Sabah and Ideas

After a first CNY celebration in Malaysia in 4 years, I am off to Sahabat, LAhad Datu for my first placement in the FVOP refinery.

It was an eye opener al-together. I spent the weekend at Audrey's for CNY before heading off on Monday to officially embark on my first duty. First stop, the airport - it is as small as an LRT station in KL. Simple, no conveyor belts for luggage, just a simple raised platform for luggage. Small waiting area and 2 scanning system, that's all. All the more efficient and tiny, but it costs RM 186 a single way from KK to Lahad Datu, that's extortion.

My boss - Mr Abdul Ali was very welcoming where he drove his 4WD to pick me up and treat me to a wonderful Chinese meal with his wife and colleague. YES, Chinese Meal in a Chinese restaurant. So here we are, in a smaller town compared to the big cities, and there is so little racism that a Malay can eat openly in a Chinese restaurant and calls it the best restaurant in town. Mind you, even police officers were eating there.

2 hours journey on the road to Sahabat, we chatted and shared thoughts. At one point, my boss even tested me, though he insisted he wasn't, about the oil palm qualities. We share many common interests especially in sports, our view on the working culture etc. The staff in Sahabat has been very very welcoming and I have gotten a desk to myself and spend a lot of time with my boss or the foreman Salim, who seems to be the master of machinery in the plant.

Sahabat's lifestyle is that you work during the day, do sports (the play sports every night - typical Jaguh Kampung) and fish during the night. The seafood is really tasty plus the price is really affordable. Working culture is such that you go into morning meetings, then morning coffee/breakfast, work, lunch, work, afternoon tea, work, then home, sleep, wake up for sports ....

It has been a really nice and chilled one so far besides the fact that my knee can't take those rigorous sports yet. Week 1 comes to a close and I hope to learn more during the weeks to come!