Breakfast at The Smokehouse

This entry was originally written in September 2016

Breakfast at Smokehouse had always been an enjoyable experience. But gone were the days when you woke yourself up to the aroma of freshly baked croissant.

The breakfast now was a more sedated affair. I remembered back in 2009 when the place had a proper cook, the smell really perked you up, and you could even order some leftover scones from the day before.

The English breakfast was also a full plated, kept you full for the rest of the day affair. Now, it was nothing more than just some sausages and a piece of bacon. Even the fresh fruits were just some melon. It used to fill a whole plate. Then came the croissant which were really supermarket level being heated in an oven.

I ordered some omelette but it turned to be just some glorified fried eggs. A sad affair.

It just reflected the decline of this once great place...

Flying Over the Smokehouse

The entry was originally written in September 2016

So far, all my droning was done around KL and Putrajaya. And come to think of it, we haven't really travelled much since the Langkawi trip. I never really had the chance to take the drone out of KL.

Understandably, I was quite excited to do some flying during the trip to Frasers Hill.

Luckily the weather was OK after the drizzle when we first arrived. And flying there was a joy despite the lack of sunshine.

Rather too windy for comfort but the drone handled it well. There were hardly any shakes in the footage.

I only managed to do a couple of flights. The first was around the Smokehouse on our first afternoon. The second was the next day during lunch time in the town center, fulfilling my wish to fly around the famous clock tower.

I shot the flyover in 4K before realizing that I did not bring with me an extra memory card - you can't get a new one in these neck of the woods. By the time in was midway on the second flight, I ran out of space.

So, for the first one I did a few passes above the Smokehouse, with the visitors giving a wave when they heard the buzzing. It was really green and tranquil around there.

I should've brought an extra memory card for the drone...

Driving Home

It was hard to say goodbye to Smokehouse when we were finally done. The boys were relieved obviously now that they were heading back to civilisation, but my in-laws would have preferred to stay an extra day. The combination of cool weather, nice room and great service made them wanted to room again and there were already talks about our next stay before we departed.

We left just after noon, deciding against staying for lunch since we had a heavy breakfast. We would later stop at Kuala Kubu Baru for a quick stop, and we did just that. I used the Hulu Yam route again, bypassing Rawang and Serendah, cutting the journey by about 30 km. We reached Gombak by 3.15, and then continued on to the apartment via Great Eastern Mall to do a bit of groceries and take-out for dinner.

We were worried that our MPV would play up, but luckily everything went smoothly. I might take a few days off in early January after the Xmas and New Year break, just before the school reopened for the boys. Maybe it would be to PD.

Non-Connection

Maybe some people wished that they can stay as far away from civilisation when they go on holiday. But for me, it was the opposite. I wanted to be connected. In fact, it would be the only time which I can be connected without needing to worry about work. Where I could blog to my heart content and get connected!

Here at Smokehouse, there was hardly any good connection. I had all three telco connection with me - Celcom was down to just EDGE and crawling at that. Digi had 3G, but the speed was well below 1 Mbs, in town, with most no connection at Smokehouse. Maxis was possibly the most acceptable, registering HSPDA in places but still very poor speed. Again almost nothing at the hotel.

So, the best bet was wifi. The hotel actually had wifi but the speed was really, really poor. Pathetically poor in fact. Back in 2012, I could get 5 Mbs here, but now, forget it!

I had to listen to my boys complaining all day about the connection. Hopefully they would appreciate the 5Mbs connection they had at the apartment from now on. They couldn't wait to get back to base, and so was I. Hence, I was not able to blog - although sometime I got lucky! I still managed to get the occasional emails and WhatsApp connection. So, I you wanted to be connected all the time, Smokehouse was not the place for you .... But imagine if there was LTE there ......

Time for some Morning Snaps

There were not that many flowers this time around. Maybe it had something to do with this being December. But still there were a few blossoms to enjoy.

I spent the morning walking around the hotel compound and the road downhill from it. Just around the corner, there was a small playground and barbecue area which was opened to the public. The weather was very changeable. It was sunny one minute and cloudy the next. And with the breeze, you could feel the chill. Best to wear a jumper or a coat.

With the hotel having a renovation, there was not much attention being put on the garden. Hopefully the renovation would bring something good for the years to come.