What’s good was that I was back in the good olde’ London, even for just three days. The trip was in plan for quite a while. FoCP was one hectic business there was hardly any time to chill and relax, let alone to sneak in a short trip even to a nearby city I thought I deserved a treat down to my favourite city.

I haven’t travelled that far and wide and while I’ve had the chance to visit big cities like Amsterdam, Paris, Geneve, and Montreux, there really was no place like London (start singing ‘No Place Like London’). Being in London makes me feel like I’m back in KL in the sense that despite some of the things that I’m not familiar with, I could still explore and enjoy the city without much worrying, although, of course, London is a lot cooler than KL =p.

this lady was doing a demonstration of some ancient chinese dessert...

Java took a video of me reading...

The bad was that my winter break is coming to an end. Beginning Tuesday, term starts again with my Essential Junior Rotation (EJR). I’m glad I’d be starting with the public health rotation which is said to be relatively mild and not too hectic because I’m still in the holiday buzz.

On the first night, Java, a Malaysian friend she was meeting up, and I decided to went to the Rasa Sayang Restaurant because it served some very good Malaysian delicacies and I was craving for some good homey food. While we’re ordering the food (I ordered the spicy beef rendang), we were told of the ridiculously stupid policy of minimum 6 pound order per person and since our orders didn’t amount to 18 pound (Java and her friend were not ordering a full meal as they had eaten earlier before), we were not gonna be served. Not only the policy was a clear denial of the patron’s autonomy to what he or she wanted to order, which I was sure was against every consumerism ethics, the manner in which it was revealed to us was also rude. There was no sign of it at the door or outside the restaurant and the waitress was plain arrogant. I was just plain shocked with the ridiculousness of it all I just decided to leave! There went my craving for some spicy beef rendang =(

And that was not the only awful experience. The restaurant we went to on our second night had its own ugly side. I couldn’t remember the name of the restaurant but we decided to try it because Java said they served good foor having tried it before with her family. Yup, the food was good but the Waiters were just as rude. While I appreciate the fact that it was dinner time and there were lots of customers to attend to, I couldn’t accept the brisk manner they were showing as if they didn’t have the time to answer questions. When we asked for the bill, we decided not to leave any tips because we believed they didn’t deserve it (I’m a big believer of giving credit only when it’s due). Sellotaped on the small dish they placed the bill on was a strip of paper saying ‘Service charge is not included in the bill’ and looking at it, the voice in my head said ‘F**k you. You don’t have the right to charge anyone for that poor service you give!’ What do they expect, some generous tip for the unfriendly manner? And seriously, what kind of Chinese restaurant didn’t serve tong lai cha?!

My experience on the third day was slightly better although I was still annoyed that the waiter shooed us away after we just paid. We didn’t even ask for the bill but they put it right after they cleared the table as a sign that they wanted us to leave. Again, I could appreciate that it was lunch time and there were many customers coming in but they could do with some Politeness101. The waiter could at least pretend to be apologetic that they had to ask us to leave but I didn’t remember any of the waiters saying ‘I’m sorry but…’ in all the three restaurants I was in.

I know my disapproval means nothing to those restaurants. Their business will continue to thrive for people will continue to come in but seriously, whatever has happened to the polite and gentle manner we eastern people were once proud of? Those waiters and waitresses, whatever country they came from, project the image of the oriental and south east Asian community but they seemed to be attesting only to the western belief that most Asians were uncultured and uncivilised neanderthals! Unless of course these waiters and waitresses were trained to be polite only to Caucasians and Europeans and ignore the sensitivity of their own fellow brothers and sisters. Hypocrite much?!

Maybe the weight of their eastern manner and politeness was too heavy they couldn’t put it inside their luggages so they just left it wherever they came from. Or maybe they just couldn’t handle London’s big city arrogance because the last time I check, the waiters and waitresses in Newcastle Chinatown are all generally friendly.