honeymoon to malaysia

lynzpower

rajuv wrote: »

so is it true or not?

only thing i'm worried about know is what i read in the metro yday about monkey maleria

Never hear dof monkey malaria!

I know what happened to us. I can tell you a number of other things that happened.

Albeit we did not go to Lankawi and I understand this is a real honeymooners place so im sure they will be used to westerners holding hands, light kissing ( not pashing LOL) etc - I had spoekn to a colleague who went there for honeys ( 3 days KL 10 in Lankawi) and said his wife got no hassle in Langkawi but a bit in kl.

We went to KL ( we did find some dirty looks for what I was wearing and also for us holding hand on the metro system) I bought lots of new clothes to try to show no chest/ cleavage / shouler/ top of arm. It definately got a lot easier when I was wearing more conservative clothing.

Depiste this I chose not to cover my hair as I personally dont agree with it, and its not for me. I know other people always cover thier hair in Muslim countries, (eg my mum)

We got hissed out of a resturaunt in Kuala selangor. It was quite intimiating actually. We walked into this resturaunt, everyone threw their cutlery down and turned to us- one woman hissed then others joined in- we turned and lfed ( eventualy found a chinese resturaunt that were happy to serve us, and we got a beer )

We were explicitly told- by our hotelier- not to be undressed on the beach at Pangkor. No one in Pangkor was undressed really. I did see one girl ( she was dressed a bit waggish) long blonde hair short towelling shorts and a vest top- crying her eyes out in Pangkor, "why is everyone being so horrible to us, I havent done anything wrong, I hate it here, need to go home" That cemented things for us really that we were not being paranoid. Amazingly many of the traders were selling eg tie die bikinis and when I went to have a look at a selection of them hanging outside a shop, me & OH PSML at the fact that the shopkeeper was looking me up and down and looking rather disapprovingly when my intention was to buy his wares. If you dont agree with it- WHY SELL IT?? :mad:

We got spat at in Lumut. Not at, but on the floor as we were walking by. ( not holding hands at this stage, we understood in some places its really not OK) We We were told Lumut was v conservative though.

OH gave me akiss and wished me good luck at Sunway lagoon on the wire drop, and the couple behind us looked totally horrified and tried to block OH going back down the stairs, tried to intimidate. I got a lot of dirty looks in Sunway lagoon and was in a western one piece. OH noted that in a long ( say 20 mins wait) queue I was the only person in western swimwear.

Penang was deinately more relaxed, although i didnt see many people wearing western swimwear on the beach. MOstly people on the beach were of Indian origin and mainly were men, and fully dressed ( trousers and shirt) We were off season though, so manbe the Europeans etc simply werent there. We met a Auz couple there, and the girl was saying she hated it so much as she hated being stared at for wearing eg a vest top. So she wore these in the hotel only. We had a joke- maybe it was the malaysians way of trying to make Westerners spend more money on clothing!! :rotfl:

We had talked about it with someone also who had been a few times, and we couldnt get over this weird issue between the Chinese populace - who wear the miniskirts, boob tubes etc to go to the shops in, and the Conservative malaysia. How can it be that tourists get dirty looks and tourists have to be conservatively dressed, when Chinese heritage malaysians seem to dress how they like. He agreed that its not OK for westerners to wear what they want/ act how they want, because you shuold be showing respect when visiting another country. That was his take on it
anyway. Lonely planet certainly alludes clearly to this in the section titled "Women travellers" saying things like women shouldnt travel on thier own. Take a look.

The most relaxed of all the places was deffo penang, and I would not miss that, it really is a great place. It is widely known for being v relaxed as it was colonised by Chinese settlers, who brought gambling, prostitution and boozing with them. There is a fascinating walking tour of the Chinese history of settling on Penang, and i think poossibly even a museum ( we didnt go there) There is a masssive nightmarket too ( fake goods mainly) . I didnt think the beaches were world class but they were nice and it was nice to feel relaxed. I would say the beach at Batu ferrnghi was rather noisy though as they were flogging dune buggy rides to go up and down the beach. there were a few cocktail bars with music playing and loads of fantastic places to eat including a couple of huge hawkers markets which were brilliant.

jammin_2

Having lived in Malaysia for many years and having been on many a tourist trail within the country, I am SHOCKED at what has been posted above. It's not even exaggerated twaddle - it's simply fictitious.

I don't know what your agenda is lynzpower, but please stop.

lynzpower

I dont understand why you are trying to make out that Im lying.

I have no agenda.

I love travelling and go to lots of places, we try to vary it so we go to a new place evverytime, and I have travelled in Africa, Europe, US, South America and the far east of course. We tend to have at least 3 foreign holidays a year and I enjoy going to lots of new places. The next place in Asia I think we would like to go is the Philipines or China.

Do you want me to go downstairs and get the Lonely planet book and copy out the warnings that is has inside.Clearly Im not the only person to have experienced difficulties, these are recommendations that unfrotunately we had missed before we left.

Moonchild

I think people need to be wary about claiming Lynzpower is lying.

We all have different experiences for very different reasons. I'd certainly never claim that someone is making stuff up - why would they?

However, it's a million miles from my myriad of experiences in Malaysia, and certainly surprised me, especially the comments for Lumut which is used to hordes of posh westerners heading to Pangkor Laut.

I've had a few weird looks when I was 18 and hitched down the East Coast, but all my experiences have been overwhelmingly positive. I do know someone who was hospitalised after looking at the wrong persons woman in a nightclub in Georgetown, but that happens on a daily basis in Romford!

My only comments would be to say that i'm sorry Lynzpower had such a negative time in Malaysia, it doesn't reflect my experience or many, many others who have travelled to the country, and I hope in the future she gets the chance to revisit, and has a very different experience.

Doshwaster

I travelled through Malaysia (KL, Penang and Langkawi) as a single man and I didn't see or have any problems nor did I hear about any from anyone I met. Obviously Malaysia isn't the Costa Del Sol and some respect is required but otherwise Malaysia is by far the most tolerant and cosmopolitan Moslem country I have been to.

Malaysia is very popular as a holiday destination to Muslims and people from the middle east so it isn't unusal to see a couple walking down the beach and even in the sea - him in his skimpy Speedos and her in a complete burkha.

rajuv

jammin wrote: »

Is that for everything? Flights, accommodation, spending money, the lot?

total budget is 2k pp
but want to spend about 1300 1400 on flights and hotels
rest will be spending money there

jammin_2

rajuv wrote: »

total budget is 2k pp
but want to spend about 1300 1400 on flights and hotels
rest will be spending money there

You might be interested in this thread:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1946029

rajuv

i was just told by an agent today that the prices for malaysian airlines flights have gone up so are asking for £200pp more
is this true or are they trying to just get more money out of me
the problem is i can't book anything till this friday as thats when i get paid

Moonchild

rajuv wrote: »

i was just told by an agent today that the prices for malaysian airlines flights have gone up so are asking for £200pp more
is this true or are they trying to just get more money out of me
the problem is i can't book anything till this friday as thats when i get paid

Yes, a Malaysia Airlines sale ended yesterday. Unfortunately for you procrastinating has cost you, and there is no sign of a sale for the foreseeable future. I'm guessing this leaves you at square 1?

rajuv

Moonchild wrote: »

Yes, a Malaysia Airlines sale ended yesterday. Unfortunately for you procrastinating has cost you, and there is no sign of a sale for the foreseeable future. I'm guessing this leaves you at square 1?

if i have a non direct flight will this keep the cost the same