Triima Inn Tanjung Rhu

Nice location, friendly staff and clean room

Our only fault is no fridge :(

I adored my stay at the inn while I was teaching for 5 days at the Treehouse society. The receptionist Asmaleteh went above and beyond to make sure I was ok and settled. Her kindness elevated the stay even more. It was so peaceful here and nice to be surrounded by nature sounds, especially compared to staying in Cenang which was a bit overstimulating for me. Also the durian perengin waterfalls are not far from here and one of the most beautiful waterfalls on the island according to local reccomendations. The inn provides lovely little self contained ensuite rooms with comfy beds, kettle and tv facility, little terrace to sit out at/ dry clothes, amazing shower. The inn also has a huge industrial size kitchen with everything you could dream of needing to prepare and eat food. The dining area was also super spacious but need to remember to turn on the fans for a while to cool the room since it is mainly windows in there it can get hot.

Perhaps wifi could be improved, but Asmaleteh helped me reset it when I had an issue and it worked well after this. Perhaps air conditioning for dining room could be improved, to switch on fans and open dooors in morning to help circulate air better in the room.

Asma at reception was amazing – so friendly and helpful, and easily made up for any shortfalls elsewhere. The room was spacious, and the bed was very large and comfortable. Facilities a little on the rustic side and lacks an in-room fridge/minibar, but there is a very large common room and shared kitchen with fridge and full kitchen facilities, albeit ~half a minute walk away from the room. Location works fine if you wish to keep away from the more touristy areas, and either have your own, or are happy to use Grab for transport. I found the latter to mostly work well, and very cheaply, even on my fairly old Android 7 phone, having picked up a local TuneTalk data SIM before arriving for ~RM25. I only had an issue in using it very early one morning, having to wait until ~7.30 am or so for any driver to become available. The locals might not speak much English, but are very friendly and helpful, and even offered me lifts a few times on the back of their mopeds :)

Some slightly rough edges and some things a little on the rustic side. Keep your expectations modest and it is basically fine. I loved having geckos as room-mates but did require occasionally having to clean up a dropping or two. The shower had some kind of pump unit attached to it that didn't work very well, or make any noticeable difference to the somewhat low water pressure. I soon learnt that it was better to simply leave it switched off. Water temperature lukewarm at most, but sufficient given the local climate. Communication from the absentee owners/managers ahead of stay was poor to non-existent once they had secured my booking, having encouraged me to book a more expensive room in response to my request for a quiet one (they are all the same really in that regard). Information regarding check-in times was contradictory/incorrect compared to both the info here, and as advised by reception. They did not pass on my messages to front desk such that I was not expected at the time of my arrival, and had to wait a while for anyone to appear at reception, and then for my room to be prepared. As with much of Malaysia, WhatsApp is an expected norm for contact/communications with little other choice for those of us ethically opposed to supporting Facebook/Meta. I had a lot of trouble with the WiFi, which was generally slow, and kept cutting out such that I had to go and request for the router to be rebooted to restore it. Only one toilet roll supplied, and in-room info folder seemed to suggest you would be charged for a spare one!? Visiting during Ramadan cuts down on food choice a lot with most places closed, and only some shops and stalls opening from 4–7 pm. Combined with being gluten intolerant, this left me with very limited choices, but still got by ok and enjoyed some nice treats along the way :)

Centrally located to travel throughout the island.

Lack of privacy (units close and facing each other); loud mosque chanting in the vicinity keeping us awake; interruption in water supply and internet connectivity; inaccuracies in the instruction leaflet for TV operation; room serviced only upon extra payment.