What I want to know is why my Behasa Melaya language phrasebook includes the phrases for “thank you,” “goodnight,” and “how much is the room per night?” but DOESN’T include what I can tell you is the much, much more useful phrase for: “Please stop hovering over me as I try to read the menu. I will order when I’m ready.”
How am I supposed to make sure I’m ordering the most delicious thing available on the menu when the second I sit down the waiter is there with his pen and paper barking, “What do you want?”? I blame the waiter at the other night’s Chinese hawker stall for making me miss the snow frog claypot until I had already ordered.
Next time.