Sekeping Kong Heng May Not Be For You \\ Hipster Hotel \\ Places to Stay In Ipoh, Perak
The Sekeping Retreats are pretty popular among the millennials thanks to its hipster looking rooms and design making almost every angle of the place to be extremely Instagram worthy. I, myself, have always wanted to stay in any one of their retreat and when my husband and I decided to have a trip to Ipoh last year, I thought it was the best time to try Sekeping Kong Heng.
Booking a room wasn't the friendliest process as we'll constantly have to guess how each room will look like since they only have limited pictures in their gallery and each room seem to have a slight difference in design. Though, with that said, somehow they still managed to have most of their rooms sold out for the night we wanted to book. We had to call in to double check if they still have rooms left. Thankfully they do and their customer service were pretty good.
Fast forward to our trip day, we'll start with saying that it's quite hard to find the place as there's not proper signage to direct us to the place. Thankfully, we managed to park at a private parking place near Milkcow that's directly opposite to one of the entrance. The entrance is filled with people as it seemed like it's quite a tourist spot. Oh, the parking charged my RM20 for overnight parking and I had to leave by 12pm the next day.
We had a tough time finding the registration counter. It was so hidden to the point that my husband had to ask around. Basically, just find the stairs that's super popular for picture taking. Apparently, it's an insta-spot. The registration is literally the hole at the side of the stairs. It doesn't have a sign or anything that indicates Sekeping Kong Heng is there. And guess what, the popular stairs is actually the entrance to our room upstairs. So we had to wait for people to take their pictures first everytime we want to go up or come out of the place. Lols. I don't have an issue with it, I just don't prefer it but it's really not a big deal. Most of the people taking pictures there are quite polite and will allow us to pass through first when they know we are waiting to enter or exit.
Being on the first floor, I can't deny that it's very aesthetically pleasing and pretty cool. If you go up to the second floor, there's like a common area where you can gather or chill.
I'm not exactly sure which annex we stayed in but picture above is how the entrance looked like with the key. We got the first room nearest to the stairway. There are a few other rooms that were occupied on the same are as us. On the other side of the stairway, is where the group stay area located.
Our room was pretty spacious, clean and neat. The towels were nicely placed on the bed and the A/C was already on for us. Picture shows the toilet and shower place. You could only get privacy by closing the curtains, lols, thus, don't get this room for sharing if you are not fully comfortable with the other person. Thank God I was there with my husband. xD
Again, it's very cool looking and thankfully clean but I'd prefer it better if my toilet has its own room with a proper door so that I can do my business without worrying that I might stink up the whole room. This is what I mean when I say they have limited pictures on their website.
The shower water pressure was also something that I wished they could do better. I'm one who loves my hot water and strong water pressure when I shower. Unfortunately, their hot water was not hot enough for me even when it's turned up to the max and water pressure was almost to none. Maybe it's part of the whole hipster living experience.
Thankfully, they also have ceiling fan if you can't stand sleeping with the air-con on cause I understand it's very drying and not good for the skin as well as for people with sinus problem. There's no cupboard or a proper place for you to hang your clothes. There are only 3 hooks in total, two by the sink area and one in between the toilet and the shower place.
All those minor things aside, what bugged me the most was that this is not a quiet place. If you are one that enjoys your peace and likes to stay in a quiet room, I highly recommend to find other hotel as the walls here are very thin. Every time people talk a little bit louder or walk with a heavier foot, you can hear and feel everything.
The worst was when we were forced to wake up at 6am-ish because the restaurant beside us starts work during that time. I remember waking up to the sound of a cleaver hammering on a wooden chopping board multiple times in a row, a turner scrapping off the kuali like a masterchef, people talking and yelling for orders... oh dear, how do I go back to sleep with such sensational noise?
I'm not sure if other rooms experience the same thing with the noise, it could be just our room.
xo,
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