day 0 of the MMSM

Lunch:
I took a taxicab to the Langkawi Fairground. The driver told me there is a good restaurant where I can get some food. I really wanted just hawker food stalls, not a fancy restaurant, but it was approaching 11 and I was getting hungry.
I walked into the restaurant. The waitress said to me: "11 up."
What does that mean? 11 up? I asked again, and she said "11 up." again.
After a few exchanges, she changed her answer, and said "11 thirty we open." Ah, so 11 up is the local way of saying 11:30. I can wait five minutes, so I took a walk into the shopping mall, and bought a small box of cashew nuts.
Later at the restaurant, I ordered an appetizer of shrimp dumplings (I was thinking Chinese dim sum shui-mai), an order of tofu in crabmeat stuffing, and a plate of flat noodles in gravy (chow kuay teow with gravy).


Dinner:
According to the agenda, dinner is supposed to be served pool-side, but there was no mention of what time they will serve dinner. I took a calculated guess from the day 2 agenda, which says 7 to 10 for dinner at the pool-side, and decided to check out the pool at 6:30PM.
Nothing.
I walked along the pool, then off a path along the beach to a long jetty. I looked at some fishing boat coming back in the evening setting sun, and took a few pictures with my iPhone.
Back to the lobby, I noticed a sign that says "wifi available", so I turned on the wireless in the iPhone, and read an email from the organizer that the dinner has been moved to the lower lobby. That is the lobby I first came in when I arrived at the resort. It is a short walk across a street to the lower lobby, and indeed, a cocktail party was in full swing. I picked up a glass of white wine, and circulated. I met the organizer, Alison Ho, who introduced me to the breakout session leaders. We had the breakout session mapped and planned. I am going to do a dry-run tomorrow morning at 11 AM.
Next is dinner. I was in no hurry, because I just ate a couple of fruits in my room. I let the attendees go at the food first. The food is prepared buffet style. There are four rows of tables of food. Row 1, salads, appetizers, shusi, fruits. Row 2 and 3 are the main course, but duplicate of each other: crab puffs, tuna fillets, fried boneless chicken, beef medallions, asparagus shoots, broccoli with oyster sauce, fried noodles, fried rice. Row 4: more fruits, including dragon fruit, papaya, pineapple, halved plums with seeds removed, pears, followed by laksa, the fish noodle soup, in Kedah style.

Piled up some food, and picked a random table full of Japanese sales managers. What a quiet group. I tried to provoke them, asking them why NAS is not a good seller in Japan. I talked about oem business, new product features, .. silence. Once in a while, they will speak Japanese to each other. Okay, I got the hint. I wolfed down my food, and went to talk to the Laksa chef. I asked him why Kedah style does not have shrimp paste. He said that is the tradition. Only Penang laksa has shrimp paste. I insists that shrimp paste enhances the flavor of the fish soup. It adds some sweetness and saltiness to the soup. He agrees, but said he must follow the tradition. Okay, got the hint, moved on.
When to talk to the organizers Caroline and Sureshz. They showed me the breakout room, where I will be presenting and demoing Unisphere. We made plans to meet tomorrow morning.
Back to the room for a quick dry run of Unisphere, and dozed off.

Pictures: