Well, if this was still May, I would be on time but alas I am like a month late and needless to say that I didn’t manage to complete my own #30Reviews in 30 days challenge! But I did persevere to try and complete at least 30 reviews and with this post, I have done just that. Since much time has lapsed since I last posted, you might want to refer to this first post that introduced the challenge!
In Week 1, I posted 10 reviews and you can take a look at them in this post. In Week 2, I managed to follow up with a further 8 reviews which you can find in this post. I was then meant to do Week 3 and 4 to complete my 30 reviews but I got pulled away with work for a week (I was in Singapore), got back to Malaysia with even more work waiting for me… and then I got hit with COVID (and missed out on an exciting Local Guides related project ; I can’t tell you how gutted I am about this). Anyway, in my down time this weekend (I was still working away when I was down with COVID… yeah, there’s a theme going on here about my work!!), I managed to complete the remaining 12 reviews which I’ll highlight below.
My 12 reviews to close off this challenge that utterly beat me:
- Ajuntha Textiles (Melaka) Sdn. Bhd. - Textile store [ Map link ][ Review here ]
- Ram Cafe - Bar [ Map link ][ Review here ]
- Hotel Mill Road - Hotel [ Map link ][ Review here ]
- Sri Poyyatha Vinayaga Moorthy Temple - Hindu temple [ Map link ][ Review here ]
- Boss Curry House - Indian restaurant [ Map link ][ Review here ]
- Peranakan Place @ Jonker Street - Nonya restaurant [ Map link ][ Review here ]
- Cendol Jam Besar Bandar Hilir Melaka. - Hawker stall [ Map link ][ Review here ]
- Jonker Gallery - Clothing store [ Map link ][ Review here ]
- Jonker Street Night Market - Night market [ Map link ][ Review here ]
- Restoran Saravanna - Chettinadu King - Indian restaurant [ Map link ][ Review here ]
- Sin See Tai - Cafe [ Map link ][ Review here ]
- JonkeRED Heritage Hotel - Hotel [ Map link ][ Review here ]
All of these places are in the city of Melaka which is also my birth state/city. My family moved away when I was 4 years old (if I’m not mistaken) so I barely recall the place. However, some time in the month of April, I got to visit this beautiful and historic place twice so I managed to amass a decent number of photos and videos and also got to properly explore the place. I am so glad that I did because it’s pretty awesome!
So… I’ve come to the end of my challenge… almost three weeks late! What have I learned from this challenge?
- Writing reviews can be challenging. I can generally write about 10 reviews in one sitting but after that I feel like I need to take a break otherwise my reviews start to sound very similar!
- Writing reviews is more than just writing reviews. I usually spend quite a bit of time (much longer than writing the review) to edit my photos. I like my photos to look nice so I tend to re-crop (to balance out the shot), adjust perspectives and adjust the tones.
- I don’t edit my videos but I definitely do need to have a better and, more importantly (to me anyway) consistent strategy in doing my videos. For example, I know exactly what I want to take in my photos but for videos, they just seem to be an afterthought and done in a rush. I usually also take videos in portrait orientation because I think that suits Google Maps the best but that is not great if I want to make content for YouTube… so… hmm… take two sets of videos?! Yikes to my storage space!
Anyway, I do hope that you’ve enjoyed this #30Reviews challenge and apologies for taking forever to complete them! If you have any feedback/questions about my reviews, feel free to ask them in the comments below. Don’t forget to @ me! Thanks!
Link summary:
29 Likes
I like the concept of 30 days 30 reviews challenge it’s really a local guide thing @AdrianLunsong your cover photo looks like a 3D image and I personally like the screenshot of a road side stall selling cendol.
Thanks and have a nice day
1 Like
@AdrianLunsong
This is an amazing share! This is a great idea to motivate yourself to go out and just do a review a day. It makes it more manageable versus trying to cram a bunch of places in a day and then get burnt out from exploring too much at a time!
You take wonderful photos and I enjoy how detailed your reviews are. They stand out too because it looks like in your review- on top of using the star system Google Maps gives you, you also put additional categories in your review and then rate it on a star system. Truly, you go above and beyond!
2 Likes
@AdrianLunsong I am catching up on posts. Didn’t realize you went to Melaka. Hope you had a great time there. And how do you eat so much, and still look so thin?
2 Likes
Congrats on completing the challenge, @AdrianLunsong !! As someone who has a hard time following through on personal projects, you’re giving me hope.
Melaka is such a vibrant and diverse place, I remember loving every hour I spent there some years ago. And to be able to revisit it through your reviews has been a blast! I especially liked the one of the Sri Poyyatha Vinayaga Moorthy Temple - if a spot leaves such an impression on a first-time visitor, then it’s certainly worth exploring.
How did you choose which places to review?
2 Likes
Glad you like the post and photos @Mukul_Anand I really enjoy taking photos and sharing them on Google Maps/Local Guides Connect! Writing reviews is always tough for me because I spend a long time trying to figure out what to focus my review on and as I try my best to be concise it makes it even harder!
1 Like
@StephenAbraham Hah! I do try my best to hide my belly! It’s much harder as I get older! It’s kinda funny going to Melaka because I’m not very geographically savvy and I keep forgetting that Melaka is far away from Johor (2+ hrs trip) whilst it is only about 1+ hrs from KL! It’s only when I open Google Maps and then I see the distance for what it is!! Also, I actually went to Melaka twice within the space of a month or so!! Two very long journeys!
Thanks so much for the kind words @AZ_2021
I do find the single rating quite lacking because it doesn’t properly capture what a place is good at (or not) so yeah, I started adding extra ‘categories’ so that folks who view my ratings can get a better insight. But it can be tough at times! For example, it’s not uncommon for me to rank an eatery high for food (it tastes delicious!!) but low for cost (because it’s so very expensive). It feels counterintuitive to mark a place down for being expensive but that’s just the way I’ve done my ratings. On the flip side, when I get a place that scores high for food AND cost, well, that’s certainly a keeper and worthy of many visits!
1 Like
@DeniGu Oooh… you’ve been to Melaka before!!! Nice!!! I like it a lot except for the hot weather and the constant sweating!
Also, I tend to write reviews for places that I have nice photos of. I know that sounds weird but in my Google Maps contribution page, I have a zero for places that I’ve rated and it’s not because I’ve not rated any places but it’s because I always add a review to my ratings, I just get a zero for ratings (just a quirk in the way Google Maps counts it… I guess they have their reasons). Point is, I can’t do a rating without adding a review. And I can’t do a review without having some nice photos!
When I scroll through photos of a business listing, it’s easy to have my own photo lost amongst the sea of photos. But when I see my photos grouped up under my review, it brings me lots of joy!
PS - it irks me when my photos don’t get attached to my review (it usually happens when I post my photos separately to my reviews)
That makes sense @AdrianLunsong I love your thinking. Sometimes that happens to me too- for example, service may be good but the food doesn’t taste good. What a great idea for ratings!
I just saw your Go Loco Podcast too- how fun! I subscribed to it.
Hope you have a great rest of your weekend!
1 Like