Abet and I did all of our planning for our trip online, and travel forums such as the one on
PinoyExchange and
GirlTalk, as well as travel blogs, have been a great help to us. We wouldn't have pulled this off smoothly (notwithstanding the bus accident and flight delay) if not for all of the tips, advice and recommendations we got online. I want to give back by posting all about our trip--accommodation, itineraries, food, costing, destinations, transit routes, etc. for anyone planning a similar trip.
I have been asked several times if we took a packaged tour: no. I dislike packaged tours. I want to choose where to stay, when and where to eat, and how long to stay at a particular destination, and I don't like being herded like sheep. I highly recommend doing a DIY trip--it's not as much of a hassle as it seems, and you'll have control over your travel. There are a lot of travel resources online, and I hope my blog can help a bit.
But I majorly digress. On to my hotel review. Please bear with me with my backpacking posts as I am not a travel blogger, and I still (STILL!) can't work the DSLR.
I highly recommend Tune Hotel for anyone looking for cheap, clean and central accomodation in Kuala Lumpur. Tune Hotel's concept works for the budget traveller: they don't have a sauna, pool, gym, meeting room, or other amenities you probably won't need, and the non-essentials such as airconditioning (all rooms have fans), towels and toiletries, and in-room internet come are charged extra, which means a much, much lower price. Book in advance and you get an even better deal.
A towel can be rented at RM5 (P70) with a RM10 (P140) refundable deposit (comes with free shampoo, soap and shower gel--no, we didn't avail of this), wi-fi internet is at RM12 (P168) for 24 hours (we didn't avail of this as well--there are several computers at the lobby you can use for free), and airconditioning can be purchased in sets of 12 hours and 24 hours: 12 hours is at RM13.49 (P161.76) and 24 hours is at RM21 (P294). The prepaid airconditioning works like cellphone load--the hours are programmed into your key card and is deducted upon use and can be topped-up at the front desk.
We paid for our room online five months in advance, and for a double room for two nights with 12 hours of airconditioning, we paid only RM87.43 (P1,225). That's just a little over P600 per night! And the room was not bad at all, it was actually much bigger than a standard hostel room:
The bed is outfitted with 250-threadcount sheets. Pretty decent for the price we paid. See those ads on the wall? Those help bring the cost down, they are all over the room, even inside the bathroom. The walls are care of Nippon Paint:
What I loved most about the room is the bathroom, it was larger than what I expected for a hotel room of that price. When I stayed at a P1800-per-night hostel in Hong Kong 2 years ago, I had to sit on the toilet to take a shower, but this wasn't the case with Tune:
Tune prides itself on its showers: high-pressure heated showers with a rainfall showerhead.
The hotel is conveniently located, just a few minutes' walk away from the Medan Tuanku monorail station (three stops away from Bukit Bintang) and is on the Star Shuttle route from LCCT, so you can take a bus from the airport and get dropped off right at the hotel doorstep.
There's a 7-11 and a Subway shop on the ground floor, as well as Uncle John's (a local
kopitiam chain), perfect for grabbing a quick breakfast of
kaya toast, soft-boiled eggs and white coffee.
The things I disliked about the hotel was its dilapidated elevator, the unfriendly reception staff (maybe friendly service costs extra, too) and the fact that they don't let you leave your luggage with them after you've checked out, which caused us to make adjustments to our itinerary. But other than these, I wouldn't mind staying here the next time I go to Kuala Lumpur. Its value for money can't be beat.
--=-=--
Tune Hotel - Downtown Kuala Lumpur
316 Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman
50100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
The room was small but fully carpeted, and this was actually my favorite among the five rooms we stayed at during our trip for one good reason: the sheets. They were of high quality/high thread count and were soft as butter against my skin. There was also an extra pillow, a big plus.
Room comes with wired internet. Abet was able to connect when we arrived in the afternoon, but after we got back late in the evening, the internet connection was down. Abet was told by front desk that it would be down for a week.
Bathroom was nothing to complain about. I wish I could say the same for my photography skills.
Breakfast was basic, just the ubiquitous baguette, eggs, fresh dalandan juice, green bananas and coffee:
Of course, the coffee was the popular Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk, which was very good. I was very pleased with the bananas, we used to have this everyday when we were still living in Cagayan de Oro, but I don't think I've had this since we came to Manila. Breakfast wasn't much it was good, and it saved us a few thousand dongs every morning.
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