Category: Travel

The U Hotel Penang

When I was last in Penang, I stayed at the area known as Bayan Lepas at the U Hotel. It is a budget boutique hotel in a relatively peaceful and unknown part of Penang. Even Penang island friends don’t know where it is. They know the exact area when you mention Tesco Extra Sungai Dua though, which is just behind the blue hotel.

Address: 676, Jalan Sungai Dua, Taman Pekaka, 11700 George Town, Pulau Pinang.

I know there is a U in Blue – I like blue. But what is the U in its name then? It is explained vaguely in their web site as “Urban. Unpretentious. Utterly Unique”. Sounds Like Utter Marketing Speak Bullshit to me. Undisguised 🙂

It is also near the campus of University of Science, Malaysia or USM in Gelugor. I don’t like that its car park is at the back and very dark at night, Same shit as Tune Georgetown  Penang Hotel that I stayed previously and liked. I wanted a fairly cheap hotel as I needed a hotel for several nights to attend the annual St Anne’s Feast in the mainland town of Bukit Mertajam.

Getting on and off either Penang bridges was quite easy due to its location. I also like that the hotel is near food places and many food courts. For its price, it is comfortable, serviceable and functional for someone like me who spends 18 hours outside. Not cheap at about RM150 a night though.

Better book in advance if you are going to St Anne’s in July. See also Hotels in Penang at http://www.mycen.my/hotels-in-penang/

Check a room availability and book the U Hotel Penang.

Find around 700 hotels in Penang here.

A Tip For The Wandering Stranger

To lessen my anxiety, I took some pics to calm down. I don’t remember where I was but I traced my route to the Kramat Railway Station In Central Jakarta. How do I do it?

Here’s an important photography tip: Many times we may not recall or know where we were in a strange and unfamiliar city. Whether you are walking or in a car, try to shoot more, especially with a digital camera. Ideally. we should shoot with a camera with GPS enabled so the coordinates are recorded together in the exif data.

Unfortunately, I didn’t. I did shoot all the nearby shops and streets. In Jakarta, many shops, even small ones, have a signboard with the street name shown. By looking at nearby landscape pics I was able to see I was at Jalan Pramuka Raya. With that, I went to Google Map and found the railway track crossing and railway station. Google Street View allowed me to match up the images to confirm.

In the collage:
Top pic: When the car stopped on the track.
Lower left: Google street view showed it to be a busy crossing and is gated.
Lower right: The shop sign that gave away the street name

Book a hotel out of 715 hotels in Jakarta here.

Wandering Stranger was one of the saddest songs by Lionel Ritchie.

#jakarta #railway #train #crosing #indonesia #kramat

Hotels In Tashkent Uzbekistan

The region stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to China in the east and from Afghanistan in the south to Russia in the north. I have met in Kuala Lumpur many students from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.  At one time, many of the students moonlight as workers in IT shops and as waiters or waitresses in pubs and bars.

The countries all have the Persian suffix “-stan”, meaning “land of”. The closest I’ve been was going to Kazakhstan embassy in Jalan U Thant to apply for a visa to Kazakhstan. The Russian Baikonur Cosmodrome was to be the launch site of the rocket carrying the Malaysian astronaut to the space station. I asked the late Science Minister in a briefing as to why the selected hotels were so expensive and he said it was best for the the media and accompanying entourage to stay in top hotels for maximum security.

The great thing I remember about the Kazakhstan embassy officer was he asked me what telco I was using then (Maxis) and he told me there is service since there is a roaming agreement. I mean how many embassy officers even know or care about those things.

Fast forward to ten years later and I have a Instagram friend  (@gsmile_elf) or Gulnoza Nazarova from the It is just south of Kazakhstan. The elfish, impish and beautiful Gulnoza is now studying Chinese at Lanzhou University in north west China. Coincidentally, Lanzhou is the origin of beef lamian or pulled noodles or mee tarik, I wrote about recently.

I asked Gulnoza to suggest a Uzbekistan hotel and she spoke glowingly of the Hyatt Regency Tashkent. It is a luxury hotel in the capital city and it is not cheap either.

Book the  Hyatt Regency Tashkent

She sent me a bunch of pics of the hotel which I cannot use since I don’t know the source. It is shown here in a pic by Booking dot com and a pic of Gulnoza celebrating her birthday in March.  I have added links to over 70 hotels in Tashkent below.

Book the  Hyatt Regency Tashkent

Link to over 70 hotels in Tashkent

 

 

Bei Boutique Hotel Muar

Sorry, Babe.

Beiby, I found another Muar Boutique Hotel. Somehow the Bei Boutique Hotel escaped the radar of search engines and hotel searches when I was compiling a list of hotels in Muar, headed by the new Muo Boutique Hotel.

If you are looking for a room for the upcoming Raya balik kampung holidays. you have another option. I was introduced to the hotel by my Fb friend Dr Yia Hua Jern, the consultant nephrologist whose workplace, Hospital Pakar KPJ Bandar Maharani is located near the hotel. Thanks, doc. Nothing beats local knowledge like how another thoughtful Muarian Yusof Noi who pointed me to the Muo Boutique Hotel.

You know the Bei Boutique Hotel is a boutique or hipster hotel when they have a bathroom with flat tray washbasins, honeymoon suites and a lobby with sit down office table arrangement as check in counter AND violins on the wall. I must say the decor is quite classy and modern. I have added it to the list of booking links of Muar hotels at:

http://www.mycen.my/muo-boutique-hotel/

You can also book the Bei Boutique Hotel directly from here

Address: 8-3, Jalan Abdul Rahman, 84000, Muar, Johor.

Check it out.

Gurdwara Tanjung Priok Jakarta

I was exploring Jakarta Chinatown (Glodok) when I stumbled upon a Sikh Temple named Gurdwara Tanjung Priok in North Jakarta. It is also known as the Guru Nanak Sikh Temple and the Gurdwara Pasar Baru,

What awesomeness to be standing before a temple founded in 1925. Awesome also because many fellow Malaysians and friends are Sikhs. It was built, funded by Sikh workers and their families in the harbour or port area. The temple survived Dutch and Japanese Occupation but was moved from the old site in 1999 when the land was acquired by the government to redevelop the harbour area.

Nearby reasonably priced hotels are Classic Hotel, Alila Jakarta Hotel and Red Planet Hotel Pasar Baru where one can also walk to Jakarta. Cathedral and the National Monument or Monumen Nasional. All mentioned hotels can be found at MyCen Hotels – http://www.mycen.my/

#sikh #gurdwara #temple #jakarta #indonesia #landmark #travel