My Malaysian bling odyssey

I thought I’d share a few photos from the last week in Malaysia. I was working in a hotel about 45mins from Kuala Lumpur international airport and the working hours meant I didn’t stray very far from there. Only next door in fact.

The Sunway Resort Hotel is part of a resort which includes an enormous water park and Asia’s 8th largest (I believe) shopping mall. The scale of this hotel is difficult to describe using words alone. As I said to a friend back home, if P Diddy designed hotels, he’d be very proud of this one. My colleague and I arrived as the sun was setting and got to see the mall from the motorway, giant lion and pyramid reflecting the sunlight.

I now regret not taking more photos of the hotel interiors, but was keen to avoid accidentally taking pics of anyone who didn’t want to be photographed. The views from my hotel bedroom were pretty impressive, as I looked out onto the water park next door.

I didn’t end up visiting the water park – our schedule was pretty tight as it was – but let’s just say I “vicariously” enjoyed it via the excited screams from visiting children and the various, unexpected blasts of music and whistles. Still. They seemed to be having fun.

Within the hotel, we were lucky enough to enjoy access to a great little gym and some nice poolside real estate. Even though the weather was often cloudy, we managed to squeeze in some post-work pool time a couple of evenings, and it was nice just to be able to sit near the water and enjoy the heat.

I just can’t fault the hotel at all. The hotel guests were another thing entirely. But the staff were unfailingly polite, thoughtful and helpful. From reception, through to cleaning staff through to the poolside and gym team. Smiles and helpfulness galore. And the food… I had lunch there every day, as part of the programme I was running, and the selection was impressive. A vast smorgasbord of Asia selections – far too much to try in any one week.

Dinners were in local restaurants, never more than a few minutes walk from reception. In the local heat, a longer walk was out of the question. In short,  ate far, far too much considering the lack of physical exercise I was getting each day. But each meal was delicious. The standout (for me) was dinner at the Thai restaurant next door, where I won the admiration of my fellow diners for finishing off a seafood broth whose spiciness caused more than raised eyebrows.

Fine dinging aside, there was also the usual enjoyment of junk. But even that was well cooked and presented. I enjoyed some Japanese and even seem German food in the shopping mall. Not to mention my most favourite Green Tea Frappucinno, courtesy of Starbucks. (Please, Starbucks – start selling this in the UK!!)

I’m now busy getting over the significant time adjustment, having arrived back a little after 0500 this morning. I’ve succumbed to a quick nap on the couch this afternoon, but also managed to unpack, do the laundry and hit the gym. If only to stay awake…and start to fight back  against the massive calorific imbalance I enjoyed all week.