Journal from the workshop in Malaysia

Meeting the Professors
I arrived in Malaysia today at 6ish AM. My first impression of KL… very advanced technology, and I’m so sad to think just how left behind my beloved country Indonesia is compared to Malaysia. I derived on this conclusion as soon as I enter the international airport, which is so western-like, non-other Asian-like airports.

My favorite part was that I didn’t have to queue as much for the immigration. You know, when you enter a country usually you end up in a loooong queue, endlessly waiting for the next person before you to step on that yellow line. Here, we don’t see it happening. It’s a good sign, especially after the 15 hours trip, truly exhausting and on top of that I only slept for about an hour or so in between.

Anyway, the next best thing is when I decided that I would take the train to the hotel. At first I intended to take a cab (as I am not familiar with KL just yet, and the fact that I’m traveling alone worried me a bit). BUT… as soon as I enter the airport, I was convinced that they have a good transport system on board. Well, it wasn’t a bad decision after all! When I get on the train, I was pretty amused… and I got to think, “am I in Japan or Singapore?” because the interior as well as exterior of the train is just so modern! I can’t believe this is happening to Malaysia, who once looked up to Indonesia. I guess the world is spinning all right; we’re the ones who get to ‘wow’ them now.

The train took approx. 30 minutes to get to the KL Centre station. When I was going to go out of the train, I recognized a faint figure of my professor. But I wasn’t sure, because he seemed different, perhaps because of the long trip and jet lag may have crept in. Therefore I was hesitant to approach him in the first place. However I put on my glasses and when we were entering the escalator, I called his name in a dubious tone. “Prof. Spaargaren…..?” and I was right! It was him! I saw a grin on his face and with a surprised look, he greeted me. So and so, we got on the sky train, and this time I was relieved that I took the right decision; using public transport! Not only it is more sustainable, but also you get to have to spend some quality time with your thesis supervisor and discuss about the project you’re doing together!

* * *

The appointment at noon.

I couldn’t remember what I was doing before, but I remember my head was spinning when I realized my phone rings so loudly in front of me. I was supposed to meet Prof. Spaargaren for lunch at 12 sharp, and there he was, calling me in the room at 12.15, and asking me if I was coming! I got to rush and changed my clothes and within minutes off I went. Anyhow, we went out to lunch and having discussions along the way.

A bit of exploration

At 8 PM, Prof. Spaargaren, Dr. Oosteerveer and I went out for dinner. There’s this nice eating place, more like a ‘pujasera’ (food court) in Indonesia, just two doors away from the hotel. There, we got to eat ‘nasi lemak’, and surprisingly these Dutch professors were in favor of it! It was quite spicy, but really delicious. Afterwards they stated their satisfaction and said that they love to eat foreign food rather than Dutch food, go figure.

During dinner, we got into (heavy) discussion, mainly about the project we’re doing, EU politics, international, environmental and Dutch politics, the vicious circle of corruption in Indonesia, and other things. After a nice meal, it was already 10 PM, and I saw Dr. Oosterveer was ready to head back to the hotel. But since Prof. Spaargaren was still ‘awake’ and fully recharged, he wanted to walk around the block, so the three of us decided to go together and see KL at night. There was nothing much to comment on as it was already quite late and not much were happening. Nevertheless, it was a nice walk.

* * *

First day of the Workshop: Gert addressed his welcome speech and emphasized that since we are ‘project partners’, we should call each other on a first-name basis. Interestingly, he was glancing at me when he mentioned that preference of his. Fair enough, I was the only one who called him “Mr. Spaargaren”….

* * *

Tuesday, November 30. Bright sunshine above the Malaysian soil in the morning, but heavy pours in the afternoon. It was the second day of the workshop. Everything went well and I was in fact did a presentation about the results of my research in Thailand. Gert – my supervisor but at this time a ‘project partner’ – was quite happy with the findings, and he appreciated with everything I’ve done. This presentation and discussion was actually quite good. I received heaps of inputs from the participants, and most importantly is the inputs from Gert and Peter.