The Room with a View - The Fault of My Stars (Metro Hotel KL)

I knew I'd love Metro Hotel even before I was able to stay in it. In fact, I booked a room 5 months before my transit to South America. I wanted to include it in my "been there" list. Why not? The hotel breathed life to that dreary, iffy corner of Jalan Pudu and Imbi. What used to be a derelict, albeit neglected construction carcass is now a concrete high rise; not particularly eye catching, but nevertheless au courant and welcoming. More than anything, the location is a cinch and clincher, right at the fringes of Bukit Bintang, just beside the Imbi Metro, and located across Berjaya Times Square. Everything is accessible from here: Central Market, Puduraya Terminal, Bintang Walk, Jalan Alor, Liuli Fountain at the Pavilion, and the malls scattered nearby - minus the beautiful chaos and unfaltering hum of Bintang Station

This is my almost-funny story with Metro Hotel Bukit Bintang. 

After a 12-hour flight with Air France from Paris, I was finally concluding my long-haul November/December trip that took me to more than 20 cities/towns, riding 13 plane rides through Amsterdam, Paris, Rio Janeiro, Lima, Cuzco, Paris, etc. This will be my last stopover, a three-day respite before finally heading back home. I like my "night caps" in KL, just staying inside my hotel, watching late-night movie and feasting on 8-ringgit lanzones. Zipping through KLIA 2 and KL Sentral, I finally arrived in Metro Hotel Bukit Bintang.

HAPPY WITH PINAYS

It would be no surprise that a toothsome Filipina would man the front desk. I was more than pleased. I wasn't there to get chummy, not by a long shot, but it's nice to have a compatriot. She seemed to be doing great because the other staff kept referring to her. Check in was brisk and I proceeded to a corner room with a spectacular view from the 7th level (8th floor actually). It was 4 PM and my spirit was melting away like a candle. Before getting a shut-eye, I opened my laptop to check messages. I need to get connected to get updated with work and home. Unfortunately, wifi was not working at all. Wifi these days is among top considerations in picking a hotel. These aren't the early 2000's when you'd require exorbitant long distance fees to get connected home. Since I couldn't get connected, I rang front desk. Miss Philippines answered. I thanked her for giving me what I'd consider a prime room, then told her about the wifi connection. After all, my Agoda booking requested that I be lodged somewhere with good connection because I require it! She said she'd call maintenance and get the line rebooted or something. I slept. I badly needed to rest.

NO INTERNET, MY FAULT

I woke up half past 6 and learned that I still could not connect. Zilch. I rang again. This time though, she was getting testy. I was of course surprised when she told me, "Everyone connect, only you no internet!" She did seem to have a good graspof English at the reception (like most Pinoys do) but when she gets riled up, her English turns into fractured phrases. So it was my fault that I don't get an internet connection? It was time to put my foot down and get her to her place. Instead of talking in Tagalog, I spoke in clear English. The medium of instruction in Filipino business is English, and now I meant business. No more "kababayan" niceties. I was the paying guest, and she was the hotel employee who's answerable to my needs as per contract of my hotel stay! Moreover, I refuse to be accorded rude behavior when I wasn't being rude, not by anyone who seemingly is unemployable in my country thus had to look elsewhere.

REDEFINING HEROISM

In my country, Filipinos who leave home for work are considered heroes. Those who stay on to endure what our country has to offer aren't. For some twist of fate, we've redefined the meaning of "heroism" to suit this diaspora. I'd have thought that heroism should be based on less selfish motives than just feeding "his own a family". This is debatable if it were to be pointed out that feeding a hungry family (and sending dollars from overseas) is universal enough to qualify as an important factor to improve an economic parameter. If that were so, it would be equivalent to almost 3 billion people, and not just the estimated 2.2 million Filipinos who work overseas. "Feeding family" isn't exclusive to Filipinos. The rest of the world does it. But it is popular to call 2.2 million "heroes". I'd say real heroes are a much smaller number and it isn't based on migration. But I am digressing.    

MISS PHILIPPINES

I went down the front desk and spoke to Miss Philippines. I hate making a fuss, but wrong is wrong. Agoda says Metro Hotel has excellent wifi, one of the reasons I booked, aside from curiosity being a frequent traveler. If I knew otherwise, there were a hundred hotels in the Bukit Bintang alone to choose from. I never had wifi problems in KL before even in dirt-cheap inns and backpacker joints. Metro Hotel was supposedly a 3-star hotel. What's worse, I was dealing with a fellow Filipino who doesn't seem to know her place - or the proper aptitude to deal with paying guests, for that matter. Why did I have to talk down to her to get what I required? It was so unnecessary. She sent a maintenance guy to my room. As it turns out, there was limited wifi connection by the door, not by my beautifully placed desk. I had to clear the desk where the safe was, placed my laptop there to get a connection. I would stand doing this because it was actually a cabinet housing the refrigerator and the safe. When I move an inch, I'd lose wifi.

Now this predicament was easy to solve. Just inform your guest that there are rooms with superlative views, but with limited connectivity. If they require better connections, give them one, most especially if they've noted that during booking.

TARZAN LANGUAGE

More importantly, re-train a front desk staff on manners and proper staff etiquette and remind them to know their place. "Everyone connect, only you no internet?" Are we on Tarzan-language these days? She, of course, apologized after I reminded her that, for the duration of my one-month travel, in all my 11 or so hotels from 5 countries (France, Netherlands, KL,Brazil and Peru), Metro Hotel Bukit Bintang was the only place where I could not connect! How's that for Tarzan speak?

MY MONEY

I wasn't going to run amok over non-serviceable wifi. I was if idiots talked down on me like they knew better. Excuse my French but I am footing the bill for this room, not you. You get part of your salary from my money. How clear is that? It wasn't even the intermittent wifi. It was the attitude. "Everyone connect, you no connect?"

Metro Hotel has 119 beautifully interiored rooms, spread on 12 floors. The beds are among the most comfortable in KL. Everything here feels and smells new. After all, it just opened in 2013. They are also well rated in Agoda. Taxis are a dime a dozen in front of the lobby, and the guard will get an honest one, albeit fixed-rate, for you.

I will book again with Metro Hotel in the future. I like the hotel. It would be among my favorites here (among 25-30 hotels I've stayed at Bukit Bintang area alone) had it not been for this attitude debacle. Most of the staff are polite and competent. I do not require friends from any hotel staff. I require, not even impeccable, but competent service. Should she be a Filipina, usually known for warmth and efficiency, I will switch to "business-like". Give me Malays anytime. Isn't that ironic?

This is the Eye in the Sky!

The new tunnel along Jalan Pudu just opened.

All that desk for my laptop and I could not even use it there. I had to move to a cabinet by the door (below) to get an intermittent wifi signal.

I had to clear this cabinet and place my laptop there to get an intermittent signal. Yup, standing while going online by the door. 

Spacious bathroom with fully functional hot-water facility.

Painting inside my room.

Rainy day at the capital.

Jalan Imbi

Jalan Pudu. Furama Hotel is seem from a distance. Berjaya Times Square at the left.

Front desk (reception)

By the elevator hall.

Outside the hotel. The guards would be glad to get you your taxi and will emphasize how much you need to pay. No extra charges here.

Metro Hotel Bukit Bintang

Agra Fort 02 - Beauty and Strife from a Colorful Past

There is a tablet at the fort with historical inscriptions, and if you weren't rushing to get inside, it unravels an interesting glimpse of the past. Like most stories, the writing is verbose and contains a lot of details that will put some perspective on your visit in the fort. In this post, I will feature excerpts, as written below.

Agra Fort is the most important fort of India. The great Mughals: Babur, Humayun, Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan, and Aurangzeb lived here. The country was governed from here. It contained the largest treasury and mint. It was visited by foreign ambassadors, travelers and the highest dignitaries who participated in the medieval history of India. No other fort in India bears this honour.

Agra Fort stands on an ancient site just by the river Jamuna (Yamuna). It was a brick fort and Chauhan Rajputs held it. Sikandar Lodi (1487-1517), the first sultan of Delhi, governed the country from here and Agra assumed the prominence of a second capital. He died in the fort in 1517 and his son Ibrahim Lodi held it for 9 years until he was defeated and killed in Panipat in 1526. Several palaces, wells, and mosques were built during the Lodi (Lodhi) period.

After Panipat, Mughals captured Agra Fort, Babur stayed in the fort at Ibrahim's palace. He built a baoli (step-well) in it. Humayun was coronated here in 1530. After his defeat in Chausa in 1539, he returned to Agra. Nizam, a water-carrier, was coronated here for half a day for saving Humayun from drowning. Humayun was defeated again in Bilgram in 1540. Sher Shah, an Afghan conqueror, held the fort for 5 years. But the Mughals reclaimed victory and the fort at the Panipat battle in 1556.

Realizing the importance of its central location, Akbar (1556-1605) decided to make Agra his capital. He arrived in 1558. Abul Fazl, the court historian, recorded that this was a brick fort known as "Badalgarh". The place was in ruins and Akbar commissioned its reconstruction and renovation using red sandstones. Massive work began and bricks provided the inner core of the fortress, with red sandstones as the exterior. Some 4,000 workers labored on the fort for 8 years - from 1575 to 1573.

The fort has a semi-circular plan, its chord lying parallel to the river. Its walls are 70 feet high. Double ramparts have massive circular bastions at regular intervals, battlements (a decorative or defensive parapet), embrasures (an opening, as a loophole or crenel, through which missiles maybe discharged), machicolations (an opening between walls and vaults through which missiles maybe cast upon) and string-courses. Four gates were provided on its four sides, one "Khizri Gate" opening on the river where a series of ghats (quays) were also built.

Akbar died and Jahangir was crowned in 1605. The latter mostly resided at Lahore and Kashmir, though he visited Agra regularly and lived in the fort. Shah Jahan, the greatest of the Mughal emperors, was crowned in 1628. He was a great builder, and the white marble palaces belonged to him. He built 3 white marble mosques - Moti Masjid, Nagna Masjid, and Mina Masjid.

After the Battle of Samogarh in 1658, Aurangzeb (Shah Jahan's son) attacked the fort and stopped its water supply from the river. Shah Jahan could not drink the well water forcing him to surrender. Aurangzeb then imprisoned his own father in the fort that was Jahan's home for 8 years. Shah Jahan died in 1666 and was buried right beside Mumtaz at the Taj Mahal.

After Shah Jahan's death, Agra lost its grandeur. It didn't help that the capital had been officially moved to Delhi in 1638. Aurangzeb became busy with the Deccan conflict.

Shivaji Bhosle was a Maratha aristocrat of the Bhosle clan who successfully fought against the Mughals to defend his kingdom. He came to Agra in 1666, the same year Shah Jahan died. He came to meet Aurangreb who hospitably arranged for Shivaji's arrival under false pretense, at the Diwan-I-Khas, but he was betrayed and imprisoned. But that couldn't be too surprising, considering what Aurangzeb did to his own father. (Aurangzeb was also attributed the nasty rumors of incest between his father and his beautiful sister.) Shivaji eventually escaped.

Aurangzeb's death in 1707 threw the affairs of the Mughal Empire to chaos. The 18th century history of the Agra Fort is a saga of sieges and plunder. It was held by Jats and Marathas. The British captured it from the Marathas in 1803. They garrisoned it and converted it into an arsenal.

Local students regularly visit the fort for a little bit of history.

Beautiful scenic halls.

Hall of Public Audience (Diwan-I-Am)

Agra Fort Part 1 here - http://eye-in-the-blue-sky.blogspot.com/2011/09/agra-fort-01-home-of-mughal-emperors.html

The view from the road outside the massive fort.

This was where my cycle rickshaw was parked and waited while I visited Agra Fort. Just across the road is the south entrance - the Amar Singh Gate (Akbar Darwasa) - the only entrance for tourists. If you also visited the Taj Mahal within the day, there is a 50 rupee discount from the regular entrance fee of 300 rupees. Keep your Taj Mahal ticket and show it at the fort's ticket booth.

This is the Eye in the Sky!

Chasing the Taj Mahal Dream 4 - Seen at the Scene

There's something very pleasant when you're just sitting back from a distance, watching time go by. It was fun ogling at the cornucopia of colors and people as they made their homage to Shah Jahan's architectural testament of love to his dear wife Mumtaz Mahal.

Yes, the place gets congested from 9 AM onward (its open til 7 PM), but the compound is huge and there are plenty of spots where one can be alone. The periphery of the plinth beside the mausoleum itself is such a place. You can lie down the ground and enjoy the sun. The charbagh (garden) is vast and there are beautiful trees with benches under canopies where you could play with the animal residents, i.e. squirrels (see below). At the back of the Taj Mahal, there are a few benches which provide solitude as you gaze at the serene Yamuna River flowing behind the mausoleum.

The Taj Mahal is such a pleasantly singular experience that leaving Agra becomes a wistful experience. Once a dream is accomplished, it allows us to dream anew. Isn't that hopeful?

This is the Eye in the Sky!

Parade of visitors climb up the stairs to get to the mausoleum.

Two of its four minarets, these are the ones facing the facade and the garden.

Barefoot tourism. You have to leave your footwear here, although you can opt to wear shoe sheaths over yours.

English Garden was a re-design by British viceroy Lord Curzon who ordered the restoration of the Taj Mahal who fell into disrepair and neglect during the late 19th century. During the Indian Rebellion of 1857, it was defaced, and precious stones were chiseled out from its walls. Curzon's restoration was completed in 1908. The garden was remodeled with British-style lawns that we see today.

Courtyard is found as you enter the compound. These courtyards are directly connected to the gates. They're also mostly empty (see photos below).