Ye Olde Smokehouse Cameron Highlands – a review

Recently, I’ve been very into this Groupon thing and I swear I’ve lost more money to them than saved – just by the sheer amount of things I’ve bought from them. So anyway we saw a groupon for Ye Olde Smokehouse at Cameron Highlands limited to a 100 Groupons. I’ve always loved this place since I first went there when I was 12 with my parents and my dad bought me a steak (which I couldn’t finish cause it’s such a huge plate!). So I naturally jumped at it and tried to get the whole gang to go with me. Mind you, we have 10 people.

The deal was for 2D1N Stay at Smokehouse Hotel Cameron Highlands for 2 people + Full English Breakfast worth RM400 but we bought it for RM250.

(1) Reservations

When I was making the reservations, I tried to get it for all of us to go and stay at 5 rooms – so we will all be up during Lyn’s birthday. Ok, I do understand that I was making a lot of enquires and trying to organize a group trip is no easy feat. The person who took my reservation (through email) was so skittish about it and answered all my long queries with short-handed answers. Fine. I’ll excuse that because I felt that (a) Not everyone can have flowery English and (b) I was trying to make a big reservation which can be complicated, and I also made a change to the date, and I was asking a lot of questions. BUT technically, I am the customer. I can ask as much questions as I want. It doesn’t excuse the very short-handed but fine never mind. I let it pass.

In the end, because they couldn’t accommodate all of us, Group A when up on a Fri (took 2 rooms) and Group B when up on a Saturday (took another 2 rooms) and Group C will be up later this month (with 1 room).

(2) Group A’s experience

Group A on Friday arrived late. And this is according to KLCW’s story to me since I was not in Group A.

When Group A arrived they were ushered into the general lobby area where they were asked to take a seat first and have some welcoming drinks. They also ordered some scones (which according to them was overpriced and overrated) and just sat there for the longest time ever waiting for some service. Finally KLCW went up to ask them, “So when can we check in?”

Answer: “Anytime!”

???????

Never mind. They checked into Hilltop 1 & 2. That night, the electricity flickered on and off. The lights constantly went on and off. But Group A being nice did nothing but complain a bit at the front desk – got free shortbread and marmalade jam and went on their merry way to meet us – Group B.

(3) Group B’s experience

The wet porch greeting us - a rainy day arrival

When we arrived, it was raining heavily and we didn’t have an umbrella. So HC drove up to the front of the hotel for us. I ran up to the lobby to check in and was greeted with the most unfriendly “YES?” I have ever encountered in my life!

Yes, I know I am a kid who doesn’t really look like I have the cash or the money to stay in a RM600 hotel room and just ran into your high class hotel, shaking raindrops all over – but excuse me? Aren’t you supposed to say “WELCOME!” not “YES?”

Not only that they took FOREVER to check us in with no welcoming drinks! (Inconsistency!) Never mind. We left to have lunch and told them to bring our bags up to the room. We requested the same room as Group A because they said that the room was really large and huge. So in Hilltop 1 & 2 again we were. It was really large – Hilltop 1 is anyway – not Hilltop 2. But since it was connected, it suited us just fine.

Hilltop 1

Breakfast the next day, we headed down at around 10am and were seated on a table with no settings and CRUMBS on it. Then the waiters proceeded to ignore us for 30 minutes. Although the place was full, there's no excuse. You wouldv'e known firsthand the amount of people staying overnight - hence the amount of people dining during breakfast - lack of staff is NOT an excuse for poor service.

Food quality wise - I wasn't asking for much. It filled me up but it's no Jarrod & Rawlins that's for sure.

We didn’t experience anything funny until after Breakfast – the electricity flickered on and off again. Then the TV in Hilltop 2 EXPLODED! I’m NOT JOKING! Smoke, and explosion! Worse than that – my 3GS was charging at the same time! It refused to turn on!

Later on back down in KL, I brought my 3GS to the shop who told me that the IU blew – which can happen when a surge and resurgence of current happens over a short period of time! This confirmed that the inconsistent electricity source at the smokehouse was the cause of my 3GS blowing.

I was damn angry and went to the front desk to complain when we checked out. And the BEST part was the receptionist said, “It’s actually not our fault – it’s TNB’s fault!”

!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don’t care if it really actually WAS TNB’s fault. Have you ever heard of customer service? Isn’t this the part where you say “I’m sorry that happened” instead of shifting the blame to some other third party? I don’t care if its TNB’s fault – it still happened on your premises which make you responsible for it. First rule of customer service – the customer is always right!

And when I was so damn pissed off with that answer which they tried to shift the blame to TNB – the next part was possibly lottery winning. “Your friends stayed there the night before and they already complained about it what.”

WTF does my friends staying there the night before having to do with anything? Are you trying to imply that we shouldn’t have stayed there because a complaint was made before? What are you really trying to say really?

And you know what the saddest thing about this is?

The smokehouse has lost none of its beauty that had enraptured me as child. It is still so damn gorgeous with a colonial air that rivals so little others. The building itself is magnificent and so goddamned charming. The grounds are so beautiful with beautiful gardens littering the place with beautiful flowers. It’s almost as if it’s trying to tell you a story – a really, really old story. So filled with history and charm, it is truly a magnificent place. There’s beauty in the air, and stories in its walls.

Super beautiful grounds surround the Smokehouse Cameron Highlands

It’s a really sad thing that such a beautiful place as such TERRIBLE service. Terrible really. We were ignored at check-in, ignored at breakfast, all our complaints were ignored – worse excuses were made… Just really bad service for what is supposed to be a beautiful first class hotel.

P.S> My 3GS is still fried and not back to me yet. Repairs cost RM300. Smokehouse management, if you ever feel like you wanna pay me back for me, feel free to because I'm still pissed.

The Malaysian Brain Drain - Don't change the stars on your flag just yet.

"It doesn't feel like the country is mature enough to tackle its problems right now. When we are ready to face our problems, I'll be ready to come back"
[From: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/21/malaysia-fights-brain-drain]

If everyone thought like this where does change start happening? No matter what has happened to give you dissatisfaction, never forget that it is the opportunities presented to you in your home country (no matter how screwed up and corrupt) that has enabled you to make that move across.

Take a look at how many times Lim Kim Siang and Lim Guan Eng has landed themselves in jail. Now, look at how far Penang has come today. How a transparent and fair government makes such a huge difference.

If you feel there's something wrong with your country, CHANGE IT. Don't wait for someone to change it for you so you can idly sit by and just return when all the blood, sweat and tears have already been shed and reap the benefits you do not deserve.

So before you change the stars on your flag, have you tried to change home first?

Marathons, The Energizer Night Race, and Malaysians!!

Honestly! Yes, the organizers had it coming. But honestly, people achievement is more of a concern than any free gifts you should be obtaining. One guy even proudly posted up on FB that he had pressured the organizers into giving him a group of 60 runners a full refund and didn't quite care that the others didn't get it. To him, he proudly stated that it is his right to demand a refund and it is not any concern of his how the other people are.

It is your right to demand a refund if you feel you have been cheated or there has been misrepresentation on any part. It is not alright to demand it for selfish purposes. It is alright to demand it for the running community and to ensure that similar situations do not happen but for your own selfish reasons and for not highlighting the matters of concern is just too much.

A refund is not going to change anything if you do not bring forth the issues at hand. Why were there no medics, no water stations, no organization, possible health and safety violations, possible riot and stampede situations, etc etc?

Also, achievement for running is incomplete with highlighting the issues again. Why run at all if you are just running for the goodies? Run because you have to qualify and highlight the fact that no proper marshaling was available to ensure proper running and full circuit completion. Mailing a finishers medal to me now will have little sense of achievement if a finsiher's medal is being given out to anyone and everyone.

Thirdly, spamming without bringing forth the proper concerns is a waste of time. Stop encouraging everyone to spam CEOs/Marketing directors/Organizers with a mere "GIMME MY REFUND NOW!". What is that going to achieve. Complain wisely and with TACT. Highlight issues at hand and provide proper constructive criticism not four-letter words.

Most of all, stop encouraging rioting and uncivilized pressuring. Complaining to organizers is fine. Do it with tact and with civilized words, pointing out all mistakes made so it will not be repeated. That should be the main point in complaining. To highlight the incidents that have happened that HAVE ENDANGERED THE LIVES OF RUNNERS not to claim a sense of your own personal money back.

And for goodness sake, a marathon is a long-distance running event with an official distance of 42.195 kilometres! If you ran 11km, you did not run a marathon! Don't soil the name of marathoners.

Energizer, in this stage and age where social networking spreads and highlights so much more than the media ever could, damage control is prudent for your branding. Of course, our attitudes aren't helping but please, do something before it escalates. Even if it is just a short apology ensuring people a full apology later. There is still nothing on your website and it's been more than 36 hours...

Energizer Night Race Malaysia 2011 - A Review : Oh, what have you done!

Alas, the infamous night race.... As an F1 fan I awaited this race with eager participation due to the fact that it was on the circuit. As an avid fan who's been on the circuit many times, I knew how dangerous this race was going to be. Sepang F1 circuit isn't the most lighted of places and it is incredibly deserted. Still, we trudged our way over there. My gang arrived first pretty on time at 630pm. We trudged our way out from the parking to the circuit.

#1: Signboards. There were no markers/signs or anything to show the directions to the race area/race kit collection area or anything! Instead once you reach the grandstand there's a small poster-ish thing telling you to use the access tunnel under the circuit to get to the paddock/motorhome parking area. I question the need to use the tunnel - why not track across the circuit. Please keep in mind you are expecting 10000 participants. Why put the event area in the motorhome parking when it can be in the grandstand mall area? As I said I'm very familiar with Sepang and none of the layout made any sense to me whatsoever!

#2: Pre-race info. Before the race, me and IC were discussing it's logistics and both of us received no race info what-so-ever. IC even when to the website to check and showed me the check-in times which were on the same page as REGISTRATION. Say what? Nothing was e-mailed, there wasn't a section on the website for pre-race info. NOTHING. It was only much later that CH pointed out, a little bit of info was in the FAQ section which is buried deep down on the bottom right of the webpage. Really? Who's going to look at that?

#3: Headlamp collection. After you exit the tunnel in a very haphazardly arranged corner TWO guys are handing out the headlights to a few thousand people causing a jam to form at the end of the tunnel. We had no idea what was needed to collect it but when you approach the men they mark on your bib. No prior information was given about this when actually if you put up a sign that simply says 'please have your bib really for colelction of headlights' wouldn't it have been much better? And really? Two men for a few thousand??

Much later, V came and met up with us with three headlights in his hand. We stared perplexed at him as he explained that when he reached the headlight station NO ONE was there to man the section hence, people were just grabbing handfuls of it and walking off with it. Well what do you expect? If you leave it there open with no one to man it, isn't that like an open invitation?

IC who was the latest friend to turn up to the circuit said he walked past the tunnel and didn't even know there was headlights collection there. There were apparently no more headlights and IC didn't get any.

#4: Pre-race briefing: In the that vast motorhome land that we were in now, there was no signs/no information what-so-ever to show how to get to the circuit, how to get to the start/finish line, nothing, nothing, nothing. Racers were lost and I saw a few of the 42 and 21 runners who missed the flag off time. Ridiculous.

#5: Race marshals and MEDICS!!! J wasn't feeling well even before the race but she said she wanted to run. But about 2km in she was really feeling very bad. I slowed down my pace and walked with her making sure that she was ok the whole way. Why? The circuit was dark, the roads are wide and get this: NO RACE MARSHALLS OR MEDICS were on site. There was only two tents set-up one my guess would be about 2.5km in and the other about 4.5km in. But along the way there was no assistance no marshalls, nothing to show or light the way. All you need is for one person to go off into the corner and faint and that's it! No one would even know he's there!! Please keep in mind this is a night race in a poorly lighted area. Surely, you should've been more prepared than that!

Upon return, I asked CH, V and IC how the situation was for 21k. It was even WORSE. There was no marshals and the roads didn't even have lights!! Worse is that they are running outside on the same roads with no proper directions on how many loops to make and which direction to go off to. Now, I'm not a competitive runner so I don't care. But lots of people in the 21 and 42 are competitive runners and I can just imagine how frustrating it is to run and not know where to go having to ask for directions along the way.

Then the fact that you are running on poorly lit outside roads, if you have no race marshals or medic on a constant look out how are you going to know everyone is safe? Most people I know who are in trouble often move to the side as to not disrupt the running flow to rest/vomit/catch a breath/whatever - but if you are unaware of this due to the lack of constant vigilance, someone might've just fainted at the side of the road and fact is that no one would even find him until morning!

I saw many 21k runners in my second loop (yes, I'm so pathetic that the 21k runners caught up with me) and many of them were asking "Are you running 21k?" "Is this the correct way?" "How many rounds are we supposed to make?"

Also on my second loop, my friends apparently collected a band to mark the passing of one loop at the start/finish line. when I arrived at the start/finish line with J, because we were so late, it was like chaos all over! People were sitting on the track without anyone shoo-ing them off. I had no idea I was supposed to grab something because of the poor organization. No one told me, and there were no markers. How the hell am I supposed to know? All I did was avoid the litter of people SITTING on the track. (What the hell were they doing there in the first place?)

Oh ya. They were missing one water station too!

#6: Start/Finish line. which brings me to 6 the start/finish line. Why were people allowed to loiter around? There was no race officials to do their job, NO DRINK STATION at the start/finish line and the worst of worst was no medic again! The start/finsih line is the most crucial point because that's were most people start feeling faint. Just because you have finished the race doesn't mean that you are ok.

True enough, someone collapsed at the start finish line and there was no medic on site. I saw a flurry of runnign from the lone organizer fella running around screaming into her walkie-talkie. "MEDIC MEDIC MEDIC!"

WTF?

#7: Goodie bag riot. There was chaos after the race in the fact that I really didn't quite know where to go, what to do and where to be at. I finally found my gang in the corner and they told me they got a goody bag for me. I stared at them stunned. How did they manage to grab an extra one. Their answer: they finished quite early so when they were there no one was manning it and the organizers at the side was ignoring them and wasn't handing it out to them so they just grabbed it themselves. WHAT? Why is no one manning your counter??

Then the best part is that while we were waiting for the 21ks to get back someone walked past PW and asked her if she wants a finisher's medal. HUH WHAT? Apparently, the organizer gave her a whole bunch so she has some extra! #@$%! WHY ARE YOU DISTRIBUTING FINISHER'S MEDAL LIKE FLYERS??? I ran so painfully to complete the race within the stipulated time and I find out that you are distributing medals like it means nothing??!?!? And I'm not even a competitive runner and you the pain I feel about this! ARGH!

Much later on as more people started coming back, they queued up for the race packs (which were incomplete by the way) with no signs or organization what-so-ever. I wasn't part of the Q so I don't quite know what happened but apparently soon after the organizers refused to hand it out to them. If I had queued up for it and you didn't give it to me, I will be damn mad too!

#8: Press release. To contain the escalating tempers and annoyance, the organizers shut down the collection center and promised to courier all packs to the participants. That means if I run or don't run I still get a race pack? How is that fair? They also promised to release a press statement on their website and as of now I'm seeing no press release despite the fact taht they promised it will be up by 12am.

#9: Parking. Both us and V parked in proper designated areas. We paid RM10. V paid nothing. Why?

The track was getting deserted by the time we left it around 1150pm. But outside I saw some 42k runners still going at it. When they arrive at the circuit and see it completely blank how are they going to handle it? Please remember that the area was getting so deserted already by the time we left and I just don't understand how the organizers can just desert the place while people are still running. I also don't understand why no damage control is being done. PR people for Energizer should be scrambling to contain the situation right now.

Fact is they were lucky no one fainted and died, they were lucky no one threw a punch, they were lucky they managed to get off relatively scot free. And really. they should be doing something about it.

I feel so dejected that all my efforts racing against the time to complete, actually it doesn't even matter anyway. The people who walked behind me is still going to get the medal. The people who didn't show up is also going to get the medal?

I'm not getting this thing that's going on at all. I'm just confused.

How can such a large corporation do something like this?

So much for my cute drawing I drew before I took part in the run.

Ubah Sarawak!

Link to ABC feature on Taib and his hold on Sarawak : Please click here and watch.

http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2011/s3191901.htm

The link above is an ABC feature on Taib's stronghold on Sarawak done very generally and yet so significant. 10 minutes is all it takes to make a surface feature on suffering of the people of Sarawak.

When I look at Penang today, I often feel like I'm in a different country not a different state. All it takes is for you to elect the right people into the right seats. Change can happen for Sarawak too!

Sarawak is the richest state in Malaysia yet, none of its people reap its benefits. Although it is still has a long way to go before we can relax Taib's firm grip on the state, remember that small change can lead to bigger change in the future. All politics need an opposition. That's democracy. Please vote responsibly.

http://www.sarawak4change.com

Anthony Neely's ' Lesson One' - an oversight.

Now that I've had more time on my hands to google all of Anthony's lyrics and really fully listen to his album, I gotta take back a few of the things I've said on just a one-go-listen of his album..

Yes, as I've explained before, me = zero knowledge of Chinese. I only get a general gist of an idea of a song that is carried by voice and emotion but not meaning. So now that I’ve had more time on my hands to google up the songs and get a somewhat concise version of the meaning of his songs, I have to say I’m totally in love with it.

As you know, I’m such a morose and pessimistic person who adores the darker side of a human being. The darker side of us is artfully beautiful when manipulated correctly. And most of his songs are so very artfully dark! I love how that even the most emo of songs (散場的擁抱) is so dark and cruel. He wasn’t just talking about unrequited love in a jealous manner; it so magnificently incorporated the elements of insecurity and most importantly a dark inferiority! I love how it was actually an intense torture of the inferiority felt rather than just another jealous love song.

Then of course, there’s his most famous song ‘Sorry That I Loved You’ which on surface if you aren’t really listening to what the song is saying, sounds like a typical love song of regret, remorse and depression. When in actual fact, it is an immensely cruel love song about how we fall out of love. Cruel, but very much the reality of the real world which is what makes the song so endearing despite its rather simple lyrics. He is really is quite good at subtly weaving darker elements into seemingly emo music.

Also, I noticed how the songs are leaning more towards the western side of having verses, choruses, and a bridge rather than the Chinese repeated thing which I have never quite understood. Understandably, change cannot happen too suddenly as the bulk of his listening audience is still the Chinese speaking community who are more used to the repetitive music. So although he still incorporates the repeated elements in, he is subtly bringing in more unrepeated verses to his music and subsequently to the Chinese music world.

Essentially, he sounds almost tortured in the album. It’s almost painful to listen to him because his voice as well carries a very emotional tone to it. You can feel the suffering, the pain, the anguish of all the darker elements he really tries to incorporate in. So essentially instead of just feeling emo, you start empathizing and feeling the anguish yourself. Brilliant. (But still the thing I like most is the unrepeated thing. Really!)

It’s like art. Listening to him paints black and white lines of the beautiful torments of love in my mind. And I love it!

Banana's view of a fake "kwailo" - An Anthony Neely / 倪安東 - Lesson One 第一課 review.

As you know, despite being a pure Chinese, I am a banana (don't speak a word of mandarin)... Despite that, I have friends who are more in touch with their inner Chinaman than I am so I'm not completely oblivious to the Chinese world of entertainment. A few months ago in our 8 hour ktv session, I first heard 'Sorry That I Loved You' by some unknown Chinese artist. It wasn't until months later when I heard it again in the night market that I remembered it. PW then commented that he was a "fake Chinese".

This came a few days after A gave us Media passes to the MY Astro Music Award show. Being a non-Chinese speaker with 5% knowledge of the Chinese entertainment world, I was bored to death and even ended up falling asleep in the last hour. Still, Media passes means if I stretched my hand out I could touch Wang Lee Hom's shoe. Me being a non-Lee Hom fan was extremely annoyed my his nonchalant and pissy attitude throughout the whole night off cameras. (On cameras, he was fine. Oh, deceit!) He was arrogant in his attitude and showed little appreciation towards his ongoings the whole night. It was single-handedly the most Hollywood thing I've ever seen to happen to an Asian community. Hence, my comment after the show was that Lee Hom was a "fake Chinese". Because there was nothing remotely Chinese about that man except the words coming out of his mouth.

So when PW mentioned another "fake Chinese" he naturally intrigued me. I went back, did the whole google thing - didn't find out much thanks to the lack of English info available. But his name was Anthony Neely. I grabbed the album and listened to it. And videoed all the other performances of him on the reality show 'One Million Star'.

Random: One Million Star is grammatically incorrect!!! Do you mean there are one millino stars? What?? Makes no sense!

When A who works for an English speaking TV Station was trying to interview Lee Hom after the award show, he was rejected. He commented that Lee Hom was not helping himself because he had the potential to reach out to an entire audience of Bananas thanks to his American-ness.

As I was listening to Anthony's (or 倪安東 as he is better known as) album, I noticed that he was really not a fake Chinese at all! He's a fake kwai-lo! This is a bit of a glass half-full/half-empty kind of situation.

Both are Americans who both have nothing remotely Chinese about them. I mean, as I listen to Anthony's 'Sorry That I Loved You' - there was nothing remotely English about the song except the words coming out of his mouth. The song, the tune, the emo, was all so very Chinese despite the ironic fact that it was entirely in English.

It was then I realized that despite Lee Hom being on scene for far longer than 倪安東 has, 倪安東 actually has more potential to reach out to an entire world of Banana speaking Chinese. In this world stage, with youtube and all media so easily accessible, you really get various people who barely understand Chinese listening to Chinese songs. With the potential to breakthrough to an entire worldwide audience full of them - even if it's through youtube, is an achievement of its own.

Many of 倪安東's songs on his album like 散場的擁抱 and 藏起來 still have a very emo typical Chinese tune to it. His voice has a rich, dark and almost eerie tone to it. It effectively brings forth the emotion needed which I think is incredibly important to banana listeners who don't quite understand what you've saying. When you are left with no words to listen to, the only thing you are left with is tone and music. He hits all the right tones with the slower tunes so much that it hits your emotions even without understanding the words being the song.

The only two English tracks of the album 'Sorry That I Loved You' and 'The Blower's Daughter' looses the essential feeling left in his Chinese songs. While pleasant, I already explained that 'Sorry That I Loved You' still has that Chinese tone to it while effectively captures the attention of his intended audience - the chinese speaking community. whereas his cover of Damien Rice just doesn't quite match up to the original. Whilst Rice's version was raw and cutting, Anthony's was much more emotional and less sharp. It gets the target audience appropriately but doesn't quite reach the English speaking ones.

There were some downs to the album - like the incredibly bland 幸福事小 which I felt didn't showcase his rich tone or background and 不耐煩 which also didn't carry much emotion and sounded manufactured rather than hand crafted.

Still the more upbeat and almost eccentric tunes like 纏鬥 and 惡夢, have an incredibly distinct Western tinge to it interwoven with an almost Jay-Chou-ness to it all. It's like a Western man trying to embrace Chinese. (As opposed to Lee Hom's a Western man trying to be Chinese.) I think that is the factor that makes his album so unique. The fact that he knows he really isn't a pure Chinese or a pure American and is proud of his heritage and isn't afraid of both sides of it - instead uses it to his advantage to interweave both sectors of his life to come into a unified unit.

Because of this, from a Banana's point of view I think give him a few years, 倪安東 can reach out to more Banana audiences than Lee Hom ever could, despite their almost similarities.

Anthony Neely's (倪安東) debut album Lesson One 第一課 is released by HIM International Music and is available in stores now.

Disclaimer: This is a personal opinion and not an advertisement.