Singapore and...

Old Jan 20th, 2008, 08:07 AM
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Singapore and...

I have pretty much been a lurker on the Asia board for awhile, making a few posts here and there. I have just made airline reservations for my husband and I for Asia for next summer, so I think it is time to officially come out of lurkdom

My only experience in Asia was a couple trips to Japan for work about 8 years ago. My husband has never been, so this is going to be basically new territory for us.

We have flights in and out of Singapore in June with 14 days in between. We have friends in Singapore that we will be visiting for several days at the begining of the trip and then a couple days at the end. The middle of the trip is completely open. We have about 7 days to decide what to do with. I am looking for some ideas - basically to get us focused in our research. We aren't opposed to flying someplace from Singapore, but would prefer not to have any long flights.

My husband and I are mid-30s, reasonably good shape. We love the outdoors and like moderate hiking and biking. My husband is really into photography. We are interested in religious sites, museums, history, good food, beautiful beaches, mountains. We aren't sunworshipers though, so no laying around on the beach really - more like hanging out under a tree with a cool beverage and some snacks, looking at the water and people watching, maybe a swim now and then, and strolls along the beach - that type of thing.

I don't want to plan any activities too taxing though since I don't know how the heat and humidity will affect us. We went to New Orleans and southern Louisiana last June and were pretty much fine, so we aren't total wimps, but I understand SE Asia is a lot hotter and more humid than New Orleans. So definitely want to plan some slack time for just hanging out. And it IS vacation, so we want to have a decent amount of relaxation with our sightseeing.

Any recommendations are very much appreciated
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Old Jan 20th, 2008, 10:21 AM
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I'm no expert on the area, having been but once...but we spent 5 days in Penang as part of a 3-week trip to SE Asia, and really enjoyed it. It doesn't have the top beaches in the region, but it does have culture and history, and is reputed to have the best mix of food in Malaysia. I'm pretty sure you can fly direct from Singapore to Penang; if not, I know you can head across the causeway to Johor and fly from there.
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Old Jan 20th, 2008, 11:42 AM
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Have you considered Bali?
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Old Jan 20th, 2008, 12:03 PM
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Bali, absolutely fits the bill - history, religious sites, good food, mountains, outdoor stuff, beaches are ok but not world class but coastal scene is nice. Hire a driver like Putu often mentioned on this forum. With a full 7 days, you can have an enjoyable escape and very easy to get to from SIN.
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Old Jan 20th, 2008, 02:47 PM
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Bali is definitely on our list of places to consider. I've been reading a bit about the area and looking at some pictures on Flickr - looks like a really neat place to visit.

I hadn't thought about Penang, but will definitely research that.

I've also been reading about Taman Negara as a possibility.
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Old Jan 20th, 2008, 05:55 PM
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Several places immediately strike me as possibilities:

1. Bali, as mentioned, is a lovely place and it's culture is unique, being the only Hindu island in Indonesia.

2. Penang is a nice idea, but not for beaches. Instead, consider the Georgetown area for it's historic value and the fabulous food. A stay at the E&O is worth the whole trip. If you search on Penang, you'll find my report from 2006.

3. Malaysian Borneo -either Sabah or Sarawak depending on your interests. Look for Kathie's Borneo Trip report.
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Old Jan 20th, 2008, 11:26 PM
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With 14 days, I would certainly say to pick at least TWO destinations. If you are coming all the way here, I don't think I would spend 14 days in any one place. As you have 14 days not including your int'l flight days, it might be possible to include 3 places, that would depend on what you pick, how far apart they are, etc.

Bali is certainly a good choice. Lots to see and do there. Weather in June is good. See weatherbase.com for an idea of weather in all the areas you are considering. I have not hiked very much in Bali so can't really comment. There is some biking, but I would have to say its more going village to village, which is extremely pleasant, but its not any kind of biking on trails that you may have had in Europe or other places. There are some outfits like Sobeck who do bicycle trips, see http://www.balisobek.com/index.html if that interests you. (They do a great whitewater rafting trip outside Ubud). Many good restaurants, very few if any museums although there are art galleries that are very interesting. I would consider including a trip over toe the Yogyakarta area on neighboring Java to see Borbadour and Prambanan, two major religious sites (the former is particularly great for photographs) in the very lush Javanese countryside. Yogya itelf has some interesting sights as well.

You could also consider hiring a car (you have to drive on the "other" side of the road, but you can do it) and going up the EAST coast of Malaysia where the beaches are truly beautiful and the little offshore islands are too. (Beaches are much nicer here than the west coast, where Penang is.) Great snorkeling and excellent diving. Little fishing villages and rubber plantations. You could also do this in reverse and fly to a place like Kuala Terengganu and rent the car there and drive down the coast to Singapore. There are some excellent islands off of Kuala Terengganu (Redang, the Perhatians). There are some great little islands further south in the Mersing area like Rawa and the Kucils. There is Kuantan which is a bit developed but an easy drive from Singapore. Very good weather in June. You could also include a trip to Taman Negara national park where you could get in some walking in the rainforest. There is an entrance near Kuala Terrenganu (but you have to leave the car). If you don't want to rent a car, you could fly to Kuala Terengganu and get out to many of these areas by boat or stay at a resort out on these islands. You can taxi or bus to Mersing for many of these places. (I would not recommend Tioman Island, its too developed IMO.)

You could pick up the car or drop off the car in Johor Bahru, the town in Malaysia just on the other side of the causeway from Singapore. This would save you drop off charges for dropping it off in anther country, and would also mean you would avoid city traffic in Singapore (the harder part of driving on the wrong side of the road, IMO). Get your friends to take you up there to the rental place or take a taxi from Singapore (not expensive, about 30 minutes fro downtown Singapore including the stop at Immigration).

It would be possible to include Penang and Malacca in a 14- day trip of course. You could start in Kuala Lumpur for example and work your way around and down or across the peninsula and down. Get a guidebook for Malaysia and see your options.

The highland cooler tea plantation areas of Malaysia are also a thought, like Genting Highlands and Fraisers Hill. There is some very good walking and hiking here and the elevation makes it much cooler. For these, I would probably suggest flying to Kuala Lumpur (its 2 hours to Fraiser and less than an hour to Genting from there), although you could drive to from Singapore in about 5-6 hours to either (the short route would not necessarily be the most scenic as you would go via highways and up the middle rather than the coast). It may be possible to take a train part of this way, at least to KL if you want a kind of interesting trip.

Your friends of course may have other suggestions.

I agree with the Kalimantan (i.e. "Borneo") suggestion esp. if you want to climb Mt Kinabalu, a good climb and worth the effort, esp. as you seen to like mountains and this is about the only place you may see them. (Unless you come to Hong Kong). I would not spend 14 days here, however, so do this as a shorter trip that includes other places. If you are a diver, by all means go from there to Sipadan (or consider getting certified before you go and then include Sipadan, one of the best in the world.)

If you like walking and hiking I would also very strongly recommend Hong Kong which has just some of the best hiking going in SE Asia, IMO. (Yes believe it or not, more than 50% of the land here is national park.) Lots of well-marked trails with just stunning views of city and/or completely rural landscapes, through little villages, beaches, etc. It will be quite hot and humid in June in Hong Kong (same as Singapore) but if you go early and take it slow, these are doable for a person in good shape. (You can also swim at some of the beaches to cool off). Also Hong Kong has so much else to do like great restaurants, some good museums (although Singapore's are superb) lots of little temples and markets and great people-watching. If you can arrange your international flights, it would be ideal to fly out of Hong Kong to go back to your home, as this would avoid backtracking to Singapore. If it's not too late you may want to look into "open jaw" tickets into Singapore and out of another place (even Bali if that is your choice, this may require a transit someplace like Hong Kong, which works well in combination with a trip to Bali IMO).

Although you say you are not beach people, in June, and coming to and from Singapore, I have to say that the Maldives are an extremely easy flight (4 hours) and the beaches are the most beautiful anywhere I have been so far in the world. There is however nothing to do beyond some excellent snorkeling and diving (tons of fish life) and just weeping at the beauty of the beaches, water colour, etc. No walking or hiking of any note (islands are flat and small). I also have to say that the Maldevians are bar none the most lovely people I have met anywhere in the world so far (and that includes the Thai and Balinese who are extremely hospitable people). There are however, very few opportunities to see village life, although if you go south to Gan you can certainly see some. Male, the capital is not much to write home about, and I am not sure I would recco any time there unless for catching a flight out.

We haven't of course even discussed places like Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos etc. where hiking and walking is also a possibility and which have too many cultural sights to mention (Ankor Wat, etc). Thailand and Vietnam offer some mountains. For real mountains with snow, there is of course places in the PRC like Lijiang in Yunan Province which has great trekking in Tiger Leaping Gorge. (No beaches however, and kind of limited on the religions sites IMO, although Lijiang is extremely charming.) These are all relatively easily reachable from Singapore by air.

SE Asia is vast and there are LOTS of places. IMO your problem will be limiting yourself to what will fit into 2 weeks.
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Old Jan 21st, 2008, 12:30 AM
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J. Correa, I would concur that the combination of Singapore, Bali and Central Java (Yogyakarta/Borobudur) would fulfill just about everything on your wish list, especially in the culture, art and religion categories. All of Indonesia is a photographer's dream.

Hiking, biking, trekking, exploring are doable. (Plus rafting, snorkling, surfing, caving, birding and lots more.) It's hard to say how you'll react to the heat and humidity. As you get to higher altitudes it does cool down and the beach area is fairly fresh and breezy, but there's no doubt that mid-day at sealevel it can be HOT as blazes. You just need to take it slowly and plan ample spa and nap time.

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Old Jan 21st, 2008, 02:05 AM
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My first thought was Sabah and/or Sarawak - between them they have just about everything - except perhaps top notch museums, and I'm no expert on the food. I mean the food was good but I don't do gourmet!

On second thoughts I'd say leave Singapore by bus to Johor Bharu. Fly to Khota Bahru and go to the Perhentian Islands. Then back to KB; fly to Kuala Lumpur for some excellent museums and big city vibe. Then Melaka by train and back. Or you could do it in reverse.

I like Penang too. And yes there's Thailand, and Laos and Vietnam and the wonderful Angkor Wat (and Jetstar Asia fly direct to Siem Reap from Singapore).

Depends on how much you'd prefer not to fly to much/too far. And there's certainly plenty to choose from closer to SNG.

Cheers.
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Old Jan 21st, 2008, 03:43 AM
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You could factor into your trip the possibility of using Air Asia as their fares are very reasonable, especially when they are having their special deals, one on now for flying up to end April. Otherwise they have their sales in March and September. They now fly to Yogkayarta and the newest destination is Hangzhou in China. You could make KL your base.
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Old Jan 21st, 2008, 07:10 AM
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My read of J Correa's original postsis that while they have 14 days in Asia, they only have 7 free days in the middle to do something with. Given that time constraint, I'd choose one place, with the option of a day trip or two.
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Old Jan 21st, 2008, 09:18 AM
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Wow - great ideas. These responses are exactly what I was looking for - just a barrage of possibilies so that we can research them and see what appeals to us.

We do have 14 days total (not including the days flying from home to Singapore and back), about 7 of those we will take off on our own and about 7 of those days we will be with our friends in Singapore. While in Singapore, we plan to take day trips and prehaps an overnight side trip in addition to seeing Singapore itself. And before making our plans, I will definitely find out what our friends are planning for us while we are with them.

I have to resist the urge to try and cram too much into the time we have since there is an incredible amount to see. Definitely need to plan with the idea that we will be back another time to see more things

Thanks again for all the ideas, and of course if anyone has more, bring them on.
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Old Jan 21st, 2008, 05:14 PM
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Sorry I was a little confused by your message and thought you had 14 days not including your time in Singapore. With only 7 days IMO you should probably limit yourself to one other place, and if you choose Malaysia, will have to limit the places you visit there as well, but you can still make quite a nice trip. You still may want to look into "open jaw" air tickets as this may save you up to a day in traveling back to Singapore simply to get your flight out.

For overnight trips from Singapore, Malacca is a usual one as it is close, the very close-in parts of the east coast of Malaysia (like Desaru beach or the island of Bintan) are another (Desaru is pretty but not as nice, IMO as the more northerly beaches, Bintan has some nice hotels but is not a great beach destination, but for an overnight it's easy to get away and your friends may like to do it). A day trip to Johor Baru is easy to do from Singapore, you can visit a rubber plantation and the sultan has a palace you can see a part of, there used to be a little fishing village on stilts that was fun to visit, I assume it is still there. There is also Pulau Ubun in Singapore where you can rent bikes and have a tour and have great seafood, good for an afternoon. You can also rent bikes and ride along the paved path by the beaches of East Coast Park, which is quite pretty (for an urban type beach of course), I believe you can do this at Pasir Ris beach park too. (website for Ubun and East Coast parks and all parks in Singapore is at http://www.nparks.gov.sg ) There is also waterskiing in the northern part of the island there as well. If you sail you can rent lasers and smaller watercraft at East Coast Park, a bit weird to sail amongst the huge tankers anchored there, but fun when you get used to it. I don't know how much of this your friends may alredy be familair with as I don't know how long they hve lived there (I lived in S'pore for 5 years.)

There aren't any public holidays in June in Singapore, but check the Singapore Tourism Board website at http://www.visitsingapore.com and of course ask your friends if anything is going on like an art or music festival. For example, The Police are in concert there in early Feb, and there may be somethging similar going on while you are there.

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Old Jan 21st, 2008, 06:54 PM
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To fill up 7 days, allow me to suggest nearby peninsula Malaysia ...

2 days KL
2-3 days Ipoh / Cameron Highlands
2 days Penang

You can fly into KL (about 1hr flight), comb the KL-Ipoh-Penang corridor and fly back to Spore from Penang airport. Between them, use taxis. The taxi fare for KL-Ipoh is roughly RM230 and Ipoh-Penang RM180.

There are tons of information about KL and Penang over the net to help you research. However, to help you visualize Ipoh, Cameron and rainforest hiking, take a look at http://malaysiaupclose.wordpress.com/category/map-ipoh/ and http://malaysiaupclose.wordpress.com...eron-highland/

This region is easy to navigate and locals have no problem with English.

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