MustWanderLust

Can anyone recommend any treks for April in Southeast Asia? I like the idea of Rinjani in Indonesia but I am looking for other suggestions as well. I enjoy mountains, but also like the idea of a cultural trek.

silverwool

I enjoyed trekking in Northern Laos (Luang NamTha area). This was in June and a bit wet. April should be dryer. There are plenty of fairly unspoiled areas in Laos. ie not many tourists. Another option is climbing Mount Kinabalu in Sabah.

crellston

We have done a fair amount of trekking around SEAsia but never in Indonesia. The top experience for me was Kinabalu in Sabah. At around 4300m it is higher than Rinjani and the altitude will affect everyone it is just a question of how much (3 out of our group of 10 had to turn back). You need to be reasonably fit but there is no technical climbing involved. The ascent takes you through rainforest, alpines scenery and bare rock at the summit. Watching dawn break above the clouds is one of those magical moments that stay with you forever. The ascent takes two days with a night in a bunkhouse before commencing the final ascent at 2,00am. Whilst in Borneo we also spent some time in the Kelabit highlands. Remote and not often visited but there is some great trekking from village to village and the people and culture are wonderful.


For a "cultural" type trek, as silverwool says Northern Laos offers some great trekking. Luang Namtha is good as are the areas Muang Sing and Phongsali. The scenery beautiful but the main reason for most is to expeirence the culture of teh minorty peoples in the area. A good guide will enhance your experience no end. Alos, invest in the Lonely Planet Thai phrasebook it has a section on hilltribe languages at the end and learning a few words and using them in th evillages will make you VERY welcome. Weather should be good in April but you need to watch out for the smog at that time of year as it is slash and burn time for the farmers in the region. You can monitor air quality for nothern Thailand on this site http://www.pcd.go.th/airquality/regional/default.cfm
We were there in April 2006 and it was really bad!
Now, where are my hiking boots?!!

MustWanderLust

Thanks for the info!

I have looked into Kinabalu before,it looks amazing and right up my alley. My only problem is that it seems it bit expensive. Did you book your climb before you went? If so, which company did you use? When trying to book a room at the Laban Rata, all the rooms appear to be booked. I have a feeling that it is either that time of year or maybe they sold their rooms to travel agents.

http://www.suterasanctuarylodges.com/

silverwool

Re Kinabalu, I was there in July and had not booked before i went. I visited a local travel agency on the day of my arrival in Kota Kinabalu and was on the mountain the next day. (I forget the name but can probably check) This may have been unusual, I don't know and may have contributed to my altitude sickness.

I noted complaints about guides on another post on Fodors, bear in mind that your guide may speak minimal English. Ours spent most of his time smoking, subsequently coughing and checking his text messages!

Re Laos, I trekked with Green Discovery and did the Nan Ha Valley trek.

crellston

Like silverwool we arranger a guide when we arrived at the park. To be frank the guide was acomplete bit of a waste of space. We lost him on the way up and only met him again on the way down the next day (probably looking for his tip!). With regard to rooms at Laban Rata , they are almost certainly booked out to agents so you should be able to get a space via a guide.

silverwool

Sorry, slight misunderstanding. Our guide was arranged through the travel agent. I suspect we were just given one who was available. The couple I climbed with arranged to meet him to start climbing at 2 AM and he turned up at a quarter to three and just started climbing. They rarely saw him on the final ascent. However, I've been told that some guides are excellent.

I think that the use a guide is compulsory.

CanCan

I'm an expat in Laos, and just a heads up that April is the HOTTEST month of the year.
I thought it couldn't get any hotter, but in 2005 I went to Ankor Wat in Siem Reap, Cambodia during April. I thought I was going to bake. I was climbing around the temples using my hands and my hands were being scalded on the rocks! Next time maybe I should bring oven mitts.

MustWanderLust

Yes, I have read that the guide is compulsory.

Any recommendations on where to stay in Kota Kinabalu? Do you think Malaysia is fairly safe for a female traveling solo?

Thanks again for all the advice.

silverwool

I stayed at a backpacker place called Rainforest Lodge (www.rainforestlodgekk.com) in the city centre. It was clean and friendly but the only downside was the food court next door that had live music on every night.

While I am male,(and therefore would probably not know!) I would regard Borneo as coming into the very safe category for solo females. Take the usual precautions but you should not have any problems. Also its the only place in Asia that I have not been offered 'ladies' or drugs which I would take as a reasonably good sign.

Kathie

I would certainly consider Malaysian Borneo very safe for a solo woman traveler. Even the largest city (Kota Kinabalu) feels rather small-town and friendly.