ipoh

The Haven Resort Hotel, Ipoh – All Suites: Family-Friendly Luxury Resort

The Haven Resort Hotel Ipoh is an award-winning five-star luxury resort hotel in Ipoh, set naturally by limestone hills, forests and lake. Located a stone’s throw away from Ipoh’s Sultan Azlan Shah Airport, it makes a perfect venue for a fun and relaxing escape.

With Malaysia’s proximity, attractive exchange rate, delicious food, and great shopping options, Singaporeans often travel across the causeway for short breaks. Malacca, Penang, KL, JB and Cameron Highlands are the popular destinations, but Ipoh is a true gem that many have yet to discover.

As some of you may have already know, I came from Ipoh. Last week, I went back to my hometown and I stayed at The Haven Resort Hotel Ipoh with my family. I had the most amazing vacation with my family (along with my parents, siblings, nieces and nephew). The Haven Resort Hotel Ipoh is certainly one of the MOST beautiful resorts I’ve ever stayed.

Haven Resort Hotel Ipoh

Now, let me give you a glimpse of what you can expect at this family-friendly resort with magnificent scenery!  😀

Getting to The Haven Resort Hotel Ipoh

The easiest and fastest way to get to Ipoh is definitely by air. Direct flights from Ipoh – Singapore are offered by two airlines – Firefly and Tiger Airways. The cheapest one-way flights are usually available on Wednesday. The flight duration is approx. 1 hour 15 mins.

The Haven TransportThe comfortable six-seater that brought us from the airport to the resort

You can request for Shuttle Service from The Haven Resort Hotel Ipoh to bring you to the resort. The duration is just 20 mins. Alternatively, there are a handful of taxis available at Ipoh airport – just make sure you ask for the price and agreed to it before you board it.

Accommodation

Haven Resort Hotel Ipoh

The Haven Resort Hotel Ipoh is the most luxurious development in Ipoh that comprises 3 towers, each 26-storey high, with 512 units of high-end luxury suites. The suites consist of designer finishes with various sizes from 1-bedroom to 3+1 bedroom. The resort also boasts 8-level security, 5-star facilities, and 5-star operation by The Haven Premier.

We stayed in a 2+1 Bedroom Lakeview suite that comes with 3 bedrooms (1 King, 1 Queen, 1 Sofa Bed), living room, dining area, kitchenette, balcony and 2 bathrooms. It can accommodate up to 6 guests.

A-5-1 Our suite

Haven Resort Hotel Ipoh suite

The moment we stepped into the suite, we were SO impressed with its spaciousness. It is approx. 1180 sq. ft. (obviously bigger than my own apartment!), very clean and well-maintained. The interior is modern, yet cosy and well-designed in terms of functionality.

The Haven Resort Hotel Ipoh suite

The Haven Resort Hotel Ipoh suite

Suite facilities include satellite channels, flat-screen TV, safety deposit box, toiletries, refrigerator, microwave, electric kettle, induction cooker, iron, hair-dryer, bath robes, mini bar, and complimentary high-speed WIFI.

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Cuisines Restaurant at The Haven Resort Hotel Ipoh

During our stay at The Haven Resort Hotel Ipoh, we dined at Cuisines Restaurant several times. Located at the clubhouse, this award-winning restaurant has great indoor and outdoor seating. We’re SO in love with its tranquil surroundings and breath-taking views.

Cuisines Restaurant is only opened to its hotel guests and residents at this moment. It serves buffet breakfast, ala-carte lunch and dinner offering Asian, Western and Mediterranean cuisines. Occasionally, they have themed dinner buffet too.

Cuisines Restaurant

Cuisines Restaurant
Cuisines Restaurant
Cuisines Restaurant
Personally, I love the restaurant’s strong focus on healthy and wholesome food at affordable prices. I understand that their chefs go to the market daily to source for fresh food. Only natural ingredients are used with NO MSG at all!

Now, I shall start with their buffet breakfast.

Daily Buffet Breakfast

After a good night’s sleep at our beautiful suite, we woke up for a fabulous buffet breakfast at Cuisines Restaurant. It offers a good selection of local and Western food, pastries and breads, cheeses and salads, cereals, homemade desserts, an egg station with scrambled eggs, fried eggs and omelettes, fresh fruits cut, juices, tea and coffee.

Half-boiled eggs

Edison enjoyed the half-boiled eggs made from the big white eggs. Their eggs are so perfect, and it’s certainly a great starter for him. Then, he went around picking his favourite Western food like mini pizzas, cheese, sausages and cereals.

Edison

V and I enjoyed their local breakfast more. My top favourite is their Ipoh hor fun – so satisfyingly soft and smooth, coated in an aromatic gravy. V absolutely enjoyed their nasi lemak with spicy curry chicken.

Hor FunSoft and smooth Ipoh hor fun! Must try!

Hor Fun 2

LocalHot & spicy curry chicken
PorridgeChinese Porridge

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Our Vesak Day Long Weekend

I’m sure most of you have enjoyed the long weekend due to the Vesak Day public holiday. I took two days off and travelled back to my hometown in Ipoh with Little Edison. We had such a good time here.

Years ago when there was no direct flight from Singapore to Ipoh, I dread taking the long distance 8-hours coach. Thanks to Firefly, we can now fly to Ipoh directly. It’s just a short 1 hour and 15 minutes flight.

Edison had so much fun playing with his cousins, Jaynie and Jaerone. They don’t get to meet so often, and when they do, they play like there’s no tomorrow.

Ipoh - May 2013

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The kids had their Aeroplane kids’ meal at Sakae Sushi after two hours’ of play time at Kidszoona, a huge indoor playground at the newly opened AEON Ipoh Station 18 shopping centre.

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We’re going to spend another day here before we head back to Singapore.

Home Trip & Resort Holiday

   Ed: “Mama, what day is it?”

   Me: “Friday, my boy.”

   Ed: “Is it school holiday?”

   Me: “Yes, it is. So, no school for ya.”

   Ed: “Yay! It’s getting closer and closer!” *Jump excitedly*

The above conversation has been repeated for the fifth time today. Little Edison is excited about my home trip next week. He has been asking me numerous times when he can go to Popo’s house again (my mom’s house in Ipoh). I promised to bring him there during the June school holidays.

Now, whenever he hears the word “school holiday”, he will automatically recall my promise to him – that is to bring him to Ipoh.

Maybe I shouldn’t call it my “home trip”. You see – I’m a Singapore PR, married to a Singaporean man with a Singaporean kid. I’ve been staying here for 12 years now; so technically, Singapore is my home.

But Ipoh still feels like a “second home” to me. I could feel the “back-to-home” feeling whenever I cross the boundary of Ipoh. I do have a lot of fond memories there. This trip is going to be extra special because we will be going for a resort holiday with my parents and my brother’s family before we head back to Ipoh together.

Little Edison is excited about meeting his cousins again. I’m pretty sure the kids will have great fun, especially at the resort. I miss my parents, my siblings and the kids too.

I shall end this post with a picture of the kids, taken in Dec last year. More updates on our resort holiday when I get back.

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Jaerone, Edison and Jaynie

Have a nice weekend, everyone!

 

Flying with Firefly, Your Community Airline

[Just came back from Ipoh yesterday. So sorry for my lack of post this week. Busy, tired and ate too much!]

Going back to my hometown in Ipoh used to be a long and dreaded 8 hours journey by coach. Hence, my ‘balik kampung’ (meaning: return home) trip was always very tiring. Imagine spending 8 long hours on the road, with an active toddler and bringing my entire luggage to be checked through two immigration counters. It was a nightmare!

Firefly, who billed itself as “Your Community Airline“, started flying the Ipoh-Singapore route since July 2009. The new ATR 72, which is a 72-seater aircraft, takes off from Changi Budget Terminal and lands at the Sultan Azlan Shah airport. The flight duration is only 1.5 hours. It was indeed good news to me!

Five things I like about Firefly:

  • Unlike other budget airlines, Firefly provides free refreshments (fruit juices, coffee or tea) and snacks (bread, cake, peanuts etc) as well as free 20kg baggage allowance for check-in baggage.
  • The seats and leg rooms are more spacious than Air Asia (not sure about other budget airlines).
  • The seats on-boards Firefly are leather seats and they can be reclined quite comfortably.
  • With the small number of passengers, boarding the plane is smooth and easy. Don’t have to worry about long queues!
  • Soft background music is played throughout the journey. It makes the whole flying experience more enjoyable and fun.

The ATR 72 is a twin-engine turboprop short-haul regional airliner built by the French-Italian aircraft manufacturer ATR. Passengers are boarded using the rear door as the front door is used to load cargo only. Being a ‘light’ plane, ATR-72 flies at a lower altitude and thus it is more exposed to clouds and turbulence. As a result, the flight can be slightly bumpy on bad weather conditions.

Another problem is that the sound from the engine can cause minor discomfort during take-off but it only lasted for about a minute or two. Little Edison didn’t make any complaint, thus I can conclude that it isn’t that bad after all.

Last thing to note is that the overhead compartment is much smaller as compared to those on Boeing 737. You can only put in your handbags or laptop bags. Thus, I would advise you to check-in all your luggage bags to avoid inconvenience.

One common question that people ask me about Firefly is the noise from the propeller. It’s actually not loud or irritating as some people described. If you dislike sitting next to the propeller, please avoid line 5 and 6 when you’re making seat selection online.

This is my second trip home via Firefly. I paid RM1000+ on my first trip (two-way for 3 passengers) and about RM400+ on my second trip. You can see the huge price difference here. The fare price for Firefly is not as low as Air Asia, that’s for sure. The earlier you book, the cheaper you get. Do check out Firefly website or Facebook for their offers and promotions.

All in all, I really enjoy flying with Firefly. It makes my ‘balik kampung’ trip so fast and hassle-free. I couldn’t ask for more.