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Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Mutiara Burau Bay Resort

Star rating: ****
My rating: ***

This entry has been delayed for quite some time. Actually the whole family and my mom-in-law went for a vacation in Langkawi a week after Aidilfitri. We almost cancelled it since Nisa was having very high fever, her temperature was almost 40 degree Celcius consistently, even after medication, that finally we had to give her supp-PCM.

We drove from Penang to Kuala Kedah Jetty, which took about 1 hour 45 minutes (could have been faster if you drive more than 110km/hour *grin*). There, we just took any of the available parking lot rental. The one that we rented charge RM15 per day, though my mom-in-law (who went to Langkawi a day before us) said we could've got RM10 instead, but we didn't mind since it's still considerably cheap. I guess the rental charges will be more expensive in peak season. We were lucky that we could get a boat straight-away, as usually if peak season, the jetty will be overflowed with people. Apart from the boat, you could also get there by plane, either from Penang or Kuala Lumpur. The boat ticket cost RM26 per adult and half price for kids if require a seat. Babies are free *grin* The ticket price is actually based on each boat but somewhat more or less the same range. The boat ride took another 1 hour and 45 minutes, depening on the weather. If you are travelling with babies, please avoid taking lower deck front seats as it'll be quite noisy. Idlan (who was about 10 months old at the time) fussed the whole time, apart from being bored with the long journey.

Since my sis-in-law is working in one of the big hotels in Langkawi, she helped us to book this resort under her special rate. Reading the review, I got to learn that the hotel usually gets good feedback for the staff and it's beaches, but always people will comment on how sad and poorly the resort's state is, so I was a quite sceptical. Some reviewers also advised on buying mosquito repellent, which we followed.

Our arrival is greeted by the fresh sea breeze and beautiful scenery of the eagle statue, which is the landmark of Langkawi...


We then were picked up by my sis-in-law with mom-in-law. It is advisable for you to rent a car here or it'll be quite hard for you to go around, unless you want to use the resort's shuttle service (please check first if they have it prior to your booking). The resort is quite isolated, though not as far as The Datai or Andaman.

The main entrance...

The chalet from the outside...
Quite shabby huh?

Inside the room...
Pretty basic...

Our rooms are located quite far, the most isolated area there, but we are just steps away from the beach. the best thing of all, we kind of get our own private beach! Nisa was so happy and excited! She really enjoyed it despite of being unwell enough :)


The breakfast buffet choice is not bad. Here, I really agree with the other reviewer that the staff are great, very customer oriented and polite, but there are too few of them to cater for the whole resort. The bellman himself is the only bellman there, and the resort is big, so it'll take him some time to deliver the luggage and return back to the lobby. We never quite have the chance to even see him, since we aren't that patient, so we carried our own luggage.

I saw lots of tourist here, and they love relaxing under the sun, or else enjoying the spa. We did neither as we are still monitoring Nisa's temperature. Oh ya! Regarding the mosquitoes, it's true, so please remember to bring insect/mosquito repellent :)

Overall, I'm not sure if we'd ever returned here. Maybe if the kids wanted to, but if it was for me, I would rather stay in bigger and better maintained resort/hotel around here.