The Tale of Tenggiri

Sekeping Tenggiri Review


Odd name for a street

Tenggiri is the name of a particular fish in Malay.

It is also the name of one street, one particular street in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur.

Quite an eccentric name for a street, don't you think?

I've lived in Kuala Lumpur all my life, and I swear, I'd not heard of Tenggiri street.

If you think the name 'Jalan Tenggiri' is amusing, you'd be ticklish to hear this: 'Sekeping Tenggiri' (means one slice of Tenggiri fish or Tenggiri fish fillet).

Trust me, I'm still not over that name yet.



Describing a piece of fish

How do I describe Sekeping Tenggiri?

It's flat, tender and certainly raw!

That is describing the texture and shape of a piece of Tenggiri, but it's definitely not fish-related what I'm talking about here.

                                    (pic: Laying down on the King-sized bed while watching TV in the glass room at Sekeping Tenggiri is pure relaxation.)

Trouble finding Sekeping Tenggiri

I'm talking about a property developed into a one-of-a-kind guesthouse on a street that's so difficult to find even when you have your GPS.

Believe me.

We tried finding the street one day before our check-in day and we rounded in the same area for several times, before we finally found Jalan Tenggiri.

Sekeping Tenggiri hides deep inside the chic Bangsar area, quite near to where News Straits Times is located at.

Information on getting there will be mentioned at the end of this blog.

Tenggiri Rooms

Sekeping Tenggiri not only offers stay in a glass room, but also (loft, skyview, courtyard, garden and poolview) room.

Every room is worth the stay, if you appreciate uniqueness.

(L: This window or door on the front part of the glass room opens door to nature surrounding this guesthouse. The glass room 's on the first floor.)

In the skyview room, there's a ladder that leads you up to an attic-like room with a small skylight. So, when you sleep on the bed, you can watch the sky above you through the small, see-through glass.

It doesn't matter if the light in the room is too dim for you to read a book, for you can count on the sunlight that pierce through the see-through glass to give you a clearer vision.

The rooms may look rusty, but they're clean, rest-assured. They're meant to look rusty and raw.

Just look at the unrefined walls and doors and the wood of the room.

The whole concept of rawness and minimalism just breathes familiarity.

(pic: Surrounded by raw brick walls and one crawly plant, this garden exudes great atmosphere for relaxation - Garden Room)

It reminded me of my late grandmother's old 'kampung' wooden house in Johor, without chickens and cats running around the room. Everything looked rusty, simple and raw, yet so cosy.

This guesthouse does house two very tamed dogs with funny names, adopted from SPCA and they are called, "Pulau" (island) and "Ketam" (crab).

I bet the owner has some sense of humour and is in love with Crab Island (Pulau Ketam).



The Glass room

I'm not sure if you remember the lake house in "Lake House" movie, starring Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves.

No? The house is completely made of glass and is an amazing architectural work that overlooks a calm lake; utterly amazing and so romantic.

This glass room is something like that. Erm, not that close actually. I guess it's because it's only partially made of glass. As you can see, there's rough, unrefined walls. The glass part only fills the front part.

Yet, I love this room, somehow.

 

    

The air circulating the room smells and tastes like nature. It brought me back to nature; to basic.

Even though I was still in the city, this particular guesthouse kept me away from the hustle and bustle of the city life.

Everything just went slow, allowing me to enjoy and embrace the beautiful surrounding and, life.

In this room, my fiance wasn't the only companion I had. There was a dragonfly resting on a light, a small bee buzzing around the room, trying to escape back to where it belonged and other insects too small to notice.

I didn't get any insect bite, so it's not a must to have an insect repellant.

If you're afraid of boredom and need a form of entertainment, there's a TV and a DVD player.

The Bathroom

I particularly like the bathroom, where the sink is made of cement and taps, of steel? Aluminium? Argh, I don't know...

And the shower area has no roof so you can see the sky perfectly clear.

The toilet bowl or WC sits on top of a wooden platform just next to the entrance. Whether you're doing small or big business, you can always enjoy watching the activities outside and be one with the nature.

But be extra careful when you sit next to the window like I'm sitting in the pic for there's no railing or safety measure to avoid falling off.

If you need to make up, there's a mirror on the wall and also a very bright adjustable light.

Bring your own hairblower if you require one.

The Common Lounge

The Common Lounge is equipped with a fridge and a microwave oven, which means you can buy frozen food from the mall and heat it.

If you're running out of drinking water, you can always get a refill at the common lounge. Hot water's also provided.

Since there's no dining table in the room, you can head to the poolside common lounge to have a bite and a drink while watching Astro (satellite) channels on TV. There's no Astro in the rooms.

If you're not a couch potato, you can grab a book or magazine to read there. There's a variety of books and magazines to choose from, I think. I'm sorry for the uncertainty, but I didn't have the time to explore the lounge, so I can't provide you more info on the reading materials.

There's another option, get connected to the Internet with wifi access.

There's another reason for you to hang out at the dining area. You just have to see the lights that are made of recycable items like food cans. They look exquisite, in a way.

Food Alert!
Be warned, you may have trouble finding food along Jalan Tenggiri, but there's one or two restaurants and cafes just two streets away, I think.

A Must - Transportation

This is a place that requires a mode of transportation (car or motorcycle) to get to and to get out of.

But, if you really don't have much choice, you can always walk from the nearest train station, Abdullah Hukum LRT station for about 5mins (according the Google Map info) or maybe more (my opinion).

Don't expect all taxi drivers to know the way and I'm pretty sure most taxi drivers do not have a clue where Jalan Tenggiri is.

So it's safer to print out the map to Jalan Tenggiri to show it to the taxi driver.

There's a bus stop right after you've reached the main road, which is around 15 mins walk.

Tenggiri Details.

Address: 48, Jalan Tenggiri, Taman Weng Lock, Bangsar, Petaling Jaya

GPS: N 3° 7' 17.8062" E 101° 40' 9.7422"

For further details, visit http://tenggiri.com/

For reservations, do it at http://tenggiri.com/ or call +6017 2075 977

For photography, there's a RM100 surcharge.

To Get There

1. Head west on Lebuhraya Mahameru toward Jalan Sultan Salahhudin 1.1 km

2. Keep right at the fork 950 m

3. Continue onto Jalan Damansara 500 m

4. Take the ramp to Jalan Travers 300 m

5. Keep right at the fork to continue toward Jalan Travers 180 m

6. Keep right at the fork to continue toward Jalan Travers 200 m

7. Keep right at the fork and merge onto Jalan Travers 700 m

8. Continue onto Jalan Bangsar 750 m

9. Keep right at the fork 170 m

10. Slight right to merge onto Jalan Maarof 300 m

11. Turn left at Jalan Tandok 350 m

12. Continue onto Jalan Kurau 500 m

13. Turn left at Jalan Sepat 54 m

14. Turn right at Jalan Tenggiri

Destination will be on the left 160 m

(Google Direction)



(All photos and texts are copyright reserved -z)