Discussion
We went a couple of years ago, stopped off in KL for a couple of days and managed to time it right for the F1 GP at Sepang. In Borneo we stayed at the Shangri-La Rasa Ria which was decent enough but not amazing in comparison to other 5* hotels in Asia. They do have an onsite Orang Utan sanctuary though which was pretty cool. Visited Kota Kinabula for one evening and found it pretty run down with not an awful lot going on.
In summary, worth seeing but there are defintely more interesting places in the far east to visit.
In summary, worth seeing but there are defintely more interesting places in the far east to visit.
if you like diving there is a really nice dive site off the small island north of KK...
One query why do the whole holiday there?
Last time out was out that way I went to:
Singapore to see some mates
Boreno as a quick stop off
Bali (non tourist area) Ubud and the mountain areas.
Gili Trawanga - So recommended for its laid back lifestyle and very cheap, diving good, shame about the reefs out there being destroyed.
What are you wanting to do out there?
I have several really good locations that I visited and I think the trip itself was less than £2.5k all in (flights were £1.5k of that).
we did home stays, visited a few temples, did the monkey forest for a laugh, stayed in a spa resort as a treat, but mostly it was villas and bungalows, none of this hotel crap.
PM me if you would like a few locations and recommendations.
One query why do the whole holiday there?
Last time out was out that way I went to:
Singapore to see some mates
Boreno as a quick stop off
Bali (non tourist area) Ubud and the mountain areas.
Gili Trawanga - So recommended for its laid back lifestyle and very cheap, diving good, shame about the reefs out there being destroyed.
What are you wanting to do out there?
I have several really good locations that I visited and I think the trip itself was less than £2.5k all in (flights were £1.5k of that).
we did home stays, visited a few temples, did the monkey forest for a laugh, stayed in a spa resort as a treat, but mostly it was villas and bungalows, none of this hotel crap.
PM me if you would like a few locations and recommendations.
Stayed in Sarawak (just over the border into Malaysia) for a couple of weeks a few years back. Had a great time - although I do have relatives living there.
The Mulu caves are well worth seeing - and at the time the Mulu "resort" was great fun to stay in. It's built on pillars so it sits "over" the jungle...the nighttime sound was deafening!
We'd love to go back there some time. My bro-in-law has promised a 4WD trip by logging road from Miri to Marudi.
KL is a great place to visit, too.
Singapore is also great - but in a different way. Raffles is worth staying in for a night or two...
The Mulu caves are well worth seeing - and at the time the Mulu "resort" was great fun to stay in. It's built on pillars so it sits "over" the jungle...the nighttime sound was deafening!
We'd love to go back there some time. My bro-in-law has promised a 4WD trip by logging road from Miri to Marudi.
KL is a great place to visit, too.
Singapore is also great - but in a different way. Raffles is worth staying in for a night or two...
Mr Darcy said:
I used to work out that way many years ago so have been to Bali, Flores and Sulawesi but never actually made it to Borneo. Just want to relax on a beach somewhere, dive sipidan and go see some urangatangs (SP) plus whatever else there is to do there.
In that case I can see why...If you can hang on my OH has a school friend out there who runs (helps run) the santuary for the Orangutangs so I can find out if they do tours etc?
Oh and just up from the airport is a nice beach which has amazing sunsets and everynight has a BBQ on the beach with prawns as big as a baby's arm... well worth the visit
Dupont666 said:
Mr Darcy said:
I used to work out that way many years ago so have been to Bali, Flores and Sulawesi but never actually made it to Borneo. Just want to relax on a beach somewhere, dive sipidan and go see some urangatangs (SP) plus whatever else there is to do there.
In that case I can see why...If you can hang on my OH has a school friend out there who runs (helps run) the santuary for the Orangutangs so I can find out if they do tours etc?
That would be great. Let me know if they do or if you can stay there for a day or 2.
Mr Darcy said:
Dupont666 said:
Mr Darcy said:
I used to work out that way many years ago so have been to Bali, Flores and Sulawesi but never actually made it to Borneo. Just want to relax on a beach somewhere, dive sipidan and go see some urangatangs (SP) plus whatever else there is to do there.
In that case I can see why...If you can hang on my OH has a school friend out there who runs (helps run) the santuary for the Orangutangs so I can find out if they do tours etc?
That would be great. Let me know if they do or if you can stay there for a day or 2.
http://www.sabahtourism.com/sabah-malaysian-borneo...
but remember to look here for mixed reviews:
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g3039...
Whilst the above is more touristy Im finding out about a homestay that is near the orang utang research place for scientific projects this includes a whole community project with homestay and all.... they are wild ones so not vistable but it may be possible from Sukau village in Kinabatangan river which is where the homestay is.
http://www.redapeencounters.com/index.htm
But remember they are wild ones so you only see orang utans if you are lucky and from a boat. The main thing is that you get to stay in the homestay and take a river cruise.
Does that help?
Borneo is great. There are other PH threads with advice & opinion.
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
R1_JON said:
We went a couple of years ago, stopped off in KL for a couple of days and managed to time it right for the F1 GP at Sepang. In Borneo we stayed at the Shangri-La Rasa Ria which was decent enough but not amazing in comparison to other 5* hotels in Asia. They do have an onsite Orang Utan sanctuary though which was pretty cool. Visited Kota Kinabula for one evening and found it pretty run down with not an awful lot going on.
In summary, worth seeing but there are defintely more interesting places in the far east to visit.
Broadly true.In summary, worth seeing but there are defintely more interesting places in the far east to visit.
We stayed at the Shangri-La Tanjung Aru (just outside Kota Kinabalu) 4 years ago and it was properly 5*...still perhaps the best place we've stayed at. Complimentary speed-boat out to the 5 islands offshore forming the Tunku Abdul Rahman Nat'l Park, where you can sunbathe/snorkel/scuba (not as good as north point of island, which is supposed to be properly good), go for walks through the island rainforest, or just watch baby monitor lizards wander around all the sunbathers on the beach, while the full-growns raid the bins out the back of the food stalls!
The Orang sanctuary on the other side at Sandakan is the one to visit (they 'loan' a few animals to the Rasa Ria, apparently), and there's deer caves and turtle island over that side too (Book turtle-island in advance due to limited numbers...we didn't realise that (honeymoon...wedding took all our planning effort), so we missed out. Flights from KK to Sandakan are short and cheap, and you get to see Mt Kintamani quite close-up, too (which is the other thing you can do - hike that bad-boy, or just wander in the forest at the foothills looking for flowering rafflesia plants!).
I wouldn't spend 2 weeks there, not unless I was into scuba and did a fair bit of time up at the north point. But it's worth a good week, and if you're going through KL you could always do a week in e.g. Langkawi as well...
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