Working Getaway...

Hello all....

I was selected to go for a course again last week. Actually, I had to fill in for someone. The course this time was relevant to my post but barely so to my scope of work. I jumped at the opportunity anyway because it was held at Beverly Hotel in KK. I get to stay at a 4 star hotel for free! Hahaha…

As it turns out my roommate (who is a woman this time, thank GOD!) couldn’t stay with me at the hotel for personal reasons so it was just me, myself and I. In a way I was ecstatic to have more privacy but was also a bit paranoid in terms of my personal safety. I guess that’s what I get from watching too much Criminal Minds, CSIs and Bones.

My room..

I wanted to make the course my ‘working getaway’ so the first thing I did was to explore the facilities there. I went to see the pool, which is quite small and nowhere near how big it looks in the website. It does have a sundeck though where you can lounge and enjoy the view of the BSN building and grossly littered water way. 

 

Hehehe...

I also peeked into the gym which was substantial in size and looked to be well-equipped. I was told by the reception staff that there was a spa on the same floor as the pool and the gym but for the life of me I couldn’t find it. Turns out said ‘spa’ was the sauna room which is called the Bamboo Room. It’s free for residential guest and for non-residents a fee of RM20 will be charged.

The pool...

 

The sundeck..

 

The view..

 

I also saw through the posters in the lobby that there were singing performances by a trio of singers. I imagined myself sitting at the lobby after night class, listening to the singers, ordering a mocktail and just enjoying the atmosphere. Mau order room service lagi kunu for the in-house special chocolate cake. Chewah! Betul, macam tourist la bah kunu ni…

The first night we had a briefing which was not so brief after all. We finished at 10pm and I went up to my room to change and play tourist at the lobby.. However, when I arrived at my room, a wave of tiredness and sleepiness (read:laziness) came over me.

I didn’t want to touch up on my makeup and I didn’t want to change into too many clothes because that would be a ton of laundry for me to do when I get back home so I decided to just call it a night and curled into my comforter and slept.

 My doomed-to-be-cold-in-5-minutes-bath

The next morning I woke up early, at 5.47am to be exact and ran the bath to soak myself in. Unfortunately, there was only shower gel so I couldn’t soak in luxurious bubbles and the heater was not working properly so instead of a warm bath I had to settle for a tepid one which quickly became cold from the morning air.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner were buffet style and as usual we were also provided with morning and afternoon tea. Can you imagine the impact it has on my waistline? Thank God this course only lasted for 3 days and 2 nights. If it had lasted for a week…*shudder*

Anyways, something happened that made me unable to complete the 2^nd half of morning classes and all thoughts of going to the gym and the sauna flew out the window right then and there. All I wanted to do was crawl into bed and die. Fortunately I felt better enough to attend afternoon class when I got the good news that night class was pushed up to the evening so we were free to do what we wanted that night. Yippee!

My boo picked me up that night and took me to a candle-lit dinner at Tg Aru Beach. The atmosphere was lovely and we had a beautiful view of the beach. The service was okay, teeny tiny bit slow but it was okay by us because we were chatting away anyway. 

 Hihi.. Thank you boo...

Candle-lit dinner with beach view... Bliss...

The scene..

Grainy pic... Hahaha..

After dinner I went back to the hotel and made good use of the wifi, which was by the way only available at the lobby and not the whole hotel as it claims in the hotel’s brochure and website. It’s a temporary measure thought because they were doing some upgrading job on the wifi service. Then again, the notice they gave was since September 2010. Lama juga mau upgrade kan.. Oh well…

Since I was surfing at the lobby I was able to enjoy the singing trio from the Tapai Lounge. However, I do feel kind of bad for them because the lounge itself was empty. They were singing to empty tables and chairs. It’s not as if they sang badly. On the contrary they were quite good. Kesian kan? I’d feel really down if I was in that situation. Maybe they’re used to it.

As for my plans to make those three days a working getaway, I must say things didn’t really go according to plan. I didn’t get to immerse myself in a warm bath full of silky bubbles, laze on the sun deck with a good book. Nor did I order the chocolate cake via room service or enjoyed the taste of a Pink Panther mocktail. 

 During class.. Tekun kunu suma...

 

Thing is, I don’t really mind. I got to meet new people and learned some things that I never knew before (which would be totally lost on me in a few days due to lack of daily use and practice). I also got to have dinner at the beach with my boo and I’m content with that. There’s always a next time and who knows, it might be at a 5 star hotel. Woohoo! One can always hope… *fingers crossed*

Cheers!