The Cool Room

So, then pool was the main attraction to the chalet. But the room as a whole was not bad either. It had a couple of queen-sized bed - enough for all of us without me needing to sleep on the couch. It had all the TV channels - the football was on, but only one Disney channel for the boys. My boys were fascinated by a couple of things about the room.

First was the fact that there was a hole right in the middle of the room floor overseeing into the sea below. They could see the gentle waves coming. And the natural light from there lighting up the room.

The sitting area where we had dinner indoorsThe room from the kitchenetteThe pool at nightThe second was the ornamental lighting in the room. The tables and side desk seemed to glow from the inside. These were part of the room decorations, and plus the LED downlights by the kitchenette, it created a nice aura in the evening. Which explained why it took them past midnight before they finally settled down to sleep.

Free WiFi was included - not exactly blazing fast but adequate. It also has a kitchenette complete with microwave and freezer, plus a seating area for drinking both inside and by the pool. It seemed that even though the resort provided restaurants and took service, they understood that many of the patron there would be bringing in family. Therefore, catering food for everybody may not be possible, and it was OK to bring in some food and use the microwave and kitchenette, as well as the plates and to prepare them. It suited us fine, even though we tended to go for room service. Next time, should we arrived earlier, we may venture into town to visit the pasar malam. We then might bring in some food.

The cosy kitchenette The ornamental lightingWorkout .... anyone?The most important book in the room .... that's where the menu wasThere were a couple of showers at the room. One in the toilet - which was pretty big size-wise and another next to the pool. The pressure and hot water was good, hence should the pool be too cold, we just hit the shower.

Room service, although pretty basic menu-wise was actually better than we expected. The service was also pretty quick, and the main thing was, they got all the orders right, which was a challenge to some other resort this size usually. I ordered a sirloin for dinner last night and it ended up in Idlan's tummy. It was that succulent. My salad was fine as well. Anita's 1Malaysia Fried Rice was a disappointment. Irfan ordered pizza which was nice. It was home made and was still piping hot when it arrived at our door.

I tended to judge the quality of the food by how nice the evening hot chocolate was. Unfortunately, Lexis do not have that on the menu. Sigh! Even Idlan knew I was disappointed.

From the pool peering out

The cool room set us back quite a bit. We also paid form the room from my own pocket this time - last time we came here as part of a weekend event by a Pharmaceutical company. The price was not fixed and it fluctuate depending on the time of year. It was "medium"-priced according to the booking officer when we signed up. So, I would expect to pay more during school holidays and festivities.

Slideshow for the whole stay here

The Cool Pool

The hotel used to be called Legend Water Chalet. We once stayed at the apartment - which still has an indoor swimming pool in the room. Form this trip, we picked the chalet on the sea instead. A slight difference although in terms of comfort, they were comparable.

The room we had was one of the bigger ones, a ground floor unit, halfway to the sea. From what I could remember, it may be slightly longer than the apartment, but narrower. Being in the sea, we were charged premium for it of course. But the indoor swimming pool more than made up for that.

As I mentioned, we arrived at PD late. An hour before we arrived, the hotel reception called us to confirm if we had changed our minds. Then late arrival also meant that we did not have to queue at the front desk. Since we booked in agreed of time, all they needed was my signature. By the time that was done, a buggy was already waiting for us to intake us to our chalet.

Off came the clothes and the boys were already in the pool in double quick time. 4 feet deep. No problem for Idlan, but Irfan had to tip toe as the water level was at his chin. That didn't deter them a bit, even though the water was freezing ......

Anita then ordered some snacks and drinks, and they enjoyed that while still dipped in the pool, splashes everywhere.

There was also an outdoor shower next to then pool which was convenient since we wanted then to dry up before getting back into the room. And the room was something else .......

The slideshow for the weekend is here

The Drive Down

I arrived home from my clinic at 2 pm to learn that our immediate neighbour passed away after a recent battle with cancer. Anita visited the widow earlier, but the body was still on the way from the hospital via the mosque. Anita was occupied the whole morning before making preparations for the drive down to Port Dickson.

We finally got things in order to leave after 3 pm. Fearing the traffic, we decided to detour via KLIA, down to the town of Sepang which would be only be about half an hour away from PD. Unfortunately, here was where my plans went to pots.

The route was jammed up due to some some construction works. And after 45 minutes, driving along a 3 km stretch, we had enough and turned back, via Bandar Enstek towards Labu. The turn added an extra hour to the journey, and we managed to finally check in at around quarter past 6.

I was worried that we would get delayed further, as even the second route we took also had some construction going on. If not form that, I was sure that we would have been able to reach PD earlier. This was not helped by the fact that all the traffic lights were red when we got by.

And of course, off went their clothes as the first order of business was to head straight into the pool. Splash away!

They finally emerged out of the freezing water at around 8, when it was already dark outside. Room service came next, and the boys spent the rest of the evening holed up in the cosy hotel room, watching TV, and tucked into their beds playing their iPads.

Rumour has it that they wanted to get up early tomorrow morning to have another dip.

Slideshow of the stay here

Legend International Water Homes, PD

When I say Legend, I mean The Legend International Water Homes, a new hotel right next to Legend Water Chalet which I was sure was under the same management. I was invited to attend a weekend talk there a couple of weekends back and brought the boys around on tow. We were put up at the Water Homes, on the 7^th floor. Puan Anita was initially disappointed as she was hoping to get a chalet rather than an apartment, but her disappointment soon evaporated when she saw the room interior.

The room was huge, the size of probably a flat in KL. We had the main bedroom, which had 2 queens bed, with ample space to walk around. You walk in, through a small kitchenette and then a dressing area and the bathroom. The width of the room alone was around 20 yards. You then exit through a door by the bedroom, into a swimming pool. Yes, an indoor swimming pool - not just an oversized bath - but a proper one, and it was for our unit alone. Amazing!

Behind the pool, there was an outdoor shower in the private courtyard, with plants and a great view of sunset in late evening. What more can you ask? Well a good in-room dining for a start, but more about that. First order of business as soon as we checked-in was to jump into the pool. Wohoo! The boys were super excited. Unfortunately, I can only join them for half an hour as my talk was about to start. They stayed on a bit longer.

We returned to the pool later that afternoon after my talk. All in, goggles on, life buoy on tow, everybody in! The depth was only 4 feet, but it was still too deep for the two of them. I managed to teach them how to peddle with the buoy, making my job babysitting them that much easier. While we were having a dip, Anita ordered room service. The service was prompt, but unfortunately the food was not that good.

Didn't take much to mess the room upI then enjoyed an outdoor shower in the sunset, but while turning the water off, I damaged the tap. Oh dear! A quick phonecall to reception and the plumber was in within 10 minutes and the thing got fixed straight away. That was excellent! I had to go out for dinner that evening, leaving the boys and Puan Anita to again order in. This time, they decided to order Western - the boys had some tomato mozzarella pizza. It turned out that the chef there was more inept at preparing Western food rather than local, so bear that in mind the next time anyone visits the place. I had a barbecue dinner on the 9^th floor - which was the rooftop. It was OK, great company, but as the company which invited us started with a show - asking for audience participation, the hall quickly emptied!

Armed and dangerous

Another plus point for the place was free internet. And it was proper internet, not just snail-paced connection. I was downloading at speeds exceeding 100kb/s. Very decent! The TV channels were also very good. They had all the major sports channels as well as movies and Disney’s - I can watch United that evening, but alas I was too tired and fallen asleep. The beds were very comfortable and the lighting in the pool was very soothing at night. We slept well, and woke up late for breakfast.

Breakfast was another surprise. It was very good. They had a decent buffet selection, and the omelet was very well made. They had children in mind with the selection of cereals and tit bits. We spend nearly an hour down there.

All in all, it was a decent resort and we enjoyed the stay. I made a few inquiry and apparently the cost for the room we had was around RM500 which I thought was very reasonable, considering you would have to pay more than that for a smaller room at Avilion, close by. And that room does not have an in-room swimming pool. There were many pluses - free Internet, decent breakfast spread, friendly staff - they actually referred me as Dr Haris after finding out my room number, great maintenance when we called for the plumber, and decent selection of TV channels. It was not often that I get to watch my beloved United playing in the room when I room in a hotel.

As far as the minus goes, they could do with a few extra lifts. The couple of guest lifts doubled as porter lifts as well. I decided on a few occasion to take the stairs rather than using the lifts. The in-door dining could have been better and if you must order, make sure that you order Western.

Would I recommend the hotel to anybody - yes, definitely. In fact we were actually planning to return there at some point and we would not mind paying for the room. It appeals to small family and to be honest, I could have shared the room with my sister and her family if we wanted to as the room were big enough. Carry yourself a couple of sleeping bags and you are done! The hotel is situated to the north of the town centre and was very well sign-posted. You can’t miss it!