frogoutofwater

I'm continuing to plan our rescheduled trip to Borneo for Spring 2011. We have about 2 weeks on the ground in Malaysia (i.e., excluding travel time from NYC and a necessary Hong Kong stopover), so we have to make some tough choices about where we do. Our budget is probably in the "moderately luxurious" category - we can afford to spend $ on certain hotels/experiences, because our flights to Asia are on miles and our hotel stays in some cities will be booked using points.

In addition to the Borneo part of the trip (described below), we plan on spending a couple of nights either in Penang, Singapore or Kuala Lumpur. Not included in the 2-week timeframe are a day or two in Hong Kong (we have to connect via HK on our award tickets) and our travel time from North America to Hong Kong to Malaysia. (In other words, the trip is about 3 weeks in total, with about 2 weeks in Malaysia.)

After recovering from jet lag in Kota Kinabalu, our goal is to have two "adventures in nature". One will be a dive trip, and the other will be a visit to a nature lodge of some kind, with an emphasis on viewing animals.

We want to spend 4 nights/5 days at Lankayan Island Resort. (That probably will be 3 dive days, plus a pre-flight non-dive day excursion to the Orangutan center.)

I also had been thinking about spending either 2 nights/3 days (or 3 nights/4 days) at the Borneo Rainforest Lodge. I understand we would fly from Kota Kinabalu to Lahad Datu, with an overland transfer to the lodge. I also have read that we can be driven from the Lodge to Sandakan, from where we could travel on to Lankayan Island.

I also have been reading some good reviews of the Last Frontier Boutique Resort, which is near Sandakan. I was wondering if it might make sense to drop Borneo Rainforest Lodge and instead spend 2 nights/3 days at Last Frontier, since would spend less time in transit since Last Frontier is so much closer to Lankayan Island. Both Last Frontier and BRL offer opportunities to view wildlife but the experiences are different.

I would be interested in feedback on either or both lodges/resorts.

Our itinerary might look something like the following if we went to both lodges:

Day 1 - arrive Kota Kinabalu
Day 2 - sightsee in Kota Kinabalu
Day 3 - early flight and transfer to Borneo Rainforest Lodge
Day 4 - at BRL
Day 5 - transfer to Sandakan; overnight in Sandakan hotel (not sure if it's possible to get to Lankayan Island from BRL in a one-day trip)
Day 6 - transfer to Lankayan Island
Day 7 - Lankayan
Day 8 - Lankayan
Day 9 - Lankayan
Day 10 - transfer to Sandakan and Last Frontier Resort
Day 11 - Last Frontier Resort
Day 12 - travel day (Sandakan-Kota Kinabalu-Penang (or SIN or KUL)
Day 13 - in Penang (or SIN or KUL)
Day 14 - in Penang (or SIN or KUL), late flght to Hong Kong

I don't usually like to bounce around quite as much in my travels, with such short stays in multiple places. And so that's one of the reasons I'm thinking we might want to skip BRL and replace it with Last Frontier (or vice versa). Then we could spend a little longer at the resort/lodge we choose and maybe add a day to Penang (or our Hong Kong stopover).

Thanks

Kathie

When I made my decision to go to the BRL back so many years ago (2005), the deciding factor for me was where we were most likely to see orangutans in the wild. The Danum Valley is the the place where you have the highest likelihood. The river trips on the Kintabagan river sounded great, but the BRL won out.

In looking at your itinerary, I think you are best off choosing one lodge. Otherwise, you'll spend a lot of time getting from place to place and not so much time in the rain forest. It takes time to see animals in the wild, so you want to be at a place as long as you can be. I'd suggest whichever place you choose, opt for 3 nights minimum - four nights if you can. (Two nights is never three days. At best two nights is one and a half days.)

In terms of your last stop, I would put Penang at the top of the list, Singapore next and KL last.

frogoutofwater

Of course, I meant "spring 2013". I'm a pretty good travel planner, but I haven't mastered time travel yet

Thanks for your suggestions. Seeing animals is definitely a high priority for the trip, but I also noticed that there's a chance of seeing elephants at Last Frontier.

I'm curious to know why you rank Penang ahead of the others? I'm definitely very interested - but Singapore and Penang are probably tied for first place. I have heard that the food is great in Penang and I also would like to stay at the Eastern and Oriental hotel, if possible. I have been to Singapore before but not KL. My husband is interested in any of the three. I am wondering if there might be more sightseeing options in Singapore (e.g., night zoo, which I haven't seen yet).

Craig

We went to Malaysia last year. I had originally wanted to go to Last Frontier but communicating with them was difficult and we would have had to spend a night in Sandakan which on our limited time schedule would have been a waste. Our trip also included 3 nights Singapore and 4 nights Penang. If I had to do it again, I would have done the reverse. Not that we didn't enjoy Penang and Georgetown, in particular but there was tons to do in Singapore...

Kathie

There is plenty to do in Singapore. I've been there many times and I always find more to do. We also found plenty to do in Penang. We loved the E&O, and the hawker food is remarkable. We spent 5 days in Penang (6 nights) and never got bored. I think you would enjoy either, and the decision might come down to transportation - can you get from Ssndakan through KK to Penang in a day? Certainly you should be able to get to Singapore or KL in a day.

I've been to KL three or four times, and find there is much less to do and see in KL than in the other two places.