Breakfast Observations

I was overseas on holiday over the weekend and on my last day at the hotel, some unfortunate work-related circumstance had me up at 730am and having breakfast in the hotel restaurant at 8am. Alone, I was given a table for two by a lady who I can only describe as a double for Gloria Arroyo (I was not in the Philippines btw). Her job was to make sure there weren't any strange intruders who could having food on the house. True, someone could walk right in and they'd be none the wiser. (I was asked the day earlier by one of the wait staff what my room number was as I was loitering about the buffet lines with a glass of juice in hand. Suspicious behaviour I guess.).

I did not sit, as usual, and went to check if the nasi lemak served the day before made a reprisal that morning too. Alas no, but there was prata and dhal. Tried it, disappointing.

I sat eating and observing. There were Americans, about 3 of them, middle aged, sitting nearby. They spoke in uncharacteristically hush tones. Then their friends came. It was time to pump up the volume. Hugs, kisses and loud greetings we're used to and find quite annoying. I think it's an announcement of 'i've got friends' thing. You gotta be loud when doing that else no one will know you're not a loser.

There were a few families from China who made their appearance at that hour. I noted that 1) they like to walk and chew their food, and 2) their kids are without sensible manners. I'll elaborate on the second point as the first is a quirk of nature. One kid, of 6-7 years, was holding his heavy ceramic plate at an angle and spilling his carbo-loading all over the place. Another kid, couldn't sit down and was wandering about touching things. He didn't ask politely when his way was blocked but simply pushed through, once even crawling over another diner's chair. Ghastly behaviour that these kids' parents were hardly giving two hoots about. Maybe this one child policy has created psychological complexes we're only going to find out about when these loners start interacting with the world outside China.

I was eyeing a slice of marble cake as my final go at breakfast but declined my instincts last minute. So that was it.