Getting Set

Since the apartment was in the middle of renovations, free time for Anita was scarce. During my break, I decided that on one of the days, we must have a day trip. After much planning, we took off to Melaka for a short drive - although we spent significant amount of times waiting for the lights to turn green at the traffic lights!

We left as soon as Irfan was sent to school. Idlan had to take the bus that morning - contributing more to his bad mood. I packed the evening before. Got my Garmin charged up for GPS geotagging on my photos later. I took a couple of bodies plus the Ricoh GR - everything fit in well into the Ming Then bag. Plus a couple of extra batteries.

Making sure the cameras were charged upTime to carry the bag alongWe had to drop Irfan first in school, which meant that we would be driving across town to join the highways. We decided to press on and have breakfast along the highway ....

So off we went!

The State of The Smokehouse

This entry was drafted in Septeber 2016

2009, 2012, 2015 and now 2016. Those were the times we made the trips up Frasers Hill and stayed at Smokehouse. And over the years the place had suffered a steady decline.

Last December was the worse in terms of the facilities. At least now after some renovations were made, a few more rooms were opened and the place felt to buzzing again. But other things especially good had suffered.

Not only that you get less portion - a decline in quantity - the quality had also been really poor this time. I wasn't talking about breakfast, even the once-famous afternoon tea with scones - their flagship meal - had lost their shines.

Gone were the complimentary hot chocolate for nightcap in a small pot, where you enjoy a chat at the main common room in front of the TV or during the cold season, some fire. We only got a mug, and it wasn't fantastic.

It was a great shame since they had done a good job renovating the place. And looking at the stream of people coming over the couple of days, they shouldn't have much problem filling up the place especially during afternoon tea. If the scones continue to decline, they might just lose their business.

The rooms remains cosy and Parameswari, the housekeeper of almost 30 years was still there greeting us, remembered us from our previous stay. The nights were still cool and the beds were still warm. The hot shower in the morning still reminded me of my student days in England. The common room was still inviting and terraces and the dining tables were still inviting. The charm were still there but the glow was missing.

Such a beautiful establishment deserved a better group of people running them ...

Foggy Morning

This entry was originally written in September 2016

I planned to do an early morning around the town after waking up very early. Unfortunately the cool mountain air produce a fog which have yet to lift. It threaten to rain as well, hence I decided against taking off.

But the fog did create some serenity. Combined with the cool fresh air, it was really a sight to behold.

I ended up sitting around enjoying the view instead until not was time to have some breakfast back at Smokehouse...

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...

It's a JB Weekend

I was finally there. Arrived early evening on the Friday and I went straight to the shower and had some food since I have yet to finalise my slides. Had to do some tweaking before bed.

Rather than joining a dinner symposium, I decided to have my meal in the room and just had a quiet night.

The room was comfortable and I must say I overslept this morning, waking up later than I planned. I spent the morning sorting out my slide decks and enjoying the sun and the free wifi. I joined the faculty for lunch before doing my session, and planned to venture out to have a look outside before leaving early tomorrow morning.

That was my Boss Dr Ng Soo Chin giving his talk. The podium sign has yet to be changed.There were dinner planned out but I decided against joining, preferring to stay in instead. It was not common for me to have a quiet night, and as such I decided to enjoy it.

I also got to meet a few of my ex-nurses at the meeting and it was great to catch up with them.