Executive Lounge at Hilton at Petaling Jaya after the renovation

The last time I stayed in Hilton Petaling Jaya was May 2012 and the executive lounge was still undergoing renovation. Then, I had been given a standard room which had not been renovated and I found a painter in the toilet when I opened the door. Of course, I went back to the reception and refused absolutely to stay 4 nights in that room, especially with my Hilton Gold membership. And what do you know, where they had previously insisted that there were no renovated rooms available, I was given a renovated room on the 4th floor.

This time, I asked for a free upgrade to an executive room (being a Hilton Gold Member) and I was told that there were no rooms available. I recognized the manager and told him that the service at his hotel was a lot worse than that of Hilton at KL Sentral and DoubleTree where I would always get upgraded to a executive room. He promised that he would upgrade my room the next stay. We shall see. I will definitely be coming back to call on that promise! :D

Anyway, I was given a room on the 20th floor and there was a welcome platter all set out on the table. I would have been even more pleased if they had got the name right.

In any case, here is a picture of the room. The view from the room's window is nothing to crow about but this room is definitely larger than the rooms I had stayed in the past two times (click here for a review of the stay in April 2012).

Another picture of the room taken from the window - it's pretty modern in decor with the safe and robes tucked away in the beige cupboards. The only feedback I have about the room is the placement of the central light switches at the bedside. Now, if one is going to choose which side of the bed to sleep if one is alone, one would naturally sleep near the bedside telephone where the wake up call will come. Surely it would make sense to place the master light switch there so one can conveniently switch off the lights in the room to sleep but no, the switch is on the other side of the bed.

Anyway, given that this was a work trip, I didn't spend much time in the room. I was curious to see the lounge though which had been moved to the 21st floor so right after I checked in, I headed up just in time for the evening cocktail at 6pm.

As you would be able to tell from the pictures above and below, the new lounge is sprawling and tastefully decorated. Very very nice, especially if you consider what the old one looked like. There are plenty of different sorts of sitting arrangements - settees like the one I had, high seats by the window overlooking the highway and normal round table seats.

But of course, the true measure of a lounge is the quality of food they serve, no? So off I headed to the buffet table where there were 4 types of hot plate dishes and 1 pot of mushroom soup.

Oh, and this was the spread of non-hot cocktail food available ranging from fruits to sushi rolls to various types of pastries. Very aesthetically presented with variety and quality. Definitely a big thumbs up! I would dare say that the spread is on par with that of its sister hotel, Hilton at KL Sentral where I just came back from tonight!

But let's talk more about the hot food selection at the executive lounge of Petaling Jaya which deserves a picture on its own - the mushroom soup was done to warm soupy perfection and the prawns and salmon dishes were very well presented in dainty portions with just the right amount of garnishing to render them appealing.

However, what blew me and my colleague (and our guests) away was the smoked duck. The meat was tender, tasty and came with a delicious sweet sauce that instead of detracting from the taste of the duck, somehow enhanced it so that the juices from the smoked duck and the sauce filled one's mouth with orgasmic delight. I swear I closed my eyes with each bite, and I had more than 6 bites of duck altogether.

The Slog Reviews: 7.5/10. Hilton PJ's lounge definitely deserves a visit. It would be good though if they had takeaway boxes/doggy bags because I was rushing to work in the morning (about 7.15am) and had requested to take away some croissants (they had large delicious chocolate ones - I ate one while waiting to check out at the lounge) but was told the executive lounge does not allow one to take food away which is utter rubbish since I am entitled to breakfast. The restaurant at the lobby level allowed me to take away some croissants the day before when I was likewise rushing to go to work.

While Hilton PJ is definitely a much better hotel after all the renovations, it still has some way to go in treating its hotel guests, especially its Hilton Gold members. It would do well to learn from its sister hotels like Double Tree and Hilton KL which does a far better job overall.

Hilton at Petaling Jaya

I know it looks as if I have changed loyalty but the Hilton's Gold Membership Promotion for the first quarter (click here to read) was too attractive to pass up. And hence, we have been trying to clock the 4 stays before 31 May 2012 so as to qualify for the 40,000 HHonors Points.

Now, as we all know, hotel rates in Singapore are the most expensive in South East Asia. So, paying over SGD 200 to stay in an ordinary room in Hilton Orchard isn't the most ideal way of racking up the stays. KL on the other hand, offers more attractive options for Hilton hotels and the cheapest would be Hilton at Petaling Jaya. And it was cheap (I'm talking about SGD120+ per night inclusive of 2 breakfasts and an upgrade to a room with executive lounge access) with good reason. Getting there by public transport (without a car) was a hassle. To get to Hilton PJ from the airport by train, one has to take the shuttle bus (RM9) from KLIA/LCCT to KL Sentral. There, one has to buy a ticket/token for the Kelana Jaya Line and take the train service all the way up to either the Taman Jaya Station or Asia Jaya Station. I prefer to get off the Taman Jaya Station Line BUT it is a lonely road leading to the back of the hotel and we all know that KL isn't the safest place in the world. Getting to Asia Jaya Station though is more of a hassle because it involves trying to cross more main roads and there aren't well, properly defined crossings but loads of broken pavement. Still, at least it is on the main road so one is that much safer.

Anyway, the hotel was under renovation. And all the executive rooms and the lounge were being ungraded. However, we were given 1 of the newly renovated rooms on the second floor facing the pool. So per the picture below, the furnishings and furniture and all were spanking new.

However, as with Double Trees Hilton, there was no bathtub in the room. The toiletries in the hotel were extremely well-packaged (see the pic below) but I assure you that once one removes the boxes, the contents are most ordinary. Disappointingly ordinary in fact.

Well as I mentioned, the executive lounge was under renovation so we were given access to another lounge. Needless to say, it was a far cry from the one at Double Tree. The selection of drinks and food was really limited and ordinary and although there was internet access, everything in the place was run-down, old and shabby.

The hotel provides a shuttle bus at 12noon to 1Utama but without the return service. Hence, we decided to go to 1Utama on our own for dinner. We walked the broken pavements to Asia Jaya Station and paid RM1.30 each to get to the end of the line - Kelana Jaya station. I had read that 1Utama provides free shuttle buses to the mall so we asked around and were told to cross a overhead bridge and wait at the bus stop in front of a row of shophouses (see pic of station and the overhead bridge we crossed).

After waiting about 20 mins, there was no sign of the bus so we took a cab instead. It cost RM8 one way. 1Utama was huge and had many shops including Coach. We thought of taking the complimentary shuttle back to the train station in the evening but found out that the shuttle service was only for 1Utama Card Members. The cost of being a member would be RM10 each. And even though we offered to pay a nominal fee to the bus driver to take us to the station, he refused unless we became 1 Utama Card members. So much for "complimentary" bus svc!

The Slog Reviews: 7/10. This hotel is really cheap by KL stations and for the Hilton brand but it is with good reason. I would suggest waiting till the renovation is complete before booking a stay there. And it would be advisable to rent a car or drive up from SG because this Hilton hotel is the most inaccessible of the lot.

The Zon Regency Hotel and Tai Son Restaurant at the duty free zone in JB

I'd managed to get us a decent deal for a night's stay at The Zon Regency Hotel at Stulang Laut - just SGD 75 nett inclusive of all taxes and breakfast. It was very easy to drive from the Malaysia Customs to the hotel which is located along the coast of JB facing Malaysia at the Stulang Laut area.

The hotel is not easily missed. As you can tell from the picture below, the hotel is like one of those massive hotels at Genting (First World anyone?).

Our check-in at the reception went smoothly. Strangely though, the hotel did not ask for any sort of deposit - whether by way of credit card or cash. In the lift, we found that we need to swipe our room key on a panel before we can press the button to our floor. I am surprised that the hotel has this type of security. However, the elevator is rather slow (we stayed on the 13th floor) so we had plenty of time to "fun" around.

Stepping out of the lift to the corridor, I was struck by how the layout of The Zon Regency Hotel so closely resembles that of Marina Mandarin's. Except that this hotel had no air-conditioning whatsoever in the corridors. The carpet of the corridors was also threadbare and stained. In short, the hotel looked like it it was old and could not care less about aesthetics or the comfort of its guests.

Our room was decently sized and we had a great view of the causeway and the coast. The TV was a small old CRT TV with some cable channels and the bed was too squishy and soft to be comfortable. However, the floor of the room was filthy and we decided to keep our slippers on the whole time. Forget hotel room slippers - none were provided. The hotel room was in short, basic and bare. WIFI connectivity which was free was sh*tty in the rooms, making it difficult to surf the net. And the bath-tub was grotty which meant no soaking in it.

 There was a departmental store called the Zon which was deserted on a Saturday afternoon. And rightly so. Talk about an extremely poor selection of cheap goods which were marked down even further. I love a bargain as much as the next person but the items on sale was just too awful to be bought.

The only decent shop to shop in the complex was Watson. There were also quite a number of KTVs on the third floor of the shopping center, and many booze and cancer-stick shops. Oh, and chocolate shops too. Prices were not cheaper compared to Singapore except for the duty-free items - booze and cancer-sticks. However one is not allowed to bring alcohol (beer etc), spirits or wine to Singapore without declaration of the same at Customs so we did not buy any alcohol at all.

There was a Mary Brown's and we probably should have eaten our dinner there or at Starbucks. However, we ended up giving the restaurant just outside the hotel, Tai Son Seafood restaurant a shot and it was a waste of good money. RM75 spent on satays (those were decent), fried noodles (oh so plain and unexceptional for RM12!), vegetables (awful ) and a sambal stingray which my CEB proclaimed the worst singray meal he ever had. I am not sure what we were paying such high prices for - maybe the view of Singapore across the water, which is nothing spectacular.

The breakfast buffet the next morning was alright. Edible but not tasty. Parking at the multi storey carpark is complimentary for hotel guests.

The Slog Reviews: 6/10. A very basic hotel hotel surrounded by lousy food and shopping. A good place to stay only if one is intent on buying lots of cheap spirits up to one's hotel room to drown one's sorrows. The swimming pool is also smallish, outdoors and looks just plain awful.

Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit Hotel

Having stayed at Sheraton HCM and Sheraton Hanoi the last business trip, it shouldn't have come as a surprise that my co booked a room at Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit for my Thailand work trip.

But it was a surprise, because the 3 SPG hotels (Sheraton, Westin and 4 Points) are located within 5-8mins walking distance of each other and I'd thought that the most expensive option wouldn't be their first choice. I had thought it would be 4 Points, and if I was lucky, Westin.

But as it turned out, not only was I going to be staying in Sheraton for 2 nights (The Sheraton was rated #4 of all the hotels in BKK on tripadvisor ), but there was also an upgrade to the grand deluxe room which came with a host of benefits such as the butler service, free laundry (2 pcs) per day and free high-speed internet in the room. More on that later.

The Sheraton is connected to Asoke Station by a sheltered bridge and it takes all of 5 mins to get from the lobby to 1 of the largest newest malls in BKK, Terminal 21. Westin is right opposite Terminal 21 but one has to cross a small road to get there and it was raining when I arrived. So in terms of access to the BTS and the mall, the Sheraton beats Westin hands-down.

Anyway, when I arrived, for once, the staff at the reception escorted me right up to the room after the checkin process. She also arranged for tea (there was ice lemon tea, coffee or hot tea) to be brought up to the room before we entered the room, and for the bags to be brought up later. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the tea came with 2 biscuits in a nice little tray. Below is a picture of the grande deluxe room. It reminded me a lot of the club suite I'd stayed in at the Sheraton Imperial in KL. The room was spacious of course but the design was far from modern and sleek as you can probably tell from the picture below.

In addition to the iced tea, there was a complimentary platter of fruits consisting of 2 bananas and 2 mangosteens next to the hot drinks facility. I have to say that the selection of complimentary tea and coffee bags was pretty good.

A picture of the room next to the toilet which is some sort of a walk in wardrobe. It came complete with a safe, and pretty fluffy complimentary bedroom slippers.

Here is a picture of the toilet. The bathtub was clean enough so I had a good soak in it. The shower on the hand needs to be improved - there isn't the right mix of hot and cold water - it is either a touch too much of either.

I'd read that the pool at Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit was something pretty amazing and my room on the 2*th floor had a view of the pool if I looked straight down from the window. It did seem rather pretty with the lush greenery and the dark blue tiling. If one wanted, one could have breakfast by the pool (But the selection of food would be smaller)

The more distant view from my room was of the river. In 1 of the mags I read, I learnt that the river flowing through BKK was the heart of the city. Which was something new to me because all my trips to Thailand consisted of well, shopping, eating and massages at malls and little nooks and crannies.

When my CEB finally joined me late in the night (almost midnight), the 24hr butler service promptly provided more iced tea for the 2 of us and biscuits. That was when I really started digging the butler service.

Because I had to leave the hotel at 8am for work and I didn't want to wake up early to have a buffet breakfast that I wouldn't be able to enjoy, I ordered from the butler service, a cup of hot tea and some biscuits. It was delivered in all of 5 mins and this was how I left my CEB to enjoy his day of a nice buffet breakfast, free in the room broadband AND WIFI, and easy access to the shopping mall. While I went to work. To say my CEB was happy is an understatement.

Talking about the buffet breakfast, I'd read on the internet that the spread was something awesome but my CEB had told me it wasn't. I was to find out the next day when we went for breakfast together before checking out. I didn't think the spread was that limited - of course, there are better breakfast buffets we've had but still, it was decent enough. My CEB groused that there wasn't anyone to cook noodles on the spot for guests (unlike 4 Points) and eyed the noodles I'd ordered for breakfast from the ala-carte menu. I think the bowl of noodles cost about SGD13 but it wasn't expensive when one comes to think of it. At least in comparison to the breakfast buffet which cost SGD40.

Now, here is the reason why one should book the Grande Deluxe Room at the Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit. Other than the perks of the butler service, the room comes with unlimited drinks at The Living Room (the lounge for Sheraton).

I missed drinks the first night because I was out shopping. However, the second night found us at The Living Room enjoying the complimentary snacks AND the complimentary drinks between 6 to 8pm. Did I mention that the cocktails, mocktails, beers and even wine (red, sparkling, white) on the menu were ALL free?

So we drank quite a fair bit. My CEB going straight for the sparking wine of course, and me, pussy-footing around with the mocktails (literally) and then progressing to the cocktails.

The Slog Reviews: 9/10. I have to say that the amount for the grande deluxe room at the Sheraton is worth every penny. A fabulous experience all in all. And when we got back, the first thing we did was to book air tickets to go back to BKK in August.

Sibu Island Resort - our first holiday for 2012

There was a Groupon Promotion for Sibu Island Resort at SGD48 nett per person for a 2D/1N stay at Sibu Island Resort which seemed like a pretty good deal. So a week before CNY, my CEB and I woke up at the unholy hour of 7am on a Saturday for the drive to Tanjong Leman jetty.

We stopped for breakfast at the Macs near Carrefour (en route to Jusco Tebrau City) and it took us about an hour to get from Macs to Tanjong Leman Jetty which I had been to before. How to get to Tanjong Leman Jetty is pretty simple. Head in the direction of Jusco Tebrau City and basically just keep going all the way straight in the direction of Mersing. No turn-offs or turning to the right or left. Just straight following the signboards. The turn off the Tanjong Leman Jetty is very abrupt off the main road so it is wise to keep an eye out for signboards. This is how the jetty looks like. Parking at the jetty cost RM4 a day and there is a nice new parking area behind the main jetty building near the KFC.

From the main road, one gets on to a narrower road (1 way each direction), the start of which is marked by a police post. And on this narrow road (the journey from the main road to the jetty is pretty long - at least 25mins), it is easy to get lost and head in the direction for the Sedili jetty so follow the signs that say KFC. I kid you not. There is a newly built KFC at the jetty which opens at 10.30am. The first ferry out to Sibu Island is at 11am and the KFC is the only place in the jetty which is air-conditioned and has a nice view of the sea. The cost of the tickets to the island was not included so we purchased 2 round-trip tickets at Counter 1 of Tanjong Leman jetty at RM140. The journey to the island on the ferry took less than half an hour. The ferry was supposed to hold just 50 pax and there was just the right number of seats for that number of people. Some folks put on life jackets and we followed suit though my CEB commented that this was a bad idea as we would be trapped in the cabin if the boat capsized. I made sure we sat very near the exit so we could get through the door. Just in case. The tragic drowning of fellow anglers at this same area couple of years ago is pretty much unforgettable.

Anyway, after we got off the ferry and started the short 3 min walk from the terminal to the resort (the only hotel on the island), I had a feeling of Deja Vu, that I'd been here before. And when I caught a glimpse of the staff singing and playing musical instruments at the reception area, I was even more certain that this was not my first time to the island. The peacock wandering across my path drove the nail into the coffin...especially when it let out loud and irritating caws.

My CEB on the other hand, had never been to the resort so I was careful not to spoil his experience by telling him what could be expected...he would find that out in due course. As we made our way to the room which was situated along the winding path up a hill, we came across some wild deer lazing in the shade. When we moved closer, well....guess from the pic below it is clear what happened. Forget Bambi cozying up to you.

The room (superior room) was just as I remembered it. Dank, dusty and dark. For the first time since a long time, I had to get up in the middle of the night and put on a pair of long pants so I could sleep on the sheets. I was scratching uncontrollably in my shorts and T-shirt before that and just praying I could fall asleep so I wouldn't feel how dirty the sheets were. There was limited cable access on the small (32 inch?) TV in the room and although we were told there was free WIFI access in the room, neither of us could get a working connection on our smart phones. We were "connected" but could not access the web so lying about the room (which is what my CEB loves) for the afternoon was out of the question.

So we made our way to the lobby where my CEB tried to access the web on his HTC but again the free WIFI service proved deceptive and he gave up after a fashion. To sit in the lobby and hear the cawing of the peacocks was not an experience I enjoyed.

We were entitled to enjoy 1 free recreational activity so we chose Archery where each of us would get to shoot 6 arrows under the guidance of an instructor. I was more than eager to let my CEB shoot my share of the arrows but because we had to wait so long for our turn (there were only 2 shooting boards so only 2 people could shoot at a time) I decided to have a go. The instructor was friendly and spoke good English so we had a pretty fun time there.

With 3 more hours to kill before dinner and no WIFI, my CEB and I decided to check out the sea sports centre for an hour of kayaking. The cost was only about RM30 per person, and when we got to the center, there were 2 staff there watching TV. However, they obligingly got to their feet and dragged one canoe to the water's edge for us.

My second time canoeing (first time was in Hanoi) and I was determined to get paddle around the island or at least head in the direction of the mountain which was most scenic. Unfortunately, the waves were pretty strong (monsoon season isn't officially over till Feb) and we found ourselves being rocked pretty violently in the little orange canoe.

From the pic below of my wet hair, it is pretty evident what happened. We capsized. The wave rocked us to the right and instead of leaning to the left, we let ourselves get caught in the momentum and before we knew it, we were in the sea. Salt water in my eyes, my haviannas floating around me...the canoe overturned next to my spluttering CEB...what an experience. The first thing I did was check that my camera was still around my neck (waterproof cameras rock), and then grab for my haviannas. My CEB and I then took an end of the canoe each and uprighted it before clambering on board. That was when he wanted to call it a day but with half an hour more to go, I wasn't about to. So the compromise was that we would just canoe near the island and not around any bends. Especially when my CEB pointed out that the resort staff in the sea centre were watching TV and not know if anything happened to us.

After the canoeing experience, we went straight to the pool, showered off the salt water and jumped right in. It was a really smallish pool with the deepest end being 2.3m which was really quite deep. Best not to let a child swim unattended in this pool despite its deceptively small size.

It started raining in the evening and to our amazement, we saw a peacock sitting in the rain at the small pool at the top of the slide (the pool). We had pretty much run out of things to do on the island short of fishing (which we didn't come prepared for and were loathe to spend good money renting rods and sitting at the coast) so we decided to take the earlier ferry (10am) back to the mainland instead of the 2pm one the next day.

Since there were no other restaurants on the island and there were no transport services provided between the kelongs nearby and the hotel, we had dinner at the same restaurant we would have our buffet breakfast the next time. There was a choice of having either a buffet at RM55 per pax or ordering from the ala carte menu but because we were starving, we didn't look at the menu at all. The buffet for dinner wasn't exceptionally good but the lamb curry was pretty delish. There was plenty of fish, green veg (kai lan) with mushrooms, and 1 other main dish but really the selection of mains was very limited. And the dessert sucked. Awful. Just awful. I would not recommend having the dinner buffet at all - a salad from the ala carte menu at RM20 would be a better choice. Now that I have blogged about this and have some photos of the place, I'm pretty sure I'm not going to forget that I've been to Sibu Island Resort and there is no way absolutely that I am going back, esp given the bedsheets!

CNY Reunion Dinner 2012 at Grand Copthorne

My CEB and I hit upon the brilliant idea of having our first reunion dinner as a married couple at a hotel restaurant. This would save both parents having to prepare, cook and wash, and also spare us the thankless task of eating two dinners on the same day and having to rush from 1 place to another.

Both MILs love buffets so 2 weeks before CNY, my sis and I went down to Grand Copthorne Waterfront hotel to pay up in full for the reunion buffet for the 7 of us. We were informed that Cafe Brios was fully booked but the hotel would be opening up a second venue (the function rooms) and the same type of food and service could be expected. I was disappointed that we could not secure a table at the restaurant and rather apprehensive what the experience might be given that we would be eating at some alternative venue.

However, thumbs up for Grand Copthorne for pulling it off very well using their function rooms. We were shown to our table (the tables were arranged wedding-style) and were pleasantly surprised to find that the table had been thoughtfully decorated with ang pows, gold foil chocolate nuggets and coins and even an ang pow containing a 25% off discount card for future visits to Cafe Brios.

The spread of food was superb for the CNY reunion dinner - there were loads of sashimi (no shortage of tuna, salmon etc) and sushi. And oysters, scallops in shells, prawns (both the normal type and the river type with the big head), and even crab legs at the cold counter area. There was also a dragon beard candy counter (that had a really long queue each time).

The lobster bisque was extremely creamy and delicious, as was the black herbal chicken soup. For a buffet especially. Hot dishes-wise, there were just too many to choose from ranging from Indian curry chicken which my sister found mouthwatering good, to otah which I simply loved, and even sambal stingray and grilled seabass etc. There was also a counter serving beef (ribeye) and salmon wrapped in cheese. Oh, and there were pineapple tarts, tang yuan, red bean soup, jelly and even durian cake for dessert. Perfect. Just perfect.

And the price for all that food? Just slightly under SGD400 for the 7 of us. Money well spent and value for money. Grand Copthorne even had a Cai Shen Ye ("God of Fortune") go around the tables shaking hands and everyone at my table shook his hand for good fortune :)

With such a fabulous experience at Grand Copthorne for CNY reunion dinner, I'm definitely going to be making my reservations earlier for CNY 2013 at Grand Copthorne's Cafe Brios!

La Jolie Hotel & Spa in Vietnam Ho Chi MInh

Excuse the appearance of the bed. I snapped the picture when we were leaving because I could not be arsed to do so when checking into the hotel. Travelling with two large suitcases, having to tip the bellboy, and having to move from Sheraton to a well, more affordable one kind of quells the happy-camera button.

Given that I'd arranged for day tours (Cu Chi Tunnel, Ho Chi Minh City Tour) for the next 2 days, there wasn't much point staying on at Sheraton Hotel at USD250++ a night. I'd checked Agoda's reviews and La Jolie had received so many positive comments that it made sense to book a room there for about SGD80 a night.

 

La Jolie is a new hotel and the taxi driver (airport cab) could not find the hotel. We went around a few times till we found the tall skinny building next to some sort of an Indian restaurant, and 2 traffic lights away from Sheraton. The staff were friendly and spoke good English but what I really disliked about the hotel was that they were insistent on keeping our passports unless we gave them USD20 as deposit. I definitely wasn't comfortable letting them hold on to our travel documents overnight and shelled out the USD20.

However, other than that, and the taxi incident, which I shall write about later, I have nothing but good things to say about the cleanliness and condition of the hotel. The room (we were upgraded to a suite on the 6th floor which had an awesome river view) was all in white, clean and spacious enough with free wifi. There was even a bathtub (not just a shower), bathing robes and a safe in the room with 2 bottles of complimentary water.

As for the breakfast, I thought it was really excellent for the price we were paying. There were eggs and pho to be had (by ordering), as well as dessert like coconut jelly which I ate without restraint, soup, porridge, fried noodles, fried rice...and the staff provided excellent service throughout. The environment as per the pic below was clean and comfortable. In fact, I would go so far as to say that other than the drinks available (or lack of), La Jolie's breakfast spread gave me almost as much satisfaction as the buffet breakfast I'd been having at Sheraton.

In fact, our breakfast experience was so good that we decided to utilize the 30% discount coupon the staff gave us upon checking in to have dinner at the restaurant (the same place we had breakfast). We ordered spring rolls, since these are a Vietnamese staple, but the spring rolls turned out to be fried spring rolls and not the fresh ones. Therefore, be very careful when you order spring rolls in Vietnam - always ask if fresh, or fried, if not clearly specified. In any case, the fried spring rolls were decent enough - not swoon-worthy or even close. Despite being a tad too oily for my liking, the spring rolls were crunchy and quite tasty, especially with the dip.

We also each had a bowl of pho. Unfortunately unlike the pho for breakfast, the beef in the dish while plentiful, was either cooked too long or was just plain tough. Not very appetizing. I would strongly suggest against ordering pho as a main course from the menu (unless during breakfast).

Overall, I would definitely rate La Jolie Hotel very highly in terms of service, location, food and condition of the room. Definitely value for money in every way given its current hotel rate. However, the hotel needs to stop holding on to travellers' passports in exchange for a monetary deposit. I hardly think there is any law that mandates that and if this is a policy the hotel has, it definitely is a huge turn off.

Also, the hotel called a taxi for me from off the streets at VND160,000 to take me to the domestic airport. I paid that amount to the hotel staff but when I asked the driver at the airport to give me a receipt (for my travel claims), he wrote that he only received VND130,000. I am definitely not too thrilled about the hotel keeping VND30,000 for doing nothing except sending a staff to flag down a cab passing by which I could have done. That doesn't smack of an honest way of earning money.

An extremely popular restaurant in Muar Shee Yan (Xi Yan Lou)

The day after I came back from Hanoi, I persuaded a reluctant CEB to spend the weekend in Muar because I was craving the fish eggs dish from my favorite restaurant there. 

 And so, after a heart-stopping incident at the Singapore causeway (the first fuel check I'd been subject to in 3 years ), we found ourselves in what my CEB termed, the "boring little town". Although it was the school holidays and the wedding season, we managed to snag the last superior room with a queen bed in Streetview hotel, 1 of the newer hotels in Muar.

RM98 nett bought us a decent room which was cozy, clean and reeking of disinfectant. The sheets were clean and there was cable (ESPN but not HBO or Star Movies). The toilet was spacious and though nothing close to fancy, pretty fine- nothing like a hot shower and a working toilet. Oh, and there was also free wifi in the room so after we checked in and once the curtains were drawn against the blazing sun outside, my CEB engaged in a meaningful relationship with a bag of chips while watching Japanese movies on his netbook.

We wanted to go out for an early dinner but the carpark was so full that it was hard to get my car out. And so we decided to take a walk instead to the nearby shopping area consisting of The Store and Wetex Parade. We couldn't find a cineplex so we ended up buying groceries (more chips for my CEB to devour) and having a pretty sucky early dinner at the Sushi King. I have to say that the shopping in Muar is really dismal - forget high-street fashion or large high-end departmental stores. However, if one is into nightlife reminiscent of that of Singapore's in the 80s, Jalan Ali in Muar has quite a few roadside hawkers that sell "Muar Chee" (pun intended) and other sort of foodstuff.

My CEB wanted to go to Shee Yan only the next day (Sunday) but I wasn't having any of that after having put so much mileage on my car to get to Muar just for my fish eggs. I'd made reservations at 8.15pm (the lady informed me that they closed at 9pm) and although we reached the restaurant early about 7.30pm, the restaurant was so popular, so crowded that we ended up sitting outside on the bench waiting for a table until 8.30pm.

Now, the assam fish is the restaurant's specialty with every table ordering this dish, and the other dishes may appear to be very simple and ordinary like fish (eg stingray in curry powder) otah, fish eggs, squid, prawns etc but believe me, the otah is to die for with bits of prawns and fish inside. And the fried fish eggs, don't even get me started on those...

As you can prob already tell from the pic below, going to the restaurant for dinner wasn't quite enough for me and the next day found us both back at the restaurant's doors at its opening hours (11.30am on Sunday). We thought we would be the first but there were about 3 families seated already. 1 of them made the mistake of being a smart mouth to the aunty behind the food counter when picking his dishes, and when it was my turn and he'd gone off, she told me she would give him the blackest fish eggs. Hah. Never offend those who have a say in what goes pass your lips!

I, on the other hand, enjoyed one of the best fish eggs dishes which had me closing my eyes in sheer ecstasy at the sweetness and fluffiness of the fish eggs. If I could pack away some of the fish eggs, the way I did with the otah, I certainly would have! But because I can't, you can bet that I am going back to this little heaven on earth as many times as I can!

Oh, and on the way back at the Malaysia side of the causeway about 3+pm, there was a Grassland bus trying to cut into the middle lane from the right lane. And the car behind it and in front of me kept applying the horn to force it to move. It didn't. And so this ah beng with badly dyed yellow hair stuck at his head out and yelled "Oy! (Insert Vulgarities)" at the bus, before turning around to look at me and mouthing what appeared to be reassurances that he would get the bus out of the way. And then he turned right back to yelling "Oy oy" at the bus and after a fashion, the bus did move off. And the Ah Beng turned around and gave me the most beatific smile I'd ever seen before putting his dyed head back in the car and going off. I laughed so hard I cried.

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Address of Shee Yan Restaurant (Xi Yan Lou)

30 and 31 Jalan Pesta Baru 1

Pusat Perniagaan Pesta Baru

Jln Bakri 84000 Muar, Johor

Tel: 06-953 9014