Day 2 in Penang on 7 Nov 2010 (Cheong Fatt Sze Mansion)

If there is one thing I am willing to take a bet on, it would be that your stay at Cheong Fatt Sze Mansion (CFSM), otherwise known as the Blue Mansion in Penang, would be one that stands out from the rest of your other hotel stays.

In case you can't make out the words on the picture below, essentially it states that there are daily tours of CFSM at 2 timings (11pm and 1.30pm) which cost RM12/pax (the tours are free for hotel guests) where one is not allowed to take photos, and that there is the choice of having a homestay at CFSM (it is not mentioned but you might want to note that the rate for the rooms is either RM350 or 450 depending on the room). There is also a disclaimer at the bottom which one might want to take note of.

Well as I had said in my earlier post, we hadn't planned on staying in CFSM at all. However, my CEB who has since heartily regretted his decision, agreed to us spending a night here without even looking at the 1 of the 16 rooms in CFSM which was still unoccupied. I didn't have any violent objections to his decision (Save that it would have been nice if he had asked me b4 agreeing) because I was rather intrigued by the rich heritiage of CFSM.

Once one steps through the front doors in the above picture, to the right is this spacious dining area which upon closer inspection, is really quite meant for display. The intricate inlay of silver leaves in the woodwork makes one feel quite intimidated at the thought of sullying such beauty with one's posterior and belongings. Note the beautiful glass-stained windows and the fengshui-inspired openings above the windows which are shaped like ancient taels (money).

And to the front, or rather about 5 metres to the front past a round table and the holding area is this screen door with yet another beautiful expensive-looking furniture piece. According to the tour guide (we went on a guided tour), if one was a mere acquaintance or business partner, one would not be allowed past the screen door which opens to the courtyard and the rooms.

Finally to the left is yet another area which looks like the reception area for guests to register but really isn't. The reception area is through the door on the right of the picture

And looks like this - this is where the hotel's only computer (and meant for staff) and a rack meant for one to hang up one's ancient looking room key is. There is also a router meant to give wireless access to the mansion but be warned that the wireless signal in the room is v v weak.

So, the room. The only room available was the Chang Yu room. The first thing that caught my eye were the mosquito nets - when I jokingly mentioned that these probably were dusty from lack of use, the hotel staff was silent. In the night, I found out why and thanked heaven that I had a huge can of mosquito repellent with me because the mosquito net was hardly enough to keep away the mosquitoes! My CEB who had refused to use the net over his bed ended up crawling into my bed in the middle of the night because of the many mosquitos, the cold and other reason.
Ok, don't get me wrong - the other reason has to do with the strong sense of unease he felt (think spirits) in CFSM. To be honest, we have stayed in some pretty crummy places before during our adventures together but till today, he cites CFSM as the worst place he has stayed in. On the other hand, I was so charmed by CFSM after this stay (despite the mosquitos) that I even queried about being able to do our wedding photoshoot here in January. I guess this is something that isn't ever going to materialise given my CEB's aversion to the place. Oh well. And if u must know, he has told me to stick to booking standard business hotels for future holidays.

Oh well. If you like details, symbolism and have an appreciation of heritiage and beauty, CFSM is still the place to stay at (Despite the lousy breakfast spread and slightly smug attitude of the male staff here) Look at the intricacy of the railings of the second floor in the pic above. The pic below shows one of the large function rooms on the second floor too. Apparently, the entire place (not just the room) can be booked for a private event.

Below is a picture of the balcony outside the doors of the room above. Those are actually 3D hand-painted carvings and not just stickers or posters above each archway. Each carving is different and breathtakingly exquisite and detailed in its depiction of both people and objects. I would draw your attention too to the mosiac on the floor. Apparently each tile features 8 petals or 8 something. This mansion is big on the number 8, like there are 8 rooms in each wing of the mansion, and there are 8 pillars (instead of 4 which would have been sufficient) in the courtyard.

Eight of course is one of the lucky numbers for Chinese and for CFS whom this mansion is named after, fengshui is such a huge thing for him that it isn't just the house which is themed around the number 8. He apparently died leaving 8 official wives and 16 children. But I digress. Anyway, from the balcony, one is able to see to the opposite side of the road which the mansion faces (this balcony is above the doors of the entrance). The 5 houses there were built by CFS too because he was terrified that someone would buy the plot of the land opposite his fengshui-themed mansion and construct a building that would be inauspicious or otherwise affect the "qi" of CFSM.

And so. With that I conclude the review of our stay at CFSM. Since my CEB and I have such vastly differing views on our stay here, I have decided to refrain from rating this place but to encourage all who visit Penang and want to come away with an unforgettable experience, to book 1 of the 16 rooms here for a night's stay (do not forget the repellant)

And if one is into pussies as I am, CFSM has the most lazy and adorable looking house cat that lounges on one of the steel benches near the rooms all day. Be warned that one should can only access the pussy and the rooms if one is a guest of the house - pussy and the rooms are off limits to those on the guided tours!

Day 1 in Penang on 6 Nov 2010 (Yeng Keng Hotel)

Just when I thought I'd seen it all given the extensive amount of travelling I had to do , I was proved wrong (yet again). For the first time (and hopefully last), we were told by a most apologetic lady boss that her hotel was overbooked despite their giving us a written email confirmation that a room had been reserved for us for the 2 nights we were in Penang. She said she was glad we didn't lose our temper or behave unreasonably as some guests would have upon being told they didn't have a room. I didn't tell her that experience and common sense has taught me that being nasty is always the last resort and 99% of the time, unnecessary. I understood that she was sorry this happened, I empathized with her the difficulty of running a hotel and human failure, but what I needed to hear was how she was going to fix the situation. And yelling at her or the staff would not motivate them to fix it in the best way for us.

She offered us the choices of staying at Traders Hotel or Cheong Fatt Sze Mansion (which I shall write about in the next entry). The hotel manager Jacky would fetch us to the hotel and back to Yeng Keng the following day. I didn't want to stay at Traders because if I had booked the hotel on my own, I would have gotten GC points. Besides, I'd read about it being a little run down. So anyway, after one most unforgettable night at CFSM, Jacky picked us up the following day after breakfast and brought us back to Yeng Keng Hotel. Below shows the entrance of Yeng Keng Hotel - it is a most beautifully restored hotel centrally located and within walking distance of all the famous eating places in Penang.

Below shows the common area of the second floor of the hotel which I thought was done up most tastefully so as to be well-decorated yet not cluttered. And yes, the chandelier is really something.

Because of the mix-up, the lady boss had arranged for us to be given the garden suite. The price difference between the garden suite and normal room is about RM50 (excluding tax) and I am not quite sure what the differences are save that Jacky told us that the garden suite had a private living room area. Per the picture below, while it is a nice touch, having a sofa area outside the blessed coolness of the air-conditioned room means that hardly anyone will use the settee if at all.

Below is a picture of the inside of our suite - I think the room should have been named Green Suite because a garden isn't well, necessarily always green. The Slog Reviews: 8/10 for cleanliness and comfort. I read on trip advisor that the rooms in Yeng Keng can be rather smallish but the garden suite is good-sized, comes with a safe, and fairly decent bathroom (no bath tub). Toiletries provided are basic so one is advised to bring one's own toiletries.

I've taken another picture of the back of the hotel which shows off the beautiful artwork in the hotel as well as the clean spacious layout of the rooms and hotel in general.

The backdoor also leads to the hotel's swimming pool which we observed to be deserted no matter what time of the day it was - the sun is scorchingly hot in Penang!

The hotel serves buffet breakfast and despite it being a boutique hotel, I have to say that compared to CFSM, it does a marvelous job of serving a decent yet tasty spread. The Nasi Lemak was so good that my CEB had 2 packets of that! I also rather liked the noodles and western spread of bread and cereal.

However, what really stood out was the provision of the local nyonya kueh by the hotel as part of its breakfast spread! It reflects the thought and commitment by the owners in ensuring that Yeng Keng Hotel reflects the rich nyonya heritage in Penang.

The Slog Reviews: 8/10. Although the hotel did mess up the reservation, the sincerity and readiness of the owners and the office manager (Jacky) to take responsibility and make good the mistake pretty much won us over. On its own merits, the hotel is centrally located along Chulia Street where the good food is, and is a refreshing change from the usual modern business hotels. This hotels isn't ranked #1 of all the hotels in Georgetown on Tripadvisor for no reason.

Day 1 in Penang on 6 Nov 2010 (Mixed meat at Chulia Street)

Because I had been to Langkawi b4, I was in charge of planning our time there and because my CEB had been to Penang b4 (he would tell you it was a long time ago), he was in charge of planning the couple of days we had there. However, because I made the unfortunate mistake of disclosing to him that a friend of mine (who is from Penang and was home on a break) was kind enough to volunteer to take us around, my CEB did his research (all of 30mins at that!) at the very last minute and our time in Penang was most eventful indeed after we touched down about 10.30am from Langkawi.

First, courtesy of my CEB wanting to put the results of his research to good use, we took a bus (no, I am not kidding) from the airport to Komtar which took us about 45mins (no traffic jams). The bus was packed and we had to stand most of the way. With our luggage. Now if that was not bad enough, my CEB insisted that we take the free public bus (yet another "gem" he had unearthed in his research) from Komtar to the hotel. Instead of a taxi which would have cost less than RM10 based on the map that we had. Because I had (most regrettably) entrusted the entire Penang leg of our trip to him, I had no choice but to keep reminding myself of that fact and hold my tongue. So, we waited half hour (standing of cos) at Komtar for the public bus which was of course packed with those who could not afford private or paid transport. And the public bus dropped us a distance from our hotel which we had difficulties locating...because, I guess my CEB forgot to Google Earth that bit. Ended up relying on directions from kind hearted strangers (some of which were wrong) and having to drag our luggage in the blazing (man, was it blazing!) sun trying to find the hotel.

And when we finally did, we could not check in because they told us the room was not ready at 1pm. So we left our bags with them and went for lunch at this place they recommended as one of the places to eat at Chulia Street - just two shops down from Yeng Keng Hotel on its left (left if one is walking out from the hotel).

And indeed the coffeeshop was very packed with meat-loving tourists and locals (more locals than tourists). Although the food did take some time to arrive (the people standing around are waiting to get theirs packed), when it finally did, I was all of "Huh? Why would anyone queue much less wait for so long for this?" The Slog Reviews: 7/10. The dish of mixed meat was not oily despite its high fat content. The roasted meat was also tender and fresh but nothing quite exceptional to justify the long queues. Also, the portion which we had ordered (For 2 of us) was really just enough to fill one person's empty belly and we were served soup which we had not ordered either. The damage was minimal - less than RM20 for the 2 of us but I would not recommend going to this place with an empty stomach or if one has limited time in Penang.