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Wednesday 15 June 2022

Desaru-Legoland Day 1: The Westin Desaru Coast Resort

After eagerly waiting for more than 2 years, the borders are finally opened! I've always said, that the first place we would visit when this happens would be our neighbour Malaysia! It was also less of a hassle and lower risk than flying.

We woke up relatively early to cross customs hoping to avoid the crowds. The queue was relatively short by the time we got to the Second Link. 


Traffic was quite smooth and in no time, we were having breakfast at a cafe in JB that served our favourite toast and teh C. 


After breakfast, we shopped at Aeon Bukit Indah and had lunch at our favourite fish soup steamboat restaurant, Restaurant Uncle Pou Wok. We only set off for Desaru after a very satisfying lunch!

Traffic was very smooth and in no time, we arrived at Westin Desaru Coast Resort. We chose this hotel because we had stayed at Hard Rock Hotel Desaru previously and I wanted to try something new. 



We booked the Premier Sea View Room at S$289 per room per night (inclusive of breakfast). We had to book 2 rooms because each room came with 1 king size bed, which could only accommodate 2A1C max.


The highlight of the room, which was also the main reason that we booked it, was the balcony that faces the sea! 





The room itself was spacious and airy. The hotel provided a very basic cot for the Littlest, which was so uncomfortable that she climbed out to squeeze with me on the bed even though I tried to make it comfortable for her with makeshift pillow and blanket.


The bathroom was huge and we loved the big bathtub. The toilet and shower were also separated.



Aside from the typical toiletries, the hotel also provided masks, water in glass bottles (to save the earth!), umbrellas and bedroom slippers.



I hardly had time to unpack before the kids started bugging us to go swimming! The pool was located near the restaurant and the Kids Club, at the corner of the hotel.





The pool was ok but very small, nothing like the big lagoon-like pools that we love at Shangri-La. Honestly, there was a big, under-utilised field right in front of the hotel with an unnecessarily big fountain and pond that no one cared for and where the pool could have been built. It's not a good use of space in my opinion.

We soon got bored and decided to bring the kids to the beach.


You would think that a hotel that was so close to the beach would have a dedicated area for hotel guests to relax. Unfortunately the dedicated area with beach chairs and a cafe belonged to *drumroll* Hard Rock Hotel (located behind Westin)! It's so ridiculous to me that Hard Rock Hotel had their own section of the beach while Westin didn't 😑

Anyway, we decided to let the kids play for a while while we enjoyed the sea breeze. The weather was perfect!



If you're venturing into the water, beware of sharp rocks! The mum-in-law and girl cut their feet on some as they didn't realise that they were walking on rocks. I personally prefer to wear beach shoes, which you can buy from Decathlon, to ensure that my feet is not hurt.


After some time, we washed off the sand and headed back to the pool before heading back to our room to wash up.


Love the rack in the balcony for hanging wet clothes to dry! This rack was missing from the balcony of the room at Hard Rock Hotel and I had to find creative ways to dry our clothes! 


We were famished after a good swim so we headed out for our favourite thing to eat at Desaru: lobster!

Unfortunately our usual restaurant, Super Lobster, was closed so we ate at Jade Garden instead. Jade Garden has relocated and is smaller than what I had remembered from the last time we were here.


The restaurant was packed to the brim but we managed to get a table on the kelong.


The local lobsters were sold out so we had to order the more expensive Australian lobsters. We're ok with it though, since it's still cheaper than Singapore 😊




The seafood was really fresh but the cooking is not as great as other seafood restaurants that we enjoy. Nevertheless, it was a good dinner to end our first night overseas since the COVID pandemic! 😀

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P.S: Read about our experiences with Marriott Bonvoy around the world:

Continue to >> Desaru-Legoland Day 2: Adventure Room at Legoland Malaysia Hotel

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Visit MADPSYCHMUM TRAVELS for the rest of my posts on Desaru & Legoland, Malaysia
as well as other travel itineraries!


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