Holiday in Malaysia

[Alison]

How would you spend your 2 to 3 weeks - where would you stay?

We like to mix culture and R & R with the last bit being around 5 days. With questiions like this everyone asks how much do yoiu want to spend but it is the area rather than the accomodation as once you know where you can see what is available.

The only definite is that you must be able to wander outside the accomodation to sample local restaurants etc.

[steveadmin]

Hi Alison,

I spent about three weeks in Malaysia. I was on a round the world trip and I had a mate flying out to meet me for a two week holiday, so we packed in a lot in those two weeks - too much, in fact, it was too rushed - but I can recommend the following places:

Kuala Lumpur - worth a couple of days at the beginning and a day or two at the end, but I wouldn't linger. Apart from the Petronas Towers, KL has modern shopping and local markets, plush restaurants and great street stalls... real diversity. Its joy for me is the diversity of truly authentic food you can find. Little India is a must and will serve you up with wonderful veggie Indian food (although rarely alcohol, in my experience); equally you'll find decent and cheap Chinese and Malay grub all over the place. If I recall correctly here's a dim sum restaurant smack bang in the centre on Jalan Pudu that's worth a stop. I think someone on here (Emdee perhaps?) said there was something "missing" from KL that he couldn't put his finger on, and I wholeheartedly agree - it's not as good as it sounds on paper - but it's a decent place to adjust from the jetlag before pushing on into Malaysia.

Perhentian Islands - I absolutely fell in love with the Perhentians. I had never seen such clear, hot water and white sands. You can eat each day's catch on the beaches in the evening in the form of barbeques, go snorkelling/scuba diving to look for giant turtles and sharks. Not sure how it is five years on - I would expect it to be increasingly upmarket and developed, there's only one direction for these things - but I would love to go back and spend 4/5 days there doing very little but reading and sunning

Taman Negara - it's not every day you get to visit a teeming rainforest that has not changed in millions of years, so it's worth the journey I feel. There are "safari" tours to show you some of the wildlife, but the quality varies - get a personal recommendation. Even though there are tigers about, you're pretty unlikely to see one unfortunately.

Cameron Highlands - the cooler heights of the Cameron Highlands can be worth a stop, especially if you are a tea drinker (to see the plantations) But it's quite a journey, and perhaps a bit too "Anglicised" to suggest to include on an itinerary for a Brit on holiday.

Sabah/Sarawak - I hardly touched the surface of these areas of Malaysia, but there are plenty of opportunities to find both R&R and culture. Kuching is a pretty city, and further into the jungle you can see orang-utans/visit the sanctuaries that protect them. The highlight of Malaysia for me was climbing Mount Kinabalu near Kota Kinabalu; it was a surprisingly easy climb for an unfit chap like me, although tougher on the final push. It's not every day you get to see the sun rise at 13,500 feet, and I'd absolutely recommend it to anyone vaguely interested :)

So as for an itinerary, I would tentatively suggest:

-1 week on the peninsula, in the form of a couple of days in KL getting adjusted then off to the Perhentians for 4 or 5 days of doing nothing (perhaps Taman Negara in between?)

-1 week in Sabah/Sarawak, visiting Kuching, then off into the jungle for a bit before heading to Kota Kinabalu to climb Mount Kinabalu

-Back to KL (perhaps via Penang for a bit more R&R?)


Can anyone else suggest an alternative itinerary with places to absolutely not miss in Malaysia?

Dear travelers who intent to travel to Kuala Lumpur PLEASE do think twice. I have always heard that the taxi service in KL is very much the worst few in the world and true enough I had experienced it myself. Let me share with you this very much unpleasant encounter that I meet. Bad enough to make me take the time to write and hope that every single one who intent to travel to KL, have the awareness of what they are about to encounter.
To begin I shall highlight this very taxi, HWC 9655 is atrociously horrendous to the maximum nothing of the sort that I have ever met ever. On the 17 of December 2009, my family and I were leaving KLCC aquarium heading for mid valley megamall one of the few shopping destinations in Malaysia. We board this very taxi HWC 9655. I was very sure I pointed to the meter and asked him if the taxi charge using meter. He replied with an answer yes. Off we go however the meter was not on but the taxi was already moving and guess what, we were ask to visit another location which was some chocolate factory. By bringing us there whether or not we make purchases he can earn commission, in return he would charge us at a lower rate of 4.50 RM.
However as my family and I weren’t too keen in chocolates, we kindly rejected the offer for we would prefer more shopping time. It was 2.45pm then. Therefore we proceed to ask him why doesn’t he on the meter and the reply was it’s out of the city hence meter cannot be used. At the moment, I FELT SO CHEATED so darn cheated!!!! Before I got on the taxi I am very sure that I made myself very clear by emphasizing that I wanted a charge by meter taxi. Fine I controlled myself as he was the one driving, for the safety of my family members. Next we checked with him how much he wanted and he requested for 40 RM, being unsure of how far the destination is hence we kept quiet. The next thing we know we found ourselves queuing up at a taxi petrol kiosk not too far from where we took our taxi, he said that he had run out of petrol. It is understandable and we can still accept that such occasions do happen once in a while.
During that time I took the chance to press for the meter and it worked. (The reason why I did that because the previous few days we took the taxi for about 1 train stop of about at most 2km we were charged 20 RM hence we asked the hotel personal and they mention we must take taxi who are willing to on the meter. In addition these taxi that we took are the cheapest, we took something more expensive a bigger and more comfortable one was charged the same amount.) After getting the taxi filled thinking that we are about to head to our destination we where again brought to another place, somewhere near the petrol kiosk this time round he want to purchase food as he was hungry. At this point of time I could no longer bear with him any longer. It wasn’t because he wanted to purchase his food but rather he did not let us know. I felt we are his customer and since he decide to pick us up shouldn’t he seek our consent before bring us there, the very basic respect that we as the ones paying ought to have. Thus I suggested to my mum that we could hop on to another taxi, however my mum felt it wasn’t very responsible or rather correct way of doing things. Therefore we ended up waiting for 15 minutes. Finally we are off to our destination, not to mention the circles that we made round and round wasting our time
At 3.30pm, we arrive at mid valley mega mall which wasn’t too far away at the very most 15 minutes for there wasn’t much jam. I felt that 40 RM was too expensive and unreasonable in fact the meter showed only 12.50 RM but in my heart I was prepare to pay up to 25 RM. Therefore I begin reasoning out with him that the meter show 12.50RM I am very sure at the point though I was unhappy but I politely told him that the meter show only 12.50RM. Raising his voice he started shouting at me saying that it was 40RM the meter cannot be counted. Therefore I brought up all the waiting that we had to do.
Believe it or not the next thing was the least that you can ever EXPECT EVER!!!! He showed me a sign and said F*** me in the worst type of attitude, I could no longer bear with him I burst out showing him back the sign and told him that was not the way to treat a customer. The next most unexpected thing came he taunt me to a fight. Security came as we took some time and was blocking the traffic, I recount what had happen to the security and asked him if the fare the taxi quote was fair he kept quiet. With the driver still constantly hurling abusing remarks at me, not wanting to create a scene my mum paid the driver 35 RM asking him to leave. As he left we were told by the security to take down his taxi number and make a complaint. It was the worst shopping that I have ever done it have totally ruin the mood. In the night as we wanted to head back to our hotel (renaissance hotel) which was walking distance from KLCC aquarium. We took another taxi from the megamall. The meter was on, the traffic was very heavy, it was raining. However, guess how much we paid, ONLY 14.40RM!!! WAY WAY WAY below what we paid to get there.


Some awareness to Travelers:
-I was taught by the hotel staff that in the future if such cases were met we should just leave the money that we think is appropriate and leave.
-I am not too sure about this and I hope that I am wrong about it, some of the Malays there seems to think that they are the law. For some same destination that I went to I hope on to different Malay taxi and was quote different prices. Only Indian and Chinese taxi driver uses meter. There was this one occasion where we were in a supermarket there is this young Malay lady cut our queue and make it seems as if she was right, despite her friends apologizing on her behalf. I suddenly felt very VERY fortunate to be living in Singapore for our Malay friends are nothing of the sort that I can ever encounter there NEVER!!! No offence to the Malay but I hope you can understand the frustration that I am feeling on these handful of black sheep. I just cannot understand, I know that there may be priorities given to them there but some of these basic values.
- Lastly take care and stay safe to my fellow travelers.

[steveadmin]

Dear Guest,

Thank you for taking the time to share your taxi experience with us; the more "tricks" we know, the better our holidays will be! Glad you got away without any bruises...

Your experience underlines a simple rule we should all apply when getting taxis, be they in Calcutta, Bangkok or Kuala Lumpur: always make it clear before you get in that the journey will be on the meter, and verify that it is ticking over as soon as possible into your trip. If it's not, then threaten to get out.

Regarding your experience with Malays in Malaysia, try not to let a few bad apples sour your whole experience of a country and an ethnic group. It's easy to do, but it's fallacious.

Thanks again for the detailed post.

[albaker]

Hi may I say that it is not only the Malays that refuse to use meters , although it is the law to do so , most taxi drivers try to get a fixed fare well above the meter rate , see them stopping when flagged down and then moving off without any passengers especially in tourist areas as they know that another tourist is ripe for the taking !
This is not only happening in KL , the authorities in Penang have been fighting an uphill battle with the taxis to use their fitted meters , it took years to get them to fit meters but a waste of time if they will not use them . In this instance it is not only tourists that have to pay the inflated fare above meter showing .
When I was last there the taxi drivers went on strike as they stated that they could not make money on metered fares , well some of them did but if you offered them the going rate , ie Georgetown - Batu Ferringhi M$35 , METER ABOUT M$20 they would take you but they would ask if stopped by police that it was metered fare , which was switched on , that is how I know fare was M$20 .

[jensy88]

Dear Guest,

I'm truly sorry that you had such a bad time with our taxi drivers. Our government is trying very hard to control them but unfortunately, whatever they are doing doesn't seem to be working. I don't know if it's any consolation to you but we locals have similar problems with them. Bad experiences with taxi drivers can happen anywhere and I have my share of them -I got ripped off in Hanoi and Shenzhen! I hope this will not give you a lasting bad impression of my country.

[ll_angel86]

it depends on when you are coming. If it's not the monsoon season, I would recommend the islands on the East Coast.

Besides islands, where you go will depend on what you want to achieve.
Since you want to sample local food, do remember to try the hawker stalls. look for places which are busy. this should indicate delicious food. I have never had problems with food poisoning but if you are not used to hawker food, then do take precaution.

Local food are varied and you should try food like satay, chicken rice, dim sum, local noodles etc.

[tanmaysnv]

There are plenty of beautiful beaches in Malaysia. If you wanted somewhere which is more than just a beach resort, you should skip Langkawi, Tioman, Redang. Those places don't have anything resembling a culture. Beside, Tioman and Redang would not be ideal as they are still subjected to the tail-end of North-East Monsoon (Wet weather). You should go for places such as Penang or Kota Kinabalu, older cities (= Culture) with nice beaches close-by.

[phil mcfc]

had similar experiences - but you learn throughout asia noyt just in KL ask for the meter or price if your not happy DO NOT GET IN - its a diffo culture and they are trying to eke a living it means more to them to feed the family than it does what you think of them - a good tip is to say if there are no unscheduled stops and he / she (not too often) gets you there in good time you will tip normally works even with the hatd core

[phil mcfc]

I can nearly spell