| Fifteen years |
| Fifteen years ago Aric and I met for the first time. We decided to celebrate this, together with my 69th birthday, by making a trip to Georgetown and stay there in the heritage E&O hotel. The Eastern and Oriental Hotel was founded in 1885, a few years before the famous Raffles Hotel in Singapore. It has known its ups and downs, and was even closed down in 1996. But after a major restoration it was reopened in its former grandeur in 2001.
To make our trip up North more worthwhile, we combined our big splurge at the E&O with a stay overnight in the Regency Jerai Hill resort, on the slopes of Gunung Jerai in Kedah. Located at an altitude of almost 1000 m above sea level, it has a nice, cool climate with beautiful views of the Kedah rice fields.
It is a long drive from PJ to Gurun, from where a winding 12 km road leads to the resort. Not many visitors, as it was a weekday. Comfortable room, from our balcony we had a nice view, but unfortunate that in the afternoon it started raining, with thunder and lightning. We had Western food in the almost deserted restaurant, quality was better than we expected. The breakfast next morning was also not bad. After enjoying the gardens with many orchids and other flowers, it was time to leave.
But then our car didn't start! Fortunately another vehicle with friendly Malays just arrived and they were willing to help jump start our engine. We drove down carefully and in Gurun we had the battery replaced. Imagine that this would have happened in the deep jungle! |
 Regency Jerai resort
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 A room with a view
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 A spectacular view!
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 Dining room
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 Western cuisine
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 In the farden of the resort
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 Our altitude above sea level
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 Stick insect
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 Breakfast
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 Porridge
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 Western breakfast
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 We did not try the pool
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 Bad luck: battery flat
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 Good luck: friendly assistance
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 Replacing the battery
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We arrived at the E&O hotel early afternoon and checked in. The E&O consists of two separate hotels, the Heritage wing and the Annexe. We had booked a suite in the Heritage wing. Checking in was already an experience in itself. We were invited to sit down in the lounge, where soon we received our welcome drinks. After a while our "personal butler" took us to our suite, about half the size of our Perdana View condo..:-). A sitting room, an elegant bathroom, a balcony with sea view Because of the car repair we had not taken our lunch yet and for a moment we considered calling our butler and ask him to provide lunch for us. But looking at the room service menu, we saw that two sandwiches with cool drinks would already be around RM 100. So we decided to go out for a while,where we found a Subway shop. We ordered two baguettes and drinks, "take away" and took them to our balcony...:-).
 The E&O hotel
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 Reception
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 Lounge
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 Welcome drink
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 On our way to our room
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 Our suite
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 the bathroom
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 our balcony
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 Impressions of the hotel
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 The famous elevator
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The rest of the day we enjoyed the luxury of our suite. We only went out for dinner. Of course we could have had our "posh" dinner in the hotel, but we prefer hawker food, so we went to our favourite "New Lane", where we had VFM (Value For Money) food. Back to our suite, for a bath and a drink. The next morning we had a really delicious buffet breakfast, after which we walked in the hotel grounds, had a look at the two swimming pools and then back to our suite, to enjoy as much as possible the luxury...:-). Never before have we seen so little of Georgetown during a visit!
 Street art in Georgetown
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 Subway lunch on our balcony
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 Enjoying our suite
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 Night view from the balcony
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 New Lane hawker center
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 Our dinner
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 A bath with a beer
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 Feeling good
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 Sumptuous breakfast buffet
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 More impressions of the hotel
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 THe swimming pool
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 Infinity pool in the Annexe
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 The Heritage part of the hotel
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 Checking out als late as possible
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 Delicious Penang Laksa
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Before driving back we had lunch in one of the famous laksa shops, Taman Emas Kopitiam, Jalan Gottlieb. We decided to make a stopover in Sabak Bernam on our way back, to break the long journey.
Near Setiawan, Aric showed me a new Chinese temple, the Tua Pek Kong temple. Really amazing, near the sea, in the middle of nowhere, a big temple complex has been built. Beautiful, worth a visit.
 The Tua Pek Kong temple near Setiawan
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 Detail
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 Another detail
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 Impressive
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 More statues
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 Some zodiac signs
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 Has this a religious meaning?
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 Peaceful dove, not shy
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 More statues
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 The adjoining mangrove forest
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 Temple flags
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| In Sabak Bernam we spent a pleasant day, relaxing, taking pictures and... of course enjoying nice food. There a a restaurant near Sg Besar where they sometimes have fresh oysters, and this time we were lucky!
A nice ending of a memorable trip.
 Flowers of the mango tree
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 Nice orchids
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 Another variety
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 Just a nice beetle
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 Seafood restaurant
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 Fresh oysters!
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Dan wrote on Apr 29, 2013:
Wow ... impressive indeed |
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Dan wrote on Apr 29, 2013:
Congrats 15th anniversary ... |
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Dan wrote on Apr 29, 2013:
I see Tillandsia ... above, nice! |
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Dan wrote on Apr 29, 2013:
Too bad it was raining at Jerai or else you can do a short 200m walk down at the back of the resort to Alur Naga, or the Dragon's Creek waterfall for a freezing dip ..http://kedahtravelog.syedalfandiphotography.com/2012/03/alur-naga-waterfall-of-mount-jerai.html |
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Kwai Loh wrote on Apr 29, 2013:
Haha, thanks for the id. I had not yet noticed it. |
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Kwai Loh wrote on Apr 29, 2013:
We could have gone to that waterfall in the morning, but we were lazy. Now that I see the picture, I have regrets...:-) Looks very nice. Next time. |
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maycheah wrote on Dec 26, 2013:
Enjoyed reading your site and all the more enhanced with the beautiful shots. Happy 15th anniversary... collecting lots of beautiful, meaningful memories, I'm sure. |
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