Morning Suns

Yes, the venue was sub-par, but the location of the hotel was to die for. With my room facing the glorious sunrise - I had always preferred sunrise to sunset - I was treated to brilliant spectacle on each of the morning I was in Penang.

If not for the flags and manifesto lining the beachfront - the General Election was due in a week's time - I would have happily enjoy a morning walk in front of the hotel. But, maybe next time ….

Gurney Down

I was rather disappointed with the current state of Gurney Hotel, the venue for our recent Haematology Meeting. The place had certainly been run down compared to what it was back in 2010, the last time I was there. It needed proper maintenance, or to put in bluntly, it needed proper management. The current crop should hang their collective heads in shame.

In the past, the food was reasonably good, the state of the room were well above average, the jacuzzi in the main bathroom suite was in working order, and the internet actually was of broadband speed.

Now, the food was dreadful, the room was stuffy, and even the air conditioning was not working properly. I had four air-conditioning unit in my apartment, and only one remote was available. My room lacked proper lighting, I couldn't even get any work done. And the internet …… I was sure you could get faster speed in North Korea.

The other thing which actually irked me was the lift. The hotel had almost 30 floors, but with only 3 lifts for the patrons. The less I elaborate the better I thought …..

But the main reason why I was strong in my criticism was the fact that the hotel wasn't not able to cope with the 550 delegates - and 31 pharma booths - for the event, despite claiming that they could easily manage 750. Bold claims, but couldn't deliver ……..

What'cha looking at?

While I was taking shelter from the rain during my walk to Low Yat yesterday, I noticed that the central foyer at Pavilion was all cordoned off. A function was going to take place later that night, the Boh Cameronian Arts Awards from what I read.

The entrance to the foyer looked quite tacky though. As if staring at us, asking what we were looking at ……. Hmmmmm!

Low Yat Time

Yesterday was one hell of a busy day. Starting with the tax submission, runs to the bank followed by a quick lunchtime visit to see a friend who had just had an operation the day before. And then after that, a walk around Low Yat to check out the latest buzz on what was going on in the local gadget scene.

The Galaxy S4 was finally out, and there were plenty of units available from both the official and the not-so-official retailer, and the abundance of phones in terms of availability made sure that there were not much price distortion going on. Most of the vendors were trying to outdo each other by adding on packages such as covers and screen protectors. Me? After having a feel of the device for a good 20 minutes, I decided to stick with my Nexus 4.

But in the middle of this all, I was still intrigued by the Blackberry. But to give up either the iPhone or the Nexus for it? Not quite yet. Even though I got SIMs for the three main local telcos, I just couldn't justify carrying three phones in one go! The Nexus just worked fine as a communication hub.

My Next Birthday Present

When I was out with Puan Anita in Monday, at the bookstore, she had found out what to buy for me for my next birthday. This book!

It should be amazing with great facts about the great lady to inspire a generation. And not to mention a great front cover ......