OK, enough with all self-pitying and criticism.
Let's put on the positive head and blog.
Last week I spent a couple of days in Bali..... (sadly) working.
It's a sin to work in paradise!Arrived at Tuesday night (my flight got delayed for almost one hour).
Missed the spectacular welcome dinner.
Spent the Wednesday in an exhibition and giving a presentation.
Attended the fun, interesting, entertaining dinner.
Flew back on Thursday.
See how "efficient" I am... It's indeed a sin to work in paradise!Albeit the short trip, I did gain a couple of insights.
1. Bali is definitely beautiful.
Still beautiful.
The beaches, palm trees, ocean, ...
the houses, pura's, paintings, ...
the rivers, creeks, forests, ...
So magnificent, yet there's an aura of peace when you're there.
One of my favourite is when I sidetracked.
Walking along the mainroad of Kuta, Seminyak, Ubud, you name it, ..., and make an unplanned turn in a small alley. Admiring the atmosphere of artistic and natural beauty.
(A good thing to do also in Venice).
Sadly, I read in the newspaper that day, that Indonesia lacks behind Thailand, Malaysia in tourism. They attract more tourists nowadays than Bali / Indonesia does.... due to security issues. There were two suicide bombings within past few years. And although we're recovering, somehow it's not enough. That has a serious impact on the Balinese tourism industry. As Indonesian, I'm a bit dissapointed, and on the other hand challenged.
Why don't you plan your vacation in Bali?
Let's go to Bali, the land of the gods, paradise on earth.2. Take control of the whole customer experience.... and apologize when neccessary.
The second insight I learnt from the CEO of a particular Indonesian cellular operator.
Remember about the delayed flights?
Is it your fault when the airline delayed the flight of your guests?
No. But... it would be a pleasure to hear you apologize, sincerely.
That's what he did.
He apologized that his guests experienced an annoying delays. And he promised to give more attention to avoid the same problem again.
Taking control of the whole customer experience.
Not just things that fall under your direct influence, but also things under other's control. At least you should talk to the others, check and double check. And when things go wrong, apologize.
For you
locus of control extremist, anyway, there's no such thing as "not under my control." But please pay attention that things can go wrong...
3. Nice, memorable event.
O, ya.
The main event that I attended was actually an entertainment event. They managed to create such a fun, entertaining, and memorable atmosphere. Well, there's this serious "learning" part - seminars, exhibitions, but the fun "experience" part was more dominant, such as:
Welcome dinner -- traditional, sacred @ Taman Ayun, imagine your arrive at Taman Ayun, which is completely transformed and welcome by 150 of tradionally dressed Balinese ladies. (The number of guests are around 200).
Followed by the next evening's
Dinner + Entertainment -- modern, cozy, a standard buffet dinner actually, plus a standard band. But in addition to that, they added a nice suprise elements: two booths for relaxing foot massage, free of course; tattoo artists; and one booth giving away bead bracelets and necklaces. And the main entertainment event that night was Rommy Raphael - the hipnotist artists.
Relaxing Activities,
golf (standard), spa, ATV race, ...
And finally,
Farewell Dinner (I missed it actually)
-- spectacular & wild. It was held in Garuda Wisnu Kencana park. A very large park -- GWK it was a
gunung kapur cut into statues and
panggung and temples. Very impressive work. I can imagine that the event will be indeed spectacular.
Talking about event organizing...
4. Tattoo.To pin down the event in my memory, I decided to get a
temporary tattoo on my left hand! My first actually. Just out of curiosity. The artist was great, done it in less than 10 minutes... the queue was longer, though... have to wait for 30 mins. Let me share you the picture when I can upload it. (It's a dragon picture, by the way...)
Those who know me hardly believe that I did.
But I did, man!
5. Lost and Found: another pleasant memory
Last but not least, I accidentally left my shorts and t-shirt at the hotel!! Aargh. Must be the effect of staying up late and early morning rush to the airport.
Called the hotel when I got back to Jakarta.
After two transfers, they confirmed that they will send the clothes back to me. Of course on my charge... They are helpful and responsive. Handled the incident in a very good manner.
It was a five-star hotel in Seminyak, Sofitel. I guess, I (my company, I mean) didn't pay close to $100 for nothing...
There's one interesting stuff, though.
When I received the package a two of days later, (yes, they shipped it using express delivery, exceeding my expectation, actually), there's a tag on my clothes... which says "
throw away" Guess that's what they're going to do with my poor shorts... (
grin).
I really enjoyed the experience...
and I find it still a sin to work in Bali... :-)
Cross post from Wordpress
