I just came back from the first of a series of many “sheng meng” (aka. ancestor-worshiping at their graves) that I have to participate in this year.

The ones today was primarily for my mom’s uncle (my grandpa’s older brother) whose immediate family is now all in China. He just happened to unfortunately passed away while visiting my grandpa many many many years ago (long before I was born), and so my grandpa took up the responsibility of taking care of the whole “sheng meng” thing each year.

Of course, now that my grandpa is unable to make the annual trip to Saraburi, the responsibility got passed on to my mom.

Like last year, I accompanied mom on this trip. Unlike last year, thanks to my garmin, we were able to locate mom’s uncle’s location (and also mom’s aunt’s — who happens to be located in the same graveyard) without having to spend more than an hour getting completely lost.

To be honest though, I don’t really know much about the process of “sheng meng”. (Maybe someone ought to publish a Sheng Meng For Dummies or The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Sheng Meng or something…

But to be even more honest though, I don’t think I don’t really care much for the exact process. I just feel that it’s probably not the right idea to be too ritualistic to the point of being a hassle.

So, I’m just really glad that my mom agrees with me.

Anyway, there’s DEFINITELY a plus for going to sheng meng today though. The grave that we went to is practically next to my dad’s factory (correction: the factory my dad works at… he doesn’t own it or anything…)

So, I got to take another tour of his workplace (quite a privilege really, since access isn’t allowed even for the big shareholders who aren’t actually working there.)

The way dad operates his factory always impresses me, and it seems like every time I get to visit, there’s always something new that dad just implemented.

I probably should not get into the details of what his initiatives are, but I can definitely say that he is an important reason why his company has the highest return/dividend yields/margin/etc. among his peers in the industry. (Heck… most of his peers aren’t even making any profit right now, with all the increased raw material/energy prices and such the intense competition and all.)

Seriously… if anyone’s interested in topics about lean/kaizen/5S/anything-relating-to-cutting-cost… you really should come talk to my dad… he’s probably the best one around!!! (: