East vs West Malaysia

fakearms123

Hi, we fly into Singapore in a few weeks andwe want to explore Malaysia for 2 weeks before we move onto Thailand. Now we have a decision to make, go along the east or west coast of Malaysia. Now the main downside of going West is Kuala Lumpur, we will have just come from a city and we don't want to go straight to another city after Singapore.
The journey will end in Langkawi either way we go because we want to go to Thailand via Langkawi.

So which way offers more and why? Thank you

whatsyourquota

Iv never been to Malaysia but as far as im aware the monsoon season will be hitting the west coast then. So for better weather id stick with east but maybe go to Kuala Lumpur first?

Lustrum

Depends on what you want - go east up to the Perhentians if you want to laze around on amazing beaches and go spotting black-tip reef sharks while snorkelling. Cherating has a nice big beach too and is a pretty relaxed little town.

The west coast will probably give you a bit more culture/history in Melacca (great chicken rice there!) and Penang is great to see the mixture of Malay/Chinese/Indian culture, with more great food and a nice beach too.

Personally, I'd be happy enough to miss Langkawi, I thought it was overrated and not a patch on the Perhentians.

If you were wanted to get to see it all, the road network is pretty good and there's plenty of good overnight buses covering most of the country. There's also a woman from Tipperary married to a malaysian on Perhentian Kecil with some huts if you were looking for somewhere to stay

fakearms123

Lustrum wrote: »

Depends on what you want - go east up to the Perhentians if you want to laze around on amazing beaches and go spotting black-tip reef sharks while snorkelling. Cherating has a nice big beach too and is a pretty relaxed little town.

The west coast will probably give you a bit more culture/history in Melacca (great chicken rice there!) and Penang is great to see the mixture of Malay/Chinese/Indian culture, with more great food and a nice beach too.

Personally, I'd be happy enough to miss Langkawi, I thought it was overrated and not a patch on the Perhentians.

If you were wanted to get to see it all, the road network is pretty good and there's plenty of good overnight buses covering most of the country. There's also a woman from Tipperary married to a malaysian on Perhentian Kecil with some huts if you were looking for somewhere to stay

We had been talking about travelling up to Tioman Island first then onto Cherating Beach then Redang/Perhentian Islands then catch a bus West. Do you know anything about Tioman Island or Georgetown?

dory

I loved Tioman! Went there in 2008 for a few days and stayed a few weeks. There is ABC which is the very quiet laid back place (only 2 small bars - unless it has been built up) and Salang, which was the party place. Lots of great places to scuba, and it was cheaper (the scuba) than in Thailand. Also, it's tax free which is a big deal in a country that puts a lot of tax on alcohol.

I also loved KL, much more so than Singapore. And if you haven't bought a camera or any electronics, then KL is the place.

I didn't like the west coast because I got robbed on one of the islands there, and they weren't as pretty. I also loved Cameron Highlands if you're into mountains and strawberrys.

Lustrum

fakearms123 wrote: »

We had been talking about travelling up to Tioman Island first then onto Cherating Beach then Redang/Perhentian Islands then catch a bus West. Do you know anything about Tioman Island or Georgetown?

Haven't been to Tioman, but Georgetown was great. The old colonial part of the town is really nice, there's a nicely sized backpackers scene, and loads of delicious Indian food (I'm a big fan of indian from the busiest looking small restaurants)

There's also a beach to chill out on that's about half an hour on the local bus (bargain with them and you can go paragliding for about €8 for 15 minutes!), and a snake temple (basically a temple with a load of snakes just hanging around inside), all in all, it's worth a stop for a couple of days, then you can hop on the boat up to Langkawi (if you really want to go there )

fakearms123

Lustrum wrote: »

Haven't been to Tioman, but Georgetown was great. The old colonial part of the town is really nice, there's a nicely sized backpackers scene, and loads of delicious Indian food (I'm a big fan of indian from the busiest looking small restaurants)

There's also a beach to chill out on that's about half an hour on the local bus (bargain with them and you can go paragliding for about €8 for 15 minutes!), and a snake temple (basically a temple with a load of snakes just hanging around inside), all in all, it's worth a stop for a couple of days, then you can hop on the boat up to Langkawi (if you really want to go there )

Well Langkawi was an idea we had in order to cross over to Thailand by boat into koh lipe but I just found out recently that this will only grant you 15 day visa into Thailand so in the last few minutes Ive decided in order to get a 30 day visa it might be a good idea to fly from Penang Malaysia into Phuket and then venture down from there. That will give us 30 days in Thailand which is perfect for getting up to Cambodia and seeing everything we want.

In all honesty I dont know much about Langkawi, from looking at a map it looked like a convenient crossover to Thailand.

fakearms123

dory wrote: »

I loved Tioman! Went there in 2008 for a few days and stayed a few weeks. There is ABC which is the very quiet laid back place (only 2 small bars - unless it has been built up) and Salang, which was the party place. Lots of great places to scuba, and it was cheaper (the scuba) than in Thailand. Also, it's tax free which is a big deal in a country that puts a lot of tax on alcohol.

I also loved KL, much more so than Singapore. And if you haven't bought a camera or any electronics, then KL is the place.

I didn't like the west coast because I got robbed on one of the islands there, and they weren't as pretty. I also loved Cameron Highlands if you're into mountains and strawberrys.

Thanks dory, I think Tioman Island is out first stop after Singapore. Pictures from the place looked amazing!

Lustrum

fakearms123 wrote: »

Well Langkawi was an idea we had in order to cross over to Thailand by boat into koh lipe but I just found out recently that this will only grant you 15 day visa into Thailand so in the last few minutes Ive decided in order to get a 30 day visa it might be a good idea to fly from Penang Malaysia into Phuket and then venture down from there. That will give us 30 days in Thailand which is perfect for getting up to Cambodia and seeing everything we want.

In all honesty I dont know much about Langkawi, from looking at a map it looked like a convenient crossover to Thailand.

Flying sounds like a better plan then to get your 30 days. Presumably you know about the wonderfullness that is Air Asia, and also Firefly do that route

fakearms123

Lustrum wrote: »

Flying sounds like a better plan then to get your 30 days. Presumably you know about the wonderfullness that is Air Asia, and also Firefly do that route

yeah Air Asia are going at about €60 I think when you book a few days before the flight. Do you know if there is an over night bus from Perhentian Islands to Penang?

Lustrum

The town to get to/from the Perhentians is Kota Bharu (you get a mini bus from the boat terminal to KB) and both transnasional and nice deck bus services do the route from Kota Bharu to Penang

http://www.transnasional.com.my/destination.php

http://www.journeymalaysia.com/bus.htm

The second link there should take care of all your bus needs for Malaysia

fakearms123

Lustrum wrote: »

The town to get to/from the Perhentians is Kota Bharu (you get a mini bus from the boat terminal to KB) and both transnasional and nice deck bus services do the route from Kota Bharu to Penang

http://www.transnasional.com.my/destination.php

http://www.journeymalaysia.com/bus.htm

The second link there should take care of all your bus needs for Malaysia

Lustrum you beauty!! Thank you!

kraggy

I loved the Perhentians but on Kecil, after 4 days, it's a bit small and boring. The white sandy beach is nice, although the rubbish build up on the grass near the shore is a little off-putting.

The larger island is cleaner I think but more expensive to say on. The snorkelling is amazing with the clearest waters i have seen in 6 countries in SE Asia.

When I stayed with Finola at the end of 2009, she was charging 12 euro for the most basic hut. No a/c. The food in the restaurant is decent however.

To be honest, the cheapest accommodation you'll get on the island is about 10 euro. Also, small cans of beer are almost 2 euro.

Langkawi is tax free if booze is very important to you.

fakearms123

Is Taman Negara National Park worth visiting?