Update: 1.10pm 18/6
Correction: Upon checking, the points for First Fruits Sdn Bhd was indeed awarded.
My sincere apologies to Uncle Chong.
Update: 5pm 17/6
Update: 3.30am 17/6
It has been a crazy 2 days and only now I’ve some time to myself.
As you can see from the comments from hunters here, it was a very good hunt. Offline I have also heard the same positive comments about the hunt. The non-regular hunters like my wife Florence and team had a good time even though they didn’t get any of the top 15 placings.
The fact that Uncle Chong’s hunt was a great success and of high quality is not surprising considering Uncle Chong’s many years of clerking experience for Kiwanis and also as a hunter.
Overall most of questions were well crafted and tight. There were gems like
Q: Bond or go through.
A: Kafe Secret Recipe
Managing expectation: When Uncle Chong announced his proposed hunt in a long letter to hunters, one of the reasons stated was that he had loads of unused questions stored up. That premise sort of set the stage and my expectation of the hunt.
Going into this hunt, I was looking forward to the few questions that Uncle Chong has kept for so long, which he was going to use for this hunt. I had imagine these few questions to be ground breaking, sensational, talk about for years to come and very clever. Probably something that most of us would have kicked ourselves after the hunt for not getting it. I mean, imagine you have a 10 years old secret, and you gather all your families and friends to finally reveal the secret, it better be a damn big secret.
When you have expectation be prepared to get disappointed: It’s was like watching Angels & Demons the movie when you have read the book. You go and watch it with your own high expectation that it will be as good as the book, but as we all know book to film adaptations rarely are. So you get disappointed with the movie. But on its own not comparing it to your expectation, it’s probably okay.
I don’t know which questions were new and which were the ones he has kept for many years. The one which he said was kept for 10 years as mentioned during the presentation came out as just another very tough question. Hardly a vintage.
Q. A stirring end for man returning with something to eat wife partly stored inside.
A: Mitsubishi Electric
Something kutuKing calls “reserved for CoC” a multiple layered, needle in the haystack, never meant to be answered type of question.
Bad calls: I thought the decision not to award the points for “La’ Sis Collection” (without butik) was harsh. Okay, rules are rules so I can still stomach this decision.
But insisting on FirstFruits@FirstFruits Sdn Bhd and not accepting FirstFruits Sdn Bhd is a bad and misguided call.
We need to be sensible about this “write in full” business. Where do we draw the line? If for example the owner of First Fruits had listed the fruits he sells just below First Fruits, should we put those in too? And since we must write what we see in full, one of my cheekier team member wondered aloud if the CoC counted the exact number of dots after the tagline “sense of adventure….” in every answer script?
CoCs should to be mindful of the nature and spirit why and how the rule of “write in full” comes about. It’s simply to check and confirm that hunters have spotted the signage.
Big picture: I have always said this to hunters. We need to see a hunt in totality. And in totality this has been a quality hunt and a great experience for all hunters across the field.
Uncle Chong has always been involved in long running hunt series like Kiwanis and the unofficial no-holds barred CNY hunt which he initiated. I’m very sure that this Economy hunt will be the start of a long and successul hunt series. As I was leaving Kiwanis Hall on Sunday, I heard Uncle Chong saying that the questions used this time around were only a small part of his large collection of questions. So you can bet we will have 2nd Uncle Chong hunt soon, even as early as the end of this year.
_________________________________
First the result, will try and write a little bit more about the hunt later.
Full points -110. (Q-90 , T-20)
- 89 (69 + 20) – Adrian Wong, Michael Pang, Catherine Ng, Toh Weng Ngai
- 88 (72 + 16) – Liew Kok Seng, Jayaram Menon, Lim Kong Yew, Teoh Cheow Teong
- 82 (66 + 16) – Alexander Hoh, Andre Teh, Rosmawarni, Shahrin
- 82 (66 + 16) – Sam Rahman, Teh Boon Kai, Angie Teh, Yow Hui Hui
- 79 (66 + 16 -3) – KK Chai, Margaret Sha, V K Chong, Lim Soo Khian
- 78 (66 + 12) – Zahrol, Razif, Darmataksiah Abai, Mazri
- 69 (57 + 12) – Yeap Heng Boon, Pavanathan, Ho Mun Yee, Shandra Dass
- 69 (57 + 12) – Haji Suhaimi, Tommy Ng, Kumaran, Pirabarkaran
- 68 (60 + 8) – Christopher Foo, Claire Chin, Goh Teck Koon, Julie Tan
- 68 (60 +8) – Selina Yong,Toh Wei Ming, Lily Loh, Loh Siew Fun
- 67(51 + 16) – Tan Eng Siang, Kong Siau Ching, Ong Kheng Heng, Wong Sze Lynn
- 63 (51 +12) – Venka, Eeswaran, Simon, Buvanes
- 58 (42 +16) – Anuar Jeffrey, Tan Kok Cheeng, Chan Kah Seng, Kwan Ju Woey
- 56 (48 +8) – Anis Syah, Shahrul Nizam Shahrudin, Shahrul Nizam Abdullah, Noor Nazamudin
- – Viki Lim, Lim Kim Meng, Jeffret Wong, Lim Shu Shin
The 8th placing in the hunt is
Miike,Haji Suhaimi, Tommy Ng, Kumaran, Pirabarkaran
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Pira
Looks like there’s five hunters in the team.
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First 2 correct Pira. There were only 4 team members in the 8th placed team comprising Suhaimi, Kumaran, Tommy n Pirabarkaran. I don’t know where Pira got Mike 2 Hunt as the 5th team member. Secondly, it was a good Hunt with a good spread of simple, average, difficult n xtremely difficult questions n a good mix in the type of questions and a right time duration. Hopefully our Grand Master Uncle Chong can organize another Hunt of this nature. This should be the basis of future Hunt Recipes with only some minor change of the ingredients to the Recipe. Congrats Brother Chong – due to my age I must call him brother instead of uncle.
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pira Reply:
June 16th, 2009 at 8:42 am
Dear Tuan Haji,
It was addressed to Mike, and so the name Mike got in by accident. I was writing the mail when my staff came into my office for something urgent. I pressed the send button with out checking exactly what I wrote.
Regards
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hagi suhaimi Reply:
June 16th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
After posting my reply, I guessed so.
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Wow! What a hunt it was last Sunday. Although I normally do not pass comments on any hunt especially in this blog but I think I should make an exception for this particular hunt. As was common with Uncle Chong’s hunt during the earlier days when he was setting Kiwanis hunts, we had our chance to “pay back” during the skits. But it was done more as a compliment than anything else and it is the same here.
For someone making a comeback to setting hunts, it was surely a stirring one! Uncle Chong has really never been away! The hunt Tee(d) off in a respectably heavyweight fashion, with Mr. Gary providing his well oiled marshalling service and you could already anticipate the kneading of questions that were to come. Beans were quickly spilt and before long we realized that what was missing was not a person but our brains!
After the kneading in Puchong, many got knotted in sisal in USJ. We surely needed boundaryless minds by now as the clues were surely not black and white. Instead many found Oscars for getting the wrong secrets! Good Grace was followed by a bad day, which was to become worse. Well at least we found a friendly place at an outgoing area. It proved to be a short respite as we soon got frozen by USAin Bolt! IVF provided some consolation but once again an awfully brief one before the wardrobe-malfunction gave us nothing to party with. But as we approached the midway point there seemed to be a glimmer of hope although just a micro one I should add.
By the time we got to the 2nd stage it was evidently clear, Uncle Chong was in his element and we his fodder. We soon realized no treasures have been attempted let alone discovered! In desperation we learnt that building pagodas was quite simple, Taro was quickly resolved to Rota and Lexus was an affordable luxury. But then how low we sunk when there was no sun kiss (sounds likelah) and the flower was no river but just plain delicia gardenia. Desperation soon turned to exasperation but time gave us no consideration. Uncle Chong said plenty of time was given but it was surely just wrong and confidential information. Now the treasures we have to abandon we went in search for the married man. Laki we were not for the smell did not lead us to the sehala kiri but almost did a hara-kiri!
The Gray man from south of the equator was nowhere to be found but we got laki with the important existence. The key life gave us a new leash of life and heartless Africa was quickly explored. Then the downward trend was to resume as we STarve and be in need only to learn we soon would have been hard up in any case. But as hardcore hunters that we were we still had our sense of adventure, and off we went in search of 007. Bond must have been at Moonraker as he wasn’t there in SS24. Maiden dates became blind dates or was it only our eyes? Kinky pilots we sure love but oh it was so soon when we were interrupted again. Alas there was not much time left, we had to continue our business to the very end.
At least the KFC and coke cooled our stirring nerves but how our bodies could do with some kneading! Now we wait for the next episode when Uncle Chong must surely return …
[Reply]
Q: Er bif set
A: La’Sis Collection
Q: Maiden dates
A: First Fruits Sdn Bhd (wrong)
A: First Fruits @ First Fruits Sdn Bhd (the only version accepted because both appears on the same board and the rule is must write in full)
[Reply]
Kok Seng Reply:
June 18th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
Mike,
I know for a fact that our team and another wrote down our answer as First Fruits Sdn Bhd and we got our 3 points.
I understand that so long you either wrote First Fruits @ First Fruits Sdn Bhd or just First Fruits Sdn Bhd, it will be marked correct and points will be given to you. Similarly for the ABTUS answer.
Perhaps you may want to ‘interrogate’ your team member who was tasked to write the answer as to what he/she actually wrote…
Cheers!
Kok Seng
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Mike Reply:
June 18th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
Thanks for pointing that out. Yes, I just check, the points for FirstFruits Sdn Bhd were awarded. My mistake for not checking.
My comment was based on what was said by Uncle Chong when he presented the answer to this Q.
Apologies to Uncle Chong.
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Brings back memories of “A. Mogan” vs. “Mogan” if anyone else recalls.
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I don’t think that I have posted any comment on any blogsite before, and I had to find out from Kok Seng how to do so. As many comments have been made on last weekend’s hunt, I feel that I must say something.
First, the comments on this blogsite pre-empted my last e-mail to all participants in the hunt. In that e-mail I have apologised for some flaws I found on review. I only have an obligation, I feel, to address the people who so kindly took off time to take part in the hunt that I set. I am also not agreeable to having my questions dissected at leisure – if you want to dissect my questions, do so in the setting of the hunt. So Cornelius, although I do have the full set of Q & A & Treasure List with me, you will not get a copy from me.
I thank all who have given me KDU so well-constructed (kudos, if you are having trouble with it) and batu bata hits (brickbats)in your comments and all comments will be taken under advisement, as the Yanks say.
I have generally recieved positive remarks from participants, even from those who did not do so well, for a project that I had great fun doing. The remarks have been so encouraging that I have during my chitchat with KS even started looking for a date for my next hunt. Originally I thought of December, but KS has pointed out that this would be during the school holidays and I am now looking at a date in Jan 2010, possibly the 3rd or the 10th. I am conscious of the Chinese New Year Hunt 2010 which someone has got to organise (not me, because I treat it as a theme hunt and I will have to agonise doing theme questions) and perhaps someone can give the date for CNY 2010.
Regards to all
Uncle Chong
[Reply]
Kok Seng Reply:
June 18th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
CNY for 2010 will be on Sunday 14 Feb 2010! Yes, Valentine’s Day!! Guess it will be safe to have the Economy ‘Recovery’ or ‘Redemption’ Hunt in Jan 2010.
As for the CNY Hunt, I recall the COC (and organising) torch has been passed to the winning team of this year’s edition – Chong VK, Teoh CT, Razif & Mawar. Proposed date – 27 or 28 Feb 2010?
Cheers!
Kok Seng
[Reply]
razifahmad Reply:
June 18th, 2009 at 8:35 pm
My my … a tiger in love. I am sure VK is already salivating at the thought!
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Alex Reply:
June 18th, 2009 at 9:35 pm
And after that, the Year of the Rabbit, and I do recall the Rabbit Hunt. Wow…. it’s been more than 10 years since the first CNY hunt !
Claire Reply:
June 18th, 2009 at 10:12 pm
The Tiger has not even arrived…already thinking about the Rabbit! Haha!
Dear Uncle Chong,
I am sorry that you feel that way about my comments. But since you’ve declared that you don’t read blogs, I think I can assume that you’re not aware that I don’t just discuss your hunt questions—I have been discussing questions from many other hunts by other CoCs before, and all in the hope of learning something. In fact, just this afternoon I received an email from one of my readers who said that he/she has benefitted from reading my hunt discussions. And he/she attached the hunt Q&A too. However, since you’ve made yourself clear that you’re not agreeable to having your questions dissected, I shall carefully refrain from doing so. Please accept my sincere apology, Uncle Chong.
Mike, I’d appreciate it if you could kindly delete my comments in this post please. Thanks.
Cheers!
Cornelius
[Reply]
Uncle Chong Reply:
June 18th, 2009 at 9:20 pm
Dear CKoh
What I said my earlier posting is a personal point of view and there is nothing to apologise for. I am a pretty forthright person and I say what’s on my mind. On looking at what I wrote, I must admit that what I wrote, in between doing other things, may have sounded harsh. For that, I apologise.
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Ha ha! Comparing the amount of saliva, I am sure that Teoh would have bagfuls compared to my solitary dish!! Having been in the scene for decades, I am sure there are some deadly stuff twirling in his head.
So, what say you Mr Teoh?
[Reply]
Mike Reply:
June 18th, 2009 at 11:28 pm
whoever’s doing it, please retain the tradition of drawing cards. that and the fact that it’s a no-holds barred hunt is what make it so unique.
[Reply]
Mawar, VK
How about drawing cards to decide who’s gonna do it? The ‘winners’ can then take part in the hunt
[Reply]
Mike Reply:
June 19th, 2009 at 11:37 am
I’ve no doubt Mawar will do an excellent job but Teoh i think the whole idea is for Chinese hunters to host a CNY do for the rest.
[Reply]
Sorry Mawar,Forgot about theme.So its between VK and me. Maybe we can draw cards this Sat in the bloggers hunt.
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Kok Seng Reply:
June 19th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
Aiya, no need to draw cards lah. Both of you can combine and do lah! Don’t forget the organising part of it also, ada kerja sikit punya juga…
Cheers!
Kok Seng
[Reply]
Alex Reply:
June 19th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
Yeah, throw in a tiger show too!
[Reply]
Hi all. I did not take part in the hunt. Having said that, I can’t seem to crack the two hunt questions mentioned in this blog entry. Can someone provide me with the explanations to the answers given?
Q: Bond or go through.
A: Kafe Secret Recipe
Q. A stirring end for man returning with something to eat wife partly stored inside.
A: Mitsubishi Electric
Many thanks.
[Reply]
Tagem, check your email.
[Reply]
tagem Reply:
June 22nd, 2009 at 11:56 am
Cheers Mike!
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