For a while now, I’ve been staying at the Discovery Guest House, also known as the Discovery Youth Hostel. I moved there during a long weekend holiday when rooms at my old hotel were fully booked, and I was forced to move. And I found this Discovery hostel-style place right in the UNESCO Heritage Zone at a good price. The low nightly base rate ended up being even better because they didn’t charge the 10-ringgit/night tourism tax and the daily Heritage Tax was included in the Agoda price. AND they didn’t have a bunch of miscellaneous service charges and other taxes that normal hotels charge in Malaysia. So when the Agoda listing said the room cost 23 ringgit/night, that was exactly how much I paid. There was nothing extra added on top.
Of course, there are always reasons when a place is cheaper. As I discovered when I moved in, my room wasn’t actually at the hotel itself but across the road in a somewhat dumpy block building. The room was very small and awkward with practically no facilities at all. The room was dark with no windows to the outside world. Only a single embedded low-wattage dim built added any light. You lived in a world of gloom. Of course, there was no private bathroom. The bathroom was shared and located down the hall and most of the time it had no water that ever made it to the showerheads. I just made do with bucket baths of cold water from a bucket that filled up from the bum gun tap near the floor. The place could also be loud with the noise that came in through the thin walls, and you could find yourself living with some rather strange characters, who were not the cleanest of people and who would be sneaking a cigarette anywhere they could, so smoke was constantly drifting into my room.
I was able to deal with all of that mainly because despite the low price the room was still air conditioned. The AC unit wasn’t powerful but it cooled down the room quite nicely and I could hang out there comfortably. And after a day or two, you just get accustomed to using a shared bathroom and things like that. Plus, I had my own lightbulb to make the room brighter. Unfortunately, after a few days, the air conditioner broke down. It kind of crackled and smoked and stopped working. And then I had to live in brutal heat and humidity from that point forward. I inquired about getting the AC fixed or even moving to a new room, but I was told that my room wasn’t even supposed to have air conditioning. The fact that mine worked was an anomaly I guess, that no one was ever able to explain. And the fact that it broke meant nothing to anyone there, and I had to endure the stifling heat. I still hung in there, though, because I could often get the room for as little as 23 ringgit/night, and that included the 3-ringgit Heritage Tax. So the room itself cost only 20 ringgit. That’s a major savings.
After a while, though, the sweaty stickiness that went on all afternoon and deep into every night started to wear me down. And not just me. I could feel everything I owned starting to grow its own personal layer of mold and fungus. It was time to head for a cooler and drier spot for a bit to rest and recover. And I discovered a hotel back in my old neighborhood that was offering a room at a good price. The place was called the M Candy Hotel, and everything about it looked good. The building looked great from the photos. The rooms looked spacious and well appointed for a low budget hotel. The rooms had a private bathroom and air conditioning and a window and blackout curtains and other comforts. And the base rate on a weekday was as low as 31 ringgit. Looking at just that rate, you were getting a LOT of value for just 11 ringgit more compared to the hostel.
Of course, that base rate is just the starting point. You have to add the Tourism Tax and the Heritage Tax and other taxes. The Agoda listing actually says this: Tax RM 10; Tax 10%; Tax 8%. And then there is the Heritage Tax you pay on check-in. So the final price comes to about 50 ringgit. So it is 2.5 times as expensive as the Discovery Hostel room. BUT you probably get 10 times more. So it’s a much better value, and I booked a room there for three nights.
I just finished moving onto this new room a short time ago. I spent the morning at the Discovery editing video so that I could check out as close to the official 12:00 checkout time as possible. There’s no point checking out earlier than that because you normally can’t check in at your new hotel until 2 pm anyway. The Discovery also asks for a deposit of 50 ringgit, and I had to make sure to check out when someone was available so I could get that money back. I always dislike hotels that ask for deposits. During past trips I would often be leaving quite early in the morning, and the office won’t be open yet, so you end up losing your deposit. That’s another reason I decided to move to this new hotel while I was still in Melaka. Leaving Melaka from the Discovery would be difficult and awkward because I would have to pack up and organize in that intense heat, and then I wouldn’t be able to leave early in the morning because it’s complicated to get your deposit back. By the time you deal with everything and arrange to get your deposit back, it’s probably too late to go anywhere comfortably. So I figured it was a better plan to just move to a new hotel.
Once all my gear was packed up, I rode my bicycle with my trailer attached over to the M Candy. It was an easy ride because I’m so familiar with the city now and I used to stay in this exact same neighborhood at the Makhota Vibe Inn just up the street. I had no issues at all with checking in. They have an actual hotel lobby with a reception desk, and the receptionist allowed me to check in early and gave me my room key even though it was only 12:30. I really appreciated that. My room was on the first floor, which meant it was super easy to bring up my trailer and other bags. There was plenty of room out on the sidewalk to safely lock up my bicycle. Everything was really going smoothly.
The room is more than I was hoping for. Compared to my life in the hostel room, I feel like I’ve stepped suddenly into paradise. Life becomes so much easier with all this space to move around in. The room is bright and pleasant. The AC unit is humming along. The bathroom is huge and well-appointed. Everything is clean and quiet. There is a large window with regular curtains and blackout curtains. There were two bottles of water in the room for me. The WiFi signal is strong and superfast. There’s actual furniture, too. It’s a great place at a great price.
I’m glad I made the move to come here. Though I don’t regret staying at the Discovery Hostel either. It’s nice to have change and contrast in your life. If you only ever stayed in nice places, perhaps you wouldn’t appreciate them as much. But my time in the brutally hot hostel room and everything that came with that place really highlights how wonderful this place is. I’m looking forward to a really good night’s sleep.