Thistle Negatives

Well, I have to be balanced. There are a lot more could be done to improve Thistle. And as a patron, I deserved to voice them up.

My chief gripe was the lack of free broadband services. In 2013, it should be a crime for hotels not giving away free bandwidth to their paying customers. It is a basic necessity. I could understand if this was a budget outlet. We paid good money for the stay and we deserved that. To make matters worse, the rooms were not blessed with the best telco receptions, be it Celcom or DiGi. It was better at the pool - which even there was not equipped with WiFi.

At least there should be free service at the lobby.

Second was the toilet in the room. The shower door was pretty loose, and every time my boys had a shower, the place turned into one big bathtub. The floors were all wet.

TV channels were limited. There were more Singaporean channels than ASTRO. One movie channel. Only ESPN, so no Manchester United. And no channels for the kids! Blimey!

Last but not least, were the lighting. It was really dark at both the living area and bedroom. Since we bought Lego during our trip to Legoland, my boys tried to assemble some of the toys when they got back into the room. Forget it. The grumpy boys had to wait until the next morning. More lights please ......

This would need fixing my friends ......

Goodbye Thistle

I was about to start packing for the return to Kuala Lumpur, but I couldn't resist penning this entry. We actually enjoyed our stay here at Thistle. The room was cosy, the food was good, and the best of all, the staffs were friendly.

Over the years, we always had some issue with hotel staffs treating us local Malaysians as second-class patrons. Maybe we didn't tip them enough. But it tended to be rather obvious.

To start with the staffs here are Malaysians in the majority. So, communications were not an issue. They were also prompt and keen to help, which is always good. Yes, they were not perfect, but not everybody could be perfect - although Marina Bay Sands was damn near that if only they serve Halal food. But I digressed.

They still lack the finer things. For example, not offering us the parking pass despite basking for the vehicle number and where we parked. And not offering seats on the Legoland shuttle despite us checking in with a couple of kids. They still have plenty of room for improvement.

Three things you should try should you checked in here were the pool, the Executive Lounge at Level 15 and Oasis, an Italian-Japanese fusion restaurant by the pool. The pool was great and well-maintained, with separate children area and ample seating. No lifeguards though and the beverage service was pretty slow. The Lounge was quiet and exclusive, service breakfast in the morning and afternoon tea. The scone was a hit. And lastly, Oasis, with the freshly baked pizza at a stone oven at the restaurant, and fresh sashimi. It was a winner. Add to that live music from an acoustic band. Perfect! Good thing that my children loved Italian food.

Definitely I would consider coming back here in the future. My boys definitely loved this place, so that was always a good start.

Leaving Today

Soon, it was time to say goodbye to JB and our lovely hotel room at Thistle. First to wake up as usual, and after checking Van Persie's injury time equally against West Ham last night, I hit the shower and went down for breakfast. A busier morning than the last couple, clearly the hotel was full last night. There was a queue even at 8 in the morning. And a fair few of the guys were in baju batik. There must be a wedding they were attending.

As for me, after the quick breakfast, I hang around by the poolside as not to make any noise to wake up the boys in the room.

Well, had to start putting then stuffs back into the bags then. We would be leaving after lunch, maybe via Johor Premier Outlet as it would be just along the way. Anita wanted to do some shopping I guessed. As for me, I'm already broke .......

Taman Merdeka

On the way to Legoland from Thistle, we passed by a public park right next to the Royal Palace. It was called Taman Merdeka. And with the ample green, we explored it after lunch earlier. It was actually quite nice but could do with better maintenance since the location was superb, and I was sure with a bit of effort, the place could go far.

The lake was filled up with red sands which I was sure was from the surrounding development. There was also an amphitheatre which appeared underutilised. Some of the route had fallen into disrepair, which was a great shame.

At least the children's pool - which appeared recently opened - looked to be frequented and was in good shape. There was quite a crowd there when we arrived, and the families there seemed to be enjoying themselves.

There was also a nice restaurant by the main carpark to the park. We thought about going in, but the boys were already excited about going to Puteri Harbour. There was no stalls by the pool though. The park also seemed like a popular place for the newlyweds having their wedding photos taken. We saw at least three couples there during our stop.

The theme for the park was obviously the Independence but mostly from the Japanese Occupation during the Second World War. There were murals around there, but not much information apart from the token billboard. I wished that the place was given some monetary input to be reinvigorated. A 1% slice from Iskandar's advertising budget would do wonders to the place ....... and possibly would go a long way for the common Rakyat.

Full Day

An exhaustive afternoon actually. The initial plan was to head to Puteri Harbour to see what the indoor theme park had to offer. But we had a stop on the way. We were just curious about a public park we saw on the way to Legoland yesterday, called Taman Merdeka. More about that later.

We ended up arriving at Puteri Harbour by 3, and after fretting about where to park - the parking area was quite well away from the theme park. Puteri Harbour was still in development and not all the attractions were opened yet. In fact, only the theme park was really operational. Even Lat's Place, another attraction was still closed.

Actually, we enjoyed Puteri Harbour more than Legoland to be quite honest. And I would blog about that in length a bit later on. We finally reached the hotel after six, and starving. A quick trip to the lounge and the boys were happy. What's next? Swimming. At 7 pm? Gosh!