In an effort to enhance the team consciousness of our regional colleagues, Grentone organized a “China-Malaysia exchange” trip who members of Grentone join together to have fun, cohesion and activities. The exchange program enriched employees by providing an understanding on how different each work environments are, it enhanced communications between both entities, and understanding how collaboration could be further enhanced between departments. GRENTONE aims to better enhance the cohesion between the Group of Companies and everyone looking after each other’s back like a harmonious family.
On the first night when the Malaysian team arrived in Quanzhou, our logistics coordinator single handedly prepared a big table of best local dishes. From the picture, its seem CoCo did not welcome them with any vegetables. This is likely true as she may be afraid that the guys go hungry in the night.
The next day, we started our real trip in Quanzhou. In Quanzhou, a tourist site that you will never miss when you are there would be the temples. Places of Worship, such as temples, churches and mosques here have a long history; you can find monuments and trees back from few centuries back. It was a place where religions were concentrated.
Thereafter we went to the West Lake Park (西湖公园) to experience Quanzhou’s localized tea, and experiencing tea culture. Tea culture is a combination of tea art and spirit, and through performance of tea art, thus displays the spirit behind it. When night fell, we went to the famous scenic spot Qingyuan Mountain (清源山) which was not far away from the Shaolin Temple in Quanzhou.
On Day Three, of course, every trip has its shopping and eating. We went to Anta’s Factory Outlet (Bargain Outlet) store for shopping. They had a very unique ‘KFC’ (hope you can read Chinese in one of the pictures) next to it. It was a roadside pushcart stall, however claiming to have exclusive taste like KFC. We made a visit to one unique street which was made popular by several Web-based Celebrities, in the street, our Malaysian colleagues made their first attempt on a Fujian made popular desert called the “bamboo shoot jelly” (土笋冻), guess what is in this Jello? Drop us a reply and we will be glad to give you a reply.
Next, it was Game Time. Shopping and photo taking seems to be the women’s favorite, so for balance, our China team taught our colleagues in Malaysia how to play one very interesting card game made popular in China, which was called “War of Three Kingdoms”（三国杀）.
On Day Four, we went back to Xiamen because that was where we initially picked them up from. In Xiamen, we went shopping, walked and snacked on street fritters, bought some local delight snacks where they could bring back to their family and relatives. Tried out nearing more than 10 different kinds of local food in Fujian, then back we go to the hotel. After calling it a day, we had a farewell meal later in the evening. Very clearly I recalled, during the full four days, the entire team was eating on a full stomach the entire day.
Resting a few days after this trip, I gathered my thoughts and prepared this short journal. I felt it was quite difficult for everyone from different parts of the Malaysia region and even in the china region to come forward and interact freely, and build up Grentone’s team spirit. This exchange trip has brought a lot of purpose to me, be it for personal growth, or towards adjusting my career’s true north. I understand now what I actually work hard for; it is not just for the purpose of Grentone. It is for the family within Grentone.
