Friday, January 16, 2009

An escape

I love hotels.

It must be a continuum of when we were younger, whenever we went for holidays, we would always look forward to having baths in the tubs. Back in those times, I remembered that most hotels we stayed in had bath tubs. Of course, shower cubicles are more practical and safer but there is just something about having a quiet undisturbed soak in a tub that spells bliss for me.

Even now, there's nothing more ideal than booking a night or two in a hotel room even though the hotel is just a mere 40km from the house. Ideal, because it doesn't entail a five hour drive, and because of the distance, Abg and I get to spend a nice relaxing morning enjoying the breakfast buffet and then maybe go for a leisurely morning shopping trip.

My friends thinks I'm nuts, but one of my favourite weekend thing is to just book a room at the Renaissance Hotel in KB and just laze around. I swear they have the best pillows. There are about 7 of them on the king sized plush bed and all are equally wonderful, sometimes I am just tempted to sneak one of the square shaped ones home.



This picture was taken at the lobby of the now infamous hotel of Batu Pahat, Hotel Katerina. Abg and I were having one of our roadtrips last year, or maybe it was the year before that, where we drove south and stayed at different locations every night.



I thought the lobby was a misrepresentation of the rooms; they were nowhere as nice as this staircase had me imagine, but it was comfortable and served its purpose.







These were taken from Equatorial Melaka. Tastefully decorated with a lot of wood furniture. I liked the tv cabinet and the view was awesome.





I think the views that you get from your hotel room play a huge part in how I choose where to stay too. These two pictures below were taken from Somerset Gateway, an apartment-type accommodation in Kuching. Forgot to take pictures of the apartment itself but loved the decor and cosiness of the whole set up.





Talking about views, if you're ever planning to stay in a hotel, finances permitting, the sea view will most likely be more pleasing to the eye than a garden or town view. Check out this fantastic sunset we got from the hotel we stayed in Kuala Perlis.



Lately there is a trend for no-frills or Boutech, as they sometimes call it, hotels. Travellers who are just looking for somewhere comfy to stay might look at these hotels as an alternative. When we went to KK in 2007, we stayed in Radius International, a no frills hotel located on a shopping mall and across another shopping mall. Bliss.


Tiny room, but worth the rate we paid. If you pull up the blinds in the bathroom, you can actually see right into the bedroom and of course vice versa.


Cool tv - barely 3 feet away from the end of the bed.


A little different, having orange on the wall, but it worked.


We spent about 10 minutes figuring out this shower contraption.

KK has to be one of our top holiday destination in Malaysia. While we were there, we rented a car and made our way to Kundasang, a small quiet highland town famed for the National Park and gorgeous views of Mount Kinabalu.





The rooms were basic, but comfy and clean. We had the pick of one of the nicest rooms there as we went during the non peak times. The quietness of the surroundings gave us an opportunity to really sit down and talk, something that sometimes Abg and I neglect to do in going through the routine of it all.



and with a view like this, need I even say more?

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