OK – it was free to go to Malaysia – but I feel like I paid the corporation back in full, what with no sleep, long hours talking about work, and tearing around insane highways at ridiculous hours in the morning on the way to the “fact finding assignment”.
It sounds great – all this international traveling and getting paid for it, but the reality was very different for me and it gave me a glimpse into what it’s probably like for most functionaries catching planes. Whether you are opening a McDonalds in Dubai, setting up a TV station in Zanzibar or a production service in KL it's probably the same - a globalised, standardized, brief experience – you get freighted out there – you perform, deliver the goods, get pissed, shop a bit (duty free), then get shunted back to where you came from. It’s hardly enlightening or relaxing – unless motorways, lobbies and glimpses of scenery are your thing.
There was an Arab feel to KL – apparently it’s a cheap Islamic-friendly tourist spot for Middle Easterners. The main attraction is the twin towers – very Muslim looking – – tempting symbolism given 9/11 – but I am not sure what it indicates to the people, if anything. There was an excellent shopping mall there.
The photo is a view outside my hotel window in Singapore where we did a stopover.
