singapore and kuala lumpur where to start

[mtbskalover]

ive tried googling things like cool travel guide, hip travel guide, etc. But do you guys know of any good sites with info on these two places that isnt the boring old gov sponsored tourist information site.

im thinking of going at easter with my 18year old bro and not sure where to go and what to do.

thanks

[rubbershoes]

sinagpore is great

there may be a few old threads on here so try a search. the food there is fantastic. get to the food halls with all the different stalls selling there stuff. good and cheap

[Loki]

I'd rather go to Thailand, the food's even better there.

And it doesn't have a eugenics policy or weird attitudes to blokes with long hair and they don't throw people into jail for dropping chewing gum on the street (tho I admit that's an antisocial thing to do). And the beaches are far nicer, the culture more relaxed.

[Minnie_the_Minx]

I'd rather go to Thailand, the food's even better there.

And it doesn't have a eugenics policy or weird attitudes to blokes with long hair and they don't throw people into jail for dropping chewing gum on the street (tho I admit that's an antisocial thing to do). And the beaches are far nicer, the culture more relaxed.


Malaysia's got some beautiful beaches and you don't get hassled by hawkers every 2 minutes :p

[linerider]

Malaysia's got some beautiful beaches and you don't get hassled by hawkers every 2 minutes :p
i like K.L. and agree about malaysia's beaches,it's easy to get anywhere in malaysia from KL and well worth the effort.
at the risk of upsetting real travellers,i spent 6 months touring southeast asia with the rough guide.
how long are you thinking of going for?
:cool:

[Minnie_the_Minx]

i like K.L. and agree about malaysia's beaches,it's easy to get anywhere in malaysia from KL and well worth the effort.
at the risk of upsetting real travellers,i spent 6 months touring southeast asia with the rough guide.
how long are you thinking of going for?
:cool:


And with Air Asia (budget airline) you can fly around for dirt cheap (not to say there's nothing wrong with their public transport which puts National Rail to shame)

[Sunray]

I'm in KK (East Malaysian Borneo) at the moment. I have to say the islands are nicer than the Thai Islands in many ways, but to be honest, Malaysia is disappointing. Its more expensive than Thailand. What you get for what you pay is of a much lower quality than you get in Thailand unless you spend business level money. Malaysia, 10 quid gets you a hole to stay in, 20 quid will get you top grade hotel. Thailand 6 quid gets you, air con, sat tv and a pool on the roof.

Malaysia has a large Chinese population and their business drive is evident everywhere. While tourists are catered for to some extent, your an irrelevance to them commercially, so your not looked after like you are in Thailand.

[Barking_Mad]

Cameron Highlands are nice if you fancy the 8 hour bus trip up the mountain from KL

[purves grundy]

Cameron Highlands are nice if you fancy the 8 hour bus trip up the mountain from KL
A mountain area even closer to KL is Fraser's Hill. You can do some of the best birdwatching in South East Asia there, if you're into it. If not, it's still a great place to go.

In KL, go to the Petronas Towers, but don't look up at them until you get right to the base. Then lay down on the street, and look up. Woooooh!!!! :eek: :cool:

[llantwit]

I loved KL, but wouldn't go back to Singapore if you paid me.

Singapore: Yes the food courts are pretty good, and little India is a fun and vibrant place, and has some really fascinating sights, sounds and smells, but so much of the rest of the city looks like some horrible uninspired life-size legoland, and so much is taken up with soul-destroying mega-malls that it ended up giving me a perma-headache. Also, what I learned bout the political system, and what I saw of the general fine-culture and shocking 'soft authoritarianism' of the government made me sick. My diary of a recent trip to Singapore can be found here, (http://ankeandrew.united-systems.org/pages/index.php?page_id=74) (scroll down past the german - that's my girlf's diary) and here. (http://ankeandrew.united-systems.org/pages/index.php?page_id=76)

for me, KL is a glorious city, by contrast. I liked it a lot. Chinatown is really buzzing and lively, the Petronas twin towers are amazing, the food is excellent, varied and cheap, and the multiculturalism of the city is visible everywhere you look in peoples clothes, in the cuisine, in the architecture. My few days there last month are blogged about here. (http://ankeandrew.united-systems.org/pages/index.php?page_id=69)

I'd also really recommend taking a trip to the east coast to some of the islands. We went to the Pherentian Islands - which are 2 small coral reef-surrounded places off the north east coast, and to another island called Tenggol, which we were lucky to find as it's deserted, and not known about by even many Malays. You can read about them towards the end of the KL blog page above, and here (http://ankeandrew.united-systems.org/pages/index.php?page_id=72) , and here. (http://ankeandrew.united-systems.org/pages/index.php?page_id=73) (again, scroll past the german to get to the English). These places are both cool for chilling on the beach, snorkelling, and great for diving.

I hope you have a top time wherever you go - there's vertainly some cool places to be seen round there!

:)

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Cameron Highlands are lovely and the ride up there to Tanah Rata (the middle town) is brilliant. Something like 600+ hairpin bends :eek: , although I've heard that a new road has been built.

If you want to get up to the skybridge of the Petronas get there very very early in the morning to get a free ticket.

Perhentians (which llantwit has spelled wrong - just in case you need to look them up!) are beautiful for chilling out for a few days or weeks (depending on how much activity you want). No roads, no cars etc. Just swimming, snorkelling, diving, sunbathing and the hunt for the elusive alcohol (although it's not as bad as when I was there).

If you want a more touristy island, then there's Langkawi which is a duty free island (cans of beer 20p, cigarettes 50p). Unfortunately the water's not great (compared to Perhentians).

Like Llantwit says, there are other islands like Tenggol which not many westerners go to. There's also Kapas and a few others in the area. Can't be sure as I've not been to them but I'd imagine you'd have difficulty getting booze as they are in the Muslim states (llantwit can obviously correct me if I'm wrong!)

[llantwit]

Sorry for the spelling! :o

You can get booze on one place on Tenngol... well, beer, anyway. At the amazing Mr Paul's restaurant and cabins. There are only 3 places to stay on the island anyway, on the only inhabited bay (which is bloody amazing and as close to heaven as I've ever been). Compared with Tenngol, Kapas is a metroplis, and the diving's not a as good, and I've been told you can get beer in a few places.

:)

PM me if you want contact details for places to stay on tenngol. ;)

[mtbskalover]

thanks for all the adive people, its much appreciated.

i ahve stumped fror K.L as my bro knows some one who lives near by so we can hopefully both stay with him for most of our stay and get shown round and hopefully well looked after

cheers again! i will be copying all this info for reference

[HAL9000]

Singapore

what about the cable car to Sentosa Island? Great views, some of the cars have glass floors, so if you don't like heights, this is not for you.

The place where you buy the ticket is very confusing, above the ticket boths are lists of all the different tours to Sentosa Island :eek: . Ignore that, for example I just wanted to do a complete cable car circuit without visiting Sentosa Island, thats what I asked for. So I suggest rather than picking a tour (unless thats what you want), you ask for the bits you want to do, for example you might want to go up the tower on Sentosa Island and a trip on the cable car.

http://www.davesag.com/SingaporeAugust2003/Pages/30.html