Tag Archives: 2 star hotel

I GO Hotel

Posted in Leisure & Travel, Reviews by

I was on a weekend trip to see my dad. My ulterior motive was to declutter his house of my late mom’s belongings. Mother was a fashionista confined by her duties in the household. Despite not earning a fixed income, she has a beautiful collection of jubah, blouses and baju kurung. On second thought, she does have an income. A monthly ‘Kasih sayang income’ from her two daughters with varied amounts. It was pretty disheartening having to pack it up and give it away. However, considering that her fashion is very Hetty Koes Endang and Warga Emas, we should give it to those in the same age group.

My sister and I did pick and chose some clothes that we liked. I gave more to my sister because she would find them more useful since she has a job teaching. I am less fashionable and tend to stick with attire in my comfort zone.

I booked a hotel during my stay at Bandar Saujana Putra. There were a few budget hotels to choose from and I picked I Go Hotel. The location is very strategic at BSP 1 with loads of places to eat. This could be influenced by the fact that it is near MAHSA University which is where the students are.

I made my reservation through Agoda.Com, my trusted app to make any staycation possible.

My Double bedroom was priced at less than RM80/night. The room had a simple setup which was enough for a comfortable stay. The air conditioning was good. The toilet was super clean with its soap provided. There were simple beverages for free and a water dispenser at the lobby. To me, that is good enough for a budget hotel. They even provided guests with a mini flask in case we wanted hot water in our room at night. That was super thoughtful.

After a good night sleep, I woke up and showered. Did my checkout early and had breakfast at the mamak. Then, I surveyed the area for other hotel options for the Kuching delegates for my brother’s wedding in July. I completed my cleanup for the day till evening. I had to stop after I sneezed too much. The dust was getting to me, my eyes were teary and despite putting on a face mask, I just couldn’t go forth with it.

I will be coming back soon to BSP to continue the ‘death cleaning’ – perhaps in another 2 weeks or so.

ZONE Hotels, Teluk Panglima Garang

Posted in Food and Drinks, Leisure & Travel, Places to Eat, Reviews by

It was an odd choice but I was glad I made it. We needed a place to stay overnight before we go to my sister’s house for Xmas brunch. Our usual staycation spots are Putrajaya and Cyberjaya. This time, I thought ‘why don’t we find somewhere else’. Agoda led me to this hotel, Zones Hotel.

It is a two-star hotel but with facilities good enough for a comfortable stay. There are water dispensers and an ironing board on both floors. Guests get complimentary drinks on arrival – packet drinks (iced lemon tea). I booked a premium quadruple cause the kids are getting bigger. A normal King is not going to fit all of us. since it is a premium, the price is of course on the premium side. I paid RM317.80 / night including tax. We have Free WIFI, a hot shower and the usual.

There was no breakfast included but there is a MAMAK downstairs. There are also loads of eating places just down the road within walking distance. I have to mention LAKSA BUMBUNG. It is now my favourite laksa. Costs RM7/bowl because of it’s telur sarang. The gravy is to die for!

QIDOT CAFE

This place is roughly 10 minutes away from the hotel. I made a reservation online for 4 people. It serves Western as well as local delicacies. I loved their grilled lamb. The kids loved to take photos there though. It’s very English and cute. Price-wise, my lamb grill was about RM37 which has two cuts, mashed potato on the side with salad. The salted egg croissant is RM11, and the pizza was RM24 with cake slices ranging from RM12 to RM15. You can browse through their menu by clicking on the link in their bio on Instagram.

Hotel Seri Malaysia Pulau Pinang

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We booked a one night stay at this hotel because we were flying back to Melaka from Penang using Malindo Air.

We took a 2 hour 45 min ferry ride from Langkawi to Penang. Once at the pier, we booked a Grab ride to bring us to the hotel.

This is a 2 star hotel which gives off a 3 star vibe. Eventhough the lobby was small, they provide Welcome drinks to guests which is a nice touch. They even had cute Christmas decorations with freaky little dolls in the main space.

Without a doubt, Seri Malaysia is an old hotel. Not to the extent of having dilapidated facilities but more to its design and crowd. Service is impeccable although Mr Husband did have a minor glitch at the reception. The lady handling our check in was unable to relay basic guests information.

We get to check in 30 mins earlier and coccooned ourself in the hotel compound. It was after all New Years eve and to have our meals outside could be challenging with all the traffic. We also fear of stumbling upon drunk people.

Mr Husband booked 2 Family Room through Traveloka. Our room has 1 double bed and 1 single bed. It was priced at RM142.56 per night including tax. The room fee came with FREE WIFI & FREE breakfast for 3 people for each room. In a way, Ee is covered. Each room has a mini fridge, hairdryer, towels and basic toiletries.

We ordered the steamboat buffet ‘lunch’ at its restaurant for our meal. It was priced at a flat rate of RM18/pax. The portion was huge. We couldn’t finish the noodles. The seafood and marinated poultry seemed fresh. The juice were refillable. Later at night, Mr Husband tapau-ed some food for his parents dinner. I was still full from the steamboat meal.

After the steamboat meal, Ee and Mr Husband went to explore the pool. It’s very small. Ee could fit the kiddie pool just by his length (height). But it is adequate as long as you’re not training for the olympics.

Breakfast was commendable. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised by the options they had for a 2 star accommodation. Refills were prompt and tables were cleared swiftly. We checked out by 12 noon and took a Grab to the airport for our flight. Location wise , this is a good place to bunk in as there are a lot of eateries within walking distance.

I would definitely consider Hotel Seri Malaysia again in my future visits to Pulau Pinang.

Melaka – Langkawi – Penang – Melaka

Posted in Everyday Life, Food and Drinks, Leisure & Travel by

Finally, my husband could take leave after slaving himself for 4 months working non-stop. He is at the near top of his career ladder. This translates to still having to work on the weekends. He chose Langkawi & Penang for our mini year-end vacation and we invited his parents to come too.

This time we tried using Malindo Air and depart via the Batu Berendam airport in Melaka. It’s a small airport which has 1 mini cafe and 2 other tuck shops. The toilet and musolla was enough for the number of visitors and most importantly, clean. Parking was FREE. For now.

The flight took about 1H 40mins from Melaka to Langkawi. Our plane was a little, cute plane that gives off this Jurassic Park vibe to it. We did not order any inflight meals cause the journey is very short. We checked into the Greenish Hotel (will write about that later) and went about our days. For this trip, we decided to take it really easy. Since we have been coming to Langkawi for almost every year, this time we ditched the cable car and The Aquaria.

We still went to Langkawi Wildlife Park because its fun to feed the animals. They have a new attraction which is an augmented reality studio. Honestly not impressed. Please do not waste your time and money there.

HIG complex is a must. This is where apart from selling chocolates, they sell local health & cosmetic products, kitchenware, glassware, duvet etc. All this at a tax-free price. A construction is ongoing at site. Not sure what they’re building.This time since I am in a weight loss programme, I have been more cautious in my selection of chocolates. I spent more on dark choc varieties. However, my favourites like Hersheys, Bounty & Maltesers made it into the basket too. I am not a fan of Daim.

Meals were simple. We had nasi campur at various places including the famous Kak Yan. Then there’s Laksa Kaw which was a disappointment. The recipe is just off. It made me wonder whether that nice Rossabina laksa we had is the same owner of this Laksa Kaw (rebranded?) because the location is the same.

We spent 3 days and 2 nights in Langkawi and departed to Penang via the passenger ferry. Mr Husband booked the tickets online and had them printed out early. The tickets were scanned at the autogate and we get to wait at a very big, comfortable, air conditioned hall. Impressive!

Adult RM70.00

Child RM51.30

We were allocated numbers for our seats. So, no rush. Toilets are OK. They even provide complimentary puke bags for passengers. The 3 hour ferry ride went by smoothly cause they had movies on. Plus, air condition was working great. Bring a jumper if you are sensitive to cold. I was worried initially upon boarding because we were bombarded with a string of dangdut videos on the public TV screen as entertainment. I had thought it would last for the 3 hours of our journey. Thankfully they switched to an English movie as we set off. ha ha ha.

We hailed a Grab from the ferry terminal to our hotel Seri Malaysia (another blog post) and just stayed within the compound till our flight back to Melaka the following day. In short, we did not go sight seeing considering that it was New years Eve and people might get drunk on the streets. One thing I have to mention, even though this hotel is rated only 2 stars – the breakfast buffet is worth 3 stars. Even better than Greenish Hotel in Langkawi.

We finally reached home with a bang! Turns out that our flight coincides with the Melaka Welcomes The World campaign. So, we had kompang and all of the tourism entourage making a fuss over us handing goodie bags and what not at the airport. My kids of course enjoyed the attention.

Malindo Air delivered its best this time around – flight was punctual. I loved that we could travel easily from Melaka to Langkawi without having to drive up to Kuala Lumpur, spend money on overnight parking and catch a plane from there.

Now we can just land in Melaka, get back into our car and just drive another 15 mins back home. We had time to at least rest a bit before we got back to work and school the very next day. Let’s hope there will be more flights from Melaka to other places in the world. Our family would love it!

Silka Cheras Hotel

Posted in Leisure & Travel, Reviews by

I attended a conference at PPUKM Cheras recently. I was not familiar with the area and I basically chose my hotel based on what is available on Agoda, the distance to PPUKM and the nearby amenities that my family could enjoy while I was at the conference.

SILKA HOTEL CHERAS seems to fit the bill and I did not find any dodgy facts regarding the hotel. Perhaps it is because not many people blog anymore hence reviews are limited and quite backdated. Well folks, here is something from 2019.

It is a 2 star hotel in a tremendous location. You could get there by highway and public transport. In fact, it is walking distance to Taman Connaught MRT Station. The Cheras Sentral Mall stuck to it however was nearly dead. nyawa nyawa ikan. There are very little shops and it’s probably still alive because there is a functioning Starbucks, TGV, Old Town Kopitiam and Subway. In a way, you could still have a decent meal at these eateries. We had dinner on the 2nd night at Old Town Kopitiam.

I booked my room through Agoda. com. I made a reservation for 3D2N, DELUXE ROOM , Free Wifi, NO breakfast ( the option was not included) for RM572.40 including service tax and fee. Since we managed to reach Cheras from Melaka before 2100H, I was able to book breakfast for RM15/pax. They also have room service if its your thing.

The size of the room was good and clean. The air conditioning however was a bit unstable. Sometimes it gets too warm and the remote does not function well either. Otherwise, at night it’s cool enough to sleep comfortably. There’s hot shower with complimentary shower gel and hair dryer. No toothbrush though so bring your own.

Breakfast was OK. Plenty of carbohydrates, minimal protein. I think eggs, fishcakes and sausages were the few available. Thank God for nasi lemak. There was coffee, tea and one juice option daily. Toast was also available with butter and jam.

Reasonably priced rooms and breakfast package thus makes Silka Cheras a great option for GROUP TOURS for both local and international tourists. So if you are not in a rush, do have your breakfast after 0800am as the cafe will be really packed! The lobby is packed every morning.

If we were coming to KL for a holiday, SILKA would not be my choice of place to stay. But if I am here for business trip without the kids, I would. It is an easy location for Grab drivers to pick you up or if you prefer, head up to the MRT station to move around KL.