With such poor memory I thought it will be helpful for us if I just write my own travel journal to remind us of what we liked and didn't like from this holiday.
Penang was good. The island is beautiful, with hills and the beach all on the island. People are friendly and helpful, including the retail assistants, they're not too pushy.
Hard Rock hotel was awesome. Definitely a family hotel, great pool and free kids club. Hotel room and facilities feels 5 star. The room is contemporary and modern. We had the hill view room on Level 3 but there wasn't much view because it was kinda blocked by another part of the hotel that looks like a maintenance site. It wasn't very nice, but we were hardly in the room during the day to see the ugly view. There were some rooms with balconies that goes straight into the pool. We might book one of these next time.
The kids pool have 3 slides of assorted sizes, greatly entertaining. In the arfo they organised kids pool volleyball game, and one evening we had movie by the pool. There were lots of English speaking kids, a lot of them from Australia. Naomi managed to make friends with girls her age everyday (with my help, I'm taking some credit of course). There were other sections of the pool that's quieter and feels more tranquil and peaceful, away from the kids pool.
We have brekky every morning in the Pizzeria restaurant (part of the hotel), facing the beach. Food was average but we cant be bothered going out in the morning as shops are only open after 10-11ish. Overall it was a great experience, and we would not hesitate to come back.
Night market is about 10 mins walk from Hard Rock hotel. The goods sold there aren't necessarily cheaper than in the shopping centers. You need to bargain hard, but then you feel bad coz they know how to be nice to you and how to make it sound like they're not making any money if they reduce the price. So I'd rather shop in a proper shopping center.
There's plenty of food stalls along the night market. The restaurant right across the hotel is not the best but not too bad. Depends on what you order. Gerny Plaza lower ground floor has plenty of food choices. We ate cheesy baked rice from one of the store coz we thought it would be like our favourite baked rice from Desert House in Melbourne but its not even close. It was terrible.
The durian wrap from a small desert stall was yummy, and another stall sells the Asian ice cream sticks with lots of yummy Asian flavours like green tea, black sesame, durian, etc, but my favourite is the corn flavor. Mmmm... yum.
NTS: Gerny plaza is much better than Queens bay Mall.
The hotel was in Batu Ferringhi and it is a bit far from everywhere. We caught a taxi to Gerny Plaza, which is one of the biggest mall in Penang, and it costs RM30 (A$10) one way, took about 25-30 mins. There's another big mall recommended by the staffs called Queensbay mall but we don't like it. We like Gerny Plaza better. Queensbay is older and quieter. The shops aren't as good as Gerny, plus its further away. We wont go there again next time.
Penang Hill was beautiful. Definitely worth the long trip.
There were plenty of places offering massages at very reasonable prices. One hour body massage is only around RM90 (A$30). I tried Thai body massage but I didn't like it. Its like she was 'poking' me everywhere on my body. I also had reflexology and the Chinese man seems to know more about my health and my sleeping pattern more than me. He pushed his thumb on a particular spot on my foot and I told him that it hurts, and he said I don't sleep well. If you know me well enough you'd know that even a bomb doesn't wake me up! Massages were hurting more than relaxing. I won't do it again.
NTS: Thai massage and Reflexology hurts!!!
Kuala Lumpur
KL in general is dirty, people are unfriendly and unhelpful, including retail assistants. In some places they are very pushy, like in Chinatown, but in other places they look like they don't want to be at work. People don't have manners. In places where you have to queue up, some will push in like it's normal.
Renaissance Hotel was good, its part of the Marriott chain of hotels. It was in KLCC, near the twin tower and right across the monorail station, Bukit Nanas, 2 short stops away from the shopping destination, Bukit Bintang. The train ride only costs RM1 (A 30 cents) per person one way.
We booked for the superior room in the East wing but was offered an upgrade to the deluxe room in the West wing (apparently the more 'upper class' wing) for just RM80 per night (A$25). The deluxe room in West wing is nice and spacious. The pool is massive and looks and feel resort- ish. Plenty of guests sunbathe around the pool everyday. They have Happy Hour promo from 5-7 pm daily, buy one get one free cocktail and wine for RM32 (A$11), great value!
The hotel gym does Les Mills classes! Pump, etc. But I was too lazy :-) The gym was very good size too.
Overall the Renaissance hotel is very very good, feels 5 stars and luxurious. We won't hesitate to come back here.
Sunway Lagoon was definitely our KL highlight. It was fun, great atmosphere, lots of rides and slides. So worth spending the day there.
We then moved to Furama in Bukit Bintang just for a different experience. We got a free upgrade from deluxe to to the executive suite, not sure why but we are certainly grateful for it. The hotel lobby is nice but the room feels very budget-ish. Although it is advertised as 4 stars and the price isn't that much cheaper than the Renaissance hotel, it certainly doesn't feel 4 stars to me. It feels more like 3 stars. I think it's the choice of furnitures, the thin doors and walls, you can hear people walking pass the room, and the smell. It smells like smoke/cigarette even though it is a non-smoking room. I'm glad they upgraded us for free. If this is the exec suite, I cant imagine the superior room! The pool is nice but small with only two day beds but the view is quite slum-ish. It's facing the small suburban street and old public housing buildings.
However, on the last day we were suppose to check out by 12 noon but Naomi fell sick. She kept vomiting since she woke up in the morning. One of the duty manager went out of his way to book us an appointment at the closest clinic, drove us there wth the hotel car, waited for us there and took us back to the hotel. We extended our checkout to 6 pm with no extra charge (normally RM150 - A$50). Now that's what I called quality service.
The hotel is about 10 mins walk from Berjaya Times Square shopping centre which is pretty nice with good varieties of shops for all types of budget. There's another big shopping center in Bukit Bintang called the Pavilion but thats more upmarket and full of international brands. Nice to browse but not to shop. We ended up shopping in Sungei Wang. It certainly feels more budget-ish with the shops Being so small and tightly squeezed next to each other, but here we found plenty of cheap shoes, clothes and fashion in general.
Our fave shopping centre has to be Berjaya Times Square. I even found my favourite shoe store there.
Genting Highland is a waste of time and money. The place is dirty and doesn't look like its been maintained well. People don't speak much English and generally not helpful at all. The rides were lame and waste of money. We went to the 4D cinema, from outside there was no queue, but as soon as you entered, there's a massive queue and a 45 mins wait. The 4D movie itself was good but was only about 20 mins. I won't come back to Genting. We really had a horrible day, we could not wait to get out of that place.
Overall Malaysia is good and cheap, but maybe we'll try something different next time.
