Simon Says

I took a short trip to Langkawi with two cousins. I was still in secondary school the last time I visited Langkawi. Many things have changed since then but it was nice to see that the island has not become as congested as Penang Island, even at its tourist hotspots. We went shopping for duty-free booze and chocolates, and massages, booked a boat to visit caves and fish farms, and saw eagles feeding. We went on the cable car and ATV rides. The sights were enjoyable. But the heat was terrible and we were sunburned. Even the Telaga Tujuh waterfall was dry. I learned my lesson not to visit Langkawi during the dry season. Go between July and December, and never before. There is nothing very special about the typical tourist activities we did in Langkawi. The only thing I found interesting was a conversation with the owner of a popular Chinese seafood restaurant. I can’t recall how we started talking but his anecdote about conflict resolution at work will likely stay with me for a lo...

It has been many years since I had a peaceful CNY holiday, not having video calls to make, and emails to reply to. The blessings of the unemployed. The celebration reminded me of my years away from home. When I was a student in the States, I missed the CNY holidays. There was no such thing as FaceTime more than 20 years ago. I could only call home for a few minutes. Although I was homesick at such times, CNY away from family wasn’t completely miserable. There were other Chinese students like me. We had our reunion dinners and get-togethers during the weekend. As most of us couldn’t cook, the festive spread included quite a bit of non-Chinese food like pizza, tacos, and kebabs. When I first started work, I still had to skip CNY because it was (and still is) expensive to fly home from the other side of the planet. Even if I could afford it, I was too afraid to request extended leave being both a foreign worker and a rookie. CNY is not a company holiday and I wanted to show I was th...