Pemuteran, Bali - A secret hideaway to unwind...

"There's only one place I want to go and it's to all the places I've never been" - Nikki Rowe

Hola! 

Teka Iza pergi mana this time around?

Every year mesti iza akan ke bali, tapi this time Iza ingat nak pergi tempat tak ramai sgt tourist lagi. Iza decide nak pergi Pemuteran.

Basically Pemuteran is at the opposite side of Bali and the more known places such as Kuta. 

5 jam dari airport kalau bawak laju baru sampai ke sana okay? 

Yes, memang jauh. But nak share skit betapa cantiknya kampung nelayan ni.

Actually Pemuteran ni tempat org suka scuba pergi. Ada pelancong but tak macam Kuta, Ubud atau Seminyak.

It was so peaceful and quiet, exactly what I needed to destress. Moto - work hard play hard gittew hahaha.

Next post I am going to share makanan halal mana nak cari kat Pemuteran ni. 

In the meantime layan satu lagi gambar. Cewahh

Sigh, I miss Bali already. 

Next year Bali, Iza akan kembali lagi. I promise.

Much love from Airiel and I.

Peace and love to everyone.

Weekie 2017 - Suunah Kekabu Boutique Hotel & Resort, Shah Alam

"Parents were the only ones obligated to love you; from the rest of the world you had to earn it." Ann Brashares

In the name of Allah, the Beneficient, the Almighty, the Most Merciful.

Hi readers. How are things? In between the last blog post, I have squeezed in a vaccay in Bali and just finished a lovely weekend with Airiel.

Before updates on Bali, let me just share with you this lovely hotel I found in Section 20, Shah Alam. 

The hotel is called Suunah Kekabu. Pics below:-

Airiel excited to reach the hotel. Loving the decor already from the outside

Funky!

Woody feel of the lobby

Loving the way the rooms are numbered

Cantik kan?

Another view of the lobby

Look at the feature wall inside my suite.

Loving the poster inside the room too!

My wardrobe and cabinet was all dark wood. Soo pretty!

After lying down on this bed I realised how the hotel got its name. All the mattresses and pillows are the traditional kekabu ones! Luv!

My presidential suite has 2 king beds and 1 single beds. The 1 king size bed and 1 single bed is on the top level of the loft style suite.

Even the mini pantry was made of all wood. Loving the old style mugs!

The little mini seating area also all wood

This is basically how it looks! Love the concept!

The Presidential suite was only RM300 plus, reasonable price for such a huge room this size. 

Loved this hotel and will definitely come back! 

Do try and stay here and enjoy the woody kampung feel of the rooms while being right in the city area! 

Tip- Booking doesn't seem to show the Presidential suite. I suggest you call the hotel directly.  Prices are reasonable.

Much love from Airiel and I.

Peace and love to everyone.

Lets Get Lost 2017 - MU Hotel, Ipoh

"At some point, you have to stop running and turn around and face whoever that wants you dead. The hard thing is finding the courage to do it..." ~ Suzanne Collins 

Hi readers,

So for the long labour day weekend I was attending a cousin's wedding in Ipoh. We decided to stay at the Ibis Styles hotel that got renamed the MU Hotel.

I loved my room! 

So the room has a modern contemporary feel and it has a sliding door that closes the shower and the toilet based on where you slide it. You can't close both at the same time though.

This is the seating area near the lifts 

The hallway 

It has like an internet and workspace area... 

 The lobby is pretty cute!

I do love the feel and the design. No pool though and no porter. For a short stay it was nice. Located in the middle of town and 5 mins drive from Ipoh Parade.

Rates were reasonable.

My review of the hotel is somewhere on booking.com

Until further updates, much love from Airiel and I.

Peace and love to everyone. 

Fernweh 2017 - Part 1 - Coaley's Peak

"She had a wild, wandering soul but when she loved, she loved with chaos and that made all the difference..." ~ Ariana Dancu

Hello readers,

I have returned from my travels in the UK and it was lovely. But in the midst of my travels a lot happened.

So much death in March 2017. Death is only a breath away it seems and someone beloved to me was lost. Still pretty much reeling.

This is Coaley's Peak in an area called Stroud. I was pretty much tired of the normal tourist spots in London, so I left for the countryside. Whilst most days were cold and windy and dull, temperature was around 8 degrees on average, the day I went it was sunny. 

Sri and I also went for a walk cum hike around the area. Absolutely gorgeous and breathtaking. 

More on the hotel I stayed in the countryside soon.

Much love from Airiel and I. 

Peace and love to everyone.

Fernweh 2017 - Part 1

"We leave something of ourselves behind when we leave a place, we stay there, even though we go away. And there are things in us that we can find again only by going back there..." 

~ Pascal Mercier

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Most Merciful.

Hello readers.

I am getting the itch to travel. And I do have places planned this year.

I have had to cancel a trip due to my grandma's ailing health.

But this trip, I promised I would take.

So off we go.

It's time to return.

Soon. Soon.

Much love from Airiel and I.

Peace and love to everyone.

Top 5 booking websites I use to book hotels

"Since the Industrial Revolution, we've treated our world like it was a hotel room and

we were rock stars" ~ Blake Crouch

Hello readers.

Some of you readers have asked me where do I book my rooms for my travels.

This post hopefully answers that question for you guys. Just to inform you that for most of my travels to other continents, depending on  the safety issues involved I would take a tour. 

But for familiar south east asian destinations, I book my rooms on these websites and it starts from the bottom to the top:-

5. AirBnb

I have honestly only used this service once before. But that's because of my preference for hotels I think. I would rather have the 'inclusive of breakfast' and 'free wifi' things thrown in when I book for a place. But you would be surprised at how much these extras cost and thats why most rooms in AirBnb is cheaper than the hotels. Plus some owners now offer free wifi.  AirBnb does not currently partner with Shopback or Milkadeal cashback and that makes it less popular for me. If you want to know what I mean by cashback go to my earlier post on getting more value for the money you spend here. On the plus side, some really awesome but hidden getaways can be found only on AirBnb like the Twinkle Villa and this awesome Private Resort and we are only scratching the surface of Selangor here. It's therefore worth to surf and to give it a try. The very real and honest reviews from the users also help immensely in making your choice.

4. Expedia

Expedia partners with Shopback and Milkadeal although you would have to check the rates on which sites offers you the most cashback. At the moment Shopback is offering 9% of the value of your booking while Milkadeal 6%. I used this site for my bookings in Melaka earlier this year. The plus side for expedia is you can opt to book flights as well so it kind of doubles as an all useful travel agent hahaha. If you click on the last minute deals icon on the site it tells you the lowest deal flights to certain destinations that you can book last minute and more flights plus hotels package at some really good prices. I have one quip about this site though, and that would be its annoying habit to change its prices to a slightly higher rate when you are ready to book after perusing for a while and would  like to  make payment. I would rather they stick to the prices they quote initially but it depends on your luck!

3. Agoda

It partners with both Shopback and Milkadeal usually at the same rate so thats a definite plus. It also has depending on the day some of the best value hotel rooms I have ever come across. The catch? Most of the greatest deals like really cheap ones must be paid up front in full and is non refundable so you must make sure that your travel plans are confirmed because cancelling is a no go. Certain deals also come with complimentary enrich miles points so you are getting a cashback + enrich miles which can both be redeemed later. Thats just super awesome! On top of that agoda has its own credit system which can be redeemed to offset against any later bookings, although you must reach certain amounts of credits before it can be used.

2. Hotels.com

This website is currently moving fast up my favourites list. What I love about it? When you book 10 nights you get one night free equivalent to the average amount per night you have spent on the 10. So lets say you have a free night equivalent to RM250? book a hotel room at RM300 and pay only RM50 being the difference.  This site also partners with shopback and milkadeal so its cashback + free nights! 

1. Booking

I am a veteran on booking. I use this for almost all my hotel bookings as most hotels agree to not charge up front and I can opt to make payment only upon check in at the hotel. Most of the time I do not have to pay extra to get that, unlike Agoda where cancellation up to a certain date or paying only upon check in will result in you paying higher rates. It partners with both milkadeal and shopback, although it does not currently offer anything else as a bonus compared to the other websites above. That being said, as my family travel plans can change drastically I usually opt for this website for family bookings (we tend to book an average of 5 rooms per trip, phewwww). 

Tip : When you want to do bookings, open all these websites at once and compare the prices before deciding. Good luck and happy travels!

Much love from Airiel and I. 

Peace and love to everyone.

Fernweh 2016 - Krabi

"To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries..." ~ Aldous Huxley

Hello readers.

I have just been back from another one of my travels.

Reviews soon.

I was here in 2011, and am back here again in 2016. 

Full circle. It was time to make new memories. And it was great.

I have not blogged about Morocco even but let me do it bit by bit.

Tons and loads of things.

Sigh

Soon, I promise.

Much love from Airiel and I

Peace and love to everyone.

Lets get Lost 2016 - Morocco

"To wander is to be alive" - Roman Payne

Hello readers.

It's been a while. I am wandering again. Taking pieces of my angel son and palestine daughter with me as I go.

 

     

Breathtaking, isn't it?

I will blog about it more when I return.

Much love from Airiel and I.

Peace and love to everyone.

Weekie 2016 - Quayside Hotel

"See that day as I remember it. A day in June, River Severn rolling to the sea, diamonded with sunlight, gulls gliding over the quays on a mild breeze that lifted the Red Dragon standard over Camelot. A quiet enough day for the end of my world..." ~ Parke Godwin

In the name of Allah the Beneficent, the most Merciful

Hello readers.

Another update on my weekie in Melaka.

I stayed at another hotel after checking out of the Shore. Decided to stay closer to the old town area so I can walk and experience all the sights on foot.

I decided on the Quayshore hotel. I was told by the friendly staff that quayside hotel was previously a warehouse, and the owners decided to stick with the theme when they remodeled it into a hotel.

The tables were converted from those huge wheelie things where they wrapped cables and ropes and stuff. God knows what they are called.

Look at the awesome staircase 

The hotel consists of 2 floors and is completely open 

 Love this lamp and the room was pretty cozy.

 The bathroom was sufficient

Remainder of the pics of the room 

Look at those chandeliers and couches. Its such a quirky and cozy place. I absolutely loved the interior design.

The hotel is located opposite the balai polis and a short 2 minute walk from the places where you find the trishaws. So its centrally located. Parking is on a first come first serve basis so it depends pretty much on luck. There is plenty of parking after the peak hours so you may have to park at the melaka cruise place behind the hotel and customs museum and change it later after traffic has died down.

I have to say though, the mattress and the pillows here was one of the most uncomfortable ones I have ever come across in any hotel I have stayed at so far, and I have stayed at a lot of hotels. So after a long day of walking, it was quite disappointing to lie down on such hard pillows and substandard mattresses.

All in all, if you want to stay at a hotel near to all the historical locations, it doesnt get any better  than this (but the pillows and mattress can be so much better please!). So give it a try.

Much love from Airiel and I.

Peace and love to everyone.

Weekie 2016 - Geno Hotel

"One day, I am going to write a travel guide containing only maps and addresses of hotels, and with the rest of the pages blank. That way, people will have to make their own itinerary, to discover themselves restaurants, monuments and all the magnificent things that every city has, but which are never mentioned because 'the history that we have been taught' does not include them in the list of things you must see..." ~ Paul Coelho

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Most Merciful.

Hello readers.

Time for a weekie update.

There have been a lot of things going on at work and at home, rendering an update almost impossible to write.

It is the 59th anniversary of Merdeka in Malaysia today and in between finishing some work, I am finding time to squeeze this in. Just last week the familia, sans Airiel's Nenda and Atok decided to go for a quick weekie getaway since Airiel's Bonda and Nenda had to cancel  their South Africa trip as the health of a close family member was failing. 

This time we went to a relatively new hotel in the Shah Alam area, Geno Hotel.

Pics below.

The lobby was gorgeous. Huge and spacious with metres long chandeliers. Have not seen that in a while. Airiel was admiring all these gold statues. Haha I think the last bottom one is swinging a golf club.

There was ample parking as well.

Views of the room and bathroom. I love the quirky standing light. TV was embedded into a feature wall and had games inside it so Airiel was happy. Everything was squeaky clean.

The pool, gym and sauna were located on the 4th floor.  The pool setup was simple and was super clean. It was practically empty so Airiel had the pool all to himself. It was a windy day so the water felt a bit cold I think. The gym was located beside the pool and had some nice equipment.

I was too lazy to venture out to find food so ate ala carte at the hotel restaurant named Taste. I was so pleasantly surprised to see the prices of the ala carte food here!. It was believe it or not, cheaper than what a meal would cost in Publika. I would highly recommend the Aglio Oglio seafood pasta, the prawn bisque, the kids meals. I ordered food for 4 pax (2 adults and 2 kids, because my uncle and her daughter dropped by for dinner) and total was about RM80 ish. Awesome and the food was good!.

The views from my room were pretty awesome.

 'Some person with oversized shoulder pads'  said Airiel

'Fat blob of gold poop' said Airiel. Hahahaha

I would highly recommend this hotel for quick weekend getaways. No complaints and was pleasantly surprised by everything. The staff was very friendly and helpful as well.

I made my booking via booking.com and my review of the hotel is in there somewhere. The link to the hotel is here.

Alright readers.

Until the next update, much love from Airiel and I. 

Peace and love to everyone.