Pulai Spring Resort , Johor Bahru

Hello folks,

Before I start travelling again next week, for 2 weeks, I feel that I should at least update all the hotels I have stayed this year....when I started this blog, I wanted to do a posting, after every hotel stay, but caught up with work, family blah blah blah blah.....

So, I went to this hotel on a job trip before, and even though I like the hotel when I first arrived, I left feeling very itchy....yes...I GOT THE BED BUGS !!!! It was so horrifying, kept scratching , at the hotel, in the transfer to the airport, on the plane and etc....I was so pissed off..... I must say it was an unfortunate incident. So happened that the bed / room I got was infected by bed bugs.....*sigh* 

Anyway, please have a look at the pictures below....place is quite nice...honestly, could you less bugs, but honestly........

Btw, I stayed at the 2nd category, which is the 01 Bedroom Suite 

The Resort for the weekend

Comes with a kitchenette but no cooking

They should have more sofas, I felt.

One and only sofa.....

Separate bedroom which is small but acceptable,and you can see the living hall from here.

Huge toilet

They have a movie place at the clubhouse, across the hotel's block but within the same resort !

This is how the movie theatre looks like :)

Kids' playroom in the clubhouse itself

That has this scary looking tree ??

Nice looking library for some quietness

One of the pools at the club house

Changing Room for the pool ~ If you can read, the sign says No Female allowed :p

And this one....no men allowed . :D :D :D

They do have a pool at the main hotel's complex...very nice looking as below :

The Pool at the Hotel itself

So apart from staying at the hotel and play Golf....I just had to go and look for the followings:

Drive like 8 minutes out of the resort to Tmn University, in front of the market, you would be able to eat the locals tea time favourite. Goreng Pisang and sambal kicap

If you go to Johor, you must eat Nasi Ambang ! Its rice with salted fish, fried long beans + tempe, some beef floss, curry chicken, fried noodles...all in one plate !

Healthy Deep Fried Spinach ???

 So .....do I like this resort ? Well, what I can say and give my 02 cents worth of thoughts as below :

1. Definitely the only resort there is in Johor Bahru that fits the word resort.
2. There is another resort nearby the airport, but I would think twice
3. Rooms are spacious, especially for domestic market 
4. A bit far from the town, but then, that's the beauty of it...you still get the quietness of a resort, but drive out 20 minutes, it is already the noisy city
5. Could be full with Singaporeans especially during weekends
6. Fit for all level of travellers, the MICE , for conventions, single travellers, golfers, family, honeymooners, serves all well
7. Have a huge sports complex that can be used for hotel guests too
8. The only thing that I don't really like is the service of the coffee house. While they really serve local food ( like salted fish with coconut to be eaten with glutinous rice i.e. pulut ) , the waitress / waitresses could be more attentive and since they do cater for the cheap charlie travel agent business, you may see that the quality is quite low in compare to the name they want to bring. 
9. Don't come for breakfast early morning, do so after 8am, because the china groups they have from the travel agents would have their breakfasts early and you wouldn't like to be there....honestly. 
10. Children would love this place........My children did :) 

Now, these are all my thoughts....you may like the place, or you may just don't.... but with the newly opened Legoland....perhaps you should give this hotel a try too.

Enjoy peeps !

xoxo

Parkroyal Penang

I love going to Penang.....its a favourite local destination for my family. Reason being the drive is nice, using the North South Express Way, passing through few states, and you can visit other places too, especially for eating ! :p

Reasons we love Penang also for the fact that, its a glorious state for food !! We love the nasi kandar, and the Penang Char Kway Teow at the stalls nearby our hotel. The beach is nothing to shout about. Apart from being polluted by the machine operated water sports, normal ignorance of cleanliness is a norm :D :D :D 

So, whenever we go to Penang, which is an annual event, we would stay at Parkroyal, which is at Batu Feringghi. You see, there are a lot of other hotels along Feringghi, but the fact that this hotel has such a nice pool, and the rate is just nice, it beats the rest of the hotels. Yes, Hard Rock Penang has the longest pool in Penang, but you would have to drive to the night market or the food areas, something that we hate doing once we are parked at the hotel. Normally, we would be a minimum 4D/3N, we arrived Penang, have Nasi Kandar, go hotel, parked the car and the car would only be moved on the day of departure. I mean, that's why we go for holidays right ? We parked, have our breakfast at the hotel, lunch either by the pool or the stalls nearby and dinner at Feringghi night market, either the food court, or the restaurants along the road....and Parkroyal fits perfectly the logistic of our needs. 

Anyway, they have the yes and no too...let's have a look at the pictures :

This is our favourite room, pay extra ok ?

Not all room can fit extra bed and I need extra bed 

We like the big balcony, for us to hang around or simply to dry our clothes :P 

Room comes with a DVD player, fantastic for us to try the DVDs from the night market 

At the rates they are charging, they could at least , change the curtain ? 

The View from  our balcony...of the pool below 

Nice pool right ? with slide as well

I complained abt the apples....cheapos !

The hotel from the seaside...so it is on the beach

The beach from the hotel's garden

I love the poolside, even though it is not that windy

These would be turned into an evening dining area , nice right ?

I just love the picture :D :D :D

And they have kids club !! Have games, books, activities for kids. Nice

Not that great, but I must hv this Nachos whenever we go there.

And my kids must have this RM20 per small tub of Baskin Robbins . Geeszzz... 20 bucks !!! 

So lets share my thought abt this hotel :

1. First of all, its a 4 stars hotel for me, but a nice one
2. Location is perfect, in Batu Feringghi, come out its the night market, nearby to food court, right on the beach, so everywhere can go by foot. 
3. Rates are ok, during the not peak season, can go sky rocket too.....
4. When they are full, they will open up the 1st level for breakfast area....let me tell you, the Que could be a killer. I have encountered some morons, left the table ( someone would be there to man the table ) then they disappeared and come back for more breakfast !! ) 
5. Definitely for all market hotel. Business,Leisure, FIT, Single Traveller, Old People ( I have met numbers of times, old couple from all over, coming here over and over again ) 
6. Rooms they are nothing extra-ordinary, but since we don't stay in the room during the day, we don't mind. 
7. Oh, they have Spa as well, if u want the expensive hotel ones....
8. Huge pool, 2 areas, so that the adults may not be suffocate with children screaming and jumping around :D :D :D 
9. Meeting rooms for conventions, meetings 
10. Ample parking space
11. Front Office staffs are very nice
12. Housekeeping staffs are very nice too.Helpful and courteous. 
13. Coffee House staffs are very selective ( if you are white, then you are very lucky....or even if you are from the Middle East. ) 
14. Also have lower rates rooms,but faces the hill :p 

In all, I actually like this hotel, I have stayed in other hotels along the Feringghi as well, let me post more on the hotels, but I feel that this hotel caters to my family needs most. 

Oh well, since the above are only my 2 cents worth of thoughts, you may like the hotel....or you may just not....... 

xoxo

Impiana Hotel , Ipoh

Ok, I don't really put up about myself in this blog...Oh No ! and taking the risk of the hotels coming after me when or if I ever say any bad comments ? woohooo ....No way Jose !


But, I will share some things about me, like, I am half Perakian. Well, my mom is Perakian. Perakian means, you are from Perak, a state in Malaysia, with the city called Ipoh. So, when ever we go back to visit relatives, for festive seasons, weddings, or just for eating galore, I would always stay at this hotel in Ipoh. Why ? oh well, maybe because the hotel has been there for ages ? I don't know, for as long as I can remember.


Anyway, over the years, the hotel did some refurbishments. I shall say it is not bad now, compare to those days when light blue has to be the theme for the bedspread, the curtains , the carpets, the tiles and etc #huhuhuhuhuhu


So , let's look at these pics first :

The Bed, which I am quite surprised, no duvet ?

Check out the carpet......oh well, at least , the colour could hide any stains or discolourations

King size bed

Ok, that is not me....but my bibik

They still kept the old furniture and just touched up

Not bad the brand chose for their toiletries

Yes, the pool. Please don't ask me, if it is naturally green or is it mouldy green. FYI, every time we went there, none of us ever swam :p

There is a horse race course behind the hotel. So on Sundays you could see some horses ?

Another view from the room. The Brown colour building is actually a shopping mall.

So, how do I fare this hotel ? Let me tell you , first of all, you would be sure that you will get experienced staffs. From the door man, who has seen better younger days and still there, from the Concierge who could be much more stronger before to carry our bags, but now maybe even stronger and respective other departments.

This is to me, is a very much Business, Corporate Hotel. What do you expect anyway ? Ipoh is not so much of a Tourist destination. So people utilising the hotels here are either on the way to North or South, or perhaps was home visiting their families.

Finalising my 02 cents worth of thoughts, here it goes :

1. Yes, it is very much a corporate hotel, for MICE , or offices meetings and etc. 
2. Of course, the rooms are very much affordable 
3. Room size is very much acceptable
4. Services has so far been good
5. If you are in Ipoh with kids , this is a very much acceptable hotel

Problem with me, I like being recognised. So it was rather sweet the bell men / concierge would remember us, remember me since i was single ? :p

So, any as I have said, you may like it and you may just don't.

xoxo