Going to Vietnam?

Recently when I and a friend were at a bookstore, she spent most of the time in the travel books section. She's a travel freak and she seems to know the tips on how to travel within budget. Like for instance, hunting for special flight rates, so she sometimes has already booked some flights in advanced. If I'm not wrong, Vietnam is amongst her fix travel plans, and it will not be the first visit for her, but I think the third (?) visit. So, I knew when I found out about Vietnam Super sale, this sure is gonna be on her menu :)

By the way, I'm not talking about clothes and bags shopping spree sale time here, but this sale is set by Accor hospitality!! Yes, so for the travel freak like her, this will be a great deal, cause Novotel, Grand Mercure and Mercure are well-known hotel brands. However, I'm curious why she always wants to visit Vietnam? I knew that she met her recent boy friend while they both were travelling in Vietnam years ago, so is it for the sake of her private beautiful memory or is Vietnam indeed worth visited repeatedly? Good idea, I will ask her when I meet her this Saturday :) Oh no, I should contact her quickly because that Vietnam Hotel Super sale offer is only running for 7 days, ie. 7- July 13, 2009 and that's for the stays from July 17 till September 30, 2009.

In the meantime, I can only find out from the internet about the beauties that one can find in Vietnam. I am now curious about Ha Long Bay, which is apparently a UNESCO World Heritage Site, where 3,000 limestone islands scattering on the South China Sea, creating a strange, eerie but very beautiful scene. I wonder the feeling that will overwhelm when sailing through those islands. I also read, those islands comprises bizarre cave formation and grottoes. Cool!!

Accor Hotels City Super Sale

One of my buddies is very excited about her holiday plan next month, because she is going to enjoy her days for half a month in Europe. She has meticulously picked the tour package by checking its destination, itinerary, price and also accommodation. She's very happy to find out that her tour travel says that most of the time the company chooses branded hotels like Novotel or at least Ibis, those of Accor Hotels. I remember sometimes ago when I stayed at the Novotel in Bogor city, I loved to come to its Bale Bengong -or in English it can be described as a place for doing nothing- which is located on a huge tree. So I agree with her choice, with that kind of hotel choices that tour packaged sounds promising.

How about you? Do you go this holiday season by joining a tour package, or loosely? Whatever choice you make, don't forget to search for your hotels. Like my friend, I also play carefully when choosing hotel. We need to have a good sleep too to restore the energy, right?

Now this is a great news for you who are coming to Asia Pacific -that of course includes my beloved Indonesia, there's a great bargain rates from Accor Hotels City Super Sale. The bargain rates would even become more exciting if you book online between 23 - 29 June for stays between July 10 and September 30, 2009, because then you will be able to save up to 60%!!

Go check it out now, and book this limited time offers for your vacation in Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Hanoi, Manila, Mumbai, Sydney and Auckland. Don't forget Bogor too, if you want to see my favourite Balai Bengong ;). Yes, Bogor is included amongst 27 cities in that offer.

The Posh and the Tatty

I've been trying to imagine, what would happen if Ira really enter the gate of Dharmawangsa Hotel by bajaj :-D

At the pool side that afternoon she told me that she took a bajaj to go back from Aksara Kemang to Dharmawangsa Hotel because she couldn't get a taxi and –I think- she was in hurry cos when I called her 20 mins before I arrived at the hotel she's still at that bookstore.

Dharmawangsa Hotel is an exclusive and very nice hotel managed by that Rosewood (?) from America, it needs at least US$200/ night to stay there.
The tall steel gate of that hotel is guarded and closed all the time.
It will only be open after a security check is done.

I wish Ira did enter the hotel gate by bajaj, after all she's a hotel guest and she's staying there for 3 days and she's 7-months pregnant too :-D
Would the guards let her and the "proletarian" bajaj in?

However she and the bajaj driver didn't have that gut to try, so the bajaj driver dropped her some meters away from the side entrance of the hotel area - not even the main entrance! :-D

Espionage Game

Excerpted from my chat session

Date : 23/04/2005 Time : 23:44
EG: will do thanks! u know about the witch like receptionist caricature u had on ur blog, few days ago while on an errant nearby that hotel i went to have a peek, gosh sure was quite a resemblance of what u drew
Say: Lolll...really? you can recognise her?
Woww...I'm very happy to hear that!
EG: something like that but didn't get any closer to catch her name. if there are more wrinkles i'm sure must be the witch from snow white

---------- cut ----------

Date : 24/04/2005 Time : 0:11
EG: on the subject of double standard,maybe i can ......(Oo...la...la...c'est censored, parce que still on mission lah :-P)
Say: That will be great!!! Cos, not only me who suspected this double standard attitude, but it was the girl that I met (that interview me for her paper).
Say: I mean it was her that had that thought at first, and I agreed with her
EG: will let u know the outcome,say next week itself
EG: yeah, on with a mision ! hey! what are friends for !

EG is my good ICQ friend from Penang, Malaysia. I asked him sometime ago if he happens to pass near Hotel Berjaya, Georgetown to try to find that receptionist based on her caricature that I made. If he can spot her, that means I had successfully stored her image on my mind and manifested it into the drawing. I was surprised to know that he really did it and even will develop the mission more!
Haha....EG maybe more suitably stands for Espionage Game ;-)

Ms. Receptionist

I got a lingering impression about the receptionists (or front desk staffs?) at Berjaya Hotel, especially about two of them. Amazingly, they look like very similar to each other. Look like twins.
I tried to recapture her image tonight. I should have done it last month though when my brains hard-disk still held a fresh memory of her image.
One of them, the one that I portrayed with the help of PaintShop here, was very very "helpful", "friendly" and effective!

I asked her for a room exchange, because the bathroom didn't have a proper condition, the lid of the wash basin hole was too dense, causing the water to leave very slowly and so to cause puddle and the stick that control the lid didn't work either (yes, I checked everything immediately after I entered the room).

She gave us two choices:
1. Take the room
2. Take the substitute room

Two choices indeed, but both rooms were in similar condition, the substitute room, as can be seen from pictures that I put here look so "OMG". Tell me, was I too choosey, fussy, sushiiiiii??
All that I was asking was a decent room with a decent bathroom, doesn't have to be posh at all.



Why I didn't take the numero uno choice?
Because...I was fed up with the hotel housekeeping.
I didn't want to deal with the housekeeping staffs like in my previous stay. Last time it was frustrating enough when I reported about the wash-basin and the flush that couldn't work properly. There was this housekeeping lady, came with the repairman to fix the problem. The repairman was very kind, he was very helpful, he fix the flush and when he wanted to fix the wash-basin, the housekeeping lady told me that it's actually not a problem at all, because I can just pull out the lid by myself.
I felt like "WHAAAATTTT???"
I told her, it's SO GROSS!
Besides why would I have to do that, I paid for the room with the condition and assumption that all work properly. Besides shouldn't it normally (in any other hotels) have to be that way?
The wash-basin hole lid should actually work mechanically by pushing and pulling the stick behind the faucet, but it was broken.
So I said "No way," and she gave me sour look!
I felt so burnt.
Luckily the repairman fixed the problem immediately and apologised to me for the inconvenience.

The funny fact about the choice number 2: The room is just right beside of the room that I stayed a month previously. That led me assuming that all room in this level has similar condition, this was the 3rd room that I knew on this floor because in our previous stay we took 2 rooms. I told the receptionist girl that maybe the rooms in this hotel are all that "beautiful." She just ignored me :-P

My Sweet Stays @ Berjaya Hotel

Since I've promised my self and I've told some friends about this, today I make this post to glorify Berjaya Hotel, Georgetown, Penang Island, Malaysia.
Here are some beautiful parts and facts about the hotel that I managed to shoot for anyone so to discover the uniqueness of this hotel.

Have you ever seen mold on the hotel window? You can have a panoramic window view framed by molds in this Berjaya Hotel. Superb! Isn't it?





Then this hotel also provides a good circulation in the room through the gap between the window and the window frame. So, yes, a little hot air is supplied 24 hours to warm you whether you need it or not! It's very automatically.




Ohh..and the bed? Yes, I don't want to forget to mention this special extra bed that I had been sleeping on for a week. There, see it? I think it's a pre-historic one! See all the dirt, stain and the tears? Can't imagine what has happened to this bed before. It even has a number, the number is 26B. Cool isn't it!





And some graphic/ artistic work. I guess this Berjaya Hotel really like this kind of pattern, since it's almost always like this. Or maybe Berjaya Hotel has bought the patent of the design?



Its hotel book directory also allows some scribble remains if the hotel housekeeping boys and girls think it's artistic enuf, like this one:


I hope your eyes work properly enough to get what's written there. Poor spelling, I know, but maybe it's still entertaining to the housekeeping staffs.

And look how amazing is the kettle cable this room hotel has. Hhmm..I wonder if all the kettle cables at this hotel are amazing like this, cos in our previous stay at this hotel this was exactly what we also got, but at that time we were afraid to get electric shock which we thought it's not cool at all, so we asked the housekeeping girl to change it.



Enuf about the room, sorry for not showing some little mates! I forgot to take the pictures of those cute ants and mosquitoes. Sorry little mates!

Let's move to the wonderful bathroom.

We had this special effect lighting. Oh, sorry, I think the people of this hotel try to educate guests about saving the electricity. Yes, there are 2 wall lamps, it's a must for the symmetrical visual effect matter of course, but saving the energy is much more important these days, right? I could understand why the hotel housekeeping staffs left it that way.


Look closer.....
It has a polka-dot bathtub! Or should I say semi-Dalmatian-skin-pattern bathtub? Maybe they knew I'm a dog lover? :-P



I forgot to ask the housekeeping people who is the artist who created this cracks on the bin lid. Must be a famous one since they keep it on show.


Again...I forgot to shoot the habitants who dwell in bathroom :-(
Sorry little creepy creatures, but I can mention your race here, how about that? Great eh!
So, I saw one of the natural aviators, the mosquitoes. Sorry that I killed one of that aviators when I stayed in the previous room the month before. No wonder the cleaner boy left the dead mosquito body intact stuck on the bathroom mirror for days, until I confessed to him that I slew that mosquito. Luckily I didn't touch the spider and ants. Oh no...I did murder some ants!

Berjaya Hotel, George Town, Penang Island, Malaysia

The ugliest hotel I have ever been!
sorryyy...I never rant like this!
My head's about to blow!

I must say it now!
There you go!

The only reason I stay at that hotel is because it's near the hospital where my Mom is going to get a treatement.
A 4-stars but with the taste of non-star hotel! The ugliest hotel I've ever been!