Advice needed on Malayasia
Discussion
I spent two weeks in Malaysia last December for my honeymoon. We stayed on Langkawi for most of the time, though we did go to Pengang which is worth a visit and to Satun (Thailand), which was pretty rough to be honest.
Overall Langkawi is a fantastic place to spend some time, great beaches and scenery, seemed very cheap to me as the island is VAT free. Seemed very safe to walk about to the local bars and restaurants in the early hours, hired a car for about £5 a day and toured the island which was a real laugh!
Id definitely go back, in fact looking to spend some time in KL towards the end of this year.
Overall Langkawi is a fantastic place to spend some time, great beaches and scenery, seemed very cheap to me as the island is VAT free. Seemed very safe to walk about to the local bars and restaurants in the early hours, hired a car for about £5 a day and toured the island which was a real laugh!
Id definitely go back, in fact looking to spend some time in KL towards the end of this year.
I spent a month travelling in Malaysia last summer. Excellent country, full of nice people, great food and cheap prices. Much better than Thailand imo.
Penang is interesting, worth the trip just for the food alone.
Cameron Highlands I really enjoyed too, the climate is much much cooler and there is some stunning scenery.
We went to Pangkor Laut for 6 nights too (weren't paying for it though, gf's Dad worked with the island's owner!). It is very beautiful and the room we stayed in (sea villa) was fantastic. Very nice beaches and the amount of nature there is great, the guided tour with Yip was a highlight. The only problem is the huge huge price of the food, you would struggle to get a main meal in the restaurants for under £20. The prices are made worse of course by the fact that food is so cheap in the rest of the country too!
We flew to Sabah for a couple of days too but got annoyed at the huge bus journeys you have to do to get between places. Unfortuantly we didn't get to dive off Sipadan though (meant to be incredible). Nor did we get to climb Mount Kinabalu, as it was all booked up in advance.
I can't wait to go back again!
Penang is interesting, worth the trip just for the food alone.
Cameron Highlands I really enjoyed too, the climate is much much cooler and there is some stunning scenery.
We went to Pangkor Laut for 6 nights too (weren't paying for it though, gf's Dad worked with the island's owner!). It is very beautiful and the room we stayed in (sea villa) was fantastic. Very nice beaches and the amount of nature there is great, the guided tour with Yip was a highlight. The only problem is the huge huge price of the food, you would struggle to get a main meal in the restaurants for under £20. The prices are made worse of course by the fact that food is so cheap in the rest of the country too!
We flew to Sabah for a couple of days too but got annoyed at the huge bus journeys you have to do to get between places. Unfortuantly we didn't get to dive off Sipadan though (meant to be incredible). Nor did we get to climb Mount Kinabalu, as it was all booked up in advance.
I can't wait to go back again!
Manners said:
Will be going later in the year for two and half weeks. I am looking for some suggestions as where to go, things to do and hotels to stay in.
So far looking to spend a few days in KL and 3-4 days in Borneo. Other possibilities are Pangor Laut and Langkawi.
Thanks
Helps to know what stuff you like to do? Shopping, Trekking, diving etc. Have you been to S E Asia before, if so that might colour wnat you wnat to do etc.So far looking to spend a few days in KL and 3-4 days in Borneo. Other possibilities are Pangor Laut and Langkawi.
Thanks
You can easily lose a couple of days wandering around in KL.
Pankor was a good couplesy type get away from it all place last we were there.
Langkawai town is IMHO a s
thole, but here are some nice hotels on the Andaman side of the island and a couple of islands of their own just off the main island. You're not too far from some good Thai diving there eitherMight want a bit more time in Borneo, especially if you're planning to go up Mt Kinabalu. And don't forget to allow yourself time to get to/from all these places!
Taman Negara is good if you want to get lost in a rain forest.
Food in Penang is really good.
Cameron Highlands for something a bit cooler and different.
Diving around Pulau Tioman is ok too.
Mallaca can be a nice weekend too
Having lived in Penaqng and KL for 13 years I think it is a great place, but as a tourist I don't know anywhare in Malaysia or Thailand I'd stay for more than 3 or 4 days, all the places mentioned are great for a few days, but are all a bit same same, my advice is to travel, I was in Kota Kinabalu last weekend for work and the town was the same as every other town, cheap copies/cheap food, so after youve climed the mountain you could be in any town in Malaysia. KL is a great place to live but for the tourist it is only shopping, if you want to go up the Twin Towers you need to book the day before and you can only go half way, I think at sums up Malaysian tourism it looks great but it is all half measure. Lankowi is OK for the beach but it is boring after a weekend.
I spent my honeymoon in Malaysia. We had just over 2 weeks in which we spent 4 nights in KL in Traders which was a fantastic hotel. We then spent 3 nights in Taman Negara (http://www.tamannegararesort.com/info/location.htm) 2 nights in Cameron Highlands and finally a week on Pangkor Laut.
KL was nice, I know a local so it was good to get shown around to where the locals would go. There are also a few PHers there so you will be able to get plenty of advice. The bird park is fantastic if you like that sort of thing.
Taman Negera was great, the night trek through the rain forest under a massive thunderstorm is something that will stay with me forever I think, it was straight out of a Speilberg movie! It's very very hot though, just make sure you are ok with the heat if you do anything active. We went on the trek from the resort during the day to the canopy walkway, the other day we went out on a tiny 3 person boat out to a 'waterfall' where you could swim in the river.
Cameron Highlands was ok, it's much cooler than the rest of the island and the drive is stunning! Otherwise it's quite tacky in places, we had a tour guide with us for that bit as it was part of the package. He was great and took us to places I wouldn't have otherwise gone to. Strawberry farms, tea plantations, butterfly park and through local markets trying all the local produce, make sure you try the local 'delicacy' the Durian!
Pangkor Laut was stunning, however I'd say 2 things. If you want to eat and drink well make sure you have plenty of money with you and if you can avoid it at the weekends. During the week the place was very quiet and it was really blissful. For the last day we were there on Friday loads of Russians turned up and it got a 'little' nosier. It's quite a haul direct from KL as well, I think it's about 3/4 hours from the airport by road.
I'll have a look for some pics for you, but you will have a great time. The people are very friendly and the level of service in the hotels puts anything to offer in the west to shame IMO.
KL was nice, I know a local so it was good to get shown around to where the locals would go. There are also a few PHers there so you will be able to get plenty of advice. The bird park is fantastic if you like that sort of thing.
Taman Negera was great, the night trek through the rain forest under a massive thunderstorm is something that will stay with me forever I think, it was straight out of a Speilberg movie! It's very very hot though, just make sure you are ok with the heat if you do anything active. We went on the trek from the resort during the day to the canopy walkway, the other day we went out on a tiny 3 person boat out to a 'waterfall' where you could swim in the river.
Cameron Highlands was ok, it's much cooler than the rest of the island and the drive is stunning! Otherwise it's quite tacky in places, we had a tour guide with us for that bit as it was part of the package. He was great and took us to places I wouldn't have otherwise gone to. Strawberry farms, tea plantations, butterfly park and through local markets trying all the local produce, make sure you try the local 'delicacy' the Durian!
Pangkor Laut was stunning, however I'd say 2 things. If you want to eat and drink well make sure you have plenty of money with you and if you can avoid it at the weekends. During the week the place was very quiet and it was really blissful. For the last day we were there on Friday loads of Russians turned up and it got a 'little' nosier. It's quite a haul direct from KL as well, I think it's about 3/4 hours from the airport by road.
I'll have a look for some pics for you, but you will have a great time. The people are very friendly and the level of service in the hotels puts anything to offer in the west to shame IMO.
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