Tamarind Suites @ Cyberjaya

The room was dusty, the sheets were dirty, and the toilet wasn’t clean. There was also a small leak in the pipes, among other problems. The price didn’t match what was shown in the app, and nobody clearly explained why. I booked through booking.com without paying in the app, because the owner asked me to send payment directly to the company account. When I arrived, I tried calling three times with questions, but my calls were rejected. The owner only replied by sending a YouTube link with directions for collecting the keys and finding parking. I checked in to 32f, and within half an hour the owner asked me to cancel the booking in the app. Bad experience. F1.

The location is nice, with good stores nearby. The room was decent and had good amenities, though some areas could use better upkeep.

The separate little bedroom is unusual for a studio, and the unit was generally clean. It connects to Tamarind Square mall, which is handy, and the plate recognition makes getting in and out of the car park easy. Depending on the unit, the window faces north or south, so it stays fairly cool in hot weather. Noise was the biggest problem for me. In a unit facing the main road, loud cars and motorbikes with customized exhausts would pass late at night, sometimes around 2am, and as early as 4am. I went to the police station, but they brushed me off, saying the drivers might work shifts and be coming home late. That didn’t address the issue of possibly illegal exhausts, and it felt like they didn’t care. I ended up sleeping with active noise cancelling earphones every night. The other side of the building is better because traffic is lighter there. The hospital is across the street, so ambulances pass 2-3 times a day, sometimes at 1-2am. You can hear planes occasionally too, but not often compared with a busy route such as CyberSquare. The fire alarm also went off late at night, sometimes at 2-3am, and at times 2-3 times a week. After school hours, traffic gets extremely jammed. The bathroom window is low and faces the corridor, which could be risky for female tenants. Ventilation isn’t great, and the water bill is at the commercial rate, at least RM40 a month. The building and mall are both painted dark, which makes them feel gloomy, eerie, and confining. There are many foreigners from India, the Middle East, and Africa. The floor tiles have a bathroom-like texture, so they’re very hard to mop and keep clean. Even mopping every two days left my feet covered in dark dust, so I had to wear indoor sandals.

I’ve rented here for a year, and the fire alarm problem still hasn’t been fixed. The false alarms happen day and night, and I’m constantly losing sleep. Management says vandalism causes them, but nothing changes. That seems strange, and it’s a hazard: if there’s a real fire, people might think it’s just another false alarm. If you don’t mind being woken in the middle of the night by a loud false alarm, this could suit you. Otherwise, avoid it.