Growing Customer service

I had the privilege of experiencing good customer service the other day.
I squeezed through a small door, down a tight little corridor to meet some relatives while another was being treated at he government hospital.
The corridor was guarded by a burly female guard, her desk across the corner of the 90 degree corridor, giving her a view of the the entrance that I sneaked through and the treatment room.
It was going to be a long wait, so we decided to use a tiny room with a long sofa while we waited. The room was dark and we scrambled around for a bit looking for the light switch.
I thought I saw the burly lady with the uniform give me a glare; then with both hands on her table, she shoved her chair back and heaved her massive bulk upright. She walked around the table and headed towards us. I was ready to be given a tongue lashing for stepping into that room.
When she reached us, she politely asked if we wanted to use the room to wait. When I nodded, she said,"excuse me" and switched on the lights, and the fan, too. She even offered us the use of the room while we waited, even though it was obvious that that's what we were there for.
As I sat in that room, waiting, I noticed that this lady continued to check on us, and the others who just like us were waiting. As new visitors came, she would lead them to the waiting area and offer the area for them to rest.
I realise that, appearance aside, the government hospital has very much grown in their services. I do realize its not fair to compare them to the profit driven private hospitals, who, despite the direct link between happy customers and profit, even then have service levels that leave much to be desired; but this service I've got is a far cry from the abusive holier-than-thou attitudes of the past.
I hope that this improvement trend continues, as the dream of a customer oriented goverment department becomes closer to reality.

Dinner with The Stars

It was my Father In Law's birthday and we decided to treat him to dinner. My wife, being the gastronomic adventurer that she is decided to try out a restaurant we hadn't been to.
Looking for parking was an adventure going round tight corners and remembering that parking was RM3 for the first hour and RM4 for each subsequent hour.
The restaurant had a high ceiling with stained glass motif of the zodiac; and we spent a good deal of time figuring out which sign was which. I found out later that there were three levels, the ground was buffet, second japanese restaurant and the third was Chinese restaurant. We ate at the ground floor.






In the middle of the restaurant was a wire sculpture of Atlas carrying the world, standing in the center of a giant compass.









The restaurant had a mix buffet fare white rice, beryani and tandoori, sea food, pie and etc. Of course, the sushi bar rolls the sushi to order, and the thrill for kids is seeing the octopus on a plate.
Taste wise, the food ain't all that great. The buffet ran out pretty fast and wasn't really topped up. The really good thing about it though was having a chocolate fountain as part of the buffet. It makes the trip to the desert train really worth while. Hmm, I wonder if that's why food do not get topped up too fast?

Turtle Watching, anyone?

This being a turtle landing season, we took the opportunity to do some turtle watching at the turtle sanctuary in Cherating. Our visit to the Turtle Conservation Center didn't help as it was a public holiday and thus it was closed.
We were told that we could just come at night and wait to watch the turtles land.
We came out to the center late at night and trudged to the center. It was a full moon and we walked quietly along the beach. There was someone at the center gate facing the beach. We went over only to be told that we weren't allowed on the beach; we were supposed to wait in the center grounds until the ranger tells us if there were any landings sighted. A hall was provided for everyone to wait and rest or sleep.
We registered our names and found a chart in which they updated the number of landings over the month. Over the last few nights, there were only 2-3; the previous night, 5. According to the staff, the five turned up nearly morning, so he warned us that it might be a long wait before any landing would happen. He also mentioned that bright moon, low tide were not favored conditions. Typically, they come out if its dark, and if there are anything that make the turtles feel uncomfortable, they would leave. There had been many occasions where the turtles land and leave without laying any eggs.
We waited a while and a group of tourists came, laughing and talking at the top of their voices. Armed with bright flashlights, they were ready to make use of the time to socialize, joking about, shining lights out to the sea. A group of then decide to walk out the gate and onto the beach, the very place where we were not allowed to go.
We figured that if any turtles were around, tonight wont be the night they land. We sought out the staff to inform him that we were leaving; and we found that these were the kinds of things he faces on a daily basis during the holiday season. They allow people to come in to educate them about the turtles, but in allowing people in, they risk scaring the turtles with this kinds of behavior. Rightly, the staff says his priority are the turtles, and if he has to be unkind to people to protect the turtles, then so be it.
With the behavior I saw that night, I would agree with him.

p/s:
For the adventurous, they have tents for rent at RM30 per tent, so you can wait in the center grounds in the privacy of your own tent.

Cherating oh Cherating

We planned to go out to the Turtle Sanctuary up in Cherating to get some news on the turtle watching opportunities. Driving up there, we found that the center was closed due to it being a public holiday. We were then told that we could come later in the night to watch the turtle.
There was a nice breeze (gale?)blowing, so we took out the kite and flew it there. And fly it did! we ran out of string, and it was still tugging away, threatening to fly off. The pix here kinda says it; the speck on the top right is the kite, and the speck on the bottom left is Amalyna.
We drove up to Kuala Kemaman to get keropok and other stuff and ran into and old school mate/ bandmate. He was quite surprised to see us buy out the store.
We recalled having visited an arts and craft village in our previous visits; and along the way, we found nestled amongst village house chalets off the main road a little restaurant calles Intan Seafood. It was a thatched roof hut facing the sea, airy with the sea breeze blowing through; The ambiance was something out of the movie "the Beach" with caravans and tents parked right outside the restaurant. The interesting thing about this place was the fresh, fresh fish, and the size of the buttered prawns was to die for!



No doubt there wasnt much left in the way of leftovers. We found the arts and craft village, but renovations were just completing so they were not open.

More on Holidays

A true holiday should be filled with something different.
We spent the afternoon at the beach and at the evening had the chance to release some turtle hatchlings to the sea. Although it was a rare opportunity, we felt rather suckered at being given a bucket of hatchlings that we poured into the tide.
All said, though, it was a great opportunity to marvel at those tiny hatchlings, knowing full well not many will survive to adulthood. Their first challenge of course is to swim out to the open sea and not get stepped on by excited little feet trying to see their darling hatchlings swim out safely. of course, excited adults with popping flashbulbs despite being told not to do so was just another hazard in the life of a hatchling.
We went to a seafood place for dinner So popular it was quite a wait for food; but, no problem as the sea air makes for a hearty appetite.

The next day we went to kuantan and visited all the places we grew up at.Of course. the itenary includes Teluk Chempedak. Everyone got a chance to experience a fish Spa. On the way back we stopped by every single stall to get local kuihs, which yours truly spent the evening finishing. Can't let food go to waste, you know.

Holidays!

yup, school hols are back again.
So we packed up our bags, and jumped into the car and off we went. Holidays mean switching the phone to "holiday" mode, meaning that no calls will come through unless its from the privileged few.
Queuing up to register, we found that internet bookings were handled in a private, air conditioned room. After check- in, we were told that we were entitled to a Welcome Drink. Expecting the regular special concoction of fruit juices, we took our time. We found our welcome drink to be a buffet of sweet rolls and fruit with a choice of coffee, tea and fruit juice; inclusive of a movie being projected on a screen. Quite a novel welcome.
Now lets see if the beach lives up to expectations.