Ryokan Chic Hostel in Penang

I was in Ryokan Chic Hostel last weekend. There's not much chance for a person to stay at a hostel/hotel at his/her own place. Thanks to Venice, who bought extra voucher for the bed and thanks to her friend who did not show up, we got 2 beds available for the Saturday night.

Ryokan Chic is currently Number 1 hostel in Penang on Special Lodging category in TripAdvisor. I went there as a semi-penangite with a high expectation, and probably kinda strict when writing the review but only hope for a improvement on the hostel in Penang. However, I am not rating Ryokan with a hotel standard, but on a very basic thing a hostel should have.

Ryokan, is nicely decorated, with modern and comfortable design. They provide en-suite bedroom and also dorm bed. We were staying in a 4-bed dorm that night.

There are 5 things which I find really important when we looking for a accommodation.
1. Cleanliness 2. Hot Shower 3. Aircon 4. Price 5. Location
Yes, Ryokan did all these 5 very well.

The whole hostel is really clean. If you just looking for a clean place, yes it is.
They use a rain shower head for their bathroom, really great shower, big flow of water, hot water working fine. Individual air-condition in the dorm room, working fine, adjustable temperature.

They have a good quality bed and pillow and plenty of extra features you might not find at other hostel in Penang. Free wifi, IPAD in common area for use instead of an old PC, reading area with books on shelf, surfactant (shampoo & shower gel) provided, individual locker, bed-side lamp, power plug and small compartment where you can put your valuable belongings beside you when you sleep.

ipad ipad~

power plug and small compartment

Individual locker

However, the Big Big problem, I couldn't sleep At All whole night.
Why? With this kind of high quality stuff, why can't I sleep?

There is no blanket provided, it is on a rental basis at RM3. Is my fault not to rent one? Why am I want to pay an extra RM3 for something which is so BASIC??  I will assume they did it because their hostel rate is too low for ROI, charging on a most basic thing, AirAsia strategic man~

The gorgeous wooden floor is another culprit, staying in a heritage house, it wasn't fun. :( I can hear people walking around with the "ngek.. ngek..." sounds cause by the wooden floor, and the bed even shaking when some big guys passed by.
There must be a way to solve this problem, I hope Ryokan can solve this to make it a real No.1 in Penang. You are almost perfect!

Hesitated now? If you sleeping like a pig usually, not too worry. At least my friends able to catch a good sleep. After all, it is a very good hostel with all the things they have provided.

You can find my review in TripAdvisor here.
*Photos credited to V - Life's Simple Pleasures.

Ryokan Chic Hostel
62 Lebuh Muntri, Georgetown, 10200 Penang, Malaysia
Email: enquiries@myryokan.com

Tel: + (60)4-2500287
GPS Coordinate: N 5 25.193E 100 20.166

Smel's Cafe, a nice cafe in Perai

Looking for a nice cafe in mainland?
Ya, me too. All the fancy restaurant and cafe are located on the island, why is it nobody want to open one in mainland?

Finally, we found one. If you looking for a nice place to dine on Christmas and wanted to stay away from the crowd in Island, here it is. I don't know from where V dig out the cafe, but here we are, checking out our new-found-land, Smel's Cafe.

Don't ask me where's the "Smel" come from...

The Smel's Cafe, built with a house in the housing area instead of a shoplot. Located in Chai Leng Park, it's kinda hidden. Where's Lebuhraya Kurau? Drive along Taman Chai Leng trunk road, where Golden Claypot on your right, Hong Leong Bank on left. Drive straight until you passed by all the shoplots. There's a junction with Lebuhraya Kurau road sign on your right. You might see lots of car turn into the road too. Drive about 3 seconds, you will see Big Smel's Cafe billboard on your left.

parking spaces in front of the house

The exterior and interior looks like have a jungle theme. Not too bad except I being bite by mosquito, like in jungle... LOL, kidding, not that serious, just 1 or 2 bites. The only drawback is no back rest, which means you can't sit for a long time comfortably.

Looking up at the menu, the main course mostly cost between RM10 to RM30. The lunch set looks more value for money, with soup of the day and a drink (concentrated juice + water: mango, blackcurrent, peach and...)

The chicken meat is tender, nicely grilled and taste delicious, not too much of blackpepper like those "blackpepper chicken chop" and not too spicy. They give a generous portion too, with nicely deep fried hashbrown and vegetables.

I ordered Paella Seafood Fried Rice, which is... I don't really like it actually, all because not knowing it is rich in bell pepper. It actually taste good if I like bell pepper, unfortunately I don't like bell pepper taste, no matter in any form of cooking. The rice is a bit wet, as a style of Spain fried. The seafood is quite generous too, as you can see, with squids, prawns and 2 mussels (a bit overcooked though).

Not forgot to mention their soup of the day. Not mushroom soup or chicken soup. It's green in colour. LOL...

V guesses it's brocolli soup, while I only found out the taste is brocolli after she told me that. Gravy and nice in taste, most important, it's special!

Overall, the food taste really good, not a boring western cafe, you know... :)

*Didn't bring camera that day, all photos credited to V - Life's Simple Pleasures


Smel's Cafe
Address: 20, Lebuhraya Kurau,Taman Chai Leng,
11300 Perai, Malaysia
Tel: 04-3978891/ 04-3979891

Walking into Tropical Spice Garden, Penang

 Be a tourist at your own place.






As a semi-tour-guide, there are still lots of places I haven't explore, especially those "very" tourist spot. One of them is the Spice Garden.

Very lucky to have spotted the discount coupon offer in Everyday.com, bought the ticket at RM5 per pax (original price RM14), so happy larr... Big saving! Thanks Everyday!

shoot this just for trying to win the offer by Everyday.com

We were there on a Saturday noon. Not crowded, not a worry at all. However, there will be a lot of mosquito that welcome you, prepare yourself with mosquito repellent. Spice Garden staff might offer you at the entrance counter for FREE or ask for one.

The place is full of greenery, full of spices which less than 10 that I could recognized. Very nice walk and you will be breathing in different smells along your walk. There are sign and description in English and Malay beside the plant for you to get to know them.

The route around the garden is pretty confusing, up and down, to and fro, no brochure with map provided at the entrance, but seems like they had it for sale. You are on your own to walk around the garden, they do not provide tour guide, not big enough to get lost, but it takes about 2-3 hours to complete also.

Some nice spots to shoot~

There is a souvenir shop and a cafe named Tree Monkey Restaurant in the garden as well. But you know, pricey as usual~

Ask me worth for a visit? As a Malaysian, with RM5 for the ticket, it definately worth every penny!
But RM14? I will hesitate. LOL... If ask me to rate how much the ticket should worth, I will say RM7 or RM8 will be the maximum charge.

If you able to get a discounted rate, you should try check it out~

Tropical Spice Garden
Lone Crag Villa, Lot 595 Mukim 2,
Jalan Teluk Bahang,
11100 Teluk Bahang, Penang.
Telephone: 604 - 881 1797
Email : info@tropicalspicegarden.com
GPS Coordinate: N 5 27.841  E 100 14.095   
Business Hours:
Opens Daily: 9am - 6pm

Tree Monkey Restaurant
Business Hours:
Opens Daily: 9am - 11pm