Our meeting point with the rest was at the first petrol kiosk after Johor customs. Parked my car just outside the toilet and we waited for the rest to turn up. Spotted 2 cars parked at the resting & eating place before this kiosk and some people getting out from the car......Yes, our people! Saw them buying fruits from the road side vendor and wondering if they could see us. Tik Koy waved his hands for a while before he was spotted. Eld Boon & Eld Goh drove over. They were too early and so had a short tea break at this resting stop but was disappointed with the standard of coffee. Eld Seah arrived shortly with the tows and we made our journey up, Eld Goh the leader, followed by Eld Seah, me & Eld Boon.
All went well except for this horse-shoe like via duct & expressway.... erh...i didnt notice the name of this place. We were supposed to exit somewhere but instead went on a merry-go-round. First, we were traveling on this road or expressway (let me name it Z) and missed the exit. Went further down and did a U-turn (call it A). Came back to this road Z and had to go to the other end to do a U-turn (i call it B here) so as to get back on the right direction to exit on the left. We did exit.....but it was the wrong one! So off we went to another U-turn to get us back to this road Z, then did a U-turn at A & at B. Confused? We were..... Tik Koy said the road looked familiar as we went round a few times. I thought so too coz i didnt pay attention to the signs... only kept my eyes fixed on Eld Seah's & Eld Goh's car. Do you remember the racing tracks kids play in the shape of a stadium track? I felt just like one sports car going round the tracks to complete my rounds before being declared 3rd in position....hee hee.... As we went round U-turn B the last time, i sang this little nursery rhyme:
Thank God we finally arrived at about 12.10pm, 30 mins later than expected. Front desk asked me for reservation no or voucher of which i had none. Told him to look for Calvary Tengah group and so he found. Asked if the wheelchair (for Mrs Tow) was ready only to be received with puzzled look. He asked me who arranged this and called this person back in Singapore office to confirm. Sigh....it was supposedly to be ready when we check in. Hmmmm.... nvm, the rooms werent ready and with stomachs growling, we would be glad to dump our bags at the designated area and head straight to restaurant. After putting our bags aside, someone mentioned we ought be to given luggage tags, and so we asked front desk for that, wrote on the tags, tied to our luggage and rearranged our bags....a further 8 mins delay on top of the 20 mins we spent at the lobby doing nothing.
Took a walk to the restaurant and was pleasantly surprised at the set up of our table (see pic below).
Menu was local malay food and it was alright. We especially loved the Pajeri Nenas (Pineapple thingy dish). It was fabulous and voted the most popular dish. Eld Goh signalled to me to go with him to check the meeting room. I didnt think it was necessary coz i trusted the Sales Manager whom i had corresponded with. Anyhow we went up and down the block not being able to locate our assigned meeting room. There were signs for other groups but none for ours. We couldnt recall the name of the meeting room given and so had to look for the banquet people to ask them. Found one and was told a small room (but big enough to house us) by the name of Maharaja. Sigh... we had Maharani the last time and it was awesome with patio. This one has no windows except for the door. AND....it was arranged in workshop style which should have been boardroom. With 30 mins to our first meeting, the banquet man had to rearrange all by himself. We decided to start meeting 15 mins later so as to give him more time.
Nevertheless we started at 2.15pm and 3.30pm was our first tea break. At 3.25pm Eld Goh once again prompted me to check that it was ready. I still had much faith in them coz i thought the first hiccup was probably wrong communication. All were prepared except no food & drinks. Had to call banquet staff to look into it immediately. Argh... probably they didnt have enough time to prepare... the tea was so diluted and coffee had a bad taste. It was just so disappointing :(
After break was even worse. Our meeting room was filled with this stale fried oil smell and it was rather choking. Complained about this to the staff and tried to ask for alternate room but not available. They then assured us no more such smell the next day. Ee Huat, Hong Kim & Kelvin (not sure if anyone else) went for a swim before dinner and came looking fresh.
We met at the lobby at 6.45pm and walked together to the restaurant. Put Mrs Tow on wheelchair. Reached the building with steps and so Mrs Tow came down to walk up while we carried the wheelchair up. After collapsing it earlier, it couldnt open again. Tried with all might and wisdom.... the chair was jammed and faulty. Asked for a replacement while we were dining at the restaurant and was not disappointed.
The meal in Qing Palace Chinese Restaurant was great. It kind of made up for whatever happened earlier (at least to me). Took 2 bowls of peanut mousse and felt very bloated and uncomfortable. Needed to exercise but couldnt play table tennis as it was taken up by an enthusiastic dad coaching his son in the sport. He came with a big basket full of ping pong balls and kept serving to his son without stop. Oh man, reminded me of this tennis advertisement with fired-up balls one after another at top speed. Poor boy....seemed to be struggling :(
Some of them went to visit the gym.....see Eld Goh working out:
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