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| President & Vice President AWP Malaysia at the 14th Asian Bridal Summit 2011 |
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 :
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| 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) .....
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| With the Chinese delegation |
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