Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Rasa Sayang... Hei Rasa Sayang Sayang Hei!

There has been plenty of publicity on the recent opening of Penang's Rasa Sayang Resort after its years of renovation.

The renovation bill came up to RM100 million but I guess that is small money to Robert Kuok, Malaysia's Richest Man and owner of the resort.


The new Rasa Sayang is supposed to be a very very posh hotel, a lot more posh than the ALREADY posh old one.The cheapest room in the newly renovated Rasa Sayang costs almost RM1,000 a night (during peak season that'll probably be more).

RM1,000 a night is something few people could afford.
So I do what most Penang people do.

Find a reason to go to the hotel (like have lunch there) and have a tour of the hotel after that.

So last weekend, I went for lunch at Rasa Sayang.

A lunch that costed all of us almost RM90 per head.

Then we spent the rest of the day walking around the hotel pretending to be hotel guests.

We had our buffett lunch at one of the two restaurants at the hotel called the Spice Market.
Now I don't fancy blogging about food so I'm just going to say that I had some of the usual stuff like this


and A LOT of SASHIMI to get my money's worth.
Yes... the kiasu attitude at its best.

I had so many plates of Sashimi that the guy serving it was very close to saying
"Bang... cukup lar... kalau makan lagi nanti restoran tutup saya juga takde kerja lar!".

So I had my last plate of Sashimi and went for every fat man's favourite course of the meal....

DESSERT
But I skipped most of the cakes, kuih and usual stuff and went straight for the... CHOCOLATE FONDUE!!!


I had so many marshmallows dipped in chocolate it wasn't even funny.

So after my lunch I walked around the hotel with my hands in my pockets pretending to be a hotel guest and feeling very good about myself.Confucius say, man with hand in pocket feel cocky all day long.

And cocky I was.

Everything in the hotel was so nice and proper.

Everything was in order.

Even the sitting areas like this...
All the chairs and tables were so aligned that it's almost as if nobody has ever sat on them before (either that or they were all nailed to the ground so nobody could move em).

And even the landscape was to die for.

It almost looked as if Heaven was on the other side of the hotel.
I walked a little further and I came across the swimming pool that had the most unique shape ever.

And somewhere in the middle of that, two guys were playing ping pong.I went up to one of them looking like I belonged in the hotel and said
"Hey how you doing... you staying here?? YEAH.. SO AM I... I'm in room 112...".

After making everyone ELSE think that I could "really" afford to stay in a hotel like that, I moved on.

A little ahead of the pool was a nice sitting area and a little ahead of that was.... THE BEACH!!!

Ok that is one thing that I like about Penang in which London and KL does not have:
NICEEE SANDY BEACHES.

And NO ... little sandboxes with a puddle of rainwater beside it in your KL kindergartens do NOT count as BEACHES.

Having most of my attention focused on the beach, it wasn't long before I lost my way around the resort but I came across a signboard that pointed to the all famous Rasa Sayang Spa called Chi!I have heard plenty about this Spa.

I've heard that just a simple massage and spa treatment there would cost you easily at least RM300-RM400.

Now I know what people like Wingz might be thinking

"Aiyah RM300-RM400... if char bor sui then worth it lar!".

But I assure you that when this hotel says "massage" they LITERALLY MEAN "massage" on your back, your neck, your feet, hands and everywhere else but your kotek.So don't expect any of the staff from the spa to come up to you and say
"Sucky Sucky Five Dollah?"

DON'T!!! DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!!!
(unless of course you like your kotek pepper sprayed... then please do)


Anyway, soon enough, my tour of the hotel had to end.

And I had to go back to my old "unposh" life of being Boss Stewie.

The signboard at the carpark on my way out read"Exit to Batu Feringgi Road"But it might as well have read

"Poor people walk this way".

*sigh*

Now some people might leave the resort saying
"I wish one day I'll be able to stay in a hotel like this".

But I don't like to just dream. I like to chase the dream.

So I left thinking
"How many coke cans would I have to collect to stay in a hotel like this..."




27 comments:

Jason Lioh said...

Easy peesy job for your lah, if you want to stay there one night. RM1k only mah, its not even 1/3 of your air ticket back to London to eat those ducks. :P

Why not organize your birthday party at the hotel, like Kenny Sia did? :P

Unknown said...

2nd!!!! Havent read yet, proceeds to reading post now. But dun care, never been this top at comments before *sua ku-ness*

Unknown said...

haiyar, u can afford to eat there good enuff laaa.... kita olang mau makan sana pun talak lui orh... itu munya wang ar, wa mau kasi simpan FD 30 tahun balu boleh jiak sashimi. haih.. posh posh living stewie

Boss Stewie said...

jason: unfortunately.. i am poor.. kenny sia is not.... you see kenny sia holidaying everywhere... do you see stewie going anywhere else but kl?

william: AHAHAHAHAHA U JOKER.. I CAN'T BELIEVE U POSTED THAT 2ND COMMENT!!!

Anonymous said...

Let's see... I've amazingly collected THREE Pepsi cans now... Another 2,485,782 Pepsi cans to go.

Ah... I'm getting closer. =)

J said...

Wah lau wei.
1000 bucks can rent an apartment for a month already!
O_o

That place is reallyfor the lifestyles of the rich and famous, I think....

(Hmmmm, the lunch looks quite worth it though - did it taste good?)
(And duuuude, first eat so much ice cream then stuff your face with marshmallows + chocolate? I worry for you...)

Boss Stewie said...

lance: hahahaha.. i have 6 coke cans... i'm twice more closer than you are

j: i know.. hahaa i worry for myself sometimes

Anonymous said...

wah lau.. i m craving for the chocolate fondue/fountain !!!!

ok, u are rich bastardo..
dun say u poor anymore.. !

Wilson J Q Quah said...

hehehehe, boss y didn't u go visit the suites?

hmmm..... and please, the next time u decide to take photo of A swiming pool(meaning any swimming pool) make sure there's a chick inside the photo 1st. Otherwise it's not worth taking

Anonymous said...

boss stewie: *damn* (Goes off to buy a carton of Pepsi)

boss lepton: And I couldn't agree more... Boss Stewie bad photography. *tsk tsk*

Sharon said...

wow, great entry! I've been hearing so much about the newly renovated Rasa Sayang and how sexpensive ermm i mean..expensive it is :P

what to do.. poor ppl like me cant even afford to lunch there so I read your blog for coverage lor :D LOL

aL said...

stayed there once. before the massive renovation. it was really good and the buffet breakfast, lunch and dinner - one word --> heavenly. will remember them for the rest of my life. lol!

jlshyang said...

woohoo! Finally i get to see Rasa Sayang after it's massive renovation. Use to frequent that place for it's buffet whenever there was an occasion with my parents but that is during the pre economic crisis la, lol.

Now RM90 oso susah wanna keluar from pocket. Just wondering, did you notice any Japanese restaurant there? There was one really posh Jap restaurant there before the renovation.

Wingz said...

hahaha 300-400 bucks and no massage koteh?? where got worth leh?!!!

MuFFy said...

yeay! i was wondering when Rasa Sayang would be done! it looks the same at some parts.. and really different at other parts.. but yeay, thanks for posting up pictures! =) and RM1000 per night, THAT'S CRAZYTALK!

Jackson said...

Looks like Boss has found a new way of posing, eh?


Confusius 0wnz :P

Anonymous said...

OMG... the trip look nice.. the breakfast look nice.. and the spa... really expensive wor... i guess the cheapest spa i see is @ Bali... too bad i din have spa @ Bali last time.. now want also dun have already :'(

Boss Stewie said...

cely: aihh... you don't know how many meals i had to skip just to make it for that lunch cely...

boss lepton: ah!! hahaa sorry lar.. no chicks around a the time.. all the chicks must've been spending their afternoon in the spa

lance: hahaha!! yes yes i do have bad photography especially for a blogger.. but you don't read my blog because of my pictures do u?

sharon: maybe if the shangri-la marketing department sees your comment on this blog they might just give u free stay at the hotel ... hiuk hiuk

al: ohh it's quite different now that before... very much more posh

jason: the old japanese restaurant there closed di. now the only two restaurants they have there are feringgi grill and spice market

wingz: haha i knew u'd say that!

muffy: yes... perhaps we can start a little fund among our friends... 20 people each come up with RM50 and share a room there. i'm sure the room would be big enough for 20 people rite?

jackson: yes... cocky i was :P

april: well further down the road from the hotel there is another spa.. cheap cheap only.. less than RM100 also got ...

Anonymous said...

screw the "helpbossstewieloseweighteatduckflyhereflytherepayforkotekmassage" fund.

i'm going to start a "helpthesuicidalgotopenang" fund. you see poor people like me everyday stay in JB eat chicken rice, you happy happy spend RM90 on lunch you cakap dengan limpeh POOR???

muahahahahahaa :P

Gwendolynne said...

Awwww no "Happy Ending" massage is it? So sad.

I've got one super negative comment to say about this kind of thing in Malaysia I'm sure some will agree. I don't doubt we have the ability to create beautiful things, or even wondrous things. It's the ability to MAINTAIN said beauty and wonder that is the problem. When I saw your photo of the chairs, all I was thinking was "Oh shit la, in a few years, will all become dusty and hit by salt spray and rain and becomes moldy. Then some person will sit on it and their eyes will go blind from the mold infection." LOLOL

With the mentality that most of us have, it's like why should we pay so much to shiok awhile only. Plus the average person really can't afford it. How much can you cekik from foreigners really. Plus all those people prefer to shack it up in some place like Hotel Banyak Cicak or something and save them some money too. So, in the end, the hotel will lose money, and in the end, upkeep will fall because they wouldn't have anticipated that extra cost. *sigh* Just damn sad. What's more they want to make money, not lose money right?

Anonymous said...

Eh if can pay 500 bucks for ice cream... 1k for hotel ok la :) no need to collect coke cans...

Anonymous said...

Sell your empty tub.

Anonymous said...

gwen: With bloggers like stewie, I'm sure poor businessmen like Robert Kuok would be saved~! =)

Ianfluenza said...

Oh I'm planning to do that too when I go to Penang... Hehe!!!

Boss Stewie said...

suicidal: okok i'll contribute to that fund if u set it up suicidal

gwen: hahah.. well that may be true for some public establishments but private establishments often (although not always) maintain their things pretty well


april: when u do make sure u call me

friedbeef: no ler.. RM500 lasts me a long time... RM1000 hotel only lasts me one night

lance: cannot.. no more ice cream in the tub di.. nothing to sell but the tub itself

ian: hahaha ! u mean be like a penangnite? be my guest

Gwendolynne said...

lololopop ...

KOKahKOK said...

tomorrwo i am going to the seafood buffer dinner! woo! chocolate fountain nice leh! hoepfully i can eat as much as i can to cover the $ i pay for it! haha