*all pictures used in this post (except the sky view) is fully owned by the blogger. That means if you use it without my permission, i can freggin sue your ass baby Of the Beautiful Golden Palm Tree (click to transfer to their website) If you've been out and about lately, I'm very sure you've seen this picture hanging in some advertorial spot. Want to know what the big fuss is about? I present to you.... The Golden Palm Tree Resort and Spa Located in the Sepang coastlines, 30 minutes away from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, the Golden Palm Tree promises you an unforgettable stay and a whole new meaning to relaxation. Equipped with 392 sea villas, the hotel is a fusion of traditional and urban designs (that don't look weird) with really hot staff. There a 5 types of villas that you can chose from, depending on how big your wallet is lah. The family got put into the Ivory Palm Villa, or as the receptionist put it, "It's like the 2nd biggest villa in this hotel!" This villa won the 2008 CNBC's Best Interior Award and spreads over 122sqm with 2 bedrooms, a walk in closet (no, seriously), 2 bathrooms, a hall, a study area and our own private balcony,We stayed here Room 225 to be exact Says Rachel "Are you sure this pole can take all our weight?!?!" As you enter, you're greeted by the smell of The first room you come across is the master bedroom which has the most awesome princess bed EVER! The master room leads you to the master toilet, which I have to say blew me away. I mean there you are walking into some kampung-ish house, and BOOM! You see a walk in closet with separate sinks! you can see the walk in closet in the mirror. sorry. forgot to take a picture of it. Oh and the bathtub... baby, don't get me started on the bath tub.IT FREGGIN SINKS IN! So yes, the master bedroom gets 100 stars for me! Next would be the common hall. Compared to the master bed room. The size of the hall was like pea sized. You can see a selection of movies (the hotel only had about 8 movies), listen to albums (they had bon jovi !!!) , check the news and weather and play games! This is me helping spongebob catch jellyfish! (lol) The 2nd bedroom was okay. Nothing to shout about. The study room I took really good angles of it, it's actually rather small. And then there's the balcony. The lovely lovely balcony. The source of most of my pictures .btw, ever wondered what the room looked like from the ceiling? I did! so i did a little climbing Now comes my favorite part. Did you know that the Golden Palm Tree is the first eco-friendly sea-hotel in the world? That means that even their hotel toiletries are eco-friendly, Whenever you're feeling a bit too cold, you can turn of the air condition and use the fan! and the hotel changes your sheets and towels only when you tell them to. Which i think is awesome, because if all 392 guest wanted to wash their sheets and towel everyday, think about how much water and electricity would be used. Oh and another ego-boosting thing is that you know how in hotel's you usually have "please make up my room" sign? Now,the hotel.To actually find the hotel is like SUPER BEYOND HARD. You need to go through some kampung area, and then pass a township, and pass plantations and cows and drive through a whole stretch of the beach before actually catching a glimpse of is. So to those who have horrible sense of direction, this might be a problem. (duh) There are also very minimal signs to lead you to the resort. If there are, the signs are beyond small so there's really no point of putting it on the first place. So when you FINALLY find the hotel, you see the lobby.Which is well, really nice. (those buildings on the side are the Travelers Villa's, the smallest villa's available in the hotel) Here's the catch. The hotel parking is a 10 minute walk away from the lobby. And it's outdoor. So unless you ask for valet (I'm not sure if they charge), you'll be sweating buckets by the time you reach the lobby. Once you enter the lobby, you'll know you're in a resort. It brings you a sense of laid-back-ness. Rather cool actually. The whole lobby is open air, so it's really cool at night but can be hot and humid during the afternoon. This is my favorite part of the lobby. But I think it's the wrong place to put. I mean imagine lazing around and then suddenly a whole group of tourist comes and like checks in, takes pictures, yaada yaada. Very potong steam la. Oh talking about tourist, the hotel was FILLED with tour groups from China. Rather disturbing. Not that I'm racist against my own race but they aren't the best people to share a hotel with. and they talk VERY LOUDLY. And they don't know how to eat, or sit properly. And if you stare at them, they stare back! After the lobby onwards, you're only means of transport are the hotel buggys and your legs. And if you have a patience of ZERO, this might be a problem, because even though they say there are buggys available every 5 minutes, you really have to count on your luck. This is the buggy bringing our luggage to our villa. Because it is too narrow, not all the buggys can bring us to the villa, thus most of the time, it takes us about 5 mins by foot to walk there. They say that for those who aren't hotel guest, you aren't permitted to go beyond the lobby. But that's what they say lah. To get from the lobby to the clubhouse, which is the center of the *palm tree*, it takes you about 2 minutes with the buggy or about 5 minutes if you're walking. This is the view of the lobby(the little cone shaped thing at the end) from the clubhouse. In other words, it's pretty far. At the clubhouse, you can find the pool Btw, this people bellow, are from CHINA There's the common F&B area. To the hotel management, with all due respect, YOUR FOOD SUCKS! But dad told me that there is some kind of package where you pay one price and you can eat and drink all you want throughout your stay. Like you can get drunk in food and alcohol. Drink as much alcohol as you want and you still pay the same price. So maybe this compensates for the sucky food. At night, there's a live band playing (not a very good one). But with the free alcohol, I don't think any one would bother if the band sucked. The gym is located right next to the swimming pool. I didn't do much snooping , it didn't look inviting anyway. And I think parts of it were still under construction because I saw nails and nuts around the floor. What I like about the Golden Palm Tree is that throughout your stay, you can join they're outdoor activities as many times as you want for FREE (that's the magic word!) Though more than half of the activities listed on the website is "coming soon", there are still a number of fun things that can be done The bike ride is good if you're a tourist as the tour guide talks a whole lot. It is ran 5 times a day, so just show up at the time slot chosen and grab a bike! You can chose between 2 areas; the mangroves and the village. In the fear of getting chased by cows, I choose the mangroves. Which was a bad idea, cause the cows were there too. But most importantly, more than cows, there was cow dung! (which I don't know about you, but I'm not a fan of) The tour guide also brought us to see blue crabs! Another activity that can be done absolutely free is the water sports. They call this sailing. But it's actually more of you-sitting-in-a-boat-while- another-guy-sails-it. And there's stand up paddling It sounds more retarded that the act of it. I promise. It was actually kinda fun. There's also kayaking, and floor boarding.. yaaada, but the camera ran out of battery. Every night, the staff of the Golden Palm Tree put on a show for the guest. I pity them honestly. A full day of work and then you have to dance at night for the guest. The show that I went to was entitled *the Latino show* At the hotel beach, there's another F&B outlet located which specializes in steamboat (or so they say). In my opinion, there wasn't anything extraordinary about it. But what's really good is they're coconut dessert. I totally forgot what it's called but its a small coconut packet with goodies!. It's something you WOULD NOT WANT TO MISS! In all I would say that the Golden Palm Tree is a great place to hang out with a group of people; friends or family. Make sure the group you're going with is fun, because the hotel and it's activities can get boring after some time. But aren't all hotels? It's a hotel to relax to. Like when you just need time off from work or to get away from the city, the Golden Palm Tree is the place for you. So in all, i give it a 6/10. If you're planning to stay in the Golden Palm Tree, you may reach them at their website or +603 3182-3600 or find them at No. 67, Jalan Pantai Bagan Lalang, Kg Bagan Lalang, 43950 Sungai Pelek, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia. Oh and ps, If you're thinking of staying here, bring some packets of Mamee Slrrp along. You might need it. Love, Sabrina Labels: travel 0 lovely comments ✿ |