This trip is the most memorable thing I've ever done with my friends in QBS. One day, all of a sudden I had this strong desire of introducing my classmates to Malaysia during my planned trip for holidays home. I was the only Malaysian in QBS, and I think there might not be many, if not none, Malaysian taking up this course, as it requires high level of Japanese proficiency, apart from English, and of course not many people would think of Japan to pursue MBA.
My target is to make the trip valuable and memorable, so I targeted to get an appointment with Tun Mahathir (Japanese respects Tun very much), besides arranging for a study trip to university and Malacca. Frankly, I know nobody and was clueless on how to reach Tun until I found about The Perdana Leadership Foundation in Putrajaya. One day, I wrote a very simple e-mail to the manager, and woooshhh! her quick reply suprised me with a promise to help get an appointment with Tun! That really motivated me, so other arrangements were done in no time- my uncle introduced me to his friend for the bus, booked 14 rooms at Cititel Midvalley (only 4 persons sharing twin room) and I got an OK from MMU for the study trip. (I chose MMU because I wanted to introduce the Japanese to Multimedia supercoridor),also an OK from JMC/JAD alumni for dinner.
Only by spreading invitation email to my friends, at last there were 16 people joining the trip including 2 Taiwanese and 1 Chinese.Too bad our lecturer could not join because they had to attend an important scheduled event at school.
So the first day, I met the first group at KLIA and we went straight to Cititel Midvalley. Actually I was surprised to see the bus. Besarnyeeeee dan cantiknyeee...thanks Busu Nuar. The night we went for dinner at the 3rd floor foodcourt. My Japanese friends found it hard to choose from so many kinds of food.Heheh, I didn't really eat because there were another 2 friends coming from KLIA.
The second day was our day in KL. We went to KLCC by train. The weather was nice and hot so KLCC's view is magnificient. During Zohor prayers, I brought them to KLCC mosque, to introduce them more on Islam. It seemed interesting to them; one even took a picture of the toilet in the mosque! (maklumla kita kan pakai air)..Coincidently, it was Saturday and there were many school children who came for a trip, so my friends took the chance talking to the locals. In the evening, we went up to the tower bridge. It was also my first visit there, and I think it was very nice to have a bird's eye view on KL. We then went to a hotel in Ampang to meet JMC/JAD alumni committee members. Most of the top position were from my batch whom I haven't seen for quite a while, so it was like a jejak kasih for me! We had very friendly sessions, everybody was excited and enjoyed the north Indian meals. I think we reached hotel at about 11pm.
The next day, Sunday was our trip to....MELAKA! On the way, we drop by at Cyberjaya to visit MMU's MBA program. We participated in one of the class and had simple lunch, mingle around with the MBA students.
Nearly at noon, we reached Melaka and the first thing we did was visit Taman Mini Malaysia, Ayer Keroh. Too bad the facility was not well maintained so I was actually a little embarassed/dissappointed about that. Next, we went to Banda Hilir. We walked along Jonker Street and they were amazed to see a Chinese and Hindu temple, and a mosque all at one road. At the mosque, we joined the kids who were playing sepak raga and ping pong. One of the Malay boys could speak Chinese, so my Taiwanese friends "interviewed" him. Then we walked up the St Paul's Hill. The cool breeze of Straits of Melaka took away the heat..bestnye.. We walked down to A Famosa and then went for a drink at Dataran Pahlawan. At about 7pm, we moved to Umbai for ikan bakar dinner. I showed them the area where my house is located on the way (too bad I couldnt invite them to my house for some reasons). As we reached the medan ikan bakar, it was sunset. And that was the sunset that would remind me very much about this trip. My mother, sister, her friend and my children later joined in. It was my mother's birthday so we got her a cake and presents to celebrate! Time went so fast, we only board the bus at 10pm and arrived in Cititel midvalley about 12midnight. Esok nak jumpa Tun early in the morning!
There came the morning we were waiting for. I was well-dressed (pinjam baju adik) in kebarung and my friends were also in formal attire. It was the time when I read the newspaper while waiting for my room mate to get ready when I saw this tiny article: TUN WAS ADMITTED TO IJN. Oh dear....what should I say to my friends..?
As usual, we assembled at the lobby and I conveyed the news. Everyone was shocked, but the plan was still on. We went to Perdana Leadership Foundation, and were welcomed by Puan Zarina, the manager of the foundation. She also informed us about the bad news. Anyway, Puan Zarina is an elegant, softspoken lady, her English is so good and she treated us very well. She guided us through the facilities and activities of the foundation.We were then invited for a tea (what they say) which for us was equal to a decent lunch. Tsuruoka-san asked if we could enter Tun's office, and she contacted Tun's aide to get the permission. There we were, posing in Tun's room and checking out what Tun was reading. Our group photo is certainly incomplete without Tun, but we were very thankful to the staff for the nice treat.
Since the second group came later on Saturday, we then returned to KLCC for shopping and such. It was raining heavily as we were moving back to KLIA(some were boarding the evening flight). That night Tsuruoka-san, Wakasugi-san, Watanabe-san,Fu-san and I went to Bangsar for dinner. They were very excited to experience eating at stalls. Furthermore, one of the stalls provide shisha, so the guys tried that. It tasted apple, they said.
Only Wakasugi san and Fu san stayed till the last day. Early in the morning, we went to Dataran Merdeka to visit a museum next to it and posing in front of Bangunan Sultan Abd Samad. Fu san left for Taiwan in the afternoon, so I brought Wakasugi san to Jalan Masjid India. Wakasugi san wanted to watch a Tamil movie, and we did so for only about half an hour. Again to KLCC, had tea, and said goodbye to Wakasugi-san. The moment I stepped into the commuter, I did not remember anything--I felt like the clouds were on me. Again when I reached Nilai, I was nearly unconscious. ...slept like a log.
This trip really challenged me to the limit because I did everything single-handedly. Except for not being able to meet Tun, I am very satisfied and proud to myself when my friends told me they were very satisfied with the trip. And that sunset on the Straits of Melaka put me and the trip members in tears when the photo was showcased during our graduation dinner's finale.
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