Malaysia during Hari Raya (Eid al Ftir) week: travel advice needed
Feb 18th, 2019 | 12:37 PM
#1
Original Poster
Joined: Feb 2019
Posts: 2
Likes: 0
Malaysia during Hari Raya (Eid al Ftir) week: travel advice needed
Fellow Travellers,
We have planned a 3 week holiday in Malaysia from Thu 30 May to Tue 18 June.
We've read about the Ramadan and the Hari Raya holidays and we are about worried about the impact it can have on our transportation and activities. The Ramadan doesn't seem like a big deal, it's more about the Hari Raya and the holiday week that Malaysians take.This year, the Hari Raya holidays are on Wed 5 June and Thu 6 June. Does this mean that only those two days will be difficult to travel? Or does this apply to the long weekend (Wed 5 June to Sun 9 June) or to the whole week ( Sat 1 June to Sun 9 June) ?
And is that really such a big of a deal ?
We are considering taking the plane for intercity travel or eventually the bus/train. If we have a plane, is it still dificult to get to the airport ? And if we decide to travel by bus/train, is 1 day upfront enough for a reservation ?
Our current itineray is as such:
31 May - 3 June: Singapore
3 - 5 June: Melaca
5 - 6 June: Cameron Highland (is a car needed for this part ?)
6 - 9 June: Taman Negara (is a car needed for this part ?)
9 - 12 June: Penang
12 - 15 June: Pulau Perhentian
15 - 18 June: Kuala Lumpur
We're not sure about about Melaca and the Cameron Highland. Our itinerary is still very flexible based on feedback of feasability and impact of the holidays.
Things we surely want to do:
* Snorkerling at Pulau Perhentian at the end of our trip.
* Start in Singapore and end in Kuala Lumpur (or otherwise).
* Go to Penang/ Georgetown.
* Jungle hike and see wild life.
We can also squeeze a few days in Borneo as a replacement to the Cameron Highlands and Taman Negara
Kind regards,
Yacine
We have planned a 3 week holiday in Malaysia from Thu 30 May to Tue 18 June.
We've read about the Ramadan and the Hari Raya holidays and we are about worried about the impact it can have on our transportation and activities. The Ramadan doesn't seem like a big deal, it's more about the Hari Raya and the holiday week that Malaysians take.This year, the Hari Raya holidays are on Wed 5 June and Thu 6 June. Does this mean that only those two days will be difficult to travel? Or does this apply to the long weekend (Wed 5 June to Sun 9 June) or to the whole week ( Sat 1 June to Sun 9 June) ?
And is that really such a big of a deal ?
We are considering taking the plane for intercity travel or eventually the bus/train. If we have a plane, is it still dificult to get to the airport ? And if we decide to travel by bus/train, is 1 day upfront enough for a reservation ?
Our current itineray is as such:
31 May - 3 June: Singapore
3 - 5 June: Melaca
5 - 6 June: Cameron Highland (is a car needed for this part ?)
6 - 9 June: Taman Negara (is a car needed for this part ?)
9 - 12 June: Penang
12 - 15 June: Pulau Perhentian
15 - 18 June: Kuala Lumpur
We're not sure about about Melaca and the Cameron Highland. Our itinerary is still very flexible based on feedback of feasability and impact of the holidays.
Things we surely want to do:
* Snorkerling at Pulau Perhentian at the end of our trip.
* Start in Singapore and end in Kuala Lumpur (or otherwise).
* Go to Penang/ Georgetown.
* Jungle hike and see wild life.
We can also squeeze a few days in Borneo as a replacement to the Cameron Highlands and Taman Negara
Kind regards,
Yacine
Feb 18th, 2019 | 11:20 PM
#2
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 9,773
Likes: 0
Being a multicultural society, it is not as difficult tontravel at that time of year in Malaysia as it is say Indonesia. It will be busier, but I doubt you will experience too many transport problems. That said I would book trains and planes sooner rather than later. Popular routes on the trains can get booked up. We have got seats on the day but wouldn’t attempt it during a national holiday. We nearly always use Air Asia and find that it is much cheaper to book far in advance. As your time in the country is limited, I see little point in winging it whilst there and would book transport and accomodation ASAP.
As for your itinerary, my purely subjective view is that you are spending too much time in Singapore, although I confess I am just not a fan of the city. Melaka is possibly worth a day as it is on the way and easily reached by train but I would drop in favour of spending more time in one of your other locations.
How do you plan getting from Melaka to Cameron highlands? It could be quite a complicated trip and involve several changes of transport, probably via KL. If you dropped Melaka, I think there is a bus via Ipoh ( itself worth a couple of days) to Cameron Highlands. We visited during a holiday period and whilst the transport was ok the traffic was horrendous! I would get a bus and then a tour on arrival. It is not easy driving yourself to all the locations there. Finding a place to park can be a big issue.
Taman Negara is the place for jungle hiking on peninsula Malaysia. Whether you will see much wildlife is pot luck.
Borneo is also a great option but personally I would leave that to another trip. There is just so much to see there and much of the good stuff takes a while to get to. There are some photos and detail of some of our travels in Malaysia on our blog @ https://accidentalnomads.com/category/malaysia/ which may provide a flavour of the various places you plan on visiting.
Happy travels.
Perhentian is fantastic for snorkelling. We went diving there and saw just as much fish life snorkelling off the hotel beach as we did from a dive boat. Barracuda, big wrasse, even turtles. Agin do book early, we tried to revisit a couple of years ago and couldn’t find any decent tha had rooms. To get there we flew AA to Kuala Bahru and got a bus to Kuala Besut. Most hotels will arrange a ferry from KB to the islands.
As for your itinerary, my purely subjective view is that you are spending too much time in Singapore, although I confess I am just not a fan of the city. Melaka is possibly worth a day as it is on the way and easily reached by train but I would drop in favour of spending more time in one of your other locations.
How do you plan getting from Melaka to Cameron highlands? It could be quite a complicated trip and involve several changes of transport, probably via KL. If you dropped Melaka, I think there is a bus via Ipoh ( itself worth a couple of days) to Cameron Highlands. We visited during a holiday period and whilst the transport was ok the traffic was horrendous! I would get a bus and then a tour on arrival. It is not easy driving yourself to all the locations there. Finding a place to park can be a big issue.
Taman Negara is the place for jungle hiking on peninsula Malaysia. Whether you will see much wildlife is pot luck.
Borneo is also a great option but personally I would leave that to another trip. There is just so much to see there and much of the good stuff takes a while to get to. There are some photos and detail of some of our travels in Malaysia on our blog @ https://accidentalnomads.com/category/malaysia/ which may provide a flavour of the various places you plan on visiting.
Happy travels.
Perhentian is fantastic for snorkelling. We went diving there and saw just as much fish life snorkelling off the hotel beach as we did from a dive boat. Barracuda, big wrasse, even turtles. Agin do book early, we tried to revisit a couple of years ago and couldn’t find any decent tha had rooms. To get there we flew AA to Kuala Bahru and got a bus to Kuala Besut. Most hotels will arrange a ferry from KB to the islands.
Feb 24th, 2019 | 10:40 AM
#3
Original Poster
Joined: Feb 2019
Posts: 2
Likes: 0
Hi Crellston,
Thank you for your advice.
I already checked for transportation and it seems that busses and train can only be booked 1 month upfront. Therefore we'll book our airplanes leg as well as our accommodation in critical destinations upfront. For the buses/trains we'll check once the tickets will be online.
We've decided to change our itinerary to the following one. This in order to spend Hari Raya in Penang and then the days after it on the Perenthian Islands. This way we think to have minimal impact of the national holiday on our travel. What do you think about it ?
We'll then travel to CH or Taman Negara way after the Hari Raya
.
30/05/2019 Brussels to Singapore
31/05/2019 Arrival in Singapore
01/06/2019 Sinagpore
02/06/2019 Singapore
03/06/2019 Singapore to Malacca by bus
04/06/2019 Malacca to Penang by plane
05/06/2019 (Hari Raya) Penang
06/06/2019 (Hari Raya) Penang
07/06/2019 Penang to Perhentian island
08/06/2019 Perhentian island
09/06/2019 Perhentian island
10/06/2019 Perhentian island
11/06/2019 Perhentian toTaman Negara
12/06/2019 Taman Negara
13/06/2019 Taman Negara to Cameron Highland
14/06/2019 Cameron Highland
15/06/2019 Cameron Highland
16/06/2019 Cameron Higland to Kuala Lumpur
17/06/2019 Kuala Lumpur
18/06/2019 Kuala Lumpur to Brussels
19/06/2019 Arrival in Brussels
The periode for Taman Negaga and Cameron Highland is still to be discussed. We don't know if we'll do both or skip one of them to spend more time in the other. Any suggestion for this? I'd love to some trekking on a highland (loved to walk along rice fields in Vietnam) and in the meantime I am very keen on animals and would love to see wildlife.
Thank you for your advice.
I already checked for transportation and it seems that busses and train can only be booked 1 month upfront. Therefore we'll book our airplanes leg as well as our accommodation in critical destinations upfront. For the buses/trains we'll check once the tickets will be online.
We've decided to change our itinerary to the following one. This in order to spend Hari Raya in Penang and then the days after it on the Perenthian Islands. This way we think to have minimal impact of the national holiday on our travel. What do you think about it ?
We'll then travel to CH or Taman Negara way after the Hari Raya
.
30/05/2019 Brussels to Singapore
31/05/2019 Arrival in Singapore
01/06/2019 Sinagpore
02/06/2019 Singapore
03/06/2019 Singapore to Malacca by bus
04/06/2019 Malacca to Penang by plane
05/06/2019 (Hari Raya) Penang
06/06/2019 (Hari Raya) Penang
07/06/2019 Penang to Perhentian island
08/06/2019 Perhentian island
09/06/2019 Perhentian island
10/06/2019 Perhentian island
11/06/2019 Perhentian toTaman Negara
12/06/2019 Taman Negara
13/06/2019 Taman Negara to Cameron Highland
14/06/2019 Cameron Highland
15/06/2019 Cameron Highland
16/06/2019 Cameron Higland to Kuala Lumpur
17/06/2019 Kuala Lumpur
18/06/2019 Kuala Lumpur to Brussels
19/06/2019 Arrival in Brussels
The periode for Taman Negaga and Cameron Highland is still to be discussed. We don't know if we'll do both or skip one of them to spend more time in the other. Any suggestion for this? I'd love to some trekking on a highland (loved to walk along rice fields in Vietnam) and in the meantime I am very keen on animals and would love to see wildlife.
Feb 24th, 2019 | 11:54 PM
#4
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 9,773
Likes: 0
A few thoughts:
Plenty of people do a day or overnight trip from KL to Taman Negara. if you just want a taste of the rainforest then fine but for me it would not be long enough.
In contrast the highlights of the Cameron Highlands can be seen in one full days so two nights would be plenty for me. Not quite as spectacular as the rice terraces in northern Vietnam but impressive nonetheless - although clearly with tea rather than rice and it does have a colonial English feel to it! it is possible to hike there but most seem to just go on 4WD tours.
Have you considered Royal Belum NP rather than Taman Negara? When we were last there I recall that it was relatively easily reached the bus between Perhentian and Penang.
One train journey that I looked at was the Jungle Railway https://www.seat61.com/Malaysia.htm#The_Jungle_Line which leaves from Tumpat near Kota Bahru (for Perhentian) - it would be an adventurous alternative and you could either go back to KL or jump off at Taman Negara.
If it were me, based on my interests, I think I would drop Cameron Highlands completely. I would possibly add a day or two to Penang and Taman Negara and maybe include that train ride.
One thing to bear in mind is that to stand any chance of seeing wildlife in any rainforest, you need to spend a bit of time there, the longer the better, and get away from the main population centres. An organised trek with a good guide will provide a much better chance of sightings (other than the ubiquitous monkeys, birds, lizards etc.)
Plenty of people do a day or overnight trip from KL to Taman Negara. if you just want a taste of the rainforest then fine but for me it would not be long enough.
In contrast the highlights of the Cameron Highlands can be seen in one full days so two nights would be plenty for me. Not quite as spectacular as the rice terraces in northern Vietnam but impressive nonetheless - although clearly with tea rather than rice and it does have a colonial English feel to it! it is possible to hike there but most seem to just go on 4WD tours.
Have you considered Royal Belum NP rather than Taman Negara? When we were last there I recall that it was relatively easily reached the bus between Perhentian and Penang.
One train journey that I looked at was the Jungle Railway https://www.seat61.com/Malaysia.htm#The_Jungle_Line which leaves from Tumpat near Kota Bahru (for Perhentian) - it would be an adventurous alternative and you could either go back to KL or jump off at Taman Negara.
If it were me, based on my interests, I think I would drop Cameron Highlands completely. I would possibly add a day or two to Penang and Taman Negara and maybe include that train ride.
One thing to bear in mind is that to stand any chance of seeing wildlife in any rainforest, you need to spend a bit of time there, the longer the better, and get away from the main population centres. An organised trek with a good guide will provide a much better chance of sightings (other than the ubiquitous monkeys, birds, lizards etc.)
