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We set off early this morning. We were already in the car by 7.30 and was well on our way by 8am.

Traffic was much lighter than expected, and we reached KL by 11.30 in the morning. We did not take any toilet break. One bit of problem was we had a bit of a problem with the air-conditioning in my car. I thought it needed the compressor fixed. It was well warm by the time I reached KL.

Under four hours seemed to be pretty standard time for Penang KL. This was actually from Sungai Petani rather. I have known people who travel sub three hours, but I would rather not tell you who that was.

So, I reached home much earlier than anticipated. Time to take the boys out for lunch, but unfortunately, I had some lectures I need sorting out during for the coming week. So, probably had to burn the midnight oil tonight.

Maids Returned for Raya

Our current maids - one with our family and the other one with the in-laws - had been with us for a year and a half. They were aunt and niece, coming from the same village in Padang. A few months ago, we planned for them to have Aidilfitri back home, and they left this morning.

The AirAsia flight booking was straight forward, but the two ladies had never been on an airplane before in their life. Expect some drama then. Anita and her mother went over with them after sahur to LCCT in Sepang. Got them checked-in. The flight left on time, so, they should be with their family by later this afternoon.

As for us, we had another couple of maids coming in for during the day - one Filipino, as a cleaner and another local lady to do the cooking. Our maids would be away for a couple of weeks. But we should be able to manage. Fingers crossed!

Royal Penang Hotel

All in all, the stay at Royal Penang Hotel during our Penang trip was a pleasant one. This was the second time we been to the place, the first some three years back, when the hotel was known as Dorsett Penang. It was not a bad hotel back then, when my sister Julia and her family also came along during the stay, and Irfan was dipped under water during one of the swim. He was traumatised then and for the following year and a half, refused to enter a swimming pool. He was only two then. He got over it now.

Same as the last time, we had the apartment suite, which was huge. And we also had the partition door to the next room opened, for our maid to stay. This time around, my parents used the next room. And my sister was not with us for this trip. The suite consisted of three separate areas, the living room with a lounge and dining area, plus a small kitchenette with sink, a microwave oven and a full size refrigerator. The second area, the biggest was the bedroom, with a king-sized bed, sofa, another TV and a small study table. The last was the dressing area, with a walk-in closet and the bathroom. There was also a balcony there but the door was locked for security reason. Basically, the room was huge. And with the next room was also opened up, the boys kept running from one end to another.

The main bedroomThe whole length of the room, going into my parents room next door. Irfan was running from one end to the next.The main living area, with a dining table to seat four, and the main lounge.The balcony from the dressing areaWe were there for a three nights. Certainly, room-wise, there was nothing to complain about. Very comfortable and spacious. The only problem we had was the cleaners were a bit slow to clean our room. In fact, we had to call housekeeping on our second day to get the cleaners in. Another issue was the limited parking space that they provide. Although it was free and covered, I counted that there were at most 40 slots. In a 20-storey hotel, I thought that they should provide more.

Food was just average. Breakfast was just OK, nothing special to mention. It was enough for us, although they charged Idlan at children's rate. Apparently, the suite only comes with a couple of breakfast vouchers.

The cute kitchenette with the fridge and microwave oven.And Irfan was still at it .....the pool on the fourth floorNext, the swimming pool. It was pretty basic. There was no life-guard and no drinks served by the pool. The gym located on the same floor was closed for renovation. Surprisingly, there was no spa at the hotel.

The hotel offered discount for government servants, an all it took was for me to show my UM identification card. We got something like 20% off, which made a lot of difference. We hardly sampled any of the hotel meals as this being Penang, there were plenty of food everywhere, not to mention a KFC outlet located right across the street from the hotel. The hotel also has a connecting bridge to Penang Plaza right next door for food and shopping. The TV offered all the terrestrial channels plus Disney, one movie and one sports channel. Our suite had a DVD player should we fancy watching something.

The strategic location of the hotel, being right smack in the middle of Georgetown made it definitely worth considering again when we come back. Our usual place to stay was along Gurney Drive, but this time around, with the change of management, we decided to give this place another go. Compared to when it used to be called Dorsett, there had been hardly any change. Should you want to find out more about the hotel, please click here. And more stories about this trip here.

The Journey Up

After stopping over at AL-Manar to pick up Idlan’s report card and at Bukit Antarabangsa to pick up my Mum, we were off as planned to Penang. We stopped at a couple of spots - Tapah to fill up our tummy and Bukit Merah to empty Idlan’s bladder. But on the whole, the journey was very smooth. We got to Penang in time for some nasi kandar lunch, but checking into the hotel was a bit of a pain. As expected, our booking was messed up and the room they initially put us in did not have a connecting door.

After a couple of phonecalls and calling out the on-duty manager, we got what we ordered for, an apartment suite for us, connected to a deluxe room for my parents. It worked out great in the end.

Waiting for the main room to be cleanedIdlan filling the time doing some construction workFinally, we got ourselves unpacked. The weather was a bit on the gloomy side. Hopefully it won’t rain as we were planning to have dinner by the esplanade later tonight. I wanted my fix of laksa and ‘kangkong sotong’. Time permitting, we might drop by my Grandmother’s place as well to check on her.

We would see how things go out overnight. We might be traveling around the island - butterfly park maybe?

National Geography Store

On the last afternoon I was in London, while walking past Regent Street, this store caught my eye. I was glad that I ventured in as they actually sell outdoor gears and gadget, from GPS, clothing to camera bags. Unfortunately, as I was not planning to do much shopping that day, I had to exist the nice T shirt the sold there.

The store was bigger than I thought with a themed cafe right at one end. The basement floor basically housed the outdoor gears, while the main floor, the cafe, the main clothing as well as area for exhibits, where should you be interested, you can buy some stunning photographs there. Unfortunately, they do not come cheap! The First Floor housed more clothing as well as books and guides. The bags they had there ranged small small pouch, to full on knapsack. They were rugged enough for the desert, and the pouches were all water-proved. The material was really light but sturdy and looking at it, I understood why it cost so much.

I had some hot chocolate at the cafe, while waiting for the rain to stop. It was pouring all afternoon, and I was not talking about gentle drizzle I was used to. After a while, I decided to walk the 200 yards to the Piccadilly Circus station, which took me back to Canary Wharf. It was straight to the airport after that.