My job and love for traveling has coincided well and it has blessed me with the opportunity to travel domestically and to some foreign countries. Hence I have been exposed quite a fair bit and one of the things that amazes me are our bad habits in public. We Malaysians, regardless of race, go around touting how friendly we are, how well we treat our guest, blah, blah into bullshit kingdom!
We have all kinds of bad habits and most of the times we display them in public places like hotels, shopping areas and restaurants. I am not talking about the hawker centers or side stall but restaurants that are supposed to be tourist spots who at that time was doing brisk business with tourist. So despite the poor service, people are still flocking to these places. What's up with that? Is it that our tour operators don't care about the kind of experience that the customer's are getting? Or is it that we have come to have such low expectations when it comes to service?
My latest experience took us to Melaka where we queued up for more than 20mins at a Chicken Ball Rice restaurant called Formosa. When we finally got a table, the server took her sweet time coming over to take our order. That was fine. We ordered and then waited another 20mins for food. Now correct me if I am wrong but isn't chicken rice already prepared?? Everything is already "pre-made" so what was the waiting for? That was not the punch line.
Our dishes came, but our rice didn't. When we asked our server, she went to the counter, looked at our order and said we didn't order the rice! Isn't the shop called Chicken Rice Ball Restaurant? Isn't that their speciality? Even then, who the heck eats chicken rice without the rice??? No one eats just the chicken doused in soya sauce and sesame oil!! That's a sure fire way to get your diabetes up! She then sulkily went to get our rice. No apologies, no attempt to move faster to get our rice. Just sulking to show what painful arses we are for making her work.
I am sure we see these types of bad service in a lot of places and I don't want to just point out Melaka as the bad example because we also had a very good experience for a cafe on Jonker Street called 1511. It was quaint like all shops and serves western and local. The waiter was very friendly is getting us a big table and he was so patient in explaining the menu as it was SO obvious that we were first timers. When the food came, he knew who ordered what and proceeded to explain how to enjoy it.
I don't think we need to be idolized and worshipped when we go out eating or shopping or were at a hotel. I think it is reasonable to expect people to be nice to you and take the trouble to ensure you have a damn good experience at their shops.
Another bad habit I think is the way we call out to the waiters or sales assistant. Do you realize that we always call out "HALLO" and it has come to a point that we call it out rudely? It's not even "hello" but "HALLO!". In CAPITALS!! What is wrong in calling out "Excuse Me"? It's the same when counter staff calls us. In the western countries they will say "I can help the next person in line". Here it is "HALLO!" or"NEXT!".
We have another bad habit queueing up as well, whether it is at the cashier, ticket counter or just going to the toilet. We will rush and form queues in front of each counter, cashier, urinal, etc. Can't we use the round robin way where everyone queues in one line and each goes to the next counter that is open. Unfortunately I see this at airports as well. For some reason, it isn't like that in Western countries. They all line up round robin and will take the next counter that is open, hence it is fair and efficient.
It's the same in driving as well. At an intersection, everyone allows the car in front to go first so each takes a turn allowing the other side to pass. When I first drove in the US, I didn't realize that everyone was giving way and did my KL thing where I just drove off without waiting for the other car to go first. I was honked and shouted at!! But I deserved it!
We are very quick to criticize the west when it comes to their lifestyle and I do admit, there are many flaws but who are we to judge and criticize? Can't we just take the good habits and leave the others out?
In Hong Kong, if people going up the escalators are not walking up, they will stand to the right to allow those in a hurry to walk up. My son found that so interesting that he has adopted it back home. Even a 9 year old then could tell what is right and we couldn't. Instead we are good at locking people up, calling other races names and doing all this shit in the name of God. Sigh!
Well, let's hope those who read this will pass this on and try to build some good habits so that others may follow. Hopefully these are baby steps we can take. One at a time.
Showing posts with label jonker. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jonker. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Friday, October 3, 2008
Can holidays mix with history? Not always...
This post is in the middle of our Eid Fitri holidays. That's the beginning of the Islamic calendar and its a pretty big deal here in Malaysia. Most folks are away for the whole week and maybe more. So KL seemed a little boring. The sad thing is, it is boring because I don't have any close Malay friends that I can visit. How sad is that?!!? As a Chindian, I should epitomize the true multi-cultural nature of Malaysia. I mean the real multi cultural make up of our country and not what our PM and his other single-celled-beings making up our government says about what multi cultural should be, which is Malays are superior while others so called immigrants (even though you have been here more generations than those amoebas and sorry to insult the amoebas) are taxed to support the "superior race".
Anyway, I will aim to rectify that as soon as I can. I am not sure how but my looking and sounding like a Malay will definitely help.
So since I can't rectify it this year, the family decided to take a holiday to Kuantan for a couple of days by the beach. That was cut short because the Kuantan folks wanted to go elsewhere for their holiday. Can you believe these people? Abandoning their hometown the first chance they get??
It was decided that we go to Melaka to chill out, refresh our history knowledge and enjoy the "Peranakan" food that goes with it. In case I haven't mentioned it, I have a great interest in history. I read extensively (for a layperson) on any history articles, books, etc I can lay my hands on. It can be from any time or place but my favourites are always Middle East, Egypt (Ramses II), Genghis Khan, China, India and some parts of Europe.
I am always interested in Malaysian history and what better places that Melaka and Penang. We stayed in a 2-star hotel that was clean and sufficient (meaning no cable, swimming pool or room service but they had clean beds, towels and was ghost-free). Here are some of the places of interest we visited and food that we sampled.
1) St Paul's Hill and Dutch Square
This is the "nerve center" of the history of Melaka and Malaysia. It houses 5 museums! 5!! It is my absolute most favourite place!! I can spend days here and the Melaka Museum and the Cheng Ho gallery are a must. It tells the whole story of Melaka as well as the travels of one of the most traveled people in the ancient world, Admiral Cheng Ho. St Paul's Hill is where the first Portuguese fort "A Formosa" was built as well as St Paul's Church where the famous missionary St Francis Xavier was buried for 9 months. I particularly enjoyed the 16th and 17th century cemetaries.
At the bottom of the hill, you will see the remnants of the Dutch administrative buidlings as well as the Christ Church. Malaysia's Hall of Independance where Tungku first announced our independance is also in the vicinity, right next to the replica of a Melaka Sultanate Palace. If you are not sure how to get there, just follow the road sign to "Banda Hilir". You can't miss the red coloured buildings.
I am a history buff so this area is something that will send orgasmic shock waves through me. If you have a partner that does not share the same passion, it can be grounds for divorce.
2) The Maritime and Royal Navy museums
The Maritime museum is housed in a replica of the Portuguese ship Flora Del Mar which allegedly sank off Melaka. It tells a bit about the importance of Melaka as a port of major importance in the 15th century and how the administration of the port trade was built and maintained.
The Royal Navy Museum has an actual frigate in its court yard as well as many guns and ammo used by our Navy. Malaysia is a rather peaceful country, so don't expect to see the USS Nimitz type of carriers or destroyers. We have frigates to scare errant fishermen.
3) Tanjung Kling Mosque/Hang Kasturi's grave
It is one of the oldest mosque in Malaysia and has very unique and intricate designs. Good if you like architecture. Hang Kasturi is one of the 5 Malaya folklore heroes. You seen one grave, you seen them all.
4) Hang Li Po or King's Well/Bukit Cina
When the princess Hang Li Po was sent to Melaka to wed Sultan Mansur Shah, she came with about 500-600 attendants. They were given a settlement which is known as Bukit Cina today. The well that caters to their needs is still around and has never known to go dry. Anyway, her attendants inter-married the locals and we today know them as Baba's and Nyonyas.
5) Jonker Street
It is a long street that can be mistaken for Chinatown since its populace are Chinese and so are the traders. They sell all kinds of stuff from trinkets to magic cards to snackes and clothes. There are 3 famous chicken ball rice restaurants along this street and best to park your car elsewhere and walk. Saturdays are better but it will be packed but I strongly recommend this street and if you can stay in one of the heritage houses, better still.
One of the things to remember about the restaurants are that they were build or housed in really old buildings. The layout is the same, it is narrow (sometimes less than 8 feet but fantastically long. The middle of the house will have an open courtyard and an open roof. The restaurants we went to:-
1) Some chendol place along Jonkers, can't really remember the name.
When we were there, the crowd has not descended on this place yet, so there was no crowd and we could enjoy our food with some peace. It serves Melaka Cendol is various flavours (maybe that's why I didn't enjoy it very much) and has a lot of peranakan noodles. Food is ok, not great but with the crowd lining up waiting for a seat, you'd think it was from the gods!
2) Satay Chelop - Capitol
It combines satay sauce with lok-lok or steamboat. The food is boiled in satay sauce instead of clear soup, hence the name. Since the sauce is expensive, the restaurant owner has assured us that whatever sauce we don't finish will be put back into the pot for tomorrow's patrons.
So unless, you really like satay peanut sauce, have no hygiene issues and will DIE for lok-lok, I suggest you give it a miss. Oh of course there is a crowd! We waited for 30mins in the drizzle for a table!
3) Donald and Lily's
It is a very warm and cozy restaurant that serves nyonya dishes and dessert. Almost everything on the menu was worth trying and priced reasonably. The Nyonya Laksa and Chendol were their specialities but I will give 2 thumbs up for the Chicken Pongteh and the Assam Fish. You can give the Rojak a miss since the gravy is not as rich as the rojak we are used to in KL and Penang. A short walk from the restaurant is the Melaka River which has been beautified and spots a Water Wheel from ancient times.
4) Chicken Rice Ball
There are many restaurants serving chicken rice ball which is chicken rice in a ball (Duh!!). I actually don't really like it but its something different. We went to one of them called Formosa which was very richly decorated (it wasn't nice; in fact it was kinda tacky) with all kinds of Chinese paraphernalia including an Empress' chair (like I would know the difference).
Again with the waiting, then service was slow and stupid. The waitress took our order, brought the order after more than 20mins but didn't bring the rice. When we asked, she said we didn't order rice. I guess it is our staple diet to eat the dishers without rice in a CHICKEN RICE BALL restaurant!!! That's like ordering pasta but not serving the noodle like spaghetti or fettucine saying the person didn't order it.
5) 1511 cafe
This place serves both western and peranakan food. I really like the ambience and it is not crowded for once!! We didn't have to wait but not a place for a large contingent. Very cozy and the food was not too bad.
We did have fish ball noodle but I am not going to comment since we have that everywhere in Malaysia but I really wanted to try the Newton Food Court which looks huge and complete with food around Melaka and Malaysia. It is situated in front of Dataran Pahlawan.
Well, I always enjoyed Melaka for its historical values but now with Dataran Pahlawan and Melaka Megamall, you can have thrown yourselves to the decadence of capitalism and western civilization. So history can mix with holidays....with the right dosages.
Anyway, I will aim to rectify that as soon as I can. I am not sure how but my looking and sounding like a Malay will definitely help.
So since I can't rectify it this year, the family decided to take a holiday to Kuantan for a couple of days by the beach. That was cut short because the Kuantan folks wanted to go elsewhere for their holiday. Can you believe these people? Abandoning their hometown the first chance they get??
It was decided that we go to Melaka to chill out, refresh our history knowledge and enjoy the "Peranakan" food that goes with it. In case I haven't mentioned it, I have a great interest in history. I read extensively (for a layperson) on any history articles, books, etc I can lay my hands on. It can be from any time or place but my favourites are always Middle East, Egypt (Ramses II), Genghis Khan, China, India and some parts of Europe.
I am always interested in Malaysian history and what better places that Melaka and Penang. We stayed in a 2-star hotel that was clean and sufficient (meaning no cable, swimming pool or room service but they had clean beds, towels and was ghost-free). Here are some of the places of interest we visited and food that we sampled.
1) St Paul's Hill and Dutch Square
This is the "nerve center" of the history of Melaka and Malaysia. It houses 5 museums! 5!! It is my absolute most favourite place!! I can spend days here and the Melaka Museum and the Cheng Ho gallery are a must. It tells the whole story of Melaka as well as the travels of one of the most traveled people in the ancient world, Admiral Cheng Ho. St Paul's Hill is where the first Portuguese fort "A Formosa" was built as well as St Paul's Church where the famous missionary St Francis Xavier was buried for 9 months. I particularly enjoyed the 16th and 17th century cemetaries.
At the bottom of the hill, you will see the remnants of the Dutch administrative buidlings as well as the Christ Church. Malaysia's Hall of Independance where Tungku first announced our independance is also in the vicinity, right next to the replica of a Melaka Sultanate Palace. If you are not sure how to get there, just follow the road sign to "Banda Hilir". You can't miss the red coloured buildings.
I am a history buff so this area is something that will send orgasmic shock waves through me. If you have a partner that does not share the same passion, it can be grounds for divorce.
2) The Maritime and Royal Navy museums
The Maritime museum is housed in a replica of the Portuguese ship Flora Del Mar which allegedly sank off Melaka. It tells a bit about the importance of Melaka as a port of major importance in the 15th century and how the administration of the port trade was built and maintained.
The Royal Navy Museum has an actual frigate in its court yard as well as many guns and ammo used by our Navy. Malaysia is a rather peaceful country, so don't expect to see the USS Nimitz type of carriers or destroyers. We have frigates to scare errant fishermen.
3) Tanjung Kling Mosque/Hang Kasturi's grave
It is one of the oldest mosque in Malaysia and has very unique and intricate designs. Good if you like architecture. Hang Kasturi is one of the 5 Malaya folklore heroes. You seen one grave, you seen them all.
4) Hang Li Po or King's Well/Bukit Cina
When the princess Hang Li Po was sent to Melaka to wed Sultan Mansur Shah, she came with about 500-600 attendants. They were given a settlement which is known as Bukit Cina today. The well that caters to their needs is still around and has never known to go dry. Anyway, her attendants inter-married the locals and we today know them as Baba's and Nyonyas.
5) Jonker Street
It is a long street that can be mistaken for Chinatown since its populace are Chinese and so are the traders. They sell all kinds of stuff from trinkets to magic cards to snackes and clothes. There are 3 famous chicken ball rice restaurants along this street and best to park your car elsewhere and walk. Saturdays are better but it will be packed but I strongly recommend this street and if you can stay in one of the heritage houses, better still.
One of the things to remember about the restaurants are that they were build or housed in really old buildings. The layout is the same, it is narrow (sometimes less than 8 feet but fantastically long. The middle of the house will have an open courtyard and an open roof. The restaurants we went to:-
1) Some chendol place along Jonkers, can't really remember the name.
When we were there, the crowd has not descended on this place yet, so there was no crowd and we could enjoy our food with some peace. It serves Melaka Cendol is various flavours (maybe that's why I didn't enjoy it very much) and has a lot of peranakan noodles. Food is ok, not great but with the crowd lining up waiting for a seat, you'd think it was from the gods!
2) Satay Chelop - Capitol
It combines satay sauce with lok-lok or steamboat. The food is boiled in satay sauce instead of clear soup, hence the name. Since the sauce is expensive, the restaurant owner has assured us that whatever sauce we don't finish will be put back into the pot for tomorrow's patrons.
So unless, you really like satay peanut sauce, have no hygiene issues and will DIE for lok-lok, I suggest you give it a miss. Oh of course there is a crowd! We waited for 30mins in the drizzle for a table!
3) Donald and Lily's
It is a very warm and cozy restaurant that serves nyonya dishes and dessert. Almost everything on the menu was worth trying and priced reasonably. The Nyonya Laksa and Chendol were their specialities but I will give 2 thumbs up for the Chicken Pongteh and the Assam Fish. You can give the Rojak a miss since the gravy is not as rich as the rojak we are used to in KL and Penang. A short walk from the restaurant is the Melaka River which has been beautified and spots a Water Wheel from ancient times.
4) Chicken Rice Ball
There are many restaurants serving chicken rice ball which is chicken rice in a ball (Duh!!). I actually don't really like it but its something different. We went to one of them called Formosa which was very richly decorated (it wasn't nice; in fact it was kinda tacky) with all kinds of Chinese paraphernalia including an Empress' chair (like I would know the difference).
Again with the waiting, then service was slow and stupid. The waitress took our order, brought the order after more than 20mins but didn't bring the rice. When we asked, she said we didn't order rice. I guess it is our staple diet to eat the dishers without rice in a CHICKEN RICE BALL restaurant!!! That's like ordering pasta but not serving the noodle like spaghetti or fettucine saying the person didn't order it.
5) 1511 cafe
This place serves both western and peranakan food. I really like the ambience and it is not crowded for once!! We didn't have to wait but not a place for a large contingent. Very cozy and the food was not too bad.
We did have fish ball noodle but I am not going to comment since we have that everywhere in Malaysia but I really wanted to try the Newton Food Court which looks huge and complete with food around Melaka and Malaysia. It is situated in front of Dataran Pahlawan.
Well, I always enjoyed Melaka for its historical values but now with Dataran Pahlawan and Melaka Megamall, you can have thrown yourselves to the decadence of capitalism and western civilization. So history can mix with holidays....with the right dosages.
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