Okay, I just have to blog this. I am SO excited right now. If you can see me, I am simultaneously hopping in my seat and grinning from ear to ear. If I were alone, I would be screaming in glee!!
Our Japan itinerary is slowly but surely taking shape. I have confirmed accomodation in various places already. But nothing has gotten me more excited than my recent (read less than 10min ago!) confirmation from the gorgeous Kokuya Ryokan in Shibu Onsen!!
Kokuya is lovely - it comes with several in-house baths with different types of waters and in various configurations - outdoor rotemburo and indoor baths, to satisfy the hardcore soaker in me. Lovely spacious rooms, 9-course kaiseki dinners arranged to miniature perfection and its right in the heart of Shibu Onsen's quaint onsen streets. I am going to be wrinkled as a prune by the time I get through all of Shibu Onsen's nine public sentos AND Kokuya's 6 to 8 baths, but I can't wait!
Initially, looking at Kokuya's rates (18,000yen per person per night in a standard room), I felt that this was beyond our budget. The other places in Shibu did not look as appetising and reluctantly, I was going to give Shibu a miss. As KH smirked: "Nothing but the best eh? Either you get Kokuya or nothing, right?"
But this afternoon, I went through Zeno's guide again, wistfully looking at the pictures and for the heck of it, decided to just write to him to ask if he could recommend a similar property at slightly lower prices. My budget was about 13,000yen per person. Shibu looked too good to pass up after all.
To my surprise, he was very quick and wrote back immediately. We bounced emails like a hard and fast game of ping-pong and bingo, he'd gotten us great rates at Kokuya - 14000yen per person with children paying 70% and 50% less. This is great news and far better than I expected. Needless to say, I confirmed this immediately.
I am SO SO SO looking forward to this, I can just burst with excitement!
Already, I am seeing us in our yukatas and getas, clacking through the narrow lantern-lit streets of Shibu, going from bathhouse to bathhouse, stamping on our tegatas (souvenir towels - each bathhouse has a stamp so after each bath, we stamp the tegata, with the aim to collect all nine stamps!) and then settling in with a fantastic kaiseki dinner, then snuggle in our deep comfy futons for a night. Can't wait!
I promised myself that this trip, I want a full ryokan experience and I am so glad to be getting this in Shibu Onsen. It will be our one ryokan splurge for the trip and I'm sure the experience will be worth it.
To keep the blog up to date, other accomodation I've booked todate include a wide range - a highly-rated hostel in Kyoto, our usual Family Fifty accomodation in Maihama near Tokyo Disney, a three-bedroom HOUSE - yes, you read that right - on the beautiful island of Miyajima, and a night stay in a shukubo (temple lodging) on the very spiritual Koyasan. So it looks like a good mix - we have nights in cheaper lodging and nights where we luxuriate a little. I think in travel, its good to have this mix so that we don't end up with travel fatigue brought on by too much stinging! It will be interesting to stay in a hostel with my mom, sister and family in one big room (all bunk beds!).
I am also looking forward to our shukubo on Koyasan - where Nov night time temps are likely to go as low as 0 deg celcius! Our shukubo is at the Shojoshoin temple complex, which is near to Okunoin - so very handy for a stroll at dusk to Kobo Daishi's mausoleum.
This is all shaping up very nicely and I look forward to posting pictures and sharing the trip details in this blog!
An almost final itinerary...
After numerous versions, ruthlessly pruning here and there, I've drafted this almost confirmed itinerary to Japan. Takayama and the Kiso Valley is out - with great regret from me and relief from KH who was reluctantly contemplating the 3-hour hike on the Nakasendo! Never mind, just gives me one more reason to go back!
So here goes:
Day 1
Arrive in Tokyo. Leave bags in lockers in Tokyo station. Visit Sensoji, maybe Sengakuji near Shinagawa, Shibuya (definitely). Collect bags and check into hotel after nightfall. Looks very likely that we will stay at the Family Fifty Inn again - because of its proximity to Tokyo Disney Resort. And also because for the price, it offers good value with a decent brekkie spread. Think big boiled eggs with orange centred yolks, free flow of juice, coffee, tea and salad with my favourite goma sauce. Far better than any continental brekkie spread I've had in Europe!
Day 2
Disneyland. We'll buy a two-day passport but our strategy remains the same - grab the good fastpasses EARLY and that means, an early start. So looks like we'll get to see the surreal sight of petite Japanese girls in whalebone corsets, laced up boots and heels and big Pooh Bear hats making a dash for it once the gates open at 8.30 sharp! I will leave it to mom and the sister if they wish to come with us, otherwise, they're free to explore Tokyo on their own.
Day 3
DisneySea.
Day 4
Take the 0948am shinkansen to Nagano. We'll arrive around 1116am, (by the way, all these times are taken from the super rail-trip planning tool Hyperdia which calls up ALL train connections in Japan in seconds! The marvels of the internet!) which means we have time to walk up to Zenko-Ji and grope our way to the path of eternal life (or something like that) before taking another train, one-hour, to Yudanaka Station. Aim to arrive by 1500pm or so. Which gives us time to leave our bags, change into our yukatas and hit the baths! We'll have all night to make the circuit of 9 sentos in the area, but must also make room for a nice kaiseki dinner in the ryokan. This is where I think I might splurge a bit on better accomodation in a good ryokan with the works.
Day 5
This will be a day of hard travelling. We will leave Shibu Onsen early to catch the 0920am train to Nagano. From there, we will take the train up to the coast of the Sea of Japan, changing trains at Naoetsu. We will pass through mountain scenery en route down to the coast. From Naoetsu, we might stop at Kurobe for a short trip down the scenic Kurobe gorge, if we have time. If not, then its all the way to Kanazawa, the rain capital of Japan! We'll probably not have time to do much except check-in but that's good, because we need a break from all the travelling and trains.
Day 6
This is where we wander around Kanazawa. Top of the list at 8am when its gates open is the top-rated Kenrokoen! Said to be Japan's loveliest garden. We must get there early to beat the crowds of tour groups. Other places to see if we have the time: Omayajinja, Myoryu-ji or aka the Ninja temple! Also nice to visit the Samurai quarter, see Nomura House, which is a samurai house now open to the public. We might also visit Higashi Chaiya, the old geisha quarter. Kanazawa is a big town, but its old quarters are left intact because it was not bombed in WW2, hence the preservation of many pockets of old houses and buildings which are worth wandering and getting lost in.
Day 7
Leave Kanazawa on the 0904am train to arrive at Kyoto 1109am. Leave bags in the hotel and then sightsee. Likely to go to Kinkakuji and Ryoanji in the northwest of Kyoto. If we have the energy, Nanzenji is likely to be nicely lit up during the autumn season. Its open till 2100pm I think, so we should have some time to explore.
Day 8
A full day's sightseeing in Nara, feeding deer in the deer park, the gi-normous bronze Buddha in Todaiji and the world's oldest surviving wooden structure - Horyuji. Back to Kyoto for the night.
Day 9
Leave bags in hotel but pack smaller bags for the next couple of nights. Head for Koyasan. Overnight in a shukubo on Koyasan. Walk through the ancient cemetery of Okunoin at dusk.
Day 10
Leave Koyasan and head for Osaka. We should have the second half of the day left in Osaka. Time to do a bit of shopping or visit the Umeda Sky Building and the floating garden observatory? Or go a bit further to the outdoor museum of old Japanese houses (Ryokuchi Koen), since we're giving the Hida area a miss and won't see the gassho zukuri of the Shirakawago region. Whatever our plan, we'll keep it free and easy so nothing is really planned for the second half of the day.
Day 11
We could either spend the day in Universal Studios. Or move on to Himeji for the morning and then finishing it (it takes about 1.5hrs to finish Himeji castle on a tour), move on to Hiroshima and Miyajima for the night. We are likely to reach Miyajima by 3pm if we leave Himeji by 1pm latest. So this will allow us time to see Itsukushima at its quietest. At night, when the crowds are gone and the lanterns on the gallery lit, Itsukushima looks elegantly beautiful. We might splurge again on a ryokan here in Miyajima.
Day 12, 13 and 14
Walk around Momijidani to see the autumn colours, take the ropeway up to Mt Misen and down. Leave Miyajima by noon to Hiroshima, where we will spend the afternoon at the Peace Park. We can leave Hiroshima late, taking the shinkansen down to Kyoto for the night. This is where I am not very sure about the itinerary and will tweak it a bit more.
Option 1 - If we spend a day in Osaka at Universal Studios, then the subsequent days get pushed backwards. Which means we will not have one more day in Kyoto but will have to take the overnight train back to Tokyo, arriving in the morning of the 28th at 0708am. In time for a sushi brekkie at Tsukiji and then hopping on the Narita Express to the airport to catch our flight back to KL and Singapore. This also means we will take our bags with us and not leave them in the hotel in Kyoto as said earlier.
Option 2 - We go as planned to Himeji etc but on day 12, we spend the day in Hiroshima, returning late to Kyoto for the night. On Day 13, we spend the day sightseeing in Kyoto and on Day 14, take the early Hikari Shinkansen, zooming back to Tokyo in time to make the 10.30am N'EX to Narita. I'm just worried that we might be cutting it a bit thin here and it does seems like a hard day of travelling considering that we would be spending about 3 to 4 hours on a train, followed by 7hours on a plane and then in transit for another 2hrs or so before flying an hour again. Does seem like a really long day, and I can expect grouchy kids, which would NOT be fun on long connections.
The night train option looks increasingly interesting since the experience will also be a novel one for the kids - to sleep on couchettes in a moving train. Price-wise, we'll have to pay a supplement for the couchettes and this should be more expensive than paying for accomodation. But might be worth it for the time saved and the experience.
So how does this look?
So here goes:
Day 1
Arrive in Tokyo. Leave bags in lockers in Tokyo station. Visit Sensoji, maybe Sengakuji near Shinagawa, Shibuya (definitely). Collect bags and check into hotel after nightfall. Looks very likely that we will stay at the Family Fifty Inn again - because of its proximity to Tokyo Disney Resort. And also because for the price, it offers good value with a decent brekkie spread. Think big boiled eggs with orange centred yolks, free flow of juice, coffee, tea and salad with my favourite goma sauce. Far better than any continental brekkie spread I've had in Europe!
Day 2
Disneyland. We'll buy a two-day passport but our strategy remains the same - grab the good fastpasses EARLY and that means, an early start. So looks like we'll get to see the surreal sight of petite Japanese girls in whalebone corsets, laced up boots and heels and big Pooh Bear hats making a dash for it once the gates open at 8.30 sharp! I will leave it to mom and the sister if they wish to come with us, otherwise, they're free to explore Tokyo on their own.
Day 3
DisneySea.
Day 4
Take the 0948am shinkansen to Nagano. We'll arrive around 1116am, (by the way, all these times are taken from the super rail-trip planning tool Hyperdia which calls up ALL train connections in Japan in seconds! The marvels of the internet!) which means we have time to walk up to Zenko-Ji and grope our way to the path of eternal life (or something like that) before taking another train, one-hour, to Yudanaka Station. Aim to arrive by 1500pm or so. Which gives us time to leave our bags, change into our yukatas and hit the baths! We'll have all night to make the circuit of 9 sentos in the area, but must also make room for a nice kaiseki dinner in the ryokan. This is where I think I might splurge a bit on better accomodation in a good ryokan with the works.
Day 5
This will be a day of hard travelling. We will leave Shibu Onsen early to catch the 0920am train to Nagano. From there, we will take the train up to the coast of the Sea of Japan, changing trains at Naoetsu. We will pass through mountain scenery en route down to the coast. From Naoetsu, we might stop at Kurobe for a short trip down the scenic Kurobe gorge, if we have time. If not, then its all the way to Kanazawa, the rain capital of Japan! We'll probably not have time to do much except check-in but that's good, because we need a break from all the travelling and trains.
Day 6
This is where we wander around Kanazawa. Top of the list at 8am when its gates open is the top-rated Kenrokoen! Said to be Japan's loveliest garden. We must get there early to beat the crowds of tour groups. Other places to see if we have the time: Omayajinja, Myoryu-ji or aka the Ninja temple! Also nice to visit the Samurai quarter, see Nomura House, which is a samurai house now open to the public. We might also visit Higashi Chaiya, the old geisha quarter. Kanazawa is a big town, but its old quarters are left intact because it was not bombed in WW2, hence the preservation of many pockets of old houses and buildings which are worth wandering and getting lost in.
Day 7
Leave Kanazawa on the 0904am train to arrive at Kyoto 1109am. Leave bags in the hotel and then sightsee. Likely to go to Kinkakuji and Ryoanji in the northwest of Kyoto. If we have the energy, Nanzenji is likely to be nicely lit up during the autumn season. Its open till 2100pm I think, so we should have some time to explore.
Day 8
A full day's sightseeing in Nara, feeding deer in the deer park, the gi-normous bronze Buddha in Todaiji and the world's oldest surviving wooden structure - Horyuji. Back to Kyoto for the night.
Day 9
Leave bags in hotel but pack smaller bags for the next couple of nights. Head for Koyasan. Overnight in a shukubo on Koyasan. Walk through the ancient cemetery of Okunoin at dusk.
Day 10
Leave Koyasan and head for Osaka. We should have the second half of the day left in Osaka. Time to do a bit of shopping or visit the Umeda Sky Building and the floating garden observatory? Or go a bit further to the outdoor museum of old Japanese houses (Ryokuchi Koen), since we're giving the Hida area a miss and won't see the gassho zukuri of the Shirakawago region. Whatever our plan, we'll keep it free and easy so nothing is really planned for the second half of the day.
Day 11
We could either spend the day in Universal Studios. Or move on to Himeji for the morning and then finishing it (it takes about 1.5hrs to finish Himeji castle on a tour), move on to Hiroshima and Miyajima for the night. We are likely to reach Miyajima by 3pm if we leave Himeji by 1pm latest. So this will allow us time to see Itsukushima at its quietest. At night, when the crowds are gone and the lanterns on the gallery lit, Itsukushima looks elegantly beautiful. We might splurge again on a ryokan here in Miyajima.
Day 12, 13 and 14
Walk around Momijidani to see the autumn colours, take the ropeway up to Mt Misen and down. Leave Miyajima by noon to Hiroshima, where we will spend the afternoon at the Peace Park. We can leave Hiroshima late, taking the shinkansen down to Kyoto for the night. This is where I am not very sure about the itinerary and will tweak it a bit more.
Option 1 - If we spend a day in Osaka at Universal Studios, then the subsequent days get pushed backwards. Which means we will not have one more day in Kyoto but will have to take the overnight train back to Tokyo, arriving in the morning of the 28th at 0708am. In time for a sushi brekkie at Tsukiji and then hopping on the Narita Express to the airport to catch our flight back to KL and Singapore. This also means we will take our bags with us and not leave them in the hotel in Kyoto as said earlier.
Option 2 - We go as planned to Himeji etc but on day 12, we spend the day in Hiroshima, returning late to Kyoto for the night. On Day 13, we spend the day sightseeing in Kyoto and on Day 14, take the early Hikari Shinkansen, zooming back to Tokyo in time to make the 10.30am N'EX to Narita. I'm just worried that we might be cutting it a bit thin here and it does seems like a hard day of travelling considering that we would be spending about 3 to 4 hours on a train, followed by 7hours on a plane and then in transit for another 2hrs or so before flying an hour again. Does seem like a really long day, and I can expect grouchy kids, which would NOT be fun on long connections.
The night train option looks increasingly interesting since the experience will also be a novel one for the kids - to sleep on couchettes in a moving train. Price-wise, we'll have to pay a supplement for the couchettes and this should be more expensive than paying for accomodation. But might be worth it for the time saved and the experience.
So how does this look?
Japan draft itinerary Ver 2
Looks like I can't cram as much as I want to see in Japan in all of 13 days. With 5 kids, one senior citizen and another who swells up like a big red balloon in the cold, it might be safer to stick to a less ambitious itinerary. sigh.
Toss the dice.
Do I ditch the Kiso Valley? Do I forgo Shibu Onsen? Or Koyasan? Or Miyajima?
Logically when you look at a map and see the places I have earmarked, Miyajima and Hiroshima seem out of the general loop. We would have to make a trip all the way out there and then all the way back to Kyoto before heading back into the Central Honshu area. But to cut Miyajima and Hiroshima is painful.
KH, who has been to Hiroshima, say there is nothing much to see in the Peace Park. But I know my mother would be interested to see a different side of the war, get a different perspective. So would I. And Miyajima is widely touted to be Japan's most beautiful spot for autumn foliage. Wouldn't it be a shame to miss that? Problem also is that Miyajima's accomodation is said to be pricey. With budgetary concerns, I would rather save up for a good one in Shibu Onsen.
Then there's the Kiso Valley. Old post towns that have stood still in time. A picture that I hold in my heart is one of a street of wooden houses with soaring green hills behind. Taking a trip to the Kiso is taking a trip back in time - no cars, no streetlamps, no ugly wires and telephone poles. But then I worry - would the kids be antsy. The highlight of visiting the Kiso Valley is a three-hour walk between Tsumago and Magome. Can the kids do it? Would they be whiny?
And Shibu Onsen. Newly discovered for me - a tiny onsen village in the mountains, nine public baths and images of us clattering down narrow, winding empty streets in our yukatas and getas, aglow from our time in the onsen and heading towards the next. En route back to Nagano, we could stop at Zenko-ji.
To further distress me in the choices I have to make, to chop or not, see this pretty ryokan in Shibu Onsen I found online.
Kokuya Ryokan at Shibu Onsen: http://www.ichizaemon.com/en/2/rooms_rates.html (Check out the rooms with the outdoor baths!!) Pricey but so mouthwateringly tempting...
So to make things easier, let's just stick to the facts:
Comparing Japan Guide user ratings, the highest rating went to Shibu Onsen. Lowest is Takayama. So the way I figure it, since we are heading to the highlands in Shibu already, kill Takayama?
One thing for sure, from the posted itinerary in my last post, I think I can safely kill Kobe and Arima Onsen and return to Kyoto as a base instead after Koyasan. From there, visit Himeiji and Hiroshima/Miyajima.
Okay, still a work in progress.
Toss the dice.
Do I ditch the Kiso Valley? Do I forgo Shibu Onsen? Or Koyasan? Or Miyajima?
Logically when you look at a map and see the places I have earmarked, Miyajima and Hiroshima seem out of the general loop. We would have to make a trip all the way out there and then all the way back to Kyoto before heading back into the Central Honshu area. But to cut Miyajima and Hiroshima is painful.
KH, who has been to Hiroshima, say there is nothing much to see in the Peace Park. But I know my mother would be interested to see a different side of the war, get a different perspective. So would I. And Miyajima is widely touted to be Japan's most beautiful spot for autumn foliage. Wouldn't it be a shame to miss that? Problem also is that Miyajima's accomodation is said to be pricey. With budgetary concerns, I would rather save up for a good one in Shibu Onsen.
Then there's the Kiso Valley. Old post towns that have stood still in time. A picture that I hold in my heart is one of a street of wooden houses with soaring green hills behind. Taking a trip to the Kiso is taking a trip back in time - no cars, no streetlamps, no ugly wires and telephone poles. But then I worry - would the kids be antsy. The highlight of visiting the Kiso Valley is a three-hour walk between Tsumago and Magome. Can the kids do it? Would they be whiny?
And Shibu Onsen. Newly discovered for me - a tiny onsen village in the mountains, nine public baths and images of us clattering down narrow, winding empty streets in our yukatas and getas, aglow from our time in the onsen and heading towards the next. En route back to Nagano, we could stop at Zenko-ji.
To further distress me in the choices I have to make, to chop or not, see this pretty ryokan in Shibu Onsen I found online.
Kokuya Ryokan at Shibu Onsen: http://www.ichizaemon.com/en/2/rooms_rates.html (Check out the rooms with the outdoor baths!!) Pricey but so mouthwateringly tempting...
So to make things easier, let's just stick to the facts:
Comparing Japan Guide user ratings, the highest rating went to Shibu Onsen. Lowest is Takayama. So the way I figure it, since we are heading to the highlands in Shibu already, kill Takayama?
One thing for sure, from the posted itinerary in my last post, I think I can safely kill Kobe and Arima Onsen and return to Kyoto as a base instead after Koyasan. From there, visit Himeiji and Hiroshima/Miyajima.
Okay, still a work in progress.
Where to in Japan?
So we're heading to Japan. Plane tickets bought so no turning back.
We're heading for 14 days in the peak of autumn. Question is, where to go? I feel like a kid in a candy shop - and my head is swirling with questions and possibilities. I've decided to use this blog to document an itinerary that is slowly taking shape.
For now, the itinerary looks like this:
Day 1 Arrive in Narita at 0740am. Spend the rest of the day in Tokyo city after checking in. If we're staying at the Family Fifties again, then we'll just stow luggage in the lockers at the train stations (either Ueno or Tokyo) and then start the sightseeing buzz. But if we're staying in town, then its not a problem to offload the luggage and head out.
Day 2 Tokyo Disney Resort - Disneyland
Day 3 Tokyo Disney Resort - DisneySea
Day 4 Run for the earliest shinkansen to Kyoto again. Arrive Kyoto in the mid-morning. Stow bags in hotel and head out to northern Kyoto to Kinkakuji, Ryoanji and then cross over to Higashiyama to check out Eikando by night. It gets dark by 4pm in autumn, and since its peak time, Eikando and several other temples in Kyoto have night light-ups. Which should be very pretty!
Day 5 Nara. Which means, the world's largest wooden structure/temple, the big Buddha, the gap to eternity and lots of voracious deer. And deer biscuits!
Day 6 Koyasan. Overnight in a temple. Wandering through the vastness of Okunoin in the dark and mist with several thousand lanterns lit to guide the way to Kobo Daishi's mausoleum is an unforgettable experience.
Day 7 Off to Kobe. If time permits, visit Arima Onsen for a soak in the hotsprings there.
Day 8 Himeji in the morning, Hiroshima and the Peace Park in the afternoon. Miyajima for the night. In the morning, visit the Itsukushima shrine and Momijidani-koen, widely known as one of the most beautiful autumn foliage spots in Japan. Leave Miyajima by noon and travel across Honshu by train, stopping over in Kyoto to change trains. A total journey time of 4 hours, to reach the Japan Sea and the city of Kanazawa.
Day 9 Kenroku-en - Japan's most beautiful garden. 21st century museum of modern art. Wander through the old preserved streets of the samurai district, laced with old houses, running streams and tea houses. Myoryu-ji - the ninja temple.
Day 10 Leave Kanazawa and arrive in Takayama by the afternoon. Overnight in Takayama
Day 11 Early morning market in Takayama, Hida folk village. Visit Furukawa, a pretty canal town nearby.
Day 12 Leave Takayama to Nagoya (2hrs) and then up to the Kiso Valley (1hr). Forward baggage from Magome to Tsumago. Walk the old road from Magome to Tsumago. Overnight in atmospheric Tsumago, old wooden houses, lanterns and nary a streetlamp, cars or electric wires in sight.
Day 13 Depart Kiso Valley to Tokyo via Nagano. Stop in Nagano to visit Zenko-ji. Shinkansen to Tokyo. Arrive Tokyo's Ueno station at night.
Day 14 Keisei skyliner at 1000am, reach Narita at 1100am and depart Tokyo at 1330pm.
Likely to buy the 7D JR Pass (28,300yen) as well as the 3D Kansai Area Thru Pass (5000yen) as well as the JapanICan shinkansen package that we took the last time.
Well, for now, that seems to be it. Will revisit and finetune this as I go along.
We're heading for 14 days in the peak of autumn. Question is, where to go? I feel like a kid in a candy shop - and my head is swirling with questions and possibilities. I've decided to use this blog to document an itinerary that is slowly taking shape.
For now, the itinerary looks like this:
Day 1 Arrive in Narita at 0740am. Spend the rest of the day in Tokyo city after checking in. If we're staying at the Family Fifties again, then we'll just stow luggage in the lockers at the train stations (either Ueno or Tokyo) and then start the sightseeing buzz. But if we're staying in town, then its not a problem to offload the luggage and head out.
Day 2 Tokyo Disney Resort - Disneyland
Day 3 Tokyo Disney Resort - DisneySea
Day 4 Run for the earliest shinkansen to Kyoto again. Arrive Kyoto in the mid-morning. Stow bags in hotel and head out to northern Kyoto to Kinkakuji, Ryoanji and then cross over to Higashiyama to check out Eikando by night. It gets dark by 4pm in autumn, and since its peak time, Eikando and several other temples in Kyoto have night light-ups. Which should be very pretty!
Day 5 Nara. Which means, the world's largest wooden structure/temple, the big Buddha, the gap to eternity and lots of voracious deer. And deer biscuits!
Day 6 Koyasan. Overnight in a temple. Wandering through the vastness of Okunoin in the dark and mist with several thousand lanterns lit to guide the way to Kobo Daishi's mausoleum is an unforgettable experience.
Day 7 Off to Kobe. If time permits, visit Arima Onsen for a soak in the hotsprings there.
Day 8 Himeji in the morning, Hiroshima and the Peace Park in the afternoon. Miyajima for the night. In the morning, visit the Itsukushima shrine and Momijidani-koen, widely known as one of the most beautiful autumn foliage spots in Japan. Leave Miyajima by noon and travel across Honshu by train, stopping over in Kyoto to change trains. A total journey time of 4 hours, to reach the Japan Sea and the city of Kanazawa.
Day 9 Kenroku-en - Japan's most beautiful garden. 21st century museum of modern art. Wander through the old preserved streets of the samurai district, laced with old houses, running streams and tea houses. Myoryu-ji - the ninja temple.
Day 10 Leave Kanazawa and arrive in Takayama by the afternoon. Overnight in Takayama
Day 11 Early morning market in Takayama, Hida folk village. Visit Furukawa, a pretty canal town nearby.
Day 12 Leave Takayama to Nagoya (2hrs) and then up to the Kiso Valley (1hr). Forward baggage from Magome to Tsumago. Walk the old road from Magome to Tsumago. Overnight in atmospheric Tsumago, old wooden houses, lanterns and nary a streetlamp, cars or electric wires in sight.
Day 13 Depart Kiso Valley to Tokyo via Nagano. Stop in Nagano to visit Zenko-ji. Shinkansen to Tokyo. Arrive Tokyo's Ueno station at night.
Day 14 Keisei skyliner at 1000am, reach Narita at 1100am and depart Tokyo at 1330pm.
Likely to buy the 7D JR Pass (28,300yen) as well as the 3D Kansai Area Thru Pass (5000yen) as well as the JapanICan shinkansen package that we took the last time.
Well, for now, that seems to be it. Will revisit and finetune this as I go along.
Trekking the wilderness that is Melaka Zoo
So our Penang travel plans were scuppered. Thanks to KH's last-minute mega project, we could not go all the way to Penang (it would take too long). So we did the next best thing and headed for the familiar - Melaka.
This trip, we decided to pop in to the Melaka Zoo - something we said we would do for years, and we've been coming to Melaka for more than 10 years now, but just never got round to.
t was a humid and hot Sunday afternoon when we got there. The place was crowded with mostly Malay families.
Entry fee was RM7 for adults and I think half price for kids. Which delighted my stingy-poker of a husband no end since he kept gloating gleefully that this was less than half the price of entry to the Singapore Zoo.
It was hot, I was sleepy and lethargic after a big dim sum brunch and in no mood to tackle the Melaka Zoo. Plus I was wearing my battered look with the left side of my face puffy, red and full of pus.
So I was less than enthusiastic when KH - and the kids - pestered me to go to the Zoo. "After all," he reasoned "we are almost out of places to go in Melaka already!" That man even wanted to try the Ayer Keroh Recreational Park first but I put my foot down. The heat!
Let me say that the Melaka Zoo is sprawling. I did not know this. Had I known just how big the place is, I would have dug my heels in and said no.
We walked. And walked. And walked the whole loop, which I later discovered to be more than 5km in length! In the heat!
The zoo looked familiar - Singapore Zoo in the 70s and 80s! The enclosures were simple, no frills and there was none of the carefully cultivated landscapes you see in the Singapore Zoo but nonetheless, it was very green and leafy. And while I moaned about it initially, the walk was rather pleasant. The Zoo had an impressive range of animals - no lions but lots of tigers! Caught fresh from the neighbourhood maybe?
The highlight were the rides. In Singapore, we stay away from the rides - at a cut-throat price of $5 per head, this can easily add up. When you have five kids and all hankering for rides on an assortment of four-legged critters, the money easily adds up very quickly. This time though, with the elephant ride costing RM2 per head, the kids happily had a gala time.
Unlike the Singapore Zoo, wisely or unwisely depending on your perspective, the elephant ride trail was not bordered by fence or shrubbery so you could literally get really up close to the animal. So we had good shots - even a bonus National Geographic moment as the elephant stopped in mid-walk and emptied the contents of his cavernous bowel and bladder - AT THE SAME TIME. I used to think that only I could do that. With the path now nicely watered with gallons of elephant pee - and I kid you not, it's exactly like turning on a tap full blast, none of the polite tinkle-tinkle thank you! - the big guy hitched up and carried on with his saunter round the track.
Feeling generous with the RM2 per head elephant ride, we gallantly offered the kids what was previously forbidden fruit - the pony rides. But the heat and the suspicion that we had a long way more to walk drove even the kids to forgo the rides and to trudge on.
Passed the antelopes and 23 different types of deer, lazy buffalo, rhino (with a cat - yes, street cat - gingerly staking out a corner of the enclosure!) an assortment of primates, tiny furry mammals with big eyes that all look alike after a while, birds (yes, it was a 2 for 1 deal - bird park + zoo! Which drove stingy poker of a husband into greater ecstasies since he discovered what great value the Melaka zoo was proving to be) , flamingoes, tortoises, comatose crocs and big cats, we finally came to end. Phew! At which time I discovered the gradual burning heat I was experiencing was not because of sunstroke but because I was nursing a fever of 38.7deg!
So now you know. We went so you don't have to. But if you run out of places to go in Melaka, fancy a walk among beasts, don't mind the heat, and like any good kiamsiap Singaporean who loves a good bargain and want to fulfil your deepseated but thus far denied fantasies of multiple animal rides, the Melaka Zoo is really not a bad place to start.
This trip, we decided to pop in to the Melaka Zoo - something we said we would do for years, and we've been coming to Melaka for more than 10 years now, but just never got round to.
t was a humid and hot Sunday afternoon when we got there. The place was crowded with mostly Malay families.
Entry fee was RM7 for adults and I think half price for kids. Which delighted my stingy-poker of a husband no end since he kept gloating gleefully that this was less than half the price of entry to the Singapore Zoo.
It was hot, I was sleepy and lethargic after a big dim sum brunch and in no mood to tackle the Melaka Zoo. Plus I was wearing my battered look with the left side of my face puffy, red and full of pus.
So I was less than enthusiastic when KH - and the kids - pestered me to go to the Zoo. "After all," he reasoned "we are almost out of places to go in Melaka already!" That man even wanted to try the Ayer Keroh Recreational Park first but I put my foot down. The heat!
Let me say that the Melaka Zoo is sprawling. I did not know this. Had I known just how big the place is, I would have dug my heels in and said no.
We walked. And walked. And walked the whole loop, which I later discovered to be more than 5km in length! In the heat!
The zoo looked familiar - Singapore Zoo in the 70s and 80s! The enclosures were simple, no frills and there was none of the carefully cultivated landscapes you see in the Singapore Zoo but nonetheless, it was very green and leafy. And while I moaned about it initially, the walk was rather pleasant. The Zoo had an impressive range of animals - no lions but lots of tigers! Caught fresh from the neighbourhood maybe?
The highlight were the rides. In Singapore, we stay away from the rides - at a cut-throat price of $5 per head, this can easily add up. When you have five kids and all hankering for rides on an assortment of four-legged critters, the money easily adds up very quickly. This time though, with the elephant ride costing RM2 per head, the kids happily had a gala time.
Unlike the Singapore Zoo, wisely or unwisely depending on your perspective, the elephant ride trail was not bordered by fence or shrubbery so you could literally get really up close to the animal. So we had good shots - even a bonus National Geographic moment as the elephant stopped in mid-walk and emptied the contents of his cavernous bowel and bladder - AT THE SAME TIME. I used to think that only I could do that. With the path now nicely watered with gallons of elephant pee - and I kid you not, it's exactly like turning on a tap full blast, none of the polite tinkle-tinkle thank you! - the big guy hitched up and carried on with his saunter round the track.
Feeling generous with the RM2 per head elephant ride, we gallantly offered the kids what was previously forbidden fruit - the pony rides. But the heat and the suspicion that we had a long way more to walk drove even the kids to forgo the rides and to trudge on.
Passed the antelopes and 23 different types of deer, lazy buffalo, rhino (with a cat - yes, street cat - gingerly staking out a corner of the enclosure!) an assortment of primates, tiny furry mammals with big eyes that all look alike after a while, birds (yes, it was a 2 for 1 deal - bird park + zoo! Which drove stingy poker of a husband into greater ecstasies since he discovered what great value the Melaka zoo was proving to be) , flamingoes, tortoises, comatose crocs and big cats, we finally came to end. Phew! At which time I discovered the gradual burning heat I was experiencing was not because of sunstroke but because I was nursing a fever of 38.7deg!
So now you know. We went so you don't have to. But if you run out of places to go in Melaka, fancy a walk among beasts, don't mind the heat, and like any good kiamsiap Singaporean who loves a good bargain and want to fulfil your deepseated but thus far denied fantasies of multiple animal rides, the Melaka Zoo is really not a bad place to start.
Favourite Malacca food spots
I don't know if I have documented this, but here goes a list of our favourite places to eat in Malacca. Many do not have addresses, so I'll just give directions and landmarks.
Chicken rice balls at Chung Wah coffee shop, corner of Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock and Jalan Hang Jebat. This is the crowded, a bit grimy coffee shop just after the bridge. Parking lot next to it. Love the softness and flavourful rice balls - a bit on the mashy side but generous with the chicken stock flavour. Not expensive, but its been selling chicken rice balls for decades before the flashy imposters down the street came along. Go early by 11am or go on weekdays or risk standing in line outside under the hot sun. The queue moves pretty fast though but its still easily a half-hour wait for a table.
Our favourite wanton mee at the following:
Hawker centre at Jalan Tun Sri Lanang, less than 100m away from St Peter's Church. Springy noodles and hot chilli in a Cantonese-style light but tasty sauce. Generous helpings for only RM2.50. The hawker centre sells many other delicious food - see below for my favourite cze-cha stall.
Also on Jalan Tun Sri Lanang but slightly further down, before you get to this hawker centre, look for a row of shophouses. Sandwiched in between the shophouses is a hawker cart in front of a single story building that sells only wanton mee or fishball/yong tau foo noodles. The chef is a thin man with a chef hat who works frenetically amid a blur of arm action, stacked up bowls of noodles and steaming vats of soup. The wanton noodles here come in a slick black sauce base. The noodles are slippery and smooth and the chilli is relatively mild but contributes nicely to the overall punch of the whole dish. Accompany with a bowl of fishballs and yong tau foo. The stall only operates from 7.30pm till late. This is usually our first stop in Malacca after a long night drive and even at midnight, the place is buzzing with people patiently waiting for their wanton mee fix. My son thinks an altar should be built here to worship at the best wanton mee stall in Malaysia. (and trust me he's eaten his way through many a wanton mee staff all over the peninsula). Prices start at RM2.50 per plate.
Another great place for wanton mee is the corner coffeeshop at Lorong Bendahara and Jalan Bunga Raya, just next to Renaissance hotel. Open only in the mornings. This is not the usual black sauce Malaysia version, but the pale Cantonese version. They only give black sauce for the non-chilli plates. As with the usual Cantonese versions, the chilli is mild and this comes with shredded chicken. Starts at RM2.50 a plate.
Seafood is good at Restoran Lee (Jalan Bendahara across the road from St Peter's Church. But this place is a bit pricey and service can be slow and distracted if the place is packed. Good crabs though.
Also, I like the milk crabs at Madam Fatso. The milk crabs come in a sweet-savoury milky gravy that has green chilli padi in it for kick. A bit pricey, she used to have a stall at the gluttons corner in front of Mahkota Parade before they kicked all the stall holders out to build the spanking new and totally unnecessary Dataran Pahlawan shopping mall. Yes, just what all World Heritage Cities need - another mall! Madam Fatso was recently re-discovered to have moved to Jalan Melaka Raya 30, right next to a bank of mangroves and water so I suppose extra points given for 'atmosphere'. I don't know if their standards have declined since I last ate, so but they did used to be good, so buyer beware here.
For cze-cha fare (cook-fry outlets where various seafood and meat dishes are ordered with rice and noodles) we enjoy Ji Xiang at Jalan Portugis and Lorong Masjid. Its always packed with local families eating off metal tables and chairs under the night sky. Great frogs' legs, venison, beef cooked with ginger and spring onions. The horfun is smooth with good charred wok hei flavour. Prices are reasonable and we usually spend about RM70 for the whole family (and there are 7 of us).
My favourite cze-cha place though, is the humble tiny stall at the Jalan Tun Sri Lanang hawker centre which also features the good wanton mee stall. This cze-cha stall is run by an Eurasian woman of Indian-Portugeuse descent. She offers razor clams, bamboo clams, and other shellfish, squid and veggie cooked in any way you like. Her razor clams in a simple belachan-sambal sauce is to die for. Paired with a plate of steaming hot white rice, that is pure satisfaction. Simple home-cooked fare but absolutely mouth-wateringly good. A plate of clams with rice is about RM7 I think?
Next door to the cze-cha stall is the steamed soup stall which sells goodness in a porcelain bowl. Piping hot pork innards soup, pig brains soup, and any other piggy permutation you can think of. Further down the same row of stalls is the braised duck stall which also sells a whole ikan tenggiri crispily fried. Mix and match these stalls for a cheap but deliciously satisfying dinner in Malacca. The wanton mee stall I wrote about earlier is also in the same row. The hawker centre is a U-shaped building. These stalls are on the right side of the U, same side as the stall selling bootleg DVDs.
If you're into airconditioned pricey cze-cha, try Bei Zhan Restaurant which has moved to Jalan Syed Abdul Aziz, a new major coastal road. From Mahkota Parade, just take the road with the flyover. Bei Zhan is in a new building at the corner of the road turning off towards Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock. A bit pricey and service rushed but food is pretty good.
For Nonya food - Ole Sayang is not bad. Not great and like all good Nonyas, I don't think the food is up to my mother's standards. Decent but a bit pricey. I would go only if I really, really badly wanted to try Nonya food, but otherwise, I think there are much better options around.
Some guidebooks and websites suggest the Portugeuse Settlement for dinner. I would say, treat it like an adventure which you'd do only once. As I did. The row of seafood 'restaurants' is on my hygiene suspect list and with touts pushing for their own restaurants, its really a hit or miss affair. Dining on wooden platforms jutting out to sea with twinkly lights overhead might sound romantic - except that you really have the stench of stale seawater beneath and lots of cans and other debris floating around. Also, I ended up with a very bad case of the runs after one meal there. I don't know if this is a one-off thing but if I do get the craving for clams and ikan bakar, I'd rather head to the Jalan Tun Sri Lanang hawker centre than risk another visit to the Portugeuse Settlement.
Having said that, a visit in the day is nice because I enjoyed walking around the houses in the settlement - like a tiny Catholic village. Another friend who went also enjoyed the visit in the day, when he met with friendly local ladies who kindly spent time chatting and telling him stories and the history of the place. So while I wouldn't eat there, but I wouldn't mind visiting for a different perspective.
Other places we like - prawn noodles done spicy penang style at Jalan Bunga Raya near the Hotel Majestic, dim sum breakfast at the forme Hotel Bentona at Jalan Laksamana Cheng Ho, fishball noodles at Jalan Laksamana 5, in the residential area behind Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock and mee siam, chendol, taukwa rojak and home-made chicken curry at Donald & Lily's, also behind Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock.
Finally, if you enjoy cooking mee swa at home, buy hand-made mee swa from Lorong Jambatan, on the fringes of the heritage area. The shop has been making hand-made mee swa for generations. Unlike the factory-made counterparts, the mee swa here is not floury and does not break easily when soft.
Chicken rice balls at Chung Wah coffee shop, corner of Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock and Jalan Hang Jebat. This is the crowded, a bit grimy coffee shop just after the bridge. Parking lot next to it. Love the softness and flavourful rice balls - a bit on the mashy side but generous with the chicken stock flavour. Not expensive, but its been selling chicken rice balls for decades before the flashy imposters down the street came along. Go early by 11am or go on weekdays or risk standing in line outside under the hot sun. The queue moves pretty fast though but its still easily a half-hour wait for a table.
Our favourite wanton mee at the following:
Hawker centre at Jalan Tun Sri Lanang, less than 100m away from St Peter's Church. Springy noodles and hot chilli in a Cantonese-style light but tasty sauce. Generous helpings for only RM2.50. The hawker centre sells many other delicious food - see below for my favourite cze-cha stall.
Also on Jalan Tun Sri Lanang but slightly further down, before you get to this hawker centre, look for a row of shophouses. Sandwiched in between the shophouses is a hawker cart in front of a single story building that sells only wanton mee or fishball/yong tau foo noodles. The chef is a thin man with a chef hat who works frenetically amid a blur of arm action, stacked up bowls of noodles and steaming vats of soup. The wanton noodles here come in a slick black sauce base. The noodles are slippery and smooth and the chilli is relatively mild but contributes nicely to the overall punch of the whole dish. Accompany with a bowl of fishballs and yong tau foo. The stall only operates from 7.30pm till late. This is usually our first stop in Malacca after a long night drive and even at midnight, the place is buzzing with people patiently waiting for their wanton mee fix. My son thinks an altar should be built here to worship at the best wanton mee stall in Malaysia. (and trust me he's eaten his way through many a wanton mee staff all over the peninsula). Prices start at RM2.50 per plate.
Another great place for wanton mee is the corner coffeeshop at Lorong Bendahara and Jalan Bunga Raya, just next to Renaissance hotel. Open only in the mornings. This is not the usual black sauce Malaysia version, but the pale Cantonese version. They only give black sauce for the non-chilli plates. As with the usual Cantonese versions, the chilli is mild and this comes with shredded chicken. Starts at RM2.50 a plate.
Seafood is good at Restoran Lee (Jalan Bendahara across the road from St Peter's Church. But this place is a bit pricey and service can be slow and distracted if the place is packed. Good crabs though.
Also, I like the milk crabs at Madam Fatso. The milk crabs come in a sweet-savoury milky gravy that has green chilli padi in it for kick. A bit pricey, she used to have a stall at the gluttons corner in front of Mahkota Parade before they kicked all the stall holders out to build the spanking new and totally unnecessary Dataran Pahlawan shopping mall. Yes, just what all World Heritage Cities need - another mall! Madam Fatso was recently re-discovered to have moved to Jalan Melaka Raya 30, right next to a bank of mangroves and water so I suppose extra points given for 'atmosphere'. I don't know if their standards have declined since I last ate, so but they did used to be good, so buyer beware here.
For cze-cha fare (cook-fry outlets where various seafood and meat dishes are ordered with rice and noodles) we enjoy Ji Xiang at Jalan Portugis and Lorong Masjid. Its always packed with local families eating off metal tables and chairs under the night sky. Great frogs' legs, venison, beef cooked with ginger and spring onions. The horfun is smooth with good charred wok hei flavour. Prices are reasonable and we usually spend about RM70 for the whole family (and there are 7 of us).
My favourite cze-cha place though, is the humble tiny stall at the Jalan Tun Sri Lanang hawker centre which also features the good wanton mee stall. This cze-cha stall is run by an Eurasian woman of Indian-Portugeuse descent. She offers razor clams, bamboo clams, and other shellfish, squid and veggie cooked in any way you like. Her razor clams in a simple belachan-sambal sauce is to die for. Paired with a plate of steaming hot white rice, that is pure satisfaction. Simple home-cooked fare but absolutely mouth-wateringly good. A plate of clams with rice is about RM7 I think?
Next door to the cze-cha stall is the steamed soup stall which sells goodness in a porcelain bowl. Piping hot pork innards soup, pig brains soup, and any other piggy permutation you can think of. Further down the same row of stalls is the braised duck stall which also sells a whole ikan tenggiri crispily fried. Mix and match these stalls for a cheap but deliciously satisfying dinner in Malacca. The wanton mee stall I wrote about earlier is also in the same row. The hawker centre is a U-shaped building. These stalls are on the right side of the U, same side as the stall selling bootleg DVDs.
If you're into airconditioned pricey cze-cha, try Bei Zhan Restaurant which has moved to Jalan Syed Abdul Aziz, a new major coastal road. From Mahkota Parade, just take the road with the flyover. Bei Zhan is in a new building at the corner of the road turning off towards Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock. A bit pricey and service rushed but food is pretty good.
For Nonya food - Ole Sayang is not bad. Not great and like all good Nonyas, I don't think the food is up to my mother's standards. Decent but a bit pricey. I would go only if I really, really badly wanted to try Nonya food, but otherwise, I think there are much better options around.
Some guidebooks and websites suggest the Portugeuse Settlement for dinner. I would say, treat it like an adventure which you'd do only once. As I did. The row of seafood 'restaurants' is on my hygiene suspect list and with touts pushing for their own restaurants, its really a hit or miss affair. Dining on wooden platforms jutting out to sea with twinkly lights overhead might sound romantic - except that you really have the stench of stale seawater beneath and lots of cans and other debris floating around. Also, I ended up with a very bad case of the runs after one meal there. I don't know if this is a one-off thing but if I do get the craving for clams and ikan bakar, I'd rather head to the Jalan Tun Sri Lanang hawker centre than risk another visit to the Portugeuse Settlement.
Having said that, a visit in the day is nice because I enjoyed walking around the houses in the settlement - like a tiny Catholic village. Another friend who went also enjoyed the visit in the day, when he met with friendly local ladies who kindly spent time chatting and telling him stories and the history of the place. So while I wouldn't eat there, but I wouldn't mind visiting for a different perspective.
Other places we like - prawn noodles done spicy penang style at Jalan Bunga Raya near the Hotel Majestic, dim sum breakfast at the forme Hotel Bentona at Jalan Laksamana Cheng Ho, fishball noodles at Jalan Laksamana 5, in the residential area behind Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock and mee siam, chendol, taukwa rojak and home-made chicken curry at Donald & Lily's, also behind Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock.
Finally, if you enjoy cooking mee swa at home, buy hand-made mee swa from Lorong Jambatan, on the fringes of the heritage area. The shop has been making hand-made mee swa for generations. Unlike the factory-made counterparts, the mee swa here is not floury and does not break easily when soft.
Malaysia - hotel reviews IV
Penang
The Gurney Hotel and Residences
We'd stayed at the Gurney before and liked it there. The two-bedroom suites are generously large in size and came with a jacuzzi tub with a view to die for. Generous windows open up to a view of the waterfront, the mainland in the distance, fishing boats out on the water and lots of blue sky.
This time however, we came without a prior reservation, and found all the two-bedroom suites had been booked out. We took two interconnecting Studio Suites instead. The walk-in rates for the Studio Suite are at RM265 per room per night. But because KH comes to Penang often on business, his company maintains a corporate account at The Gurney so we were able to get lower rates at RM190 per room per night for a Studio Suite.
We were given a high floor on the 18th floor with panoramic views of Penang Hill, a general city view, and of the Gurney stretch of hotels and condominiums, the harbour and a hazy mainland outline. At nights, when the city lights came on, the view looked like pretty twinkling Christmas lights. On our last morning, we even spotted a sea eagle soaring and dipping over the sea and perching on the fringes of the swaying casuarinas below the hotel.
With a King-sized bed in each suite, it was pretty comfortable for us - although a bit of a squeeze for the 4 kids in one bed. Lucky they are mostly small-sized kids!
But what thrilled the kids most was the large jacuzzi tub which had a 'window' into the bedroom. The highlight for them was tub time everynight!
The hotel also had two generous sized pools, one with a slide and the other, an infinity pool. But the drawback was, the water was so cold that the kids barely spent 10min in there before giving up, shivering away. The hotel also offered breakfast with a higher room rate. We chose not to have that - Penang has such a wealth of good food that it seemed a sin to have the standard hotel buffet brekkie.
The location of the hotel is excellent since it is not far from the Ferry Terminal, allowing us to take the coastal road, avoiding traffic congestion in and around Komtar and the centre of Georgetown. Being on Gurney Drive also means easy access to the good food. An excellent small hawker centre about 100m down is well-known for the char koey teow and the roasted chicken wings. Further down the road, within walking distance, is Gurney Plaza where we watch movies and do our shopping. The hotel is also very near the good food places - Pulau Tikus, Jalan Burmah, Lor Selamat, Jalan McAllister, and the Chinese Recreation Club. Also not too far away from Georgetown proper with the sights of the Esplanade, Chinatown, Love Lane etc barely a 10min drive away.
Overall rating: 8 out of 1o. I give it this rating because of the comfy bed, the great views and overall, it is good value for the price we paid! We spent 2 nights here and it seemed better value for money than the upper-crust Parkroyal. The Gurney's location is convenient and excellent. Amid the hustle and bustle of Penang, this allows you to take in the sights easily, look for good food right on the doorstep and still come back to a haven.
The Gurney Hotel and Residences
We'd stayed at the Gurney before and liked it there. The two-bedroom suites are generously large in size and came with a jacuzzi tub with a view to die for. Generous windows open up to a view of the waterfront, the mainland in the distance, fishing boats out on the water and lots of blue sky.
This time however, we came without a prior reservation, and found all the two-bedroom suites had been booked out. We took two interconnecting Studio Suites instead. The walk-in rates for the Studio Suite are at RM265 per room per night. But because KH comes to Penang often on business, his company maintains a corporate account at The Gurney so we were able to get lower rates at RM190 per room per night for a Studio Suite.
We were given a high floor on the 18th floor with panoramic views of Penang Hill, a general city view, and of the Gurney stretch of hotels and condominiums, the harbour and a hazy mainland outline. At nights, when the city lights came on, the view looked like pretty twinkling Christmas lights. On our last morning, we even spotted a sea eagle soaring and dipping over the sea and perching on the fringes of the swaying casuarinas below the hotel.
With a King-sized bed in each suite, it was pretty comfortable for us - although a bit of a squeeze for the 4 kids in one bed. Lucky they are mostly small-sized kids!
But what thrilled the kids most was the large jacuzzi tub which had a 'window' into the bedroom. The highlight for them was tub time everynight!
The hotel also had two generous sized pools, one with a slide and the other, an infinity pool. But the drawback was, the water was so cold that the kids barely spent 10min in there before giving up, shivering away. The hotel also offered breakfast with a higher room rate. We chose not to have that - Penang has such a wealth of good food that it seemed a sin to have the standard hotel buffet brekkie.
The location of the hotel is excellent since it is not far from the Ferry Terminal, allowing us to take the coastal road, avoiding traffic congestion in and around Komtar and the centre of Georgetown. Being on Gurney Drive also means easy access to the good food. An excellent small hawker centre about 100m down is well-known for the char koey teow and the roasted chicken wings. Further down the road, within walking distance, is Gurney Plaza where we watch movies and do our shopping. The hotel is also very near the good food places - Pulau Tikus, Jalan Burmah, Lor Selamat, Jalan McAllister, and the Chinese Recreation Club. Also not too far away from Georgetown proper with the sights of the Esplanade, Chinatown, Love Lane etc barely a 10min drive away.
Overall rating: 8 out of 1o. I give it this rating because of the comfy bed, the great views and overall, it is good value for the price we paid! We spent 2 nights here and it seemed better value for money than the upper-crust Parkroyal. The Gurney's location is convenient and excellent. Amid the hustle and bustle of Penang, this allows you to take in the sights easily, look for good food right on the doorstep and still come back to a haven.
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