#soMalaysian - Football and Mamak Stalls

One thing I learnt about Papua New Guinea is...




.... they don't have McDonald's there. And so far, I've noticed that the delegates are very keen to dine at fast-food restaurants around KL especially McDonald's. It was time that we brought them to somewhere different.

A place that is set up especially to fit Malaysian culture.

A place where they get to eat almost anything that they can think of - roti canai, nasi lemak, tandoori chicken, western food, fried rice, basically ANYTHING! (Pizza? Maybe not. LOL)

And so they were brought to the #soMalaysian Mamak Stall somewhere at Sunway.

Discussing the menus.

Too bad that the menus were in Bahasa. It took a while to place orders because we had to translate the menu to English for them. Alas, they ended up ordering western food. AGAIN! LOL.

Mamak stalls in Malaysia are well-known as a hangout place to watch LIVE football with friends and mostly owned by Indian Muslims. Due to that convenience and also staying open from morning (to... ermm... next morning?) it eventually becomes the only place to hangout for LIVE football in the wee mornings of 2 or 4 am. 

The thing is... these guys from Papua New Guinea prefers Rugby.

Rugby what?

=)

If you happen to visit Kuala Lumpur, you should notice that mamak stalls or restaurants are found at every corner! The menus and interior are basically similar and I don't have a particular favorite. Be sure to try one and you'll know why we Malaysians always revisit.

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Papua New Guinea has landed!

My office has been making preparations since last year on hosting an international program to cater the professionals flown from Papua New Guinea. I'm being discrete on this so no names or organizations shall be named on this blogpost. =)

So far, what have I learnt of Papua New Guinea in my research to better my knowledge on these international guests? Well for one, I've learnt that before 1950's, headhunting and cannibalism was among their favorite past time joys. Scary much? And currently, among the 5 millions of people who live there, only 18% lives in the urban areas while one third of them still lives in the rugged highlands.

I'm pretty amazed with the facts and only god knows how I imagined these delegates would look and act like when we finally met. LOL.Somehow scenes from the movie "The Gods Must be Crazy" came into my mind.

Guess I was completely disillusioned. Here are the concurring events that lead to our first meetup with the Papua New Guinea delegates last Saturday night.

9:00 pm - Head to KLIA to pick them up. They'll be flying from Papua New Guinea with transit at Singapore.

From top: A funny way in "carrying" your child around and my office-mate who helped hold the banner.

10:00 pm - My office-mates and I had small banners with our organization's name on it. We stood near the exit of the international arrival hall waiting for a glimpse of any person who were dark-skinned. There weren't that many.

11:00 pm - We got anxious and started taking breaks. Some even squatted down right there and then!

They looked like rappers! Haha!

11:30 pm - And finally they came out all suited up in their sleek casual wear. So they're urbanites after-all! No resemblances of the half naked men from the jungle at all. He he he. Everyone were shaking hands and exchanging welcomes. It was a splendid evening to witness this exchange of cultural hospitality.

1:00 am the next day - Everyone has finally settled in their respectful rooms while even-though I was also offered a room, I kindly declined. No bed is better than my bed at home. Its all the reasoning they need from me. =)

We'll be seeing more of these delegates for weeks to come. Do keep posted on how they come to know (possibly love?) Malaysia in my next blogposts! Thank you for reading!
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