*Burhan is pictured on the right with his colleagues*

Mohd Burhanudin is a bus attendant on board the Penang Hop-On Hop-Off. Most commonly known as Burhan amongst his colleagues, the 27 year old is born and bred in Penang. Having joined his current company in January 2018, Burhan enjoys meeting people and is able to start a conversation with just about anybody.

Having worked in a travel agency before this, it is easy to see that Burhan loves to meet people. “I love meeting people from all across the world and listening to their stories. It does not matter where they are from, what is their skin color, I will listen to their stories if they are willing to talk. To me, it is interesting when visitors tell me of their travel stories. Passengers would tell me of the time they got pickpocketed whilst backpacking in Europe or when they went to the safari in South Africa” said Burhan.

Whilst he was working in the travel agency, Burhan shared that he would set up a booth in the Batu Ferringhi night market after work. “I sold souvenirs at the night market after work and weekends. There, I met a lot of friends and visitors. Most often than not, when they visit my booth to buy souvenirs, I would recommend them some hole-in-the-wall food places that many of them would not know of. You know, those places that you would not see in a travel guide. This is because I want to introduce them to some authentic Penang food. After all, Penang is a food heaven.”

As the bus progressed along its route, Burhan introduced each and every sight over the microphone. If the passengers had any questions, Burhan is able to answer them immediately. He is also able to communicate is a few different languages, although not fluently. “We get visitors from all around the world all the time. Sometimes, it is very difficult to communicate with them due to the language barrier. This is when Google Translate comes in handy. I use it very often to get my message across to foreigners.”

Burhan is very content with his current job and said that is a good learning platform for him. As he dreams of having his own travel agency, this job has taught him well on how to attend to the various needs of visitors. He said that this experience will be useful in the future when he is able to achieve his dream.