Tag: hotels

Hotels In KL – A List For All Seasons

In anticipation of Air Asia’s inaugural flight to Honolulu, Hawaii, I am in the process of preparing the list of hotels in the various islands of Hawaii.

In doing so, I consulted a few Hawaiian friends. A couple off them asked me: “What about us?” They can now also come to Kuala Lumpur just as easily. Fair enough. I prepared a list of hotels for people planning to visit KL. Although, I grew up in Kuala Lumpur and have been to many of the hotels myself, it is turning out to be a challenging task. I have not even heard of many of the newer hotels. It was like 20 years ago when I asked Singaporean friends and relatives about a hotel. They will say “I don\t know lah. there is a new hotel popping up at every corner”

Kuala Lumpur city has progressed tremendously and expanded in that way too, if the many new hotels are an indication. For example, I didn’t even know there is a new Holiday Inn after the last one in Jalan Pinang. That became Impiana On The Park. To refresh my memory, I took a drive around. Old timers will be surprised to see the Equatorial flattened and demolished. Another supper favorite The Lodge is still there, albeit with a new name. The old KL Hilton is also gone. Some are nice surprises like seeing Majestic Cinema is now D Majestic by Swiss Garden.

Shabby Pudu Plaza behind is now Hotel Pudu Plaza. Hotels may remain but name changes. Pan Pacific is now Seri Pacific and classy Carcosa is no more. Sometimes a hotel is not gone but is using a new name. Nikko is now the Intercontinental. Silly that new owners or management try to shake off every connection to the old name, losing all the goodwill earned and making it difficult for satisfied customers fo find.

One thing I should point out is that the grander the name, the reality is likely to be opposite. Also the tagging of landmarks to the name or address may not necessarily mean proximity. Check maps yourself. For example, every hotel in Brickfields has KL Sentral in its address when they are xatually outside the transport hub.

Similarly, be aware that KLCC is also tagged to many hotels not even under the shadows of the twin towers. Keep this list when friends from abroad are planning to visit. I have zoned the hotels into 5 distinct areas. KLCC/Golden Triangle, Putrajaya, Brickfields, Chinatown/Pudu/Masjid India and others. The type of accommodation covered ranges from the RM 500 a night 5 star Shangri-la to a RM 14 a night dormitory in Chinatown.

Please share with a friends visiting Kuala Lumpur and peruade them to book a room through me. Thank you for your support:

http://www.mycen.my/hotels-in-kuala-lumpur/

Hotels In Setapak

Hotels In Setapak.

Setapak in Kuala Lumpur city is turning out to be an area with a treasure trove of budget hotels.

Historically, many hospitals are located in the Jalan Pahang area following the footsteps of the KL General Hospital and the TB Hospital.

Private hospitals such as Tawakal and Sentosa are also in the area. There is also the Military Hospital – Hospital Angkatan Tentera Tuanku Mizan in Wangsa Maju and the newer Columbia Asia Hospital Setapak near Star Parc Point and Setapak Sentral of formerly Festival City Mall, opposte JPJ and Puspakom.

Hospitals attract the opening of hotels as families of patients need accommodation. The hotels in Setapak may also serve visiting parents of students at the Tunku Abdul Rahman University College (previously TAR or TARC) campus or participants of sports events at Taman Tasik Titiwngsa park and stadium.

To stay near the LRT station, find a hotel in or near Wangsa Maju or Titiwangsa.

If you are a resident, you may have visiting relatives to put up. Keep this link handy:

http://www.mycen.my/hotels-in-setapak/

Al Meroz- The Halal Certified Bangkok Hotel

There was a news article reporting how Thailand is now targeting Muslim visitors from Muslim countries to diversify its visitor profile. This include setting up so called halal hotels that do not serve alcohol and non-halal food. One of the hotels cited was the Al Meroz Hotel in Bangkok. It is touted as the leading halal hotel in Bangkok, Thailand. Not just Muslims. I think I’ll stay here too, if I want a peaceful, quiet night away from noisy and drunkard revelers. The hotel looks lovely inside and outside. Quoting from their website on the Islamic aspects: The leisure facilities at the Al Meroz Hotel include a large open air swimming pool and state-of-the-art gymnasium. Respecting our Muslim guests, the pool and gymnasium are available exclusively for our female guests during the morning hours, and for our male guests after midday. Our shopping arcade offers a wide range of goods, including alcohol-free toiletries and cosmetics. Barakat, our specialty Mediterranean Restaurant and Diwan our all-day family dining restaurant offer Halal-certified cuisine in a non-alcoholic environment. Our menus have been created with our Muslim guests in mind, but we also offer a range of Thai and regional delicacies. A comprehensive menu is offered for room service, available 24 hours a day. All kitchen and waiting staff at the Al Meroz Hotel are trained to observe the Halal traditional lifestyle….” Pictures from Al Meroz and Agoda.

More info here: http://www.mycen.my/al-meroz-the-halal-certified-bangkok-hotel/

Memories Of Macau

One of the most striking thing about Macau is the taxi driver don’t talk in the journey from the airport and during other trips. Maybe it is just me but I hate chatty cabbies. When you arrive at a strange new destination, there are many things on your mind and you hate small talk. The Malaysian ones are horrible. Being down liners for some pimps, they will shock passengers with “Sir, you want young Thai chicken?” “You mean spring chicken? No thank you. I had some on the plane,” I will reply.

I know some cabbies are trained to make small talk. When they ask about your country of origin, it is meant as an ice breaker. It is a trap and you will regret it. In Singapore, the driver went on a long rant about how he broke the system at “Gent-Ting” casino when he found out where I was from. To stop the non-stop boast, I had to ask him why he was still driving a cab. That worked.

Anyway, we took another silent cab ride to the Venetian Macau, the luxury hotel, casino, shopping mall and convention centre. The Vegas style building is reportedly the largest casino in the world.

It wowed us with its fake blue sky ceiling and Venetian canals in its massive shopping mall. It was where GSMA Mobile Asia Congress was held. Now Mobile World Congress, I think. Speaking of casinos, we stayed at the posh Mandarin Imperial.

Because of casinos nearby, there was a pawn shop outside our hotel. The Chinese always buy a Rolex instead of fancy dress watches because a Rolex has a known resale value and can save the owner. I think it was quite practical of Macau authorities to allow pawn shops as there will be fewer suspicious Ah Long types hanging outside the casinos.

We did the usual touristy thing, walked the old town, going to the The Ruins of St. Paul’s and searching for Portuguese egg tarts! Macau is such great place as it is just an hour ferry ride from Hong Kong. We took a hovercraft (hydrofoil ferry) and then (MTR Mass Transit Railway) to the city. What an adventure without Waze!

Although the Mandarin Hotel was expensive (paid for by host LG), it didn’t offer free wi-fi then. They wanted another USD 15 a day for internet access via network cable. Those were the days when hotels thought they found a goldmine after losing the previous revenue gotcha. Your parents will remember how expensive it was to make use of the phone in the room, even for domestic calls.

Mobile phones wiped out that business model. The phones can kill the hotels’ wi-fi charging too but telcos decided they can make a killing too with data roaming. I checked today and the Mandarin Oriental Macau and Venetian Macao now offer free wi-fi just like many hotels at http://www.mycen.my/agoda/

Macau is official while Macao, the old Portuguese spelling found some love with hipsters all of a sudden. I don’t know why.

As I mentioned, I lost the Macau pics except for a few Hong Kong ones on my blog. This pic was a shot of my hardy Red Wing boot on the Ferry Terminal.

This post is dedicated to the late Lyn Chew of West Coast Communications who took care of us well on behalf of LG Korea. See also earlier post – Memories of Hong Kong.

LG Viewty KU 990, ISO 103, f2.8, 1/1428 sec .

#macau #macao #hongkong #travel

Aloha

Air Asia X will be launching direct flights between Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Honolulu, Hawaii starting June 28, 2017. The flight will go via a two-hour stopover in Osaka, Japan. Hawaii is in the Pacific Ocean and is about 11,000 km from KL, as the crow flies.

The Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls and numerous smaller islets. Hawaii is a state of the US and you will need a visa.

Once you land in Honolulu in Oahu Island, you can island hop to other islands. For the purpose of listing accommodation options, I will categorise them as Oahu, Maui and Kauai. I will also include the Big Island of Hawaii.

What do we Malaysians know about Hawaii except from watching the original Hawaii-Five-O TV series in the 1970s when the highlight was watching Steve McGarrett (uttering the now classic catchphrase) “Book em, Danno!” at the end of each episode?

Who, who saw the original series can forget dour faced Asian detective Chin Ho played by Kam Fong Chun?

For the purpose of the upcoming hotel compilation, I contacted my Hawaiian Instagram friends such as (@hello_achi) or Love C. The seasoned adventurer sent me some pics to use too. I like this turtle pic she captured (used with her permission) of a turtle swimming in the crystal clear blue ocean of Maui.

Other Hawaiians friends like Susan (@susansusan808) and Rick Lui (@happyrickthunder) have not responded at the time of posting this preview. I will add their suggestions, if they come.

The hotel page is still work in progress and I will announce it when it is ready. Meanwhile you can search for Hawaiian hotels or a hotel at anywhere in the world, here:

http://www.mycen.my/agoda/

#hawaii #honolulu #airasiax #oahu #maui #island #turtle #underwater #ocean