Shell Out Chalet

Stayed here from Sep 22nd to Sep 26th, 2018. We were welcomed by Jordan at the reception. We arrived a little earlier than the check-in time and since Jordan didn’t have a room available, we dropped our bags at the reception and he offered to drive us to the Cenang beach road and introduced us to various places we could eat at, and book our tours from. We got chalet # 16, the last one on the left side. It was a simple yet superbly cozy place. Here’s my detailed review - 1) Check-In Process - super smooth. They only accept cash at the location so keep enough handy. A proper bill was issued and the local maps, usage of Grab etc. was explained well by Jordan. It only took a couple of minutes for Jordan to verify the details with booking.com confirmation and show us the way to the room. This place is more like an Airbnb so please carry your own bags. Jordan was nice enough to pick up one of my bags on the way to the room but I couldn’t let him. 2) The Room - we were given chalet # 16, the last one on the left side. The chalets have a sit out balcony with two plastic chairs and a table. You’d probably be spending some time here as the WiFi is much better outside (at least for our room) than inside. The view in the distance is of farm lands and a beautiful mountains. It looks fabulous on both sunny and cloudy days. The room itself is fairly simple. It has a long table on the side, an open closet and a big drawer. It also has a dressing unit. The bathroom was somewhat smaller than our expectation but we soon got used to it. It comes with an instant water heater-cum-pressure booster. The water is through a hand shower which is wall mountable. The WC has a separate bidet pipe which is weirdly controlled from the open/close knob on the wall than an actuator in your hand when you have it positioned to clean your bum, so you need both hands; one to control the pressure and another to position the bidet. I saw this design at quite a few places and joked to my wife that India definitely has evolved when it comes to toilet sanitation compared to the rest of the world. They give a small soap and a toilet paper which is replaced during housekeeping as it depletes. The only thing missing was an exhaust fan in the bathroom, it tends to get stuffy sometimes after your business. 3) Room Service - I think our room was cleaned two of the three nights we were there and we didn’t mind it. We are sorry for leaving a couple of soiled dishes in our balcony on the last day. My wife was down with fever and I couldn’t get time to take them back to the kitchen to wash them amidst all the last minute packing. I left RM 20 as a token of appreciation for the housekeeping maids on the coffee tray in the room and I hope it was adequate, if not sufficient for their service. 4) Amenities - we had a kettle, coffee and I think Milo in the room. There are candies available at the reception and are free to take. You can also purchase coffee sachets from the reception from Jordan, very inexpensive. The kitchen is free to use and they have eggs (not sure if I saw bread). There is an induction plate. The kitchen has a water dispenser with very hot and a cold water. Make sure you put the cold water in your bottle first if you are unsure if it can handle hot water. The bathroom attached to the kitchen has a Sharp top loading washing machine and free detergent in case you wish you wash clothes, which we did and found it super convenient. We did boil eggs one of the days but messed up since we use a steamer at home to boil and we didn’t know for how long to submerge them in the hot water. The WiFi was a tad patchy and we couldn’t get great signal in our room. We spent a lot of time in the sit out when we needed the WiFi to work. 5) Neighborhood - Shell Out Chalet is about 15 mins walk from the Cenang beach road by walk. The walk is pretty and uneventful with a couple of local eating joints on the way and a few general stores. Hotlink (like Seven Eleven or Family Mart) is right outside Sell Out Chalet and although I found it maybe RM 0.50 to RM 1 more expensive than some of the other stores, it was very convenient to get some of the smaller items of routine usage. I think we bought a travel adapter, olive oil (to use as hair oil), cookies, soda and water from them. The lady there is polite and nice to talk to. There is a self service laundry available as well at two minutes walk if you don’t want to use the washing machine provided and aren’t keen on hanging out your clothes to dry on the racks provided outside the room. 6) Cats - there were three of them at the reception / kitchen area and I loved to spend time with them. I made sure I cuddle with the smallest one (light brown color, don’t know his name) every evening for a few minutes before going to my room. 7) Miscellaneous Information - Jordan directed us to a scooter rental shop and a place we could book cheap tours from. We ended up renting scooter from another shop though for RM 30 for 24 hours as compared to RM 40 being charged by the shop recommended by Jordan. However, we did book our tours from the place Jordan had recommended and they were indeed the most inexpensive on the entire Cenang beach road. They have Island Hopping for RM 25 pp and Mangrove for RM 50 pp. It was on par with other tour operators and we were content with the value we got for the money spent. By the way, you can park your scooter right outside your chalet. The rainfall feels a bit louder against the roof than it actually is but since I love the sound of rain, it was a joyful experience for me. There is another Shell Out Chalet resort on the Cenang beach road which is significantly more expensive than this one, so don’t confuse the two. This one also goes by Pikachu because of the cartoon character kept out front. Overall, we had a lovely time at Shell Out Chalet and had a great first impression with the way Jordan welcomed us! We felt safe and the place was super convenient if you are on a budget and don’t mind walking a bit to the beach. The rooms are comfortable and adequately equipped. I will highly recommended the place and would love to stay here again!