Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Sarawak in June: Damai Beach Resort


This sprawling Resort is situated at Damai Beach, hence the name. It is located about 45minutes from the airport and the resort charged us one way RM120 for airport pick up, an exorbitant fare, but Michael felt it was safer.

No, the hotel did not send a limousine, but a small van. That similar van would also send you around to Kuching (RM20 per pax both way), to  Kumpong which is less than 5km away from our resort (RM5 per pax per way), Buntal Village (RM7 per pax per way).

That means to go to Buntal Village for seafood, we needed to pay RM42 on transportation for a sumptuous seafood dinner which costs RM50. However, we really had no choice as there weren’t any taxi service around.

Damai Resort offers a few types of accommodations. There are the standalone beach front chalets which were popular with young people; the luxurious hilltop rooms over looking the bay, with a spectacular sunset view every evening. Then there is the in-between for families, rooms that were neither beach front nor hill-top, which we were booked in.

We were given a family suite, a two-storey unit apartment. My son had his own room downstairs with bright solar décor.

The master bedroom is linked via a narrow stairway upstairs with its own entrance.

The room was huge and a sofa bed at the side means we could sleep a family of five if all my sons were with me. The rooms were decorated with framed artifacts from local tribes, and I really enjoyed looking at them.

Damai Resort has a beautiful long stretch of beach. We arrived there on a weekend and the beach was strewn with garbage, cans, drink bottles and even diapers (shame on the parents!). The situation improved when the crowd left during the weekdays and we were blessed with beautiful sunset view every evening, enjoyed in pristine condition.

With such a wonderful beach, we really can’t complain about the small odd-shaped pool in the hotel. Other than the pool, there were kayaks that could be rented, a spa, two restaurants, a small shop selling essentials and snacks and a travel office.

I wanted to go fishing but the hotel has no equipment although boats can be rented at RM600. Daily free activities listed on a board were also not carried out.

We tried the breakfast buffet one morning (RM30.20+ per pax). While the variety of nasi lemak, fried bee hoon, porridge, salad, cereals were standard fares in local hotels in Malaysia, the food was disappointing. The nasi lemak was not fragrant, the condiments were lacking, and the beehoon very oily.

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