A NICE NIGHT IN KUANTAN

I read ariesha's warning after I came back from Kuantan. Yes, they were repairing the stretch before the tunnel and I was distracted enough to get into the wrong lane and had to make a turn at the Genting R& R to get back to the Kuantan lane.
The new highway to Kuantan did not have that much traffic. A lot of people wanted to save RM19.60 and the highway did not get you to Kuantan proper. The exit toll was in the middle of nowhere along the Kuantan -Sungai Lembing road. It will take you a while to get to town.
We did get to our hotel after about 3 hours (from KL). It is a nice hotel even though they wanted to charge me RM188 for a night. A quick phone call from the RTM Kuantan Secretariat brought the room rate down to RM160 for me.
Meeting my old staff was very emotional. It is nice to know that they still remember you and want to kiss your hand. A few of the (then) young broadcasters had more white hair than me. Amran, my former driver, has developed a stupendous beer belly even though I know that he doesnt drink beer.
The dinner had worthwhile entertainment. We were entertained by Datin Orked Abdullah, Ahmad Jais, Hazami, Waheeda, Jay Jay, Exist, Ning Baizura and Yussof Chong. I was impressed by Sharifah Shahira who was the emcee together with Razak Ahmad. They tickled everyone with their Pahang dialect. The show overran a bit, finishing well after midnight. Feeling a bit peckish when we returned to the hotel, we had a security guard show us the shortest way out of the hotel to the nearest 24 hour mamak shop. He let us use the staff entrance so we didn't have to go round the front door.
Let me congratulate RTM Kuantan/RM Pahang (now Pahang fM) on a very successful rebranding and getting technology to help. They are using SMS for people to register as Sahabat Pahang FM. Well done Bibi Mahyudeen and gang!