Showing posts with label Reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reviews. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Flexiroam - Your Mobile Roaming Saver!

Flexiroam is the mobile phone service provider (for roaming) from Malaysia that can save your oversea high roaming charges which I experienced it on my recent Bali's trip.
The configuration is simple as you log into their website with free sign up, then buy the credit. The credit will be never expired. Example you can buy 7 days (ONLY RM10 per day) credit and if you only use 4 days for your trip, the balance 3 days will be remain in your account until your next activation. It has NO Expiry date! (which stated) This is Great!

I followed the instruction on the simple guide before aboard at the airport, then sent another SMS from the local Bali's Cell phone service provider after I touched down Bali's Airport, That simple!
Whoever call me from my Malaysia number will be diverted to my Indonesia number! So I won't MISS any call at all and avoided all the High Roaming charges!
If I want to call any number in Malaysia, I just send a SMS with the number I need to call to the 'gateway' (provided by them), the charges will be local call! (I'm using Celcom Flat Rate) Sound easy? Yes, just a few click on the cellphone!

Well, after I experienced for few days...this are my comments :-

1)  Hopefully Flexiroam can provide more simple configuration, because I miss 1 step during the setting. (especially for those peoples who are not familiar)
2)  There were some delay during the conversation (understood cos it's VOIP) which due to the high latency, not sure it was because of the Malaysia or Indonesia service provider. Yet to improve...
3)  I followed the instruction from the guide but couldn't make a call from it. It was not successful. I had no idea about it...
4)  I wish they can provide the 'call history' in my account.

But the technical support from Flexiroam was EXCELLENT!! I sent an email to the technical support almost midnight during my trip, and they replied within 30 minutes! I'm really satisfied with it!

If you want to save the High Roaming Charges and can bear with the little delay, Please sign up with Flexiroam!

I will try it again on my next oversea trip!

Friday, March 11, 2011

Capitol Hotel at The Heart of Kuala Lumpur

Capitol Hotel (N3.14481 E101.70988) is located at Jalan Bulan of Jalan Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur. And it's surrounded by Sungai Wang Plaza, BB Plaza and Lowyat Plaza in the Golden Triangle of Kuala Lumpur. The reason we selected this hotel was because of the prime location!

I booked the hotel through HolidayCity.com with the better rates, because when I made a call for the hotel reservation, they said it's Full.
Surprisingly, during we checked-in...we were upgraded to Super Deluxe Room at the same rates!

The Super Deluxe Room of Capitol Hotel, Kuala Lumpur

The Super Deluxe room is located at the corner of the building, and my daughter like it very much because she can had a better view of the surrounding!
The room was Clean & Spacious enough for small family like us.

The bathroom was spacious too! It came with a shower area & bathtub. You can view from the photos attached...


The Bathtub

Nice decorated shower area

We took the room without breakfast, because there are Many restaurants at this area and we can have more choices! We had our dinner at the restaurant situated just next to the Hotel. So far the foods were average and prices were reasonable.

The Beef Noodle at the restaurant beside Capitol Hotel

Roasted Pork from the same restaurant

The beef noodle was ok but the roasted pork was not Crunchy.

The Capitol Hotel was fine (except the ventilation at the corridor) and we may want to visit it again next time!
Rated : 3.5/5

We only put a night here because I was invited to the Blogger Party at Neo Tamarind Restaurant.

Capitol Hotel Kuala Lumpur
Jalan Bulan, off Jalan Bukit Bintang
55100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Tel : +603 21437000

The Location Map of Capitol Hotel at Kuala Lumpur


Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Eight (8) Days Boutique Hotel at Bandar Baru Permas Jaya, Johor Bahru

Eight (8) Days Boutique Hotel (N1 29.790 E103 49.008) is strategically located along the Jalan Permas Utara of Bandar Baru Permas Jaya, Johor Bahru. Which is just beside Jusco Shopping Complex Permas Jaya and a few shop lots next to Police Station Permas Jaya with Free parking area.

Eight (8) Days Hotel at Permas Jaya, Johor Bahru.

The hotel started operation on August, 2010, and it has 48 rooms which categorized into few different types for different types of customers. Beside that, the hotel also has a proper cafe area and a function room for 70 peoples. The function room also can become a entertainment area (Karaoke) on request.

The Reception of the Eight (8) Days Hotel

Let me show you around the Hotel area...

The Cafe of the hotel


The Cafe outdoor area

The Cafe is open from 7am - 7pm. And provide a simple foods like Breakfast and lunch.

The Function room

The Function room equipped with projector, LCD TV, amplifier & mic and Wifi internet.

The Hotel implemented the Door Access Control System for every room and also the public area. That's mean you cannot access to the upper floor (guest room) without the Card issue by the hotel, even the lift is control by the Lift Access System.

Once you check in to the hotel, you can have a piece of mind and relax yourself! We like it very much!

The Internet center is located at the back of the Hotel which is the staircase access to the guest room area, well...it also need your Card to access to the area.


The staircase access from the back of the Hotel, the Internet center is the corner.

Overall, the environment is Neat & Clean! Hopefully the management will maintain it forever! The hotel staffs are friendly, I had a chat with the Manager - Mr Hoe who was very easy going & friendly too!
You can find all the Tourism information about Singapore from the Reception if you are visiting our neighbor country from Johor Bahru.

Hot & Cold drinking water is provide 24 hours

The hotel provided 24 hours extensive security system, CCTV Surveillance System & Free Wireless Access Internet Service to all their customers.

Now, let's visit the rooms....

Super Single room with Tatami style - MYR59.00 (promotion)

Deluxe Queen room (Tatami) - MYR95.00 (promotion) 
They also have the Superior Queen which cost MYR85.00 (promotion)

Deluxe King room - MYR98.00 (promotion)

Deluxe Twin room - MYR98.00 (promotion)

Deluxe Triple room - MYR118.00 (promotion)

Premier Tatami room (2 queen beds) - MYR128.00 (promotion)

Premier Tatami room

All the rooms above come with solid wood doors and attached bathroom. All equipped with Hot & Cold water. They provide good quality toiletries, Impressed!

The attached bathroom

The room features :-
-  LCD TV with Local & Satellite channels
-  Free Wireless Hi-speed Internet Access
-  Individual Safe Box
-  International Direct Dial Telephone
-  Air Conditioning with Ionizer
-  Iron & iron board (on request)
-  Hairdryer (on request)

We had a night in the Platinum King room, which was provided with one King bed and the Jacuzzi facility. Pictures below...

Platinum King room - MYR138.00 (promotion)

And the pictures of the bathroom...


The Toothbrush was provided! Surprised!

Unique 'UFO' BIG Shower Head

The Jacuzzi

Another thing which was surprised us! Double glass windows for better noise isolation! (For all rooms with windows) Another Impressed!

Double Glass Windows

We were very satisfied with the Hotel Amenities & Service! Especially with the affordable rates, we can enjoy the 5 stars hotel facilities, Excellent!

The hotel is basically suitable for family & executive peoples, easy access to the Jusco Departmental Store and Delicious foods around. You can have some entertainment during night time to Kill you bore at the Nice Coffeetrap and Mulligan's Pub & Bistro just across the main road.

According to the Manager - Mr Hoe, the hotel will provide the GPS Device (coming soon) in rental basis for customers who want to drive into Singapore! Cool!

I will definitely recommend the hotel to all my friend who want to have a short stay around Johor Bahru area!!

Rated : 4.5/5

Eight (8) Days Hotel
24,26,27 & 28 Block A, Permas Mall, Jalan Permas Utara,
Bandar Baru Permas Jaya, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia.
Tel: +6073889889 / 3882882, +60167133339  Fax:+6073873888
Website : http://www.8dayshotel.com


Location map of Eight (8) Days Boutique Hotel at Johor Bahru


Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Hallmark Hotel at Malacca (Melaka)

Hallmark Hotel (N2 12.002 E102 14.808) is located along Jalan Portugis of Jalan Kubu main road in Malacca Town. And it's also stone throw away (about 300 meter) to Jonker Street. There are many nice restaurants around the area. This was our first visit to Hallmark Hotel.

Hallmark Hotel, Malacca

I made the reservation before we drove to Malacca. The standard room rates was MYR105.00 for 2 single beds (with 2 breakfast), the twin bed was fully booked that day.

We were quite impressed with the facilities in the room. Beside the necessities, they also provide Free Wifi to the room and A DVD player with the 32" LCD TV. This was the first time I saw a DVD player in the hotel room! But we didn't utilized it and we were not intend to spend the time in the hotel for movie?!

The LCD TV, DVD Player & the Mini Fridge

The room was spacious enough for 2 of us and it was well maintain and Clean! My wife was surprised there was a hair dryer provided in the room too!
Once we check in the hotel, we went for tea break at Cafe 1511 and not really have time to look around the hotel.

The bathroom

The Big shower head

I like the hot shower, the hot water was Very hot once you turn the tap!

The only 2 comments we had :
1)  The loud water sound from upstairs bathroom, it was not well isolated.
2)  Vehicle parking difficulty!

OH NO! We received  a parking ticket (RM30.00) on the next day morning after we check out from the hotel, I asked the guy at the reception counter on that night before I parked, and he said it's ok to park my car beside the lane. Too bad we got the fine ticket! I show to one of the gentlemen at the reception, and he said he will pay the fine for us, still yet to receive any notification from them. (Cross my finger and pray...)

The room rates was reasonable at MYR105.00 per day and we were satisfied with the staffs at the front counter and also the hotel environment. We will visit again the Hotel again in our future visit to Malacca and hope they will have a better parking area for hotel guests in the future. :)

Hotel Hallmark
68, Jalan Portugis of Jalan Kubu,
75200 Melaka,
Malaysia.
Tel : +606-2812888  Fax : +606-2813409

Grand Hallmark Hotel (Taman Molek)
32 Jalan Molek 2/2 Taman Molek 81100 Johor Bahru Malaysia
Tel: +607-357-2288
Website: www.grandhotelhallmark.com

Location map of Hallmark Hotel in Malacca


Tuesday, December 21, 2010

MyWebfon - The VOIP Provider in Malaysia

Most of us carried our cellular phone when we travel or business trip out of home country, what type of phone service you always use?

Yes, I was using the mobile phone roaming services everytime when I'm away from Malaysia, but it's costly when I call home! I remember I called my wife's mobile phone from Indonesia and the airtime charges was MYR4.20 for 3 minutes! Wow! Until I found this Malaysia VOIP phone service call Mywebfon and the charges was ONLY RM0.13 per minutes! That's really save a lot money and provided with excellent voice quality! I like to call Singapore via MyWebFon without worry because it's ONLY RM0.07 per minutes! That's really save! Haha!
I can also apply a local DID number for MyWebFon VOIP account, but I ignore it because of the monthly charges and it does not really serve my purpose.

You can check the rates from the official website here : http://www.mywebfon.com

I use the third party application called Nimbuzz in my Nokia E71 to make call via MyWebFon with a Simple configuration through 3G or Wifi, all you need is the internet connection. Nimbuzz also provide application software for Iphone, Blackberry, Android and Windows Mobile platform. No matter what mobile phone you are using, you can find the suitable application in Nimbuzz.

The Pros :-
*  Super Low rates
*  Good voice quality
*  Easy to use
*  No roaming & monthly service charges
*  Real time call record
*  Multiple lines with One account

The Cons :-
*  Must use 3rd party application on mobile phone (Troublesome!)
*  Have to monitor the credit everytime because no immediate top up. (It takes 1 to 2 hours after my credit card charge)
*  Cannot receive call via VOIP. (doesn't matter to me)

I will definitely recommend my friends (frequent traveler) to use this service if they can bear with the 3 disadvantages above. And it's just as easy as fill the form from the official website and charge your credit card for the minimum MYR30.00, then wait for your account to activate! And now if you mention 'J-Travel' when you purchase, you will get additional 10% airtime! Hurry! Grab it before the offer expire!

Beside mobile phones, they also provide SIP Trunk for Corporate Office which utilize their IPPBX Telephone System. Or you can install the ATA directly to your Keyphone or PABX System. They do supply the nice looking stand alone IP Phone - Yealink T20 for those small office without a Phone System. I suggest you contact the Sales Rep if you interested to have the VOIP services in your office.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Grand Continental Hotel at Kuah, Langkawi Island

Grand Continental Hotel (N6 19.666 E99 50.233) is one of the Three (3) stars hotel which located at Jalan Pantai Matsirat of Kuah, Pulau Langkawi. It's just in between the Langkawi Parade Shopping Complex and Sky Eagle Inn Hotel. That will be convenience for us to buy some daily necessity and beers at the shopping complex. :)

Hotel Grand Continental Hotel at Kuah, Langkawi Island. (HDR)

We booked the hotel through the AsiaWebDirect.com, and the rates was MYR150.00 per day, the total was about MYR330.00 for 2 days included booking fees and tax (c/w breakfast for 2 person). I was impressed with service provided by AsiaWebDirect.com !

The Reception and the Hotel Lobby

The staffs at the Check-in counter were very friendly and we had done the check-in less than 10 minutes! Great!
Before I show the photos of the room, let's look around the environment of the hotel...

The Restaurant area. This was the place we had our breakfast.

The swimming pool was just situated beside the restaurant...well, it was just enough space for you to cool down from the hot weather of Langkawi Island.

The Swimming pool of Grand Continental Hotel of Langkawi Island. 
The kids said 'Peace' to the lens...:)

When we walked through the corridor along the rooms, I saw a special dustbin just sit beside one of the room...this was unaccepted mentality by the guests! You have to learn to take care your own rubbish.

The corridor in the hotel

The room was spacious enough for us (2 adults & 1 child). But during the online booking, I did stated I need a queen bed rather than 2 single bed! Seems like the hotel staff was Not seriously take care on our reservation.

The room of Grand Continental Hotel, Langkawi

Every rooms are provided with the 21" Colour Television and Hair Dryer.

The attached bathroom

And the bathtub, but the Stains.....

The view from the window, the lower building is the Langkawi Parade Shopping Complex.

The other view from the window...

Overall, we were OK for the hotel. Even the stains look uncomfortable, but we were not here for the bathtub. The breakfast provided was average like a normal fried rice, fried noodle and nasi lemak.

From the cost we paid, I rated : 3.8/5.

Well, I will wanna try other hotel in our next visit to Langkawi Island. It's because there are Too many choices in the island...

After everything settle, we drove to Cenang Beach (Pantai) and started to Explore the island! Haha!

You might get a good room rate by booking online through http://www.holidaycity.com/grand-continental-langkawi/index.htm

Hotel Grand Continental Langkawi
Lot 398, MK. Kuah, Keilbang,
07000 Kuah, Pulau Langkawi, Kedah, Malaysia.
http://www.langkawi-resorts.com/grandcontinental/


Related post :
My Trip to Langkawi Island on September 2010
Underwater World of Langkawi Island
Sunset Of Cenang Beach (Pantai), Langkawi Island
The Lighthouse Restaurant at Tengah Beach (Pantai), Langkawi Island
The Langkawi Cable Car at Langkawi Island.
The Famous Sky-Bridge of Mount Machinchang, Langkawi Island. 
Restoran Nasi Kandar Tomato at Cenang Beach, Langkawi Island 
The Kilim Geoforest Park of Langkawi Island 
The Eagles Feeding at Kilim Geoforest Park of Langkawi Island 
The Fish Farm at Kilim Geoforest Park of Langkawi Island
The Bat Cave at Kilim Geoforest Park of Langkawi Island  
Wonderland Seafood Store at Kuah Town, Langkawi Island 
Hole In The Wall Floating Restaurant at Kilim Geoforest Park, Langkawi Island 



Location map of Grand Continental Hotel, Langkawi


Friday, August 20, 2010

Experience The Pulai Desaru Resort, Desaru - Johor

Desaru is a nice getaway for those peoples who like to escape from city life for a 2 days 1 night short vacation. There are few resort along the beach, and we selected the Pulai Desaru Resort (N1 33.636 E104 15.202). This was our second visit to the resort, we didn't stay in the resort during our first visit.
Most of the guests of the Resort were foreigner, and some of group came by the express bus.

The Lobby of the resort is well ventilated because of the high roof design. I took some photos of the lobby...

The lobby of The Pulai Desaru Resort (from 3rd floor)


Clean and well maintain

We took a room for three person which cost us MYR268.00 (weekend rate). But we lucky enough to have some discount. :)

The room was Spacious!

One double bed and one single bed

The pantry

The washroom

The room equipped with bathtub and separate shower area.

Nice Tree View from the room balcony. They called it garden view, but what I saw was trees...:)

View from the room balcony

I walked around the resort after the check-in. Saw some painting work progress on the next blocks...well, seems like business is getting better! Does this gonna with the new highway from Tanjung Langsat to Desaru?! I believe somehow is related. It's a good sign for Desaru.

This is the way towards the swimming pool and the beach from the resort.


The swimming pool of Pulai Desaru Resort

It was cloudy that day and the photos I took were not as attractive as the real scene.

Slide and nice mini waterfall beside...

Don't mind to visit Flinstone's home?! :)

The cave at the pool side

After the pool, we reached the Desaru Beach. Most of the activities were happen at the beach area!

Beach activities

The Desaru Beach

When the night fall, I took some photos of the Windows Cafe. But we were not gonna have our dinner here...

The Windows Cafe - indoor session

The Windows Cafe - outdoor session

And the Ramadan Buffet Dinner was serve to the guests

The lighting of the lobby was nice and I can't resist to snapped some photos of it! :)

The Lobby at night

The staircase to the guest room


And the buffet breakfast was included for all the guest. Simple and nice!

The breakfast from the Pulai Desaru Resort

The Resort environment was clean and staffs were friendly. And the room rate was reasonable, I might stay here again on our next visit to Desaru!
Rated : 4/5.

You will enjoy a good internet rate from online by click on the www.Holidaycity.com or call the number below for reservation.


Related post :-
The Pulai Desaru Beach Resort, Johor

The Pulai Desaru Beach Resort
PO Box 29, Bandar Penawar, 81900 Kota Tinggi, Johor, Malaysia.
Tel: +60-7-822-2222 • Fax: +60-7-822-2223
Email: reservation@thepulai.com.my

The location map of Pulai Desaru Resort