Breezy Planet

We took a short break to Penang recently, and we decided to stay at the G Hotel in George Town, because of the good comments we found in Tripadvisor. Booking the room through the hotel website was a breeze.

Getting to the Hotel
At the airport we took a taxi to the hotel, which costed $43 ringgit, and took about 30 minutes to get there. To get a taxi, just approach the taxi booth and tell them where you want to go. You pay the person for the ticket, and go out to the taxi stand to get your taxi. Pretty straighforward.

Location
The hotel is located along Gurney Drive, a seaside esplanade which is a popular hangout for locals and tourists alike. Right next to the hotel is Gurney Plaza, Penang's premier lifestyle mall. This is the second largest mall in Penang, with a wide range of shops, a 12-screen cinema and plenty of excellent eateries. We found that having a mall next to the hotel was very convenient, since we our room was not ready, we could stroll the shops while waiting for the room.

Further down Gurney Drive, there's a well known hawker center which you can find local fares, but we found it quite standard. One visit was enough for us. Although the hotel is by the sea, there's no beach, its more like a mangrove with muddy banks. Not particulary nice smelling either. To visit the town is a 15min taxi ride away, and would set you back about $25 ringgit.



At the check-in, the hotel staff would serve you ice-cream while you wait. As we were kept waiting for our room well past the check-in time, the duty manager personally approached us to apologize for the delay, and offered to send a bottle of wine up to the room. We were pleasantly surprised by the gesture, and even more surprised by how good the wine was!

The Room
The room we took was the superior king, which we found to be very spacious at 55sqm, and includes complimentary internet connection and minibar, and a pool-facing view. The king-size bed is located right in the middle of the room, which is quite a unique layout. We found the bed to be quite hard though, so it was not as comfortable as we would have preferred.


The bathroom was pretty standard, with a shower cubicle and standard amenities. No bath. The provided toiletries were not of high quality, so if you should bring your own soap and shampoo if you are fussy about such things. The shower was strong and powerful so that was good. Slippers and bathrobes were provided.

One thing to note, since the internet cable provided by the hotel was pretty short, we were not able to use our laptop anywhere in the room except at the study desk, located behind the bed. If you want a big more leeway, you should bring your own cable.

Facilities
The hotel sports an infinity pool that looks over the edge at the mall, and I have to say, we thoroughly enjoyed the pool. It was clean, and wasn't too cold, and definitely one of the best thing about this hotel. We also peeked at the gym which was quite decent and clean, with plenty of stations for various workouts. We also visited the Spa, which is operated by Danai Spa. The service was acceptable and the treatment was quite decent, but being a hotel spa, expect to pay a bit more.


The hotel also provides free bicycles for guests to use, which is very handy for biking around the area. As we didn't eat at the hotel, we can't comment on the restaurants there.

Verdict
As a whole, we did enjoy our stay at the G Hotel. It was pretty good value for money, rooms are clean, the location is good and the service is great. We did have some minor gripes but they are really minor and doesn't distract from good enjoyable time at the hotel. Highly recommended.

Website: http://www.ghotel.com.my/

Singapore F1 2009 fever is ramping up, and you know that because those chefs from the Royal Plaza On Scotts are at it again. Last year, for the inaugural Singapore F1, they built a life-size replica of an F1 car in chocolate!

Well, this year, they back with large dosh of carbs instead. Culinary Executive Chef along with a team of six chefs, two artists, two technicians, two culinary staff and five young volunteers from Metta Welfare Association molded together 1,000 loaves and 22 varieties of bread to create "Asia's largest bread race car" in support of the Community Chest Singapore.

So what did it take to make all this? The team spent S$15,000 and 549 hours to assemble the car using 15kg of yeast, 14 litres of water, 2 kg of salt and 10,000 ml of food varnish!

This was my first time on mainland China, spending almost 10 days in the big city of Beijing.

Beijing is definitely a place to visit for anyone going to China. There are some great attractions and really historical places to see. Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden City, Temple of Heave among many others.



The highlight for me was the Great Wall. Such an amazing feat of engineering for that time. The Wall was built, rebuilt and maintained between 5th and 16th century. Imagine that!

The Great Wall stretches approximately 6,400 km. We visited the Badaling section of the Wall, which is 80km from Beijing.

I also dropped by the Olympic Green to see the National Stadium (or more commonly known as the Bird's Nest). Although I did pay to go in to see the inside of the Stadium, but it wasn't worth the money. There was construction going on for the summer concert. I think the beauty of the place lies outside, with the view of the structure of the Stadium and the other buildings, like the National Aquatic Center (or Water Cube).





I was told that Water Cube was open to public from Thursdays to Sunday. Apparently, you need to pass a test before they will let you into the pool. The test involves a 200m swimming and 30secs of water treading. I would have liked to have done this, but my timing was wrong. It was closed when I had the chance to visit the place.

I also had a great time at the Beijing Acrobatics Show. The acrobatic acts were top-notch. You just can't imagine how the human body can be so flexible.





The best act was these 2 guys running inside 2 cylindrical wheels that see-saws round and round. Exactly like the Cirque du Soleil's Wheel of Death (see video below). Man, my palms were sweating when they start running on the outside of the wheels, juggling, blindfolded. They were always on the verge of losing their balance but they always manage to stay on. Simply breath-taking!



A place that I didn't like was the Silk Street Market. This is where you can find all sorts of things and you're expected to bargain with the sellers.

They really jack up the prices! They were selling "souvenir" tee-shirts for 150RMB each. After much bargaining and stress, I managed to bring the price down to 55RMB. Later I found the same set of tee-shirts at a souvenir shop at the main Beijing shopping belt going for 19RMB! If you're like me and you can't take the stress of heavy bargaining, avoid the place! It is for the good of your sanity!

Another thing to note about moving around in Beijing is to pay attention when you cross the road. Cars just don't obey traffic lights! But, the converse is true also, people cross the road without looking. It's a white knuckle experience just to see people cross a 4 line junction! Like our tour guide said, traffic lights are just decoration in Beijing.

Anyway, Beijing is a great place to visit! Best if you have chinese speaking folks with you, or you'll really be taken for a ride.

This is the first post for this blog, so it gonna be a welcome note. It also gives me a chance to play around with the template and to customize it to what I like to show.

Breezy Planet is my travelogue, documenting my trips and experiences around the world.