Mutiara Taman Negara — Restaurant in Pahang

Mutiara Taman Negara Resort, about 30 years old, is the only resort built in the Taman Negara compound. The resort is located across the river, Sungai Tembeling. So once arrived at the jetty, one needs to move your bags, luggage onto the wooden jetty platform, and get ready to hop on a boat to cross the river to reach the resort. The resort is also the main entrance of the Taman Negara, Kuala Tahan.

Special thanks to Sati and chef Zamri for sharing many information about the resort as well as the local food, during our stay.

👍🏼 (1) The service is courteous and fast, in general. The crew will try their best to accommodate the guest requests, if any (2) Being the only resort in the park gives you the exclusive experience of world’s oldest rain forest (3) The resort is quite clean, outside the room, walk way and inside the room too (4) During the RMCO period, the resort limited access to buffet, where the guests are not allowed to take the food, but to have the crew to serve the food instead. Overall the resort team has followed the SOP as listed by the government (5) There are five paid activities to participate, and currently only four are being offered due to the RMCO. The arrangement and guides are fast and attentive (6) The food served at the restaurant - buffet or ala-carte, the taste is really good. It is local Malay cuisine, made by chef Zamri and his crew. If you are not into local food, then you can opt for western cuisine on ala-carte

👎🏼 (7) Monkeys. Many of them around the resort. Due to the deforestation as well as the creatures are too used to receive ‘hand-outs’ from guests staying at the resort. Advice to avoid the monkeys - no eye contact and do not pass them anything. Because of the monkeys, guests are unable to leave the windows open during the stay. Kind of a let down (8) Cob web. Our room was filled with cob webs, which we informed the housekeepers to get rid of them (9) Former guest left his underwear in the room, which I discovered in the dustbin, again, the housekeeper removed that at once when informed (10) The stairs from the jetty heading up to the resort is quite steep. For guests with weak knees, would find it challenging to climb up and down (11) There was resort crew to assist the guests during the arrival, however during departure, there was none. Especially to handle bags, luggage onto the boat etc (12) Resort does not cover the boat ride fee of RM1 and resort does not have its own boat to chauffeur guests (13) The main reception building requires guests to remove shoes, suggest resort to relook this. For guests with boots, that would take some time to remove and later putting on the shoes again (14) Resort may consider providing slippers for guests during the stay (15) Water pressure requires some work. When one is brushing teeth at the sink, while one is bathing, the water on the shower will cut off or reduce significantly (16) Towels provided, may need new set soon, cause seems to have been used or washed very frequently (17) Mini Mart may consider open till slightly later, at least during dinner (18) Activities for guests. We were grouped with a family whom came later, 20minutes, due to their long breakfast. They did not offer apology neither acknowledge they were late. Also they forgot about the permits to enter the park, camera. Punctuality, something for everyone...

We stayed for two nights at the Mutiara hotel in Taman Negara. We had a mixed experience staying this hotel. It is ideally located being the only hotel in the Taman Negara National Park. You have to cross a river to get to it which makes it a unique experience. You are guaranteed to feel close to nature with it being situated at the edge of a rainforest. On the positive side, the staff are polite and friendly. I also like the fact that the excursions are thrown in as part of your stay. We went on the forest walk and the boat ride. The forest walk is well laid out with walkways. Our guide was friendly and knowledgeable. My wife has asthma and we mentioned this to the guide. He told us from the outset that we could turn back if it got too much. When she was struggling to keep up, he made a point of describing to us how steep the remainder of the journey would be so we could make up our minds whether to go on or turn back. I enjoyed the boat ride later on. We went a fair way down the river negotiating a few rapid areas. We didn’t get to see much wildlife apart from monkeys but to me, it was enough being so close to nature. Wildlife never shows up when you want it to.||The resort itself looked like it needed a face lift. Everything looks dated, tired and worn. In terms of accommodation, the room was very spacious and it was an experience staying in a traditional chalet. There was no hot water, so we had cold water showers. The water pressure for the shower was not very good so it felt a bit like showering under a tap that only turns halfway. It was very strange because the bidet sprayer was so powerful by contrast! You could get a better shower with the bidet sprayer even though the water was cold! Our toilet didn’t flush very well and soon blocked when you tried flushing toilet paper down it. |In terms of food - it was overpriced and not very appetising. The ingredients looked cheap. For example, the tea and coffee at breakfast time did not taste very nice. We had a la carte instead of the buffet in the evening as the buffet lacked variety and felt more like my memories of school dinners! I didn’t look forward to mealtimes at all. To give another small detail, the reception area was on a wooden floor and you had to take your shoes off every time you wanted to go to reception. I don’t think this policy really endears the hotel to its customers. Furthermore, the novelty of being the other side of a river in a national park began to wear off. Since you had to get a boat to get over the river to anywhere else there seemed like no way of escaping the lack of good facilities.||It had crossed my mind whether I was missing the point about this hotel. Is this hotel one of those quirky hotels where you pay for some austerity to get a unique experience? I dismissed that theory because it would have marketed itself accordingly. If this is the case, how could this hotel improve itself? It is in a prime location and could be a great place to stay. I think what this hotel desperately needs is competition. It needs some rival hotels to be built nearby to help raise standards. It also needs significant investment...

We have just returned from a wonderful 3 days 2 night stay at Mutiara Taman Negara. With all the activities that can be done there, it was hardly enough time to do all. Our trip from KL was ok. We took our own sweet time but kept in mind to reach the dock at least by 5pm. Which we did, with 5 minutes to spare. The boat ride to the resort was the beginning of our adventure, even if it was only a 5 minute ride. Upon reaching the dock on the resort side, we had our bags taken up to the reception area via pulley. Wonderful idea as we didn't have to lug our bags up the stairs. The check in process was smooth and while my husband did that, I headed to the activities counter just beside it. Ended up booking the Rapid Shooting + Orang Asli Village tour but wasn't able to book anything else as they were fully booked. We were however advised to do the canopy walkway by ourselves without the tour, which we did the very next morning. The Rapid Shooting and Orang Asli Village tour was also such a delight. Our guide, En Kamil, did an amazing job, explaining everything about the Batek people and how they lived. The Batek people were also very accommodating and friendly. We were happy to buy some souvenirs from their little hut. The Rapid Shooting portion of the tour had us all drenched and laughing all the way. So much fun! It's too bad we didn't have time to visit the waterfalls or do the night walk tour but hopefully we can come again. The resort itself is very well maintained. The chalets are nice and clean and the bathrooms surprisingly modern. The shower water pressure could be better, though. Toiletries are not provided, except for the shower foam so bring your own shampoo, toothbrush, etc. The landscaping is beautifully done and we spent quite some time exploring the flora around the chalets. Beware of the monkeys though, they can be a bit mischievous. The staff were all so friendly and accommodating. Housekeeping was super efficient with our requests for extra soap and water bottles. Special shout-out to Mr. Sati, who always dropped by our table every mealtime to check up on us and ask us how we were enjoying your stay. Would I recommend this place to family and friends? DEFINITELY!! However, a small note to those with babies/small children, this may not be the best place for a retreat. Not really stroller friendly and most activities do require some body strength to complete. Can't wait to come again. Hope Mutiara Taman Negara will continue to serve it's visitors with passion and dedication. Thank you for a...