Tag Archives: budget travel

Hotel Tanjong Vista, Terengganu .. a 3 star hotel. Really?

Posted in Everyday Life, Leisure & Travel, Reviews by

Work and leisure can come hand in hand. Especially when the husband is the one doing the work stuff like going to a conference whilst the wifey gets to explore her surroundings. teeeheee.. we did just that last month as we make an 8 hour drive to Terengganu.

TGDI

Mr Husband chose Tanjong Vista Hotel because it promised a lot of good things. Their selling points included a pool for the kids, a breakfast buffet to ease the early morning hunger pangs, free parking for in house guest and a strategic location to most of the places you need to go.

Recently Updated19

I have to admit. They delivered these wonderful things without fail.

I too loved that they have an ironing board in each room. And a fresh smelling sejadah (praying mat) because most public prayer mat macam kusam and kepam rite? Most importantly they have a mini fridge which is like awesome for a 3 star hotel. And can we please give them a round of applause for complimentary drinks in the lobby and daily newspaper!!

The location is just great as it is nearby tourist attractions like Pasar Payang and the beach with loads of stalls and eateries. Finding local delicacies is not a problem. there was not a single stall in Terengganu where the food taste awful .Like wow.. kitak urang tok keturunan chef istana dolok marek ka apa? he he.. 

Recently Updated20

Even the hotel breakfast buffet was commendable. Such delish nasi dagang for breakfast. And a whole lot more variety befit of a 3 star hotel.

Of course there were minor glitches. For instance;

  1. free but limited parking space. So if you happen to be staying there during a conference or something – be prepared to leave your vehicle outside the hotel premises. You can still see your car from the hotel room window but if something happens – you can only manage an ‘oh nooo’ from your room
  2. customer service information may vary from one personnel to another – to make it simple, be nice and just talk to the most senior person in charge. They have no malicious intent on charging you extra. They just don’t get that you need separate receipts for each room.
  3. Housekeeping may arrive at your room a bit late. Even if you’ve been out for almost the whole day. They were nice to apologize for not being able to make your room on time especially when you have soiled diapers that need to be disposed off. We make do by just allowing the team to get rid of the rubbish and replenish the supplies which include shower gels and bottled water.

Despite the above, it was still a good stay. it was a 3 star hotel on the high side. LOlz..

Weekend in Kuala Lumpur at Izumi Hotel, Bukit Bintang

Posted in Everyday Life, Leisure & Travel, Reviews by

Apart from being my fathers part time personal assistant (PA), I have also been kept busy with my proper job as a medical officer. I have been selected to attend a weekend conference. Yah.. bila mana ko tak oncall dia suro gi kursus – Thank god, the conference was beneficial and interesting. buatnye dia suro aku attend rashes in pediatric patients.. or asthma in pediatrics – aku akan mengamok sebulan.

20160423_075928

So I happily booked a hotel near the venue of the conference. I was not willing to splurge that much money at JW Marriot itself, so I booked Izumi Hotel. Somehow rasa tertipu dengan Agoda.Com because the rate offline was cheaper than online. Tapi takpe.. rezeki hotel.

Recently Updated11

Both Mr Husband and I are not really familiar with Kuala Lumpur. So we were technically tourist in our own country. WAZE was hopeless in directions – hence turned to Google Map for help. The entry to the hotel was into a very small Jalan Berangan just under the fly-over near the Arab Restaurant (middle pic). Go slow, you might miss the turn. Turned out, the hotel had a GREAT location.

Like wow.. dalam map nampak jauh sikit tapi the shopping places were like so near!! Everything is within walking distance. The husband and child should not by any means get bored okay?!!! Pavillion, LOT 1o, Fahrenheit Shopping Mall, Sungei Wang plaza was practically sepelaung away. There were lots of options of restaurants to have a meal. Arab? Malay? Western? Chinese? A bar? You name it!  For a while, Bukit Bintang seemed like a foreign place because of the flock of international tourists everywhere! So meriah!!!

We did not even have to use our car which was kept in the ‘lift carpark’ of IZUMI hotel which was co-shared with Fortuna Hotel. I was so impressed.

The ladies at the hotel reception were ever so helpful. We had complimentary newspaper (The Star), free WIFI in every room, complimentary drinking bottles of water and coffee in the room. On top of that, there was an ironing area and water dispenser on our floor (level 8) for both hot and icy cold drinks.

Recently Updated10

My boy loved the shower. Interestingly, there was a small glass window separating the bathroom and the bed, so I can watch over my boy while he so called independently showers himself. Ha ha.

We paid about MYR 130/night. There were breakfast options at its very own IZUMI Bistro but we didn’t take it. I would definitely choose this hotel again in the future.

 Recently Updated12

Hotel Bangi-Putrajaya : perasan kaya sekejap..

Posted in Everyday Life, Leisure & Travel by

Hotel Bangi Putrajaya was previously known as Equatorial hotel. I was informed by a friend that their star ratings dropped – hence the change in name. Which probably includes the management team. That did not deter me to book it for my so called weekend stay-cation.

Recently Updated7

The plan was to ronda2 Putrajaya or Bangi and use the room for sleeping only. We ended up soaking in the luxuries of the room and place. Ha ha. Our feet were practically rooted to the room.

Our room number was 611. My son thought that we were given that particular room because he enjoyed watching Astro Ceria. Of course – that was not the reason.

The world doesn’t evolve around you my son.

So what do I think of the place?

Price : I’d say it is worth every penny. This is after all a resort. I booked my room through Agoda.Com, so it was quite easy.

Location : Love the hotel on top of the hill. It overlooks a golf course and if you’re lucky you get to see the pool. You would have the feeling of being isolated in a land far far away but interestingly we still see flocks of people appearing here and there. Mostly participants of a meeting or a course.

Hospitality : Very friendly and accommodating front desk. They were also very thoughtful by providing free flow drinks while waiting and a bowl of sweets at hand for visitors. Mr Husband loved the FREE, COMPLIMENTARY English newspapers. I also learnt that they have a shuttle service to IOI Mall Putrajaya.

Recently Updated8

Food : I wish I could say the breakfast was awesome. Well.. they could try harder. He he.. after all there is a nearby food court which has a the famous Haji Samuri Satay!

Cleanliness : Tip top. KUDOS to the housekeeping team.

Would I book it again? definitely! Once they are done with their renovations of course.

Recently Updated9

I’m a woman in my 30s and I still enjoy Farm In the city

Posted in Everyday Life, Good Things, Leisure & Travel, Parenting, Family and Relationships by

I love petting zoo – it’s like fulfilling my childhood dream through my son. We went to Farm in the City at Seri Kembangan recently and it was fun. I used the WAZE app to find my there.

12985518_10208824855009051_9167854074324595217_n

The ticket price was reasonable. We were a party of five. There was us three, my nephew Adil and my younger brother Danial. I purchased The Family Pack (RM116)– a wonderful combo deal for 2 adults and 2 children. The kids are entitled to a pony ride each, a mini badge, a certificate for participation, food vouchers and complimentary tickets for future visits. This fee also includes the food kangkung we will be feeding the animals in the farm. So jgn malu2, bagi je haiwan tuh makan. 

There were special rates for MYKAD holders and Senior Citizen rates. So bring your parents along. My younger brother who was also the manny for the day paid only Rm32 with his MYKAD.

HIGHLIGHTS

  1. GIANT TURTLE – I thought this area was pretty informative. Even the parents were learning something from the farm rangers. Every child who participates in the activities will get a souvenir and of course know more about the turtles. Ee completed the puzzle of completing the turtles anatomy. Although the boys hardly understand what the rangers were saying – at least they had a particular ‘focused’ facial expression on

12936683_10208824846368835_6056603062617689574_n  Recently Updated5

2. REPTILE – I was amazed that they could put the snake on the glass ceiling above our heads. It was freaky but interesting all the same.

3.CATCHING FISH – this is probably one of the fun things Ee enjoys doing – catching little fishes with his mini net in the ‘longkang’. Although he didn’t catch any , including the father, it was entertaining to see the kids putting a lot of effort into the activity.

Recently Updated6

Of course there were other animals such as goats, birds and the ever favourite rabbits. There was even an owl in the farm but it did not do much. It was perched on the branch looking very bored. I wasn’t even sure if it was asleep.

12985343_10208824857809121_7408723318098452850_n

HINTS/TIPS:

  1. Have your children wear something very comfortable. Be prepared to bring home excited, tired children in dirty clothing. Maybe wet if they’ve been fishing too much. On second thought, you should be in casual wear too. You might enjoy petting the goats too much.
  2. Always remember to wash your hands in between animals. There are plenty of sinks at the area with soap to remind you.
  3. Be respectful to the rangers – you may have seen the boa snakes on NatGeo and think you know better but do take heed of their advice and instructions. Memanglah you bayar masuk tpt tuh.. tp jangan perangai macam beruk boleh.. 
  4. If you are a postcrosser like myself, consider checking out their souvenir shop. they have interesting animal postcards on sale.

I think this is the best petting farm I’ve been too so far. I need to check out the ostrich farm in Port Dickson to compare.

Melaka Butterfly and Reptile Sanctuary

Posted in Everyday Life, Leisure & Travel by

Since Mr husband is busy – I had to make myself busy. Honestly, on weekends that I’m not oncall, I just want to cocoon myself at home and do nothing. is that too much too ask? because once I ‘find my legs’ – not even marriage could chain me to the house. My Mother is an example. But Mr Husband dislikes seeing me doing that it seems – its like Im an abandoned fat hippo or something. He wants me to do something – well.. aku malas nak kemas rumah kalau dia ada.. semua benda tk kena.. so.. I went out.

So I brought my son to the less popular Melaka Butterfly and Reptile Sanctuary. To demonstrate how unpopular it is – when we arrived at 10AM, there were only 5 visitor cars at the carpark and when we neared the ticketing booth – only then did they play some sort of welcoming music through the loudpseakers. Ha ha. When we left, the crowd was not getting any bigger at the car park. There were still less than 20 cars on a Sunday.

It’s a place much smaller than our local zoo.

A White Peacock

Admission fee were;

RM18 for adults (no MyKad or MyKid needed)

RM12 for children (3 – 12 years)

I was looking forward to the butterfly sanctuary – I imagined the habitat to be like something out of Avatar – but no, it wasn’t. Not totally disappointed because I think the curators made an equally beautiful effort. I had no idea butterflies feed on soursop fruit as well. Hehe..

My son loved the reptiles. I hated it. He even wanted to go into the snake sanctuary. Hell no am I walking in there with the snake dangling from the trees! Euwwww euww euwww.. it becomes gross when I imagine them sneaking on you. Its OK if I see them at work or around someone else’s neck.

We also fed the Koi fishes and bought the packet food for RM1.

Hazeeq got to practice on his throwing skills. LOL.. We thought we were to feed the Koi’s at the bridge but it turned out that they had a special area for the Koi’s themselves. So yeh.. we finished it quite early. He he..

This place is OK for that once in 5 years sort of thing unless they have new animals or bigger sanctuary.

Few recommendations : More rabbits would be fun especially for petting. Or a snake informative video session – the ones where you get to sit in a dark auditorium and they tell you about snakes and stuff. Or you could put a ranger in that snake sanctuary so visitors wouldn’t be afraid to step in because someone is in there to bail you out if something happens.Ha ha..