Tips and Tricks for Malaysia

After traveling for 3 weeks around the west coast of Malaysia I thought I would put together a few tips and tricks for anyone planning a similar trip.

Main Places to visit:

- Langkawi, a island to the north, very close to Thailand. Great beaches, activities and fantastic to chill out. Langkawi has limited night life, not many night clubs. Rent a Scooter then and discover the island, the Cable Car is a must.

- George Town (Penang), World Heritage Site, wonderful culture, history, and blend of nationalities as well as a wide variety of outdoor activities. The night life is great, lots of places to young people to party and chill out. It also is great hub for visiting the Cameroon Highlands. *for the Cameroon Highlands you will need to sleep one night there.

- Kuala Lumpur (a.k.a KL), the capital and great place for shopping and site seeing. If you don’t have much time, the hop on hop off bus is easy, and costs about 10euros per person for a 24h ticket.

- Malacca I would not spend more than 3 days there but really worth the visit. Great food, and interesting relics of the past.

 

Transportation

Buses are the cheapest and most efficient way of getting around. There are always loads of different companies selling tickets to where ever you want to go. You can buy online, just be careful to make sure that you go to the right bus depot. *in KL there are several bus depots/stations.

We never paid more than 23 Ringgit per person.

If you would like to save a few hours, AirAsia is a great company and a good low cost option. They are FAR better than Ryanair.

Trains are also reliable, but we did not try them as some of the stations are not located in the city centers, hence an additional bus is usually required.

Taxis are cheap, just be careful not be ripped off. Always go for the meter.

For local transport, renting a scooter for 30MR per day is clearly the best way to get around (not for KL), but remember… stick to the left! Petrol is about half the price compared to Europe.

Where to stay

I am a strong adept of HostelWorld.com, just read the reviews and book it online.

Clothing

The weather in Malaysia is great, you don’t need more than 1 pair of trousers, take a some shorts, and some slops. If you need to get any cloths just buy it locally. I would recommend to travel light and leave plenty of space for shopping. It is a temptation from start to finish.

Food

Malaysia is home to a pleasant mixture of cultures, and there is no shortage of cheap restaurants. They may seem to the average European different, but guaranteed you will get a good meal. On average we spent about 3 euros per meal. If you go local. If you are looking for western food, it will cost about 10 euros a meal.

Malaysian Trip by the Numbers

The phenomenal trip to Malaysia had so many highlights that it would be difficult to capture everything so here is a list of what we achieved in one of our best holidays ever…

 

Activities	Number
Days	20
Nights	19
Trains	2
Flights	8
Bus	10
Taxi	12
Boat	4
Jet Ski	1
Scooter	2
Beaches	5
Market (traditional)	7
Malls (modern)	5
World Heritage Sites	2
Hostels	9
Eagles sites	3
Turtle Sanctuary	1
Temples	4
Hair Cut	2
New Friends	9
Swimming Pools	2
Massages	2
Caves	2
Fish Farm	1
Butterfly Farm	1
Para-shoot	1
Monkey Sittings	3
Visited Islands	5
Jungle Trek	2
Large Lizards	3

 

Malaysia has been a really positive surprise. I strongly recommend anyone thinking of visiting this part of the world to stop in Malaysia as this 3 week holiday cost less than 2.5k euros (including air fair).

Langkawi 2012

Before we headed back to our “regular” lives we had to go back to Langkawi for a few more days of sun and beaching. This time we rented a scooter and discovered the island. The breathtaking moment for me was to go to the north of the island, catch a boat and see eagles feeding. The site of an eagle is peaceful and intimidating as these large birds of pray swoop down to catch fish in the river. We were lucky enough to see this on a tour around some of the smaller islands around Langkawi. The trip also included a trip to a fish farm where we touched sting rays and saw archery fish squirt water at us persuing low hanging bread. Our guide also took us to bat caves ending with a glorious sun set on a boat looking over to Thailand. Life cannot get any better than this.

 

I am really impressed to see how that this part of the world so close to Thailand and yet not destroyed by tourism. I have been to Phuket and Phi Phi islands but this looks very similar but with FAR LESS tourists (and much cheaper). It is great to see that the government controls the tourism by owning the land and protecting it from foreign investments.

The oriental village is also worth a visit as it is the gate to the Langkawi cable car, one of the steepest cable cars in the world. It takes one to the top of the 700m “mountain” where there are many view points and a breath taking skybridge. Langkawi has everything.

Kuala Lumpur 2012

We hadn't really discovered the wonders of KL so we went back for a few days. Considering the mere dimension of KL we decided to take the hop on hop off bus around the city. Of course we went to the KL tower and the Petrona Twin Towers. These 2 landmarks really paint the picture of how quickly KL has grown and how the city line is nothing short of a modern megalithic city. Some would even considere them as a good representation of how modern Malaysia is.

Shopping is also a clear highlight of the KL, where clothes are cheap, malls are humongous, variety in closes is nothing short of a paradise for women. Even I enjoyed the shopping and being able to discover the wonders of IT in this part of the world. Our favorite mall was Times Square a “small” 10 floor shopping center with EVERYTHING, even a Nando’s restaurant with Portuguese Piri-Piri chicken.

We tried some of Ogawa electronic foot, back and even eye massage. This seems to be so common in Asia and yet so rare in Europe taking our shopping experience to the next level.

Pangkor 2011 – 2012

You know how every year it seems to be a nightmare to figure out where you are spending New Year Eve? More importantly with whom? Which Party? Which location? Get the right booking? The worse part of it is that there is huge expectation that it is going to be the best night ever. Well this year we thought we would do something different… spend New Year in a remote part of the world…. just me and Pandinha on a Swiss Golf Resort with every luxury that you could imagine. Outstanding does not even come close to describing our New Year!

To get there we needed to catch a 30min taxi (as there is not buses to this resort). The taxi ride was an adventure as the car must haven been at least 30 years old, but upon arrival we were greeted with mango juice, a fantastic view and a great hotel. The swimming pool looked over to the beach, there was an artificial waterfall and we had massage of every type at our disposal. What a way to start the 2012. Happy New Year everyone:)

Tablet Mania

The more I think about life, and how Technology changes it, I begin to think that the future of Tablets and our daily activities will become more and more intertwined. Imagine walking into a restaurant and having a tablet on your table. Instead of ordering, you could submit your order via tablet… Wouldn’t that be great? Of course if you had questions you could ask the waiter but it would seem that life would be easier… you choose, what you want, and you get a tablet to “play” while you wait for your meal.

Another way would be that Google tracks what we all order/eat. Say you walked in with your own tablet… and got an app to order… instead of using the restaurant tablet use your own, and Google could track your eating habits too.

I could even imagine that you could have your own music, localized advertisements, or music at your table which you control. Would it be such a difficult thing to have? We are heading towards Google controlling lights via wifi… Local temperature and music will for sure follow.

If you take the bigger picture, you will also be able to log this on your social media account and it could be used for helping doctors understand everyone's nutrition problems and correlate sickness with what we eat over longer periods of time. It is only a matter of time before Google/Facebook filter our social lives online to what we eat/where we eat.

Penang 2011

Traveling around Malaysia is really easy. The busses are great (cheap and comfortable). We arrived in Penang, an island which is recognized by Unesco as a World Heritage site. This little island also known as the silicon island has everything from high tech industries/manufactures, like AMD, Intel, NXP and so on but also is home to George Town. A little village which has not really changed much in the last 200 years or so. This city has a wonderful mixture of cultures, religions and the city has evidence of this everywhere. Every corner has a new surprise.

The only way to see the city is to walk or rent a scooter and just ride around and take the city in just like any other local. Being on scooter in Malaysia is very different from the Netherlands, there are no bicycle paths, there are no rules… you just go with the flow.

The scooter was the highlight for me as we could go around the island to see butterfly farms, beaches, turtle beaches, temples, rocks, jungle tracks, little India, china town, malls… the list is endless.

Our hostel next to a coffee boutique was very useful as we had chocolate coffee every morning. We got to know the locals during our 4 day stay.

Perhaps the most interesting night was with Koto a young Japanese guy on holiday wanting to discover the world. We went out for a dinner and ended the evening talking about Manga and sport. It was great to see and compare cultures in this amazing place where history is really alive. The best way to describe this is by picturing our night: a Portuguese Engineer, with an Amazing Italian Linguist, talking to a future Japanese pilot, survivor from the radiation from Fukushima about how Manga touched us all as young children, with a guy from Bronx (New York) sharing stories from around the world in a Jamaican bar on a remote island of Malaysia – Penang is definitely a magical place worthy of being a World Heritage Site (here is a list of all of them in the world)

Langkawi 2011

Malaysia has many hidden treasures. One of which is called Langkawi, a small island in the North of the country. There are actually many great little islands to be visited, a bit like Phi Phi islands but with less tourists. The little village has lots to offer with only 2 or 3 ATMs, nice restaurants and an amazing beach. We decided to go Eagle watching and try Jet Skiing to see some of these smaller untouched islands. This magnificent place is where we spent Xmas… near a great swimming pool and close the beach. Happy Xmas everyone.

Even thought the location is amazing it was only when we meet Anis, who really gave a little insight to Langkawi. This young women, started her own little business to be able to spend more time with her children. Most would think that this is a contradictory statement, but she opened her home to tourists and made her garage into a great little cafe with the best pancakes ever. She helped us and told us about the Tsunami which happened in 2004. She witness it live and was truly touched that we were asking about it. Langkawi is special, so special that it is for sure worth another visit.

Kuala Lumpur 2011

Traveling from Malacca to Kuala Lumpur by bus was a comfortable ride, however we did not really know where in KL we would end up. It turned out that we ended up in a large train station, with a good connection to KLRapid, the local metro. Our stop was Passar Senir (gets it name from the Central Market as it is the first thing you see upon exiting the station).A  3 minute walk from our Amazing Hostel: The Explorer Guest House. As soon as one starts walking the streets of KL, you immediately feel the chaos and the energy of everyone walking around trying to make a living by selling food or services in one way or another. We took the afternoon to explore the Central Market and the China Town. There are always great bargains to be made in this part of the world, remember 1 euro is about 4 ringgit. Our stay in KL was short as we had to fly to Langkawi for Xmas, but we would return later for more shopping.

Fun Facts:

- Greater KL has over 7million people

- KL gets its name from Muddy River (Lumpur is mud)

Malacca 2011

We decided to catch the bus from the Golden Mile in Singapore to travel 184km to Malacca. To be honest traveling in this part of the world via bus is the most reasonable, the busses are amazing, they are extremely comfortable (about 2x more leg room than on a plane and one 10th the cost – only 24 Singapore Dollars) and you get dropped off in the city center. Arriving in Malacca (Melaka Sentral) all we had was a piece of paper from Hostel World, stating catch bus #17. At this stage Malacca looks anything but like a World Heritage site, but since our spirits were high we found this little bus and went with it. The idea was to stop at the Dutch Square, described as a group of red buildings… what could go wrong? Well nothing, arriving at the Dutch Square what initially seemed to be the end of the world turned out to be an AMAZING treasure. The history of Malacca is unique in the sense that the Portuguese, Dutch and British had all been there, leaving their marks. Extremely well conserved there was a mixture of cultures, traditions, smells, food, ethnic races, and of course buildings which are literally breath taking. We ended up staying in this little hostel on the river where we had everything. There is no walk like walking on the river side to get to a hostel. When we arrived at the hostel, there was a paper stating: Gareth, if you want to check in go and talk to Ben, the next door neighbor… Ben actually owned the local grocery store and was very happy to see us, meeting with a gracious smile. Our trip in Malaysia had begun with a smile. The next few days we enjoyed the Famosa Chicken Rice Balls, the Dimpling soups, the Museums, Temples, the Markets, and all the shopping, clearing invaded by Angry Birds phenomena. The day we left it was raining, but walking to the nearest bus stop was great. We caught a local bus which was not in the greatest shape, but still got us to Melaka Sentral where buying a ticket to KL was and cheap… 13 Ringgit to travel in a first class bus. KL here we come.

Singapore 2011

Nearly 15 years after leaving Singapore to go and live in Hong Kong, I was back. Even though I was back I did not really recognize much, except the smell did seam to trigger a few old memories. Strange how at such a young age I remembered all of these smells, which made me feel right at home. Pandinha and I checked in to a small hostel near the city center (close to the China Town). After the long trip we explored around the hostel, discovering all the smells, shops, malls, exciting life in Singapore. It is outstanding to see how many years this “little” city is ahead of Eindhoven. In the morning we decided to visit the Buddha's Temple (where his tooth is exposed). On our way we had to stop for a nice breakfast in the local market which can only be described as chaotic, but tasty. Picture, hundreds of little stores all selling coffee, fried duck, backed Pork, dumpling Soup and any combination of the above, being cooked on the spot, with everyone stopping by as the room smells, but it is clearly the starting point for a Monday morning for many. The little lady in the back to struggles to take her food to a free table, while the gentlemen in a suit quickly finishes his coffee makes this day unique to me but is simply just another day in these peoples life.

In the afternoon walking around the city we discover a small shopping center with 6 floors of ONLY computer stuff. I my heart goes crazy as there is an entire floor dedicated to tables. Can life get any better?

Portugal 2011

It had been a while since I went back to Portugal, this time I wanted to show Pandinha Portugal through my eyes. We travelled to Faro and rented a car. Starting with the amazing August sun, I knew I was home. Pandinha really liked Portugal. The challenge is always when you go back home you end up visiting everyone who misses you and this leaves one with not enough time for truly visiting the country as planned. We did however spend some time in the Algarve, visting Silves, Sagres and Lagoa. Of course we had to stop in the wonderful Slide and Splash. How that brought back nice memories… After Algarve we ended up going to Lisbon, to taste the Pasteis de Nata, to visit o Bairro, o Castelo de S.Jorge, os Santos, Costa da Caparica and of course to meet up with my buddies which 5 years after leaving Portugal are always willing to listen to my strange stories from around the world. Jeronimo was also a must, as Pandinha had to try the famous Pasteis de Belem and see o Padrao dos Descobrimentos.

All of these places even though they are part of who I am, they really become alive when I see the with Pandinha whos smile was increasing bigger and bigger with each day.

One week later it was time to travel back to the Algarve to fly back home. It was a great holiday, however maybe not as relaxing as expected never the less still outstanding break.