KK & Chinese food

Day 1; 24, Apr. 2008

Nagoya to Hong Kong (CX)
Hong Kong to Kota Kinabalu (KA)
Stayed at Hyatt Regency Kinabalu Hotel

It was Thursday, I and my husband Kankichi had started our Golden Week just a bit earlier than the fellow folks who are working.

First day of the trip... flying flying flying.
About 4 hours to Hong Kong, 1.5 hours to KK (the 2nd largest city in Malaysia).

I always enjoy flying with CX; Cathay Pacific. Their aircraft carries small screens on every economy seats, and you are able to choose whatever movie you want to watch.

KA; Dragon Air on the other hand, was an OK airline. KA is supposed to be a subsidiary company of CX.

It took us more than 40 min. for a transfer in Hong Kong. We had to line up in a very long line of happy looking Japanese who just started their holidays. Other than that, everything went fine.

Hyatt Regency Kinabalu Hotel is in the very center of the KK.
Le Meridien KK which is about the same price range seemed bit nicer, meaning new.


http://www.kinabalu.regency.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/index.jsp


Having stayed in a comparatively expensive hotel, we chose to have our dinner in a cheap restaurant. We went to " Fatt Kee ", a local favorite Chinese restaurant on JI Pantai. The place was full of Chinese Malaysian. If you don't mind one or two hair in your meal, this is a place for your dinner. Cheap, delicious , exotic. They do have an English menu, but the explanation wasn't good enough. If you can't read Chinese characters, just go point the plates someone else is having and say "this one ". Tofu clay pot was my favorite dish, great soup and very healthy.




left: vegetable of Sabah, center: tofu clay pot, right: spicy fish


While I was having my dinner there, I searched around "Fatt Kee" for some intellectual stimulus. As an HR specialist, I can't stop thinking " who's responsible for doing what, who gets paid more, what makes their pay different ( relying on customers' tips, boss' decisions, or may be nothing at all and all the employees' motivation is as low as a birth rate in developed country excluding France; a country of romance) ?"

It seemed "Fatt Kee" has a very strong hierarchy. The lady who takes the order can speak English and is the one who takes care of checks. She wore a slight make up and had a neat T-shirt on. Other ladies wore filthy T-shirts, no words uttered, no motivation at all, slow motion, no expressions. My guess would be that those other ladies would not get any pay raise, they'll be working for low cost forever, which is very sad to see.
Malaysia has been under the Bumiputra policy ( an affirmative action for the native Malaysians), and it seems that Chinese people here aren't as powerful as they are in Thailand.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bumiputra

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at "Seven-Eleven", a convenience store, which we Japanese are very familiar with. We bought some beers, but I'm telling you, DON'T.
1 can of beer was 8 Ringet ( about US$2) . If you go to a supermarket where the locals shop, it's 3.4 Ringet.