Swordie Bloggie

Shopping complexes in the city are all in festive mood… Christmas songs are pumped through the speakers at every corner. Christmas trees are fully decorated… the whole complexes are decorated…

Santa Claus is everywhere… cheering kids, taking photo with kids… including adults… and giving away gifts…

That was how it looks like at 1Borneo last Saturday when I went there to see the PIKOM PC Fair and went to play the archery. The center court was full with Christmas decorations… guests staying at the three hotels at 1Borneo must be feeling like staying in new york hotels with the atmosphere like that 😀

I really hate it when I need to go outstation for a few days, I have to wear shirt coz when I pack my shirts in my luggage, they all get crumple when I reach my destination and I have to re-iron them all over again at the hotel.

And not all hotels provide iron in every room. When they don’t, you have to ask for it by calling the house keeping service.

When I was at the Grand Central Hotel, Singapore, the hotel did provide iron in the room. But some psycho who stayed in the room before must have iron plastic instead of shirt… I should have taken photo of the iron… damm.

I requested the hotel to replace the iron. Unfortunately it looks like the replacement iron was also used to iron plastic coz it can’t iron smoothly and I can see some thin layer which looks like plastic stuff on the iron surface.

I was lazy to ask for another replacement. Instead, I use an indigenous ingenious method to strengthen my shirt.

I turned the bathroom into steam cleaners room! 😆

I hang my shirt in the bathroom, turn the shower heater to maximum, close the door and leave it for a while… I’m steaming my shirt 😆

Then I use the hair dryer on my shirt to dry the steam and at the same time remove all the wrinkles 😆 and it turn quite amazing. Actually I was mimicking the way some shopping complexes like Parkson and Jaya Jucso ironing their cloths. I’m sure you have seen where the sales girls blow steams to the cloths instead of ironing them flat on ironing board… now you know how to remove wrinkles on your shirt when there is no iron 😀

This is a back posting for my Journey around Sabah – Tempurung Seaside Lodge, Kuala Penyu. I woke up as early as 6.00am on Wednesday, 17 December 2008.

It was already bright… coz Sabah gets the sun earlier than peninsular Malaysia but of course Sandakan at the east of Sabah facing the open Pacific Ocean gets the sun much more earlier.

The sound of the waves hitting the beach in the early morning is very soothing. It makes you forget the world around you… as if you are in another free world.

I took my digital and video camera and went to the balcony. Birds are singing and dancing happily while sucking the flowers’ nectar around the resort. I was frozen until I forgot to take their photos.

I guess I was the only human being awake in the resort at that time. Everything is still frozen… the office, restaurant, etc… Usually I don’t wake up so early but that day I guess I was awaken by the beautiful sound of the waves and the singing birds. The other resort guests and workers must be still enjoying their dreams… not sure what are they dreaming.

I went down to the beach… enjoying the surrounding while walking down the long and steep wooden stairs… probably more than 50 meters long.

While at the beach, I felt like a lot of stuff brushing on my legs… but I can’t see what are brushing on my legs. The feeling is like some cobwebs tangled on you. But when I look closely, they are actually small insects. They are about 1 mm and white in color which make it very hard to see… combined that with the white beach sand and the early morning lights, makes it even harder to see.

The day after my encounter with the insects at the beach, I felt my legs are all itchy. I was scratching my legs all over because it was so itchy and I’m not sure which spot to scratch. Then red spots are appearing like mosquitoes bites and growing to about 2 cm wide. The harder I scratch the spot, the better the feelings are… and you don’t want to stop scratching it coz it felt so good… until the skin peeled.

I was quite worried at that time… I don’t want to be infected with malaria or dengue… and bed ridden with cerebral palsy when nerves breakdown. I was very worried with the itchiness and red spots, but lucky someone commented at by earlier post asking about ‘sand fly’ at Tempurung Seaside Lodge. When I Google ‘sand fly’, I got all the answers I needed. I don’t have to worry about nerves breakdown, malaria or dengue anymore because it’s just sand fly bites. But I still went and buy MOPIKO for the itchiness… and mosquitoes repellent spray to add into my medicine bag.

Last week, 24 to 28 November 2008, I continued with my Journey Around Sabah… to Tuaran, Kota Belud, Kota Marudu, Pitas & Kudat. They are at the northern side of Sabah and Borneo. Kudat is where Tips of Borneo, Simpang Mangayau, located.

We stayed at Kudat Golf & Marina Resort for 3 nights. The room is RM158 per night with Sea View. If you are member of Kudat Golf Club, you can get voucher from the club and it will cost you RM115 per night only although both of them are not with the same management… they have some kind of internal arrangement.

The room is great… I’m satisfied with it. It has mini bar too. The bathroom has most of the standard bathroom fixtures minus the bath tub. TV is not very clear… it has the two terrestrial channels and four Astro (cable) channels.

WiFi is not available but only at the lobby and restaurant. My Celcom broadband is only able to receive WCDMA in the hotel. But according to a friend, he can get 3G… probably my receiver is lousy… I need to change it to a better one next time.

Travelling from KK is not bad. Only a few places with broken road… but there are parts where the roads are very bouncy… a lot of road depression. Petronas should give more money for infrastructure development here… you have been digging our oil for so long.

During my last week Journey Around Sabah, I stayed a night at Ranau… Kundasang to be exact. Kundasang has many resorts surrounding it since it is where National Park is… and Mount Kinabalu. As far as I know, there is only one hotel there… a good hotel with Stars I mean. It is the Perkasa Hotel… probably with 3 or 4 Stars. I stayed there before many many years back… and/but I’m dying to stay at Kinabalu Pine Resort… so Kinabalu Pine Resort we stayed on the night of 23 October 2008.

Hotel Perkasa and Kinabalu Pine Resort has the best view of Mount Kinabalu… One reason I choose Kinabalu Pine Resort this time. But unfortunately, it is raining season and the clouds are so thick till can’t see the face of Mount Kinabalu. I will review Pine Resort next time. But to tell you the truth, I was dissatisfied with the amount I paid to enjoy a 2 Stars Resort… it was too expensive compared to the quality of 2 Star they gave…

To start with, the room has no air-con but a standing fan (because it is next to the highest  mountain in South East Asia), no in-room phone (meaning you have to walk to the reception if you need anything or you can use your cell phone), 2 lousy TV channels, no comforter only blanket (I’m not asking for electric blanket OK, Kundasang is not cold anymore, I can walk around half naked without feeling cold there), small and thin towels… all for RM202… but every year they get awards, wonder how?

The hotel we stayed in Sandakan for 3 nights from 20 to 23 October 2008 is Kensington Hotel. According to its staff, the hotel is only about 3 months old. It is located at the new area called Bandar Maju, Sandakan.

The hotel is not on its own building but on shop lots. It occupied the ground, first and second floor and has 22 bedrooms. I believe the hotel is not rated with any Star. They do not have restaurant but there are restaurants around the blocks. We have our own transport so I’m not sure how good the public transport is. But there are bus stops at the main road.

The address is:
Hotel Kensington,
Lot 37, Block D, Bandar Maju,
Mile 1 1/2, Jalan Utara,
90000 Sandakan,
Sabah, Malaysia.
Telephone: +6089-203888 & +6089-208887
Fx: +6089-208885

The rates are:
Single Bedroom with 1 king size bed – RM78.00
Twin Bedroom with 2 single size beds – RM88.00
Family Room with 1 king size bed and 1 single size bed – RM120.00

My room number is 203 at the second floor… hotel has no lift, have to use the stairs. My experience with the hotel is when I returned to my room on the second day, they have not made my room. My colleague room at 205 was done… because they put the Make My Room sign on their door. But I don’t think they only make rooms when there is sign, they should make it no matter what since I’m staying there more than 1 night.

Overall inside the room is OK, clean and new. WiFi is available for free but I did not use it because I have my Celcom Broadband. No fridge but boiling water and making drink appliances are available. But there is one problem with the curtain. The curtain is only one layer. They do not have daylight curtain… I do need daylight curtain when I’m on my notebook to stop the glare while enjoying the natural light from outside… of course bamboo blinds will be good enough… just kidding. The chair is not suitable for surfing while on the desk… my but was arching because it just a wooden stool like the one you can find in Kopitiam… without any cushion.

Will be continued with pictures…

I guess I will try to make a habit to review the hotel I stayed. It’s not going to be profession review, but more on my experience with the hotel… nasty words might be used too 😀 I’ve stayed in many hotels and encounter many kinds of experience… good and bad. So, what I’m going to write can be negative or positive… it all going to depends on my experience with the hotel. The hotel don’t pay me to do it… but it is more like community help 😀 becoz I found that many people are googling information about hotel… I guess they are looking for hotel… Hopefully, the hotel will read my posting and the next time I stayed with them and they recognized me, they will give me special treatment to bribe me for a good review… LOL

My destination for this week Journey around Sabah is Sandakan Region. I will be visiting our offices at Sandakan, Telupid, Beluran and Ranau. The journey is very tiring and right now I’m in Kensington Hotel, Sandakan. This hotel is new… only about 3 months old. I don’t think it has many rooms since it only has 2 floors and located in shop lots. Environment is clean and quite… coz the area is still new 😀

And every time I go for travel, I carry few things with me. Other than travel insurance which is included in our service benefits, these few items are necessity… tooth brush, tooth paste, shaver… and of course soap… but soap normally provided by the hotel including some other stuff like shampoo.

Normally I just pack these things into a plastic bag. But this time is different… I bought a Darlie Travel Kit which I believe they just introduced. The kit includes a small tube of tooth paste and a tooth brush. The travel kit bag is big enough to fit my shaver into it which make my packing easier 😀

Getting 50% or more discounts on your next Hotel Reservations is a very big deal. But that kind of good offer is hard to get especially during the holiday seasons. But if you check at HotelRservations.com, they are offering up to 70% discount! That is what I called a very big deal! You can make your selection and booking for hotels, resorts, motels, flights, car rentals, vacation rentals, vacation packages and many more offerings right from their website. With that big-fat discount, I will enjoy myself with foods or maybe extend my holiday a little bit longer.

One of the hardest parts when you are planning to go outstation or vacation, whether it is for official or private, is looking for the best bargain for your accommodations. It will be a bigger problem when your destination is a new destination and you don’t have anyone to contact over there.

Questions like… which hotel? which one has a good service? which one has good facilities? which one can give a better rate? which one has a good track or feedback? etc… getting answers for these questions will definitely delay or consume much of your precious time. When you can’t have answers for all these, its time to get help… like help from Hotel Reservation at www.hotelreservations.com

Hotel Reservation is providing all kinds of offerings like hotels, motels, resorts, vacations packages, flight booking, car rental and many more for worldwide destinations. You can book your reservation online at their website or by calling their toll free number at 1-800-447-4136

When I search for a hotel in Bali (Indonesia), it produced me with more than 20 hotels… I can’t believe my eyes… I never expect that Hotel Reservation is tied with so many hotels around the world!!! If you can’t decide which hotel you like, since they are all with good bargain, you can always choose 2 or more hotels and use the compare tools. With the comparison tools, you should be able to minimize or pick your best option to enjoy your vacation. The rates are fantastic; you can pick the best rate that suits your budget.

I’m also very impressed with their flight booking system… when I tried to book a flight from Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) to Las Vegas (USA)… I did not expect any result… but wow… it gave me 4 options… will full of details. They really serve worldwide destinations… and it does not matter where you coming from!!! The price is up to you to choose depending on your budget… options are there for you to choose. And you can book the flight right from the website.

It does not matter where you are from and where is your destination because Hotel Reservation has all kinds of offerings worldwide. You should use Hotel Reservation for your next vacation or travel. Let them help you pick the best for you… and you just enjoy your vacation.

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