Being the most anticipated music festival of the year within the clubbing scene, the massive event was indeed a total disappointment. I don’t even know where to begin – the disgustingly dirty rooms, the transportation woes, the ‘cow dung’ mud, bad organisation and management or disorganised communication.

We were told that we could only check in to the hotel at 4pm, but the event was scheduled to start at 2pm! So I guess the organisers just expected us to drive straight to the venue, tired from the long journey and just recharge .. ? Or is it some sick strategy to encourage the guests to check in one night earlier? A real pity, because they had a good line up of deejays playing to half empty arenas for the whole afternoon and evening.

The mud was horrible. The scent was horrible. It wasn’t just muddy mud. It was like cow and elephant dung with mud. Although the organiser can blame it on the bad soil or bad weather, but there should have been a contingency plan in case of such situations. Wooden plank boards for the walkway would have helped even if they didn’t have the means to cover the entire arena with plank boards. We would have been more than happy to take off our shoes but with the scent …. no way! And not after you’ve watched several people puked onto the mud ….

The accommodation was worst. Nevermind the stale scent of the room, but a malfunctioned aircon was a definite no-no! After complaining, the maintenance guy came in and did some cleaning. Apparently, it was due to dust. *Do we look like dumb idiots?* But we decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. For the next 1 hour, we found out that they forgot to put bath towels in the toilet, the kettle’s boiler was burnt and rusty (ever tasted burnt water????), the duvet and pillow had a sour-ish sweaty scent, and the aircon was still emitting humid air into the room!!! I kid you not. After our complaints fell on deaf ears, we demanded for a change of room.

Second room was not any better. Guess what I found inside the kettle this time? Leftover coffee!!! Uggghhhh….

I’ve stayed in countless B&B’s and budget hotels that are much cleaner than this so-called ‘resort’! We were so mad we decided to express our dismay in a feedback form than to waste our efforts speaking to the monotonous front desks officers, but alas, the form was already filled up by a guest, dating back to 2003!!!  If cleanliness was on the list of feedback, I would have given A Famosa Resort a zero on a scale of 1-10!

We had to pay RM10 for parking at the resort. WTF! “Only for today” the organising crew said. Shouldn’t there be some sort of exclusivity for resort’s guests? Our carparks weren’t even close to the RR5GG venue. We were totally annoyed when we were told that we had to purchase a shuttle coupon to get to the venue.  Why did we have to pay for an internal shuttle service??!! So, as instructed by the front desk officer, we purchased the coupons which costed RM2 one way. Later on, we found out that most people didn’t even bother purchasing the coupons and some didn’t even know that the shuttle service came with a price. In fact, the operator didn’t even collect our tickets! Now, if you are the official venue provider & official hotel for South East Asia’s biggest dance & music festival and Asia’s first ever RR5GG with some of Europe’s top deejay talents, you would be expecting your rooms to be fully occupied, wouldn’t you? From the villas to the condominiums and hotel rooms, you would expect at least a minimum of 1,000 people occupying these properties? As for the event organiser, for an event of such scale, you would have estimated a MINIMUM of at least 10,000 people…?? In fact, the area capacity is 30,000 people. Yea…and how many shuttle vans were in service? 2 !! TWOOOO….f**kin pathetic shuttle vans in service. We waited for 50 minutes for the shuttle van. Even before the van stopped, everyone started to hop in since there weren’t any doors. The van was totally sardine-packed by the time the shuttle van came to a complete halt, and the operator told us to get out and wait for the next shuttle because they were closing. The party officially ended at 4am and they were closing?! His genuine apology was probably the only thing that kept the crowd one hand shy from smacking him in the face in frustration. We waited for probably another 15 minutes before the next shuttle van came. It took us another 30 minutes before we finally reached the hotel. Friend who drove all the way back to KL already reached home!!! The pictures below were shot from inside the shuttle. In Malaysia, we double park, a lot. We also double sit and double stand!

I was sitting on top of my friend when I took the pics. These two guys were ‘double’ standing with their bodies outside the shuttle. I was holding on to the railing so tightly because the driver drove so fast, I was so afraid that if the shuttle swerved and I came as close as touching any one guy, both of them will fly out of the shuttle. We had a good laugh though. We were like a bunch of monkeys on our way to the safari. Minister of Tourism – we can be your Visit Malaysia Year mascots if you call this a Visit Malaysia Year 2007 initiative.   

So… again, back to the numbers game. Trick question: If you expect a minimum of 10,000 people, how many make-shift toilets will you need?

There were more sales counters than toilets.

After the much tiresome ordeal, we were happy to be back in our room. A relaxing hot soak in the bathtub would have eased our tired legs and body. We switched on the pipe and not even a drip of water came out. A malfunctioned bathtub pipe!! Unbelievable! We were sooooo disappointed that we vowed never ever to come back to this place ever again!

Recharge…… my ass! It was the worst dance festival ever! Saving graces were the generous fireworks, Evian water and the lanyard pouch.

Sis and I are contemplating to start a part-time business in baking. Actually, it’s me trying to convince her to turn her passion into a business. It’s also my way of supporting her talent as she has always been the naturally artistic one in the family. She’s good in all the artsy-fartsy stuff – acting, singing, emceeing, drawing, painting, plays the piano and violin and bakes for parties and church functions. And she’s NOT EVEN 16!! *me…shy*

The amazing thing is, she does not have any professional training, not even guidance from me or my mom. She just surprises us with her myriad of creative experiments in the kitchen. On the other hand, I had the privilege of growing up in the kitchen of grandpa’s seafood restaurant. I remember watching in awe as my grandpa’s faithful Hainanese chef cooked up a storm in a matter of minutes. To sidetrack a bit, just wanted to share the story about this chef who started off as a waiter and slowly moved up the ranks, and the amazing thing is, he was with the family since my mom was a baby!! Talk about loyalty – you won’t see this in the 21st century. I also had the privilege of learning some authentic cooking recipes from my grandmother since she lived with us. So, naturally, I am better in cooking than baking although my interest lies in baking. But baking on my part, is hard learnt, through practice year after year since the age of 14 when mom bought a National microwave oven and it came with a free recipe book.

I wonder if it’s an interest that runs in the family. While I have found my footing in event decoration, organisation and management, one of my dream is to someday run my own cozy little neighbourhood cafe Bro is in the hospitality industry and he’s a fussy foodie just like my dad, while sis is in a dilemma to major in culinary arts or food science. But she has lots of time to think about it since it will be another year before she sits for SPM. We do intend to collaborate in bigger plans, but that… is in the near future.

For now, we have more important decisions to make – such as creating cakes that are uniquely ours yet, acceptable by the general market. We’ll start off by offering a variety of types and flavours to friends and family to comment. We’re not trying to make big money from this business but an avenue to further expand our passion and share our delightful creations.