THE LAST EVENT AND GRAND FINALE OF THE 13TH MIGF MALAYSIA INTERNATIONAL GOURMET FESTIVAL ENDED ON A SUITABLY SPECTACULAR NOTE AS PER USUAL SINCE DATO STEVE DAY AND DATIN SU DAY FIND IT IMPOSSIBLE TO DO ANYTHING NORMAL, RUN OF MILL AND BORINGLY DREARY!
First the venue.
It was not a 5-star hotel ballroom as expected nor was it a convention hall like Putra World Trade Centre or KL Convention Centre. Well, Wisma KWC is a convention centre but 98% of the guests did not know it even existed! And I thought I knew everything there is to know since I am of divine stock!
Wisma KWC stands for Kenanga Wholesale Centre and NOT Kee Wah Chee as everyone assumed! Anyway the correct spelling of my name is Kee Hua Chee, not Kee Wah Chee!
Wisma KWC is a fashion wholesale and retail centre though you cannot find Louis Vuitton, Gucci or Hermes Birking handbags here since the baju are for normal folks as it is located in Jalan Gelugor near Loke Yew which is not KL's priciest and most prestigious precinct.
MIGF's party was on the 15th and highest floor. I thought it was openair like most roof tops but this was covered with a small, al fresco viewing deck with dramatic views of KL Tower and Petronas Twin Towers.
The instant I entered the humungous hall, I fainted straightaway and had to be given fresh oxygen shoved into my mouth which has had many things shoved inside previously. I came back from the dead, saw the cavernous cavern and passed out again from shock of the happy kind.
OK so maybe I did not end up horizontally on the floor (a position I am accustomed to on various occasions) but I was deadly impressed by the size, structure and stunning shape!
The ceiling was so high I wanted to do a bungy jump instantly but the guards stopped me and said they did not have a permit. Ditto when I wanted to para-glide from the second floor balcony! Yes the hall even has an upper deck and balconies!
The hall was too huge to be cooled by aircons so the job was done by fans. Not your usual, flimsy, pathetic house ceiling fans but industrial ones. Each was the size of a small flat in Tokyo! The diameter was so large you can skate on it. The fans did their job well and kept the 500 or 600 guests cool and comfortable and I did not sweat buckets as feared since I am used to European climes and not your Asian humid ones.
My friend Ng Kun Tek immediately vowed to book this space for his brother William Ng Kun Wei's wedding early next year!
How Dato Steve Day and Datin Su Day managed to discover this spectacular gem is beyond me and few things are beyond me!
How fortunate they should meet Aaron Soo, the Group Chief Executive Officer of KHA Seng Group which owns Wisma KWC as well as the celebrated Central Market which is one of my favourite shopping malls for fun and funky stuff as well as VIVA lifestyle mall for decor, home and entertainment. Aaron Soo suggested Wisma KWC (well, he would, wouldn't he?) and he was spot on!
VIPs were taken to the viewing deck, a balcony offering stunning views of KL Tower, KLCC and Pudu Jail which has been levelled.
Then the sexy Kronenbourg 1664 girls led the Royal Patron YAM Tunku Laksamana Tunku Naquiyuddin Tuanku Jaafar, YAM Tunku Nurul Nor Hayati, YAM Tunku Dara Tunku Tan Sri Naquiah Tuanku Jaafar and Guest of Honour YB Dato Azizan Noordin the Deputy Director General (Planning) of Tourism Malaysia who represented the Minister of Tourism and Culture YB Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Tan Sri Abdul Aziz who was unable to attend.
I scanned my beady eyeballs for Dato Steve Day who was nowhere to be seen. When asked, the official response was "Maybe he overslept, went overseas, got caught in jam or forgot as he has been so busy the last one and half months".
I was shocked he broke protocol by not welcoming the Deputy Director General of Tourism Malaysia and Royal Patron Tunku Naquiyuddin Tuanku Jaafar!
Then of course all was explained as Dato Steve Day appeared literally in midair on stage to welcome his guests! Think Phantom of the Opera, Darth Vader and a Dementor from Harry Potter's movies and you get the drift.
Floating eeriely in midair, Dato Steve Day welcomed and thanked everyone, opening his arms and gesticulating grandly as he was suspended in midair with no mattresses on the floor below. Luckily the near invisible steel wires did their job as he floated serenely onto the stage floor to join the Cool Chefs.
The highlight was when Dato Steve Day, founder and organiser of MIGF invited the Royal Patron YAM Tunku Laksamana Tunku Naquiyuddin Tuanku Jaafar onto the stage to climb inside a cage also suspended in midair. The sporting royal was blindfolded and was escorted up a flight of steps to step inside the cage suspended some 25 feet from the floor.
The royal prince was asked to wave a MIGF flag when he was inside to prove he was there. This he duly did.
Then Dato Steve Day waved his magic, multi-coloured wand and the door and walls of the cage burst open. Instead of Tunku Naquiyuddin falling headlong onto the stage to certain harm, there was nothing!
The hall reverberated with gasps of shock and mounting horror! The victim was no illiterate, foreign construction worker or maid but the eldest son of the 10th King of Malaysia and one of the 4 Princes of Negeri Sembilan in line to the throne!
I grabbed my Nokia to summon the police, Red Crescent, army, Royal Air Force and marines to mount a search for Tunku Naquiyuddin as I bet his wife Tunku Nurul Hayati must be in hysterics.
Then as if by magic, Tunku Naquiyuddin appeared---not on stage but at the main entrance, walking inside and beaming broadly without a hair out of place!
Considering I was right by the stage photographing everyone and I saw him standing inside the cage and never saw him leaving the locked box, it was truly worthy of Houdini, David Copperfield and Professor Dumbledore!
Too bad Dato Steve Day did not make our National Debt disappear too but even if he did, like Tunku Naquiyuddin, it would bounce back!
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