And happy NY to y’all, of course! May 2014 be a wonderful year for all of us! With lots of travels, which is exactly what I want to write about today.From Singapore you have many options for traveling. Which we regularly do, lucky bastards that we are.
Lately we went on a city trip to Georgetown on the Malaysian island of Penang, only 75 minutes away by plane.
We chose to stay in the Eastern & Oriental hotel, a hotel with colonial grandeur.
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| The hotel looks impressive and is conveniently located for exploring the historic centre on foot. |
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| Every day a fresh sand stamp in the ashtrays. Cool! |
We booked a suite in the Heritage Wing, the old part of the hotel. The suite was enormous and had a beautiful sea view.
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| The staff was dressed in colonial style; oh well, it matches with the style of the hotel;-). |
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| Standing in the ‘living room’, looking in the bedroom and after that the giant bathroom. |
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| Bathroom. |
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| The bath was gooood! |
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| Two sinks, a toilet, a shower and a bath….wonderful! |
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| From the bedroom looking into the living room. |
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| We even had a small balcony. Unfortunately lots of musquitos as well:-(. |
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| Our balcony overlooked the pool. |
I would nevertheless advice to book a room in the new wing, The Victory Annex.
Why?
Because our room was insanely noisy. Since I read the same from other reviewers on Tripadvisor, I guess it has to do with the wooden floors and thin walls. As someone described it: “We had someone above us who danced in his room with boots till 1 in the night.” Hahaha…that’s exactly what we heard as well.
I also received the advice to go for the Victory Annex -unsollicited- by people who seemed to know.
We had earplugs, so we managed. Next time we will ask for a room in the Victory Annex.
The weather changed rapidly, during the days and nights of our 5 days in Georgetown, but we were able to do stuff every day, so we were not bothered at all.
Breakfast was served outside and inside. We chose for outside, which was lovely. The selection was good and the cappuccino’s were acceptable. The view was great!
When we arrived they were setting up a gigantic christmas tree in the main lobby.
And a choir with pianist were practising Christmas carols.
Turns out the members were all belonging to the hotel staff.
A few days later, there would be the annual christmas tree light up, for invited islanders and hotel guests.
We did not know this in advance, so we had no christmas items with us. Many of the invited islanders knew, so they came lightly adorned.
We invited one of Frits’ colleagues, his wife and son (they live in Georgetown) over to join us, which was nice!
This lady intrigued me. She towered over everyone else.
OK, she was wearing high heels, but still.
But that was not the only reason; it was also her peculiar hairdo, the harsh black color of her hair, her robust sort of Russian matron-like appearance.
She told me she was German and living in a hotel in Georgetown since four years. Maybe she is the nicest person imaginable, I would not know. She just looked strange….
Then the choir came to the stage, all dressed up beautifully in evening gowns.
There was a Malaysian giant (live) Santa, there were christmas dressed staff walking around, there were drinks and christmas snacks.
And then we all sang Christmas Carols (Karaoke style) together, which I could not get out of my head for days, afterwards. “…in excelsis deo…o-o-o-o-oooooo-…”.
No, no, no…go away now…christmas is over, no more Carols in my head!
All in all, the E&O hotel was a good base for us from where to explore the city.
More about our Penang trip in several articles, coming up in the next days and weeks. Stay tuned for more, because we really loved Georgetown. A lot! And in my posts I will show you why.
Have you visited Penang? Georgetown? The Eastern & Oriental hotel? Did you have a good time?
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