2nd job as tourist guide - Sultan of Selangor Cup bus transfer job

Today mark the second time I worked as tourist guide. Again, it is a transfer job offered by my tourist guide association. It is a two days transfer job because it spans across the next day, expected to arrive back to Malaysia Second Link Custom – Sultan Abu Bakar Complex at 6am. Total of 28 tourist guide for 28 travel bus are involved in these transfer, ferrying Singapore football fans to Selangor Shah Alam stadium for Sultan of Selangor Cup football match.

Sultan of Selangor Cup football match was initiated in 2001 to foster better relations between Selangor and Singapore. It was known as the Regent of Selangor Cup. With the coronation of the Selangor Sultan in 2003, the competition was renamed the Sultan of Selangor Cup. Sultan of Selangor Cup is organized annually.

Shah Alam stadium

I reached the Malaysia Second Link Custom – Sultan Abu Bakar Complex at 7.30am as scheduled. When the entire tourist guide gathered at 8.15am, we listen to briefing of the itinerary and things needed to take note for about 30 minutes and collected bus number tagging respectively.

Anjung Nusajaya

The Singapore fans group gradually reached Malaysia Second Link Custom – Sultan Abu Bakar Complex started 9.30am. My group reached there at 10.15am and it takes roughly 30 minutes for all members to clear the customs procedure. The bus is a single storey bus with 44 seats. This time there are tour leader within the group. After headcount which is done by tour leader, we set off to Anjung, the food court at Nusajaya for breakfast. It takes 15 minutes at 11am to reach Anjung Nusajaya. The stopover here is 1 hour. This time round, I am able to make announcement in the bus smoothly without any nervous.  

Anjung Nusajaya

We set off to Selangor at 12pm. We have 1 stopover at Ayer Keroh RnR (Rest and Repair) for prayer (sembahyang) at 3pm. We reached KL at 5pm. Based on our itinerary; all buses will meet at Sunway Lagoon Resort before set off to Shah Alam stadium and escort by escort police to escort us to Shah Alam stadium. Due to unfamiliar road directory to the Sunway Lagoon Resort, we speed extra 1 hour on the road. When we reached opposite of the busses troop at Sunway Lagoon Resort, there is congestion in front to make a U turn. Bus driver intends to avoid the congestion by drive another uncongested road to make the U turn. Unfortunately another U turn road is limited to 3 meter height and bus height is 3.8 meter. We drive further and make U turn after the toll plaza. After the U turn, we drove back toward the direction and again took the wrong path. Finally we are on track and reached Sunway Lagoon Resort at 6.30pm, all the 27 buses already escorted by escort police left to and reach Shah Alam stadium.  We reached there at 7pm.

On the way to Shah Alam stadium, we are informed that Sultan of Selangor Cup was cancelled due to the haze hazard and concern of Sultan Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah for the health of the players and public.

Abdul Karim, organising chairman of Sultan of Selangor Cup said the organising committee was working with the Selangor Health Department in monitoring the air quality and the decision to call off the match was made after the Air Pollutant Index API recorded an unhealthy level of 138 at 5pm with showed no sign of improvement.

Shah Alam stadium

Malaysia has been affected by severe smoke haze due to forest fires in Indonesia yearly, especially on the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan. This is due to the common practice of open burning to clear land for agricultural uses. It can be made worse by dry seasons, changes in wind direction and poor precipitation. Prevailing winds sometimes carry smoke haze produced by the forest fires over Malaysia’s skies. This is especially so during the Southwest Monsoon Season.

This year 2015, the haze hazard affecting several countries in Southeast Asia, including Brunei, Indonesia (especially its islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan), Malaysia, Singapore, Southern Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and the Philippines.

The fires are caused by firms and farmers who engage in illegal slash-and-burn practices as a relatively inexpensive means of clearing land. Sumatra and Kalimantan possess large areas of peat land, which is highly combustible during dry season. Peat, which is made up of layers of dead vegetation and other organic matter, contributed heavily to carbon emissions because of the substance's density. The haze has been particularly severe in 2015 due to the El Niño phenomenon which has caused drier conditions, allowing the fires to spread more.

The Indonesian government has estimated that the haze crisis will cost it between 300 to 475 trillion rupiah (up to RM140 billion) to mitigate. School closures due to the haze have been implemented in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore; this affected nearly four million students in Malaysia alone.

The Global Fire Emissions Database reported that the 2015 Indonesian fires had generated around 600 million tonnes of greenhouse gases, also described as 'roughly equivalent to Germany's entire annual output'. NASA said that the 2015 haze crisis could become the worst recorded in the region, possibly outstripping the 1997 crisis which cost an estimated 9 billion US dollars.

Many Indonesians reported they suffered from dizziness, respiratory illnesses and sore-eyes in the haze-affected areas. Most of the victims killed by the haze were students and newborn babies.

The health impact of haze is dependent on one's health status such as pre-existing chronic heart or lung disease, the API (Air Pollutant Index) level, and the duration and intensity of outdoor activity. Reducing outdoor activities and physical exertion can help limit the ill effects from haze exposure. Persons who are not feeling well, especially the elderly and children, and those with chronic heart or lung conditions, should seek medical attention.

We have our free dinner at Shah Alam stadium hall for one and half hour. We return back to Singapore departed at 8.30pm. In the journey, we make a stopover at Pagoh RnR (Rest and Repair) for 1 hour 45 minutes for bus driver to rest.

We set off from Pagoh RnR at 12.15am and reached Malaysia Second Link Custom – Sultan Abu Bakar Complex at 2.30am. On the journey the bus driver drove at the speed of around 60kmh to 80kmh and most of the time cracked and ate the melon seeds. It even horned twice by container truck on the way and speeded up to 110kmh followed by the horn.

I farewell to all the Singapore fans and proceed to return home.

Food of thought:

1.       More haste, less speed. Driven by the hope to U turn faster to reach Sunway Lagoon Resort, bus driver takes another road which he also doesn’t know the road situation, which is unknown ahead. It is normally happen in our daily life on the journey to achieve the goal.

2.       It is common for unfamiliar at first but you get used to it the next time/over the time. Although the first time my announcement are a bit unorganized, the next time it is so smooth and without nervous. So, everything must try instead of back off due to nervous. Look back the past after many years, we will smile of ourselves for the nervous and glad that we have try at least.

3.       Haze is detrimental to our health and brings huge loss to country economy. We should sabotage these companies who involves in illegal slash-and-burn practices as a relatively inexpensive means of clearing land. We must gather public force to monitor and force them to give in. Clear messages must convey to them to let them know that no companies can go against public will.

4.       28 buses ferrying fee are sponsored by Sultan Selangor. Sultan of Selangor Cup is a very good way to foster both country relationship and cooperation. It is good to have more such events to be held and foreigners, media and blogger invited to attend such events with fee sponsored. It will creates free publicize to the places and promote tourism of that place. Word of mouth from invitee and bloggers are better than advertisement.

Transfer Job - First job as Tourist Guide

Today mark the first day of my new career as Malaysia Tourist Guide. For the very first time I got my first job after attained tourist guide license. It is exciting and highly anticipated period. It is a transfer job from Singapore to Genting Highland. Thanks for recommendation from my tourist guide course classmate Winnie and chance and guidance given by Mr Ho, Wendy, Ms Neo and bus driver Mr Jo.

Long queue at CIQ Sultan Abu Bakar Complex - Malaysia Second Link Customs

Customs and Immigrations checkpoint at CIQ Sultan Abu Bakar Complex already packed with Singapore tourists and excursion bus when I reached there at 6.30am. About 7 plus, the queue for the clearance of customs already lined up to the corridor. It proves that Malaysia still attracts many Singapore tourists despite the haze hazard. Among the places of visit, Genting Highland tops the list in the tourist arrivals. According to government statistics, tourism is the 6^th major income contributor to our GDP. During last year of 2014, it contributes 14.9% or 161 billion of GDP, with 27.44 million of tourist arrival and generated 72 billion of revenue.

Excursion bus at CIQ Sultan Abu Bakar Complex - Malaysia Second Link Customs

Due to congestion at Singapore Tuas Checkpoint and Malaysia Customs and Immigrations Checkpoint at Sultan Abu Bakar Complex, the bus depart at 6.30am from Singapore arrive and depart from CIQ Sultan Abu Bakar Complex at 8am. After bus arrive at CIQ, I approached the bus, introduce myself to the bus driver, take the bus plate number card and stand outside the exit of CIQ to direct the tourists the direction of the bus where it stop. After headcount, we depart to Genting Highland. Again, for the first time I use microphone to introduce myself as tourist guide and short announcement to Singapore tourists. Due to nervous, it is little bit unorganized. The announcement includes the excursion bus plate no, bus driver name, myself as tourist guide, a warm welcome to Malaysia, 2 stopovers along the journey, 6 hours of journey distance to reach Genting Highland, and also to keep the bus clean, fasten the seat belt are recommended for safety concern, and adjust the seat the its original state whenever bus stop for break. This is a double-decker bus with 40 seats.

We have stopped at Yong Peng for 25 minutes for lunch break and 10 minutes toilet break at Sungai Besi Petrol Station, KL. Every stopover followed by short announcement and headcount. When reached First World hotel and Resort hotel, the time is about 2pm. I felt so surprise to receive a small tip from a Singapore tourist. It is really out of my expectation especially it is my first time, my announcement is not so smooth and it is just a transfer job, not a guided tour. It is a big encouragement for me. Due to return pick up point is only at Resort hotel B5, I repeated the announcement about 30 minutes earlier check-in at Resort hotel B5 counter.  A simple clean up has been done during the transit between First World hotel to Resort hotel after first batch tourists drop off at First World hotel.

After tourists alight at Resort hotel B5, the return tourists already waited there for our bus. We have our quick toilet break and paycheck collection at the bus counter office, and then proceed back to our bus to do headcount in the bus and proceed to heading back to Singapore from Genting Highland. According to bus driver, this kind of situation frequently happen during the peak season like school holiday and long weekend holiday. Again, I introduce myself to these return tourists, short announcement about bus plate no, bus driver name, about 7 hours of journey back to Singapore, 2 stopovers at Batu Caves Malaysia local product shop and Yong Peng station for dinner break, keep the bus clean, fasten the seat belt are recommended for safety concern, and adjust the seat back to original state at every stop/break. For the second time, I make this announcement more smoothly.

About 1 hour later, we reached the Batu Caves local product shop. There are excursion buses already there to let their tourists buy the native local products. Local product shop here does provide free meal for tourist guide and bus driver. Due to not eaten anything yet since early morning except Melilea Organic powder during the time bus moving down from Genting Highland Resort hotel to Batu Caves, I move directly to the meal room for my lunch. May be because the free meal this time is curry chicken, the rice there are nothing left and another rice cooker is just about start to cook the rice, visible easily the water and the uncooked rice. I simply stroll inside the shop and taste the sample food provided free by the promoter inside. 

20 minutes is lapse just like a glimpse of eye, I opened the bus entrance door and let tourists return back to their seats. After headcount, I proceed to the local product shop office to collect the commission. It is 20% of the total sales of the local products price. It shared among the bus drivers and tourist guide. Although very little the commission for this time, I feel happy to have such extra income. For freelance tourist guide without EPF, no guarantee of job assignments and competitiveness, commission is really the lifeline and the driver to attract individuals to become a tourist guide. It is a win-win situation between the shop, tourist guide and tourists. Shop owner can operate their shop at remote location for cheaper cost and without advertisement, tourist guide acts as sales person to bring in customers for them, and the tourists get to buy the local products without needed to search for the native local products shop which they may be unable to do it during their tour due to time constraint or the location/places of visit. It is indirectly promote our native local products to tourists and increase income for the shop operators and at the same time added the products variety for our tourism products. Most of the time, tourists buy the local products from the country of visit as souvenir to give to their friends and family, relatives and company colleague as souvenirs of the trip.If our native local products are good, it will indirectly bring in recurring tourists and their surrounding people, creating a ripple effect to our tourism boom.

After bus took off from Batu Caves local product shop, I took a paper and start to take order for famous Muar otak-otak and Muar mochi. The Muar otak-otak comes with 6 flavors: fish, prawn, sotong, fish head, crab, la la. Muar mocha comes with 3 flavors: red bean, durian and chocolate. Muar otak-otak is very famous across Malaysia and Singapore. It is a must try if you are visiting Muar or Yong Peng. Surprisingly, I get zero order. Haha, a fail salesperson for Muar otak-otak and Muar mochi.

After another 3 hours, we reached Yong Peng station and have our dinner there. Finally I have a proper meal to eat. Few bus drivers are eating inside and I am the only tourist guide. Thanks to tourist guide title, first time in my life to eat free meal in such area.

We approaching JB CIQ Sultan Abu Bakar Complex at 8pm. I make a short announcement and informed the tourists to no need to bring together the luggage for customs clearance at Malaysia customs side, but they need to carry out all their belongings and luggage for the customs clearance at Singapore Customs and Immigration side Tuas Checkpoint.

After all tourists alight to customs for clearance, I move around the bus to adjust the seat leg rest to its original state and the seats to its original state if I know the seat are unseated. Then, I proceed to customs clearance exit waiting area to direct the tourists to the bus. Once the headcount done, I informed the bus driver and farewell to him to mark the end of my full day duty of transfer job.

I changed my cloth to normal T-shirt, cross over to another customs point and wait for my bus to heading back to my home.

Food of Thought:

1.       First time in a new environment, new career or new job can always making people nervous. Most importantly we improve over the time, learn from mistake and keeping upgrade our skills and knowledge.

2.       Social skills are very important especially in service line like tourist guide. It let us to communicate effectively to related party so that it creates a pleasant and comfortable atmosphere, message are delivered clearly, questions and requests are respond accurately and on time.