Steve and Emma's Travel Tales

We’d been looking forward to our 2 night stay at the Eastern and Oriental Hotel in Georgetown, Penang for so long.  Well, actually since we’d been given this fabulous joint 40^th birthday present from my family back in August.  We’d promised ourselves we’d treat ourselves to ONE(!) night there before leaving Malaysia.  So being able to stay for 2 nights meant we’d be able to explore to our heart’s content and take full advantage of the facilities.

Although we arrived an hour or so before the designated check-in time, the room was ready.  On walking through the door the staff quickly and accurately ascertained that we were there to check in and promptly relieved Steve of his bag.  All hotel staff obviously know he’s the wimp as they never offer to take my bag!  The check-in procedure was very smooth and efficient.  Once they realised the reservation was in my name, Steve was soon dismissed to the lobby’s lounge area.  To be fair that was only in order to provide us with a cool towel and a welcome drink.  No sooner had we polished that off, our assigned butler (if you don’t mind!) came to introduce himself and show us to our room.  In actual fact we had a brief but very informative tour of the main areas of interest in the hotel.  You know; restaurants, bar, pool and the gym (what was he trying to say?!).

The Eastern & Oriental (E&O) is an old colonial hotel that is part of the Raffles group and steeped in history.  Quite a few famous people have stayed there over the years but their ‘Who’s Who’ board pales into insignificance compared to the Galle Face Hotel in Sri Lanka.  Where the E&O does win is on the level of luxury throughout the hotel – every room is a suite.  Now we’ve been lucky enough to stay in rooms with seating areas, TV’s, mini bars and all the mod cons before this was our first suite.  Basically the room wasn’t that much smaller than our flat (!) and it comprised of; huge bathroom, bedroom, living room and private garden terrace.  Our butler (obviously we privately christened him Jeeves) showed us how to operate everything and pointed out the butler call bell.  Would we be brave enough to use it?

Once he’d gone, we got down to the serious business of chucking all of their over-priced pop out of the fridge and filling it with tonics and a bottle of fizz.  Well actually I left that to Steve while I had a good nosy in every draw, cupboard, nook and cranny.  The bathroom is definitely the biggest we’ve ever seen and it was beautifully appointed with marble featuring highly.   Two separate sink units that were clearly portrayed his and hers by the range of little bottles and freebies alongside each.  Separate loo room, bath and shower with the latter having the biggest shower head of all time.  Moving into the bedroom we had a huge, extremely comfy bed and the furniture was modern but made to look antique.  The living room had an enormous telly with all the satellite channels we’d hoped for – namely the sports channels.  The writing desk, settee and coffee table just added the perfect finishing touches.  To top it all, we could sit outside on our terrace enjoying the sea breeze and sunset.

We’ve not stayed anywhere that provided so many extra little touches.  Bath robe and slippers are the norm but we also had sarongs to go down to the pool in should we desire.  There were plenty of glasses for the mini bar but we also had a full ice bucket, coasters and cocktail stirrers.  The turn down service included the usual flower but we also got fruit.  I’m sure you’ve got the picture.

By now we were starving as it was 2pm and we’d been up since 6.30am – time to check out the lunch time options.  The pool area was reasonable quiet and the sun was shining for the first time in weeks – poolside menus please!  The food was excellent and very reasonably priced but the drinks (even fruit juice) were steep.  We were just trying to justify ordering a beer so early when the pool attendant brought us a glass of ice water each – decision made.  Now we may like staying in these posh places but we feel the need to draw the line!  The afternoon consisted of a post lunch slump on loungers reading and the odd dip in the pool.  Unfortunately the sun doesn’t get over the water for any length of time during the day so it stays at a very refreshing / chilly temperature.

We very easily whiled away a few hours and suddenly it was time to retire to our balcony for sunset G&T.  We were having a splendid time and kept having to pinch ourselves – were we really part of all this opulence?  What we found even more difficult to get our heads around was the fact that we wouldn’t have to check- out following breakfast in the morning.  We knew we wanted to take advantage of the free flow buffet dinner the next night so we went out for something to eat in Chinatown.

The buffet breakfast the next morning was as delicious and as varied as we’d anticipated.  There was all the usual British, Continental and American fare with loads of Asian options including; noodles cooked to order, nasi lemak and roti canai.  Obviously we made complete pigs of ourselves! As tempting as it was to never venture out of the hotel, for the entire weekend, we thought we ought to do something. 

So we decided to be tourists for the day and wander around parts of Chinatown we’ve not been to for years.  In fact it was interesting to see how much restoration work has been done since Georgetown was awarded UNESCO heritage status.  The main aim of our wanderings was to go and look at Khoo Kongsi – part clan house, part temple.  It was amazing; highly decorative and beautifully restored with lots of historical information too.  Well worth a visit and I can’t believe it’s taken us all these years and umpteen trips to Penang before going there.  We’d been out for a couple of hours but could feel the E&O pulling us back!

It was high time we did some more of that lying down at the pool.  By late afternoon there were way too many children around for our liking so we retired to our garden terrace.  Obviously the room had been spruced up in our absence but to our abject horror they’d failed to refill our ice bucket.  Surely they hadn’t failed to notice that we still had some of our smuggled in G&T to sup at sunset!!  There was only one thing for it – it was time for one of us to pluck up the courage to summon Jeeves.  I drew the short straw and rang the bell, but at least we got our ice replenished.  I’m sure most people wouldn’t bat an eyelid at using a service like that but we’re not used to this level of personalised attention.

There was only one area of the hotel we’d yet to explore that was on our list of ‘must dos’ – the gym.  Er, scrub that! I clearly meant bar!  The Farquar Bar is very in-keeping with the rest of the hotel; you can picture men in panamas smoking huge cigars alongside ladies in frilled hats sipping sherry.  Steve and I plumped for a pint and a glass of wine and there wasn’t a hat of any description in sight. 

There was little point ordering another drink as the free flow wine and beer buffet was about to start!  Now this was only part of the E&O we’d experienced previously.  It works out at about 20 quid a head to stuff yourself silly and scoop as much wine as possible.  Seriously though; they are not shy with the free flow – in fact you just go and help yourself on busy nights.  On quieter nights waiters are constantly hovering to top up your glass.  The food is truly scrumptious especially if you’re a seafood fan.  Steve tucked into scallops, tiger prawns, crab, salmon and lobster galore.  If that’s not your thing the meat counter has the lot – including duck.  Still not sold – you can have any pasta dish cooked to order right in front of your eyes.  To accompany it all there are loads of vegetables, a couple of soup terrines, an extensive salad counter, and bread and cheese board.  We didn’t get this far but there are desserts and fresh fruit a-plenty too.

Following that lot there was nothing for it other than slumping on our comfy settee watching the football.  Or at least trying to stay awake for kick-off!  Breakfast the next morning saw us tucking into all the things we’d not had room for the morning before and...............  You know what’s coming next – more lounging around by the pool.  We didn’t need to leave the hotel before 2pm and asked for an extended check-out.  This was duly granted until 1pm so our weekend of feeling very welcome, pampered and comfortable ended perfectly.  Well actually it didn’t because at 1 o’clock we had to face reality again and check-out!

All that remains to say is; if you get the chance – go and stay there.  Finally a huge THANK YOU to Mum, Peter, Michael, Carol, Janette and Alexandra for such a wonderful birthday treat.

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