On Perhentian Islands, we spent 1 night luxuriously reclining in a beachside chalet at Flora Beach Resort on Besar, the big Island.
We’d booked our flight with Airasia and true to their no frills policy you really do get what you pay for! The landing on arrival in Kota Bharu was memorable; it nearly broke my back so hard did we touch down on the runway!
The flight back was a bit better, although the plane was delayed for over an hour, a bit rich for a flight that only takes 55 minutes.
Back in KL I sped of to another audit on Monday. Barely able to keep my eyes open I had the privilege of observing how shoes are made (very interesting, but so hot in that factory! AND we have to wear business clothes too!) .
This past week saw me climbing up ladders in my finery to count stock, so whoever said auditing is boring (could actually have been me!) should really rethink their attitude. After having to edge along a 20cm wide gap, 4 shelves and 5 meters high, scared stiff that I would plummet to the ground and frantically keeping a good lookout for spiders, I definitely have!
A minor setback to all this auditing is that most companies do not have English as their corporate language in the factories or subsidiaries. The previous company we audited had all their flowcharts and daily business documents in Chinese, but luckily most of it was translated into English. So that was ok. But this company… help!
On the first day I was standing in the office, trying to make head or tail of a document when someone approached me and started babbling along in Malay. After establishing that I did not speak the language, he started waffling on in really bad English about 19 shoes. Ah, I thought, not really understanding him, my boss must have requested some documentation on those particular goods. After a few minutes of us trying to understand each other, (and failing miserably) a rescuer appeared and it turned out that this person was a customer who was here to pick up some previously ordered shoes!
The setbacks of not understanding the language…
As from yesterday, my brother and boyfriend arrived in KL, they’re here to do some travelling and eating, as the latter seems to be their preferred choice! Well, Malaysia is known for its fabulous food, so I guess it’s a reasonable goal to pursue.