the(new)mediaslut

From a moral standpoint, can journalists on a junket skip totally irrelevant sessions and go shopping? Or do they have to sit in on sessions, pretend to take notes and not write up anything anyway?

That question came about yesterday when Smartbrain was locked in conversation with a Malaysian journalist at the Shanghai Spring Intel Developer Forum (IDF). The afternoon session of day 0 was all about Intel Capita and its investments into China for the most part. Being a vetran of IDF in Bejing last year, Smartbrain noted to the group that the Intel Capital section was totally and utterly irrelevant to our type of publication at least and last year yielded absolutely nothing for Smartbrain to write about.

Hence, the reasoning went, we should go and check out the fake iPhones and BMW phones at a nearby store. All the more appealing since the event venue is right next to an underground station.

Incidentally there are “Dopodo” phones which boot up with a Windows Mobile facade, look similar to a Symbian S60 phone in use an have a weird full ABCD (as opposed to QWERTY) keypad which makes it almost useless.

However, when a Filipino Intel PR overheard our little plan of egress, she was visibly upset and said we had time on the end of day two to go shopping; that she knew of places in the tourist distrit that gave a nice discount to Intel event attendees and that we should stay.

Exit, Smartbrain stage right, but not before mentioning in passing that some of the shops in Yu Bazarr are ten times more expensive than shops where the locals shop to begin with.

Ten minutes later, Smartbrain finds his merry band of would-be escapees looking totally miserable in the foyer. Apparently there had been a minor incident and none of the other Journalists now felt comfortable with hopping out during the Intel China capital session.

Smartbrain left anyway and got in a sizeable bit of shopping in the Orient IT Plaza that day plus all the information needed to write up a mini shopping in Shanghai story.

On a side note, Shanghai is fun in a barbaric kind of way. If there is no room, shove. The lunch journalist buffet queue was a lesson in how to get ahead without shame: The foreign journos were in a neat, orderly queue (for the most part) while the locals just pushed their way into get food when and where they wanted.

The entrance to the main keynote hall was verging on a crush (and would probably have been illegal in the UK under health and safety laws) and the hapless usher with signs saying “VIP” looked on helplessly on as non-VIP visitors filled up the VIP seats.

At least there aren’t any prostitutes offering their services right outside the convention centre this year as was the case at IDF Beijing last year. Now, that’s progress.

the(new)mediaslut was invited to a car show in Bangkok yesterday.

This blogger isn’t really a car person but there are some of you who would like to learn more about the car scene in Bangkok.

For more photos, click here.

Its great news that two Singaporeans have won season two of the Amazing Race Asia II.

However, Team Collin and Adrian almost lost the race while waiting to get a taxi from the Asian Civilisations Museum to the island of Sentosa.

Wrote the Amazing Race Asia II website,

At the statue of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, the founding father of Singapore, Marc and Rovilson pull out the first clue, which guides them towards the Tanjong Beach in Sentosa for their next clue. Adrian and Collin are right behind them, and pick up the same clue. But when they leave, they see Marc and Rovilson hopping into a taxi that was waiting for them.

The gym buddies forget to ask their taxi driver to wait for them and have to spend time looking for another taxi. As the sisters pull in, the gym buddies are still looking for a taxi.

The race was probably recorded before the recent increase in taxi surcharges in January 2008.

Got this gut feeling that in the next race, a team will lose out because they didn’t have enough money to pay for the taxi fares because of the additional surcharges added recently.

I had to take AirAsia flight AK0123 today from KL to Singapore and it gave me a chance to see if the price is actually worth it.

The flight was to depart from KL LCCT at 10am.

This meant I had to be at the budget terminal at around 9am.

As my Malaysia relatives stayed further south of KL, we estimated we could leave the house at about 8am.

The journey to the LCCT was the most torturing of all. We took close to 45 mins to travel 50km of highway and had to pass through 3 toll gates.

Take note, the house is before KL. Hence the distance between KL and the airport should be further and more torturing.

In comparison to taking the bus, it usually takes about 20mins to get to the heart of KL to catch it.

When I take the bus and it is set to leave at 10am, I could leave the relatives’ house at 9am. It isn’t really an issue if you arrive 5mins before the bus is set to go.

Not for taking the flight though. Boarding usually takes place 30mins before the departure time and the gate closes 10mins before the plane is set to take off.

There were no delays today and the AirAsia flight took off at about 1015am.

I was about to doze off before a child started screaming her lungs out for the rest of the journey.

She quiet down and I was about to go into a slumber, the announcement was made that we were landing soon.

The AirAsia plane landed exactly at 1055am and I at the luggage collection point by 1110am. Clearing immigration on a Monday morning was also a breeze.

As I stayed in the east, it took me another 20mins to reach home. So I was home by about 1130am.

If I had taken the 10am bus today, I would have reach Singapore at 330pm.

The time savings is definitely there.

Assuming I have taken a taxi to LCCT, it would have at least cost me RM80. This is about SGD37.50. The price of the one way AirAsia ticket worked out to be SGD120. The taxi back home from Changi Terminal 1 is about SGD12 with surchage.

The total trip would have cost me about SGD170.

A bus ticket, even if I was to take the most expensive, to Singapore would be about SGD45. The taxi from Golden Mile where most buses stop to my home would be about SGD10-12. So the total cost would take me about SGD60.

But by bus, it would have taken me longer to reach home.

If you are thinking of taking a budget airlines from SG-KL, return or one way, scout around the sites for the best rates.

Thinking of one way from Singapore to KL, I recommend Tiger Air for the price.

Because it uses the Budget airport, the airport tax is lower than Jetstar and AirAsia as they both use Terminal 1.

From KL to SG, AirAsia would be my recommendation because this airline uses the LCCT.

However AirAsia now has a promotion for the SG-KL-SG package.

As I need to go back to KL on Feb29 and back in Singapore on Mar 2, I went searching the sites to find for the best place and AirAsia beats the other two budget carriers.

All prices inclusive of airport tax and fuel surcharges.

AirAsia
Singapore(SIN) to Kuala Lumpur LCCT(KUL) - SGD 66
Kuala Lumpur LCCT(KUL) to Singapore(SIN) - SGD 67
Total: SGD133

Tiger Air
Singapore(SIN) to Kuala Lumpur KLIA (KUL) - SGD107
Kuala Lumpur KLIA (KUL) to Singapore - SGD118
Total: SGD 225

Jetstar Asia
Singapore(SIN) to Kuala Lumpur KLIA (KUL) - SGD93
Kuala Lumpur KLIA (KUL) to Singapore - SGD108
Total: SGD 201

Go scout around the sites for the best price!

Atos Origin. That is the name of the company who would undoubtedly has won 2007’s junket cancellation excuse of the year award if there was one and this post is a story about why they should so be honoured.

Cancellations happen all the time. Sometime the unavailability of the speaker is genuine, other times they want “Mr Editor” but needed a good reason to get rid of “Mr Reporter”, not that there is anything wrong with that. Only giving a nice, civil reason is preferable to an elitist slur calling the journalist, “people like you”.

A while back, around a month ago, a PR agency in Singapore contacted Smartbrain inviting him to view the Atos Origin operations centre for the Beijing Olympics. Little did any of us expect that it would soon descend into an acrimonious exchange of messages.

On 30 October, Atos Origin asked Smartbrain where to return his passport in a strangely terse email that made no mention of the travel arrangements. Later that day the country manager (who I have been advised not to mess with as his business partner turned father in law is a well known arms dealer) sends an apology to say (nicely) that the trip has been cancelled. Smartbrain asked why, but got no response.

On 31 October, Smartbrain asks again in an admittedly colloquial and short email, “Knock knock, anyone there? Any reason the trip was cancelled?”

Apparently that touched a raw nerve and this was the reply from Atos Origin in full, except with names removed.

Khun [Smartbrain],

I think your attitude towards us is quite a surprise to me. Let me remind you that its an opportunity for the newpaper you work for to attend this, and the cost is being paid by Atos Origin. I certainly do not need to answer to you, and justify why I have personally cancel your trip. I would have no problem in giving you the reason, why I have cancel this trip, but now I can tell you that I do not like your attitude, and do not want to associate something I feel very special for us, with people like you.

[Country Manager].

To which Smartbrain replied immediately after his hands stopped shaking:

Wow.Talk about hitting a raw nerve. Sorry… I usually have my emails quite colloquial and I would like to remind you that it has been more than 24 hours since I got the cancellation and not have had any explanation as to why it was cancelled. Anyway, thanks for letting me know that you personally cancelled my trip because of not wanting to associate the event with “people like me”.

I am still trying to understand what “people like me” actually means, but…

Because of your trip, I had to pass up two other trips overseas for [vendor] and [vendor] so I do consider my time invested a major investment, not just for myself, but for my readers.I think that out of courtesy I at least deserve an explanation, but as you so eloquently put it, you do not need to give me one. Fair enough.

Perhaps the other journalists you work with work only on money and free meals. I plan my work mainly around interesting stories.

Was the cancellation because you managed to get me rejected for a visa? Or was it for some other reason. That is what I wanted to know.

While I appreciate that you are paying, I would also like to point out that I did warn you from day one of the problems that the Chinese embassy have with issuing J2 visas. I did warn [PR Agency Person] from the outset that the rules state you need a “letter from a competent Chinese authority” to back up the visa application. In the case of [a Chinese IT company], they got me a letter from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs acknowledging their event. I did suggest a number of alternatives, such as the Olympic committee even.

In particular, I was appalled at your staff’s attitude to the visa application. [Dumb blonde secretary] said she would apply for a tourist visa, hence my first email warning you of the difficulties you may have. She said that it is easier to get a tourist visa and even went so far as to say that the letter I got from the [publication] (which included the invitation letter from [PR Agency Person]) was not needed as it was not a business trip. When I requested the day flight, the immediate reaction I got was that there was no such flight.

TG614 is the flight I took last time to Beijing and it was a day flight.

If anything, I think I should be the one feeling irked at you for the outright lies (that there is no day flight) and attitude you have in maybe getting me blacklisted from the Chinese embassy in applying for a tourist visa where a journalist visa is required.

..

I’m still wondering what made you hate me so much. My colloquialism? Perhaps. The fact that I wanted you to obey the rules for the visa? Or the request for the day trip. Never mind.

My only regret is that I really, really supported your relative in his fight against the previous regime and it saddens me that such a great man has a relative like yourself.

:)
[Smartbrain]

On a side note, it is interesting that the Country Manager cc’d the Vice-President of Atos Origin on the “people like you” email. That makes one wonder if it was a slip of the mouse, pressing reply-all without thinking, or if the higher echelons of Atos Origin actually agree with that reprehensible point of view. At the very least, they have not apologised for it.

Also, to make the timing clear, the event was cancelled before the “knock-knock” email so his dislike of my attitude must have preceded that email, not stemmed from it.

For the record, Smartbrain has never dealt with Atos Origin before; never written about them; never even seen a press release from them on his desk to ignore; never met with the country manager before either in this job, or in his previous job.

Would Smartbrain accept another Atos Origin invitation to an event or press conference? Probably not for an overseas event in which they painfully remind us that they are paying for it and that we poor “people like you” journalists are beggars who cannot ask any questions of their hosts. But for a press conference, definitely and my first question would be, “What did you mean when you emailed me on 31st October referring to ‘people like you’?”