the MAD dinner (and about my KL trip)

the table where the citizen journalists (CJ) were seated. suppose to be 10 of us of course but one didn’t turned up, so 9 of us at the table. (this picture was taken by malaysiakini’s staff, indrani – and shows only 5 of us on one side).  i was not among the 10 selected ones actually but 3 of those selected ones couldn’t made it,  only then i came in as the selected ones. why was i not selected? because i do not do video! those selected ones are those who did a lot of video for malaysiakini tv. it seems that the training of ‘ciizen journalists’ which malaysiakini is now giving at so many states now, is actualy more of training of ‘video journalists’. yes the training focus more on video. after the trainees ‘graduated’ malaysiakini encouraged them to go out and made videos.  those who made lots of videos will then be consider as the top best trainees… and these people are the selected ones (as per get invitation to the dinner FOC. me not selected, had to pay RM100).

oh dear i’m suppose to talk about the malaysiakini dinner.  oh well i was there early with vijay and shan. we reached there about 6.00pm and the cocktail party was suppose to start at 6.30pm. lots of people hanging around drinking and chit chatting. i notice many of the ladies were dressed very sexily – low cut dresses showing cleaveages here and there.  we hang around the lobby for more than an hour! think about 8.00pm only then we were allowed to enter the dining hall.

several stalls from the sponsors were set up at the lobby. there was an informative exhibition about malaysiakini. many  books like those on human rights and written by activists were on sale too.

our table was at the last row! thank god there ere 2 giant screens at the side, so at least we can have a good view of the stage.  on all the chairs of the dining table, there was a ‘goody bag’ which consists of a book in bahasa by lee ban chen (ugh! i don’t like the book. not going to read it) and many discount coupons for stuffs like dining, hotel stay and so on. on the table were 10 pots of ‘misai kucing’ plants,  placed inside recycled mineral water botttle (cut) and very nicely wrapped up with gunny sack cloth.  the surprise that came was when  the MC announced for us to look under our chairs for a gift – and the gift turned out to be free stays at tune hotel at various locations. i got the one at kuching. too bad. i don’t like it as i won’t be going to kuching. i wanted to have the free stay at tune hotel KL since i go to KL often! see, i already stayed at tune hotel during the dinner night.

in the beginning, there was a spectacular video footage about how malaysiakini survive 10 years then also about the malaysiakini staff. this was followed by speeches from stevan gan and premesh chandran, the two bosses of malaysiakini.

the entertainment was ok. many people though don’t like joanne kam po po’s stand-up comedian act since they find her jokes to be crude and raunchy. also some don’t  like the entertainment from her ‘special ladies dancers’ who wore very sexy wearing very revealing clothes.  well to me, it’s ok. i had seen joanne kam performed before long long ago in a nightclub and of course with her and her troupe around, we should expect this kind of performance (crude and sexy).  good thing there were other singers like reshmonu around to entertain the crowd.

i took the aeroline bus (luxury coach) to and fro but i found that this time the service is not so good. the pg – kl trip, something went wrong with the power supply and for 1/2 hour or so we were without air-con. a foreman came to repair the power supply later at a rest-stop, which took about 1/2 hour! (when the bus host said only 10 mins!).  we were given nasi lemak as the food (with chicken). the kl – pg trip bus, the airwaves channel (songs) were not working! from pg – kl yes it was working and they provided us with headphone to listen to the channels. i try all 5 channels but the songe were lousy. in the end i did not listen to the channels but instead listen to lite FM radio channel on my handphone.

the last time i use aeroline, i did not go down to the lounge so this time during the pg – kl trip i made sure i go down to the lounge but i was shocked to notice that the lounge was occupied by 3 persons permenantly. they were seated there with their luggages and all. upstairs i did notice 2 empty seats – why they were not seated there? i understand that some people did complained before that when the seats were all taken up, they will sell the lounge seats to passengers. this is not fair for us passengers -when we want to use the lounge, we can’t! what’s the purpose of taking the double decker bus with lounge if we can’t use the lounge even for a few minutes only. i think next time i don’t want to try aeroline anymore. will try the 5-stars luxury coach instead.

i reached KL at 2.00pm so had a few hours to relax, settled down before i get ready for the dinner. at first had wanted to take taxi to the dinner venue in bukit kiara but luckily vijay said he was going to show shan’s the way to the venue and will be meeting shan at malaysiakini office so asked me if i want to go to malaysiakini’s office and go with him to bukit kiara. that way at least i save on taxi fare to go all the way to bukit kiara as i only take taxi to malaysiakini’s office in bangsar utama.

the tune hotel was quite ok. i choose the one without air con and toiletries. the rate is actually only RM56 but after all the tax, i had to pay about RM77. you can see some pictures of the hotel at the link i will give you later.

on sunday morning after checking out from tune hotel (wah! their check out time is so early – at 10.00am), i took the lrt to kelana jaya to meet eelyn for steamboat lunch. (waited almost 1/2 an hour for eelyn at the station!).  the steamboat there (forgot the name) was very nice – took so many prawns, not forget some crabs and the mantis prawns. they had barbecue chicken wings too which were very delicious indeed. i notice a table with malay patrons and another with indians. then later a group of filipinos came in. wahh! the restaurant (halal food) must be very famous and it’s kind of a ‘bangsa malaysia’ restaurant (first time i notice malays in a chinese steamboat restaurant). i had so much to eat that i was so full that i don’t have to take dinner. haha. for dinner, i just took a chicken curry puff.

after lunch, eelyn dropped me at amcorp mall and i jalan-jalan for 1/2 hour before meeting farida. went for tea at starbucks (at bangsar) with farida. farida also took me to the rumah saya anak bangsa malaysia. here’s the photo of me in front of the rumah.

when we were done, farida dropped me back at the hotel where sharon came to pick me and together with daevid and her friend, we went to see the movie ‘a christmas carol’ in 3D format. after movie, went back to sharon’s house to stay the night. the next morning, sharon so kindly give me a lift to 1utama where the aeroline bus station was. we had breakfast there.

it was a good weekend trip – the dinner and meeting up of 3 friends. tonight i’ll be leaving for johor bahru! going to plentong to attend the ‘exodus’ programme – a programme about migrants and intinerants. i’ll be there more as observers to write for herald and UCAN. will be back on monday morning. i understand there is wifi there. good. got chance to go online.

for photos of the malaysiakini dinner, including the tune hotel please go to my facebook photo ablum.