21 days in Malaysia

Old Oct 20th, 2007, 09:49 AM
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21 days in Malaysia

Hello All,

Looking for some advice for our trip to Malaysia for 3 weeks. We were thinking on going to the following places

Dec 28 Land in KL
Dec 30 fly to Langkawi
Jan 6 ferry? to Penang
Jan 10 get to the east coast, maybe Tioman? Redang? Are there places to stay that are even open at this time?
We also would like to do the Cameron Highlands for a few days and check out KL near the end. We are thinking of renting a car from KL to get to the CH?

Questions: Is it possible to dive the east coast during monsoon season? If so would you suggest Tioman or Redang?

What are good dive sites on the West?

Any thoughts on changes or places we should do instead? Doesn't seem like there are many Penang or Langkawi fans on this forum

A little about us, we've traveled extensively and have spent 4 weeks in Thailand a few years ago and my wife has spent time in Bali.

Any suggestions would be highly welcomed. Cheers.
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Old Oct 20th, 2007, 12:57 PM
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Hi,
I have travelled to all the places you have mentioned except redang.
I went in march/april time[very hot and sunny everyday],so the weather will be quite different i should imagine in dec.
KL is really good city,2-3 days and you should get to see all the highlights, the petronas towers, the menara tower, also the batu caves,and a visit to FRIM,the forestry commision just outside kl is worth going to for the canopy walk.
Also very good shopping malls [ cheap shoes].
Langkawi is very nice,but was abit too quiet for us,we stayed at the berjaya resort, which is by a really good beach,and close to the cable car,and the oriental village.
There is not alot to do on Langkawi,we hired a car,and explored the top of the island,which was fun.
Penang has not got such good beaches, but the food there is excellant,also there is a very big night market [if you like that sort of thing]
We hiked abit in the national forest and found a good beach,which we had to ourselves ,apart from the park rangers.
Tioman [again we stayed at the berjaya resort], is another very quiet island,but we loved it there, really beautiful beaches,we treked from one side of the island to the other,and just relaxed.
i have also been to most of the Thai islands, and have to say that i do prefer Thailand to Malaysia.The one exception being Borneo ,which is my fav destination so far, there is so much to see and do there,nature, adventure,and beautiful islands.[we went to sabah]
if you have not thought of going to Borneo,i would consider it, its very easy to get a flight from KL to kota kinabalu,and i'm sure you would really like it there,not sure about the weather in dec though.
Have fun where ever you go
suzi
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Old Oct 20th, 2007, 03:27 PM
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The east coast will be rainy. Of course, it won't be diving weather. If you really want diving, you should consider a side trip to Sabah (one of the Malaysian Borneo provinces). If you want to see the rainforests, I'd also recommend Borneo.

We enjoyed Penang, not for the beaches but for historic Georgetown, the E&O and the hawker food.

I've written two trip reports that might be helpful to you. From November, 2006, Kathie's Penang, Chiang Mai and Bangkok Trip report. From November, 2005, Kathie's Borneo Trip report.
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Old Oct 21st, 2007, 06:49 AM
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Kathie, When were in Borneo how hot and humid did you find it. Was it any worse than SR, Cambodia during Feb? I have been to the latter and felt fine, but have been hesitant to go to Borneo, because people have said it is much hotter and more humid than SR, and I do not like being active outdoors in high temps and high humidity.
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Old Oct 21st, 2007, 07:35 AM
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We found Borneo not as hot as Cambodia. Especially in the Danum Valley, as it was shady and therefore cooler. Even strolling Kuching was not as hot nor as humid as Cambodia. We were in Borneo in November.
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Old Oct 21st, 2007, 10:39 AM
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Kathie-Thanks so much for your reply. I guess we will look into going to Borneo at some time. We are flexible as to when we travel. Generally speaking, is there a best time to visit and tour Borneo?
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Old Oct 21st, 2007, 01:01 PM
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It depends on where you are going and what you want to do. I understand that we weren't in the Danum Valley at the best time for seeing wildlife, but we still had a great experience and there were very few people at the lodge. I believe highest season is May-Aug there.
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