silverwool

I am planning a trip to Sabah and/or Sarawak later in the year. While i will probably have more questions later, I'd initially like to know if two and a half weeks (actually in Borneo) is enough to do justice to both countries or am I better sticking to one? My main interests are photography, history and local culture. I'd like to do some trekking with Mount Kinabalu as a goal.

I have read Kathie's report on her trip and the Borneo Rainforest Lodge sounds great. (Expensive but probably justified)

Finally, I thought I'd spend a couple of days in either Kuala Lumpur or Singapore on my way back to Australia but not sure which would be the best for a short visit. Shopping is not a priority! I will be going from Borneo to Siem Reap to see my daughter so will probably have to go there by KL anyway.

Kathie

With two and a half weeks, I'd stick to one country. Malaysian Borneo (Sabah and Sarawak) is most accessible and has the best infrastructure. Kalimanatan, Indonesian Borneo is more difficult, with less accessibility and less developed infrastructure. With two and a half weeks, you can visit both Sabah and Sarawak and can see quite a bit.

Either KL or Singapore would be fine for a few day stopover. You can get to Siem Reap from either (Silk Air flies from SIngapore to Siem Reap). Personally, I find SIngapore more interesting. I don't shop much in either city.

What a wonderful trip! It makes me want to go back. I'll be glad to answer any questions I can about Sabah and Sarawak for you.

silverwool

Thanks Kathie, I was planning to stick to the Malaysian side but was wondering about Sabah or Sarawak. You answered my question - both are feasible in the time available.

While there are obvious downsides with having a daughter living in Cambodia it does provide a perfect excuse for a trip to SE Asia! As farmers we have to travel separately so my wife travels with her sister and I have to travel solo.

Kathie

Yes, it's a wonderful excuse for a trip. Have a great time!

travel4flowers

We spent 2 weeks in Borneo in February. Coming from Seattle, we were able to fly directly to KK (no stops in KL or Singapore) via Seoul. Our interests are plants, photography and hiking. The biggest challenge is figuring out transportation routes to make the most of your time and interests.

We arrived in KK and spent two nights to recover from jet lag. We rented a car and drove to Mt. Kinabalu where we stayed at Magic Mountain B&B between Kundasang and Mesilau for three nights. This allowed us to do short day hikes at Mesilau and Park HQ. We wanted to see the pitcher plants and orchids. We returned to KK and flew to Latah Datu and spent two nights in Danum Valley. We returned to KK and then flew the next morning to Kuching. We spent 3 nights in Kuching and then went to Bako for 1 night. We returned and stayed 2 nights in Santubong Peninsula at Village House.

Danum Valley is very special but it is also very expensive. We balanced the cost by staying at 1 or 2 star hotels in KK and Kuching. Kuching a beautiful city. I liked it much better than KK. The food is wonderful in Kuching.

We had a beautiful clear day at Mt. Kinabalu. We didn't go very far on the Mesilau trail but we were able to see spectacular flora which made our trip. Bako was very interesting and very hot. The accommodations are extremely basic. We did get to see proboscis monkeys and hike up to the plateau to see more unusual flora.

We did not get a chance to go to the Kinabatangan River. Another couple at Danum had spent one night and had great luck seeing animals along the river including pygmy elephants. We do not dive so we did not consider any of the islands.

There is a wide variety of ways to arrange your two weeks. I hope this helps to give you and idea of what you can do in two and half weeks.

Cicerone

I just want to comment that if you have any flexibility over timing, then I would avoid Sabah and Sarawak in the late summer and fall months as they are the rainiest. (roughly July – end November). No point in going when it is wettest, esp if you want to climb Kinabalu or do any snorkeling or diving. See weatherbase.com or other sights for info.

I also prefer Singapore over KL as I think it is more accessible for a tourist, and has more sights. I like KL for food and people, but it’s so amorphous; there really is not that much to look at or do once you have seen the Petronas towers, the lovely train station and one or two temples or mosques. I think most people end up shopping. Singapore has really excellent museums and great ethnic town areas in addition to the colonial Padang area, the restored shop houses along the river, and a very nice coastline park area if you want some beach time or a meal by the sea. (KL’s Little India is literally one street of about 500 yards.) You get a real Asian mix in Singapore.

Note that Ramadan this year will start about August 21 and end about September 20. While generally in Malaysia this does not mean wholesale closures during the day of things like restaurants, you might want to just be aware of the possibility. Hotel restaurants usually are not affected. This does in my experience make restaurants more crowded in the evening however as people break their fast.

crellston

We "climbed" Mt Kinabalu a few years ago after a friends "naming ceremony" in the Bario highlands. It was one of the toughest treks I have ever done but worth it. The sense of awe and achievement as we reached the summit to wathc dawn break was fantastic. It takes a couple of days with an overnight stay at the hut at 10,000ft (it was a bit grim with dormitory style accomodation) we rose at around 2.30am to start the final ascent to the summit which was as bad as it seemed as we couldn't sleep because of the altitude!

Of the 10 or so friends that started out six of us made the summit the others being affected by altitude sickness. We were the last of our group to descend and as we started a TV crew were filming at the summit and asked us to walk along a ridge so they could film us for a promotional video. (a couple of years later when we visited Malaysia again and had completely forgotten about the filming we were suprised to see ourselves on the TV at the airport which was screening the video!

The trek is definitely worth trying, the scenery is amazing and so varied and watching the sunrise above the clouds rates as one of teh highlights of my travelling life. There is no technical climbing involved but you do need to be reasonably fit. Good luck!

silverwool

Thank you very much for the advice (especially to travel4flowers for resurrecting the thread). Unfortunately July it is, as I have a narrow window of opportunity after lambing and before I start work in August. Traveling from Australia, jet lag is not a problem. Altitude sickness may be as I have no opportunity to prepare. Ditto with the humidity. We occasionally get hotter temperatures than I have encountered in the tropics (One day in the very high 40s last summer) it is a dry heat with humidity in the single figures. However it will be the middle of winter here.

I think Singapore it is unless I decide to spend longer in Borneo and/or Cambodia. Quality of accommodation is of low priority. The Danum Valley can be my splurge in that direction.

How busy is Malaysian Borneo at that time of year? Normally I book my first night's accommodation and then just wing it from there.

travel4flowers

You will need to definitely book Mt. Kinabalu if you are going to do the climb. It is typically done in 2 days, with 1 night at Laban Rata as Crellston mentions. There is only one option to overnight and this does get booked up in advance. There are a lot of outfitters but they will be booking through Sutera Sanctuary.

If you do plan in advance, you may also be able to take advantage of discount airfare. There can be great deals going from Singapore to Kuching. Some of these are available also at last minute. We had talked to several people in Kuching who had flown over from Singapore on Air Asia on really cheap fare.

It was not busy when we visited in February. We did ask a couple of the hoteliers when their busy season was and they said it picked up in June - mostly due to it being summer in the northern hemisphere.

I agree with others regarding stopping over in Singapore. It has a lot of diversity.

shanek

We were in Kota Kibabula last August and apart from one night of heavy rain we were quite pleased with the weather. We were there on a business convention so I dont know if they specifically held places for the delagates but we managed to book the Mt Kinabula trip whilst we were there. We didn't have any altitute issues as you spend a night at a reasonable altitute which was enough time to aclimatize before tackling the summit. There seemed to be development everywhere and the town itself was not all that inspiring but the waterfront area was nice for dinner and a night out and a trip out to the Islands was also pleasant. Including an overnight climb 4-5 days would probably be enough here before you move on but unfortunately for us we couldn't go anywhere else as we needed to get home to the kids.
I would also vote for Singapore rather than KL if you had to choose one. It is possibly a more expensive city but has some world class attractions, particularly the zoo.

Whilst in Kota Kinabula, try this day spa... http://www.sixsensesborneo.com/
We did the hot rock 2 hour massage and it was one of the most wonderful 2 hours I have ever spent.

Kathie

Travel4flowers, I'm so glad to hear from another Seattleite who has been to Borneo! I had no idea you could fly non-stop from Seoul to KK. Of course, since I'm always figuring out ff miles, I have to make an additional stop to get my miles and maintain my status.

Shanek, while I can't get your link to work, I believe that was the day spa we went to after our trip to the Danum valley. We also did the hot stone massage (plus some other things) and it was just wonderful!

travel4flowers

Thanks Kathie - it was your trip report that pointed us to Danum. Great place for a visit.

I am still working on my photos. I have a collection on flickr of what I have done so far - maybe 85%. I still Bako to do but I think it will give you a good idea of what to see.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/6688925...7617797075193/

Kathie

Travel, I love your Danum Valley photos - you got a couple of excellent photos of the orangutans - hard to do, I know. The BRL was closed for a number of month while they did some refurbishing inside and out, and I can see the improvements. The BRL is a place I'd return to.

travel4flowers

Thanks Kathie. We totally lucked out when we were up at coffin cliff. King, the large male Orangutan, appeared on the cliff beyond. He started climbing up the vines so it was tough trying to get a picture.

They are still working on new cabins and more renovations. We stayed in the deluxe cabins which had the deck tubs. Very nice. The food is also excellent.

silverwool

Thanks again to everyone for your help and especially to travel4flowers for your photo link and travel blog. I am still reading through the entries but they make me want to pack.....

lhgreenacres

We visited Borneo last August and absolutely loved it. the weather was hot and humid as expected and we did have some afternoon rain in the Danum Valley but it only added to the rainforest experience. We spent 7 days at the Borneo Rainforest Lodge and would still want to go back again. I would recommend if you can afford it, to arrange to have a private guide. It was not very expensive and it was so great to be able to do whatever we wanted each day. We saw orangutans, elephants and gibbons and the rare Malaysian sun bear. I thought our guide was going to have a heart attack when we saw the bear. We found out later that it had been years since anyone had since one so we were incredibly lucky.
Enjoy whatever you do but I would recommend that you give yourself enough time to really experience Borneo.

Kathie

Seven days at the BRL! How wonderful!

By the way, you comment about a private guide confuses me. When we were at the BRL, every party had their own private guide for their whole stay. Has this changed?

krish

My wife and I, are planning to go to Sarawak in October. We will land in KL and we have five days with us. I shall be grateful for a practical itinerary.
Thanks,
Krishnan

Kathie

Krishan, you might want to start a new topic for your question. In order to be helpful, we'll need to know what you are interested in. I'm assuming you'll have 5 days in Sarawak, not 5 days betwen Sarawak and KL, but do clarify.