Hello hello, welcome back to my lair MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAH. Okay, i've been reading too many B-horror movies lately, i should probably stop -___-.
Anyway.
I've finished up my main Singapore-Malaysia trip post finally (still have some related posts coming up because i am OCD like that), i have no post planned for KL (where we just ate and shopped. Period. I didn't even take pictures, i was so surprised at myself) but i've decided to review the hotel my parents and us stayed in (KC's family rented a serviced apartment which they've frequented). I must tell you in advance that the first 5 photos are not mine, i borrow then from various sites (i credit them, of course) because i did not snapped pictures of the hotel itself and the surroundings. Only of our room).
We stayed in Hotel Pudu Plaza.
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| Hotel Pudu Plaza 1, Jalan 1/77C, Pudu, 55100 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia +60 3-2116 1888 (Photo source) |
The last three times we went to Kuala Lumpur, we stayed at the same hotel : Central Pudu Hotel (yes, still in the same area as this hotel but located quite far apart). Central Pudu is (VERY) affordable, quite clean (except one time i saw a stain on the bathroom wall near the bidet, i thought it was a scratch and on the last day the curiosity got the best of me, i scratched it and it came off. So... It was... human s**t T.T WTF, that kind of threw me off!) and a short walk away from Berjaya Times Square-so it's quite ideal.
This time around we stayed in Hotel Pudu Plaza because i saw the review on Rochkirstin's blog and i thought since it's newer and the review was quite favorable, i'd give it a try (new hotel means newer facilities-should be cleaner!).
When we arrived at the neighborhood, i was a bit shocked *LOL*. I was expecting it to be around Central Pudu's area (clearly i didn't do my research >.<, that's one of my worst flaws. I overlook things once i set my mind on something!), you know... Modern, near by modern shopping centre (it is said to be linked to a shopping centre!). Nope, it's more like a Chinatown area really, looks very.... Chinatown-ish. I think you get the idea??? I mean, just by looking at the building in the first place should give you the idea.
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| The reception area (still from the same source as the photo above) thankfully is sparkling clean, comfortable and modern! |
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| There aren't too many seats in the lobby area and most of the time they're occupied. I'm not the type to hang out at lobbies so that didn't bother me |
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| The other side of the lobby with lifts to take you to your rooms |
Speaking of the shopping centre connected to the hotel, if you stay in the hotel then you can use your room key card to open the glass door that you can see in the receptionist area first photo, it'll take you directly to the shopping centre (called Pudu Plaza), otherwise you'd have to go round to enter from the main entrance.
It is very convenient because you can get food or buy other stuffs in that shopping centre anytime of the day (except at night when it's already closed, of course) BUT... It's not a modern type of mall with nice stuffs in it, instead it looks like this :
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| Tell me, doesn't it look very Chinatown??? Photo source |
Yes, it's the lower class type of shopping centre (Indonesian think of Mangga Dua, but worse hehe. Singaporean can think about Lucky Plaza, but i think Lucky Plaza is a lot nicer than this, to be honest with you!), here you can mostly find people selling very tacky looking clothings for aunties *LOL*, Buddhist praying items (we explored the upper floor the next day and found a floor dedicated to solely Buddhist prayer items and amulets) and some food. The best part of the shopping center is the supermarket *LOL*, at least i get some makeups there (i am always interested in local products!).
The area around the hotel is always busy (even until quite late at night) and you can find a LOT of food stalls just opposite the hotel, there are also loads of food-cars (not food trucks since they're smaller hahaha)-the food are quite nice! So that's one thing you don't need to worry about if you stay in this hotel, it's easy to get access to nice (and cheap) food!
Now let's take a peek into the room :
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| This is our room |
The rooms are pretty basic but clean and cozy. I always love wood-style floor, it just makes me feel more comfortable walking around bare foot instead of white floors where you can see every single dirt and scratches *LOL*. It's quite small (i don't remember, but it's about the same size as Central Pudu's room) but not too stuffy, we could still move around freely so it's totally decent for a budget hotel.
Unfortunately, we did encounter some problems in this hotel. First of all, there's a very strange smell in my parent's room, it was like... salted fish smell? LOL. We complained to the staff (who are actually pretty nice and attentive), they came bearing odor fighting devices *LOL*. They also offered to move them to another floor (but my mum's so weird, she doesn't want to stay in a different floor than us, i was already settled in my room and had no intention of moving!!!), but when we came back after dinner and some shopping, my mum said the room's okay already.
The second issue is with our room, which we did not encounter until the next morning. We bought some food including a bazhang (zongzi) and place it on the table in front of our bed for breakfast (we do this a lot in almost every hotel room, with different food la, but you know what i mean)-and when i woke up i FREAKED because the table and especially the zongzi is FULL of ants >.<.
The ants were crawling from the wall and when we look up, we can see a small hole where they come from -____-. Complained again to the staff (poor staffs, we're really not that fussy lah, but if there's a strong odor and you're attacked by an army of ants, i think it's totally normal to complain!), they sprayed the hole with bug spray and all-when we came back it was clean again. BUT, same thing happened the next morning (yes, we never learn). I guess they need to patch that hole to avoid the same problem to ever occur to the next guest.
Other than that, the room was fine.
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| The bathroom's decent too |
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| Everything is pretty basic, like you'd expect from a budget hotel |
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| Yes, that is the said table! |
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| The bed is comfortable and clean |
So you can tell, i have mixed feeling about this hotel. On one hand, it's quite comfortable and clean, the staffs are friendly and nice, you can buy nice and affordable food around the hotel area so it's pretty nice. On the other hand, the attack of the ants kinda scarred me (i hate bugs with vengeance, ants also disgust me -___-), and i am more comfortable in Central Pudu's area (i'd rather walk a bit to get to Berjaya Time Square rather than being just a throw away from Pudu Plaza hahaha) so...
It's a decent hotel really, just make sure you don't get our room if they haven't patched the hole, and make sure your room smells of nothing before settling in so you can ask the staff to move you to another room otherwise-the rate is also very affordable (hotels in KL are very affordable, actually, compared to other cities in Malaysia!). But i have to be honest, i'd rather go back to Central Pudu Hotel, it's just a matter of preference, nothing else!
Do you have other hotel recommendation for KL?
#Pink
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