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Uncle Tan's is a very basic camp located in the heart of the rainforest near Sandakan. It can be quite tough - squat toilets, lots and lots of mosquitos and mud, long walks through jungle - but the chance to see the wildlife is unbeatable. I saw a dominant male orangutan from about 5m away, plus a reticulated snake, tarantula, scorpion, lots of proboscis monkeys, bearded pigs, hornbills etc. Fantastic place with brilliant fun staff and a lovely communual atmosphere.
On the main road to Semporna, a few miles outside Sandakan (quite near airport) - any bus will drop you off if you tell them where you're going. Make sure you get cash out first though, as there are no ATMs for miles.
www.uncletan.com/
Sipadan and nearby Mabul offer some of the best scuba diving and snorkelling in the world. I stayed at Uncle Chang's which is actually on Mabul, so you can dive in and snorkel straight off the front of the dining room.
The dorms are basic, but there's a fantastic open-sided dining room/common area with the sea lapping against the supports. The food is good and plentiful, and the price is really good value (50 ringgit per night, full board). Make sure you book in advance though, and tell them that you want to dive at Sipadan, as there are only limited spots on the trip each day and people had to wait a few days if they had just turned up.
You can fly to Tawau from Kuala Lumpur, then a fairly expensive taxi ride to Semporna. The mainland office is next to the large Dragon Hotel on the sea-front, and the boat leaves for Mabul every morning. www.sipadanbackpackers.com/
Roti cannai is a traditional dish and is a flat bread and a small bowl of curry. It is often seen as a poor person's dish but is really tasty and it is the one thing I remember from Malaysia and wish we had it here!
Uncle Tans run a 'jungle camp' with basic facilities and huts on the Kinabatangan river in Sabah. The camp represents a fantastic base from which to see an incredible amount of wildlife. As part of a very reasonably priced 3D/2N tour you also get to visit the Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre in Sepilok.
Other 'tour' options are becoming available. The people working at Uncle Tans are super friendly, informative and great with children. Uncle Tans can be reached easily from Kota Kinabalu or Sandakan.
Sabah is in easy and inexpensive reach from Kuala Lumpur through Air Asia for example (airasia.com).
This has to be one of the highlights of many trips to southeast Asia, a real fantastic, family-friendly opportunity to see crocodiles, wild pigs, gibbons, lizards, proboscis monkeys and if you are lucky, elephants and orang utans.
A lot of lower-end accommodation options in Kuala Lumpur for backpackers and people/families on a budget are quite poor (bed bugs being a common complaint). For £20-24 you can get a double room at the Swiss Inn, located right in the heart of vibrant Chinatown, close to Central Market and importantly, light rail inter-city transport links. It represents a great value option and comes with an excellent buffet breakfast. Room has TV and tea making facilities etc. Book online for some decent deals. No extra cost for children though they do not provide an extra bed.
Raju's serves south Indian breakfasts in the mornings and banana leaf tiffins (the Malaysian BLT - a pile of rice and curry served, as everything is at Raju's, on a banana leaf) in the afternoon.
Now, it is not on the tourist beat, it is not within sight of the Twin Towers, it's not even technically in KL but it is one of the best restaurants in the world.
It is situated next door to La Salle school on Jalan Chantek which is off Jalan Gasing which is off the Federal Highway heading towards Shah Alam. This is not the reason it's the best restaurant in the world though. It has a large outdoor dining area shaded by trees and with a charmingly bubbling storm drain running down one side. But this is not the reason it's the best restaurant in the world.
It is situated in a stand of shops which includes a picture framers, a photo shop and a barber's in a suburban residential area, populated by rather well off Malaysians, with Indians rather more plentifully represented than is perhaps the average. But this is not the reason it's the best restaurant in the world.
The reason it's the best restaurant in the world is because it serves, in the mornings, roti canai - which is the best breakfast in the world.
Basically a paratha-style flatbread of many calories, it is griddle fried freshly so that a crisp, friable crust forms on the dough, which is then punched and broken up before serving. Fairly boring, really. But then add some dal, some fish curry kuah (the gravy, not the actual fish) and perhaps a small piring (dish) of mutton curry, or a piece of fried tengiri, then add to this a teh tarikh (tea made with condensed milk which has been "tarikh'd", i.e. "pulled" through the air from one vessel to another to aerate and cool) and heaven, my friends, is a place on earth.
So. Be seated. There is no reservation, there is no plate captain, no "This way sir" - this is Malaysia old-style. There are many south Indian waiters in white shirts and blue trousers however. Call one over and ask for "roti canai" (pronounced "rotty chan-eye") and a teh tarikh. The dal, some carrot chutney and some coconut chutney are dumped unceremoniously in front of you along with a damp banana leaf. It is perfectly permissible to dry off the leaf with a tissue. I don't bother. And wait. A short time later (longer if at the weekend) and the roti, steaming, fragrant and - a sticking point for many - slightly smaller than average disc of bread is casually clapped onto your leaf. Serve yourself with dal, chutneys in small pools around the circumference. Some pour great ladlefuls of dal all over the roti, mash it into a mush and devour it sloppily in handfuls. A perfectly acceptable way to eat it in my opinion.
But we will choose the dainty option (though not the daintiest - forks and spoons are available, and widely used).
Tear off a small piece of roti, drag it through the dal (whilst arguing with your friends about whether or not the best nasi lemak is to be found in Ipoh or Penang) and pop it in your mouth. There is a faint cuminy, asafoetida tang to the dal, a faint sweetness (not too sweet, oh no) to the roti and a mouth feel (as Mr Blumenthal would have it) which is crunchy, soft, full-flavoured with mild spice (but not too mild, oh no) and completely satisfying. Tear off another piece. Pick up a perfectly tender piece of curried mutton - and although I never had a bad mutton curry when I lived in Malaysia, Raju's has to be the best - and once again, those curious contrasts are there. Crunchy/soft, spicy/bland, tangy/sweet. Take a sip of your scaldingly hot teh tarikh: it is foamy, sweet, strong and in combination with the roti and the curry as precisely perfect as any of the great pillars of Malaysian food when made perfectly. nasi lemak, laksa, prawn mee, char kway teow - roti canai. These are the five. Now you know one. Seek the rest.
Raju's Banana Leaf Restaurant, nearest LRT Taman Jaya, but it's quite a hike in the heat. Take a cab and ask for "Jalan Gasing, PJ" (pron. "gassing" pron. "peejay") then take the first left after the elevated LRT line. Raju's is at the end of the stand of shops on the right hand side of Jalan Chantek.
Stay at the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion if you like quaintness and history, stay at the g Hotel if you prefer hip and contemporary lodging.
Also, tour the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion, eat at the Gurney Drive food stalls and sample everything.
Don't try to take out illegal CDs or DVDs. Read The Star. Visit Kek Lok Si temple. Take the cable car, but arrive early: the lines are awful. Walk the canopy walk. Buy a Makansutra food guide. Indulge in a MacWaffle at Red Garden.
Trip report, with photos, at www.travelmusings.net
Trip report, with photos, at www.travelmusings.net
Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion:
www.cheongfatttzemansion.com/
g Hotel: www.ghotel.com.my/
Makansutra: www.makansutra.com/index.php
Travelmusings: www.travelmusings.net
I loved staying at the Berjaya. Join Dev's night wilderness (twice a week) at the Berjaya. Indulge in 90-minute outdoor massages at The Berjaya ($65 USD). Ride the cable car. Take the island-hopping tour. Try durian (at your own risk). Watch out for the monkeys. Do not carry food, drink, etc. around them.
The Berjaya:
www.berjayaresorts.com/beachresort_langkawi.htm
The Mulu National Park houses some stunningly beautiful rainforest and the largest caves on the planet. The park is easily reached by plane from Kota Kinabalu or Miri; accommodation at Park HQ is excellent but fairly basic whereas the Royal Mulu Resort offers luxury.
There is a wide variety of forest walks, one of the longest canopy walks in the world, caving trips for 'normal' tourists or more adventurous ones (including into the largest underground chamber on earth), a spectacular bat flight, river trips and wildlife nightwalks. It's so fabulous it's a world heritage site.
www.mulupark.com/
more info about the caves at
www.mulucaves.org
Borneo is an island off mainland Malaysia. It is awesome. I climbed Mount Kinabalu (the biggest mountain in South East Asia) while there. I reached the summit at sunrise and got the best views of my life.
While there I also got to relax at some wonderful natural hot springs and visit the amazing orangutans. Sabah contains one of only three sanctuaries in the world, so I felt privileged to see them. In addition, the people are extremely friendly and everything is cheaper than on the mainland - a top spot!
South East Asia
An assault on the senses. Visually stunning vibrant street market, a photographers dream - fantastic produce market that starts on Saturday evening and runs until shortly after midday on Sunday.
There are fruits on sale you won't see anywhere else in the world - straight out of the rainforest...
off Jln Sator, Kuching, Sarawak, Borneo
Fantastic food at very reasonable prices.
No 5, Jln Hang Lekir, 75200, Melaka
Beautiful group of simple bungalows on a deserted beach. The food is amazing and the owners, Debbie and Hash, are incredibly welcoming and kind people.
Pulau Perhentian Besar
+60 194267 100
A bit off-way from KL city is Bangsar. There's so much to do at Bangsar; hip pubs, good food (hawkers and restaurants), night market, shopping malls. A very popular place with the local expats.
Take a taxi from KL city, ask the taxi to go to Jalan Telawi in Bangsar - that's where all the good stuff is (less than RM10)! There are some good hotels in Bangsar too.
Take the Putra LRT to Bangsar station, then a feeder bus to the main strip around Jl Telawi.
You get to stay in a very clean, and homely place right in the KL city. Cheap and good! Not many people have heard about them yet (i think.)
travelmalaysiaguide.com/rainforest-bed-breakfast-hotel-hostel-kuala-lumpur-malaysia/
27 Jalan Mesui , Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur
If you intend on going up then go early to queue for the tickets.
There's a limit of 1320 per day and tickets are often snapped up early in the morning.
Go around 7:30am.
Eating is almost the best thing in Kuala Lumpur, there's so much selection, from the gourmet in high class restaurants to the cheap food in markets.
Hawker food is the best choice if you want to get a variety of the Asian cuisines. There's just SO SO many places to get good hawker food in KL.
travelmalaysiaguide.com/hawker-food-in-kuala-lumpur-malaysia/
Hopefully this helps in making your choice.
Kuala Lumpur, everywhere
This place is awesome. I noticed a recommendation for the Backpacker Travellers Inn, well my brother and I went there first and this place after and it is much better in my opinion.
There is a really communal atmosphere, the Chinatown night market is a stones throw where you can buy cheap DVDs and watch them on the huge screen they have there.
Also if you can't go without a football fix during your travels this place has all the cable channels so you will never miss a match and there will always be someone to watch it with, even if it is at 3AM!
The best bit however is the food stalls right outside the hostel. Amazingly spicy fried rice for RM 3 and tasty chicken or beef satay cooked in front of you over charcoal for 60 Sen. Superb! If you do visit watch out for a guy named Aru - bit of a resident there and a great guy to chat to.
No.80 Jalan Sultan
This train line travels from the north east to Gemas in the south, about half way between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. The train line is the east coast line, but has been nicknamed the jungle railway as it runs through the jungle and the national park. The journey itself is beautiful but you must book your train in advance. I failed to do this and ended up on the mail train for 16 hours with no air con. All part of the adventure, but I would recommed the fast train, which takes about 8 hours and is a lot cooler.
If you are looking for a night out head to Waterfront, a nice bar - believe it or not, on the water front - and Bed, at the end of the same row of bars, KK's only nightclub!
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