Saturday, January 22, 2005

Fruitful time with my boss !!

Wow ! I spent total of 26 hours 1:1 with my US boss within 2 days. That was awesome. I prayed to god to make this 2 days a memorable one for both of us, and wish that I could make his trip enjoyable. Indeed, it was a great success. Both of us enjoyed the company :)

We tried a few nice yummy food in town. Thursday night, boss told me his limit is 6 glasses of beers ( in US) , but the Tiger beer that he drank in Malaysia, 3 bottles reached his limit. Boy, Thursday night, when he finished his third glass, I quickly asked for bill and sent him back to hotel .... hahaha, I was scared to handle a drunk American man !!!

Friday, we took our own sweet time, slowly sight seeings. I’ve came to know him better, we talked about many things, from work, to family, to hobbies, to countries, dreams etc etc …It’s so cool ! I’m so happy …. Hahaha. Brought him to Palace, Goddess of Haven (Ting Hou Temple), National Mosque, Old railway station, Bangunan Abdul Samad, Merdeka Square, KL Tower, Chinatown, Central Market, Selangor Pewter tour, KLCC twin towers, Batu Caves, a ride on KL Monorail and end the night at Beach Club.

This was the first time my boss did so much shopping. He was amazed with all the shopping he did. In fact, he felt embarrassed, he made me carried a few bags ( to show others those were my shopping, and not his – so mean !!! ). In total, I think he spent RM 2000 on his shopping …so cheap for him using USD. Did I kutuk my country ? Haha, I didn’t … my mindset was tuned upfront to be positive, to be proud of my country and nation…. I gave constructive comment, not the old ‘kutuk’ I used to do …. all turned out perfectly ! U see, Habibi also extended his help. Boss brought up the topic of muslim women covered their whole body till tinggal eyes only. He thinks that’s stupid. So there I was, remembered Habibi, so I explained the Muslim beliefs, their pillars etc , mosque praying, and eventually talked about woman’s sexy hair – why tudung etc , wow ! ( another topic to blog about changes on my side on their religion after my Egypt trip)

Back to my tour guiding, I learnt a few new things today, first, there is this Malaysian craft called TenMoKu Pottery, the clay potteries are very unique, reasonably priced, and cute. Mat Salleh loves them, including me …. They have factory tour at Batu Caves, so next time, I’ll bring my visitors for that tour. My boss enjoyed the potteries so much, he bought 10 of them, walked out the store with BIG SMILEY face. Oh, the store assistant was so polite, friendly and knowledgeable. She helped to make a good impression on Malaysian, yey !!!

Then, we spent time in Selangor Pewter factory in Setapak. Geeee, I’ m impressed with the facility and the tour management. It was such a good tour, we had a tour guide explaining the whole processes, very informative, visitors are well taken care of, bravo – Selangor Pewter ….U made us Proud ! Now, I know that all the Selangor Pewters are hand made. Machines are used to sharpen or smoothen the end products, but the whole production line is manually handled. After the tour, we concluded that the price of the pewter is not expensive anymore, since they are hand made, we learn to appreciate the products more … and of course, my boss burned his pocket at the showroom.

Next Tuesday is Thaipusam – the Indian festival. So, this is the perfect timing to bring my visitor to Batu Caves. Yuh, it was such a HOT day. We walked up the 272 stairs. My boss liked the structure of the caves. We also managed to witness the blessing ceremony and a kavadi. He was so thrilled to see things that he cannot find in US. There I was, I used to ‘kutuk’ Batu Caves to my other visitors, I told them there is nothing fancy about it ..just a caves. Today, my boss gave me a different perspective, the way he appreciates nature …. He was the one commented on Batu Caves, he said it’s ashamed that Batu Caves is the holy place for the Hindus, yet this holy place is full of litter. He said all it takes is just 1/2 day of effort, to have each devotee pick up 1 litter, that will transform the whole place into a clean holy place. ( I totally agree ! )

Next, Chinatown. U know the Popular bookstore street which is full of the ‘bak kuah’ (dried meat) stores. At night, the street is turn into sidewalk café , tables on the street for the Mat Salleh. Well, tonight, I got to experience how was it like to sit down, laid back, drunk some beer and observed people walking past the busy street. All the tables were seated with foreigners with beers……It was kinda cool though, just lepak and checked out people. ( this is something I don’t do normally ). I felt uncomfortable when the locals passing by and kept looking at me, I wonder why ? I cannot sit and lepak meh ?

We had dinner in KLCC, walked around my favourite place, I’m proud of this baby – the sparkling jagung (corn)….I’m glad the night was clear, helped to bring out the best of the twin towers, boss called it the star wars building. (apparently, he is a kampong boy ….. not used to huge tall rise building ).

Then, we hang out at the Beach Club. Now, here, I kiasi lioa, why ? He already had 5 bottles of beers before Beach Club, I takut he get drunk. Luckily the Carls’ that we had at Beach Club was lousy, too diluted, else susah…. Anyway, it was kinda weird for me to go clubbing with my manager, (without me, he may have some ‘luck’). I felt under-dressed as well, went with t-shirt, jeans skirt and SLIPPER. Whereas the ladies dressed up nicely, spaghetti strap with high heels..I looked like china ah sow :(. While boss eyeing on girls, I of course turned my eyes to other direction and tried to do something lah, so I observed other people. There were many sexily dressed philippino ladies, it seemed so easy for them to pick up mat sallehs. Fun observing them.

I praised lord for giving me the strength to stay positive, with the right mindset, and achieved my intention of ‘connecting with him’, for both of us to know each other more. I know Darrell enjoyed his trip thru his sincere appreciation. Our time was well spent, not hectic, very easy going that he had the peace mind to break his shopping record ! We’ve talked about many ‘dreams’, ending this, I wish those dreams turn into reality….. fruitful days with Darrell , proud of my contribution as a tour guide.

4 comments:

Ringgit Me said...

Looks like my evil comment on your "Be positive about my country" blog works eh? :P

I believe each country has her own charm (to the tourist). The locals will definitely have a lot of issues with how their countries are run - even "1st world country" like UK or America. They have different issues such as gay liberty or guns control or dirty public transport (for example London's Tube was really dirty). But the tourist need not know (or may not even care) about the issues locals faced with the country they are visiting. Therefore why kutuk when you could paint a nice picture? After all there are many nice views to be discovered.

I may not like MY, but it is still "tanah tumpah darahku..."

Ringgit Me said...

Forgot to add... I learned this from reading about the War on Iraq. There are a few sects in Islam as well, just like in Christianity, there are the Catholics, Protestants, Coptics, etc. Two major group in Islam are the Sunnis and Shias. Malaysians Muslims are Sunnis. SO are Egyptians and Saudi Arabia. Iraq has 60% Sunnis and around 40% Shias and Iran and Afganistan has majority Shias. Shias are the group that still believe in the old teachings (just like PAS in Kelantan) so you can see Shias women are covered completely except the eyes. Sunnis are more "modern". Something you can explain to your boss too :P

rotitelur said...

I am proud to be Malaysian, still I do not like to live there.

rotitelur said...

I am proud to be Malaysian, still I do not like to live there.