Heading to Malaysia for 3 weeks

beertons

Never been out of Europe before. Any tips on what I should do? Like all sports, afraid of heights so no rockclimbing.

dory

Head to Tioman Island and go scuba diving. Most people go to the Perentians, I never went so can't comment on that. Tioman is very quiet, ABC is total tranquility with only two small bars, Salang is the party place, but still relatively small party place.

If you like hiking head to Cameron Highlands, also try the strawberries. Can't remember where else I went. But it's a fabulous country. Oh, KL tower is fantastic, unless of course that fear of heights is very bad. Petronas Towers are great to look at but apparently a big disappointment if you go to the bother of queuing to get up there.

If you don't already have a camera, wait til you get there to buy it. The Panasonic I got is over 400 here, got it for 250 there and I didn't even really bargin.

beertons

Cheers dory. Got the camera sorted. I'll go snorkling alright, myself and OH think we should have been dolphins or something like that. We're going to fly over to the other part of Malaysia and go to Brunea? I think that's what it's called. We like to party too, so we'll head to Salang for a bit too.

S.M.B.

The one thing I was going to suggest was climb Mount Kinabalu in Borneo (I presume that's where you're heading, Brunei & Borneo) but it depends on how bad that fear of heights is.

It'd be a cracking place to overcome that fear.

podger456

pick up lonely planet malaysia or south east asia. a few interesting things to do in malaysia, but personally i don't like it at all. Having lived in se asia for 18 months was my least favourite home there. Sumatra, Thailand and Burma are very cool places, with very cool people, and only a short (and usually cheap) plane/train journey from malaysia. And of course Thailand has the best beaches in the world, and some of the best diving/snorkelling.
Singapore worth a day or two if you're down south and need some electronics. Otherwise a bit boring and expensive there.

Larianne

^^ I preferred Malaysia to Thailand so everyone's different. I thought the food there was great. Definitely try diving if you can.

bringitdown

Malaysia is great but not as well setup or easy to get around as the more throdden path of Thailand.

Anyway here are a few of my 'insider' tips.

Kuala Lumpur:
Apart from the usual tour around Chinatown, KL Tower and KLCC/Petronas Towers, make sure you wander down Jalan Alor and try some of the local foods.

Food really is a forte in Malaysia, there is such variety available.

My favorite hawkers in KL:
Pan Mee - a small hawker style resto on Ain Arabia (behind Finnegans on Jalan Sultan Ismail)
Prawn Mee - the first hawker on the right as you look down Jalan Alor
Hokkien Mee - the first hawker on the left as you look down Jalan Alor
Satay - try any on Jalan Alor its generally much of a muchness.

Favorite 'proper' restos:
El Cerdo on Bukit Bintang - Pork heaven in a muslim country!!
Rain Nudle - Pavilion KL - decent Thai that won't break the bank.
Little Sheep Steamboat - Pudu, hard to find but a very authentic steamboat with lots of dishes to choose.

You can't go wrong with the selection of restaurants in Pavilion and Starhill.

Nightspots:
Changat Bukit Bintang has a variety of bars for all tastes. I like Little Havana and The Social. Zouk Club on Jalan Ampang is worth a visit but am getting a bit long in the tooth for it.

Melaka
Is one of the older towns in Malaysia and worth a night stopover. The night market on Jonker Street is at the weekends so try to bear that in mind, its a hell of a spectacle. Explore the temples and backstreets and have a look at the A'Famosa fort. Try the Asam Laksa on the left as you look down toward the river from the Explorer Pub ... and also the Chicken Rice ball at the very end of the street almost beside the river.

Islands
Perhentian was a gem when I visited ... no roads, clean water, great snorkling and diving. Can't comment on Tioman, Redang and Langkawi as I have yet to visit.

Countryside
Cameron highlands offer some respite from the heat and humidity there is lots of places to stop and enjoy tea and strawberries fresh from the local plantations. Some hiking to be had but not extensive.

Taman Negara has the full jungle experience. Hiking, rafts, etc.

Borneo
Ain't been properly so can't comment but not heard anything bad.

beertons

Anybody care to share what they got up to in Borneo?

beertons

*bump

beertons

S.M.B. wrote: »

The one thing I was going to suggest was climb Mount Kinabalu in Borneo (I presume that's where you're heading, Brunei & Borneo) but it depends on how bad that fear of heights is.

It'd be a cracking place to overcome that fear.

Looks like we're going to do this. Need a few days to aclimatise, but it should be good craic. 3 months to go, anything else you'd recommend?

lipi

Head to Borneo to see the orang-utans, it's fantastic. We went last august as part of our honeymoon and it certainly beat Bali hands down.

We flew to Kota Kinabalu and stayed 3 nights at Shangrila Rasa Ria. It's on the south china sea with an empty beach that seems to go on forever and its own small orang-utan sancturay.

Then fly to Sandakan where you can head to turtle island to see turtle come ashore at night to lay their eggs and then head to sepolik to see a much larger orang-utan sanctuary.

From there you can head on a river cruise to spot wildlife. Wasn't enjoying it at all until we found 2 orang-utans up a tree - incredible. And a friend went the year before and came across a herd of elephants.

Then I'd suggest you fly to tawau and go diving or snorkelling at sipadan/mabul. We encountered loads of turtles there too.

It's completely under developed still so no expolitation like we experienced in Bali. Hotels are not up to much in general so should be cheap enough and the food is as good as we got anywhere else on our trip.

sineadCharl

I've been to Malaysia a few years ago. And absolutely loved it. My fiance just got a job in Kota Kinabalu, Borneo and am moving over in 5 weeks. I've started to read up on Borneo and KK and definitely seems the place to go if you like the outdoors. Absolutely gorgeous from the pics I've seen so far. It's way better than Thailand!

Check out Melaka, Perentian islands as well, bloody gorgeous! Can't spell to save my life, so not sure if they're correct.

jank

Borneo is great but beware. it is alot more expensive than you think.
Do the climb though and a river cruise through the jungle is a must!

beertons

Hey bringitdown, can you recommend any good tailors in KL?

beertons

2 weeks till my flight. Flying straight out to Kota Kinabalu, in Borneo. Anybody want to share where they stayed in KK? Give me a few idea's of what's good and bad.