Quietly rising

Look out at a street in Indonesia for ten minutes and you’ll see ingenuity everywhere.

A family of four passes on a single motorbike, a baby asleep on the handlebars. Two men in flip-flops carrying a refrigerator across town. A woman towing her restaurant behind her bike. A coffee shop turns out to also be a tailor.

If there’s a need, someone fills it. If there’s an opportunity, someone takes it. To foreigners, it may look improvised. It’s not. It’s a system of living that is constantly adapting.

Watch long enough and the rain comes. The sky darkens. Within minutes, heavy sheets wash over the street. No one complains. Bikes pull over. Ponchos come out. Helmets off, ponchos on, helmets back on. Engines start. Commutes resume.

Pull over. Adjust. Continue.

Or come to dinner.

Last December, Tony and I were invited to dinner in Đà Nẵng by a university provost. We assumed it would be a quiet meal, the three of us. Instead, we stepped out of our Grab to a group of restaurant staff waiting outside. They led us into an ornate private room.

A table set for ten. A dozen bottles of whiskey. A karaoke microphone.

The provost arrived with several deans and three professional musicians. I found myself in a line of handshakes, not sure what to do with my hands. Dinner opened with live Italian opera. We moved through seven courses and conversations that ranged from fish sauce to regional history to what it takes to build trust in this part of the world. Somewhere in the middle of it, I was singing Hotel California with a room full of Vietnamese university leaders.

Four hours in, the conversation turned to ways we could work together.

Trust before transaction. Relationship first, always.

Southeast Asia is building, and fast. There’s a hunger here, a momentum. Technology, sustainability, energy. A younger generation honoring tradition while inventing the future.

Almost no one I know back home is paying attention.

I’ve been traveling here for a decade. The more I go, the more I realize I’ve been watching from the outside.

I have so much more to learn, and I can’t imagine a better place to learn from than the heart of Southeast Asia.

That’s why I’m moving to Kuala Lumpur.