they kept plastic bags in their pockets so that they can grab your samples and put them in and all sorts of antics. It was such an embarrassment to the Chinese. On the last day of the exhibition, a whole group of them will just marched into your stand and take everything without your permission. Your laptops, stationery and chocolates will get stolen if you don't tie them up. It was so terrifying. In Dubai, you don't have to worry, nobody takes anything. they will ask for permission to sample the chocolates. How nice and educated.
This is Gil from Jelly Belly. He is such a nice man and so sweet of him to send me a mail. According to him, this picture should be in People Magazine. Lol...
My colleague Carol with a box of temptation from Fidani.
Overall, it had been a nice exhibition, meeting old friends from other companies in the Malaysian Pavilion and also making new ones with other exhibitors. We have enjoyed the past three days at the exhibition centre. The organiser representative, Mei Li was so kind to buy us nasi lemak (translated as fat rice literally). It was no surprise having someone to buy you nasi lemak but the irony is that the nasi lemak was bought in Dubai from a lady whom is a Singaporean selling it! Lol... I wonder how much would it cost considering a packet of rice with meat (in Chinese we called it "chap fan") is around RM22-30. For that kind of money, I can eat a good meal at Tram Car.
This is the nasi lemak in Dubai! Defintely not as good as the ones here.
In an unrelated note, the traffic jam was so bad yesterday. It took me 2 hours to go home on a journey that is 20 minutes. Bugger....
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