SQTraveller

I had a wedding to attend in Jakarta and made the decision to travel to that city for first time since living there in the 1980s. I don’t remember that much about it, except the traffic was pretty rough. And I can only imagine it got worse with the massive increase in population over the last few decades.

And given my recent defection to British Airways, I don’t get that many opportunities to travel SQ. My trips to Thailand are now focused on Tier Points (Cathay Pacific) or cost (JetStar). So when I do get “forced” to flying Singapore Airlines, I do try to make the most of it! And I generally love it — you can see my last SQ trip report to Manila here, where I got to travel Business Class on the way home.

I needed to get to Jakarta for a Friday, and from Singapore that would mean leaving on a Thursday evening. I had a choice, to take the slightly earlier flight in the evening at or the really late flights. Unfortunately there are no One World carriers that fly the route I need for this trip which was Singapore to Jakarta. So I was left to choose from a whole bunch of airlines which flies direct – Singapore Airlines, Tiger, JetStar, Lion, Garuda, Batik Air. As such I decided to fly SQ. The outbound flight was due to be a Boeing 777-300, while the return was scheduled to be an Airbus 350-900, which was very exciting for me as I had been reading about the decision by Singapore Airlines to re-start their non-stop US routes.

The proposed Ultra-Long Range airplane is to be a reconfigured A350-900, so if I got a chance to try out the “basic” model, it would give me a sense of what it would be like to travel the non-stop flight. Now there are already people discussing what the configuration of this new long hauler would be and also where it would go. According to some reports there will be 170 seats in the A350-900 ULR compared to the 400 seats in a standard A350-900. I think they will definitely have a lot of business class seats just for the revenue. Probably for comfort (and revenue) they will only opt for Premium Economy seats and drop the standard Economy seats. If I remember correctly on their SQ21/SQ22 flights they initially began with Executive Economy (an ancestor to the current Premium Economy) and Business Class, before eventually switching to an all Business Class configuration. And if they have done their maths and market research correctly, it would nice to see them introduce a mini cabin of First of maybe 4 seats. But my suspicion is that they will go for the Business and Premium Economy configuration. [On a side note, I thought it was rather convenient that Singapore Airlines introduced a Premium Economy seating in 2015, and then a few months later announced the purchase of the ULR planes. Of course some readers would say that it was simply because they were trying to compete with other airlines that had already introduced a Premium Economy cabin, and of course I think that had something to do with it. However I would argue that they knew that this ULR design was already on the drawing boards, and SQ might have wanted to test out a) the seats and b) demand for them.]

Then there is a the question of destination. Of course they are pretty much guaranteed to restart their previous direct US routes to Los Angeles and New York, which is what they pretty much said in their press release. However, where else? Would it be possible to fly to Houston without stopping? Probably not. Using Travel Math, it works out to be around 9,700nm, while the A350-900 ULR is likely to only have a range of 8,700nm. While I would personally like to see places like Vancouver restarted I’m not sure about the business case – they after all stopped that service back in 2009 (and that was already via Seoul). Anyway, I am looking forward to it either way. Roll on 2018!!

hmmmm interesting … I seem to have gone completely off on a tangent. So let me get back to the flight .... and at that point ... I will leave you hanging ...

More to come

Of course, you can catch all my travel and food excitement on the globetrekka website

SQTraveller

Sorry for the delay in getting back to the report ...

As I was saying, I needed to get to Jakarta but wasn't sure which airline to take.

SQ offer reasonably priced fares if you are happy with heavy restrictions no refund, no change, 10% mileage accrual. And since I knew I would want to be travelling on those dates I decided to go for it. So I went for and Economy Super Saver fare, which basically means, if something goes wrong, I’m up the creek without a paddle. If need to make a change for whatever reason … well I can’t! But the fare was competitive with JetStar. Also given I needed to bring my suitcase, the inclusive luggage allowance helped. On top of the that, without lounge access, getting a meal on board was also a good thing!!!



I’m sure I could have scored some awesome deal flying another airline. But frankly as I’ve got older, I’ve got a whole lot crankier when it comes to travelling. Now that SQ are offering these Economy SuperSaver flights, I no longer need to fly JetStar. I can continue to fly Singapore Airlines. After all, she is a great way to fly! To Bangkok I will now always be looking to fly Cathay if they are available and the prices are reasonable (not always the case for either of these points) – Singapore airlines also offers flights with similar pricing. The main problem is that on this route JetStar is way more competitive. Offering fares of close to half the two main carriers. This must be down to the demand of the route. Kinda annoying, but I keep my eyes peeled like a hawk to the pricing of Cathay!

My general rule in Singapore is to get to the airport at least an hour before the flight is due to take off. So with the flight leaving at 6.30pm my aim was to get to the airport by 5.30pm. Having worked out my schedule from my work to Changi Airport. According to Google Maps (who of course I totally believe) it would a grand total of 24mins via ECP (East Coast Parkway) or 28mins via PIE (Pan Island Expressway). God forbid I should choose to take CTE (Central Expressway) and PIE route which could take up to 40mins. So if I really planned it out, I could leave the office at 5pm and just about make it to the airport by my 5.30pm deadline. Tight but dooable.




If I wasn’t cutting it so fine, I would normally go from work and take the MRT as the line is pretty reliable and actually if there is some nasty traffic on the roads, is pretty quick — less than an hour door to door. Bear in mind that if you are coming all the way from the west side of Singapore, the trains do not go all the way to Changi Airport (I already talked about this is my guide of the MRT). It stops at Tanah Merah, and you have cross over the platform to get on the shuttle service to Changi Airport (and the Expo centre). I suspect it’s because there is insufficient demand from Changi into town.

However, as I was right on the edge in terms of timings, I decided to take the (apparently) fastest ECP route. I then prayed that no one had an accident – including yours truly! Not just because it is an awful thing to do, but also because of the time scale I had to work within! Sometimes I try to save pennies by not booking a cab and just wait in line, but because I was running on such a close run thing, I decided booking was the only option. Depending on what I’m trying to achieve, I typically like using the GrabTaxi app but I also use the Comfort Delgro app. I don’t have a huge preference, but don’t like paying with cash and would prefer to use credit card.

Anyway, while beavering away at my desk, I suddenly realised it was already almost 4.30pm. Anyone who travels from Singapore knows that anytime between 4.30-6pm is a terrible time to get try and book a cab as everyone is trying to leave. So I desperately tried to finish my work and at the same time needed to get a cab.

My original technique was to book a Comfort cab as I like to be able to charge it to my EZ Link card – which is linked to my credit card… and thus I get miles from it However, ever since GrabTaxi (now called Grab) allowed me to pay using my credit card, I am happy to just take whatever comes first. I went with Grab Economy and within a minute I had a booking and they were kind enough to upgrade me to Premium … but to be perfectly honest I couldn’t tell the difference. When I got to the pick up point, there was a nice BMW. Don’t ask which model as I’m not that much of a car enthusiast! Fortunately this was not a Friday departure, when it is really really busy. Friday traffic is usually characterised by people trying to go home, go out or go to the airport. Anyway, being rush hour it was still a bit of challenge to get a cab.

There’s not much to say about the journey other than it was pretty good. I have had some experiences in the past with taxi drivers who have absolutely no sense of highway code or speed limit. This driver had a good sense of both. And the journey did indeed take less than 30mins so I was actually at the airport around 5pm. And since I was in the cab, I decided to try and check in online which seemed to be a success.

Stay tuned for the airport experience ...

SQTraveller

Since I had already checked in online, I only needed to drop my bags. There was only one hitch, after printing my luggage tags, the kiosk wouldn’t print my boarding pass. Cue panic!! The staff standing by came over and said “oh, this happens quite a bit, just go the counter”. Rushed to the counter and the man behind the counter basically looked at me like I had made a mistake and asked “have you tried using the kiosk?”. I did feel like giving a sarcastic reply, but no, I restrained myself “Yes. Your colleague sent me here as the kiosk stopped working”; and with that he just simply printed it out and I dropped my check in.



Off I went through immigration and yes, it was as smooth as ever. I have a local ID card, so I just go through the electronic gates and usually this is a very fast procedure. The only times I have had problems was when landing, and there are lots of flights coming in at the same time.



There was no time for a trip to lounge on this trip. I arrived almost exactly at 5pm so by the time I finished with the bag drop and going through to immigration, it would be time for me to get to the plane. As I don’t have the appropriate star alliance frequent flyer card, I would have had to tap into my Priority Pass and thought that maybe it would be best reserved for when I really needed access.

I would like to say that I went straight to the gate as that would be what a responsible traveller would do. However, I am also a responsible traveller, and didn’t want my neighbours complaining about the fresh smell that gently wafted from me, as I had come straight from work. So what does any self respecting smelly person do? Make themselves even more smelly. I popped over to duty free and started liberally squirting aftershave all over myself, while trying to avoid the hawk like eyes of the sales staff.

It became a game of cat and mouse … I would make a move for one aftershave and one sales attendant would appear at myself … speaking Chinese. I smile. Spray myself, and then get greeted by more Chinese, getting a bit more energetic. It’s at this point I normally land my distraction “oh I don’t speak Chinese”. This usually throws the salesperson for a second as they switch their brain to English mode, by which time I have already scampered to another corner of the smelly section. This game is even better with larger groups — the salespeople don’t know who to target, and usually go for the richest looking. Moral of the story: dress and smell like a tramp.

Anyway, waves of aftershave later, I was ready for the plane. I looked like a tramp but at least I smelt a million bucks!

Now I was running late, or so I thought, so I made my way quickly to Gate E11. On the way I saw this cute little buggy — #maytheforcebewithyou



I wasn’t sure if it was part of the same thing, but here was the ANA Star Wars dreamliner (?) I can’t tell



Finally made it to the gate and as usual security was efficient. I have to say, of all the airports I’ve been to, I still like Changi the most. The worst part is that when it just slips from those high standards (and at levels that would make other airports blush) I get frustrated and have to remind myself, that these things happen everywhere. Anyway, on this occasion, nothing to complain about! And as I walked through, I saw the plane that would be carrying us to Jakarta.



Now I had mentioned previously that I was running late. Well actually I wasn’t. They should have been boarding when I arrived at the gate but apparently the plane was late getting in so we were delayed in boarding.

Stay tuned!!! Flight is to come!!!

SQTraveller

SQ966 SIN-CGK
May 2016
B777-300
Class: Economy
Estimated duration: 1hr 50mins
Scheduled Departure: 18:30
Actual Departure: 19:02
Scheduled Arrival: 19:20
Actual Arrival: 19:18
Plane registration: 9V-SYJ

Finally after the turnaround had been completed, they started boarding, and it was a quick affair. I don’t know if I’ve seen it quicker on a wide body before. I was seated in 36D which is near the front of the rear cabin.



Unfortunately this is a slightly older plane so it doesn’t have a particular IFE system. Wait for my return journey where you get to see a really great set up. Again, if this was any other airline I would be happy with what I’d been given, but this being SQ, I expect nothing but the best.

The captain came on the tannoy and apologised for us being late and I would try to make up time on the flight out to Jakarta and soon we were off.



This being Singapore Airlines, they serve you a meal. And at this time, I was reasonably happy to pay for this privilege. Having not been to Jakarta for such a long time, I had no idea how long it would take me to get through immigration and customs, and thus had no sense of what time I would get to the hotel. And thus eating on the plane seemed an eminently sensible option. I pre-ordered a low salt meal, as I have been eating pretty badly the last few months (you can see all the crazy food I eat in Singapore in my Singapore Food Tour category). As soon as the seat belt sign was switched off, the crew swung into action and started serving the meals and they really served quickly!



It was some kind of fish, which I didn’t really care for. It was very very fishy. The kind of taste you get when eating a fish that seems old. I’m sure it was fine, but it just didn’t taste nice at all. In the end I left half of the fish and finished up the potatoes and vegetables.

The crew came around quickly and cleared everything up. I couldn’t understand why they were moving so quickly until we started our descent. We were actually going to be arriving early despite leaving half an hour late. Just goes to show how much they pad out their schedules.

We landed with little fanfare, and by the time we got the gate we were probably 15mins behind schedule so I couldn’t complain and made my way to immigration.

SQTraveller

To confess I was slightly rushing my way to immigration as I was worried about the queues at the counters, that are synonymous with evening flights. But no. I’m not even kidding, there was almost no one at immigration. I take the APEC lane and was surprised to see that the normal immigration queues were just as short as the APEC queue.

But to get through immigration so quickly probably unfairly raised my hopes about luggage collection. Of course 15mins after getting the baggage carousel I was still waiting for my luggage. I didn’t want to take check in, but I was carrying too much so needed to check in at least some of my gear.

Finally, after my luggage finally emerged I dragged it past customs (through an x ray machine) and out into the arrivals hall.

Now to find a taxi.

Taxis are one of those perennial problems that I face when going to unfamiliar countries. I realise that many locals use taxis without any issues, but exactly because they are local. Most of the time I don’t speak the local language, and even worse, when I open my mouth, it is almost as if people assume that money is pouring out!! This tends to make me a prime target for touts so I have to be on my guard when I’m arriving at an airport.

Jakarta airport is no different. As you make your way out of the arrivals hall you end up with many people trying to tout for business or to “help” carry your luggage. I was originally going to buy a SIM card at the airport, but received advice from invisible at FlyerTalk to buy it once I get into town as it would be significantly more expensive in the airport.

I had read prior to getting the Jakarta that there a several reasonably safe/reliable taxi companies that service CGK.

Silver Bird
Blue Bird
Ekspress
These have their separate taxi ranks at the terminal, and to get one of these taxis you need to queue up. From my previous research I found out that Silver Bird was the most expensive, followed by Blue Bird, and lastly Ekspress being the cheapest. I originally thought I would get the Silver Bird as it was most likely the driver spoke English, but as soon as I exited the arrivals hall, I saw the sign below.



There was an official looking guy in the Blue Bird uniform who was taking taxi numbers down and also helping with loading luggage into the taxis, so I thought I would just grab this and hopped into the next available taxi to take me to my hotel. Again, as was the case with immigration, virtually no queue!

By this time I was pretty pooped so just focused on staying awake as I didn’t want to taken for a complete ride. I can’t even remember how many toll booths I went through but I think it came to 25k IDR for tolls; and then about 200k IDR for the trip.

Next up: My review of the Mulia Hotel!

As usual, please feel free to comment while you are waiting for the rest of the TR!!!!

You can find the trip report for this leg of my journey on this globetrekka website post

SQTraveller

As I wrote previously, I was making my first trip back to Jakarta for many, many years. And for this trip, I was flying Singapore Airlines SQ966 (here is the Singapore Airlines, Singapore to Jakarta trip report).

Having successfully negotiated the flight, the airport and the taxi ride (plus traffic), I finally arrived at the Mulia Hotel, Jakarta.

I lived in Indonesia and Jakarta many many years ago, and have always been looking for a reason to come back. But given the choice of Bali or Jakarta, Bali always won out (here is the trip report to and from Bali in October 2015, the report on the Novotel which I stayed at during that trip, and sightseeing recommendations).

I had two concerns: first was the obvious; the infamous traffic. The second was a place to stay. So in the end, I asked some colleagues where were good places, and the Mulia came up many times. A number of other hotels were also suggested, but Mulia was the one hotel that everyone seemed to agree on. Unfortunately that meant that my expectations were already set extremely high so I was just hoping that I wouldn’t be disappointed.

What is there to tell you about the Mulia before I get into the nitty gritty of the review itself?

The Mulia has another hotel in Bali, unsurprisingly called the Mulia Bali. Below is the view onto the beach from the Mulia Bali. Wow it really is something. Though it is really really hot under the sun so could be a bit uncomfortable for some of you.

I never stayed the Mulia Bali but I really enjoyed the experience of wandering around and seeing such a well run and well maintained hotel. It’s a pretty impressive hotel, though pretty expensive. There are a number of good youtube videos on the hotel. I am planning a visit to Bali in the coming year so might consider this for that trip.



Stay tuned! More to come!!!

SQTraveller

So what is it about the Mulia Jakarta? First place I look for inspiration, their own website. Of course this puts a wonderful spin on the description. However, to break it down into bullet points

40 stories tall
994 rooms
25 minute drive from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport
Newly remodelled gym
Having surveyed some of the reviews of the hotel I was looking forward to staying at the Mulia Jakarta. I also always do a breeze through TripAdvisor reviews before making a final decision. The Mulia Jakarta at the time of booking was ranked 9th out of 410 hotels in Jakarta so I thought it would be a decent bet that the stay would be reasonably good. And of course a recurring theme through the reviews was traffic, traffic, traffic.

Well back to my stay.

I was in the taxi from the airport and remembered some reviews that said it takes almost 3 hours to get from the airport to the hotel. In fact the range was broad I really had no idea what to take as the most reliable estimated. From 15mins to 3 hours … really?! Of course this is part of the joy of traffic in Jakarta.

So as I sat in the taxi, I wondered which fate would befall me this time.

Finally after what seemed like an age we finally pulled into the Mulia Hotel Jakarta, but looking at my watch it was only about 30mins. Being nighttime, there wasn’t really an opportunity to take photos of the outside. I promised myself I would do that later. However, I should give everyone a warning. They will stop you taking photos of the hotel. As long as you are in the photo yourself, they don’t mind, but not if you want to take photos of areas of the lobby. There are also signs asking not to take photos at the chocolate shops.

The actual driveway into the hotel is quite something in itself. The vehicle you have travelling in has to go through security – they use mirrors to check under the cars and also open the boot and the glove compartment.

Once you are through that, you drive up into the drop off point, where usually someone will open the door for you. Here you then have to go through an individual security screening. I didn’t take any photos so I apologise, but basically you put your luggage through an xray machine and you go through a metal detector — like airport security.

Check in was actually very very quick with no hassles. Of course you need to hand over your passport and credit card, but within 5 minutes I was on my way to the room. They did tell me that all the double beds had been already taken so all that was left was a twin, which didn’t bother me. No need to make a fuss.

I’ll get to the room in a minute but I think I need to raise the whole SIM card debacle.

After I checked in and dumped my stuff in the room, I went to the concierge and they said I could buy one at the shop; or I could go the shopping mall to get it. So I went up to the gift shop and they said that there was no SIM card. I trotted back down to the concierge and by this time, it was getting close to 10pm and the concierge said, the mall might be closed so it’s better to go to the mini mart. They got me a taxi and I went to two mini marts and there were no SIM cards. Now what wasn’t clear until I went to the second mini mart was that you can top up at the mini mart, but you cannot get a SIM card. Frustration!!! So what this meant was that I had spent money on a taxi for no good reason.

Having got back to the hotel, I relayed this story to the concierge who then phoned the shop and he was told there were SIM cards — what?! I had just been up there no more than 10 minutes previously and some how they suddenly had SIM cards? Surely not. What had turned out was they sell SIM cards but not top ups…. WHAT?! So you sell the SIM card with a minimum balance, but no top ups? WOW. This was astonishing.

Anyway, I bought the SIM card (which had a decent enough balance), and the next day topped up, but wow what a frustrating introduction to a 5 star hotel!

You can also find the Mulia review on my blog here

SQTraveller

Room

I am not particularly fussy about the rooms I stay in, partly because I sleep very well no matter what the bed is like. As long as it's clean, I am happy. If it's a warm country I like air conditioning. A cold country, I don't mind no heating, so long as the blanket is warm!

So for all the exciting extras that they offer me, I am very happy to just have a nice bed. I barely watch tv so the 48-inch High Definition LED TV really didn't get a whole lot of use while I was there.

A panorama of the bedroom. Note the twin beds. I know there are some people would sleep alternately between the beds, but I really couldn't be bothered.



Unfortunately the photo is a bit dark, but to the far right of the photo is a table which I used for all my work. There is an ethernet cable which gives better internet connection than the wifi. I do find it slightly strange when hotels offer free internet to guests like they're doing something really amazing, when I think that, especially top hotels, this should be automatic. What do you think?

I found the bed very very comfortable and I slept pretty well. There is one slight problem for those who are light sleepers. Noise from downstairs can make it to the lower floor rooms. I could hear music from my room during the day and at night so I'm not sure how other people slept. I can sleep through a lot so it didn't really bother me.

A panorama of the bathroom. Quite a nice set up, but the space between the toilet and the shower door is not ideal, as the floor mat actually doesn't fit which seems a bit of a weird design flaw --- surely they should just select a smaller floor mat?



Unfortunately the view out of the room is hardly what one could call ideal, but you can get a decent idea of the area through my two (short time lapse) videos one in the evening. Really it's kinda the view you expect --- building work and a haze.


And the other one in the morning. I actually quite like this time lapse as the sun tries to break through the clouds/haze. It's pretty amazing how much haze I saw on my first morning, which was a Friday. Maybe it was because Friday is a work day, but the below was taken on a Sunday morning and the haze wasn't as bad.


They'll be part of a larger video I make on my trip to Jakarta

And although I didn't take any pictures out of the room window, I would say that it appears the outside is beginning show signs of it's age. Looks like it needed to be cleaned up a bit

The one room service that I did take advantage of in the hotel was the shoe shine. After a whole day of walking around in my suit shoes they really needed a buff up before I went back to the office the following week.

You can also find the Mulia review on my blog here

SQTraveller

Gym

Given my propensity to go crazy with food, I have decided that if I go away for more than a couple of days I must make every effort to go to do some exercise. The Mulia has a recently refurbished gym which you can see from the below is pretty decent.

I realise I made a mistake. Having packed light, I didn’t have space to add my gym shoes, so I had to ask them if they lent out shoes. Now, I was thinking maybe a couple of bucks. But no. 150,000IDR which translates into about US$10! I was like, that’s the easiest money that a hotel can earn.

Don’t get me wrong, I think we should probably have to pay to borrow shoes, but US$10 a time? Really?! I mean, you can see the shoes below, but is it really worth 150,000 IDR? I think not! If I was staying there for three days and went to the gym all three days, I could probably go out and buy a decent pair by myself.



Anyway, second rant over. I’ve done a quick compilation of the facilities are available. I didn’t take a picture inside the changing room as there were people using it at the time but there is a sauna and steam room (which was undergoing repairs at the time).

As it’s a new facility, all the machines were brand new and it really great working condition. They provide plastic glasses (not the small cups but big glasses) which you can fill with fruit infused water. Not entirely sure the logic behind this as it’s easy to knock these over when you are working out.



Now, if you take a close look at the bottom left picture you will see at the far end, a tennis court. Yes that’s right a tennis court. In fact there are a couple. You can borrow tennis rackets and balls there.

Opening Times: 6am – 11pm

You can also find the Mulia review on my blog here

SQTraveller

Pool

The other part of the fitness regime includes swimming. I used the pool on my last morning as I knew that I would have to try and last a long time after breakfast before my evening flight. So I went for a swim at about 8.30am for about an hour or so. I was initially surprised to be honest to see a mother and young daughter already there, but from what I could tell, the daughter just wanted to chill out by the pool and the mum was eating breakfast — damn it was making me hungry.



I didn’t have my goggles and was wearing contact lenses so didn’t swim to hard. After about 30mins of (gentle) swimming I decided to lie down on one of the loungers. Having enjoyed living in a place with no smoking for so long, I totally forgot what it’s like to be around people who smoke. Unfortunately two guys came and sat right behind my lounger and lit up. It’s a free world so I didn’t want to say anything but I really think that something that has such negative health implications shouldn’t be allowed in any place there is a chance of public congregating. To get rid of the smoke smell, I just put a towel across my face and snoozed for a bit until my stomach started to get very very angry and had to go for breakfast!

You can also find the Mulia review on my blog here

SQTraveller

Food

Now food is something you will not want for at the Hotel Mulia Senayan. There are so many options it was ridiculous. You could spend a whole week there and just about try all the food options. There is il Mare (Italian), Table8 (Chinese), our Orient8 (French and Pan-Asian), and Edogin (Japanese) and also there is a chocolate shop. Unfortunately as I mentioned before you can’t take photos there.



Finally there is the The Café which is open 24 hours, so you can eat all the time, but breakfast is served between 6am and 10am and it came with my room deal.

Anyone who has read my reviews knows that I cannot help myself (Yan Ting or Brasserie Les Saveurs). When I see a buffet, I am right in there. So at breakfast I took it for the team and ate there pretty much every day.



I love large breakfasts because they really do set you up for the day, but buffets? Every day of my holiday? Maybe that’s a bit too much!!

There was such a wide variety of food, but was of a high quality. They actually only open part of the buffet area for breakfast. There is a much bigger area for I suppose, dinner and lunch which I hear the Mulia is famous for.

It was interesting for me that there were so many restaurants on the ground floor. And having experienced one day in the traffic it does make sense.

You can also find the Mulia review on my blog here

SQTraveller

Need somewhere to hang out before heading out for the evening? Try the Cascade Lounge. It is a cocktail lounge that’s open from 7am until 1am Sunday to Thursday, and open until 2am on Fridays and Saturdays. It also serves afternoon tea between 3pm and 6pm (what looks like every day). I had a late lunch one day as I working in my room and lost track of time.

And this was it. I’m not sure what it was called because for some reason I didn’t take a photo of the dish, but it’s basically Indonesian chicken soup with vermicelli.



You can also find the Mulia review on my blog here

SQTraveller

Final thoughts on the Mulia?

Overall I enjoyed my stay here, but I think because I paid so much more than other hotels I’ve stayed at recently I guess I ended up disappointed. The service was patchy. I found all concierges very keen, but my experience of quality was a bit underwhelming – of particular disappointment was the failure to give correct or full information on the SIM. Something so simple became such a palavar.

The food? Well I was out with friends most of the time so didn’t really get a chance to eat at the hotel. However, my brief exposure to the breakfast and the lounge I was pretty impressed by the quality.



You can catch all my travel and food excitement on the globetrekka website

offerendum

SQTraveller

Really sorry