Piece Hostel Kyoto & Hotel Empire Shinjuku

Last weekend I spent the whole day compiling and researching for my Japan trip post, I was almost done when Blogger suddenly pulled a post April Fools joke on me and decided not to save my draft. Yes, one whole day of blogging flushed down the drain. It was one hell of a long post and I couldn't find the strength and energy to rewrite again, I am so sorry.

BLOGGER! YOU PULL ONE PRANK ON ME AGAIN I AM GIVING YOU UP! FOR GOOD! YOU HEAR ME!

I am not going to give up my Japan trip post entirely, because I'll be reviewing the hotels that I stayed at. Yes, they are so good they deserve my effort.

PIECE HOSTEL - KYOTO

I was a little reluctant to stay in a hostel at first. I used to stay in hostels and the experience wasn't that pleasant. The lack of privacy and OMG the noise, the snoring *shivers* But I must say Piece Hostel Kyoto is the total opposite. I think it's even better than some of the 5 stars hotel! It's so good I don't know where to start.

LOBBY
Check out the lobby below! It's so hipster!

Reception area with a bar.

Lounging area siap with iMacs and tons of books.

Another lounging area with TV.

Coincidentally the day we arrived Kyoto was Hina Matsuri festival. It's the day people display and showcase their Japanese dolls. The hostel was so fun they organized a Hina Matsuri party at night with free flow of sake OMG! And free rice crackers too! They also have nights they play movies with free popcorns and soft drinks. So fun!

The hostel is very considerate and thoughtful as well. They have this giant Kyoto map in the lobby pinned with all the places of interest and the details of the place and how to get there.  They also write down the weather and happenings on the board as useful tips for tourists. Extra cookie points for this!

KITCHEN
The husband was so excited to see the kitchen because it comes with cooking stove and utensils - you can actually cook! Great for those who misses home cooked food! For me, the best thing was when I saw the "FREE BREAKFAST" sign hahahaha!

The toasted bread is so cute!

The kitchen is well equipped with cooking stove, ovens, toasters and microwaves. 

If you plan to cook, pots and pans are prepared for you! Just remember to wash after use.

Did I mention they provide free flow of coffee and tea!

WASHROOM
I always dread using the shared shower room in hostels. It's either they are inconvenient or it's dirty. Not the case for this hostel! The staff comes around to clean the shower room every time someone finish showering.

There are only 6 shower rooms. So when you shower during the peak hour at 8pm onwards, be prepared to queue. I waited for half an hour =___=

Too bad I didn't manage to take a picture of the shower room. It was divided into 2 sections, one wet area and one dry area. Super clean!

The public toilet at the lobby area, so big and comfy! You can  pull out the handle to rest your arm when you shit WTF!

The dressing room outside of the shower room, equipped with hair dryer, lotion and cotton!

ROOM

The hostel comes with different types of rooms, female dorm, male dorm, mixed dorm and 2 person room. I booked the 2 person room, it wasn't huge but the bed, I must talk about the bed! The bed was huge, I think it's bigger than any normal king size bed. It was so comfy and bouncy, I felt so snugged under the fluffy duvet. The best bed I have ever slept on!

Many people prefer to bring their own pillows when they stay in hotels. Pillows are important, if it doesn't fit you ain't gonna have a good night sleep and end up with neck pain. Everyone have their own preferences for different types of pillow. This hostel goes way up and beyond to meet the satisfaction of their tenant. Check out the different types of pillows prepared to meet your preference.

OUTDOOR

The hostel also has washing machines and dryers for your laundry. But of course, you have to pay and each cycle only lasts for half an hour. The resting area has a sakura tree too. I can imagine the beauty of it when it blooms =) Too bad it was winter, hence the baldness of the tree.

 If you are going to Kyoto, I highly recommend this awesome possum hostel! It's only 10 minutes walk from the Kyoto Station, super convenient!

HOTEL EMPIRE SHINJUKU - TOKYO

I wouldn't rave this hotel like how I did with Piece Hostel. The hotel is rather worn out. The tiles on the lobby's floor was broken and they just covered it with a carpet. Every time I step on it I would get a shock because of the cracking sound.

There is a bar below the hotel and it operates everyday from 9:00 to what????? What is 26:00?! There are 26 hours in the world of this bar's owner. Wow! I'm sure workaholics would love to work here.

WARNING: MESSY ROOM PHOTOS AHEAD.

The room was super small. Probably less than 20x20 feet. Check out the picture below, after I open up my luggage on the left, I only have the area where the shoes were scattered around to walk about. And it can only fit one person, the other person would have to sit on the bed LOL. I don't even have space to open my hand luggage.

The walls are dirtied with black scratches. Probably because people always accidentally scratch the wall with their luggage due to the space constraint.

The bathroom is quite yellowish as well. Sorry I didn't manage to take a picture of the bathroom, once I open the door I no longer have space to take pictures LOL. They only provide a can size rubbish bin =___= I had to keep the rubbish in a plastic bag instead. 

But what I love about this hotel is the location. It's just 5 minutes walking distance from the Shin-Okubo JR Station and convenience stores are everywhere. The staff are super friendly as well, they are non English speaking Korean but they tried their best to give us directions.

If you don't mind the small room, I would recommend this hotel for the location. Oh, no free breakfast though =P

Felda Residence Hot Spring, Sungkai.

It's January 2015 and you know what month is it? MY BIRTHDAY! And it's the last year to celebrate my 20s birthday. FMLGG!!!!!! (fcuk-my-life-gao-gao). When I was younger I wished to have a big birthday bash and have a huge celebration like a celebrity, vain pot of me. But as I grow older, I prefer a low key celebration. Just a nice dinner with the people that matters most will do. And thankfully my last 20s birthday fell on a Saturday, woohoo! If I was still in my early 20s, I would have partied til the break of dawn. But old fart like me opted for a relaxing birthday getaway to the Felda Residence Hot Spring! Yeah, old fart needs to dip her foot into the hot spring water for some blood circulation therapy.

We paid RM700 for a villa that comes with a private jacuzzi. We were amazed by the size of the villa, we can roll from one end to another. It's obviously too huge for 2 person, I can fit one kampung inside.

We got Villa 3 complete with our very own porch.

The mega huge bedroom where it can easily fit more than 10 person.

The bathroom with bath tub.

The living room.

The backyard with the hot spring jacuzzi.

The kitchen.

If you are planning to pay a visit here, there are a few things that you need to consider.

FOOD
We didn't know that the villa comes with a kitchen complete with utensils and stove. If we did, we would have brought stuff and do masak-masak. Little did we know that we were stranded in a deserted place in the middle of the oil palm estate and food is a huge problem.

We ended up driving 30 minutes to a nearby road side stall selling Malay food with lots of flies! HOLY CRAP! The amount of flies were so scary I tell you! I was digging through the stash of fried chicken when suddenly a fly flew out. It must have trapped within the fried chicken for God knows how long! Worst part was, we saw fly eggs!!!!!! OMFGMAMABBQ!!!!!!! We had no choice but to buy a few (of course without fly eggs) or else we would have to eat grass for dinner. We had to inspect the chicken like doing autopsy before consuming them. Thank God no laosai.

PUBLIC HOT SPRING 
It can be very crowded at noon time especially during the weekend. And since Malaysia is a hot country, the hot spring makes you 2x hotter (body temperature wise) during noon time. Be prepared to sweat like the air cond is leaking!

Hot spring is also supposed to be relaxing, but some people prefer to ruin the serenity by noises, dumb jokes and stupid demeanor. We were dipping our foot in a pool about 50 degree celcius, burning hot no joke. One man decided to jump inside the pool and sit in the water and said, "Try try! So syiok!" =______= God bless your balls.

The next morning we woke up early for breakfast at 7.30am and went to enjoy the hot spring again . The best part was there was nobody! The weather was chilly, the wind was blowing and we gotta soak in the therapeutic hot spring in peace without an idiot trying to boil his own balls *thumbs up*

40-45 degree celcius, I managed to touch the water surface only.

Boiling myself.

The husband so super, could dip half of his feet inside. Look at the steam!

Finally managed to adapt to the temperature.

The hot spring was mine alone, peace!

Pebble walk with therapeutic hot spring water. 

Back to nature, I can almost hear the birds chirping.

The husband trying the egg boiling.

The water was so hot it can boil an egg within 5 minutes!

If you ever visit this place, you must try the egg boiling. I'm not sure if it's just me, the eggs boiled with the natural spring water tasted differently good! I made half boiled eggs and unlike the normal eggs we boiled with hot tap water, this eggs tasted much.....I-DON'T-KNOW-HOW-TO-EXPLAIN. You got to try it yourself.

TIME FOR THE HIGHLIGHT! PRIVATE HOT SPRING JACUZZI!

The husband enjoying the jacuzzi like a boss.

I saw squirrels and dragonflies!

I will definitely go back again if I'm hungry for a short trip and wish to get back to nature. But most probably with a bunch of friends because the size of the humongous villa is a waste of space for 2 person. And most of all, I'm going to bring stuff to cook or even do steamboat! No more road side chicken with fly eggs!

You can visit their website here for more information like address and facilities. But I suggest to book your room via agoda.com simply because they have better rates. The villa I rented is RM1200 at normal rate! ENJOY!

PEACE OUT!

Masak Masak.

 If you're looking for a place to host a one-of-a-kind party or team building, try Masak-Masak at Ben's Independent Grocer, Publika! Ashley is a genius for scouting this place to host our beloved Jun Yee's Bridal Shower. Usually people have their Bridal Shower partying in a club or hotel doing naughty stuff, we opted for a theme called "Stepford's Wives" instead. Probably because we are all aunties already, instead of getting drunk and make a fool out of ourselves, we learn how to cook instead for her Bridal Shower, FML.

In our best outfit to bring out the best wifey in us.

Stepford Wives Beauty Competition.

And the winner is non other than the bride-to-be!

Prize giving ceremony. Katrina looked like a Datin here.

APPETIZER: JUNIPER BERRIES PAN SEARED DUCK SALAD

The salad tasted super awesome! I didn't know salad could taste so good, especially salad that I made myself LOL. Because the dressing is made of orange marmalade, it tasted super sweet together with the lychees, oranges and cherry tomatoes. The duck was delicious as well, I don't eat duck usually but when it mixed together with the salad, I just om nom nom nom nom nom.

My cooking partner of the night, Jannifer!

Jannifer did all the heavy duty cooking, while I chopped and mixed. I thank God she knows how to cook!

MAIN COURSE: GRILLED SPICED CHICKEN WITH SAFFRON RICE

This chicken is so easy to cook. Just season the chicken with spices and we can actually put it in the oven to cook. But since we are so gangho so we wanted to grill them first and finish off in the oven for about half an hour. The saffron rice was prepared by the staff. By the time we finished everything and started to dine in, the dish was already cold, boohoo.... =(

Us with our dish and the "elegant" bride-to-be photobombing us behind.

DESSERT: MINI APPLE TART TARTIN

It doesn't look very appetizing LOL. The picture doesn't do any justice to the apple tarts at all. I would prefer it without Brandy, it made the tarts tasted rather bitter which is not very much to my liking because I don't like liquor.

Paired the hot-from-the-oven apple tarts with cold vanilla ice-cream, heaven! YUMS! 

You can judge from Daniella's orgasmic face.

We took 4 hours to cook a 3 course meals, IN HEELS! By dessert we were already burnt out zzZZZzzz. But what's good about paying money to cook is that we don't need to do the dishes LOL!

Here are some photos of us goofing around while cooking. I think we mostly burned our energy by playing around instead of cooking.

Don't piss me off or I will chop you to pieces and sell you to the pork stalls at pasar pagi.

Ashley Ramsay in the house.

Cucumber Claire attack!

Katrina's achievement of the night, peeling apple without breaking the skin off.

It's either she didn't want to get her hands oily or she had no confident in her cutting skill.

Daniella and his Lady Gaga photobombing antics. 

And Daniella with his Karl Lagerfield photobombing antics.

8 and a half women LOL.

Love this picture of all the Stepford Wives + 1 Stepford Husband behind.

All of us with the master chef!

We had so much fun that night! Thanks Ashley for organizing the party and a huge congrats to Jun Yee for getting married! Finally there is a man in this world who wants to marry her LOL! There is no one else happier than me to see her getting married! From constantly whining about being single to falling in love and killing me with her lovey dovey look and now signing off her lifetime happiness to a good man *sniff sniff* 

Here is a dedication for you, for your love in everything and everything that is affected by your positiveness and kindness.