Malaysia

Before I worked for Dell, all I knew about Malaysia was based on the prominent role it played in the movies. It's where Demi Moore is seen touring the manufacturing line on a recorded news story when Michael Douglas exposes her (unlike earlier in the movie when she exposes herself) during a press conference at the end of Disclosure. In Entrapment, it's where Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta Jones perform the heist at the twin towers. In reality, it's a huge manufacturing center for almost every technology company, including Dell.

I am in Penang. There is a mix of Malays, Chinese, and Indians, so touches of all three cultures as well as food are prevalent. The nice thing for me is that English is the primary language spoken because it's common between the three groups of people. Tourism seems to be big, but I'm not sure why. There really isn't much to do and while there are beaches, they aren't great. The climate is much like New Orleans or Houston, hot and humid.

I made an attempt to explore the city on Saturday, but the woman working at the front desk of the hotel really didn't have much to recommend. Neither did the people I knew who worked in the Penang office.  I had the taxi drop me off in Georgetown, the old town area. I walked past the Town Hall, Upper Penang Drive (which was dead during the day), Fort Cornwallis (where Captain Francis Light, the founder of Penang first landed), and the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion. The mansion was built by an incredibly successful businessman, Cheong Fatt Tze. I didn't go inside. I'm fortunate to not have been taken out by a car or motorbike as there are no sidewalks or crosswalks. It's not a pedestrian friendly city. In the evening we went out to Strait's Quay, a big restaurant and shopping development, with some other members of the audit team that were also there working. We ate at a fish and chips place that was decent.
On Sunday, Jason and I went out to the Shangri-La Rasa Sayang Resort to indulge in their decadent Easter Sunday brunch. It was magnificent. There were different buffets serving Chinese, Malay, and Indian food, but also a fresh seafood station and a large dessert bar. I'm not a big buffet guy, but not only was the selection good, but the food quality was outstanding. My buffet routine normally consists of one plate of food and then one plate of dessert and I'm done, but on this day, I went crazy with a second food plate which consisted of boiled shrimp and crawfish. The dessert area had some things you don't normally see for dessert at a buffet. There was cotton candy, shaved ice, and made to order crepes. I didn't feel disgustingly full at the end, so rather than go back for more (since getting disgustingly full and getting your money's worth is the goal of eating at a buffet, right?), I cashed in my chips right there and walked away a winner.

It rained in the afternoon, so I walked to the mall next to the hotel and saw the movie Source Code with Jake Gyllenhaal. It was pretty much a long Quantam Leap episode. It was entertaining, but the whole thing went to shit at the end of the movie. Whomever wrote it or decided on that ending ruined all the goodwill that was built up with the audience for the previous hour or so. If you are a huge Jake Gyllenhaal fan and are super psyched to see this movie and don't want the ending spoiled, you may want to skip the next couple of sentences and move to the next paragraph. This exemplifies one of my big problems with fiction. When a story and plot is created, especially when it's science fiction-y, rules are laid out to make it believable. The premise and "rules" for the source code are far fetched, but nonetheless, there are strict guidelines laid out. When the ending, which seemed very Hollywood-ish, totally discounts everything that was previously laid out and goes against all the rules outlined, it shows very little confidence in the story to begin with and no faith in the audience. Hollywood must think we're all idiots. Maybe we are.

The highlight was the Indian food I ate at Sri Ananda Bahwa and the other at Kapitan. I liked Kapitan so much that I went back a second time. It's been a long and busy two and a half weeks in Asia. I am beyond ready to board the plan tomorrow to head home.