Tuesday, June 22, 2010

On the road again.....

Yup! I am on the road again, this time to Ipoh and Kedah.

I have written about my Ipoh trip that coincided with my birthday on the 8th on June and the dinner I had with Janet, but I did not get to show photos of the hotel where I stayed in.

While in Ipoh, I stayed at Impiana, or formerly known as Casuarina. It is said to be a 4-star hotel, but I heard many complaints from my colleagues who stayed at the hotel with regards to their service, and the hotel room itself. A friend of mine had her costume jewellery stolen while we were there.

I was told that the hotel had gone through some major renovation, but still the room did not actually look like it was newly renovated, especially the bathrooms. My complain was the food served for breakfast. They had served bread, yet there was no toaster and the Sambal Ikan Bilis was so salty and dry like it was re-cooked over and over again over many days and served to us over and over again throughout the 3 days that we were there.

I am glad that the lunch served was nice that some of us even helped ourselves to seconds.

I would only stay again at Impiana only because it is the only decent hotel in Ipoh. I was told that the others are far worse. But, we might just be trying out The Heritage Hotel when we go to Ipoh again next month for NNC’s July Stitching Bee and my hubby’s 10km run. I just hope that it will be a better hotel, but already I have read a few bad comments on the hotel online. So? Hmmm.......

Anyway, last week, I was on the road again, this time to Penang and Kedah. I took a flight into Penang on the 16th of June so that I can visit some of my project sites before heading to Kedah for a function, but not before we dived into some juicy and yummy durian! *grin*


I visited 3 projects in Penang, and then drove to Alor Setar to visit another project site before I checked into Holiday Villa.


Wow! This hotel is lovely despite it being quite old. The bellboy told me that it had just refurbished a few months ago, and it was obvious that it had gone through some major renovation.

I really liked the hotel room, though the view from the room wasn’t so great. LOL! *grin*


After waking up at 4.30am to catch a 7.30am flight and visiting 4 project sites, followed by a discussion after dinner, I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillows. The room being so cosy just made my sleep much more comfortable, as I sometimes suffer from insomnia when travelling and would get up at 3.00 or 4.00 am and not being able to sleep again until it’s time to get up! LOL!

The next morning I attended a function to officiate an orphanage by His Royal Highness the Sultan of Kedah.


I would have taken a photo of when the Sultan was already seated during the ceremony, only that at the last minute, the protocol officer made me sit right across from the Sultan throughout the function. So, I had to sit prim and proper and definitely taking a photo of the Sultan when you are just seated right in front of him is a big No No and against protocol! LOL!

Seen here are some of the female orphans from the orphanage preparing to sing in the function while waiting for the Sultan to arrive.


I was also invited to have lunch with him, and again I could not snap a photo. I should have handed my camera over to a junior officer, but it slipped my mind to do it until I was already seated in front of the Sultan! LOL!


Having lunch with the Sultan was a very big honour but at the same time, I had to eat ever so prim and proper that I left the function feeling very hungry! LOL!

When I dropped by Pekan Rabu to buy snacks to take back to Kuala Lumpur, I bought myself a packet of fresh bahulu to eat while waiting for my flight as the airport in Alor Setar has no Golden Lounge and the snack counter has yet to operate.

I had actually planned on meeting up with Radha while I was in Alor Setar, but our timing was out. Radha was busy at work when I arrived in Alor Setar on the 16th of June, and on the 17th of June, I had to rush to the airport to catch my 3.20pm flight after the function. Radha was still at work and by the time she got off work, I had already arrived in Kuala Lumpur! LOL!

Maybe another time when I am in Kedah again.

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