[Closed] So who's been to Malaysia and/or Thailand?

KL ... that's a city so why travel that far just to see another concrete jungle? There is no wildlife there except lowlife ...

How about this ...

London -> KL -> Kota Kinabalu (North Borneo) -> climb mount Kinabalu (highest peak in South East Asia)-> visit the Borneo islands just across the city by boat with sandy white beach -> Kuching (Sarawak another Borneo ... visit the long house or the head hunters' house)-> fly to Penang -> nothing much to see but you might be fascinated by weird cultures so hang around ... then fly to Southern Thailand to enjoy the beach there for few days (please don't use the long distance taxi crossing from Penang to Southern Thailand as you are not local ... so fly there) then after few days fly to Bangkok ...

KL (2 days), KK (3 days), Kuching (2 days), Penang (2 days), Phuket / Ko Phi Phi (3 days), Bangkok (3 days), Chiang Mai (3 days) and you have 3 days left to decide where you want to go after that ...

Whatever you [b]do not try out any of those recreational drugs[/b] or you will be in deep deep very serious trouble.

[b]Be alert and try not leave your common sense at home. [/b]

Also not all of the people you meet will be local as you cannot distinguish who they are unless you are local.

Most places are relatively safe so long as you don't stray into back alley or some dark places.

Air ticket for your entire journey from London ->KL->KK->Kuching->Penang->South Thailand->Bangkok->London will be approximately £2K per person. Expenses per person including food another £1K if you want to be luxurious-ish.

Food = £12 per day for two persons should be sufficient if you know what to eat.

Local taxi ... difficult to say because you're like lambs to the slaughter if not careful. In KL they use metre but I am not sure about the rest.
🙂

p/s: the real jungle is in Borneo so visit them now while there are still there because the govt is turning it into mass biodiesel production plant soon ...

KL is a great city. My sister and her husband live there and the wife and I went out to visit last January. It was HOT. DAMNED HOT! Penang (North West) was a highlight - jungle walks complete with snakes and wierd insect jungle noises. Being an island, most of these walks ended up on remote, deserted beaches. Watch out for jellyfish.

The Cameron Highlands are well worth a visit and you'll buck STW trends by becoming a tea connisseur for a few weeks before returning to your senses and buying a litre bag of Lavazza.

They don't have seasons, other than the monsoon, so be prepared for it being HOT.

From a male perspective, one picture sums it up.

[img] [/img]

bwaarp - that also applies to Russia, but the menopause starts at about 26. Terrifying. They go from hot babes to grans in the space of a BOOM!

I'd did the same trip as part of my round the world holiday. KL is ok, I headed into the mountains in Malaysia, (Cameron Highlands) lots of things to do and see. Then I visited Penang, some other nice things to see like the massive budda and so on. I took a shared cab, (mini bus) to Surat Thani on the East Coast of Thailand.

Got a ferry to the islands of Ko Samui which was really nice. Then after a couple of nights headed over to Ko Phangan which was also really nice and cheaper than Samui. After another couple of nights I headed over to Ko Tao, which is small and rugged but had the best snorkelling I've ever seen. (beating the great barrier reef hands down) the place I stayed was on the eastern side of the island was situated in a small sheltered bay.

From here I headed out to Kanchanaburi in Thailand. Lovely place stayed for a few nights by the river. Then to Bangkok, not much I really wanted to see other than a couple of temples. Ko San road is dirt cheap for fake goods as are many of the big markets. When getting a tuk tuk, there are different kinds, some are government run and other private iirc, the licence plates are different colours and the prices vary massively.

I have no idea about the western sea board of Thailand. I travelled 3 months after the 2004 tsunami and avoided the area to be honest.

You'll have a great time!

Hi Duane.

I live in Singapore and have travelled quite a lot in Malaysia & Thailand.

Couple of suggestions.

For the islands, consider Langkawi (NW Malaysia) first. From Langkawi you can then get a boat to Ko Ra Wi and Ko A Dang. They're much more unspoilt and undeveloped that Koh Samui, Koh Phi Phi, Phuket, etc. Your Baht will also go further.

If you can time it right, it is still worth seeing a full moon party at Koh Phangan, especially if you head on north to Ko Tao afterwards. Don't be lulled into a false sense of security with regard to drug use though (if that's even your thing), mushrooms are legal but everything else is most definitely not.

If you do get to Chiang Mai consider heading on north to Pai (pronounced Pie), it's more unspoilt and relaxed than Chiang Mai.

Be careful at the border of Malaysia & Thailand. Southern Thailand is potentially dangerous so keep your wits about you. I'd personally avoid the far south of Thailand by taking the ferry north from Ko A Dang.

If you've got any specific questions feel free to drop me a line (email in profile).

Ben

Just got back from SE Asia. I never made it to Malaysia, but the wife did. Out of all of it, she loved Georgetown/Penang and the islands off Kota Bharu on the East Coast. Thailand is great wherever you go, apart from the chav tourist bits like Chaweng Beach on Samui and Phuket/Pa Tong on Phuket island. Unless you're a chav, of course.

3 weeks is not a massive amount of time to try to cram everything in though. My first stint out there was 19 days and we visited Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pai, Ko Samui and Phuket island. It was a rush. If I had my time again, I'd like to spend more time on the South coast of Samui and exploring Chiang Mai.
I'd be tempted to pick 2 or 3 places and spend a good amount of time there rather than a whistle stop tour of everywhere.

Air ticket for your entire journey from London ->KL->KK->Kuching->Penang->South Thailand->Bangkok->London will be approximately £2K per person

I'd be tempted to say closer to £2k for the both of you. If you do a return London to Singapore (it's easy to get everywhere from there) and then use the cheapo Air Asia/Lion Air/Tiger Airways/whoever when you're out there. The missus was paying $0 and airport taxes only with AirAsia for single flights Singapore to Kuala Lumpur and KL to Bangkok. Think my most expensive flight while we were out there was $120 for a charter flight return Jakarta to Labuan Bajo.

As for cheap accomodation, get signed up for AirBnB. People have rooms/villas for rent at silly prices. e.g. 2 bedroom private villa with pool and housemaid was $90/night in the centre of Seminyak, Bali (the exclusive bit apparently), and we stayed in a nice clean apartment in Singapore, 15 minutes from the centre for $18 a night. In Thailand there are dorms all over the place for as little as $2 a night, and double rooms start as low as $5 a night.

Thailand is a fantastic country did 2.5 weeks there last November. Into Bangok then we flyer up to Chiang Mai (£33 single with www.skyscanner.net with Air Asia) did a 3 day trek through jungle which included elephant trek and bamboo ranting including basic accommodation with a tribe and food it was about £30 each and was fab. We then flew to Krabi and went over to Koh Lanta where we learnt to dive. I cannot recommend Dive and Relax enough check them out on trip advisor and Lanta Castaway resort was fantastic place to stay. We loved thailand so much we plan on going back in 2013 but over to Koh samui. If you do koh Lanta you can visit koh Phi phi which is whefe The Beach was filmed.

Can't help in Malaysia I am afraid.

If you're trying to save cash, also check out couchsurfing.org. It's a network of people who let you stay on their couch (or spare room in our case) for free. Not only is it free, it's a great way of meeting people and getting the lowdown on areas from locals.

[i] ride an elephant and moped [/i]

Elephants are fine, as you'll have a 'man' with you - but only ride a moped if you ride one (or an m/c) in the UK...

Oh, and it usually rains at the same time every day and I'd only spend a max of 1 day+night in either KL or Bangkok - they are as already said, just cities.

eat at the markets!
meal for 4 sir? £5 (with drinks).
In Thailand the food is pretty much the same quality wherever you eat, you basically pay extra for english speaking waiters and surroundings.

Go to the national parks, usually a couple of quid to get in & stunningly pretty.

Don't ride a moped - it's near suicidal and coppers WILL arrest you if you are western and don't wear a crash helmet.

[b]OK, thanks a ton for all the replies, info, and tips, much appreciated. Keep them coming![/b]

I'm slowly going through the replies and checking out where all the different places are.

Should say, we have already booked flights, we're flying from Frankfurt (my girlfriend lives nearby so I'm heading there for a couple days first). Flights were £650 return with Emirates, with layover in Dubai.

I certainly hope we don't spend £4k each! I'm hoping to spend well under £1.3k (inc. flights), we'll see how we get on with that.

[b]chewkw - [/b]Interesting about checking out Borneo, not really thought about it. Do you not think it would be cramming a little much into 3 weeks?
You say about not using long distance taxi, how about the trains?

[b]user-removed -[/b] Can you remember which jungle you visited? Was it the National Park? Had a quick look at the Cameron Highlands, is there much to do there?

[b]2hottie -[/b] Thanks, would like to go to Ko Tao, heard a lot about it.

[b]ben -[/b] Thanks for the info. Langkawi looks good, especially the rainforest with sky bridge. We're not tooo fussed about finding quiet un-touristy spots/islands, as long as they're not too trashy.Unfortunately we won't be able to be on Koh Phangan at the right time for the full moon party. Any other places you'd suggest for a good party?
I'm not too sure why I said Chiang Mai to be honest, so not settled on that at all. Would you recommend Chaing Pai (or anywhere else) over it?
Thanks for the tip about avoiding south Thailand. Where would you recommend going after Ko A Dang?
[b]
Munge-chick -[/b] that 3 day tour in Chiang Mai sounds brilliant. Did you use a pre-booked company or just arrive and join?

Re: motorcycles, ok, fair enough. To be honest, I would only ride one if it was out in the sticks, and they supplied a helmet.

People seem to recommend flying around quite a lot. My girlfriend is quite keen to travel by train, especially on the sleeper trains. Any thoughts?

Thanks for the replies, please keep them coming 😀 Any other places you'd recommend going (especially in Thailand, away from islands and Bangkok) would be ace.

Duane 🙂

Duane... - Member

Should say, we have already booked flights, we're flying from Frankfurt (my girlfriend lives nearby so I'm heading there for a couple days first). Flights were £650 return with Emirates, with layover in Dubai.

That is dirt cheap flying Emirates return. I am flying Royal Brunei to Bandar Sri Bagawan and that return to London will cost me £1.2k - cattle class.

I certainly hope we don't spend £4k each! I'm hoping to spend well under £1.3k (inc. flights), we'll see how we get on with that.

No, not £4K but £1.3k might be a bit tight so you might want to focus on few areas only. For example, KL, KK, Penang and certain part of South Thailand and Bangkok, so forget about the rest unless they are within a short distance.

chewkw - Interesting about checking out Borneo, not really thought about it. Do you not think it would be cramming a little much into 3 weeks?

Not really so long as you reduce the places you want to visit. You can always get cheap flight with Air Asia from KL to KK to Penang. Therefore, you might be better off seeing KL first then fly to KK and spend a few days there then fly direct to Penang. From Penang you can travel north to Thailand.

You say about not using long distance taxi, how about the trains?

Not advisable to use long distance taxi because you could easily be ripped off. Also there is an element of security issue because you have to travel through the insurgent south and you do not know if the taxi driver is trustworthy ... you might worth something for ransom ...

Yes, you can travel by train from Butterworth (Penang) to Southern Thailand but do check the train time. I know the last time I travelled by train from KL to Singapore ... zzzzzz ... it was so so very slow, no high speed train there and I think it was about 30-40mph only ...

[url= http://www.seat61.com/Map-southeast-asia-train-routes.htm ]Train map[/url]

[url= http://www.seat61.com/Malaysia.htm#What%20are%20Malaysian%20trains%20like ]Check this out ... [/url]

[b][u]Security warnings for parts of southern Thailand...[/u][/b]

If crossing into Thailand, you should be aware of the security warnings for some parts of southern Thailand. [b]These apply mainly to the eastern end of the Thailand-Malaysia border around Yala & Sungai Kolok, covering the provinces of Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat and to a lesser extent Songkhla. [/b] The terrorists aren't targeting western travellers, but in these provinces, bombs have gone off outside bars and police stations, and the rail lines to Yala and Sungai Kolok have been affected on a number of occasions (see map). However, the main rail line from Singapore to Bangkok passes through the largely-unaffected western end of the Malaysia-Thailand border via Padang Besar. It does not pass through any part of Pattani, Yala or Narathiwat provinces, there's just a relatively short 80 km (50 mile) stretch through the northern part of Songkhla province via Hat Yai. I must emphasise that travellers should always take advice and be aware of the latest situation, I certainly don't claim to provide current security advice, your decision is entirely your own. But purely for myself, whilst I would not visit Sungai Kolok or Yala, I would not worry unduly about passing swiftly through 50 miles of the northern part of Songkhla Province on a direct train on the Singapore-Bangkok main line.

🙂

We did Langkawi, then over to Borneo to Kota Kinabalu and Kuching (didn't have time to do Mt Kinabalu, it's a 2-3 day trip from the north coast), then Johor Bahru to visit wife's relatives, couple of nights in Singapore, couple of nights in Kuala Lumpur, home. Langkawi and Borneo were the best bits.

This was 2004, we were in Singapore when the tsunami hit, didn't notice. The hotel we'd stayed at on Langkawi a fornight previously got flooded, so we timed that reasonably well.

[holiday snaps: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mike-davis/sets/72157615512961008/with/3363866996/ ]

in Thailand: Hua Hin was nice for a stop over a couple of hours south of Bankok - specifically the night market, but it's just a town that the bankok thais use as a holiday destination. Hotels are silly cheap if you are there during our summer. I stayed in a 4star Marriot 15mins up the coast for £12/night.
The Thai Sea is known for jelly fish - recommend use a pool to swim in 😉

you can prolly source a taxi/minibus outside a hotel - they will take you virtually anywhere in Thailand for £50 😀

Did a month in Thailand before my 5 month cycle around NZ.

Nice country. Some bits nicer than others. Bangkok is bizarre/in your face/hectic and wasn't really for me. Chaing Mai is beautiful and the people incredibly friendly and the food fantastic.

I'd really recommend Koh Tao. Avoid the main town (I forget what it's called) - it's basically full of young, drunk europeans being "extreme-rad-core-to-the-max". Would recommend Shark Bay - it's very quiet and peaceful, the beach is beautiful and the snorkeling is unbelievable.

Oh yeah, and it's called Shark Bay for a reason...

I booked the trip to Chiang Mai before we arrived but there are HUNDREDS of companies out there that do similar stuff, I can find out who we went with and let you know but on Thursday (Away on residential work course at the mo).
I would recommend not squeezing in too much otherwise you will spend more time flying around being knackered, what you also have to rememebr about sleeper trains as you can waste a lot of time on them, despite them possibly being over night, the flights are cheap £33 a single and super easy to get.
We hired a moped when we were out there, but Mr MC and I ride motorbikes (we are talking 650cc and 1000cc) so Mr MC drove and I decided to pillion, he got a helmet I didn't. We had a blinding time and some of the funniest moments I have is from that motorbike ride however we did it on Koh Lanta, not in a mad manic city, think it was £4 for 24 hours! Jsut be sensible, as we wouldn't have been covered holiday insurance shoudl something have happened (or I wouldn't as I didn't have a helmet on).

Thailand is a fantastic country, the people are so nice, the food is delicious just listen to them when they warn you it is spicy, and everything is so cheap. We stayed in a decent hotel near the Khao San Road that was £16 a night. It was here: http://www.newsiam.net/ns/newsiam2.php

It is New Siam 2, and if you come out of the hotel and go left up the alleyway then straight on you coem to this super cool area in the evening with LOADS of hotels selling cheap cockatils, we just sat there for hours eating and watching the world go by. I absolutely fell in love with Thailand and can't want to go back next year!.

Bwaarp, that piccy's nearly spot on. The 50 on the 3rd diagram needs crossing out!!!

Chewkw's itierary sounds pretty exellent to me. Climbing Kota Kinabalu is one of the top 5 moments of my life!!!

Did 4 months out in Thailand in 2007.

1 month there, 1 month working back in the UK.

Was ace. Love to be able to do it again. So many new places to go though.

Sleeper train south out of BKK after a 14 hour flight and stop in Abu Dhabi was a winner. Then off the train and as a lot will know the boat ride to Samui is food for the soul.

Spent a month in the sticks in Isaan. Temples mainly and oowee, in June it was hot. Went back in January and it was perfect. Cool nights, no sore throat air con.

Chiang Mai's a winner too.

The best piece of advice I could give to anybody wanting to travel in SE Asia is to try not to stick to a busy schedule. The rush in Thailand is all in BKK, it can be stressful to have to rush to do something. Go with the flow, make plans but keep them loose.

and don't drink too much Thai whisky.

If you can I would put Bangkok at end of holiday, we arrived after a 14 hour flight and spent 2 days there and I hated it, after 2 1/2 weeks we had a day there at the endbefore out flight home, loved it! Bangkok is a cool city but be prepared for pure craziness.

I LOVE that place, I want to go back......

Thanks again for all the replies, they are much appreciated!

So we did a good few hours of planning last night.

We thought about KL - Penang/Georgetown - Langkawi - then into Thailand, up to the islands around Phuket, then fly up to Chiang Mai, then down to Bangkok, before flying home.

However, we figured that that would be way to packed, as we would only have a couple days at each point. Plus, getting from Langkawi up to Phuket area seemed pretty tricky.

So, we have decided to cut out Chiang Mai for now. One of the main reasons I wanted to go there was for the elephants, but we have found a decent looking place which isn't harsh on the elephants near-ish to Bangkok, so think we will try to head there.
http://www.elephantsworld.org/engl/

And possibly, instead of going to the islands around Phuket, head to the East side towards to Surat Thani; Koh Sumai and Koh Tao. Flights from Surat Thani to Bangkok are way cheaper than from Phuket too.

So that would be KL - train to Penang - ferry to Langkawi - Phuket or Surat Thani islands (getting to either is quite tricky) - fly from Phuket or Surat Thani up to Bangkok.

Once we are in Bangkok, we will check out that elephant place, and Ayutthaya (probably in a circle trip).

How does that sound? Hopefully still not crammed? I think cutting out Chiang Mai will allow us to be a bit more chilled out/spend more time in each place, and hopefully we can still see some rainforest and wildlife.

We still need to decide on whether we visit the islands around Phuket or Surat Thani - both look amazing, but flights from Surat Thani are cheaper. Both seem tricky to get to from Langkawi.

So any thoughts/ideas on the best way to get up to the islands (whichever we choose)? Ferry from Langkawi to Satun, bus to Hat Yai, and then train northwards.

Sorry for the long reply, but thanks again everyone 🙂

Duane.

I've been to Thailand twice and Malaysia once. Absolutely beautiful part of the world, I'm very jealous.

Definitely visit Ko Phi Phi. Phi Phi Don is inhabited but Phi Phi Leh is a nature sactuary, so day visits only. If you like scuba/snokelling then they are definitely worth a visit if you're in Phuket.

On the East side Ko Tao was my favourite, but I like a bit of peace and quiet and went mainly for scuba. Check out Ang Thong National Park for a nice day trip.

Malaysia is more of the same really but a bit more laid back, Penang and Langkawi are nice but a bit over developed. The Tiomen Islands are lovely.

Enjoy!

Thanks. How did you get from the West to East side (or vice versa) to get to the different islands?

If you could only go to one side, which would you go to?

Ta, Duane.

Definitely visit Ko Phi Phi. Phi Phi Don is inhabited but Phi Phi Leh is a nature sactuary, so day visits only. If you like scuba/snokelling then they are definitely worth a visit if you're in Phuket.

second that also check out 'bottle beach' if it hasnt changed since i was there in 2000, its at the very nroth east tip of Koh Pha Ngan (a smaller island near Koh Samui.

it was hardly known (apparently) when we went there, it is/was a small beach with about 15 huts, a small bar and a restaurant and you could only get to it by boat.

lovely country if you stay away from the seedy madness of the big cities/towns.

ah malaysia

[img] [/img]

If you go to Kota Kinabalu you can visit the following islands at Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park:

Just google the key words below.

1. Sapi
2. Manukan
3. Mamutik

Then do this ... not my website ...

[url= http://www.travelwriterstales.com/south-china-sea.htm ]Trekking in the sea[/url]

Or if you want to visit illegal immigrants or sea gypsies then go here ... bear in mind these are not locals but illegals that have annexed the island for themselves.

4. Gaya

[img] [/img]

Don't worry about missing something.

You'll be going back 8)

Thanks, it's looking like we'll visit the Eastern islands (Koh Sumai and Koh Tao) (it's cheaper to fly up to Bangkok from that side, plus we're already visiting a Western island - Langkawi).

- Unless someone would really suggest otherwise?

Can't seen Malaysian Borneo happening at all I'm afraid, as much as I'd like to visit there.

Duane... - Member

Can't seen Malaysian Borneo happening at all I'm afraid, as much as I'd like to visit there.

You can always visit Borneo in future when you have time. 🙂

Enjoy your far east tour.

Hey Duane,

Your itinerary looks spot on. Definitely go for the east islands rather than the west if you have to pick one. Phuket is way more overcrowded than the east.

In terms of a party, Haad Rin on Ko Pha Ngan will still be good fun even if it's not the full/half moon party. There will still be all the fire shows, etc. It's worth stoppping off on your way to Ko Tao. If you do choose to go then consider [url= http://www.sarikantang.com/ ]Sarikantang [/url] for a night of luxury. Rooms start at about £40 but it's worth every penny - check our the website.

Another option for Pha Ngan is a boat tour around the island, stopping at Bottle beach and other bays with snorkelling, etc. There's a guy who runs one trip called Munchies which I recommend, especially if you like a smoke. 🙂

Another vote for Shark Bay on Ko Tao too.

Enjoy your trip - I'm about to head for the airport for trip to Thailand myself, only a 3 day trip for me though.

B

Are you planning to go to Singapore as well? I could give you some tips for that, because I visited Singapore just 2 months ago. Niiiiiiice!!!