Park Avenue, Sg Petani

Yes, the name itself conjoured an image that one is in New York. Alas, the hotel was in Sungai Petani, and it was no where near as posh. That was the hotel we stayed in during our four nights stay at for our balik kampung.

Initially Puan Anita wanted to stay in Batu Feringghi on the island itself but since my Mum was staying at my sister’s in Sungai Petani, we decided otherwise. It turned out to be a blessing since the Penang Bridge was closed for a couple of hours due to an electrical fire, causing a huge tailback on the day we arrived up North. Traffic to Sungai Petani was smooth instead.

The hotel itself was strategically located, right next to the Sungai Petani (South) exit o the PLUS highway. Apart from the queue to settle the toll at the exit, getting in was a breeze. Thank God for Smart Tag! The hotel was previously own by the late mogul Tan Sri Eric Chia. According to one of my Uncle, the Tan Sri actually passed away here during his long illness. While he was around, the hotel used to be the premier in Sungai Petani. Since then, things has as they said …… been different.

The room that we ordered was one of the Senior Suite. It was very nicely laid out, comfortable furnitures, nice lightings, sensible decors. The room have a separate study by the entrance - where I wrote the draft for this entry. There as a couple of toilets, a living area and bedroom. The main bath have a separate shower and bath, and a huge area for changing and Puan Anita putting her make-up - a very important requirement.

The room has free wifi! A big bonus! Did I mention free? Hotels were stingy when it comes to wifi, but not Park Avenue. The speed was in access of 20Kb/sec. O it was not lightning fast, but more than adequate. Parking was straight forward as well at the basement. The only problem was the lift did not go to the basement. Had to take the stairs down there instead, but still not a major problem. The room included free breakfast and newspaper. Both Idlan and Irfan really enjoyed the room. We initially planned to stay for three nights, but extended as my sister arrived from Melaka, and we wanted to spend an extra day for the kids.

The hotel also had a nice pool on the third floor with generous space for deck chairs. There was a separate waddling pool for the kids. Apparently there was also gym and spa, but I couldn’t be bothered to check them out. The hotel also had a huge lobby, and three separate food joints - main bistro where breakfast and dinner were served. There was also a bar and a Japanese restaurant - yes, you heard it right!

The main lobbyNice wood paneling on the floor lobby leading to our roomThose were the plusses - and considering you are now 500 words in on the review, there were a quite a few of them! The negatives were plenty as well I am afraid. Even thought the room was nice, maintenance was a bit lacking. There were only a single TV in the suite with limited Astro channels. We had to go to my auntie’s house to watch United drew with Everton on the first night. There was no children channel, we were served with terrestrial, Discovery and a few news channels. There was Movie Max. There were no DVD player provided in the rooms as well. There was a fridge but it was connected to the mains rather than a dedicated outlet. So, when you leave the room, the power were cut off and the ice melted! There was no iron provided. We had to call for one, with an ironing board missing a leg. 10 minutes later, we got a call with housekeeping coming back to pick the iron away since they did not have enough of them.

The breakfast area packed in the morning

The main entranceAnd now for the food. Allegedly there was room service to order, a separate menu until 10pm and a simple microwave list after that. The food took a solid hour to arrive at our room when we ordered upon checking in. The second night when we ordered for a late meal, apparently nothing was left. We were talking about a simple microwave pizza here, not a full meal of steak and the likes. The funny thing was, the order went through, and five minutes later, the phone rang to say that they were out of even noodles! Funny! Oh, did I mention that the kettle was dirty? 

All in all, it was a mixed bag. With a good manager, the hotel definitely will come good as the rooms were very nice. Would I recommend it to everyone? Yes. Make sure you ask for government servant rate if you are one. The rate for the master suite that we stayed in was around RM300 per night which I think was reasonable. If only the support service was much better. WIll we come here again? Maybe, I will try other hotels here before I make our mind up to answer that one!

The hotel website is linked here.E-1 Jalan Indah Dua, Taman Sejati Indah, 08000 Sungai Petani, Kedah. Tel : 04-431 7777 Fax : 04-431 8777

Carnivall

After extending my stay in Sungai Petani and extra day with Julia joining us, we spent the day at a water park near Kelab Cinta Sayang, Carnivall. Yes, it was spelt with two Ls. It was a adventure park with two parts - a dry park called ‘Land of Excitement’ and the said water park - ‘Water of Excitement’, located next to each other. The water park represented a real value for money, with RM18 per adult entrance during weekdays - we were there on a Tuesday. It includes snacks and drinks - so remember to redeem them with your entrance ticket! A combined ticket will set you back RM30.

The main entranceOne of the side attractions at the entrance - Meteor ImpakLet’s see what’s on offer. There were a few separate area to the water park, but the one we played in was the children wading pool, complete with waterslides and fountains - great fun. There was also a deeper pool forming a canal around the smaller pools where children can stay on floats while the parents paddle away and push them around. Good stuff as well. There was also a bigger - adult-only I supposed - slide three stories tall. Didn’t get to try that one. Puan Anita wouldn’t let me.

The children - all five of them - Idlan, Irfan, Imran, Nana and Aliya spent about a couple of hours in and out of the pool, taking chips and drinks in between. It was great fun. The whole park was clean and well-maintained. The changing area was spacious and children friendly. They could do however with more food vendors as the queue for the free food was rather long, and it was not a particularly busy day. I wonder how they cope during peak times. Maybe they have more staffs on the day.

Imran and his Dad, Salleh, trying out the canal and flotsThe beachfrontFood time!The wading pool was children-friendly although I would advice supervision as there was no dedicated lifeguard at this particular area. There were plenty of seating areas in huts around the pools. On the day, there was also a clown going around entertaining children and organising water games for the teenagers. We will definitely head there again with the children the next time we go balik kampung in Sungai Petani.

A day of visits

Get up boys!After a long day of travel, a good night sleep can really do wonders. We got up pretty late the next morning, managing to head to the breakfast room just in time. The place was crowded and we had to sit out in the lobby, and the food was almost gone. We gobbled what we could as we planned to head out to Penang that day.

At the old mosque at the front of my Grandmother's houseFirst of all, we stopped by at one of my Uncles’ in Sungai Petani itself where we were joined by my parents. We then carpooled to the island, first stopping at my eldest uncle’s house at Pantai Jerjak. My cousin - his daughter - just had a baby girl. She was barely a week old. Well behaved. Slept the whole time we were there. It has been a couple of years since I stopped by my this particular Uncle’s house. After some drinks, we then headed out for some nasi kandar. To be perfectly honest, we were not really sure where to head. Some of the restaurants may be better avoided due to the holiday crowd. We settled at one o Penang Road. Not particularly good - Craven’s at Bukit Antarabangsa was much better - but enough to get by. Idlan refused to eat as expected but Irfan was really digging the pappadoms.

I don't like this restaurantI like this restaurantAfter lunch was done, we went next to my Grandmother’s at Pahang Road. It was the third day of Aidilfitri and most of my family has been around to visit. One of my Aunt was there, so was the Uncle from Sungai Petani. After a couple of hours, it was time to go. We wanted to stop by at another Uncle’s place in Seberang Jaya, but he did not pick up the phone. We were not sure if he was in. We headed straight back to Sungai Petani, got changed and went out again for dinner at another Uncle’s house in Kepala Batas - there were 8 of them from my father’s side, plus 3 Aunties. 

The boys playing with their cousinsMy grandmother's house is the one by the corner. Surrounded by high-rise apartments.The dinner was particularly good. Anita really liked the Raya cookies there. Apparently, my Aunt ordered them all the way from Johor. We hang around there for around a couple of hours before everyone getting tired. The day was done.

Off to Sungai Petani

Idlan helping with the unpackingAn early start for Puan Anita and me before the mayhem started at around 8.30 when the boys woke up. Breakfast. Shower. Shouting about which toys to bring an which clothes to wear. We finally got our act together and left just before 11am.

This time around we decided to stay in the mainland rather than on the island. It turned out to be a brilliant plan. The Penang Bridge had a fire on the island-bound lanes causing a tailback close to 10 kms. A couple of my uncles were caught up in the jam and it took them over three hours to cross the bridge. Imagine, after a four hour drive up to Seberang Perai and having to endure a few more hours caught in the car with the grumpy boys?

View of Gunung Jerai from our floorWe stopped over at Tapah for lunch. A simple KFC affair where Puan Anita did the ordering and the waitress messed up the order completely! But since it was Hari Raya, we kept our feelings to ourselves ….. The journey went very smoothly. There was a couple of crawls just before Ipoh, but otherwise fine. We reached Sungai Petani just after 4, checked in, and the kids was already jumping on the bed soon after. We stayed at Park Avenue Hotel, just by the Sungai Petani (South) exit along the PLUS highway. Very convenient actually!

One of the drawback of the hotel was there was no Astro Sports channel. I had dinner at my auntie’s place while watching United given away a two-goal lead to Everton. My Toffee-mad friends must have exploded that evening!

I thought my boys would have been tired after the journey and the dinner, but how wrong was I. They were still bubbly and energetic close to midnight when we finally went to sleep. Another long day looming tomorrow.

Cuti Raya Day 7 - In Sungai Petani

Irfan having a temperatureAs mentioned, Irfan has a temperature. We had to postponed some of the plans for today until tomorrow. Tomorrow is better anyway since Julia will only reach Sungai Petani today. At least we can hit Penang tomorrow together.

We had breakfast at the resort - since it was included in the room fee. I must say that we got there quite late and the bulk of the crowd have already came and left by then. It seems that everything was finished, even the eggs. We had to cook breakfast for the boys later at Julia's house, but not before doing some groceries.

Julia's house at Taman Puteri JayaJulia arrived at around 1. I went to buy some lunch with Mum and got Teh to come over at Julia's to join us for lunch. Irfan was asleep at the time in the hotel room and we had to wake him up. He was well grumpy.

My favourite dish for lunch as prepared by TehIdlan at the CarnivallIn the late afternoon, we took Idlan and Julia's children to a water theme park right next to Cinta Sayang. It's called the Carnivall. It was actually surprisingly good. As expected it is family-friendly and the admission fees include snacks, which is a change. The layout is simple. Upon entering, there is a canal at the perimeter of the park. Within the canal are a few water pool for kids, with waterslides and all suitable for the less than 5. Idlan and his cousin had so much fun that we had to practically pull them off the pool.

In the evening the whole family had steamboat dinner at the resort. Anita booked for a table for 12 but when we arrived we were surprised to learn that firstly, they did not provide a table for all 12 of us, and secondly, they did not have the table ready for us when we arrived. Complaint? None of the waiters speak Malay or decent English. They were all foreigners! Finally we grumpily split into two adjoining tables. The meal itself was just about OK. There are stalls that serve better food than those, but we were hungry anyhow and it was Syawal.