2013 Family Day: Sunshine at Lotus Desaru

Last weekend was my company's 2013 family day event. After being postponed due to the final football FA cup match that involved Johor DT last week, I'm quite relieved that the weekend was not interrupted by the weather. The sky was clear & no haze in sight.

After having an early lunch, we drove to Desaru through the Senai-Desaru highway. Believe it or not, when the highway was not on the map yet, it took about 2 hours to get to Desaru - if you're lucky. With the distance of 100 km plus the jalan kampung type of traffic, Desaru seems to be a very far place from Pasir Gudang.

By building a bridge crossing the Sungai Johor, the highway managed to shorten the distance to Desaru from Pasir Gudang to 40km. From 2 hours, the driving time will only take about 45 minutes through the new highway.

Before - the road to Desaru need to go around the Sungai Johor

Now - just cross the river maaaa.

Arrived early at 1pm, Lia & me strolling beside the beach. Since the games will only start at 3pm, we took our time sightseeing at the Lotus Desaru Beach Resort.

Pakai topi baik-baik Haziq, panas niiii

The games for the family day was split into 2 - family & adult. Any families that have kids below 12 years old can join the family games. Since I'm actually don't want to bother too much with the games, I chose the family games because Haziq is only 3 years old. The first game that we played was to make a sand project of the company's logo. To play the game, we need to hook up with another family - which I chose Zainudin's family.

The families

Selecting tools for the sand project

Immediately, both Zainudin & me found problems with our team from the start. Our team consist of 3 adults & 4 kids. We thought we can handle the game, but even at the start the team members already losing their focus.

Haziq losing the focus

'Lampard' losing the objective. "Abah kita nak buat apa ni?" 
I don't have any recollection that the company logo have a big drain in it.

'Hazard' sees the bigger price

'Lampard' joins in

The only committed member in the game

Siap pun!!!

The truth is, I also didn't contribute much to the team. I just follow Lia's instruction all the way. I just can't help laughing by myself seeing Zainudin's kid antics running by themselves oblivious of the game. 

Muahahahah, they are so like the minions in the Despicable Me movie.

The second game becomes a little bit weird. The game needs the team to bring the sea water & channeling it into 2 mineral water bottles via some leaves. Wait, I thought this is a family event? This game is hard even for adults. What makes it funnier, for this game we need 8 people. And for our team, the 8th member is Zainudin's baby that only 6 months old!

Muahahaha. Gilerlaaa......

Being a sporting families that we are, we just joined in with the spirit of enjoying the game. Hakim even notch it up a little bit. For the 2nd bottle, instead of filling it with sea water, he silently filling it up ...... with sands! I just can't help myself at this stage.

Lantakla dengan game, budak-budak ni lawak giler....

Hakim - writing a new set of rules for himself

The last game was the weirdest of all. It was a game of tying the legs of the team members & go around the route near the beach.

Screw this! I just don't care about the game at this moment & choose not to join in. Clearly the event organizer have a different opinion how a family game should be played.

Haziq playing from afar by himself

At 5pm, thankfully the games had ended & we received the keys to our rooms. We got the suite room (woohoo!!!) at block J, room number 112. The evening games is taking a toll on both of us & we went to sleep until 6.30pm.

The dinner started at 8pm. Since we don't want to rush, we only went to the hall about 8.30pm. We sat together with Ismail & Supian's family.

The speech from the GM was almost over when we arrived, so we kind of lucky because soon after that we can start eating already. I think because everyone was hungry, the foods at the counter finished quite early. My table even didn't get any satay in the 1st serving. Grrrrrr.....

The atmosphere in the hall was quite hectic. Every table had been supplied with whistles & trumpets to liven up the event. Which for me backfired in the worst way ever. Since there were families with kids & babies, not everyone love it. The event management don't really understand how to make an event 'happening'. More noises doesn't really mean it will be more 'happening'. It just mean people will get deaf after that.

The MC for the night was abysmal. One tip for anyone that want to be an MC: if your voice is as shrill as Mak Putih in Bawang Merah Bawang Putih, please lower down your voice a little bit. Please give our ear drums some pity. Give your mouth & the mic a little distance should also helps.

Can you see the makcik on the floor?

What makes the MC much more annoying is that she talks like a makcik in the market. I just can't help but make fun of her slang when she invite the managers to the stage to join some games.

"Mr Tan Kaen Jooo, Seeee, and Shahoooooooool!!!!!"

Lia & me can't help but laugh by ourselves.

There are some game arranged, but for me the highlights was the MC.

Jenga like games with a twist - there is a humpty dumpty on top of the blocks

Finally got hold on some satay on the 2nd servings

What Haziq think of the food that night - definitely not A++

We didn't stay long in the hall that night. After 9.30pm, we already gone back to our rooms. The noise in the hall was unbearable & the MC was annoying as hell.

(I thought Haziq was the only one that afraid of the loud noises in the hall. Lia need to clasped both his ears all the time. The next table kid already crying with his mother when we want to go back to our room. Even adults can't stand the noise - Ismail leaves earlier than us.

Haikal, Zainudin's eldest kid notch it up a bit - because of the loud noises, he puked 2 times. I only knew about this when we talked at the office. After seeing that my family already went back to our room, his family follow through. Take that you all, the  makcik pasar effect!!!)

A little bit about the rooms at Lotus Desaru. We're quite lucky that room that we got was a suite. It is a 2 floor room. While the 2nd floor is where the bed & bathroom is located, the other amenities such as the tv, the water heater & the fridge is being put at the 2nd floor.

The blocks in the Lotus Desaru is quite far from each other while the parking spot is quite limited if you're considering to park near your living block. So the management in Lotus Desaru have come up with an ingenious idea of having some shuttle service running through the parking spot to pick up the residents.

After snoring through the night (it was quite a hectic day & the bed was awesome), we're having breakfast beside the beach. The hall that having the breakfast is Teratai@ Seaview.

The breakfast was great. I had a roti canai & some kuehteaw. The roti canai was soft & the kuehteaw have enough flavor in it that I can't believe that it came from the same company after some tasteless food at the dinner. If they can prepare these food that are delicious, why can't they do the same last night?

Happy faces with a big breakfast

After the breakfast, we quickly changed into our swimming suit & went to the water park. It is not much that I can say about the water park. It is a small recreational area that will be merrier when they is a lot of visitors such as today. Come during the weekdays, this place will be  a boring place to be.

I hurt my wrist sliding down the slide

Lost my spectacles here

Hurt my bum at the slides - adults beware, this is only for kids

Haziq was not being cooperative in the first place. Apparently, being in a park where water sprinkles everywhere & packed with people does not suit to his mojo. Crying everywhere, we had to slowly calmed him down.

Traumatized, can't show his face but can still managed a peace sign

At last, we managed to enjoy ourselves at the big pool. The water is calm & Haziq seems to be enjoying himself.

It was calmer at the big pool

Nobody knows what Haziq's sign is for

Tired playing in the water, we wrapped everything up by 12pm.At 1.30pm, we checked out from our suite.

It was a great closure before Ramadhan. But I wonder, if it took 6 years for us to have a family day, when will the next one will be held?

Committee members: 3.5/5.0
Committed throughout the event. This is the 1st time that I saw the committee want to do their jobs without all the bruhaha. All the information had been informed accordingly. When I had some doubt, they can solved it. Their only fault was selecting the wrong event management team.
Food: 1.5/5.0
The dinner's food was far from great, but I want to have the same breakfast at Lotus Desaru. Quite a shame because both came from the same team.
Event management team: 1.0/5.0
Less said about them is better. The activities during the family day was best when they are not around which speaks volumes of their performance. I'm egging to give them zilch, but 1 is the lowest mark there is.
Overall: 2.5/5.0
The room was great, the water park was great, the scenery was great. Sadly, the experience had been tarnish by the makcik pasar team.

Fun fact:
Anyone that claimed there were 40,000 Banglas that posed as pengundi hantu in the last election had been looking at the wrong place. Instead of stalking at Serdang, they should look at Lotus Desaru. The only Malaysian faces that I saw in Lotus Desaru was at the receptionist. All the other services - shuttle driver, cleaners, maintenance, & even the water park life guard were all Banglas. Go Bangla Go!!!