After two short weeks in Palawan (in the Philippines, see previous posts) we flew to Penang, Malaysia. I will do a full post on Penang itself, but I wanted to take the time to show you the accommodation we stayed in during our time here.
We booked 23 Love Lane before we left the UK, admittedly after a few vinos one Friday evening. As you can probably see from the pictures 23 Love Lane is a beautiful boutique hotel, and therefore was priced slightly over our nightly budget. I've already mentioned that we're not slumming it on our travels; we saved a decent amount of money over the course of a year to be able to spend 40GBP (I can't find a pound sign on this Thai keyboard...!) a night. 23 Love Lane came in at around 60GBP a night - luxury, but totally worth it. We stayed four nights here, and loved every second of it.
23 Love Lane is billed as a Heritage Boutique Hotel, nestled right in the heart of Georgetown. It boasts ten gorgeously restored rooms, all representing a different era from the 1800s onwards. From the minute we walked in, we were in love... stunning architecture, a mix of mid-century styled furniture and scores of beautiful little touches that make this Heritage Hotel so much better than anything we've seen elsewhere. It really typifies Penang; eclectic and authentic.What really made this stay for us was not just the large, perfectly styled room, or bathroom with complementary Korres products, or even the upper floor Anglo Indian Bungalow reading room where we could relax after a busy day exploring. It was all the little extras we didn't even know were part of the package. Breakfast was delicious - breads, jams, fruit, filter coffee... and then a whole menu of dishes made to order, which we indulged in. And each afternoon when we came back to the room to freshen up, the plate of nibbles waiting for us in the lobby that really hit the spot. After I ordered an iced coffee one afternoon when reading my book and writing my diary, and they remembered this and each day brought me another. When they placed fresh flowers on our bed and turned on the lamps in our room when night fell, so we had a cosy space to come home to. And it really did feel like home! All of these touches were included in the room cost, and as 'travellers', this really felt like luxury. It really was four nights in heaven!Next time, more on Penang itself. The internet cafe here in Pai is so painfully slow and testing my patience... so until next time, toodles!
