Who doesn't like to go for hotel staycations? And who doesn't love it when they receive wedding invites - especially the kind where you get to hop on a plane and attend wan? Hah.
I love both!
I was literally jumping up and down like a kid when I found out that Clement and Yuh Ting's wedding was going to be at Shangri-La hotel in Sabah! Well, I thought it was going to be at Shangri-La Rasa Ria, but it was actually at Shangri-La Tanjung Aru! Still very best please.
This hotel is like siblings hotel to Rasa Sayang in Penang, and although we aren't a big fan of Shangri-La Rasa Sayang in Penang, it was still exciting to get to try other Shangri-La hotels.
We love the facilities and breakfast spread here! Their spread is huge and really, if you try to eat a lil bit of everything in one morning, you actually don't have to eat lunch anymore. JUST SO MUCH FOOD SERIOUSLY.
Then, their swimming pool - fulamak! Huge and nice and has the best sea view! The compound of the entire resort is just mind-blowing humongous. They have an area for golf and huge garden area! We love hanging out in this resort so much that we didn't leave the place for the whole 3 days we were here! Best.
We stayed at the Kinabalu Wing Seaview Deluxe Room, and the view from our balcony is just so pretty and crazy beautiful. We got the sea view and garden view! And we got special rates for it because of the wedding - which by the way, is the most beautiful outdoor wedding we have ever attended - hands down!
A short video clip of how the room looks like :) Till next staycation, bye now :)
Yeng Keng Hotel - this boutique hotel has 19 rooms and is located in the heart of Georgetown. Sadly, there is no beach nearby (obviously) but not everyone fancies the beach during staycations anyway.
We were looking for a decent place to celebrate dad's birthday, and the birthday boy himself suggested for some Hainanese cuisine at Yeng Keng Cafe (located next to the hotel).
I have to say that I was impressed with the environment (wall color etc) although the furnitures were slightly older-feeling. Overall, I love being in the cafe as it gives that some kind of nostalgic feel. It's super old-school but in a good way.
They are apparently famous for their Hainanese Chicken Chop so of course we had to order that, and some other typical Hainanese foods. We are not Hainanese people so our reviews are purely based on our hokkien tongue okay. Heh.
Hainanese Chicken Chop
He says: Good. Classic.
She says: Huge portion - def can share between 2 people. I like the "kochabi" it has to a Hainanese chicken chop feel. I would order this again.
Chicken Pie
He says: Not so good.
She says: I have tasted better chicken pie (usually homemade really best kind!)
Hailam Mee
He says: Okay-okay lah.
She says: Tasted like the usual Hokkien Char (without beehoon) so yummy but nothing extraordinary.
Inche Kabin
He says: Ho chiak!
She says: This is good although certain parts can be quite dry.
Overall, I loved dining at Yeng Keng Cafe. I love the vibes in there, and definitely will be making another trip there when I crave for a good Chicken Chop.
Do you love eating steamboats and do you love dining outdoor?
If your answer is yes and yes, you need to dine at this Cheang Kee Restaurant! They used to be at Chulia Street, but they decided to move to this new place due to a high rental fee. I have not tried them when they were in Chulia Street so it was our first time trying them.
My cousin found this place when she saw her friend's IG and we immediately booked for our staycation weekend.
They are not fully done with the outdoor dining so it's best to go in the early evening when it is still bright and dry. We were there at 6pm and it was perfect, but sadly it started to rain so we had to move the tables indoors.
Here is the menu that they sent us through WhatsApp a week prior to our dinner week, and we pre-ordered our meals. They have ala cartes and mini steamboat sets.
I do think that it is better to make a reservation before heading there, as they may not have the outdoor settings for you, so yeah - call first.
Their number: 017-411 5177
Their address: 551-L, Jalan Wee Hein Tze, 11200 Tanjung Bungah.
They have different types of soup, but their top 2 best selling ones are the Premium Chicken Soup and Shaoxing Wine Chicken Soup. We ordered the Shaoxing one, and it was truly, so good!
I thought that the price was quite expensive. My fish set of personal steamboat was RM32.90 with just 5 thin slices of fillets. What shocked us most was paying RM10.90 for a small glass of orange juice. Hah.
But overall, I love the soup and the environment so I will go back again. Maybe next time I will try other food on their menu.
When people say Balik Pulau, the first few foods that come to mind are laksa and durian, and brown sugar pau.
I always must have my lemak laksa at the Kim Seng Kopitiam, but that Saturday's spontaneous trip brought us all the way into the inner part of Balik Pulau, called Kampung Pantai Acheh.
Yes, we have been living in Penang for like 30-years, and never have I ever been to Kampung Pantai Acheh. It is not that far from the Balik Pulau town. You can waze it and it will bring you there.
Don't count on me to give you instructions on the directions there, because you may end up in a jungle.
You must be like thinking about what triggered us to even know how to get into Kampung Pantai Acheh. Well, that brings us to a few years back when Covid-19 has not happened yet and Adrian and I were both enjoying our bowl of beef noodle soup along Carnavon Street when an elderly couple came and shared a table with us.
We started talking, and before we know it, they were sharing their travel experiences with us. They lived in the mainland and would always make their way to Balik Pulau (more specifically Kampung Pantai Acheh) to eat fried oysters (oh-chien). But that was it. We didn't go and explore that part of Balik Pulau.
Not till recently when we were there and we suddenly remembered about this local goodness! We were just looking for the fried oyster when we saw the roasted duck stall next to it and boy, they were looking fine - like finger-licking-fine. Hah.
So, we ordered one of each and we devoured it in the car. And then we went to order some more to tapau back.
And in the same Kopitiam, they also sell like seafood items - so we went back another time and tried all! HAHAHA.
FRIED OYSTER (Oh Chien) - RM10
He says: Oh so good, so tasty! I like the chili sauce.
She says: I could taste the oyster on my first bite and there wasn't any oyster in that bite. Super aromatic and need to enjoy it while it's hot. We had this in the car. It was perfect.
ROASTED DUCK WITH SESAME SEEDS - RM46 (a whole duck)
He says: Best in the world!
She says: Crispy skin and tender juicy meat. So so so good! We bought it back for my grandma and she loves it so much she kept talking about it. And she is a real food critic, please. Heh. Really love this!
This is the coffee shop where you can find the two goodies. I think if you love eating duck, you need to try this one. We are not big fan of duck meat, so we cannot really "judge" if it is really good, But as far as our tongue is, we definitely approved this duck. Hah.
STEAMED MUSSELS - RM22
He says: Okay nia la.
She says: Fresh mussels. Will love it more if it comes with some type of sauce.
FISH HEAD WITH BITTER GOURD - RM20
He says: Okay nia pun.
She says: I am not a big fan of fish head but I am a big fan of bitter gourd, so this dish is quite a win. The sauce is very yummy and old-school.
STIR-FRIED KAPAH WITH GINGER & GARLIC - RM15
He says: This is pretty good - fresh!
She says: Super fresh and super yummy. We love it so much we ordered it again to snack on after we finished eating everything okay.
HOR KA SAI
He says: Not as 'kau' as I thought it would be!
She says: Yummy!
FISH AND PRAWN PORRIDGE - RM15
He says: Not bad...
She says: If you are a fan of seafood and porridge, then this is a definite must-try! Both the fish fillets and prawns - fresh kau kau.
Their stalls are right next to each other, facing the road. I don't think you will miss them as you reach Kampung Pantai Acheh. We didn't explore anymore after eating all these!
Was it worth the drive to go further into Balik Pulau?
ONE HUNDRED PERCENT A DEFINITE YES.
The duck stall is open only on the weekends (12pm-7pm) but the rest I think should be open on Thursday onwards - and all these stalls are in this LP Hoe Kopitiam okay!
There is absolutely no pain like a toothache - okay maybe cannot be compared to childbirth pain but still, toothaches are the worse!
I was struggling with pain in my left wisdom tooth for a week when I decided that I cannot endure it anymore. It has to go - or something needs to be done.
I always thought that I have passed this wisdom tooth 'stage' because when they were growing out (which I don't exactly know when hah), they didn't cause any discomfort at all.
This time, my gums were inflamed due to (I believe) food being stuck in that small valley between the normal tooth and the 'Cleopatra wisdom tooth. Heh. Cleopatra because the wisdom tooth was lying instead of standing like all usual teeth.
Here is an x-ray being done before the dentist could advise on what to do. It was necessary because she (the dentist) needed to confirm if the affected wisdom tooth was in a "good" position for extraction.
There it is - my set of straight teeth - thanks to 4-years of wearing braces (worth every money spent and pain endured!). Surely you can also see that my left and right tooth grew out to be very close to my teeth and there is a very small tiny gap in between.
This is where food gets stuck and I have absolutely no way to get them out. So, the ideal way is to extract my wisdom tooth (left side first since the right side doesn't cause any problem - yet).
The dentist then explained to me that this 2D x-ray cannot really show us if the wisdom tooth is touching (or protruding) the inferior alveolar nerve or lingual nerve. And if it is very near to the nerve, then the extraction procedure itself could cause damage to the nerve.
She told me that the risk is that I may lose the sense of my left cheek/ and/or/left lip and/or left gums. I remembered asking her if it's a forever kind of thing and the answer is: it could be.
I was not going to take that risk immediately for sure.
She gave me an option to go for a 3D x-ray at Lam Wah Ee Hospital and I went to have that done the very next day. Within 45-minutes, I walked out of the hospital with the CD in my hand - spent RM200 there.
That evening, I went back to the dental clinic and she examined the x-ray and confirmed the worse. Okay, not the worse la. But basically not a piece of very good news - at least not that one I hoped to hear anyways.
The image is on the CD and I don't have a CD reader at home so got to do without.
Basically, what the 3D x-ray shows are that both wisdom tooth is protruding the nerve and because of this, the risk of having a numb cheek/lip/gum is a lot higher - anything can happen during the extraction and there is no guarantee.
So the dentist gave me another option - Coronectomy.
It is a procedure to remove the top of the wisdom tooth and leaving the roots untouched so we can leave the nerve alone hah.
I thought about it for like 10-seconds and went ahead with the procedure - the next day I think ( I cannot remember).
When it was time to sit on that scary chair, I was praying so hard I won't feel anything - not even from the injections. I saw the needle and I closed my eyes and obviously, it was painful! The anesthetic jab was painful, full stop. It was not like an ant bite.
The entire process took about one and half hours.
It was long because she had to remove my left topmost inner tooth too - if not, I will be biting onto my gum below since the crown of the wisdom tooth is gone. If you see the x-ray image below, the top tooth was not extracted yet. She just wanted to show me that my wisdom tooth still has its root inside, and prayerfully please don't kena infections all. Hah.
So yeah. I closed my eyes most of the time and imagined I was lying on the beach at Gili Trawangan. It worked for a while until I started feeling intense pain midway and she injected me with more anesthetic and smooth sailing again.
Total damage spent on fixing this pain-in-my-bum bum was RM1,000. Well, I sort of already knew that it was going to cost a bomb because everyone say so - but still, worth getting rid of that toothache.
Okay, so the conclusion is I did not get my wisdom tooth removed - not really anyways. Only half is gone.
Now I'm hoping the right side doesn't start pattern all - because that means I would need to go through another round of Coronectomy. Though it was a smooth experience, I don't think I want to go through it again.
Something like going for a roller-coaster ride. Yes, I no longer enjoy going on a roller-coaster. No thanks to bad motion sickness after that. Come to think about it, I don't enjoy going on any rides that move. Hah.
I rather walk around and shop in places like Universal Studios or Disneylands - oh and eat snacks. My definition of enjoys life heh.
Alright, so for those of you who need to go through this wisdom tooth thing in the future, all the best, and don't be scared because your fear cannot magically take away your toothache wan. You just got to go through it like a champ and come out a warrior. Hah.
Big shoutout to Tourism Malaysia for making this staycation happen. I know you a bit blur now why I said that heh.
Because Tourism Malaysia came out with a Stimulus Package alongside MATTA and Shopee - where they are sponsoring RM100 per person (discount) for any tour package purchased on Shopee that is in line with MATTA.
Needless to say, Holiday Tours has a few packages lined up and one of them was a 2D1N staycation at Hotel Jen Penang Georgetown by Shangri-La!
The selling price for the 2D1N Hotel Jen is RM115 per person for the 2D1N package, so with the RM100 discount voucher on Shopee, we actually only paid RM15 for a hotel staycation.
Every account is only entitled to 1 RM100 discount voucher, and there were like 12 of us so we needed 12 people to buy and utilize these vouchers on Shopee - so we reached out to friends (haha) to help us out (only if they did not plan to use them) and finally, we managed to get all the vouchers and wala - it was staycation time! Heh.
You can try this link(click with your phone app) and see if the package is still there - because I am quite sure the Hotel Jen's package is fully booked/purchased. But there are many other packages that you can use this RM100 voucher on.
You can only enjoy this voucher thing via Shopee App - if I am not wrong.
We emailed the Reservations Team days prior to the check-in and requested for all rooms to be on the same floor and if possible, to have multiple connecting rooms - and to have early check-ins.
We were informed that early check-ins were not possible due to the high occupancy rate that week so that was a bummer that we had to only check in at 3PM - but being us, we went to the hotel early anyways, at like about 1245PM.
We decided to try request for early check-in (again) and it worked! We managed to check into 2 rooms first and then by 2PM, all our rooms were ready! So, that works! Heh. Perseverance is key :)
This is the package that we purchased.
It is inclusive of:-
> daily buffet breakfast
> entrance ticket to 3D Trick Art Museum
Oh, and we paid an extra RM10 per room for the weekend surcharge.
Now, about the stay and the room and the breakfast.
The staff was friendly and helpful. It was such a pleasant check-in experience with them. The lobby is nice and clean, even the hallway to the rooms. There were lots of sanitizers in the hotel so very convenient to wash your hands every 5 steps. Heh.
The room (Deluxe Room with King bed) was quite spacious - and I love that they have an extra lounge chair by their giant window (which I love so much!).
Overall, clean room with a clean bathroom so I think I will give it a 4 out of 5 stars.
The missing 1-star because of its location heh. I think it is a great hotel for those who prefer to explore the city and do some cafe hopping and for businessmen for sure. But for families with children, it is not very ideal - just because there were not many things to do in (around) the hotel.
No beach and the pool are very basic. Also, cos Covid so no swimming for all of us so bleh.
Only 2 rooms were connected - my grandma's and ours. So our room was the party/supper-room. Yes, we tapau food from Green House - like curry mee and tailok mee and steamed chicken. Heh.
So here's a fun hack.
Do you know that you can call the hotel and request bowls and cutleries from the restaurant and they will bring it to your room? We requested 5 bowls and cutleries and they delivered.
Like legit super nice good quality bowls that they use in the restaurant okay - not those plastic bowls.
That is why we could enjoy our curry mee and yee sang kai chok. Heh.
