I arrived on Sunday to realize I didn’t pack a bath towel. I showered and decided I can’t wipe myself dry each night with the tiny hand towel I brought with me, and thus a shopping trip was required. Where do I shop for towels? Well, I could have taken the Train 2 stops to go to the closest shoping district, but decided to try Ikea instead, as it was right behind my apartment block. As soon as I entered the store, I could tell the Major differences between China and Malaysia. In Ikea in Malaysia, all the signs are in English, not so with Ikea here in China, everything is in Mandrin, if you can’t read Mandrin, your pretty much screwed. “You can always ask somebody what?”, I tried to ask a staff where the Towels were, and she replied “Sorry, No speak English”. In Ikea in Malaysia, almost every staff member can speak English, you probably couldn’t get a job there if you didn’t speak alittle English. Not in China though, finding somebody who could speak English is very hard, and if they did speak English, they would not be working in Ikea!! I finally found the towels I was looking for, bought 2 Orange Towels for RMB 97 (MYR 48). Prices are not that much different here and back home, which was quite interesting. I though for sure things here would be much cheeaper, as most of the stuff are made in China, no? Anyhoo, going to pay for my towels revealed yet another differance between our two nations, ALL the cashiers were open!! Not a single one was close!! How lovely. Paying for things was breeze, people just zoomed past and they were out. In Malaysia, more than half of the cashiers are always closed, probably to reduce the number of staff they need to hire. Labour being cheap here and a large labour force, there are is always somebody who will want to work as a chasier and Ikea can afford to hire enough of them.

If only more Chinese people learn English, then thier tourism would really soar and I think Millions more would visit this nation.

On this day in History..

• My Friends Are Officially Parents - 2003
• 3 More Days Then I Go Home - 2003
• Splish Splash, Puppets Taking a Bath - 2003
• You can take a Man out of India, But You Can't Take The India Out of A Man - 2003
• You can take a Man out of India, But You Can’t Take The India Out of A Man - 2003
• More Craving satisfied... - 2005
• More engagement pics.... - 2005
• Who I look Like? - 2006
• Funeral Blues - W.H. Auden - 2006
• The return to Pastamania, Pavilion - 2007
• Sneak Preview of African Night - 2007
• Camera for Sale :- Fujifilm E500 (SOLD) - 2007
• Malaysian in Space... - 2007
• Are you smarter than a 10 year old? - 2008

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