Dialect Summit 2024 @Talulah Hill Farm Resort, Kluang

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The planning for this Dialect Leadership Team (DLT) team building trip began way back in March 2024. By September 2024, the itinerary and planning was already in full swing. Deposit for the resort was paid and transport had been booked to fetch the DLT there. We were set to go from the 28th to 30th November.

However, a major setback occurred on 19th November, 9 days before the trip. Deacon Nathan developed a serious health condition, requiring hospitalisation and preventing him from attending the Summit. He would lose his deposit. Coincidentally, 2 DLT members who just came back from an overseas holiday volunteered to take Deacon and Florence’s place and refunded them the deposit.

Working as a team, we proceeded as planned, leaving Deacon in Singapore to rest and recuperate and Florence to nurse him back to health. Seline took over the lead role with Peter Cheong as advisor. Esther and Karen led the 2 groups travelling in 2 seven-seater vans.

The trip into JB took us nearly 2½ hours to cross the checkpoint at Woodlands side. We left JCC at 9.30am and we finally made it to Mid-Valley Mall around 12pm. We left Mid-Valley Mall at 3pm and travelled 1½ hours to reach Talulah Hill Farm Resort at around 5:30pm.

We had dinner at Barney’s restaurant in the town. Then headed back to the resort. Since we had some time on our hands, we used it to have our pre-Summit DLT Meeting from 8:30pm to around 10pm in the quiet of the Event Hall where we would have breakfast every morning.

Next morning, at 7:30am, some of the active members proceeded to do their exercise routines just outside the Event Hall for about ½ hour before breakfast. Then it was breakfast followed almost immediately with part 2 of the Summit DLT Meeting at the Visitor Hall, up at the main reception building.

We held the meeting from 9am until lunch time at the Visitor Hall. Then we proceeded to lunch at the Farm Café which is downstairs. After lunch, we continued with the meeting back at the Event Hall because the Visitor Hall was not available. All the time we were meeting, it was raining heavily outside but as soon as our meeting ended, the rains subsided and we were able to go out into the farm areas to pick corn and other vegetables.

We also had some time to bring out the Picasso in us, as old and young alike, did some painting during the handicraft session in the afternoon. In a sense, we were locked into the resort because we did not have transport to bring us into the nearby town, so we had dinner at the Farm Café. We adjourned after dinner back to the Event Hall to watch a movie on YouTube. It was a Gerard Butler film called The Plane.

On the final morning, the 7:30am exercise group started their routine again. After breakfast, some walked to the farm and others to the fishing pond. At around 11am, we all checked out of the resort and proceeded to have a seafood lunch (actually the original plan was a seafood dinner) at 128 Seafood Restaurant, a 4-star rating that is over rated. After that we stopped over at the famous Kluang Coffee Factory to pick up some goodies.

We encountered heavy traffic along the way to Aeon Mall, Tebrau City. Fearing another long jam at the causeway, we didn’t stay long at the mall. By God’s grace, the way back was very clear and we arrived back at JCC by 6pm.

The trip was a big success. We not only got a lot of work done but also had fun. The quiet farm was perfect for our meetings, and the activities helped us bond as a team.