Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Both Avillion and Valentine have the same letters....

...ok, no they don't...not quite but...A, V, I and N are there!

The Avillion Resort is Port Dickson's finest and Seaview Restaurant, about 5km away is also very very good. On a recent trip there, I had such a wonderful time….well, I guess it's been my only trip so far to Avillion. I've always read about it but never had the opportunity to go. Water chalets, adult only pools, balmy breezes and imported sand and the food, ah, the seafood is wondrous! (The Avillion chef still has some ways to go).

Check out some of my pictures from our holiday and I must say, from the moment we drove in to the front, I was impressed (well, for want of a softer word for impressed). The grand and yet not intimidating, somewhat beckoning, roof structure of Avillion promises slow, easy days. We checked in early (about 1pm) but then drove off again to tuck into a scrumptious lunch of chili crab, nestum prawns, salted vegetable soup and fried mantis prawns….Yummy….and CHEAP too!!! This was at Seaview Restaurant, if you're not sure where it is, just ask the reception, they know….well, ask anyone except this thing called DOLLY - more of that later.

So, drive about 5km away to the left of Avillion, if you don't see signs, no matter - we're in Malaysia anyways, so just drive straight on - do not turn left at the traffic lights to go into PD town, just drive STRAIGHT. Then, when you're just about thinking, "I think we've gone the wrong way", you'll see a sign by the side of the road, backed by some shop houses and just a little up front, you'll see traffic lights. So, follow the sign and turn left and there it is a little bit down the road on the road.

It's a long single-story building and you shouldn't miss it. There may also be tour buses around. It's got a minute entranceway with a lily pond and then further in, you see some seafood - well, sea creatures. Get in, we had a table right next to the windows and the breeze was cool….Food came in an average amount of time and it's only too bad I don't have pics of it! Got some pics of sea creatures though! One day, I MUST try the Geoduck!!!!

Then it was off back to the Resort - we promised ourselves we would read a little and fall asleep because the day was scorching and the food sitting in our bellies lulled us into such dreamy states.

Aiyoyo, forgot to talk about the little green squishy thing crawling on the car windscreen before we drove off to the restaurant! I tell you, nobody sees them but me! So anyway, it got squished by the car wiper…..though later, after the lunch, we came back to the car to find bird excreta on the windscreen - and I told J that the birds had their fill of Mr. Squishy!!!!

So, we walked to plank (literally) out to our water chalet - we were lucky enough to have the last finger and the second last chalet so we were unblocked by surrounding neighbours. The room book says strictly no laundry hanging though I did see someone do it…..Also, try your DARNDEST not to get the first few water chalets cos they have no water under them (don't think the sea rises so high) and I didn't like the garden chalets personally cos, well, it seemed kinda boring to me…..

Some friends did mention you can hear the waves crashing at night - ummm….nope. I heard the aircon compressor though, which was right next to the open air shower and just outside the enclosed area of the chalet. See the pics of the four poster bed and day bed right next to it…..Very nice, I was quite quite happy with the whole thing though I didn't expect that it would be smallish though. The bathroom area was large, almost as large as the whole room….the kind I like!!! We had 2 sinks, 2 mirrors though a fat lot of good it did us, we never used them at the same time. There was a tub and of course the open air shower. The moment I got in and peered over the side to the patch of sea (right in the middle of the chalet), I saw a long skinny pike (?) fish. Got a pic of it but not too clear….

So, we spent 2 days and 1 night there. It was relaxing and full of laughter. We checked out the beach, walked in the water, wanted to try and walk out to an island we saw but then moi spotted a giant pipe drain going out to sea just about there and decided, hmmm, let's go get wet in the relative safety of the swimming pool instead. Avillion Resort has 3 pools - a kid's pool with a slide, another general pool right next to the most used cafĂ©/restaurant which has a gorgeous view of the sea too (Pic opportunity!) and another Adults Only Cochin Pool (yeah, all their chalets, locales are named after Indian characters/landmarks/areas). We were only at the Cochin Pool which was only 1.2 meters high throughout so I was safe! The sad thing was that they didn't serve drinks at poolside after 7pm - though the guy there did try for us….wonder why huh? I think the pools are open 24 hours - to minimise drunken drowning?

We read a bit, used the toilet, used the bed and day bed, used the balcony, talked a lot, laughed a lot….I kept getting cold in the night and getting up to switch off the aircon while he got up to switch on the aircon…hehehehehe….

The holiday ended much too fast and then we began the long sleepy drive back to KL again….. The most awesome part of the holiday - when I discovered Avillion provides a complimentary bottle of talcum powder!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The worst part of the holiday - a random called Dolly. J had the presence of mind to ask an available desk clerk about checking out while the line at the main desk was long. Some stupid mat salleh got upset that he wasn't clever enough to think to ask…and the rest of the reception area had the misfortune to witness his loud complaint to this Dolly person. Oh woe, Dolly proceeded to lambast her colleagues in front of close to 30 guests in BM that they were not following instructions and now this MAT SALLEH was complaining! Damn! Without the Mat Salleh's business, I guess Avillion shares would plummet! We probably spent more than he did there damn it!

Not satisfied, she came over to our side desk and complained, gesturing and being loud (which I guess is her best skill) in front of me and J!!! I had this urge to smack the upside of her brainless head! I did not want to make a scene but oooooh, was I ever ready to!!!!! I politely thanked Irfan, our nice polite helpful Desk Clerk and I certainly will be lodging a complaint against Dolly.
Hope you enjoy the pictures!!!

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