Traveller Palm Lodge

Do ya wonder what's it? It's the accommodation we lodged when we were in KL. There were 7 of us.

It's an economic hotel, located somewhere in Bukit Bintang, adjacent to Radius Hotel. Why do I bring this out? Of course there's story to tell about it.

First, let's talk about the hotel itself. As a matter of fact, it's not even considered as hotel because it's just a double storey terrace house, I repeat it once, it's just a house! It's kind of run-down. I was freaked out at the first impression of the house. I was thinking: OMG, are we even staying this house? Anyway, it's economic as it charges RM25 per person per night with breakfast provided. Facilities available are standard include mattress, shared living room (common room), hot and cold shower, Reverse Osmosis (RO) water, newspaper, and air-conditioned at night only, on to that, it's pretty clean, so still stay-able! More importantly,it's location is fantastic. Everywhere is within walking distance. Time Square, Sungei Wang, Lowyat Plaza, Pavillion, Star Hill, we could just walk over. Well, they all are in the same place though. However, we could even walk to Pudu Raya and Pasar Tani. Basically we need no transport but our foot.

What's more legendary is the owner of this hotel, Suzi, a female wey! She is an extraordinary Malay at her early 40. At first, I couldn't tell her nationality as she speaks very fluent English. She badly groomed herself nor dressed nicely, although the surrounding of the house is clean, such a big contrast. I really can't tell how well is she doing until I had a rather brief conversion with her. So, she told me that she ever been to lots of places all around the world. May be that's why she speaks nice English. To her, the best city is Cape Town in Africa. However, she didn't want to tell why. She loves to socialize with people from different background and learn about their cultures and ways of living. She makes friends and listens to people by heart rather than hypocrisy. She gave me a piece of advice: "Don't judge a people by his/her look". I believe there must be some story behind this. She also told me that she doesn't hold tight to religion, especially when it comes to interacting with people. That's what makes her special from majority of Malaysian here. Besides that, she advised me also live every moment as though there is no future. It's almost impossible to re-have the same people at the same setting meeting up and having conversation. When the moment passes, that's it and no more U-turn.

What impressed me more is that she was even able to give a brief lecture about wine, champagne, liquor, vodka, so forth. She commented about the difference between polished and parlia drinkers. Those drink in the club, get them self drunk and high, guess what she said about them. She said that they are rich! haha...

She also talked about her business from setting up to managing her hotel. She actually renovated the house by herself 4 years ago when setting up. That's the barely recovered the monthly expenses. She had gone through lots of hardship to establish this business. She said that doing this business is her passion as she got to receive people from all around the world to come and stay and make friends with them. Fyi, quite some euro backpackers stay here. We even talked to a Portugal guy. She said that passion will last but hobbies can change over time. She advised us to dream big. Nothing is impossible, step by step you will get it sometimes while what important is the process of learning. Also, I was stunned to hear that this freaking house can actually cost RM 1.2 million. It is rundown, it not even big. The monthly rental is RM4 000. What I can rationalize is due to its the freaking location, costing even more than a bungalow! . Don't you all think housing and estate investment is too promising!

She has seriously overwritten my first impression towards her. Bear in mind: Don't judge a people by her look. Well, perhaps she made up part or the whole story, but if she is capable of coming out with such interesting story and advices, I would rip my skepticism.

What's a unbelievable woman! Her horizon is broad!

However, she is a heavy smoker! Sigh...

Arh...another piece of story. One of us, well should just say a stranger accidentally broke her little table which has sentimental value as it's given by her husband. Guess what, she was pretty upset and asked for RM200 deposit until it's back to its original condition. Her anger came when we finished talking. So, the plot changed drastically from high to down, but we are still come.