From a work perspective, it was a good meeting - learning and people (sometimes known as HR) leaders from all the countries in the Far East Area. I found it personally very educational and inspiring to hear about all of the initiatives across the area. Any observer would notice that there clearly are some countries that are more advanced than others even though we have similar business models, methodologies and initiatives. I also couldn't help have that heavy and sinking feeling as the week went by how behind we are in some of our infrastructure and programs. On one hand it validates that my job is important and critical, on the other hand, it can be quite discouraging how much needs to be accomplished! Overall, I came out of it hopeful but and with a healthy sense of anxiety to move on with things in Taiwan. I called a meeting with my direct reports first thing Monday morning and dropped a whole list of to-dos and action items. One of them kindly reminded me that this week is a three day work week! (No, we don't get Good Friday off, but we do get Tomb Sweeping day off as a public holiday, but it does work out).
We had a wonderful time catching up with our friend JW. One of my best friends and roommates from university who is in Malaysia doing research for his PhD program. JW has always challenged me in his non-confrontational but confrontational way (yes, I think I typed it right). Through questions and his own genuine seeking, I am challenged to live my life as a Christian in a more real way than ever. He's been in Malaysia a few weeks now, so he was a good guide to local food.
During the week, I also had a chance to meet some new Malaysian co-workers. I was telling Sandra and JW that it was a little unexpected that I'm developing potential and closer friendships with co-workers from different countries and relatively less in Taiwan. Great, but not the way I expected things to turn out. It was great having local hosts to take us eat to what we termed as "local local" food (meaning staying away from the international hotels and aka "expensive food" although we also did this a few nights thanks to uncle E). Many of these same people will be heading up to Beijing for our tool launch in mid-April, so are already using instant messaging bandwidth to plan weekend activities in Beijing. I'm thankful for these new relationships.
The theme of diversity in social-economical circles continues to impress upon me as we spent a few days in KL. It reinforces how somewhat "sheltered" I felt in Canada with its large middle class and growing up middle class. In Asia there are lots of people who would be undeniably "poor" and lots undeniably "rich" (financially). In between, there's even more and I think it's more difficult to say "middle class". Per a few local friends, the average income in Malaysia is about US$4,000 per year. Yet you see all sorts of new and expensive imported cars. The cars are even more expensive than you'd think with literally hundreds of percent in import tariffs! The week in KL was a cultural tour in different social and economical circles (to a certain extent). My cheapest meal was heading out with local co-workers to each Indian food off the back of a truck (yes, local unlicensed food vendors set-up a lunch spread of maybe 30-40 different dishes on a flat bed truck around the corner from the office). You pick your various dishes and with a quick eyeball of the food, I was charged 4 Ringgit, just over US$1. This would probably be a working to working middle class lunch. (btw, I didn't get sick even though this was day two and I broke all the common sense travelling rules - street food, uncooked fruit/vegetables, ice and milk from my local milk tea served in a bag - wonderful!). At the other end of the spectrum was the US$100 aged Angus Australian rib-eye steak dinner, clam chowder with beef bacon (Malaysia is over 50% Muslin), mashed potatoes with truffle oil, etc. (For those of you who are business travellers, the KL Hilton is by far my favourite Hilton!.. don't worry, we moved to a more budget alternative for the weekend)
The other key impression of Malaysia was the absolute mix of languages and dialects. Guidebooks vary, but just over 50% are Malay, 25-30% Chinese, Indian and other. I knew that many of the Chinese in Malaysia come originally from Fukien province in China but what I didn't expect was the significant use of Cantonese as well. I didn't know whether to feel confused or impressed with the ability of many of the local people we met who could switch between dialects without a blink. Many of the ethnic Chinese taxi drivers or street hawkers (food establishments) would flip between English, Malay, Mandarin, Cantonese and presumably Fukien dialect (from which Taiwanese dialect has its roots). We were joking that maybe we should have gone to Malaysia to learn Mandarin! Quite impressive... In fact, from the countries represented in our business meeting the following could speak some form of Mandarin - China, Hong Kong and Taiwan (of course), Singapore, Guam (yes, a Chinese partner in Guam, and yes, we have an office in Guam) and even the Korean partner could read Chinese and make better attempts at speaking Mandarin! For my Monday Mandarin class, I was tongue twisted for the first 30 minutes because I was mixing up my tones - immersion does help your language studies!
KL is a beautiful city with really interesting ethnic diversity. Commercially it is quite developed and advanced. We enjoyed visiting some of the more ethnically concentrated parts of the city - Chinatown, Little India and an area called Bukit Bintang (this is the posh upscale are of 5 star hotels, shady massage parlours, trendy night clubs and local street hawker markets)... attracts a unique and diverse crowd of its own.
On the Saturday night, we were enjoying a traditional Malaysian Chinese meal in the middle of a street with many open air street hawker food stands (I must stay that we think this might even beat the Taiwan night market) ... enjoying our BBQed stingray, fresh spicy curry shrimp, satay skewers and large bottles of Tiger beer.. contemplating whether we would find a church to go to or not (a week in KL and no churches in sight!) and there down the road, was a bright, big and blue neon cross - the KL Baptist Church! So the next morning, we joined 500 other people in the English service of what must be one of the larger churches in KL. The senior pastor was speaking and interestingly enough shared about his recent trip to the Baptist convention delegation meeting to discuss and evaluation the definition and meaning of being a "Baptist". What a blessing to witness God's work in different parts of the world and sing the familiar and comforting "Shine Jesus Shine"!
I'll end with an anecdote for our board game playing friends from back home. JW is an avid Settlers of Catan player and has also gotten some of his UK friends into it. He heard that there was an entire black market for fake board games in Malaysia - including Settlers, Monopoly and who knows what. Even though we hadn't fully decided our ethical stance on the "purchase" of such items, the three of us were determined to find and witness the quality and availability of such "copies". In the end, we were disappointed that after trips to Chinatown, various local markets in complexes and the streets, we didn't get our chance to face the temptation or opportunity to purchase such items! We did find lots of branded shoes, shirts (including ones with HUGE six inch polo logos and watches. You can get some more common Rolexes for 10 Ringgit (less than US$3) - no I'm not taking orders. I'm still skeptical, but our friend JW has a few more weeks to check it out. For now, I'll hold on to my Ringgit and see if I'll do the "right" thing when and if the opportunity comes... (can't I even purchase one for interest and not for "use"!)?
Some scenes of the different "landscape" of KL. It's quite the mixture of commercial development and traditional buildings.
Here is a typical street with the "street hawker" stands - great local food! For the record, the three of us officially don't like Durian!
A change of scenery around the corner to the upscale bar and shopping facility where the rich and famous of KL come to be seen.
Church in KL - see the neon cross at the end of the street?
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