Malaysia
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
Malaysia is amazing! After our bus ride we made it to Kuala Lumpur. This country truly reminds me of the Philippines; the weather, the people, the diversity, even the language. Malaysia is pretty much the same distance from the equator as is the Philippines. Everything is so green here. I truly love the diversity that is here. Malaysia in my opinion is a little better off than the Philippines. They seem to be doing a little better economically. Singapore was a fairly well organized city; Kuala Lumpur is fair less organized. They don’t seem to have quite everything figured out. I remember my father saying that in India you would have one really nice building then you would have a shack and trashy building right next to it. I found that to likewise be true. 
There are some really modern and beautiful buildings here then there are plenty of shacks. The diversity from the Petronas towers formally the tallest buildings in the world to the shacks a few corners away. The people are also quite diverse here in Malaysia as they were in Singapore. However, Malaysia does not have the same acceptance that Singapore has. Malaysia is a Muslim country. Islam is the national religion. They are tolerable of other religions however everything in their lives is affected by the religion. Muslims have Muslim names to differentiate themselves as do the Hindus. That way when you talk to any one person the instant you hear their names you can associate them with their religion. Each Malaysian is required to have an identification card. On their identification card it specifically says what your religion is and in your identification number it corresponds to different religions so that there is instant recognition of what religion you belong to. It has been really fun here in Malaysia. Tagalog is distant relative to the language here in Malaysia. There are many words that are similar or even the same. The whole structure and majority of words completely different, however, everywhere that I go I see words that I know whether they mean the same things or not. The first word that recognized was on our way into the country and we stopped at a rest stop. At the rest stop I went to the bathroom and the word for male is the same in English and Tagalog. I have been able to see a plethora of word that are similar and it just makes me want to go back to the Philippines even that much more. Our hotel in Kuala Lumpur was the best hotel we are staying at on the whole trip it was a Sheraton Imperial Hotel. It was really nice. It is going to be kind of hard staying at the YMCA in Hong Kong after that. Once we got into Kuala Lumpur in the afternoon they set us loose on the city. : ) 
From that point we went to the outskirt of town to the Batu Caves. The Batu Caves are some large natural caves us in a mountain side. They aren’t exactly pretty such as the Timpanogas caves. While they have stalactites and stalagmites, the true beauty is the grandeur and sheer size of the caves. To get up into the caves you have to climb 272 stairs. (While you may be wondering how I know it is 272 I can say that I am not that paranoid even though I know how many stairs up to BYU campus they just happened to number them for me.) The caves were actually a Hindu shrine. (if shrine is the right word?) It was really pretty and I definitely can say I am getting cultured. After the Caves we went to the KL Tower here in Kuala Lumpur and it is a lot like the stratosphere in Las Vegas. It was really pretty on the top of the tower to be able to see out over the city. After the tower we walked down to the Petronas towers and took some pictures (the Petronas towers are the famous Malaysian towers). The next day was Sunday. Sunday was a really nice relaxing day. We went to church here at the Branch for the city. I was really impressed with the way that the branch ran. It was surprisingly well organized. There was a lot more people that the branch that I expected. I think the most interesting this is that the majority of the people were not Malaysian. There were a surprising number of people that were foreigners. Church was fun. The Branch President’s wife was a Filipina. So I was able to talk to here. One of the other students (Jon) on the trip served in the Philippines. He served in the southern part of the Philippines in the Cebu mission so he speaks a different language. However, we both just jump at the chance to be able to speak with and talk with Filipinos. The branch asked us to put on a fireside for their youth. The fireside wasn’t required for us. However, I was so grateful that I went. At the fireside I sang “I am a Child of God” in Tagalog along with a few other return missionaries in their own languages. I messed up the words of the last line but oh well. Brother Fawcett gave a very interesting fireside. It wasn’t your normal run of the mill fireside it was completely interactive and great for the youth there. As I was sitting there I was reminded of the vast reaches of the church. The church truly is everywhere in the world. While it is still in its infancy here there is so much potential for growth. Here in the branch there are three sets of missionaries here. The interesting thing is that the missionaries aren’t allowed to wear their name tags in public only at church. They aren’t allowed to wear them because it is a Muslim country. I spoke with one of them and they mentioned that they aren’t allowed to teach Muslims (neither were we). After church and the fireside we were able to spend the evening out sight seeing. We went out and visited the Sultan Abdul Samad Building and to the Merdeka Square. The Merdeka Square is where Malaysia received its independence. 
After a visiting those sights we wanders town to get the true feel for Kuala Lumpur and then we road the monorail around the city at night to get a feeling for the city at night time. Monday was probably the best day that we have had so far on the trip. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. We started the morning off early by going to the US Embassy. One of the members of the branch is the Assistant Post Master at the Embassy and her husband is one of the military Officers stationed here. It was really interesting to go to the Embassy and see how it runs. I had never really understood how an Embassy ran. It was very informative. I really enjoyed it. They also had a few outside organizations come and talk to us about setting the procedure and processes of starting and running a business in Malaysia. 
After the Embassy we went to Dell. Dell we quite the amazing visit. Dell is located about a half hour outside of Kuala Lumpur in an economic zone called Cyberjaya. This is an area the Malaysia has built in hopes to attract large companies such as Dell, HP, Intel, and other such countries. Malaysia wanted Dell to come so badly that they built a huge 4 story building for Dell at with a 15 year rent free lease for Dell. The only condition is that they want Dell to insure 1500 job for the next 15 years. That is a pretty good deal. 95% of dell laptops are manufactured here in Malaysia, however, they are manufactured a couple hours north in Penang. This facility is a Services facility. When I say that I mean they just provide services for the facility. They are consolidating their data warehouses and this is going to be one of five for them. They are also starting to get into the business of hosting so they are creating extra space for this service. One of man functions here at this facility is their internal computer support. This is currently one of two global help desks. I was really surprised with Dell. They help desk was organized but not nearly as organized as I thought it would be. I was expecting something more impressive. In our meeting with Dell we met with the senior management for Dell at this facility. I was extremely impressed with the caliber of people they have at this facility. It is led by a lady named Bobby Dangerfield. Anyone with a name like that you have to expect wonderful things from! I was so impressed by the people and what they were trying to accomplish. It was really interesting to hear them speak about the struggles that they are having. 
After Dell we went to a place called Inti University. It is a chain of 10 private universities for profit here in Malaysia. They were recently bought by a large global company that owns over 100 universities worldwide for profit. This visit was exceptionally interesting. The universities here in Malaysia are headed by a Utahan that started a little university in Utah about 10 years ago. The concept of his college is that currently the education system doesn’t prepare students to enter into the work field. He feels that there is a break in the system. His idea is to change the whole way of educating college students and creating a more project based education system that more fully prepares students to directly enter the working world. His college was completely focused in Computer Science so it was easier to focus on just that. The college that he is heading up right now is more diverse. It was really interesting. Those three visits were amazing I learned so much. Until this point they were a highlight of my trip. Once we got home. We went down to the National Mosque. It was really cool we got there at night and the building was lit up. Just as we got there it was prayer time. It was exceptionally interesting to hear their pray being projected over the loud speaker. It is so interesting to learn about different religions. That wraps up Malaysia. It has been a really fun place to visit. I have really loved it. It reminds me of the Philippines so much which makes it really fun. Two cities down four to go!
Malaysia is amazing! After our bus ride we made it to Kuala Lumpur. This country truly reminds me of the Philippines; the weather, the people, the diversity, even the language. Malaysia is pretty much the same distance from the equator as is the Philippines. Everything is so green here. I truly love the diversity that is here. Malaysia in my opinion is a little better off than the Philippines. They seem to be doing a little better economically. Singapore was a fairly well organized city; Kuala Lumpur is fair less organized. They don’t seem to have quite everything figured out. I remember my father saying that in India you would have one really nice building then you would have a shack and trashy building right next to it. I found that to likewise be true. 
There are some really modern and beautiful buildings here then there are plenty of shacks. The diversity from the Petronas towers formally the tallest buildings in the world to the shacks a few corners away. The people are also quite diverse here in Malaysia as they were in Singapore. However, Malaysia does not have the same acceptance that Singapore has. Malaysia is a Muslim country. Islam is the national religion. They are tolerable of other religions however everything in their lives is affected by the religion. Muslims have Muslim names to differentiate themselves as do the Hindus. That way when you talk to any one person the instant you hear their names you can associate them with their religion. Each Malaysian is required to have an identification card. On their identification card it specifically says what your religion is and in your identification number it corresponds to different religions so that there is instant recognition of what religion you belong to. It has been really fun here in Malaysia. Tagalog is distant relative to the language here in Malaysia. There are many words that are similar or even the same. The whole structure and majority of words completely different, however, everywhere that I go I see words that I know whether they mean the same things or not. The first word that recognized was on our way into the country and we stopped at a rest stop. At the rest stop I went to the bathroom and the word for male is the same in English and Tagalog. I have been able to see a plethora of word that are similar and it just makes me want to go back to the Philippines even that much more. Our hotel in Kuala Lumpur was the best hotel we are staying at on the whole trip it was a Sheraton Imperial Hotel. It was really nice. It is going to be kind of hard staying at the YMCA in Hong Kong after that. Once we got into Kuala Lumpur in the afternoon they set us loose on the city. : ) 
From that point we went to the outskirt of town to the Batu Caves. The Batu Caves are some large natural caves us in a mountain side. They aren’t exactly pretty such as the Timpanogas caves. While they have stalactites and stalagmites, the true beauty is the grandeur and sheer size of the caves. To get up into the caves you have to climb 272 stairs. (While you may be wondering how I know it is 272 I can say that I am not that paranoid even though I know how many stairs up to BYU campus they just happened to number them for me.) The caves were actually a Hindu shrine. (if shrine is the right word?) It was really pretty and I definitely can say I am getting cultured. After the Caves we went to the KL Tower here in Kuala Lumpur and it is a lot like the stratosphere in Las Vegas. It was really pretty on the top of the tower to be able to see out over the city. After the tower we walked down to the Petronas towers and took some pictures (the Petronas towers are the famous Malaysian towers). The next day was Sunday. Sunday was a really nice relaxing day. We went to church here at the Branch for the city. I was really impressed with the way that the branch ran. It was surprisingly well organized. There was a lot more people that the branch that I expected. I think the most interesting this is that the majority of the people were not Malaysian. There were a surprising number of people that were foreigners. Church was fun. The Branch President’s wife was a Filipina. So I was able to talk to here. One of the other students (Jon) on the trip served in the Philippines. He served in the southern part of the Philippines in the Cebu mission so he speaks a different language. However, we both just jump at the chance to be able to speak with and talk with Filipinos. The branch asked us to put on a fireside for their youth. The fireside wasn’t required for us. However, I was so grateful that I went. At the fireside I sang “I am a Child of God” in Tagalog along with a few other return missionaries in their own languages. I messed up the words of the last line but oh well. Brother Fawcett gave a very interesting fireside. It wasn’t your normal run of the mill fireside it was completely interactive and great for the youth there. As I was sitting there I was reminded of the vast reaches of the church. The church truly is everywhere in the world. While it is still in its infancy here there is so much potential for growth. Here in the branch there are three sets of missionaries here. The interesting thing is that the missionaries aren’t allowed to wear their name tags in public only at church. They aren’t allowed to wear them because it is a Muslim country. I spoke with one of them and they mentioned that they aren’t allowed to teach Muslims (neither were we). After church and the fireside we were able to spend the evening out sight seeing. We went out and visited the Sultan Abdul Samad Building and to the Merdeka Square. The Merdeka Square is where Malaysia received its independence. 
After a visiting those sights we wanders town to get the true feel for Kuala Lumpur and then we road the monorail around the city at night to get a feeling for the city at night time. Monday was probably the best day that we have had so far on the trip. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. We started the morning off early by going to the US Embassy. One of the members of the branch is the Assistant Post Master at the Embassy and her husband is one of the military Officers stationed here. It was really interesting to go to the Embassy and see how it runs. I had never really understood how an Embassy ran. It was very informative. I really enjoyed it. They also had a few outside organizations come and talk to us about setting the procedure and processes of starting and running a business in Malaysia. 
After the Embassy we went to Dell. Dell we quite the amazing visit. Dell is located about a half hour outside of Kuala Lumpur in an economic zone called Cyberjaya. This is an area the Malaysia has built in hopes to attract large companies such as Dell, HP, Intel, and other such countries. Malaysia wanted Dell to come so badly that they built a huge 4 story building for Dell at with a 15 year rent free lease for Dell. The only condition is that they want Dell to insure 1500 job for the next 15 years. That is a pretty good deal. 95% of dell laptops are manufactured here in Malaysia, however, they are manufactured a couple hours north in Penang. This facility is a Services facility. When I say that I mean they just provide services for the facility. They are consolidating their data warehouses and this is going to be one of five for them. They are also starting to get into the business of hosting so they are creating extra space for this service. One of man functions here at this facility is their internal computer support. This is currently one of two global help desks. I was really surprised with Dell. They help desk was organized but not nearly as organized as I thought it would be. I was expecting something more impressive. In our meeting with Dell we met with the senior management for Dell at this facility. I was extremely impressed with the caliber of people they have at this facility. It is led by a lady named Bobby Dangerfield. Anyone with a name like that you have to expect wonderful things from! I was so impressed by the people and what they were trying to accomplish. It was really interesting to hear them speak about the struggles that they are having. 
After Dell we went to a place called Inti University. It is a chain of 10 private universities for profit here in Malaysia. They were recently bought by a large global company that owns over 100 universities worldwide for profit. This visit was exceptionally interesting. The universities here in Malaysia are headed by a Utahan that started a little university in Utah about 10 years ago. The concept of his college is that currently the education system doesn’t prepare students to enter into the work field. He feels that there is a break in the system. His idea is to change the whole way of educating college students and creating a more project based education system that more fully prepares students to directly enter the working world. His college was completely focused in Computer Science so it was easier to focus on just that. The college that he is heading up right now is more diverse. It was really interesting. Those three visits were amazing I learned so much. Until this point they were a highlight of my trip. Once we got home. We went down to the National Mosque. It was really cool we got there at night and the building was lit up. Just as we got there it was prayer time. It was exceptionally interesting to hear their pray being projected over the loud speaker. It is so interesting to learn about different religions. That wraps up Malaysia. It has been a really fun place to visit. I have really loved it. It reminds me of the Philippines so much which makes it really fun. Two cities down four to go!
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