Penang Getaway - The Hotel

(Daddy recounts)

We, together with the monkies' maternal grandparents, made a 4D3N jaunt to Penang on a whim. And on the last week of school, no less. 

Well, the reason for the impetus was actually rather simple - it was the last chance for the kids to skip (kindergarten) school as Ash would be starting his (looooong) official education journey come next year. Yup, it's hello to peak period travelling then.

And so, with the lure of cheap, non-peak air fares simply too good to resist, we found ourselves right in front of Hard Rock Hotel at Batu Ferringhi. 

As we had arrived early, the rooms weren't ready yet. Luckily there were some horses to keep the monkies occupied, all thanks to some corporate event that has just concluded.

Ayd was pretty eager to feed the horse some hay, and I think both enjoyed each other's company.

I can't say the same for Ash though.

Hmmm, do boys get more squeamish as they grow older? Or maybe they are just more aware of the dangers of feeding a horse, like getting yucky mucky saliva dripping off one's palm?

Anyway, it didn't take him long to warm up to the horse. Soon, both of them were happily stuffing the horses' mouths with hay. Oh, and the balloons that they picked up sure made for one happy morning too.

We soon got our keys to our adjoining rooms, and our first impressions? Pretty decent and rather large for a normal Deluxe Room.

The interesting bit of the room has got to be the bathroom. See the bathroom mirror?

When it's in its normal position, one can look right into the bedroom from the bathroom and vice versa. While that usually makes for good ventilation during those potty moments, I don't think everyone else in the room will share that same sentiment.

So one can simply just slide the mirror apart and voila - you have Ray Charles to spend some quality toilet time together.

But for the monkies, the highlight of any overseas trips will have to be the comfy hotel bed.

They always remark that the hotel bed always feel much more comfortable than the ones at home. Well, their beds at home would be just be as comfy too, if not for their pee, vomit and mucus.

But I digress. Luckily, Ale was focused enough to lead us back to the right track. And she seemed to be trying to tell us something.

To the beach?

Nah.

The beach was rather satisfactory, but I think more people are using it for watersports as opposed to sunbathing or swimming purposes.

The destination that Ale, and her 2 older brothers, were looking forward to was actually THIS.

Yup, what else but waterslides!

Obviously, the boys needed little invitation to slide/jump/splash into the cooling waters.

They were having so much fun that this was the only decent photo where I could get all three of them to sit down properly at the same time.

Right beside the pool, there is the Lil' Rock Kids Club where parents can drop the kids (between 4-12 years old) off and there will be staff to look after them while the parents go chilling on their own. I love the sound of that!

And there are plenty of activities to keep the kids occupied. Best of all, they are free!

Unfortunately, the monkies didn't get a chance to participate in any of the activities at Lil' Rock Kids Club. All because the only place they wanted to go for the entire duration of our stay there was - you guessed it - the swimming pool and waterslides.

But truth be told, the spiral slide was indeed very very fun. I know, because I went spiraling down with my boys countless of times! Heh.

Ale was just content to watch her 2 brothers plummet into the waters.

While munching on her snack at the same time.

Good life eh? 

And so, this how we spent our time whenever we were back at the hotel. 

At the pool. Everyday.

Not that I minded of course. Certainly not the grandparents too.

And most definitely NOT the 3 monkies. Not when there was the occasional pool bar ice cream treat!

And when night falls and it's time to give our pruned fingers a rest, we didn't have to leave the hotel in search of entertainment.

We caught the Live Band performance in the hotel lobby after our yummy seafood dinner (coming up in my next Penang post!) and it was a rather nice way to just chill the evening away.

The large comfy sofa chairs certainly helped in upping the chill factor!

As for Ale, she was bopping to the beat of the music. Great way to tire out toddlers, I reckon.

On nights where there wasn't any band performance, cartoon movies were screened on a huge screen at the lobby. Nice way to end the day too.

Needless to say, the kids always fall asleep in record quick time once their heads touched the pillows. Definitely THE nicest way to end the day!

That pretty much sums up our hotel experience at Hard Rock Hotel, Penang. My next Penang post will be about the sights and attractions that the monkies had enjoyed. Stay tuned!