Archive | Travel RSS feed for this section

Short People Travel Too, Part 2

30 Mar

I must say I was impressed with the ample hooks in the bathroom of Kings Green Hotel at Malacca. It’s rare because most hotels that I have stayed at somehow do not place an importance on their availability, what more on height especially for short travellers. Could this be a hotel star-rating issue? A five-star versus a three-star for such amenities?

I remember when we were in Ipoh in August last year for golf as well, we faced a similar short travellers’ woes…

The hotel we stayed at was boutique-status and you would expect a nicer setup. If having a rain shower facility is considered a nice boutique offering, having no shower curtain certainly spoilt it.  I certainly didn’t place my dry clothes on the covered toilet seat because it’s so close by and water from such a height hitting a body would definitely splash beyond the imaginary demarcation.

In truth, I don’t recall any bathroom hooks (not even on the door) to hang clothes but I do remember the towel rack was placed at such a ridiculous height, it was impossible to use. I understand they may be trying to clear the floor but touching the ceiling? Goodness! How do I place my clothes? Throw them up and hope they land safely on it? Geez.

Maybe the boutique status was more of the coffees and cakes they serve at the lobby? Hmm… Now compare it a five-star hotel…

Several years ago, I was on a business trip to Singapore and stayed at Shangri-La on Orange Grove. Their bathroom was outstanding. Hooks everywhere and at a height a shorty feels right at home. Like I said, are such little details due to the premise’s space and ratings being a higher star-rating with full amenities versus a lower star rating with basics?

You would think that amenities were just stuff in the room and its fridge and bar, but no, additional hooks in the bathroom are actually an amenity too. Think about it the next time you travel…

Society must remember there are short people everywhere and because of this, I think I will start to document this little detail every time I travel from now on.

Ipoh-2016

The square patch above is the rain shower. Too bad I didn’t take a picture of where the towel rack was! 

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Short People Travel Too

28 Mar

Although throughout the school holiday week, we did not go anywhere due to M2 wanting to prepare for her exams, we did go away on the last weekend before school reopened. We joined our golf club for two away-Interclub matches, a 2D/1N trip to Port Dickson and Malacca. It was a good short getaway I must say.

When we stayed overnight in Malacca at Kings Green Hotel, I was impressed with the hotel on two things: the pillows and hooks in the bathroom. The pillows were plump and just right! And the bed was equally good with the right firmness. For once, I didn’t have to whip out my travel pillow, which I brought along, to have a good night’s sleep. And the bathroom hooks! There was ample which is rare, with a row of four hooks at a height that short people appreciates.

This reminds me of our last hotel stay in December last year.

We were in Ho Chi Minh City when M1 was back for her Christmas break. The hotel we stayed at, Sunrise Central Hotel was pretty strategic. Located in District 1, just next to Grand Silverland Hotel (which I stayed at during my June golf trip last year as well), it was within walking distance to food and shopping. The room may be small compared to Grand Silverland’s room but was decent. However, one thing irked me.

There were just not enough hooks to hang clothes in the bathroom and the only one available was way too high! It is as though such tourist hotels are catered only to tall people with an easy reach to hang up their clothes or towel.

The bathroom door actually had a glass panel (unusual with such a feature) and there was no practical place for the hook to be except way above the glass panel. Why didn’t they consider having the hook at the wall right behind the door at a reachable height instead? The hook was at least a good six feet high or more.

I am average in height for an Asian at 156cm (5 feet 1.5 inches), not short but not tall either. When I stretched my arm up to measure the height of the hook, my arm was pretty straight upwards and I still had to be on tip toe to hang my towel. I don’t think this is right, is it? I can’t imagine how my girls dealt with it, as they are slightly shorter than me. Even the closet, the rod inside was pretty high up. Sigh…

Usually when such situations arose, I would, albeit reluctantly just put down the toilet seat cover and place my clean clothes on it because I don’t like to walk into a cold room after a hot shower even with a snugly wrapped towel. All that nice after-shower toasty feeling would be lost immediately once the cold air hits the skin.

Whoever assigned the contractors or installers to put these things up should remember that short people travel too and these things are important to us. And to consider adding another hook in the bathroom as well for practicality. Goodness only knows how clean (or unclean) those toilet seat covers are and for me, after a long day playing tourist, I seriously don’t need to do any yoga stretches in the bathroom to get to my clothes.

 

These babies were so comfy!

 

The row of hooks just above my eyebrows

 

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

3.45am Tops It All

21 Feb

What’s worse than waking up at 5.30am for golf? Waking up at 3.45am for golf! Yes. This tops it all – the 5.30am, 5.00am and even 4.30am in the past.

Over the weekend, I did just that, waking up at 3.45am. It was a day trip from my Club to Ipoh for an Interclub match. With the tee-off scheduled at 8.00am, naturally our entourage had to start the journey early, like in the wee hours of the morning at 5.00am.

But we left the club only at 5.15am and arrived after the two and a half hours bumpy bus ride. With 15 minutes left before tee-off, the tee-off had to be delayed slightly for us to have a decently paced breakfast without choking. And after a quick group photo session, everyone’s off onto the fairways.

It was my first time playing at Royal Perak Golf Club. The past few trips to Ipoh for golf and food, RPGC was somehow never on our agenda. Well, there’s always a first time.

It’s a scenic course with lots of trees, short old ones and tall ones too. The fairways were generally narrow and very undulating. One has to be accurate and straight when teeing off to have a good second shot opportunity. Our flight mates were very serious and good golfers. My partner—another Club member, not hubby—and I totally lost out to them in terms of the golf course knowledge and management.

Did we have a good game? Err… well, I wore my new Adidas shoes and it felt very comfortable. No pruned toes. And I laughed a lot because I felt I was playing jackpot and not golf, raking up several 7s in a row on my scorecard! It’s one of those days that you cannot do anything else but just laugh at yourself.

The Interclub match saw our visiting team losing out to the host team by only four points, 998 to 1002 with a Four Balls, Best Ball format for scoring. Oooh.. ouch, so close. I am sure revenge is on every members’ mind when we host them for a return match in the near future.

We headed home immediately after the luncheon and prize presentation. And in the blink of an eye, another Sunday went by so soon.

  

Tags: , , , , ,

Such a Difference

3 Feb

The reality of the office now closer to get to is something I am slowly get used to. The old office was 18km away, each way, from home.

When we first moved to where we live now, I had measured the distances from each checkpoint of the highway – house to toll, toll to toll and toll to office. I even tried two alternative routes for choice.

But over the years, the shorter route saw an increase in toll charges and the other, a toll free route, was facing a highway construction that resulted in heavy traffic daily. So it wasn’t worthwhile to plough these two routes.

Now? I did a checkpoint measure from home and we are a mere 5km (to) and 6km (from) away! Such a difference.

Tags: , ,

Silly Me

6 Jan

With only four hours of sleep the night before, it was hard to function yesterday. I have forgotten what and how it’s like to dig deep into the reserves to function normally.

But we had no choice because M1’s flight was 8.00am and we had to wake up by 3.00am. Our body system and morning rituals were messed up a little because by 6.00am after checking in, we had two breakfasts already, once at home and another at the airport whilst waiting with her!

Thankfully it wasn’t an emotional farewell. There were some tears I’d admit and I managed to hold them at bay. But the void in the heart, it started to build and felt heavy. Sniffle…

After the goodbye, we headed straight for the office, dropping off M2 at school on the way (yes, she was late). I tried to work to keep busy but found myself constantly checking flightaware.com. By 1.00pm, I gave up and decided to channel my energy elsewhere. Otherwise the void would envelop me with more anxiety. Playing my virtual games didn’t help because I had the computer in front of me.

So we went to play golf.

And I played horribly because I couldn’t focus. A far cry compared to my December game where I hit 6 pars and every department worked so well. This time every department was not functioning. And not only the body was tired and sapped of energy, my mind kept wandering. I also kept looking at my iPhone whenever we had to wait, to see where the plane was! Silly me.

I was creating my anxiety further when Flightaware showed the plane had landed in Narita but we didn’t get an update from M1. Knowing full well the transit time was barely sufficient and the security process was probably very stringent with the inbound flight to the US, there may not be an update. Yet I was wishfully anticipating one. Silly me.

By the 15th Hole, a relatively short 100m across-the-pond-Par 3, the silly me changed from my usual iron to a shorter one just because it was a red flag. What was I thinking? Already tired to the core and a shorter club?? Big mistake. I dumped my shot into the water. Twice! Silly me.

After that, I told hubby we should just give up the last three holes because both of us had no more energy left to continue. Also I had no focus at all, it was pointless to carry on. Came home so drained…

By 10.30pm, I don’t know about hubby but I was knocked out and didn’t see my phone until 7.00am this morning that M1 finally updated. After close to 24 hours of travel, she had arrived safely but still one more car ride to get to campus. All that unnecessary anxiety. Silly me.

Tags: , , ,

Trying Not To Cry

5 Jan

After three wonderful weeks with M1 home with us for her Christmas holidays, she left for the US this morning. Sniffle…

We had to wake up in the wee hours of the morning, and left for the airport by 4.20am for her 8.00am departure for Japan’s Narita International.

Heaviness filled my heart. No words can express the void a mother feels every time the child leaves home for the pursuit of education. No matter how grown up they have become, they still remain our baby. 

I shouldn’t cry or feel sad. After all, she starts the year as a Junior, midway towards her Food Science degree. Seemed like only yesterday when she left home to bravely travel by herself to start her Freshman year at university. But a Junior now and a seasoned traveler. How time flies.

I must say thank goodness for Skype and WhatsApp. With technology, we are able to get updates during the course of her journey when phones are allowed to be used. And with Skype, we talk frequently during school terms unlike the dinosaur era when I was in college. The only mode of contact was phone calls which were very short and expensive and of course, snail mail which Dad wrote me. A lot.

As always, I will be tracking her on flightaware.com and probably with anxiety as well. By the time this post is published, she would have flown almost two hours for the first leg. Hopefully, there’s no weather delay enroute to San Francisco thereafter.

Safe travels and pleasant flight while I try not to cry… Sniffle.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Ending the Year

30 Dec

Today I am back to reality as I have to go in to the office. It won’t be a lot of work but just to clear things that piled up during my absence. 

It has been a tumultuous year. There have been more downs than ups for me this year – injury that needed treatment, therapy and rest, work stress, death of pets and hearing/reading news of favorite singers (Prince, George Michael) and icons (Carrie Fisher/Princess Leia) gone too soon. I will go into my George Michael mode today, so move aside Michael Buble.

But trips like this to Vietnam with the family and golfing trips with friends are definitely highlights to cherish. I take heart that my 2016 is ending high with a very memorable family trip and looking forward to another occasion like this again. It may not be so soon as M1 goes back to university next week, so we will have to plan.

To all my readers, thank you for your support, reading and following my blog. Here’s wishing you a better and happier 2017!

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Ending on a High

30 Dec

Yesterday morning, we decided to give Ben Thanh Market another shot and visited again after breakfast. My game plan was not to look at any vendor in the eye and just look at the things on display. And if anything catches my fancy, I’d just whip out my iPhone5S, aim, shoot and walk off. It worked.

Managed to walk certain areas we missed the day before and these pictures sure are interesting. After the walkabout, we decided to walk around the neighborhood to kill some time. After all, our pick up was coming only by 12.30pm and we had more than a couple more hours. Hubby didn’t think we should stay in the room watching CNN and listening to depressing world news. 

I’d say it was a good workout but one must be careful when walking because the pavements are not even. I stumbled a few times when I was looking up.

We didn’t want to wander off too far and soon made our way back to the hotel, did a final packing, showered and checked out. Traffic was a slow crawl but we still arrived at the airport early. 

After saying our goodbyes to our tour guide and driver, we waited until the counters opened and checked in. And for the first time in five days, we craved something else to line the tummy. So M2 and I had Burger King and M1 had a sushi roll; hubby still chose Pho. 

We had a good holiday. 

 

Pickled stuff

  

Fresh mushroom

  

Dried mushrooms of all sizes

  

Cuttlefish and nuts

  

Missed out eating here. Next time!

  

Nearby park

    

M1 getting a ride

  

On the runway

  

Goodbye Ho Chi Minh!

   

Tags: , , , , , ,

We Say Goodbye

29 Dec

Vacations are fun when you’re living it and enjoying every moment. But sadness kicks in when you know it’s ending and you have to come back down to earth and reality. After four days of gastronomic adventure and fun-filled experiences, we say goodbye to Ho Chi Minh City today. 

I find that doing a 5D/4N trip has been rather ideal versus a 4D/3N. With an extra day, we can cover so much and the schedule is not so rushed. One can pace their itinerary and still have enough time for rest to recover.

It has been a truly wonderful time especially for the girls to see and experience–for their first time–the Vietnam culture and life. And the food… Oh, the glorious food! Not as spicy as Thai food, one can get used to having Pho and a grilled meat everyday. 

It will be yet another leisurely paced morning before we check out by noon. As we fly back to our country later this afternoon, these moments will be cherished forever. So goodbye Ho Chi Minh City, thanks for the great time!

Tags: ,

The River Cruise

29 Dec

The river cruise was typical of any other cruises with the option of a dinner inclusive or not. Ours was dinner inclusive.

The meal was served ahead before the ship departed and like the last few arranged meals, there’s so much to eat. I shudder thinking of my expanded waistline and secretly vowed to go on a diet when we get home.

 

Springroll appetizer

  

Pineapple salad with pork and prawns

  

Grilled pork

  

Fillet fish with mushroom sauce

  

Grilled beef

  

Hotpot

 

Tags: , ,

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →