We spent almost a week at the Mandarin Oriental recently over the Raya break because it has become a tradition to have a little holiday every Raya now that Mom is no longer here to Beraya with. We were actually planning to go to Bangkok to see my brother but due to my last minute nonsense, flights to Bangkok were full on ALL airlines and all that was left was Business and even Business was RM12,000+ for the 4 of us. They really know how to slaughter you up for Raya!!
We decided against Bangkok but tried Langawi, Penang and Singapore but they were all crazy expensive so in the end, Hubs said let’s just do a Staycation. No regrets as we had a great time still as we booked into the highest floor Club Executive Park View on Level 30 and true to Nana style, our motto was “We are on holiday….” so anything goes. We ate to our hearts content, went to the spa, swam a lot, went shopping, met up with friends, worked (Yes, I work best at hotels!), and just enjoyed the hotel air-conditioning, the views and the hotel staff. Yes, we blessed quite a few hotel staff so they would have a great Raya too. At one point, the porter wished me a Selamat Hari Raya, Datin! Heck!!! I am no Datin!!! And guess what? We even had friends staying at the same hotel. Too funny. We’d bump into each other every morning at breakfast.
The Rooms
For the price that we pay, the Mandarin Oriental rooms are so-so only by my standards. For that kind of price, I expect something more extraordinary. It was very comfortable for sure and large, and had everything in it so no complaints at all, plus it was a newly renovated room so we were lucky with a beautiful park view, but I still expect a higher quality of design. Hire a new architect already, MO peeps. The room was nice in that it had a separate area for the walk-in wardrobe and the bathroom was huge, there was enough space for a sofa and a work desk and still have the kids lay out their memory game cards all over the floor with their mess. They could literally do cartwheels even with the extra bed in there. What was scary about the room was that the air-conditioning was on an auto-sensor so every time the room got too cold, the AC would shut down. Just like that. And then when it got too hot, it would automatically turn on by itself again. Now there was an explanation for that. What was even MORE scary was that in the middle of the night, the lights would turn off and on by itself too. I was meant to ask the hotel the story behind that but completely forgot. The Hubs said it could not have been a light sensor. AC sensor yes, but no electricity sensor.
OKAYYYYYYYY!!!!!
By the way, we went to 3 rooms before we found the room that was perfect for us. Ask me why!
The Spa
The spa is expensive. RM525-700++ for a massage of 90 minutes. To me, that is expensive. But what the heck. We were on holiday. I had the luxury of the Traditional Malay Massage which was good in that the masseuse was VERY STRONG to the point some bits were actually painful but it is what it is. I have a huge body with lots of meat so she deserved the tip I gave her and spent the entire night releasing wind thereafter. The next massage I had was the special lymphatic drainage massage which I conned my husband into agreeing to pay for, for my health. After experiencing the Raindrop Technique from Young Living, I was intrigued on how such light feathery strokes could be so effective??? But it is and it was!!! I cannot believe that for the last 30 years of massages that I have had, I have always preferred hard strength massages in order to feel better but now I know it is unnecessary. Completely unnecessary. At the MO lymphatic massage, I was so super relaxed that for once, I could not play my phone during a massage because I was simply resigned to napping even though I had had more than enough sleep the night before. And after the massage, I pee-ed a lot and kept peeing all night!!! It was like the woman pushed a pee button!! I also lost half a kilo in pee as they measured my water retention levels before and after the massage with a machine and my blood pressure showed high. Oops. Not sure if this was health related or food indulgences.
The Food
The food was generally OK. I expected more from the breakfast buffet simply because it is the MO and for their ridiculous prices. For example, the Grand Hyatt does a better breakfast spread and so does the Shangri-La. At the MO, there was an Indian counter, a Malay counter, a Chinese counter, the typical breads, fruit and eggs counters, and maybe 1-2 more exotic counters. Their Indian is pretty good though!! Chef Wan was there cooking for the Raya Puasa buffet but prices were about RM300 per pax. CRAZY. Were they going to feed me literally too and maybe clean the aftermath of my poo at that price? I would never pay that for food. Food at MO – 6.8 out of 10.
The Facilities
There is a simulation indoor golf room, did you know that? As T2 was too young to comprehend, we did not venture into it but we did spend a lot of time playing some American Pool. Oh yea. Great memories of my hustling days rushed back as I thrashed the Hubs (OK, he also beat me once but only because I hit the black ball in). I have always been good in Physics. The pool is nice and the pool staff were wonderful. They would bring you your huge fluffy clean pool towels, cold lemon water, wonderfully essential oil scented cold towels and get this, frozen grapes on a pineapple! At first, we were all hesitant to try these frozen grapes but after we did, we couldn’t get enough of it every day. And the staff happily gave us extra since they saw us every day. I guess we were there longer than the average MO occupant. The gym was very well equipped although as expected, nobody used it. Despite all of us bringing our trainers and sports gear, not once did we walk the park nor enter the gym!!!
FAILED BIG TIME.
My high point was having some shopping time at KLCC by myself and sorting out some banking issues. I tried on clothes from so many stores (BCBG, KM, WH, WL, DP, MC) because they were all on sale. Big sale! But in the end, bought nothing LOL. I did however give a donation to one of the stores there but glad to say I have more than covered the entire MO stay and my shopping with my income this week alone with enough to pay for someone else’s holiday and some free gifts to some lucky people. Aren’t I a lucky bitch. Say yes and don’t get jealous. Because you can have this freedom too if you really wanted it. You know you can.
Speaking of which, I keep hearing people say, “Money isn’t everything….yada, yada, yada….”. Yes, of course it is not. But I am so happy doing what I do that it is pointless to condemn me when I see so many happy smiles come out of my work, know what I mean? I know I will always have haters and that is OK with me. As long as I continue to lift people up and those very same people smile and gain their will to live again, be excited about life, I am OK to take all the backstabbing that comes with the territory. Seriously. This is important to me and this is what makes me happy. I know many don’t see it because they haven’t even had a chance to get to where I am yet but they will eventually. I have faith. I believe in what I do. All the haters with rumours and lies about me, well…..they’ll come around.
At the MO, we also met up with Closed One Eye (private joke between my kids and I) and a few of my team mates from out of town. How awesome is that. Communicating with people really is my strength and hope in creating a ripple of a million smiles and I do this with so much passion that I know, I just KNOW, that everyone who is sincere with me in this mission, will prosper tremendously.
Mandarin Oriental, Kuala Lumpur – would I recommend it? I would say yes! We will be checking out the KL Hilton, ShangriLa and the Majestic soon before we decide on our very favourite hotel of all time in Kuala Lumpur. So far, the Grand Hyatt has been a favourite but it did not have the warmth that the MO staff had. So we shall see. The battle of the Kuala Lumpur hotel continues……Heh.
I forgot to mention, the Club Floor of the MO on Level 24 is quite quiet and comfortable. Kids are not allowed in but we were made an exception just for the weekend part of our holiday so T2 as she was underaged. Only 12 and above kids are allowed in. The food was good there too but a much smaller selection and although it was free breakfast, lunch and dinner; we mostly had pizzas by the pool every single day for lunch. FAIL AGAIN!!!
Recently, a team member of mine had a dangerous eye accident and is at risk of losing her eye. Please help me to pray for her that her eye is saved. I am fiercely loyal to my team of ladies and would never dream of letting them down.
**************************************************************************Who is Mamapumpkin?
Mamapumpkin is a former Design Architect turned Multi-Million Dollar Digital Entrepreneur. She sets out to prove to all that you can have anything and everything that you want; if you have that fire of desire burning within and the drive to work hard. Even better with much love.
Mamapumpkin has not only grown corporate businesses successfully in the past and doubled her salary 5 times over 5 organisations but has grown THREE BUSINESSES to 7 FIGURES within an 8 year period. She now shows others EXACTLY HOW after retiring her own husband from employment. He is now the official dog walker, family driver, chef and THE BEST FATHER to their two girls and THE BEST HUSBAND to the woman who CHOSE HIM!
Mamapumpkin is the girl who has nothing but fights for everything including YOU. She is idealistic in her desire to put unbelievable amounts of money and extrardinary happiness into the lives of good people so we can change the world together believing in happiness for ALL. She strives to impact lives authentically wanting to reduce poverty cycles and enable quality education for all and always supports the voiceless. She believes we can all have a life of our own desires to enable real contribution into the world. But first, one needs to understand what this all means.
A beautiful life without limits.
If you wish to learn how to propel your life forward guaranteed, be brave to take action. Mamapumpkin's purpose is to build people. Her gift is to help them UNCOVER their HIDDEN GIFTS. She operates fairly and always leaves an impression. You either love her or not and she is alright either way.
She is a living testimony that women really can have a lot. Being financially and time free has enabled her to travel the world anytime, anywhere, doing anything with anyone, as she spends most of her days with her children, having fun, supporting others wherever she can. Also having fun.
