Medan Kota

This is my 4th post of this newly opened JW Marriott Hotel in Medan.  Some of you must have thought I have been brainwashed by the PR department by now… I never knew that being part of a Media group can be this fun… I was at the grand opening, launching of Jade Chinese restaurant, tried their Quan Spa, and recently got myself in for the Prime Steakhouse as well as an experience at the Health Club..

I love eating out… and I intend to try out at the Prime Steakhouse anyway.. but been rather busy so.. never really got the chance, then the PR dept called in… so.. here I go again…

The place is definitely posh, glittering, chic, stylish, fabulous…  what’s more impressive is that the Grill is only one of the only 2 in the world…  there are smaller ones in other countries but for one that’s of the size, Medan’s JW Marriott indeed make sure it is grandly displayed for their guests to see…

Price wise, we had the business lunch… which is value for money – 3 course set menu at just Rp 168.000 ++ including 1 drink…  even though the Nett price will set us back at Rp 200.000, but taking into consideration of the place, service, and that BelMondo, Traders, Medan Club are pricing at least Rp 200.000 for their basic steak…  And to argue that the hotel is charging 10% + 11%, well, did you realized that a normal restaurant actually include  5% + 10% in the bills…

Food wise, the starter and the dessert is a must die for… the main course, the steak is served with lentil sauce …  which is not the typical pepper or mushroom sauce that cut into the meat taste… should you have not try the place out, do try out the Business Lunch promo, which guarantee you be back in office within 45 mins..

Popularity: 19% [?]

What I am about to write will make many of you very envious of me…. heheheh…  BUT, what you are about to read is also a non bias report of how I feel for the place….  however, if you want to read the full formal report, you may read it at MedanKu.com

so, I was given a complimentary experience at the Quan Spa @ JW Marriott Hotel Medan… actually, not just me, its me and hubby and we were treated to enjoy the ‘Embrace Escape’ Spa package as part of the Media …..  pretty cool isn’t it…

Spa, its one area that I sort of know it relatively well enough…  I do try out at the different spas whenever I travel abroad.  But let just say we stick to the Medan standard…  the Embrace Escape, is a package that is tailored for the couple that supposed to let the couple taking the time out to reconnect with each other… for like 2 hrs 45 mins…

we began with Ms Ary, the spa director, giving us the tour of the place… it’s nice, cool, new and very very very and very spotless clean… we were then explained of what we were to be expected which, is full body scrub, then romance bath and followed by massage…

we were given the couple room, which is BIG enough for 4 of us (us + 2 masseurs) to move around and not one of the typical tight space that can be found in other places…  my favourite will have to be the fact that, there are plenty of towels for me to pick, clean, wipe and changed for the whole 3 hours without having to ask for it… I am a weirdo, I like my towel to be DRY each time I pick up a new piece.. and it got to be fluffy and big and in WHITE colour….  and it’s exactly just that at Quan…

oh, and our masseurs, Ms Candra and Ms Juniash… when we were introduced to them… my hubby and me were whispering to each other.. “oh god, they have given us two very small girls” they are small in frame and with us being big size person and having love our massage to be hard press.. we were a little worried…  but what a surprised… they must have some chinese martial art training or something…

we began with the full body scrub… which was nice and pleasant… I fell asleep obviously, after about 45 mins of having someone to rub off the dead cell on the skin.. you can truly feel being totally cleansed… we were then left alone to immersed in the bath for 30 mins… with nice warm tea placed on the side for us to enjoy… what a heaven..

we then followed on with about 60 mins of massage…  I am not bragging on this… but with me having back problem, and to cure that, a good therapist will need to understand the nodes around the back and sort of like detect the area without the guest having to say, mention or pointed out…  for the past years that I have massages in Indonesia, none and I mean NONE have I experienced one that can do that… most of the time, its rub and stroke and more of the relaxing kind of massage… to cure my back problem, it’s always been the Thai massage only …..  lets just say… with just 60 mins on that massage bed, I felt renewed and recovered…  my usual massage session involved 2 hours with 2 masseurs working together at Eucalyptus Spa and they can’t even compared to this smily Ms Candra….

as for the pricing, Rp 1.850.000++ per couple… well.. I am imagining many of you are shouting ‘gila‘ this moment… hahahah…  BUT.. for the sack of fairness… do be reminded that

1.  its QUAN Spa

2. its at JW Marriott Hotel

3. its on the 17th floor

4. its service and it’s impeccable … no reason what so ever to complain about

5. it’s way cheaper compared to other part of the world of the same standard

6. it’s for 2 – TWO.. not one…

well, do find all sort of excuses to try it out… its truly a little piece of heaven on earth…

oh! and stay tune for Prime Steakhouse, Health club, Prime Bar and Yum Cha

Popularity: 15% [?]

This is truly confusing for me…

I need to book a flight for Medan – Bali… for 2 adults and 2 children…. after some deep safety issue thinking, I decided on Lion Air simply becoz the plane is newer compared to Garuda..

at 9:00 am, I check online, the system quoted me Rp 5.032.000

at 10.30 am at the Medan Polonia Domestic Terminal, the counter girl quoted me Rp 5.756.000

at 11.30 am, I then came back home to buy online, and the screen showed Rp 5.592.000.. I took up the offer

at 16:00 pm, out of curiosity, I log on and check online again, this time, the system said Rp 5.312.000

all of which are on the same traveling date and time…

my past experienced with AirAsia is that, at times, the rate is lower or higher but not like what I experienced today with LionAir for the first time …. will taking the flight be any more interesting???

NOW

NOW

NOW

TODAY , 6 February 2009 (a week after I bought the ticket)…. the online screen is showing me

!!!!!   Rp 3.192.000 !!!!!!!

can anyone tell me why this is so??? the difference is Rp 2.400.000 !!! the amount is simply too much to ignore…

Popularity: 22% [?]

This is a new thing that I have just found out.. something to think about

Imagine, you are going on 2 weeks holidays to Australia, America or Europe..  most of us would then need to change our Indonesia Rupiah to the according currencies… so, with 2 weeks of holidays, you probably be carrying the cash in thousands of dollars around … all along, worrying of losing, robbery, pick pocket etc…

Then to consider purchasing goods with credit cards, the exchange rates are some 3%-5% higher…

Then to think of just using the ATM to simply withdraw cash, we will then be charged twice, the exchange rate as well as the cost of drawing the fund.. these will be converting from the Rupiah in your Indonesia account..

but Here’s the trick… to avoid all of the above..

what you can do is that, you open a Citibank foreign account.. i.e AUS$, US$, or the EUR (no minimum balance needed and no charges) …..  ask for an ATM card for the account…  from there, you buy the currencies needed using the bank T/T rate (which is cheaper than changing your Rupiah at the money changer).. and have the money deposit into the foreign account…

so assuming, I am going on holidays to Australia, I will arrange to buy AUS$ using T/T rate.. the money is kept in my AUS$ account….  and before I leave for the holidays, I will ask Citibank to link my given ATM card to my AUD$ account… with that, when I arrive in Australia, I will just withdraw the cash as needed at any Citibank ATM machine or any machine with the ATM Bersama logo which can be found everywhere..

I stumple upon the solution as we have plan to go there for holidays since, the Australia $ is cheap at the moment.  But when I called up money changer, they are charging me some Rp1000 more than the rate since they are running low on the notes… so to avoid the problem, I was twisting my brain at the bank and talking to the banker and it just click me…

so really.. I have been dumb for a long long time… in fact, this apply to any country that the bank allows you to hold the country’s currency…  but you just have to remember to inform the bank to link the ATM card to the according account..

Popularity: 44% [?]

Let me recall..

It’s been 10 years since I last entered a cinema… you are right… 10 YEARS !!! … I am laughing at myself too.. In fact, I am not alone, my hubby too…  sound crazy isn’t it..

The last time we went to watch a movie in a cinema was back in the UK about a year before we left the country…around 1998  you see., I am not really a movie person, I often fell asleep by the first 20 mins..

So last Satureday, we went as a whole family, us with 2 boys… its their first time.. so they were rather excited.. and of all the movies… we decided on the HIGH School Musical 3..

one word to describe… even after 10 years of not having entered the cinema…  "Troublesome"

1. I need to go early to get the tickets.. that would mean.. 2 trips down to the crowded Sun Plaza

2. Pay Rp 6.000 for the parking fess.. (a pirated DVD cost Rp 8.000)

3. Queue for 20 mins at 1pm to be told that the earliest round is at 6.30pm..( I was hoping for the 4.20pm as it may be too late for the boys)

4. going back and forth between home and Sun.. costing me 2 hours in travelling time as well as the Petrol

But the funniest part has got to be that…

we didnt know what time to get to the cinema.. though the ticket stated 6.30pm… my husband and me were like.. 6.30 to the show viewing? or 6.30 door open? ..

and definitely considered us worst than an orang kumpung, we arrived at the cinema at 5.50pm..

we waited.. waited and waited some more.. making 2 trips to the loo… and to hear the door opening annoucement for Studio 1at 6.30pm!!! ….  Kids were eager… I was already half frastrated… and then seated again for all the advert and when the movie show began… it was some 20 mins later… in total.. I have waited 1 hour to watch the movie!!! and costing me  Rp 120.000 more just to watch a movie in the Cinema than staying at home with a pirated DVD…

this may sound mean … but to me … it just take too much time, effort and money to watch a movie in a cinema…

Popularity: 42% [?]