Boredworkers.com

The event kicked off on Friday (17 March 2006). I finally got around to checking out this year’s first MATTA Fair yesterday (Saturday, second day). As I’ve said previously the fair is a 3 day event held at PWTC. This is the first of two large travel fairs to be organised by MATTA this year. At 12 noon Saturday, I came, I saw, and I conquered (more or less).

My first impression, when I arrived, was that the fair seemed a little subdued compared to previous years. The crowd was smaller than I had anticipated. Maybe this is due to the recent MAS Travel Fair. Or maybe it was because this time round, the exhibition ground occupied and was spread out over a larger piece of real estate. The travel exhibits were divided into two categories. Local vacations were housed in Halls 3 and 4, while international travel was located at Halls 1 and 2 which was located on the other side of the river.

Most people probably don’t know this but there are two entrances to this year’s fair. The first is from PWTC. This is probably the more convenient entrance of the two because it is centrally located and you can gain easy access to all the halls. However, there is a second entrance from Jalan Ipoh (the other side of the river) which leads into Hall 1. That means that visitors can come in through that side and avoid the congestion in town.

To get to PWTC, the best option is to take the public transport. Komuter, Putra LRT, and Star LRT all stop within walking distance of the venue which makes them convenient entry and getaway vehicles. Unlike PC Fair, you usually don’t make large item purchases at travel fairs. More often than not, the purchases you make comes in the form of a coupon or receipt. For that reason, a car is usually unnecessary as you don’t have to lug around bulky items. But that’s a matter of choice, as the traffic wasn’t all too bad while I was there.

As usual, there is a entrance fee of RM3.00 per person. I never understood the reason for this. Don’t they already collect the fees from the exhibitors? IMHO, collecting from the visitors is a turnoff. But I suppose they make good money out of the collection which goes a long way to line someone’s coffers, I’m sure. But that’s really besides the point. Upon paying the entree fee, you will be provided with a ticket strip which you wrap around your wrist (or if you’re really thin, you can wear it around your arm or as a choker). The ticket is valid on the day of purchase only and will gain you passage to all the halls. However, they are invalid if unpeeled (e.g. not stuck), or torn.

You can also collect a complimentary guide to the exhibition halls at the ticketing counter. These come in both English and Chinese. I suggest taking one of these and locating the booths that are of interest to you before heading in to avoid going around in circles. The following are the unofficial layouts as published by MATTA on 15 February 2006:

Inside, the crowd was pretty thin as well. While there were people milling around, hunting for bargains, the place wasn’t quite as crowded as I thought it would be. The PIKOM PC Fair sees a larger turnout. I even managed to spot an ex-colleague shopping for a vacation in Hall 2.

Someone asked me earlier whether MAS would be setting up shop during the fair. Well, the answer is yes. They had a presense there. As far as I could tell, in terms of price, it was the same as the packages offered during their own MAS Travel Fair 2006. I suppose that was to be expected. It would be counter-productive to offer further discounted packages only weeks after your own travel fair. If they did that, then no one would be interested in MASTF.

Anyway, after walking the halls for two hours, WL and I finally purchased two tickets to Singapore’s Night Safari. That was ALL that we purchased. We had initially planned to look for accomodations in Cambodia and Singapore. However, after discussing it over with our travel mates, we decided to wing it on accomodations. However, that’s not to say that there aren’t any interesting offers. More on that in my coming posts.

The Night Safari tickets cost RM35.00 per person, discounted from its original price of RM44.00 (S$20.00) and are valid till the end of the year (31 December 2006). However, after factoring in the public transport (RM2.00) and entrance fee (RM5.00), we only managed to save RM4.00 per person. Kinda sad, all things considered. But at least we can say that we didn’t walk away from the fair empty handed. So yeah, VINI, VIDI, VICI. We came, we saw, we conquered.

On our way out of Hall 3, we were ambushed by marketeers and credit card pushers. The approach these people take are really in your face. They literally jump in front of you and push their promotions into your face. Good thing I didn’t run over any of them. I stopped for one of the credit cards to see what they had to offer. Almost immediately after I was done talking with the guy, two more guys came up to me to enrol me in theirs. Don’t these people have any respect for personal space?

As if that wasn’t bad enough, we were also dragged into one of those time sharing vacation schemes. If I’m not mistaken, this one was by Mines Travel (e.g. Palace Of Golden Horses). Since I had received numerous calls prior to this (whoever dropped my name, you just wait till I find out) I decided to go in and listen to what they have to offer. The club membership package actually sounded quite good. That was until they revealed the cost. RM40,000 for diamond package and RM25,000 for gold packages! And the buggers even have standby loans from Southern Bank Berhad (SBB and soon to be taken over by CIMB). I’ve heard of taking loans for business, house, car… but vacation? That’s kinda ridiculous.

Anyway, there will be a second MATTA Fair held on 22 September 2006 to 24 September 2006. Between now and then, MATTA will also be organising several mini travel fairs at other states in Malaysia. Announced are the Penang (30 June 2006) and Negeri Sembilan (07 July 2006) chapters. So, for those of you who can’t make it to this round, or you’re planning a trip for the end of the year, or you’re staying in Penang or Negeri Sembilan, take note of these dates.

So, did you pay MATTA MITM Fair March 2006 a visit? Did you manage to find any good bargains? If yes, please do tell me about them ;)