Offshore Technology Conference in Kuala Lumpur

From the 21st of March until the 23rd of March the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) Asia 2018 took place in Kuala Lumpur. Together with a colleague from the office we went to Kuala Lumpur to attend the OTC.

On the 20th of March we flew from Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. A new journey was waiting ahead for me. I planned this trip in such a way that I could do some promotional work until Friday afternoon and after that enjoying a nice weekend in and around the city of Kuala Lumpur. We came to KL with a goal to find out if there could be a market for KAEFER Engineering in the Offshore business in South East Asia and to look for the most important trends of this market. The trip from Rayong to KL was a very long one. We left Rayong at 9.00AM and we arrived in our hotel in KL at 7.30PM. A trip of almost 11 hours, with a flight of just 2 hours. I was glad when we arrived at our hotel, because thIe rooms were very luxurious. The company booked the rooms in the Concorde Hotel, which was a 5 minutes walk to the conference building. On our arrival we immediately decided to go and see the Petronas Twin Towers. These towers are maybe the most known buildings in whole Malaysia. Behind the towers, in the park, there was a beautiful light and water-show, which is worth visiting between 9.00-10.00PM.

The first day

After a good rest, we started our first day with a lot of energy and good mood. We entered the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre at 9.00AM, to explore the whole exhibition and conferences for the first couple of hours. The exhibition was huge, there were a lot of different companies and a lot of visitors. In the afternoon I attended a interesting discussion panel about the regaining and reshaping of the market competitiveness. My colleague could not attend this panel session, because he is not a student and I am and students could enter everything free of charge. At the end of our first day, I sat down together with my colleague to discuss and reflect on the day and what we could improve for the upcoming days. In the evening we had diner with some colleagues from other KAEFER establishments. After diner we went to Bukit Bintang, which is the shopping street of KL.

The second & third day

On Thursday and Friday we continued with attending interesting panel sessions, about Thailand and game changing ideas, as well as talking to exhibitors. These exhibitors were very interesting for us, because talking to them could give us some good feedback about the market and we could promote our company. We tried to exchange business cards with as many persons possible. On Thursday night I decided to visit a rooftop bar, with the name Heli Lounge Bar. From the top of this bar, 41 floors high, I had a magnificent 360 degrees view of the city with some lounge music on the background and a Caipirinha in my hand. We finished our tasks on Friday afternoon and I went to Genting. People told me that Genting would be like the Las Vegas of Malaysia and I wanted to find out. When I arrived in Genting, with help from a bus drive of an hour and a Skyway, I noticed why people would say it is the Las Vegas of Malaysia. I saw casino's, huge hotels, theme parks, water parks and fancy restaurants. After a couple of hours of walking around, I found a bar with the name "Redtail by Zouk". This bar was a bar as no others. This bar was pure and only decorated to have fun playing beer games. Beer games such as beer pong, battle shots, card games, jenga, dices and beer pong with a soccer ball and garbage bins. After I challenged the owner of the bar for a couple of games with the bins, he invited me (probably because he lost all games) to go have diner with him in a restaurant, which he also owned. After a nice diner and a fun night Saturday morning was already waiting for me.

The weekend

When I arrived back in KL, I had to book my own place to stay for the weekend. I searched on the app 'Hostelworld' for a cheap but good hostel and I found one which looked perfect for me. The room itself was not so special, but the view of the top of the building was amazing. At the top they had a swimming pool with a view over the city of Kuala Lumpur. The room costed me 14 euro's for 1 night, and the view was included! I spent my entire Saturday afternoon, just relaxing and hanging out at the rooftop. In the evening I went to Jalan Alor, which is a street loaded with restaurants and people searching for a good and cheap meal. On my last day of my journey I went to the Batu Caves in the north of KL. With the help of the app 'GrabCar' I found a cab for just 2 euro's, which would take me to the Batu Caves, half an hour away from my hostel. The caves were very nice and interesting to see and walk around, they even had monkeys in it. After a couple of hours wandering around, having lunch and enjoying the view I went back to KL airport to, eventually, arrive at 10PM in my condo in Rayong. The whole journey was new, interesting, informative and useful as well as funny, exhausting and entertaining.