Trader hotel review

I found this review from TraBuddy by Goodday

"I just got back from a business trip in KL where I stayed at Traders Hotel. It's a good business class hotel, rated 4 star, but more of 5 star to me. Quite like Intercontinnental Hotel in Hamburg where I stayed for one week in December last year."

"For venue, it's right next to the KL convention centre where I attended meetings and next to KLCC shopping centre. Although shopping is not my cup of tea, it's good to walk the mall (good exercise after all the feasting) and browse the shops and see what's the latest in fashion and more."

"What I particularly enjoyed most at the hotel besides the excellent breakfast spread was the skybar pool located at 33rd floor, not so much the pool, although it was great with spa, but more importantly, it's the VIEW of the manificent Petronas Twin Towers!! Best time to be there as I found - head for a swim at sunset.. and come back after dinner for a drink to catch the manificent twin towers lighted up. It's amazing!!"

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Another thumb up for Tioman Island

I have been posting quite a bit of comments in lonely planet forum Thorntree and recently I met Annie in one posting about Tioman Island. I found her comment was very interesting and would like to share with you guys..

"We have just returned from Tioman Is where we spent 4 nights from 4-7 May. We went over on the ferry from Mersing on the Friday after trying to book a place on the island before we set out. Because it was Friday, we were advised that accommodation was booked out for the weekend in Air Batang, Paya & Penuba - the 3 places we were considering. They could only offer a place in Salang - which the guide book said was overpriced - and we wanted a quieter village."

"After trying a number of agents in Mersing we found one (True Value) that claimed to make a booking for us for 3 nights and sold us a return ferry ticket. When we arrived at Nazri's - they said they only had the room for one night - consistent with the advice we received from an obviously more reputable agent at Kaunter 8 of the ferry terminal."

"We stayed the night at the Nazris chalet in a small aircon chalet (RM60) for the night and prepared ourselves for the possibility of having to move to Berjaya (more expensive than we wanted - RM400 per night) for the next 2 nights, since we were stuck with the return ticket."

"Luckily we walked around ABC village first, and found a RM70 room available at Bamboo Chalets for the next 3 nights - they had a late cancellation. The room was comfortable with just a fan as it was up the hill with a beautiful garden and view and all our anger disappeared. It turned out we were able to return to Mersing with our original ferry ticket even though it was a day late."

"My impression is that the Island seems to be booked up on weekends. During the week I think it should be fine - not sure about June though. The general impression we got was the popular places in southern Malaysia were booked in advance for weekends. Lots of people seem to come up from Singapore or down from KL at weekends. We found the same thing at Melaka the previous weekend - we had made an advance booking there but the hotel was full so we had the worst room for the first night since we arrived last (the fact Labour day and Prophet's birthday were the same week didnt help either)."

"Cheap places in Singapore were also tricky to find 'walking up' but otherwise we had no problem. Our best investment was a DiGi prepaid phone card for our mobile (recommended by a poster here) which only cost RM30 and gave us the opportunity to call places in our guide book a couple of days before to be certain. Phone calls were cheap - we returned with almost half the credit still on it and that was after making several local and international calls. I think it is a good investment for peak season."

"We very much enjoyed our trip to Tioman and spent 4 relaxing days - we didnt even go diving! Compared with other places I have visited in Asia - Malaysia is delightfully untouristed and hassle free."

"For the information of others the things that impressed me (a travel veteran of more than 20 years throughout Asia) were:
- The range of holiday experiences available
- The friendy, easy going locals - who treat you as a person, not as a walking wallet.
- Fair first up prices - no need to haggle over everything
- The refreshing absence of opportunistic pursuit of mass tourism (i.e. the Angkor experience last year..)
- No visas
- Carried $AUD cash and got fair rates everywhere without commissions - no need to convert to $USD first
- Ability to drink tap water everywhere, no need to 'buy' water
- Easily organised, reliable, comfortable transport - alongside locals, rather than tourists.
- Beautiful, high quality, reasonable priced cuisine (from all the cultures making up the country) & decent western cuisine as well.
- Sense of personal security.
- This seems a bit odd, but the relaxed, considerate, normality of the other tourists - of all ages & cultures. (I can only put this down to fact that Westerners who see SEA as a place to 'get-on-the-grog' and act like absolute clowns, don't come here, and the place is all the better for it)."

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Langkawi from the eye of Gitana

I stumbled upon a posting about Langkawi from a girl named Gitana. She was bred and born in Zurich on 28 February 1977 and have lived most of my life in a small town named Bulach which is in the 'Zurcher Unterland' in the northern part of Canton Zurich. I found her posting very real and sincere. She talked about her experience on recent visit to Langkawi.

"I arrived on Langkawi at around 11:30am after one of the worst ferry trips some people might have ever experienced. Half of the passengers if not more were vomitting because the sea was so choppy, and another few spewed up because they couldn't stand the smell. I was lucky, as I had taken a sea sickness tablet" she started.

"We booked ourselves into Gecko's, the only budget accommodation we've heard of, and not listed in any of the travel guides I have nor the accommodation brochure we were handed out at the ferry terminal on arrival. got myself a little A-frame wooden chalet with ensuite bathroom (note this is VERY simple...but ok) for 35RM a night" she recalled

"There's an Irish bar called Debby's Place which holds a loud welcoming ceremony everytime a new guest enters the premises, and does yummi pizzas for a reasonable price." she added

She went for island hopping; Dayang Bunting, Singa Besar and Beras Basah. She also went to the island's Art & Cultural Center to see how hand drawn Batik is made.

"I ended up buying a fairly big wall painting of sun flowers drawn on cotton which caught my eye as soon as I entered the gallery. It's just gorgeous! You have to come and see it once I figured out where to live!" she explained

She ended her post by "Long story cut short: Langkawi is a beautiful place!"

Full story please visit her blog here

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Matt & Debs's experience in Penang

I found Matt & Debs's blog through google alert. This couple is from Norfolk, Great Britain. This is what they have to say about Penang:

"We chose Penang and its’ capital George Town as a good introduction to Malaysia, mainly because of its proximity to Thailand." according to Matt & Debs

Penang is situated on the north of peninsular Malaysia. It is an island which Captain Francis Light first landed and took possession of the island for the East India Company in 1786. There are many buildings which British style architect.

"Our first impression of Malaysian hotels/guesthouses is that they may be reasonably priced, but you certainly don't get the same standard of accommodation as you do in Thailand." said Matt & Debs

"we followed the highly recommended ‘Traditional Trades and Food Trail’ getting an insight into the variety of trades brought to the island from other parts of Asia. The tradesmen in general were very friendly, especially the Joss Stick maker, ‘Songkok’ maker (Muslim headgear worn for religious and ceremonial purposes) and Rattan weaver. Special mention along the food trail has to go to the ‘Ais Tingkap’ (window sherbet)" added Matt & Debs

"In total, we spent four full days in George Town and found it to be a fascinating city with an eclectic mixture of ethnic influences. The whole city is a combination of the old and new, with old crafts still being practised alongside modern industry and huge shopping malls." summarized Matt & Debs

Read more at Matt & Debs' Blog here..

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