Kurhaus Cademario Resort

I didn't realise that the sponsor put is up at a spa hotel on top of the hill for our Lugano trip. According to them, all the other hotels were fully booked and those who still had rooms couldn't accomodate the ten of us. But the problem with this arrangement was the travelling to and from the hotel to the town centre. It took us 40 minutes on the bus and the bus only left hourly. For other tines, we had to arrange alternative transport.

Being a spa hotel, the Kurhaus Cademario offer great food and comfortable room. No room service though. But due to our packed schedule we were not able to enjoy any of the spa services on offer. But from what I could see, the place was only recently renovated, and the outdoor pool were still being built.

Breakfast viewThe room was cosy and practicalThe bed was really nice ....Let's start with the room. They were fully airconditioned, and equipped with blazing fast internet. There were flat screen TV with limited number of English channels. The toilet and showers were very comfortable. There were no bath tubs. But the best thing about the room must be the lake view verandah which was accessable from room, occupying the length of the room. There were deck chairs outside, but unfortunately it was nearly dark by the time we reached our room every night. I wished that I had a full Fay just to enjoy all that.

There was a sofa chair, and a separate writing table. Coupled with the fast internet, one could really get some work done here if they really wanted to.

The lobby was warm and cosy, laid out with books and sofa. There were at least three separate eating area, not counting the function rooms. Our favourite restaurant was the main one where we had our breakfast every morning. It had a cosy verandah overlooking the valley and lake. We could hear the birds singing there, as well as the church bell every 15 minutes. Shame that one could also hear the occasional rumble of aircrafts taking off from a small airstrip down in the valley. Not too often though and was certainly not a problem in the rooms.

As for the food, they were not too bad. The specialty here was the minestrone, a kind of vegetable broth. With some croutons parmesan, it tasted amazing. I had some fish on the couple of occasions I was there, and I enjoyed it.

I could imagine sitting in the lobby having a sip of cocoa in front if the fireplace during winter, with the snow outside.

From my balconyA bit of afternoon drinksCosy lobby areaFrom the brochure, it looked like there were a range of services that the spa offered. Rather on the expensive side, but I was sure that should you be able to afford the rooms here, the spa fees wouldn't be an issue.

All together, we spent four nights at the hotel, but mainly for sleep. I was sure that the hotel offered plenty more, but due to our schedule, we didn't really explore what was on offer.

The main drawback for the place was the access from my perspective. But if you were there to be isolated and rejuvenated, you might thought differently. More information about the hotel could be found here. I don't think that I was in a position to give any recommendation for the place.

The slideshow of the hotel can be seen here.

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

PDGCC to KL

The last times I was at PDGCC - Port Dickson Golf & Country Club - must be some time before I joined SJ. It had been a while. We used to go there for breakfast and also Saturday lunch since they would serve banana leaf meals in the afternoon. Sunday used to be just standard lunch before we head back to KL.

We did the similar thing earlier after checking out from Grand Lexis. The place was crowded since there was a golf tournament going on on the day. Weather was hot, and it looked like the pool had been redone. It appeared neat and clean. We were too tired to venture in as we had enough of swimming for the weekend.

We set off back to KL right after driving around Telok Kemang while the lunch settled down into the tummy. Teluk Kemang was crowded as usual on a Sunday afternoon. We decided against stopping, as the weather was too hot.

We arrived back in KL just before five. At six, there was a prospective buyer coming over to see our Cemerlang house, so we had to return early. Both the boys were asleep in the car by the time we reached home.

The link to the slideshow is here.

Colmar Weekend - The Bad

Unfortunately the place was not prefect and on the whole, there was more bad than the good. The main problem then was the fact that the Japanese and Tropical Garden complexes were both closed for renovation. During my conversation with the receptionist beforehand, that piece of crucial information was not mentioned. Because if so, we might have delayed our stay there. Apparently, to compensate, the entrance fees were halved, but that was hardly a consolation.

I brought my camera specifically for the gardens and as you can tell, I was left disappointed. It was a good thing that the weather was nice that we could spend the time in the pool instead.

The next issue I had was the rooms. They were in a desperate need for a renovation. The decorations were still unique as the furnitures still retained the European Alpine feel to the place. The room smelt moldy. The bathroom floor looked used and the drapes look destined for the bin. Rather than just closing the garden for a facelift, they could do with closing the whole resort for a while. The carpark and the lift needed a bit if work as well. Certainly the feel the feel of the whole place did not fit the 4 star status it carries. At least for the moment.

And now let's talk about the food, or the lack of it. The resort fees included breakfast for the family, and apart from the breakfast, we also had a buffet dinner at the main restaurant on the Saturday evening. We were amongst the earliest to arrive as to avoid the crowd, but we were made to wait even though we arrived 30 minutes after the advertised start of the buffet.

The excuse - the barbecue grill needed heating up. I left 45 minutes later, and the food were still scarce. Not only that the spread was very basic - for rice, the were only a couple of gravy - the buffet was slow to be replaced when it ran out. The restaurant were also not really designed for buffet as the seats we're rather too big, and it was not very easy to get in and out to the spread. It was more obvious during the breakfast the next morning, the crowd were much bigger.

During the buffet dinner, we were also surprised that there were not much choice for the kids. We asked for an ala cart menu, but there'd weren't any, despite room device orders going through the same restaurant. Hence, we ended up picking a few things up to fill the tummy before retiring to the room to order for room service. Room service also arrived late as they claimed that there were not enough staff. Frankly, that should not have been our problem. It was the resort's problem to sort out. They should be able to sort their staffing issue out as the place was established close to 10 years now.

To be honest, the place had so much potential if only the management were thinking it 'big'. Consistent with most Malaysian resorts, maintenance was an issue. There seemed to be lack of investment into infrastructures. It was all about making an easy buck, and lay low when the place starters to beak down. Looking around the place, they could have more activities for family and children. A proper bicycle track for a start, horse-riding maybe. But for God's sake, be honest about what you have to offer. If only I was told that the gardens were closed, we may have delayed our stay .....