Sunday, January 08, 2006

Possibly the worst hotel food in Malaysia

After the physical and mental exhaustion of looking at Mount Kinabalu from the basecamp, we decided a few days at the beach were in order. The Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park comprises five islands, lying just offshore from the state capital Kota Kinabalu. Only two of the islands offer accomodation and we found ourselves on a speedboat to Pulau Manukan.



The beaches were beautiful, the chalets great, the snorkling pretty good ... but the food appaling and the staff somewhat blur to say the least.




Conversation #1 (in Malay) in the restaurant, after waiting 30 mins for the food to arrive:
Waitress: have you taken back your credit card yet?
Us: what card?
Waitress: your credit card, to pay.
Us: we haven't seen any food yet.
Waitress: Oh! No food?
Us: no, please could you check for us?
Waitress: (blank looks) check what?
Us: (banging head on table) the food?

Coversation #2 (in Malay) in the restaurant again:
Us: do you have a set dinner?
Waitress: yes
Us: what is it?
Waitress: err, five dishes
Us: what dishes?
Waitress: i don't know
Us: can you find out?
Waitress: you want the set dinner?
Us: we need to know what it is first?
Waitress: so you want to order the set dinner
Us: we need to know what the dishes are
Waitress: oh, so you want the set dinner then
Us: no, please ask the chef what the dishes are first
(Finally goes to the kitchen and comes back with a list of nasty sounding dishes)
Us: We'll choose from the menu, is everything available tonight?
Waitress: I don't know ...

Sunset over Pulau Manukan ...







Checking out the Jobs Section for a position on the hotel's wait staff ... but unfortunately over qualified



The island was so relaxing that Holly decided to extend her stay by three nights ... and stock up on pot noodles



Saying goodbye to Holly at the jetty ...

No comments: