7 days in Port Dickson

I left civilization for a week and headed to PD for
1. Shell Family Day celebration in Guoman
2. Industrial training assignment and stayed in corus

No internet, no friends, no family, no larnee. When i was staying in Corus for the week, i had buffet breakfast by myself everyday. Dinner buffet by myself. Some days were just too depressing so i resorted to room service food.

Here are the few meals i ate. As you can see im really bored in the hotel all alone and spent most of my time taking pics


Pic of the bed


The other half of my room



And the view outside my window


View of the beach



Food i ate at the hotel

Er.. beef steak with scallops, william potatoes and asparagus with horlicks


Spaghetti Bolognaise, carrot juics and a tropical platter



Khoo Fatt fried rice with carrot juice


Finished eating the chicken rice. and the tropical platter again with coconut water.



What was i doing the whole week?
Well, this rail tail wagon vessels need to be re-qualified every 10 years to ensure that its safe to use and transport liquefied petroleum gas (yes cooking gas). The plant in pd is the main plant and redistributes the LPG to Johor and Ipoh through the railway track for filling in other states.

Pic of the vessels that need requalification


The process, free the gas from the vessel. Flush it out with water. Gas test and oxygen content test to ensure safe entry for cleaning. Magnetic partical ink test to ensure to crack propogations and hydrotesting (pumps the vessel to a certain pressure to ensure its safe to use, uses either nitrogen or water. this case water coz nitrogen too exp) and non destructive tests

Picture of Joseph gearing up


Picture of the the contract worker's first entrance emergency rescue procedure simulation before given approval to start work.



Pic of Ravi double checking Joseph's breathing apparatus



Pic of the maintenance shed where the vessel will be towed to for requalification


Pic of the baffle plate that reinforces the vessel. Can you see the rust? doesnt mean that the vessel has been gas freed and flushed with water and it still isnt dangerous. The rust scales might have trapped some LPG gas inside them or have reacted with LPG to form some pyrophoric compound.





Pic of the KTM routing control board



It my sound easy but there are alot of safety procedures to follow to ensure that people dont blow themselves up. I mean ALOT and they are VERY stringent.

What was my role?
I had to make sure they dont blow themself up. I had to make sure all the equipment were explosion proof(torch lights,2 way radios etc). Ensure that they dont simply smoke and use the handphone in the maintenance vicinity. Keep a daily log and report activities to my superior. Liaising with the KTM, contracted re-qualifiers with Shell. In short i was the ear, eyes, mouth and hands of Shell stranded in the middle of the railway track.


Fun while working?
yeah man.. i got to ride the engine around the refinery track when they were towing empty operational vessels for filling.

Pic of me in the engine


The gear changer of the engine. and the reverse lever underneath it.



Rare signage irresistable camwhoring moment




Besides that, at night the contractors took me out in aid to fend off boredom to me. So they bought me drinks, food and also a few games of pool which Ravi trashed my ass. Thanks Mr. Choo, director of Risen Engineering. Had a talk with him on how his started his business and how he manages it and the potention in engineering jobs. He took me to 2 bars which featured filipino live bands, the one in Corus and the other in Royal Adelphi in Seremban. Drinks i tried, magarita, singapore sling and santa's something. hahhaa. and beers of course. Didnt drink much coz the next day i had to work and i need to be on top of my game to make sure nothing stupid goes on.

Ravi promised to take me out fishing on his motor boat if i come back to PD the following week after christmas to oversee the rest of the project. But i told him, whether im coming back or not relies entirely on Mr. Zaid (Shell engineering manager for LPG sector)

So.. how much did Shell spend on me?
Well, internet charges, room service, dinner buffets, breakfast buffets, laundry services were paid for.



A spanking total of 1119.90 ringgit. feeling guilty? yeah, abit. Feeling fortunate? hell yeah!

What have i learnt?

Well, liaising with the contractors, and the KTM workers is not an easy thing. Most of them only have secondary highshool education and some primary school. being a young kiddo that goes there and supervises them is kinda uninvited for. Plus im just a trainee. So what i had to do was to bring myself down to their par, converse with them like i know them for ages..communicated humbly and friendly. The best ice breaker for these simple fold are, "sudah makan ker belum?" in a very friendly manner. In return they will offer you coffee, biscuits or a story. At first i was intimidated by their presence being the only chinese among the indians and malays. but later to my suprise they are all very friendly ppl who doesnt care less about who or where you come from, it didnt take me long to get used to the scenario.

AND engineering stuff of course. Regulations, saftey procedures, risk that accompanies petroleum industries, technical knowledge, mechanical knowledge on gate and ball valves.