aloha bungalows
at loyang

lay bee's former colleague booked a unit at loyang for one night just so that the family could celebrate her daughter's birthday. the system of booking and charges are so different from that when we used to rent bungalows in the 70s and 80s. then we could book the bungalow for our use for almost a week and we paid the highly subsidised rate of slightly less than a hundred dollars, including the utility charges. the utility charges applied to the electricity consumption of the air-conditioners.

when you first checked in, they would take the reading on the electricity meter and when you checked out, they would take another reading. they would then charge you for the amount of electricity used during your period of stay. the period of stay was either from tuesday to friday or from friday to monday. there were only two blocks.

it has been many years since i last visited one of these holiday bungalows at loyang besar. those days we referred to them as government bungalows; today, they are simply aloha bungalows because the management of these bungalows has been outsourced to aloha resorts management. i think, during off-peak periods, booking is even open to the public.

from my experience last night, i would not consider a stay there idyllic or relaxing. cars were parked haphazardly along the both sides of the road. there did not seem to be enough parking space for guests and visitors. and where lay bee's colleague stayed - the garden terrace - it was like communal living. many families were having bbq in the open courtyard and the karaoke sets were blaring away. there was smoke and noise all around.

in the past, we even managed to rent (government) holiday bungalows, like cluny lodge in cameron highlands and s'pore house and richmond in fraser's hills. then, we always looked forward to the food cooked by the hainanese caretakers. they provided such wonderful breakfast and western food like steak, chicken, pork and lamb chops. in addition, we would buy from them the home-made jam and marmalade.





map of fraser's hill
(richmond is next to bank pertanian)



with the amount we have to pay for rental of aloha bungalows today, i would rather stay in a hotel in malaysia or on batam island.