Saturday, 17 May 2014

Hotel in Johor Blog: My Trips: Johor Bahru simple GPS friendly ... - Hotel in Johor Blog

<b>Hotel in Johor</b> Blog: My Trips: Johor Bahru simple GPS friendly <b>...</b> - Hotel in Johor Blog


<b>Hotel in Johor</b> Blog: My Trips: Johor Bahru simple GPS friendly <b>...</b>

Posted: 11 May 2014 11:52 PM PDT

If you are traveling to Johor Bahru for a short vacation by car, you may refer to this simple traveling guide as where to find a hotels, foods, shopping and attractions with GPS coordinates. (if you don't have a GPS device, just key in the coordinates into Google map in the smart phone, it'll navigate you to the destination)

There were many friends of mine visited JB from other state of Malaysia and also from Simgapore during school holiday and long weekend. Most of the time, they would like to try out different hotel and especially foods around Johor Bahru area, my simple guide is to share the popular area in JB where you can stay, shopping and eat.


I divided into few areas, like JB Town, Century Garden (include Pelangi, Sri Tebrau and Sentosa), Skudai area (include Nusa Bestari and Bukit Indah), Nusajaya (include Gelang Patah), Johor Jaya (include Molek, Desa Tebrau, Gaya, Mount Austin and Setia Indah), Permas Jaya and Kulaijaya.

Johor Bahru Town
Which is close to CIQ, Causeway to Singapore, and also Johor Bahru Sentral where all the ground transportation located.

Travel distance to CIQ - approx. 2-4km.
Travel distance to Senai Airport - approx. 30km.
Travel distance to Nusajaya, Legoland and others -  approx. 25km

Recommended Hotels :-
*  Puteri Pan Pacific (4*) (N1.46099 E103.76171)
*  Hotel Aman Sari (N1.46421 E103.76201)
*  Tropical Inn (N1.46545 E103.76068)
*  Double Tree Hotel (4*) (under construction) (N1.46560 E103.75980)
*  Thistle Hotel (5*) which is less than 5km from town. (N1.46169 E103.74320)
*  Grand Blue Wave Hotel (N1.46082 E103.76898)
*  Suria City Hotel (N1.46056 E103.76857)
*  Sentral JB Hotel (N1.46165 E103.76913)
*  Zon Regency Hotel (in duty free zone) (N1.47088 E103.78299)
*  Straits View Hotel (just refurnished recently) (N1.46056 E103.73742)
*  M-Suite Hotel (N1.46479 E103.73046)

Shopping Complex nearby :-
*  City Square (N1.46183 E103.76353)
*  KOMTAR (which is under upgrading now) (N1.46352 E103.76263)
*  The ZON Duty Free Mall (N1.47075 E103.78314)

Attractions :-
Jalan Tan Hiok Nee (historical street)
*  Johor Bahru Chinese Heritage Museum (N1.45590 E103.76323)
*  Royal Abu Bakar Museum (N1.45504 E103.75656)
*  Art Gallery Johor (less than 5km out of town area) (N1.46667 E103.74765)
Johor Old Chinese Temple  (N1.46069 E103.76304)
Danga Bay (N1.47680 E103.72388)


Recommended Foods (based on local's favorite) :-
Breakfast
Hwa Mui Kopitiam (which is the first Hainanese kopitiam in JB) (N1.45732 E103.76432)
*  Qin Garden (N1.45700 E103.76434)
*  Yong Mui Beef Noodle (N1.46086 E103.76722)
*  Ah Heng Char Koey Teow - 7am - 3pm (N1.46863 E103.78055)
Lunch
*  Mei Hua Bak Kut Teh (N1.46084 E103.76754)
*  Johor Bahru famous Stulang mee rebus (N1.46309 E103.77426)
The Roost Juice Bar (N1.45707 E103.76401)
*  Waterwork Laksa (N1.47157 E103.73658)
Tea break
*  Goreng Pisang Mawar (N1.46176 E103.74192)
Dinner
*  The Teow Chew popular fish noodles (night) (N1.46378 E103.77188) 
Yong Yong Ikan Bakar (night) (N1.46090 E103.73847) 
Lazio Italian Restaurant and Bar


Century Garden (include Pelangi, Sri Tebrau and Sentosa)
One of the popular and crowded area in JB which contain of 4 residential area - Pelangi, Sri Tebrau, Sentosa and Century, it has lots of good foods within.

Travel distance to CIQ - approx. 8km.
Travel distance to Senai Airport - approx. 28km.
Travel distance to Nusajaya, Legoland and others -  approx. 24km

Recommended Hotels :-
*  Crystal Crown Hotel 3* (N1.48674 E103.76593)
Grand Paragon Hotel 4* (N1.48112 E103.76166)
*  KSL Resort 5* (N1.48590 E103.76291)
*  Mutiara Hotel 4* (N1.48800 E103.75759)
*  Holiday Villa (under construction) (N1.48706 E103.76190)
*  11 Century Hotel (N1.48652 E103.76147)
*  Grand Sentosa Hotel (N1.49268 E103.76883)
*  Hallmark Regency Hotel (N1.48090 E103.76209)
*  New York Hotel (N1.47879 E103.76104)
*  Hotel Selesa (N1.47777 E103.76297)

Shopping Complex nearby :-
*  Holiday Plaza (N1.48828 E103.75969)
*  Pelangi Plaza (N1.48053 E103.76504)
*  Leisure Mall (N1.48384 E103.77396)
*  KSL Mall (N1.48551 E103.76291)
*  Sentosa Plaza (N1.49281 E103.76855)
*  Danga City Mall (N1.47427 E103.75525)
 
Attraction :-
*  None

Recommended Foods (based on local's favorite) :-
Breakfast
*  Poh Kee mee pok - 宝记Teow Chew Koey Teow  (N1.48076 E103.75686)
    7.30am - 2.30pm, rest on alternate Thursday.
*  Hainanese pork congee 海南猪肉粥 - Multi Mart Kopitiam 7am-2pm. (N1.48506 E103.76010)
*  Ah Hwa Koey Teow 亚华粿条 7.30am - 4.30pm (N1.48562 E103.76102)
*  Ho Seng Kee Wantan mee 何成记云吞麵 8am - 4pm. (N1.48670 E103.76058)
*  Koey Teow Kia (粿条仔) at Ka Hoe Kopitiam (N1.48079 E103.76673)
    6.30am - 12.30pm, rest on alternate Wednesday.
Lunch
*  Nyonya Curry Fish head and curry pork ribs at Mui Sheng stall. 11am - 3pm (N1.49092 E103.76233)
Menu Please Bistro 11am - 10pm, rest on Monday. (N1.48083 E103.76612)
Soon Chiang Bak Kut Teh  顺江肉骨茶
Ah Soon Bak Kut Teh 8am - 3pm, rest on Monday.
Ah Seng Steam Fish 8am - 3pm, rest on Monday.
*  Soon Huat Bak Kut Teh 顺发肉骨茶, Jln Sutera (N1.49410 E103.78239)
*  Yew Swee Laksa 友水辣沙 8am - 4pm, rest on Sunday (N1.48294 E103.76486)
Tea break
Dong Hong Traditional Chinese kuih 东鸿糕粿 (N1.48701 E103.76803)
    5pm - 10pm Business on Sat, Sun, Mon and Tue. Many different type of traditional Chinese snacks which called 'kuih'.
Dinner
Century Curry Fish Head 世纪沙煲咖哩鱼头 at Cedar Point Hawker Center (N1.48126 E103.76296)
    5pm - 11pm, rest  on Monday.
New Storey Seafood Restaurant (N1.47833 E103.77514)
Tsuki Japanese restaurant (N1.48207 E103.77496)
Kim Chi Korean BBQ Restaurant (N1.48170 E103.77479)
The City Cafe (N1.49719 E103.76284)
*  Kong Inn Seafood Restaurant 港一海鲜餐馆 (N1.49348 E103.77278)
Penang Hokkien prawn noodles hawker 槟城福建虾麵 (N1.49305 E103.77090)

There are still many more delicious foods within the area that I cannot list all of them, this is just a simple guide for you if you want to travel to Johor Bahru by car.

I will continue on the next post for other area. Stay tune!

(I will update this blog post from time to time, please feel free to visit back. Thanks.)


tesyasblog: Review of Tune <b>Hotel</b> Danga Bay - <b>Johor</b> Bahru

Posted: 25 Apr 2014 04:52 AM PDT

We have stayed in several Tune Hotels before: Tune Hotel Legian, Tune Hotel Downtown Kuala Lumpur and Tune Hotel LCCT. When we knew that Tune Hotel Danga Bay provide a shuttle service to Legoland, we decided to book a one night stay there. 

The hotel is huge compared to other Tune hotels that I have visited before. If you are looking for a budget hotel for your family holiday to Legoland, I hope this post could give you some idea about Tune Hotel Danga Bay.


We took this picture from our taxi 
We made our reservation through their website, we were fortunate that the quadruple room was still available. We booked one quadruple room for MYR 140 (tax and aircon included: the quadruple room price include aircon). We thought that it will be one room for the four of us. But we were wrong, I will share about the room later on.

Lobby of Tune Hotel Danga Bay

We arrived around 8.30 am, and took a blue taxi from Thistle Hotel Johor Bahru to Tune Danga Bay which cost around MYR 22. Blue taxi fare is expensive, but we couldn't find any red taxi at Thistle.

A cute lego dragon welcome us at the lobby, actually we saw the same lego dragon at Thistle as well. It was too early and we couldn't do an early check-in. The hotel staff gave us 4 Legoland theme park tickets which we have been purchased at the time of room reservation.
Hi there Lego Dragon:)
We intended to leave our luggage at the lobby, but they asked me to pay MYR 2 for each backpack. So I went to my friend @dini_ros' room instead, and left our backpacks there.

There are computers at the lobby, a lego corner for kids without the lego bricks (too bad!), and two massage chair. The lobby area is spacious, and our kiddos met their new friends already at the lobby.


The lobby of Tune Hotel Danga Bay
Lego corner
Computers, hot water dispenser and massage chairs

We exchanged the shuttle ticket at Oddysey, a travel agent located few steps away from Tune Hotel's lobby.


Seven Eleven and Oddysey, next to hotel's lobby

Where to Eat Around Tune Hotel Danga Bay

Then we waited for our shuttle schedule to Legoland at an Indian restaurant called Saffron Cuisine and bought sets of Nasi Lemak with Teh Tarik cost MYR 8 (for each set). If you purchase breakfast when you reserve room at Tune Hotel's website, you will get the breakfast from this restaurant.


The restaurant, adjacent to the hotel
Having our breakfast
The restaurant
Hotel's car park seen from the restaurant
The Saffron Restaurant is located on the 2nd floor

Family Room (Quadruple Room) at Tune Hotel Danga Bay

Ok, now comes the strange part of our room. When we checked-in, we were informed that the quadruple room is basically consist of two rooms with a connecting door. We were given two room keys, and when we entered the room, we just knew that we were given one double room and one twin room. Oh, so this is the quadruple room?




Our compact double room

The plus point was, we had two bathrooms for each room, so it was the luxury of booking the quadruple room.


A very well maintained bathroom

Shuttle from Tune Hotel Danga Bay to Legoland

The shuttle cost MYR 15 per person for a round trip. It was really handy so we could get to Legoland and go back to the hotel in a breeze. Within 20 minutes, we arrived at Legoland. The shuttle stopped at the Mall of Madini, the pick-up area is also at the same place.


Yeay, let's go to Legoland :)


Overall, Tune Hotel Danga Bay is a recommended family budget hotel in Johor Bahru. Especially if you intended to go to Johor Bahru for a Legoland trip, this is the hotel for you.


written on April 25, 2014 by @tesyasblog


Other hotels review in Johor Bahru could be found in this link.

Best family budget <b>hotel</b> near lego land. - <b>Johor</b> Bahru Forum <b>...</b>

Posted: 03 Apr 2014 12:00 AM PDT

1. Re: Best family budget hotel near lego land.

Hi Jesica,

Legoland is pretty far from everything, the nearest Hotel would be Legoland Hotel which is definitely not a budget one.

For budget traveler, best to to stay at their partner hotel and take up a package that include stay and Legoland ticket, check out:

www.legoland.com.my/Hotel/Accomodation/

From Senai to Legoland, taxi fare is about RM68.

Berjaya Waterfront <b>Hotel</b> Chinese Restaurant, <b>Johor</b> Bahru |<b>JOHOR</b> <b>...</b>

Posted: 06 Apr 2014 08:20 AM PDT

Berjaya-Waterfront-Hotel-Chinese-Restaurant-Johor-Bahru

Roslina of Berjaya Waterfront Hotel invited me for lunch at the hotel's Chinese Restaurant.

Berjaya-Waterfront-Hotel-Chinese-Restaurant-Johor-Bahru

Inside, Berjaya Waterfront Hotel Chinese Restaurant, it is spacious and the decor is relatively simple. I was briefed that the restaurant can seat 380 people.

We were joined by Elaina and we lunched at one of the four private rooms which has a nice view of the waterfront (Johor Straits) - I also liked it because the large windows let me take food pictures with good natural light :D

Berjaya-Waterfront-Hotel-Chinese-Restaurant-Johor-Bahru

I met Chef Wong who heads Berjaya Waterfront Hotel's Chinese restaurant. Chef Wong is originally from Ipoh, and has over 30 years of experience in many fine restaurants in Malaysia, Singapore and Australia. 

Wong is still an old school chef who insists on good fundamentals like creating and preparing his food from scratch i.e. from basic ingredients rather than succumb to the convenience of factory or central kitchen pre-mixes.

Berjaya-Waterfront-Hotel-Chinese-Restaurant-Johor-Bahru
Double Boiled Chicken with Chinese Herbs Soup RM10+ per serving

Chef Wong started us off with Double Boiled Chicken with Chinese Herbs Soup. The tonic soup was light-tasting, gently savoury, and mildly herbal with delicate ginseng flavour and aroma. The soup nourishes and strengthens our body while we enjoy a tasty broth. This herbal soup was a very appetising start for our lunch.

Berjaya-Waterfront-Hotel-Chinese-Restaurant-Johor-Bahru
Boneless Crispy Chicken in Salad Sauce RM20+

Next, followed the Boneless Crispy Chicken in Salad Sauce. This is a common "cold" starter dish at Chinese wedding banquets of old.

Berjaya-Waterfront-Hotel-Chinese-Restaurant-Johor-Bahru

The salad sauce was sweet with refreshing crunchy fruits fruits like rock melons, apples and grapes together with savoury golden brown fried chicken. This was a very nicely executed old school Chinese classic - brought me memories of the wedding banquets that I had attended in the long past :D

Berjaya-Waterfront-Hotel-Chinese-Restaurant-Johor-Bahru

When the "cold" dish first arrived, the exquisite food carvings made with ginger and carrots were the first things that caught my eye.


Whenever possible, Chef Wong indulges in intricate food carving - an art that requires a lot of patience - something not often seen in today's "rush paced" lifestyle.
 
While we don't eat food carvings, the intricacies do give us a hint and insight into the Chef that made these art pieces and the dishes that he serves.

Berjaya-Waterfront-Hotel-Chinese-Restaurant-Johor-Bahru
Home-style Minced Chicken and Fresh Bean RM18+

This Home-style Minced Chicken and Fresh Bean is just like what mum made at home, albeit with a little less finesse than Chef Wong. Hand picked beans and chicken meat chopped to a mince. Skilfully wok fried with mildly savoury sauce - all the natural crunch and flavours of the chicken and beans were retained. 

Berjaya-Waterfront-Hotel-Chinese-Restaurant-Johor-Bahru
Pan-fried Prawns with Cheese and Garlic RM38+

Pan-fried Prawns with Cheese and Garlic is another another familiar classic.

Berjaya-Waterfront-Hotel-Chinese-Restaurant-Johor-Bahru

Beautifully executed. Fresh crunchy, juicy, plump shrimps fried golden brown tossed in a sauce of cheese blended with garlic, onions and button mushrooms. Nice mouth feel and a good blend of sweet and savoury. 

Berjaya-Waterfront-Hotel-Chinese-Restaurant-Johor-Bahru
Durian Puff RM12 for 6 pieces

We wrapped up our scrumptious lunch with Chef Wong's durian puff. 

Berjaya-Waterfront-Hotel-Chinese-Restaurant-Johor-Bahru

The batter was much finer than that found at hawker stalls. The durian filling was more like a paste, more grainy and less runny. I like this too.

It was a delightful lunch of simple dishes.

Berjaya-Waterfront-Hotel-Chinese-Restaurant-Johor-Bahru

Perhaps, Chef Wong's food carvings best sum up my impressions of Berjaya Waterfront Hotel Chinese Restaurant. The food is simple yet sophisticated because of the refined skills and detailed attention that went into it's preparation; familiar yet still surprises, ordinary yet artful.

Overall, I also found that the prices at Berjaya Waterfront Hotel Chinese Restaurant reasonable. 

Berjaya-Waterfront-Hotel-Chinese-Restaurant-Johor-Bahru

Restaurant name: Berjaya Waterfront Hotel Chinese Restaurant
Address: 88, Jalan Ibrahim Sultan, Stulang Laut, Johor Bahru
Maphttp://goo.gl/maps/SSuXh
GPS: 1.470895,103.783448
Hours: 11:30am to 2:30pm | 6:30pm to 10:30pm (Closed on Monday)
No pork, no lard, no Halal cert

Date visited: 18 Mar 2014

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