Summit Parkview, Yangon

I'm back in Yangon and this time, instead of Novotel Max, I was put up for a night at Summit Parkview. It was an okay hotel from the outside, slightly smaller and less impressive than Novotel but once inside, it looks great.

As it is a smaller hotel, it only has six floors. My room on the topmost floor has a view of the whimsical clock tower at Mahagandalo Street in the distance.

My room was quite pleasant with a good-sized sofa and plenty of pillows on the king bed. Mattress was a little lumpy but I was too tired to mind much. I would say it was a good place to stay as it's walking distance to Shwedagon Pagoda. They have free wifi and even a welcome drink!

I love their bottles of toiletries but looks aside, they are quite hard to flow out and the quantity was too little for more than two showers!

Only one restaurant in the hotel though. It's good enough if the price is right for visiting the city. There's a whole row of restaurants nearby down the road so I guess options for food are aplenty. However, during my stay the hot water in the shower was quite problematic. It was hot for a while but slowly became cold and no matter which way you turn the shower knob, it did not stay at the same temperature. I found this very annoying as I did not relish having cold showers early in the morning.

Jambuluwok Malioboro Hotel, Jogjakarta

It was not the most convenient hotel around despite its name, as the real Malioboro Street was quite a distance away. Radius-wise, it IS near but the walkable or usable roads to that infamous street will take you on quite a long walk especially in the sweltering heat of Indonesia.

The room we got was a twin bed so I guess there's plenty more space for us! LOL. The bed however was not the best and it was not as clean as I would like.

Granted, the amenities were there so I guess it's a so-so hotel if you asked me. The hotel rate wasn't that cheap either and ours did not even come with the complementary breakfast.
As a consolation, there's complimentary infused water at the lobby and you can watch some traditional instrument playing in the evening. However, my in laws had the misfortune of drinking the flavoured water when the fruits inside were already bad so it was quite a bad experience for them. LOL. Otherwise, the water is quite refreshing to have after walking around town under the sun!
There's an alright view from outside our room's corridor as well.

West Plaza Hotel, Palau Micronesia

This is probably one of the least comfortable hotel I have been to. Located at a back alley, it is slightly hidden and could only be discerned when near to it. The only thing I objected to most is the lack of free internet in this republic. The hotel charges USD5 for 4 hours and it could only be used in the lobby! Drinking water is NOT available and have to be purchased from the lobby for USD1 per small bottle.

The room looks quite rickety with its old iron-backed chair and rattan furniture. The only positive note would probably be I have two beds in the room: a queen and a single. The shower head is problematic and water pressure is ridiculously low. The cleanliness of the room and amenities left a lot to be desired as well.

Novotel Max Yangon, Myanmar

My stay here for 5 days 4 nights was quite comfortable, despite suffering from a bout of food poisoning from home. The standard room I had was complete with a fluffy albeit a little tall king-sized bed and house-keeping was prompt so it was an enjoyable experience. The room was quite spacious too! I guess the only complaint I have is probably the lack of view but as it's the basic room, I guess views come
at a different price.

Overall, the service was good even though there was quite a bit of misunderstanding as not all their staff understood English. They were very accommodating despite all that and would try their best to help.
The hotel is not located in the city itself so taking a cab to town would be advisable as it's not very expensive to do so. Fare can be haggled to about 2000-3000kyat per car.

Nevertheless, there is a small-ish mall located nearby where groceries or basic toiletries can be purchased. When I was there, they were preparing for the Chinese New Year celebration so lion dance practice was going on outside the mall.

I tried most of their restaurants except the French and my favourite would probably be their Japanese (even though I felt labelling it Korean would be more appropriate after looking at their menu). More on their restaurants in my next post...

Little Saigon Boutique Hotel, Ho Chi Minh

My husband and I stayed at this hotel for about 5 nights during our trip to Ho Chi Minh this month and I guess it was an alright stay for MYR130/night. I felt it was slightly overpriced from all the "positive" comments it received from TripAdvisor.

The quaint hotel looked rather unique from the outside. They have strands of vines decorating the entrance and the lobby is actually a flight of stairs above this front entryway. Located behind a small alleyway, please expect to walk a little from the main road as cars could not access this hotel.

For the price, especially for a small-scale hotel, I was expecting something a little bigger. It was a really tight room for two of us. Not much room is available to move around and my small hand carry luggage could not be opened properly too. 

Lol. Check out Hubby's happy pose!

On a positive note, the room was relatively clean and it was not an uncomfortable stay. I would prefer it to be cheaper so if you can get the promotion on Agoda for anything less than MYR, I felt it would be a good choice as it was quite convenient to get to most attractions in District 1.

PS: There is a shopping centre for cheap clothes where locals go to: Taka Plaza right next to the hotel. Cheap clothings could be bought with a little bargaining. 

Little Saigon Boutique Hotel

36 Bis/2, Le Loi Boulevard, Bến Thành, Quận 1, Hồ Chí Minh, Vietnam

Novotel Ningaloo Resort Hotel, Exmouth, Australia

Last February I went to Exmouth for work and stayed in the Novotel twice. It is a very small town in rural Australia where the main attraction is either for their port or the whale shark. The town can be explored within a few hours unless you participate in some of their famous dives. The hotel provides free shuttle to town every hour so just let the receptionist know your plans and they will arrange the transportation accordingly.

The first time around they were out of the usual standard rooms so I got a free upgrade to their Superior. It was quite nice as they have a cool bathtube right in front of my room and it was a pool-view room too. The only negative about this hotel would probably be their lack of escalators and lift as well as the distance between the lobby and their rooms. I had to lug my luggage up the two flights of staircase on both visits and it was not very pleasant. 

Mattress was comfortable although they seemed to be a combo of TWO single mattresses. Hmm..

The room was relatively clean although I found hairs and stuff in the corners of their bathroom. @@

Overall, I would say their standard room is pretty similar to the Superior or Deluxe aside from the size of the room and also the availability of the bathtub. They have free laundry services as the washing machines and dryer are located just outside most rooms but it is all self-service.

I would say, asking for a room nearest to the lobby or on a ground floor is a smart move if you are planning to stay here as you would save on the distance you have to lug your heavy luggage around. Wifi is also restricted to the first 30 minutes or 50mb whichever comes first but there is a free computer which can be used for free to surf the net.

Check out their exquisite mineral water bottle! I love the whale shark logo, do you?

The Esplanade Motel, Lake Entrance

When you are staying nearby a place that looks like this:

The room you are staying in has to be pretty good to keep you inside. 

Please ignore all our stuff. It was a long day!~

The room had all the basic amenities like microwave, fridge, kettle, etc. Extra blankets and pillows were available too! 

The whole room was clean and comfortable. Definitely another top-notch motel and worth every cent in my opinion.

Best of all, they are right at the Main Street in Lakes' Entrance and good food are all nearby. Good location and great room, perfect wouldn't you say?

They are located at;

251 Esplanade,

Lakes Entrance

3909 Victoria.

Wangaratta North Family Motel, A Review

This hotel was so comfortable that I wished we were there for more than a night! The amenities were amazing and if not for their name, you wouldn't even know this is not a hotel. 

Our room for an extra bed because the smaller rooms were all fully booked. Even so, the beds were comfy and pillows plush. Heaters for beds were available too!

The bathroom was a tad on the small side but aside from that, no complaints. Oh and somehow motels do not provide syampoo or body syampoo; only soaps. Just so you know.

The room comes with a complete set of toaster, microwave oven, kettle, fridge and so on. Detergent for washing up the plates and dishes were available too! You would not even realised that this motel room is actually made out of old containers! Amazing! Definitely worth a stay if you want to stay in the Wangaratta area. 

KK Times Square Hotel, Kota Kinabalu

I was not overly impressed with the quality as well as the service of this hotel especially in terms of their booking efficiency and also the attitude of their reception. I made a booking on Agoda for two King bed suites with requests on non-smoking rooms. Upon arrival, I found that they only blocked up ONE room for me and could not give me two rooms despite being their mistake of messing up my booking. I ended up in one of the smoking rooms while the rest of us got the non-smoking room. 

It was alright in the room but the mattresses were not very comfortable being pretty hard on our backs. The comparison between both rooms (level 3 and 3a) was quite vast and I was really annoyed with the "no big deal" attitude. 

Rooms looked amazing from photos though. ;) the only advantage of taking the rooms here is their close proximity to the Imago Mall. Oh and taking a cab from the airport would cost you about RM30 using Airport taxi and about RM21-23 using MYTEKSI application.

Raintr33 Hotel, Singapore - A Review

Never had a hotel I googled before I stayed in yielded such sensational results. LOL. It was my first time being booked into this hotel in the heart of Changi Village so I decided to google the address and such. Before I even got there, the top googled results seemed to showcase its hauntedness. Top 10 Haunted Hotels in Singapore to ML in? Seriously? 

The only consolation I had was the room looked good from its picture and sure enough, when I reached, the room I got (Maple) was really nice. My only grip was that the wash basin was located in the balcony -.-"" As if the horror stories wasn't bad enough, I had to go out in the night to brush my teeth before I sleep. Needless to stay, my teeth brushing in the night was happily cancelled. :P

The bed was really plush and comfortable. I saw some of my colleagues' rooms which was the normal room and they were not as nice. It was pretty strange because our company definitely booked us the Maple suit but most of them were given the standard room (I forgot the name they gave) instead. The four cushy pillows given together with my King size bed made me sleep like a babe!

The size of the room was really big for the Maple and facilities pretty new. Their tea and coffee facilities were hidden off the main door in a side cabinet. I missed that until the second day, wondering why were there no kettle provided. LOL. The flat screen TV came with a limited choices in terms of channel selection but internet was pretty fast so no problem streaming movies online instead. 

Bathroom was pretty big as well with a clear screen so you can look into your own room or even watch some TV while you bath. :P They did not clean my bathroom daily though so I guess cleanliness was not their top priority. Also, I found ants (the little red ones) in my bed crawling all over the place on my second and third night. I asked my colleagues and they had the same problem. Hmmm. I did NOT eat in my room for all of those night.

Here's the wash basin. It looked good in the day especially with the swing but could be a little creepy at night. Oh my room overlooked the forest? or some park...so you get the idea...

Best thing about this hotel in all of the hotels I have stayed in so far: They give you a FREE Samsung phone for free internet and free international/domestic calls to bring out of the hotel to use. No limits!

Would you stay here? Sure, it was believed to be haunted and the corridor can be a little reminiscence of the asylum movie's corridors but the bed was comfy if you ignore the wash basin and the ants problem. You get free phone to use and the rates are pretty cheap in comparison with some other hotels in Singapore. A little out of the town but Changi Village is quite appealing on its own...

PS: Laundry takes about 2-3 days to be done so be wary when sending your laundry. Also, they use an outside laundry service and I felt a little indignant because I left my Ezylink card in my jeans' pocket and despite calling for many times to their receptionist and ending up calling their restaurant (their receptionist phone was engaged for nearly 2 hours!!!) and quering about it many times, when my laundry came back my card was not there. And the receptionist say if it's not there, then they couldn't do a thing about it. Grr! I know it's my carelessness but the difficulty in calling their reception and the attitude of some of the staff is quite frustrating.

Raintr33 Hotel Singapore

33 Hendon Road Singapore 509673

T. +65 6653 3833

F. +65 6635 2833

E. reservations@raintr33hotel.com