Kimberley House - 2 Night Stay

Hostel Review - Penang, Malaysia

Being Malaysian is about embracing cultural diversity and harmony between different people and religions. Malaysia will always be my home. - Jimmy Choo

Exhausted from the 21+ hour adventure from Koh Tao to Penang, I was ready to find my hostel. Pulling out my phone and turning on my MAPS.ME app with my fingers crossed my phone gps would work, I was off to find my hostel.

Location
Kimberley House wasn't far from the street where the mini bus dropped me originally. It was also close to the main bus station and shopping mall. The only thing was the outside wasn't displaying that it was Kimberley House, rather I needed to know the number in order to know it was the correct place. The hostel itself was large with rooms upstairs as well, and bedrooms towards the back. 

Facilities
Since Malaysia is a predominately Muslim country, males and females cannot share dorms. So I was in a 6 bed female dorm room with a locker. You weren't allowed to bring your shoes into the dorm rooms, rather they had to stay outside the door for whatever reason. Of course you weren't allowed outside food or drink in the room either but rules are meant to be broken. The rooms were clean, and the communal showers and toilets clean as well. They also wouldn't let you do your washing either, but again I did some and secretly hung my clothes along my bed posts. The one thing that annoyed me was that reception was only open from 8 am until 12 pm. Now I had to pay a key deposit which they told me I would get back, and if I had to leave before 8 am to check out the night before. So before 12 pm I made my way to the front desk, and the reception was closed. What is the purpose of having a sign that says open until 12 pm and then not be open? The next morning I tried waiting as long as I could but I had to forgo my key deposit in order to catch a bus. Luckily for them I left the key for them.

Atmosphere
Nothing really special about the atmosphere, kind of boring and no one was really socializing. The main kitchen/chair area you weren't allowed to bring outside food into and the living room was mostly occupied by what I assumed was the owner or the cleaner... not too sure. The only person I had a decent conversation with was a girl from the Philippines who taught English in Thailand and was waiting for her visa to renew hence the reason she was in Malaysia. 

Final Rating - 3 Stars
The place was clean, but it was extremely anti-social and boring. As well, reception was useless with actually being at the hostel.

Total Cost = 56 MYR

• Accommodation for 2 nights 46.00 MYR
• Key deposit 10.00 MYR