Eating, Praying & Loving... well into 2012

I am thankful for the love that surrounds me everyday, for the opportunities that come my way, for the great experiences I can learn from. I am thankful for the food on my table, clothes on my back and roofs over my head.

In a flash of a flash, it is almost time to bid farewell to 2011. When they say time flies, they weren't kidding. And the end of the year would mark my full year of embracing a new positive attitude, glass-full and all..... For those who just stepped in, do read Part 1 & Part 2 of my Eating, Praying & Loving journey :)

Well, the year wasn't without its ups and downs for me. And definitely not short of dramas either. What with broken partnerships, crazeeee clients, set-backs after set-backs, and busting my knees too. There had been times that were really challenging, tearful times when I saw my glass bloody half-empty - again! In fact, my whole training regime took a dive because even as I pushed, my timing was getting slower and slower and my body was constantly coming up with pain at places I didn't know existed! And I just felt like the powers out there were really rocking my boat. I remembered a chat I was having with my Mom over G-Talk and I told her "Whoever I am praying to, they have abandoned me!!"


I learnt to have unwavering faith. OMG! Who knew that keeping faith was so bloody hard? But I preservered. I chose to "spiral up" (as Eminem says) instead of spiralling down. Why choose your glass half-empty when you can choose to see it as half-full, right? Hard as it may be some days, many days, especially during PMS :P, I soldiered on. And I continued praying. 31st December 2011 would also mark 402 days of me praying. I am keeping faith indeed :)

2011 had been a rather interesting journey for me actually. There had been several learning curves, both on the work and business front as well as on the personal front. But eversince I tried to synchronize my mind and my heartbeats with that of the Universe, I have been presented with "signs" and "words of wisdoms" that seemed to be really useful at times. I'm not really sure how this works. It could be the fact that I am no longer "blinded" by my negativities that I see the signs around me or it could really be the miracles of the universe at work. Who knows.

The last few months were actually the most trying. But why focus on the crap of 2011, right? :) When things were not going according to plan and in fact, there are many things still up in the air for me right now, my best friend said this to me : "Why don't you just go with the flow and enjoy the adventure?" Yes, agreed. I just hope she forgives me when I once again do a no-show in NZ to see her and new-born baby girl..... (Honest! I was THIS close to booking the tickets!!) At the end of the day, I think a lot of things happen for a reason. Whether the reason is simply just a learning experience, or aligning you towards your future..... they're all reasons.

A 'gang' of us were talking about regrets recently. Of course, I have regrets. So many. For one - I should've taken up criminal studies more seriously instead of the glam world of advertising. Two - I should've taken up competitive sports more seriously when I was in school instead of seeing it as free periods meant for playing. That is just to name a couple. BUT - as I said, I think things happen for a reason. Why am I here? Why am I not there? What made me make this decision? Was it wrong? Was it right? Or was the decision leading to something I did not know? - are you still following me right now? :) End of the day, what is the use of crying over spilt milk? I am not part of the BAU. I'll live with that :P I'll just engage in my fantasies watching Criminal Minds / CSI on TV. And who's to say, I would be happy doing criminal forensics as my career? Right? Right? Right.

Having done away with dwelling in my "regrets", I have learnt to accept failure as a grand learning experience. Just because something didn't work out, it does not mean I am blacklisted for life. All I need to know is that I gave it my best effort. And it didn't work out because there are bigger things out there waiting for me. It's just the way the universe aligns itself apparently. And with that too - I've come to a high point in my life where I feel I no longer need or want to prove anything to anyone. I don't need to be driving around in a Lexus to show people I am successful. In fact, I go around town riding pillion on a Honda kap-chai on weekends here. I used to feel 'embarassed', and I think "OMG, I don't want clients seeing me on this beaten-down motodop!!" But you know what? Clients hire us for our brains. Not for the cars we drive or the expensive bags we carry or whatever. Like I said, at the end of the day, people are free to say and think what they like. I don't have to prove to anyone that I am wherever I am. And it feeeeels grrreeeeat !! :) *and cue song : Lighters by Bad Meets Evil :)

I've had a fair few really great and nice clients this year and also a handful of  - "crazeees" for my wedding business. I think the 'crazees' were there for a reason. What was the reason? Do, read on. I guess, the final straw was when a client wanted a free-tasting session for USD8 champagnes (I'll never let this go) and there they sat, opening bottles after bottles of "affordable" champagnes and commenting about bubbles and textures and taste. Now, see, I am not a connoisseur of champagnes, but even I know what to expect from bloody USD8 champers. I was praying so hard for the strength to not pour the bottle of champagne down their heads. I wanted to scream "You stupid bi-a-tch! There are people with no food and you are here bitching about USD8 champagnes??!" Whilst I kept my cool and professionalism (and damn proud of it), I couldn't sleep that night because I was raging internally. And therefore, my belief that money doesn't buy us happiness had been reinforced.

On the other hand, together with my local team, I've taken on more "charitable" work stuff, mostly for those which causes I support. The latest being the MTV Exit Campaign which fights human trafficking in this region. I remember the first meeting with World Vision and all involved, when we were presented with the harsh truth about human trafficking, I was.... shocked, appalled and ashamed. So, just like that - I decided on doing the job even if there was no profit to be made. And here's the catch - these "free work" that I do - so enjoyable! It gives me a buzz even though I'm poorer !! It gives me new experiences and also new learning curves for my local team too. Although, poor local team of mind - it's Hell's Kitchen everyday for them as well. LOL! New Year's resolution - I promise to try to be more patient and less Gordon Ramsey-like with them. Truth is, they ARE a good team. But things are just harder in Cambodia. Period.

Anyway, as such, whilst there are still a few things that are up-in-the-air for me (and I am still learning to let it be and not worry about it), I have made a partial decision to scale back on my time spent on work / business stuff and I am increasing my personal time spent on voluntary work for the new year. To start with, I am going to be more involved with the kids at the orphanage and will be planning music lessons, English lesson, fitness lessons, art lessons and other recreational activities for them. Apparently, recreational activities are good for children who are HIV+. Where I am unable to teach (like art - because I cannot draw to save my life), I will try to enlist help from other kind-hearted souls. For the elder kids, I will be sitting down with them to talk about their future as well. Bottomline is - I am going to do ALL I CAN to make things happen for them and help them become inspiring people. With the blessings from all the powers out there, I'll pull through and I'll pull them through. Of course, I am looking for guidance from the staff at the orphanage as well as this is a totally new area for me. And you know what they say about laws of attraction? I am attracting so many kind-hearted people! To all of you who have helped me helped these kids - they are great kids - I am truly grateful. To my NS team back in KL - thank you for your support too :)

On the flight back from KL recently, I had the 'good luck' of sitting surrounded by Cambodian maids returning to Cambodia. One of them was in tears and relating her story of hardship as a maid in Malaysia. I tried not to eavesdrop, but since I can comprehend the language a little, I couldn't help it. I felt really sorry for her. Looking back, I've really had a privileged life. Nope, I didn't have maids or nannies or chauffeurs. I walked to school and we had to wash our own uniforms and help with the household chores, etc. But my middle-class parents have struggled to provide for my brother and I and I wasn't shipped away for economic reasons to god-forsaken countries to be maids or whatever else people are trafficked for. In fact, I've had piano lessons, taekwondo lessons, I went to the Outward Bound School, and if not for the rotan-rotan-rotan for every 'A' that I did not produce in my report card, I don't think I would be where I am today. Again, as with all families, we've had our dramas and I've had my teenage rebellion spell too (running away and all, hahahha!). But I am thankful for the upbringing I had. We're not rich, but we're rich in so many other ways. And because I have led such a privileged life, I think it's high time I helped those who need it. I have also set my sights on several other NGOs supporting the vulnerable groups and have made appointments to see them soon. I am humbled to think that in this instance - these NGOs will consider whether I am suited for the voluntary work and it's not about me just saying yes, I'll do it. In fact, wherever I may be, Timbaktoo for all I care, this is my plan. THIS IS my next step.

As for paying clients,...... I will check whether our hearts are beating in synch or not before I sign on the dotted line :P I am good at my job. No, I am DAMN GOOD at my job. But I don't think I want to feel miserable doing the work. I don't want to do a half-ass job for the client just because I'm frustrated or my heart's not in it (and our hearts are not beating as one :P) or I am forced to be calculative with the clients. I will give clients a great event or a great wedding - provided they give me a great planning experience in return. Money? Let's make it worth both our whiles. Fair deal, I say.

I may see a dip in my income..... BUT..... I know I will always have food on my table, clothes on my back and roofs over my head. A friend posted this on her FB status a couple weeks ago : -

"The more I give away to others - my possessions, my money, my time, myself - the more fulfilled I am and the less I lack because there is always, ALWAYS, Divine Providence. Sometimes it's just what I need, but mostly it's over and above."

... and when I read that, I was like "BINGO!" Something clicked! See, what did I tell you about reading signs? All these signs are flashing in front of my face everywhere I looked, be it on FB, on TV, or simply a banner across the street. Used to be, they zoomed right past me. But now, I see them. I see them all!

I have new clothes all the way till CNY 2030 - (private joke only a few are privy of. LOL!). If you look through my photos - I am someone who don't have a large range of wardrobe. I can wear the same stuff over and over again every week and it doesn't bother me. MasterChef MOH will always know what to do with spicing up my meals - leftovers or not. And come what may, I know I have a room back in my parents' home. So, therefore, I'm grand :) Over and above that, I am truly blessed with so much love in my life. And laughter too :) I am thankful for the dosage of laughter MOH provides me everyday :)

"You may think you have challenges, but you have so many blessings. Sometimes it takes only a moment of conscious effort to recognize those blessings. Once you focus on the gifts instead of the problems, your whole perspective will change and you will see blessings everywhere." 


As I usher into the new year, full of anticipation and a sense of adventure (hopefully, I'll also regain my racing fitness and sign up for another tri-race soon), I promise that I will continue Eating, Praying and Loving well into 2012.

So,...... to ALL - have a blast on New Year's Day! Happy 2012! May it be Money Come! Money Come! and All Good Things Come too! :)


p/s : For my friends, or anyone for that matter, who may have had a rough ride in 2011, it's time you buckled up. 2012 is going to be a super-awesome ride!

Karma's A Bitch

* This post is a special dedication to all who felt like they had been cheated or taken for a ride.

I remember a wedding I planned years ago, where I met the stingiest, most cheapskate couple and both their families ever in my entire life. The five-day wedding was a nightmare for the crew and every single vendor who were part of the wedding - from the hotel right down to the hired van drivers. The funny thing was - the entire wedding, from Day 1 till Day 5 went perfectly well. Not even a single glitch - even with the Skpye-In speech by the groom's cousin. You'd think the internet would've created some havoc at least! But nope, weather was perfect, the food was great, the prayer ceremonies and traditional ceremonies went like clockwork beautifully. And still, at the end of the day, the client refused to pay everyone in full. By then, we were all so tired and couldn't wait to get out of there, we just left. (The sound system guy went as far as telling the client that the balance payment shall be "donated" to them).

On the way back, we had the pleasure of being on the same flight as the groom family's priest who presided over all the traditional ceremonies. Funny thing was, all of us on that flight got to talking and found out that the priest too was equally unhappy about the way everyone was treated by the family. Here's what the priest had to say to us and I will remember this forever :

"There is no need to be upset about your payment, ya. You see, the family is cheating money from here, there and everywhere only to have to use those monies to pay for the groom's medicine."

You see, the groom had a long-term illness.

So, my friends, they say Karma's A Bitch. You better believe it.


** cartoon taken from cheezadiddle.deviantart.com  

Weddings Are Meant To Be Beautiful

** I am so tardy with my blog these days, I fear cobwebs are growing around it

Over the course of my career, I have met quite a few "crazies" in terms of clientele. You know, clients who want it fast, cheap and good, clients who kick up a dramatized fuss about changing the copy from "a" to "the", clients who decide you are supposed to finance their business because they are a popular brand, etc. Then I expanded into planning weddings. Brides are a whole different breed really. Over the years and with many steep learning curves climbed, I have learnt to manage these clients, these crazies, the best way possible. I have had my finer moments and I have had my not-so-fine moments where if given a chance, I would push the person off the cliff. Or myself.

When it comes to bridal "crazies", I have realized that my patience can be stretched pretty far, even though patience is not my virtue. At the end of the day, it is about understanding the psyche of a bride. Or even a groom for that matter. I mean, after all, it is their big day and who ever thinks about "Oh, if this doesn't go well, we'll do it again?" for a wedding, right? So, I can deal with the "I want it and I want it NOW!" or the 6am calls on Sunday mornings or the 8pm calls at nights. I have even learnt to deal with brides who expect me to snap my fingers and stop rain - like I am God or something.

Therefore, having established myself and my name in this business - not without the help of my partners and a strong network of great industry vendors of course, I am more cautious when choosing my clients. But yet again, I sometimes have my not-so-fine-moments when making such a decision. And recently, this "un-fine" moment surfaced.

You see, I'm a sucker for weddings and all things romantic. I still cry at weddings - even though they are not mine. (Yes, this Eminem fan has a soft side too). So therefore, when this particular groom looked me up out of desperation, I took on the job. In all honesty, the fee wasn't that fantastic. I laid out my terms and these terms had to be customized because there was only 30 days left to the wedding and zero had been accomplished. We agreed and signed-off. And then in waltzed his TV star bride. And this was when things became a nightmare. Sensing that things aren't going to go down well, I had twice asked the groom to please take back his deposit - even though under contract, I am not liable to return his deposit. But twice, the groom, sounded desperately apologetic and said it will all be sorted out. I don't even know where my sense of "kindness" was coming from!! I even offered to help him on a "friendship basis" but he insisted I get paid for my work. But the whole drama escalated to a climax yesterday evening. Within a span of half an hour, the bride had called 4 times, changing her decision from cancel to limited production to cancel again to "Fine, I'll take the whole lot, but it must be delivered NOW." She knows that there was no way production of 1,000pcs of favours will be completed within one week. Yet.... She even threatened that if we don't do as she wants, she would "use her mouth to ruin our reputation."

Ah, you see.... I can take alot of nonsense. But I don't sit down to being threatened. I have to say this again because I enjoy saying it - last I checked, she was no Angelina Jolie. Sorry, to burst your bubbles, babe. Reality hurts, huh? I have a rock-solid career and credentials and if you think a local 'celebrity' can ruin me, I would've been ruined long time ago. I am so happy that I am such an anal-freak when it comes to black & white documentation. I can easily ruin her too by going to the press with all these. But I choose to take the high road. Meanwhile, where was the groom? Nowhere to be found. (Until this morning, when he called and apologized yet again and said let's move on. I say what??!) We're counting 18 days and still zero accomplished except for the favours drama.

That's the thing I don't get. Weddings are meant to be beautiful. A day where you celebrate LOVE with all those near and dear to you. A day that is filled with laughter and love permeating the very air that we breathe. Because it is such an enjoyable day, filled with blessings from loved ones, friends, acquaintances and sometimes, even passing-strangers, the lead-up to it should be an enjoyable one too. Isn't it? So why then do some people insist on making it a stressful and dramatized journey?

If you have hired a professional wedding planner or any professional wedding vendors, trust them to do their job. They've been doing this for years and they have credentials and portfolios to show for it. Do you walk into A Cut Above and pay the Creative Director 500 bucks to style your hair, but instead, you are teaching her how to cut your hair? Then why bother paying? If you have a budget, stick to it. But manage your expectations. Everyone has a budget. Even myself for my own wedding. Money don't grow on trees. I GET THAT and I understand that. But use reason and common sense to manage your expectations. You do not buy gold for the price of iron. It simply doesn't happen. As planners, we will strive to get you the best deals with the best quality possible matching the price paid. But remember this always - you pay peanuts, you get monkies. And ANY professional vendor will NEVER  want to make monkies out of your wedding. If you are getting peanuts, I advise you to double and triple check your deal. Of course, there are rare occasions where a really good deal is offered. 

Above all, treat your vendors with respect. We are not your butlers or your slaves. I have no issues helping you carry your gown, your bags, your shoes or helping your guests get a SIM card. But that is only because I LIKE YOU as a person and you respect me as a professional. If you were unkind and disrespectful, I will tell you that carrying your shoes and what-nots are not part of my jobscope. However much you are paying me at that point is irrelevant. Period. When a client calls me during lunch hour and asks "Eileen, is it ok to talk now? I know it is your lunch hour but I need to check on something..." I feel I want to do more for this client. But when a client calls me at 6am on a Sunday morning and then lambast me for not answering my phone because I am supposed to be available to her 24 hours of the day - I feel I need to memorize the contract and only perform according to my jobscope. There you go! The truth. I am pretty sure many of my industry friends share these feelings too.

Over and above that - never resort to threaten your hired professional. Sure, throw your bridal tantrums if you must. I know it gets stressful towards the big day. But don't ever, ever threaten to put your hired vendor out of business ESPECIALLY if you are the one being unreasonable. Because, let me tell you another secret - any vendors worth their salt DO NOT NEED your fees to survive. We are simply established enough to just move on. Many of us, we are in this business because we love and enjoy our jobs (aside from being suckers for pain :P) and for sure, we want to share the happiest moment of your lives with you. We want to see you laugh like there is no tomorrow and cry with joy (I will cry together with you for sure!). Bottomline - we love our jobs. We don't do this to survive. Sure, it pays for my triathlon training, and if I don't do your job, perhaps, I do one race less. Big deal. Always remember that.

Like I said, weddings are meant to be beautiful. You want blessings from loved ones, family, friends and all those who know you and share your day. Another secret - vendors do complain and do bitch about unreasonable and crazy clients. We are professionals and we smile and perform and make sure you have a great wedding and we may not bitch out loud and neither will we bitch to other people about it, but when we get back to the office, amongst ourselves, we might bitch, we might swear, we might curse. It is only natural simply because we need to release our frustrations too. We are after all, only humans. Do you want blessings or curses on your wedding day?

Because weddings are meant to be beautiful and the memory of that wedding day is meant to carry your love through for the rest of your lives together. When all your guests and all those who have worked on your wedding share the same joy and laughter, it is a truly, truly remarkable experience. Everytime you think about your wedding, you smile - even on the toughest, bleakest day. I say this because this is my experience with my own wedding. Let the small things slide and enjoy the day. Because perspective-wise - I think it is more important to have the right man standing next to me when exchanging my vows instead of worrying about the damn glasses being set on the table in a perfectly straight line.

I would have happily traipsed down the aisle even if I had a hole in my gown (would've still prefered the sarong though :P) simply because I was walking towards the man I truly love. This is what a wedding is to me. What about you?

Lighters

I am one who collects song lyrics. I have a very large collection of lyrics simply because I love words. I wish I could write songs too. But I don't think I'm creative enough. I think songs can really lift your spirits sometimes, particularly when the lyrics hold meaning.

I am a huge fan of Eminem eversince his Slim Shady LP - and not forgetting "Stan", his most critically-acclaimed song. I feel the pent-up anger in his lyrics. But his tunes and rap are good. Bloody good. And don't you think he is genius with his words and rhyme? Though he says he "shouldn't have to rhyme these words in the rhythm for you to know it's a rap." More recently, his lyrics after his "come-back" (Recovery) had been more angry-inspirational, if you know what I mean. It fires you up.

I was a little down yesterday. Ok, maybe for the past couple of weeks due to so many reasons. I guess, yesterday had been a built-up. I felt defeated and deflated - for the first time, in a long time, after staying positive, I nearly let myself spiralled back to "glass EMPTY".

And then, I heard Eminem (Bad Meets Evil) on my iPod (thank you for downloading the song for me, Love!).

Lighters
Bad Meets Evil ft. Bruno Mars

[Bruno Mars:]
This one's for you and me, living out our dreams
We're all right where we should be
With my arms out wide I open my eyes
And now all I wanna see
Is a sky full of lighters
A sky full of lighters

[Eminem:]
By the time you hear this I will have already spiralled up
I would never do nothing to let you cowards fuck my world up
If I was you, I would duck, or get struck like lightening,
Fighters keep fighting, put your lighters up, point em' skyward uh
Had a dream I was king, I woke up, still king...
This rap game's nipple is mine for the milking,
Till nobody else even fucking feels me, till' it kills me
I swear to god I'll be the fucking illest in this music
There is or there ever will be, disagree?
Feel free, but from now on I'm refusing to ever give up
The only thing I ever gave up's using no more excuses
Excuse me if my head is too big for this building
And pardon me if I'm a cocky prick but you cocks are slick
Poppin shit on how you flipped ya life around, crock-o-shit
Who you dicks try to kid, flipped dick, you did the opposite
You stayed the same, cause cock backwards is still cock you pricks
I love it when I tell em shove it
Cause it wasn't that long ago when Marshall sat, flustered, lack lustered
Cause he couldn't cut mustard, muster up nothing
Brain fuzzy, cause he's buzzin', woke up from that buzz
Now you wonder why he does it, how he does it
Wasn't cause he had buzzards circlin' around his head
Waiting for him to drop dead, was it?
Or was it, cause them bitches wrote him off
Little hussy ass, scuzzes, fuck it, guess it doesn't matter now, does it
What difference it make?
What it take to get it through your thick skulls
That this ain't some bullshit
People don't usually come back this way
From a place that was dark as I was in
Just to get to this place
Now let these words be like a switch blade to a haters rib cage
And let it be known from this day forward
I wanna just say thanks cause your hate is what gave me the strength
So let em bic's raise cause I came with 5'9′ but I feel like I'm 6'8″

[Bruno Mars:]
This one's for you and me, living out our dreams
We're all right where we should be
With my arms out wide I open my eyes
And now all I wanna see
Is a sky full of lighters
A sky full of lighters

[Royce Da 5'9":]
By the time you hear this I'll probably already be outtie
I advance like going from toting iron to going and buying 4 or 5 of the homies the iron man Audi
My daddy told me slow down, boy, you goin to blow it
And I ain't gotta stop the beat a minute
To tell Shady I love him the same way that he did Dr Dre on the Chronic
Tell him how real he is or how high I am
Or how I would kill for him for him to know it
I cried plenty tears, my daddy got a bad back
So it's only right that I write till he can march right into that post office and tell em to hang it up
Now his career's Lebron's jersey in 20 years
I'll stop when I'm at the very top
You shitted on me on your way up
It's 'bout to be a scary drop
Cause what goes up must come down
You going down on something you don't wanna see like a hairy box
Every hour, happy hour now
Life is wacky now
Used to have to eat the cat to get the pussy
Now I'm just the cats meooww, ow
Classic cow, always down for the catch weight like Pacquiao
Ya'll are doomed
I remember when T-Pain ain't wanna work with me
My car starts itself, parks itself and autotunes
Cause now I'm in the Aston
I went from having my city locked up
To getting treated like Kwame Kilpatrick
And now I'm fantastic
Compared to a weed high
And y'all niggas just gossipin' like bitches on a radio and TV
See me, we fly
Y'all buggin out like Wendy Williams staring at a bee-hive
And how real is that
I remember signing my first deal and now I'm the second best I can deal with that
Now Bruno can show his ass, without the MTV awards gag

[Bruno Mars:]
You and I know what it's like to be kicked down
Forced to fight
But tonight we're alright
So hold up your light
Let it shine
Cause this one's for you and me, living out our dreams
We're all right where we should be
With my arms out wide I open my eyes
And now all I wanna see
Is a sky full of lighters
A sky full of lighters

Particularly the last bit......
And just like that, I am inspired to "hold up my light, let it shine" .

Thank you for the song. Thank you for the lyrics Marshall !

* lyrics pulled from AZlyrics.com
* image from Eminemrx.com  

Battambang : The Real Cambodia

Fallen in love with the charms of Battambang

When MOH decided to whisk me away on a trip to Battambang over the Pchum Ben holidays, I was not the wee bit excited, actually. For one, I thought perhaps the long break would be a good time to get out of Cambodia (think flight home :P). Secondly, I wasn't too keen on breaking my work momentum as things were getting a little crazy busy for me. But the day arrived and like my China trip, I told myself, let's go with an open-mind.

I was glad MOH made the choice though, for I fell in love with this little "lost" province of Cambodia. The 5 hour journey in torrential rains and floods was well worth it for when I arrived, I was totally caught by the 'old world charms' the city oozes. Of course, first of all, the hotel in which MOH booked us in was super beautiful. Bambu Hotel is a boutique hotel nestled in a colonial-style mansion. After checking-in (and oohing-ah-ing about the size of the bathroom), we immediately set out for town to satisfy our hunger.

The town was small and easily managed on foot. Braving the rains, we made our way to Khmer Delight for lunch. The food was good, and after lunch, we explored the town. The town reminded me of so many of the places that I love - Luang Prabang, Hoi An, Seremban, Melaka, Tanjung Tualang..... and I love all the colonial architecture of the buildings here. The best part was - the entire place was clean! No urine smell permeating the air. In fact, throughout the trip, I saw not a single soul peeing on the streets. No rubbish and muck everywhere. Even though it rained and flooded, rubbish wasn't floating about. The roads were wide and the parks were simply gorgeous. I was beginning to wonder - what happened to Phnom Penh? MOH theorized it to be the fact that in PP, all the people came from the provinces such as Battambang and they don't call it their home. As such, they have no qualms dirtying the place and peeing all over. Over time, PP is one huge pile of.... dirt. Truly very sad. I remember 10 years ago in PP, it still had its charms.

Anyway, with the map from the hotel, we walked and walked and explored the markets as well. I told myself, I wasn't living in Cambodia. I am a tourist in Battambang :) There were lots of interesting discoveries - one being the fact that Chinese roots seem to be prevalent here in Battambang. On the map, there was this "San Long Sugarless Bread Bakery" and I was so curious about it that we went on a hunt for it. With the rain stopped, the weather was perfect for a 'treasure hunt' in town on foot :) When we finally found the place, I couldn't stop laughing at the really interesting POP they used at the front. Well, I was all too happy to have found the place because they have old-fashioned carrot cake and the Chinese Kong Sou Peng that were to-die-for. I went back the next day to stock up. Haha!

Not only was I taken in by the sights and the buildings, I was taken in by the Khmer warmth too. The Battambang folks seem to exude a sincerity about them - which one may be hard pressed to find in da Penh. I'm not saying PP is so bad and I meet kind people everyday here too. But I guess the lifestyle in Battambang was different and laid-back. In fact, I think everyone knows everyone here in town simply because there were no name of streets. The streets were identified as Street 1, 2, 3.... I wonder how the postman looked for addresses!

As we walked, I began to notice again - that Khmer trait of staring..... I guess, it isn't often that they see a girl in shorts and singlet with tattoos all over her. The folks in da Penh are used to me by now (hahaha) but here in Battambang, I am strange to them. We seemed to be the only Asian tourists in town. I think that whilst they find the gwai los strange, it is a given. But they find us Asians stranger still, especially when we gawk at chickens being grilled on the roadside same as what the gwai los are doing and snap photos of outdoor cooking - because to them, it's strange that as an Asian - you are still getting excited about these things! I bet in their minds, they are saying "Never see before is it?!" But of course, this is just my theory to the staring *smile*.

We had a really enjoyable walk in town and along the riverside and later in the evening, we went over to the food stalls market to see if we can score some local delights. Weather was gloomy again and right after I bought my "Grilled Special Eggs", (I really like this snack and have had it before in Sihanoukville but never got around to it when in PP...) it poured cats and dogs. We made our way in the rain to Gecko Cafe for dinner. This is one of those community service joint to create a self-sustaining environment for the locals to fend for themselves. MOH and I make it a point to support these type of outfits whenever and wherever we travel. Dinner was really good too and after dinner, we called it a night since it was a long journey today and MOH said his legs were cramping up due to too much walking (it was the start of him harrassing me about getting massages!).

I was already falling in love with Battambang on day one itself. I would so hate to leave when the time comes!

The next day, I woke up bright and early to a perfectly sunny day! Super awesome indeed for we planned to go for the Norry ride - the Bamboo Trains of Cambodia. We heard that they may ban these trains soon and thus, I was adamant to catch it while it was still around - rain, shine or snow. But luckily, it was shine :) It was a grand experience. I say grand because it was a totally new experience and a very interesting one indeed. If you read the link above about these bamboo trains, you will know why the experience was bloody interesting. Especially when the problem of on-coming traffic was easily solved via disassembling the trains off the rails. LOL! We tipped the driver extra for this because on the way back, he had to do this disassembling thing about 5 times. Back-breaking, I assumed. I had a great time at the countryside too, chatting with the locals - who spoke great English, by the way. I was truly impressed. Sure, perhaps, some of these stalls were tourist traps as they try to sell you straw hats and the Khmer kromas..... but at 3,000 riels per hat, I wasn't keen on bargaining, I didn't think it was a trap in any way and we bought two of those straw hats. Not because we needed them, but.... you know, they were just trying to make a living after all. (Some say my kindness will backfire on me one day, but I'd like to think otherwise!)

The Norry was so fun, I wanted to go on it again. But then again, at USD10 per ride and with the driver having to do the arduous task (as it got busier, I can only assume that per journey, the driver possibly does maybe 10 times of the carry-up-carry-down of the train job), we thought going into town for our fruit shakes would be a better idea.

On board the Norry :)

White Rose Restaurant was well-known for its myriad of fruit shakes - any flavour you can conjure - as long as the fruit was in season, you'd get your shake. This was so typically Vietnamese, though. I am reminded of my favourite fruit shakes while living in Vietnam. Anyway, we had lunch here too before heading back to the hotel for the pool there beckoned.

Later in the evening, we walked to Nary's Kitchen for dinner. She was known to serve the best Fish Amok in Cambodia and for us - this is a call to "must-try". It was good, doubtless. And because there was not much else to do except mini-market shopping (the shops here stock up on a lot of Thai products due to the close proximity to the Thai border) it was back to the hotel early for another good night's rest.

The next day was the start of the Pchum Ben (Cambodian Cheng Beng)... and I thought it was apt to make today a day we visited temples and prayed. There were a few temples in town, each with its own history and Angkor Wat resemblance. The temples were crowded but not overly and we finally settled to pray at Wat Sangker just off the Hen Sen bridge. It was another really hot day but inside the temples, it was cooling. I was in awe of the wall and ceiling murals of Wat Sangker. They were done really well. There was a monk and a caretaker in one of the buildings who invited us in to pray. He even gestured for us to kneel down to say our prayers. And so, I did. And as always, I prayed for all good things for all my family, loved ones and friends. The key being - to have unwavering faith :)

Oh, did I mention that MOH rented bikes for us today? Not mountain bikes. But the grandpapa-type bikes with no gear, a basket and a bell that goes ring-ring-ring! It was hilarious but I had actually loved the bike. No, I was actually very taken in by the bell. I couldn't stop playing with it! LOL! After the temples, we cycled around town before relaxing back at the pool. And then we cycled out into town again for our lunch at the Smokin' Pot. The menu was a riot indeed. The place is totally worth checking out, if not for the food, for a good laugh reading the menu. :) We had one order of the Pork Lok Lak here - finally, I could try the Lok Lak in a non-beef way..... and then we found this Chinese shop opposite the Smokin' Pot and went over there for our second lunch. The Chinese noodles were the best ever, really. And I am a noodle person, ok! I wish there was room in my stomach for more because one bowl just wan't enough! (And the next day, everyone was officially closed for the real Pchum Ben ceremonies).

After lunch, MOH went for his massage while I relaxed back at the pool. I was already excited about the night's programme - we were going to go to the circus! Yay! I haven't been to a circus in ages and eversince Enid Blyton's Mr. Galliano's Circus and the entire circus collection, I had always loved a good circus show - with the big top and the popcorns and candy floss. Oh, and the trapeze artists and elephants and lions that roar. So, I was rightfully excited about the Phare Ponleu Selpak troupe. I had seen them perform before in da Penh but that was just like a five minute performance and on another occassion - a street parade. But here - here was in the big top and all! Ok, admittedly, it wasn't a real, real circus. A big top, yes. But no animal shows, no trapeze, no popcorn and no candy floss. BUT - I still gave a bloody big round of applause because PPS is yet another NGO outfit that helps children and youth self-sustain in the community through education and arts. I'd say any outfit that helps children and youth help themselves is high on my "To Support" list. Maybe I could move to Battambang and volunteer with PPS :) In actual fact, it made me reflect on my voluntary work with the orphanage. On how little I am doing and how small my effort was as compared to these people who are truly helping in such a big way too. ........ (pondering what can I do to improve the lives of the children at Happy Tree.....)

After the show and all, we made our way to town for dinner. Town was deserted and quiet since everyone's closed for the Pchum Ben - or getting ready to close for the official ceremonies the next day. We had not much choice but to settle for White Rose again for dinner. Still, not a bad choice. Great food :)

On our final day...... the skies were crying on my behalf too. It started raining again. We had 2 great weather days and just before we leave, it rains again. Oh, that certainly didn't stop us from donning our raincoats and cycling into town for one last time. I just wanted to play with the bell :) Not much was happening in town because most everything was closed, except for some fruit stalls and sundry shops. We did stop at an old Chinese temple to have a quick look and a quick prayer too. Again, the caretaker was very kind and spoke to us in Mandarin. But alas, I could hardly pick out what he said because he was mumbling. With the rain not letting up, we made our way back to the hotel.........

And then it was time to say bye-bye........ to a piece of Cambodia that I had fallen in love with.

Dinner with Cambodian MasterChef Luu Meng

With Cambodian MasterChef Luu Meng

Everytime I sit down for dinner with Luu Meng, I am not only humbled, but I am inspired by this man. I had previously written about my dinner with Luu Meng before here. And today, I have yet another story to tell.

Last week, I met up with Luu Meng at one of his restaurants in town - the new Yi Sang on the riverside. Needless to say, Yi Sang at the Almond Hotel (also owned by none other than the man himself) is one of the best Chinese restaurants in town. The one on the riverside serves dim sums and lighter meals as it also functions as a Tourist Information Centre (again, managed by none other than the man himself).

Always the gracious host, Luu Meng ordered too much food! Later, when he told me that his family hailed from Guangzhou, China, I understood. In my last trip to China, I learnt that in the southern parts of China, you are deemed a good host when you 'over-feed' your guests. The culture changes as you travel to different parts of China.

Anyway, yes, over baskets and baskets of dim sums, I caught up with the busy, busy, busy man. What I've always admired about Luu Meng and I respect him for it is how humble he is as a person. We got to talking about his involvement with the ATF, his various restaurants and hotel businesses and I am excited to know that there is a great franchise that he is bringing into Cambodia (of which I am not at liberty to disclose at this point).

And it was here that he spoke about the failure of Studio 182. Although he did not go very much into details about why the venture closed, he spoke about it with jest and without shame. I remembered his words : "That was a very, very big lesson for me, for all of us because we spent so much energy in that business." To sum it up, closing Studio 182 was a wise decision and instead of crying over spilt milk and spent-energies, he moved on to other greater things. Learning to accept when something is doomed, learning to learn from it and embrace it with grace and using all the learnings to move on and ahead - I think sitting down with Luu Meng, this is a great reminder for me as well. I hate failures. Of course, I have failed before and I have learnt from it. But still, sometimes, I think in my blindness of trying so hard not to fail, I refuse to accept when something is doomed. Luu Meng said "If you succeed all the time, how can you learn?" Again - true. Again, I know. But I guess, once in awhile, we just need to be reminded that it is OK to fall. Get up and move on.

I have some serious streamlining to plan for my businesses the coming year..... indeed. But I am actually excited. I'm not going to look at it as a 'red mark' on my report card. In fact, it is about the adventure, yes?

Our conversations moved on to less serious stuff, like Gordon Ramsey and his constant yelling and TV chefs (since yours truly is an ardent fan of all cooking shows), to which Luu Meng agreed that in a real kitchen, no staff will stay to work if they were constantly being yelled at like that. Well, at least he agreed with me. *laugh* By the way, Ramsey apparently lost one of his Michelin stars! I never knew that could happen. Well, there you go. You learn something new everyday.

Another thing I admire about Luu Meng is the fact that despite his numerous businesses, meetings and what-nots, he still makes it a point to cook once a week. This is to facilitate new menu creation for his restaurants and to bond with his crew. He goes to the market with them to get fresh produce, meat, fish (he's not happy about a fish issue, but I shall leave this to another reporter to write *smile*) and etc. He is still very passionate about cooking. One day, I hope to see him at work in the kitchen. I'm sure it'll be as inspiring even as it is as educational.

Dinner ended with plenty of leftovers - to which Luu Meng arranged for them to be packed for me to take home with me. The Chinese say "Also eat, also take"..... Malu-nya! So, once again, unashamedly, I told Luu Meng that the next time I am cooking at home, I shall invite him and his wife over.

Before that can happen, I need to make sure I perfect ONE dish at least for I know Chef Luu Meng's tastebuds are of superior standards. Till then, I shall just enjoy eating at his restaurants. Thank you again for dinner, Luu Meng!

p/s : I was so engrossed in my conversation with Luu Meng that once again, I forgot to take photos of the food!! 

Lost in Translation : 14th Asian Bridal Summit / Asian Wedding Cultural Festival in Haiyang, Qingdao, China (Part 2)

Handing over of flag from Japan to Myanmar

Day 4 : 28th August 2011 | Haiyang City Promotion & Closing Ceremony

I was actually expecting a Chinese friend of mine the previous night. He got in late to Haiyang and unfortunately for me, my splitting migraine had me crashing out for the night earlier so I didn't wait up for Heawin.

Heawin hails from Guangzhou and our friendship goes back 8 years. We first met when we worked on the Mild Seven Outdoor Quest in Sabah. Seeing that I missed him the night before, I made plans to meet him for breakfast before keeping to the day's summit schedules. Unfortunately, the timing didn't go as planned either. Being the last day of the summit and all, our mounting frustration with our translator was about to peak. None of the schedules for the day was kept to and nobody, literally nobody knew what was going on. And then there seemed to have surprise meetings which are compulsory for us to attend without prior information. Basically, it was one entire pot of mass confusion. Between my anticipation of meeting with Heawin, the screwed up itinerary and making sure we didn't embarass Malaysia further by missing out important activities or being seen as "not giving face" to Chinese government, my migraine creeped back. Aaargh.

I haven't met Heawin in the last 8 years and we had lots of catching up to do. Just as fate would have it, I bumped into him at the lift - he was coming down and I was going up! What were the odds of that really, given that the hotel was fully booked??! A quick hello indeed and I had to rush into the lift. Hmmm... really not how I would've expected to greet an old friend. No hugs. Haha. I wasn't sure if I should be mindful of "cultural differences" here or do I do my usual "banana-world" Western-style hugs when I see an old friend *smile* Anyway.... I had more things to worry about like "fishes" who couldn't get a proper time schedule for us.

The first activity for the day was our travels up to Zhaohu Mountain Park. The weather wasn't really on our side. Over-cast, drizzling... but nevertheless, we went on the bus and it was a police-convoy all the way, even with police stopping traffic. Ok, how grand is that? :) The Zhaohu Mountain lies 549.7m above sea levels and on there is a Buddhist temple is situated at one of the hills. The temple is also a deep meditation institution. The day being cloudy and over-casted actually created a very surreal and peaceful atmosphere. I had felt a moment of deep peace, in both my mind and my heart when I was at the temple and I prayed. Hmmm... again, it was one of those "strange but good" things that I experienced in my China trip.

After the trip to the mountains, we were ushered back to lunch. Instead of lunch at the hotel, we met up with Heawin who took us to Jade Palace Restaurant at the Sand Sculpture Park for lunch. It was good, doing a quick catch-up with him.
The afternoon, was a compulsory meeting at the Shineland Yacht Club so after lunch, Heawin dropped us off. Now, nobody told us it was a media event and guess what these two silly Malaysians were dressed in? Travel gear since we just only came back from the mountains :P OMG indeed when we walked into the room. Ms. President was obviously fuming. I was luckier. I didn't have to sit at the head table. She did. Hahaha! But still, I took out my sweater to cover up my "touristy" T-shirt and tried to keep a low-profile. But when our translator showed up, he was well-dressed in formal attire and I asked him - why weren't we informed that it was a formal meeting? Because earlier on, they only said it was an informal tourism presentation. OMG. OMG. OMG. Even in her speech, the Mayor said "I'm sorry for over-dressing, but it is only because I have another important meeting to attend." Either she caught sight of Leticia's dressing and tried to let us down easy or she was being honest. We will never know. But we survived. In fact, people wanted our autographs too. Again, strange and bizzare. Autograph? Oh, because our faces were in the Official Book for the 14th Asian Bridal Summit.

After the media presentation, we went back to the hotel and met up with Heawin again. I felt bad because he traveled all the way and I didn't have a correct schedule to keep to. Anyway, we went to the beach for ice cream and chatted about events and weddings in our respective countries before we had to go back to get dressed for the Closing Ceremony. This time, Leticia and I were gonna make sure we looked the best for Malaysia. Haha.

Due to inclement weather, the closing ceremony was held indoors although a set was set-up for outdoors. At the Gold Coast Hotel again, when we arrived, nobody seemed to know what was going on and what to do with us. We spoke to fishes who insisted on speaking to us in Japanese and we were just plain frustrated. Finally, they told us that the President had to sit at the Judging Table. Funny, funny... there was a Top Model Contest taking place during the Closing Ceremony and they were to be judged. The judging form was in Chinese. My President couldn't read a single word. I was happy to be at my delegation seat. *laughs*. And last-minute like, I was told she had to present prizes to the winners of the contest. So I related the information to her and told her I would signal her when she needs to go on stage since she couldn't understand Chinese and nobody did any translation of any sort! OMG..... ! Another lost in translation moment happened when a simple question of "what time does it all end?" was misintepreted as "we want to leave now!". When the translator went to inform my President that she can now leave, OMG, was she fuming mad. I mean, how the hell do you expect her, sandwiched in between all the Chinese government officials to first of all walk out of there? And second of all, how bad would it look for Malaysia? Whether we liked it or not, we represented the country and we didn't want to be known as the delegation who misbehaved! I decided to look up the organizers right there and then and explained the entire situation to them. The last thing we wanted was to let the Chinese team think that we were being so bloody difficult. We weren't! OMG indeed. Luckily, they understand. They also understood that our assigned delegation's person-in-charge was more interested in drooling over swimsuits than to ensure that we were well looked after.

I certainly wish them all the best in organizing the Asian Beach Games next year. But I'm pretty sure China will prevail in organizing a world-class event.

After the whole thing ended, we met up with Heawin for supper. The only thing available in Haiyang at that time was their local BBQ shops. Cool. Heawin is in the event business as well and when we complained to him all about the mass confusion that happened everyday, he was shaking his head in disbelief.

Yet another long day and finally, the summit has come to an end. It was a good learning experience for us and of course a great networking event as well, expanding our horizons and wings into China, Korea, Japan, Myanmar. Not to mention, making new friends as well. Sometimes, we never know when these contacts would come in handy anyway. Agree?
____

Day 5 : 29th August 2011 | My Short Travels
So, today, was goodbyes. Even though we arranged for transportation for Leticia the day before, they still managed to screw-up the plan. The bus to airport came late. Anyway, after checking and making sure that they are getting it right and she was going to be at the airport on time, I ditched her :) Heawin, my tour guide for the day was going to take me to Qingdao! 

The 2-hour ride from Haiyang to Qingdao gave Heawin and I an opportunity to catch up and pick-up from where we left off. This is what great friendships are all about. The gaps in between does not make a difference actually. Before you know it, we were catching up and joking and laughing - me in my broken Chinese and him in his broken English.

First on the itinerary was for me to see the World's Longest Bridge - the Jiazhou Bridge which spans a distance of 42km and links Qingdao to an offshore island called Huangdao. The only thing I could think about was the fact that we could do a full marathon from end-to-end on the bridge. That would be super. I told Heawin to plan the race. *laugh* Ok, honestly, I was impressed by the bridge. 4-lanes on both sides. And with the mist and over-casted skies, it looked like a highway to heaven. Once again, China Boleh, huh? When we exited at Huangdao, my brilliant tour guide got lost for awhile before we found our way to the ferry terminal to take the ferry back to Qingdao. And my tour guide also proved to me why Haiyang cannot be the largest city in China. *laughs* I learnt that one should not argue with a local :P
He put me up at this boutique hotel called The Castle. I can tell, this hotel was specifically made for weddings when the description said "The Green Castle and Red Castle are linked together like a couple standing hand-in-hand". It was a really cutesy, art-decor hotel and definitely looks like a place for a lot of the Chinese to do their pre-wedding shoot. They also have a wedding field for garden ceremonies. At the conference, I learnt that the Chinese people are also westernizing their wedding customs.

Anyway, the scenery from the hotel was beautiful. It was atop a small hill and overlooks most of Qingdao's skylines. Qingdao was an ex-German base in 1899 when the Imperial German Concession was signed. Now, the colonial architecture of the town is what is left of this part of history in Qingdao. But Qingdao was full of people. Tourists, both from abroad and locally. But to my surprise, I only saw 3 gwai los for the 2 days that I was in Qingdao. I had expected this beach side resort to have more. But then again, the International Beer Festival just ended and perhaps, they had all left in their drunken stupor. Too bad, I missed that too. It would've been great to see it.

After checking-in, we went for lunch. Knowing my tastebud for spicy food, he took me for home-cooked Sichuan food. Ok, the setback about doing a documentation of my China travels is that - I am unable to put down the names of the shops I've eaten at. Why? Because me no read Chinese! But this place, was really good food. It was home-cooked style and we had a Chicken, Lamb, Soup and Cabbage dish - all SPICY :) The lamb was apparently the signature dish and has been showcased in the media too. So, good find, Heawin! This was arguably the best full meal that I had since arriving in China :)

Heawin and I at lunch at a little hole-in-the-wall shop :)

We spent most of the afternoon chatting away and before you know it, it was time for our goodbyes too. Again, we said bye-bye in the form of a formal handshake. What?? No goodbye hugs? *laughs*. The handshake seems a bit strange to me. *grin*. Anyway, thanks for your hospitality, Heawin :)

Heawin dropped me off at the hotel and thus began my solo adventure in Qingdao. For the first time in a long time, I was traveling alone. I had actually missed this - traveling solo.
Because I didn't have much time, I decided to only look in at a few places and therefore, I took a walk out to get to Zhanqiao Bridge - the iconic symbol of Qingdao. This was near to the hotel, but me being terrible with maps, I got lost for a good one hour! I ended up asking strangers on the streets for directions. Again, call me lucky, but nice people directed me. One of them, when he found out I wasn't local, he said "Welcome to China." And so, in a country supposedly full of obnoxious and selfish Chinese, again, I was blessed with meeting only the nicer ones :)

I finally made it to Zhanqiao and it was so crowded! I like Chinese architecture, which was the building that was at the end of the bridge. More so than the colonial ones. It's quite funny because despite my very westernized ways, I do like a lot of things Chinese. Anyhoo.. from Zhanqiao, I made my way to the Taidong Bu Xing Jie - the "world famous pedestrian walkway" where supposedly, is a great place for night market shopping and also to see the wall mural paintings. OMG, when I arrived - it was "people mountain, people sea" but because the place was so crazy big and spacious, you don't get that claustrophobic feeling. I was actually in awe of the wall murals. They were really good and I was wondering how did they get it done and how long it must've taken them to do it.

The night market, though was only 3 lanes and the rest were all branded fashion and upscale shops. The night market was rather uninspiring. I was looking for a bag and a magnet for my Mom and found none. What? No souvenir magnets?? Oh no. I spent 2 hours here at Taidong and didn't manage to walk the whole place. It was too overwhelmingly large for me. I ended up having a look inside Walmart. Hey, after all, I'm in civilization as compared to PP, so why not, right? Oh... I also managed to sample some "Smelly Tofu". Hahaha. I smelt those delicious snacks from miles away and had to get them. But it was again, strange. They serve it in a type of broth here. Still tasted good anyway :)

The impressive wall murals at Taidong Buxingjie that I'm in awe of

After the walk and all, I wanted to go look for dumplings to eat. Wow, Qingdao was so huge in itself and not everywhere was within walking distances. But - the taxi drivers were nice. Except, one of them scolded me for not being able to read Chinese. He, was apparently too old to see the signboards clearly. So, I said even if he scolded me, I still cannot read. So how? He laughed at me after that! *slaps forehead*. Anyway, I finally found one local looking shop and had my Jiaozhi before heading back to the hotel and calling it a night.
____

Day 6 : 30th August 2011 | Last Day in China

I woke up bright and early and went out for a walk around the hotel before having my breakfast. Now, breakfast was rich indeed as compared to breakfast for the last few days. I decided to skip the Western breakfast and had Jiaozhi (again!), porridge and Siew Loong Bao for breakfast.

Then, I made my way to the Qingdao Beer Musuem. If not because MOH wanted a Tsingtao Beer T-shirt and I couldn't find any at the night market last night, I wouldn't have gone. I thought I'd make it quick and just give it a short look around. My main objective was really to get the souvenir! Hopefully, a magnet for my Mom too. I ended up touring the place for an hour plus. Yes, I did. It was interesting. Plus, they gave visitors free beer. So, 9am in the morning, I had a small cup of beer. And I don't even drink beer!! Finally, I found the T-shirts and bless me, I found magnets too. Woohoooo!!!

Next, I went to the Badaguan Scenic Area and last day for me to take in the sea breeze and ocean. Badaguan Scenic area houses a lot of the colonial buildings and also upscale resorts. Qingdao is not flat and it's a lot of uphill, downhill - so perfect for running :) They should do an international triathlon here!

After enjoying my ice cream by the beach, I headed back to the hotel. It was time to leave and time to say goodbye to Qingdao China. I wasn't particularly looking forward to the 8-hour traveling back to PP from Qingdao. If only the Harry Potter portkey was real. I'd zapped myself back. We'd all save a lot of time too.

So, my trip to my Mother Land has come to a great end. For some reason, I am missing China already. That is strange. I didn't expect to miss China !! Hah, too many "strange but nice" things that I experienced this trip. The trip was definitely made nicer because I met nice Chinese people. I suppose, maybe people's perception about China's Chinese need to change? Or I'm being too idealistic? Yes, they are still loud and oblivious to the world, but so far, I only had the pleasure of meeting the nice ones. As I mentioned, in a country, supposedly full of cunning, obnoxious folks, I met only the nice honest ones. I'm either very lucky or I'm starting to build an affinity with my Mother Land. But then again, I also prefer to see the good in people first. This might one day be my downfall but.... oh well.....

I was also a bit strange for me because they all seem to find me strange. "How come you speak Chinese? | How come you speak but you cannot read? | How come you look so dark? So you speak Chinese in Malaysia?? | etc... etc...."

So am I actually Chinese? Of course I am Chinese!! I just don't come from China!

I'm also happy to have the chance to catch up with my friend too. Now, I can say I have been on the longest bridge in the world. One day, I shall run the marathon on it :) So all in all, the trip was really great.
Now, perhaps, is time for me to brush up my Chinese and not let it rot since I seem to have gotten a hang of it in my last few days in China *laugh*

Lost in Translation : 14th Asian Bridal Summit / Asian Wedding Cultural Festival in Haiyang, Qingdao, China (Part 1)

President & Vice President AWP Malaysia at the 14th
Asian Bridal Summit 2011

So, I was traveling back to China, my Mother Land for the second time in my life. I just realized that both times were for work. First time being the Mild Seven Outdoor Quest in Lijiang, Kunming and now for the 14th Asian Bridal Summit in Haiyang, Qingdao.

I was both excited and apprehensive at the same time. First of all, my mother tongue isn't really my mother tongue. I don't speak much of it back home and definitely no reason to speak it in Cambodia therefore, I think it is a bit rusty. Second of all, I was wary of people warning me to be careful of the Chinese people and people telling me "welcome to the country of loud-ness"...  of how obnoxious and rude the Chinese people are, etc, etc. Following the Laws of Attraction, I thought that it might be better if I went with an open-mind. So I did.

Day 1 : 25th August 2011 | Arrival

The traveling was, OMG long and tiring - 11 hours in total!! From PP to Guangzhou was a 3 hour flight and then I had to transit in Guangzhou for 3 hours, waiting for my President to show up. She was late and I thought she had decided to ditch me at the last minute (apparently, she was stopped at the Baiyun airport security check for carrying a bomb in her bag!! This was hilarious when she explained it to me). And then the flight from Guangzhou to Qingdao was another 3 hours. From Qingdao to Haiyang was a 2 hour journey by car. So, just imagine that.

Guangzhou Baiyun airport was huge. Totally huge. Took me 2 hours to navigate myself to the right counters and all. Ok, granted, my sense of direction isn't my strong point. But when I asked for directions, the airport staff were friendly and guided me to where I needed to go. Most couldn't speak English, and I thought it being Guangzhou, Cantonese would've been fine. Great misconception. Mandarin it was, all the way. But still, yes, they stare at me strangely as I tried to speak in my broken Mandarin and I strained my ears to catch what they are saying in their heavily accented Mandarin. This is my mother tongue? Oh God. Sounds foreign to me.

At the Qingdao airport, upon our arrival, we were given a rather pompous greeting. We had about 15 crew members and the chief of Malaysian delegation welcome us with flowers and fanfare and media too! My only thought was "OMG. After 11 hours, I look like shit and they wanna take photos??!" My President was even better. She thought that it was embarassing that the Malaysian delegation only showed up with 2 people and yet, the welcome committee was large. Nevertheless, we took photos and we were promptly escorted to our car and driven to Enjoy Sea Hotel in Haiyang. Yes, that's the name of the hotel (and there was internet, just not WiFi!) Our delegation's person-in-charge cum translator was even funnier. He spoke to us in Japanese and speaks very little English. Shaking my head, I thought, ok, this was going to be really fun.

Because it was such a late arrival for us, the hotel prepared dinner separately for us. Too tired for anything else after dinner, we called it a night.
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Day 2 : 26th August 2011 | Opening Ceremony & Rehearsals

Now, you see, during the planning process of the summit, we were communicating with Japan and again, it was a lot of chicken & duck talk too. We had about 5 different versions of the schedule and itinerary, none of which were in English. One of them was even in half-Chinese and half-Japanese! Bizzare. The best part was, the itinerary was somewhat different from what was printed in our programme booklet. My President shook her head in dismay. And surprise, surprise - on the programme booklet, there was a "Malaysian Delegation Fashion Show" printed. This was all too funny. It was like a mass chicken, duck and fish talk, between China & Japan and the other delegations. Besides China & Japan, the other delegations were Korea, Myanmar, Malaysia, China Taiwan and China HK. We realized very early on that Japanese seemed to be the "main communication language" for the Bridal Summit which was truly strange. FYI - even the Myanmar team leader spoke Japanese fluently. *slaps forehead*

The day started early with a 7am wake-up call and an 8am departure from the lobby for the Opening Ceremony at the Sand Sculpture Park. At the lobby, we realized that the smallest delegation was Malaysia with only 2 representatives. Even Myanmar, a supposedly "poorer" nation than us came in a 26-strong delegation. They were subsidized by their own tourism ministry and eventually, we found out most of the delegations were also subsidized by their own respective tourism ministries and wedding association (Japan came with 75 pax!) because it was a cultural event showcasing their country's culture and tradition. For the first time in my life, at an international conference, I was DEEPLY EMBARRASSED to be a Malaysian. I wanted to switch teams. Was wondering if the Chinese delegation would accept me :P Some of the delegations brought their own media and also every delegation had a tourism rep from a travel agency - obviously to promote their country. Honestly, I didn't know where I wanted to hide my face when asked "How come Malaysia only 2 people?" Shall I be honest and say our Tourism Ministry does not support us? And also that AWP was very poor? Between Leticia and myself, we decided that since we represent the country, we better bite the bullet and wing it.

The Opening Ceremony was quite grand and was hosted by China. Unfortunately, I felt that the event organizers could've done better because all the delegations were confused as to where we were supposed to sit and what we were supposed to do. Our delegation's person-in-charge was not much of a help (our nickname for him was "Fish") and in fact, none of these "fishes" seem to know what was going on either. We were pretty much left to our own devices. In the middle of Haiyang Mayor's speech, my President was quickly ushered and pushed to sit at the head table. Best part - her name was even labeled wrongly on the table and media was all over the place. Same goes for the Myanmar's team leader too. Anyhow, the show went on despite all these chaos going on. I was surprised. I had fully expected that a China-organized event would go on without a hitch, granted that my experience and what I heard about events in China were that they had always been spot-on.

The Opening Ceremony was held on the beach under the bright hot sun. I was melting under the sun and promptly got a burn. After the opening ceremony, we were shown around the Sand Sculpture Park before being ushered back to the hotel for lunch. And oh, as if I needed that, my one and only pair of "nice shoes" BROKE. Like, un-fixable broke. Haiyang, whilst going to be hosting the Asian Beach Games in 2012, is like rather empty. We were not staying anywhere near town either so no shops nearby. So, oh-dear-factor indeed. (I also found out later that we were hoodwinked into thinking that Haiyang was gearing to be the "largest city in China". Either that or there was a problem with the translation!!")

For lunch, we were hosted to a VIP lunch by Yumi Katsura, the President of the Asia Pacific Federation of Bridal Association and Chen Fumi, Chief of Wedding Service Industries China Association of Social Workers. It seemed that banquet meals in China never stops at 10-courses. We had 20 dishes. Every delegation, only the President / Team Leaders and VPs were invited to lunch. Since Malaysia was only the two of us, it was fine. Thinking about it - in a way, had more of our AWP members come, this might be a sore bitching point. Anyway, that's what I think. I mean, how unfair is it that only two people get to go for a VIP lunch? Would you think, honestly, that this would sit well with others? Anyway, after lunch, there was a short meeting with Yumi Katsura and the Organizing Committee of the AP Bridal Summit. This was definitely not good for my migraine. Between the Chinese - Japanese - to English translation, I felt my head splitting into two. By the time anything got translated three times over, everything was lost in translation. OMG. Why can't they have made English the official language??

After lunch, we were ushered to the Gold Coast Hotel where the Live Performances (and the mysterious Fashion Show which nobody told us about) were going to be held. Today was all about rehearsals for each delegation of their performances. The Malaysian delegation brought a DVD to showcase our cultural weddings instead of a live performance. Once again, Tourism didn't give us the required support and no members were going to fork out their own pocket money to get their asses over to China. So, a DVD will have to do. Wait till you hear how we "winged" this and won the people's heart (read about Day 4 *smile*)

After rehearsals, it was actually free time so we took that opportunity to go downtown. I was in dire need of a pair of presentable shoes for the activities for Day 3! We asked our translator to write down "shoe shop" in Chinese which we could just show people or taxi drivers. Leticia got a business card of the hotel and we were off on our adventures in downtown Haiyang. When we arrived at the Jin Hai Luo Shopping Complex, I was excited to see that there was a night market happening. I love night markets and glad I didn't miss this one. Anyway, shoe shopping first - and without a translator around, I had to force myself to do the speaking of the language. Ahhh,..... suddenly, my mother tongue was all coming back to me. Woohoooo! Ok, now, I wasn't one for shopping especially when I am forced to shop without inspiration! I don't do shoe shopping for leisure nor clothes shopping. So, Leticia accompanied me to about 10 shoe shops to look for that "desirable" pair of shoe before she wanted to slap me and I settled for the first pair I saw. Then, mission accomplished, we walked around, taking in the sights and snacks at the local street market. We even went to check out a local grocery shop which was interesting. You know what they say about China-made goods, yes? Anyway... after that, we settled for dinner at a noodle shop. Interestingly, they were selling what looked like "Pan Mee" and Oh My God... these were the best noodles I had in a long, long time. Super good texture and taste! I'm a fan of noodles. One day, I would like to take the China tour - touring the entire China, eating all their different types of noodles.

And also, I was surprised. Three times in the day, I over-paid for something I purchased. And all three times, the Chinese vendor called me back to give me my change. What are the odds, really, in a country where I was told to beware of conniving Chinese people, out of billions of them, I meet 3 honest ones? So there you go. Perhaps, our perception of people should change.

Satisifed with my dinner, we made our way back to the hotel. Before we started work for the night, we took a walk along the beach. The weather in Haiyang was great. Not too hot and it gets cold at night. Then, it was back to the Secretariat at the hotel to do some work. We had to prepare our conference presentation and these were required by the official interpretor of the summit as it was all going to be like a "UN Meeting" the next day with headphones for immediate translations. And then, we still had to figure out how to wing our DVD presentation and the "Malaysian Delegation Fashion Show". Even though Tourism Malaysia ditched us, I was hell-bent NOT to let that take us all down embarassingly. We were the under-dogs, surely, but we were going to put on a great show. The other delegations even had hair & make-up artist, special cheorographers, musicians and they flew in their equipments and props as well. Errr... all Malaysia had was a DVD, Leticia and myself. And oh - our traditional costumes. And mine wasn't even traditional-traditional to begin with. BUT, we were going to wing it, I swear.

After finishing our work, it was time for us to say good night. Tomorrow is going to be a long, long day.
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Day 4 : 27th August 2011 | Actual Summit Day

Wake-up call was at 6.30am today and by 7am, we were madly rushed to Aloft Hotel, a Starwood property for the Conference. I say a "mad rush" because it all seemed so disorganized. Again, our translator had no clue what was happening and his only objective was to get us on the bus at 7am sharp. We got into the bus only to realize, we still had to wait another 20 minutes for the Korean delegation. Alamak! As all these were taking place, we had been making notes ourselves. When Malaysia hosts the summit, hopefully in 2013, there won't be these things taking place. And why aren't we hosting this in 2012? Because Myanmar had already received the green light from the Federation. They came as observors only, still they brought a 26-pax strong team. Myanmar is preparing for bigger things in the international arena. Malaysia is continuing its downward spiral. How sad.

The summit's conference was on the main topic of "How do you preserve culture and tradition in today's modernized world?" So my 'thesis paper' :P of "Preserving Wedding Culture and Tradition In Today's Modernized Malaysia" was spot-on. (Here, I would like to say Thank You to Joanna & Suan Bee for your pointers!! Xie Xie!). Myanmar had it even worse. They had to wing the whole presentation overnight because they were not informed prior of this. Thomas, the delegation leader was not a happy camper, I tell you. But despite, they put up a good presentation too about Myanmar and its culture and traditions. About 200 pax from the wedding industry in China and media attended the conference. When the floor was opened for questions, everyone was looking at Malaysia since we presented the most comprehensive presentation. I was literally sweating in my arse answering their questions. At the same time, I hoped the interpretor had it translated correctly. Otherwise, it is all another lost in translation communication. All the members of the delegation had our own discussion and questions as well. We were just a little disappointed because as mentioned, Japanese was like the "official language" of the Summit and we understood ZERO. And there was no interpretor for Japanese to English despite all the very canggih UN-looking headphones for immediate translations! So whenever something was spoken in Japanese, we were left to pretend to look interested. Our translator? Forget it. We found out that even his Japanese was half-past six! Thomas from Myanmar actually did the translation for us. Thank God.

After the Conference ended, we were taken back to Enjoy Sea Hotel for our lunch. We only had a half-hour time frame for our lunch before rushing off to Gold Coast Hotel for the afternoon session of the Summit. It was all so rush-rush, I almost choked on my brocolli!!

Now, our afternoon session was Da Bomb, I tell you. We were second to do our presentation. The thing with Leticia and myself is that we were not hung-up about being in the limelight. For me, it was absolutely perfect that she being the President had to always be the one sitting at the head table or being on stage, etc.. etc... but for our presentation, we thought it was better that we showed how "big" our delegation was (LMAO) by having both of us on stage. Furthermore, we needed to wing the fashion show too! (LMFAO).

I was shaking from neck down. I hate public-speaking. And now, it includes sashaying down the bloody catwalk too. I was going to try to block-out the 600-pax crowd attending the presentation!!!

Do you want to know how we turned the whole thing around for ourselves? From being ditched by Tourism Malaysia and looking like a cheapskate country presenting only a DVD to a Malaysia Boleh pride? Here's our introduction speech :

Lucky thing the skirt was long and covered
the obvious shaking in our legs... !

(E) : Zhun Jing De Xian Seng Men, Nu Shi Men, Xia Wu Hao. Wo shi Lu Jia Li
(L) : Salam Sejahtera. Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen, I am Leticia Hsu

(L) : We are the Association of Wedding Professionals Malaysia and today, we would like to showcase Malaysia's unique blend of culture. In Malaysia, we are blessed with many different types of culture and religion. The main ones being Malay, Chinese and Indians.

(E) : We had been asked to showcase one culture from Malaysia. But this is an impossible task because Malaysia will not be Malaysia without the melting pot of different cultures. Our respect and tolerance for each other's culture and traditions in our country is what makes us Malaysians and what makes us truly unique.

(L) : Like today, I am wearing a "Baju Kebaya" which is a Malay traditional costume which is made of Batik material - one of Malaysia's pride in terms of traditional fabric.

(E) : And I am wearing a Chinese traditional costume - a modernized version - which is also where Malaysia is heading in terms of the wedding trends. We are a nation looking to
move forward in our trends and styles, but we are at the same time proud of our heritage, culture and traditions and we would like to preserve this.

So, right now, sit back and enjoy the unique multi-cultural weddings brought to you all the way from Malaysia, Truly Asia

(Catwalk down the runway....)
Now, that was something, huh? Nevermind that both of us up there on stage were literally shaking (you could see the paper we were holding shaking!!), but when I spoke in Mandarin to introduce myself, my God, did the crowd cheer! Ok, I got the order wrong. Should be ladies first then gentlemen. Who cares? And when our DVD was presented,.... we could see, literally see everyone of the 600-strong crowd sitting at the edge of their seats! When the Chinese weddings came on, there were both excitement and surprise. People were looking at us and smiling and giving us the thumbs-up sign. I said a prayer of Thanks. Even though my country let me down, I didn't let my country down. We did it. We winged it.

The MC for the ceremony spoke a little Cantonese. So when asked where were the rest of our delegation, we told him there was only 2 of us from Malaysia. Please support us. We said it jokingly, but he went out to announce this point after our presentation!! OMG. Asking the 600-pax crowd to give us their support - to give "the two ladies, despite being a small delegation, put up a strong show" a huge round of applause for our presentation. The MC's introduction broke the ice for the crowd to come up to us to speak to us, to take photos and for a moment, it felt strange and bizzare. They even complimented us on or traditional attire saying that these were their favourites as it looked "simple and clean". Media interviews and photo ops flurried over us. It was dizzying actually. My migraine wasn't helping at all. In fact, the Mayor came up to us to say "You two ladies were very courageous!" Huh?? OMG. We must've looked so silly going down the catwalk with just the two of us! By the way, the Mayor spoke fluent English. The only other person we knew who spoke good English, besides the official summit translator.

Obviously, we were strange to the Chinese folks. Perhaps, like an alien specimen. I guess, some people, judging from their questions were not aware that there was a very big Chinese community in Malaysia who practised Chinese culture, customs and traditions in their weddings. Stranger still was me, who looked tanned, wore a Chinese costume and spoke some Chinese whereas Leticia, who looked more Chinese than I was, spoke zero Chinese and wore a Malay costume. So they were all excited too when they found out I could speak and understand Mandarin. At the end of the day, I take it that we were just strange to them.

The presentation finished around dinner time and once again, while the rest of the delegations were ushered back to hotel for dinner, 2 reps from each country were hosted to dinner with the Mayor and the Haiyang Tourism Director. Tonight's dinner was a 25-course meal dinner. So, a friend of mine told me that actually, in this part of China, the culture was more about making sure there are leftover food when hosting guests rather than just having enough to eat. Interesting.

After dinner, we attended the Yumi Katsura Fashion Show. She was really good with her Kimono designs.

So, after ending the day's Summit on a high, I have to say, "Phew!"
At the end of the day, I can't say "Malaysia Boleh". I mean, this is an event to promote each country's culture and tradition. What if we went there promoting "gothic-themed" weddings as Malaysia's new culture trend? Right? Point made.

I can't even say "AWP Boleh." Because even our DVD was done by a non-member, despite the fact that we have photographer and videographers on our membership list. Guess showing off their logos in an international arena isn't quite worth the effort. By the way, all media were given a copy of our DVD. They loved it, they asked for it. And I caught a glimpse of it on China TV too.

But I guess, I can say Leticia & Eileen BOLEH indeed.

And again - thank you to Joanna, Suan Bee and also to Eddie for doing the DVD for the presentation. As you can tell - the crowd went crazy over it :)

(Read on for Part 2's Lost In Translation) .....

With the Chinese delegation