To Malaysia... and beyond!

PompeyPete

Doshwaster wrote: »

They tend not to appear on price comparison sites so you have to go to them direct. Unfortunately they don't fly from the UK to SIN or KUL.

Taiwanese. They land at BKK, drop-off, pick-up and carry-on to Taiwan.

pompeii

We did the Singapore to KL part of the train journey you are considering as an overnight and are considering doing it again in April this year as a day trip. We booked online 3rd class single out of KL we didnt use, & return sleeper from Singapore as recommended, if you book from Malaysia you pay in Ringits, if you book from Singapore you pay twice as much as you pay in Singapore Dollars. We had the first class delux sleeper, the bed and the bathroom were clean not sure when the carpet was last cleaned, slept very little through the night, ratty as hell the next day, but it was a great experience. Not sure how all this works if you are paying in Bhats. Seat 61 website was good for advice.

xfive71

Oh my earlier post dropped off the face of the earth! Wow, you've got some great advice here. Just my two quids worth :

Arrival in SG (probably around 4 days with your mate). Singapore is tiny and you'll cover loads in 4 days plus get over the jetlag. The area around the waterfront with the new Marina Sands is newly opened and looks rather nice for a stroll. About flights to Singapore, there are plenty of airlines that go that way. It would depend on whether you would like to go direct or perhaps spend a little less with one stopover. I personally like breaking the journey using any of the Middle Eastern airlines - somehow two 7 hours leg with a break is more bearable for me.

From SG, you can work your way up the West Coast of Malaysia - Melaka (Malacca), KL and Penang and work your way down the East side with stops at Tanjung Jara and at Perhentian or Redang. Train travel is nice but it does take much much longer. I would plump for coach travel. There are some coaches which are really great - with business class like seats, (only 16 - 20 per coach!) personal entertainment system and food served onboard. Check out these two highly recommended coach travel :

http://transtar.travel/index.php
https://www.aeroline.com.sg/

From SG to Melaka, is about a 3 hour journey while SG - KL is 5 hours and KL - Penang is another 5 hours. It may sound long but if you were to take a flight, by the time you check in, fly and travel from the airport to Central KL, it would be as long. The seats are seriously comfortable and good if you want to kip for few hours. They travel along major highways and you'll see loads of palm plantations along the way. The buses stop in central areas so you don't have the hassle of getting to and from the airport. The KL International Airport is a good hour or so to Central KL. Transtar has coach package tours as well and you can contact them direct to query whether they could do a tailor-made an SG-KL-Penang one for you

amictus

owains wrote: »

The more I think about it, a halfway break for a couple of hours might actually be quite welcome!

Well I finally booked my flights yesterday! I decided that the 13 hour direct flight was just too long, so I went with Emirates with stops in Dubai. Also, the local departure/arrival times seemed more reasonable doing it this way, allowing time to get to and from airports...

London (Fri 14:15) > Dubai (2h40 stop) > Singapore (Sat 14:05)
Bangkok (Sat 21:20) > Dubai (2h00 stop) > London (Sun 07:00)

I can never sleep too well on a plane, but, assuming I manage to doze a bit, the break at Dubai should be welcome opportunity to stretch my legs a bit.

I ended up paying £710, so the flights didn't actually work out much cheaper than the direct options.

Doshwaster wrote: »

Plus, if you are flying from LHR and work the schedules properly, you can get on one of their Airbus A380 services which are fantastic.

It worked out that only the first half of my outward journey is on an Airbus A380, with the rest of the flights on a Boeing 777. Are these likely to be uncomfortably cramped?


Visas were mentioned on the Emirates web site when I made the booking. I assume I won't need one if I'm just stopping in the airport for a couple of hours?

I hadn't actually given any thought to getting Visas for Singapore/Malaysia/Thailand. Will be able to sort out a Visa for on arrival at the airport? Is this the best way to do it? What about when I travel from Singapore to Malaysia on the train?


Now that I have my start and end times and locations finalised I'm going to see if I plan out exactly how I'm going to split up my time, and how I'm going to get from place to place. At the moment, the rough plan is...

Singapore - 3 days
Malaysia - 14 days
Bangkok - 4 days

pompeii wrote: »

We did the Singapore to KL part of the train journey you are considering as an overnight and are considering doing it again in April this year as a day trip. We booked online 3rd class single out of KL we didnt use, & return sleeper from Singapore as recommended, if you book from Malaysia you pay in Ringits, if you book from Singapore you pay twice as much as you pay in Singapore Dollars. We had the first class delux sleeper, the bed and the bathroom were clean not sure when the carpet was last cleaned, slept very little through the night, ratty as hell the next day, but it was a great experience. Not sure how all this works if you are paying in Bhats. Seat 61 website was good for advice.

It looks as though this how I'll be getting from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur. Thanks for your comments... I wasn't aware that cost depended on where you book from, so I'll bear that in mind.

xfive71 wrote: »

From SG, you can work your way up the West Coast of Malaysia - Melaka (Malacca), KL and Penang and work your way down the East side with stops at Tanjung Jara and at Perhentian or Redang. Train travel is nice but it does take much much longer. I would plump for coach travel. There are some coaches which are really great - with business class like seats, (only 16 - 20 per coach!) personal entertainment system and food served onboard. Check out these two highly recommended coach travel :

http://transtar.travel/index.php
https://www.aeroline.com.sg/

From SG to Melaka, is about a 3 hour journey while SG - KL is 5 hours and KL - Penang is another 5 hours. It may sound long but if you were to take a flight, by the time you check in, fly and travel from the airport to Central KL, it would be as long. The seats are seriously comfortable and good if you want to kip for few hours. They travel along major highways and you'll see loads of palm plantations along the way. The buses stop in central areas so you don't have the hassle of getting to and from the airport. The KL International Airport is a good hour or so to Central KL. Transtar has coach package tours as well and you can contact them direct to query whether they could do a tailor-made an SG-KL-Penang one for you

Thanks for passing on the information. I still think I'll choose to travel directly from Singapore to Kuala Lumpor, simply because, with limited time available, there are other places I'd rather see than Melaka. To me, it makes sense to do this as an overnight train journey.

When in Malaysia, I'm hoping to take in the following locations...

Kuala Lumpur
Taman Negara
Cameron Highlands
Penang

From looking at the map, it makes sense to follow this order, though there may well be a more sensible route when considering transport. Any suggestions? I will certainly check the links you provided, but I would be surprised if I can get those kind of luxury coaches for these routes (e.g. Kuala Lumpur > Taman Negara) . I think I will probably be limited to taking whatever buses/minibuses on offer.


Now that I have my main flights booked, I feel like I have a bit of time to try and come up with a sensible itinerary. However, as I will be travelling over the Easter holiday, should I worry about booking accommodation before decent hotels fill up? Or will I be safe to leave this until much later... or even while I'm out there?


Again, thanks for everyone's input... it really is appreciated!

richardw

You can do Bangkok in a short time, the Palace in a morning, the river in the Afternoon and a roof top skyscraper bar/restaurant at sunset/early evening.

Have you thought of a side trip to the Angkor temples at Siem Reap, I thought they were amazing http://www.google.co.uk/images?q=angkor+wat&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=qm80TYrGFNODhQe7sJSVCw&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=3&ved=0CEIQsAQwAg&biw=1270&bih=703

Doshwaster

owains wrote: »

It worked out that only the first half of my outward journey is on an Airbus A380, with the rest of the flights on a Boeing 777. Are these likely to be uncomfortably cramped?

Great to hear that your trip is taking shape! The 777 isn't too bad but as soon as you get on an A380 you realise how much better they are. It's the only time I've seen people taking photos of an inside of a plane.

Visas were mentioned on the Emirates web site when I made the booking. I assume I won't need one if I'm just stopping in the airport for a couple of hours?

I hadn't actually given any thought to getting Visas for Singapore/Malaysia/Thailand. Will be able to sort out a Visa for on arrival at the airport? Is this the best way to do it? What about when I travel from Singapore to Malaysia on the train?

You don't need a visa for connecting through Dubai. For Malaysia and Thailand as long as you have a UK/EU passport then you get a free visa stamp on arrival (and I'm sure Singapore is the same). I've never crossed the border by train but I'm sure there will be some formalities to go through.

Some useful visa information us at http://projectvisa.com/regions/Asia

Thailand used to have a departure tax that you had to pay at the airport before leaving (in cash only - that caught a few people out who had spent the last of their money on their last day!) but now it is included in your ticket price.

xfive71

Great to hear you've booked the tickets! If you have a UK passport, you do not need a visa for Singapore, Malaysia or Dubai; especially with an onward ticket. I assume you will be exiting from Bangkok?

It is OK to skip Melaka if you think there is no time. There are some interesting Portugese and Dutch influences in there, an interesting Chinese-Malay heritage (termed Peranakan) plus lovely food. Personally I would skip Cameron Highlands but it is your dream trip - so see what you want to see! :T

About booking trains SG-KL, the train provider is Keretapi Tanah Melayu or KTM for short. Their website is as follows :

http://www.ktmb.com.my/

You could book via their customer service telephone line which is a Malaysian number. You could buy tickets in person, of course, but looking at your itinerary, you would probably have to buy these in SG hence a higher price. Check the departure point from SG as well. It used to be from a lovely colonial station at Tanjung Pagar but by the time you are there, it might be from a station in Woodlands instead.

Don't dismiss the Singapore-KL coach travel just as yet. It is seriously comfortable and the transport mode of choice for a majority going up and down Singapore-KL, plus you get to see some of the countryside.

You are right that it would probably be just mini-buses or non-luxury coach between KL and Taman Negara though.

For accommodation, I would recommend https://www.wotif.com, if you want to book hotels in KL and BKK. It usually has good offers and I used it to book a lot of business stays. For trips, you may want to check out Ping Anchorage. I had used it before and the service was good

marz11

I really want to go back to Malaysia and Thailand. I think they are one of the best holiday destinations and you want to go back there again and again. I can't afford it as tickets are like nearly £500

Jackie2oo7

I don't have much advice to add, however it sounds amazing, Have fun owains!!!

slinga

Lots of good info above but having just read it it may confuse you.
I doubt I'll help there.
See you've booked your main flights etc and visit to Thailand so won't go any further into that.

3 or 4 nights in Sing will be sufficient especially if you have friends here.

Do not miss Malacca.
I'll say again do not miss Malacca.
It's a world Heritage site and now it's become popular is being developed hand over fist.
What you see now will be gone shortly it's changed so much recently anyway.

It's a 4 hour coach from Singapore.

On train travel once you've done 2 hours on the train then that's all you need or want.
You won't see anything more than by coach probably less as the jungle has encroached alongside.
The train ain't too comfortable either imo.
As Tanjong Pagar will close in June/July and move to Woodlands we are taking our final train ride this Thursday from TP to Johor Bahru just over the causeway.

Anyway do not miss Malacca.

KL, well if you must a night or so will show you the lot.
Penang is great but keep away from the Batu Feringhee hotels.
Waste of money and well away from Georgetown. Buses and taxis are good in Penang now but make sure before you get in a taxi that it has a meter or you bargain the fare. Same all over Malaysia.
Hire a car in Penang for a day or so. Drive around the island.

Langkawi. Well until 30 years ago it was just an island. Now to us it's just an island with hotels. No real history like Malacca or Penang so nothing to see.

Bali you can do another time.
Sarawak or Sabah are imo not worth a visit unless you MUST see a Longhouse or visit the orangutans.

So you've got 4 nights each in Sing Mal and Penang and Thailand.
and a night or so in KL.
Just about does it with the travelling etc.

Make sure you are fit because the jet lag will knacker you for a week.
Oh and you won't be able to eat local food continuously for a week I reckon so space things out.

Asiarooms for hotels. Don't go for international hotels they are the same the world over.
If you find ones you like then ask again on here for confirmation.

It';s all personal. Many will disagree with my suggestions as may you.

Final tip.
Do not miss Malacca.:)

Just on hotels:

Seen this place recently on another forum. Haven't tried it yet
http://www.huttonlodge.com/location.asp
We use the Paradise Sandy Bay or the Flamingo next door to the Paradise when in Penang
The E & O sometimes have good promo rates.

In Malacca we use the Baba House. Try it for a change.