Malaysia - any advice welcome

[MonsterMunchMe]

DP and myself are planning a two week long trip to Malaysia at the end of October.

Planning on doing a KL, Penang, a rainforest trek and ending it on a nice beach resort.

Any suggestions on the last two would be great!

Also it's a Muslim country so what is appropriate to wear?

I know it's quite rainy and warm in October, so long linen trousers/long sleeve tops? Do they need to be baggy or is it more relaxed? Also in the beach resorts are bikinis ok on the beach?

TIA

I really recommend the Datai on Langkawi for a beach resort. Pricey, but worth it!

Def Langkawi!

Clothing isn't terribly conservative, bikinis at resorts are fine.

Agree re langkawi. Tanjung rhu resort is lovely. Datai also

bikinis are fine on the beach but keep your top on. Off the beach, no real rules for you as a tourist, but long shorts and sleeves to elbow are quite good to keep you cool and keep the sun off. If your partner is the opposite gender, don't touch in public.

one side or the other of Malaysia is always good, which side depends on time of year due to the monsoon. I can't remember which it is for October but it shouldn't be hard to find out.

24/7 deet against dengue, and all jabs.

We went for 2 weeks a couple of years ago and managed to see KL, Singapore, Penang and Langkawi. We got a ferry from Penang to Langkawi. It was quite exciting going by boat. It took less than 3 hours so was faster than going back to the mainland and up.
We stayed in this place in Langkawi: www.villamolek.com/ gorgeous!

I think you can go jungle trekking on Langkawi but not sure as we didn't do it. We went snorkeling to some of the smaller islands nearby - v good.

I went to Malaysia years ago and went jungle trekking in Taman Negara national park, which was excellent. I had no time limit then though; last time we went there wasn't enough time to fit it into a 2wk trip with other things we wanted to do.......depends on your priorities though.

Enjoy your trip!

Been to Penang, loved it but we were staying with friends so different from just being a typical tourist. Loved George Town - great for walking about and some lovely architecture and Little India was vibrant and fun. Took the funicular up Penang Hill and had lunch at an old colonial style restaurant with gardens and amazing views.

For beaches go to Lankawi for luxury type resort or one of the smaller islands for a more simple laid back approach like Tioman island or Rawa.

Sabah is also highly spoken of.

Georgetown was fun even as a typical tourist! Penang Hill fascinating, there's also a temple you climb to a bus ride away (argh - can't remember the name) which was spectacular. Didn't bother with Penang beaches though, they sounded mucky.

Taman Negara is malarial.

In October you're better off sticking to the west coast of Malaysia, so Langkawi would work as a beach resort.
Penang is great, pretty Westernised - do you know where you're staying? We drove a lot in Malaysia (not KL though) and it was pretty easy - Penang, you could do a jungle trek in the national park on the north of the island, get a boat to turtle beach, some of the operators do a barbecue on the beach day.
The cooking school at the spice garden (just north of Batu Ferringhi) was great and the spice garden itself is interesting, with a really nice restaurant (good sunset views).
Tropical fruit farm - interesting, but we had an excellent guide and if you didn't get a good guide it might be rubbish. Also not sure what's in season in October but you'll miss the stinky durian season.
Georgetown is brilliant, loved it - there's a good Chinese mansion that's Blue that I can't remember the name of!
The botanic gardens are a nice place to walk around.
Penang war museum interesting, bit haunting with the ex-POW camps.
The hawkers food places are fab, the one in Batu Ferringhi is more geared to tourists, the wet markets at teluk Behang are good for breakfast.
Make sure you go to a 24hour Indian cafe for breakfast and have a roti bom and iced lemon tea. Other food at the hawkers is the clay pot meals, so tasty! Murtabek filled pancakes are good meals, chicken satay, the thai mango rice (makes my mouth water thinking about it) oh and when you're hot and sweaty get yourself a can of 100 plus citrus, I was addicted to it!
Other little places that are good are the snake temple but nowhere near as spectacular as Kek Lok Si temple and as already said Penang hill is good.
If you have a car stop at Miami beach for a drink, the tsunami hit there and you can still see the damage.
Buses are quite good in Penang and taxis too.
Then you could boat or fly to Langkawi - I'd really recommend a car in Langkawi, legends of Langkawi park is interesting (if poorly maintained), the hill with the cable cars (can't remember the name is good), most of the hotels should be able to arrange you a trip to the mangroves - sea eagles and macaques guaranteed.
I could go on! With it being 2wks I think you'll have plenty to do in Penang and Langkawibwithout going further afield.

Kek Lok Si, that's the temple!

and just looked up, the blue mansion is Chong Fat Tze.

That's the one Chong Fat Tze. I think they have bedrooms you can stay over in.

Thank you so much!

Think we will do a week in Penang and a week in langkawi

I lived in Malaysia last year If you are looking for a nice rainforest go here www.frim.gov.my/ Forest Research Institute of Malaysia - it has a gorgeous waterfall and a canopy walkway and loads of monkeys

Also, cover yourself up - you can wear tshirts and shorts but just make sure their not too revealing

The Datai is beautiful. Except for the monkeys.

I was thinking, when I was there I wore more modest swimwear than usual - tankini that came up quite high with short bottoms. I mostly wore 3/4length trousers and t-shirts, I rarely wore vests (which I normally do on holiday). If you stay at somewhere like the Hard Rock resort in Penang you'll be fine in your bikini by the pool. The beaches in Penang aren't that clean, although they have been making a lot of efforts for a "cleaner, greener Penang".
There's more to do in Penang than Langkawi & I'd maybe consider 9days in Penang and 5 days in Langkawi.
The Cenang beach (Pantai Cenang) on the west of Langkawi has a good holiday feel - little beach bars where you can sip a Tiger and watch the sunset and the parasailers. There's a place called Malibest on the beach that has beach huts reasonably cheaply that everyone raves about but we couldn't get in as it was fully booked. If you stay at Cenang beach there's a quite a few eating options nearby.

If you are staying in Penang for a week, George Town is definately worth a visit. We stayed in the blue mansion last year which someone mentioned earlier in the thread, fabulous place and so interesting!

And another yes for Langkawi, we made the mistake of only going for 3 days but it was the highlight of our trip! We went on a kayaking tour of parts of the island, worth a look as a lovely way to spend a day.

Have fun!

Really recommend kayaking through the mangroves on Langkawi: lots of organised tours do this. We stayed at the Frangipani and would recommend it.
We also loved the Hotel Mutiara in Kuala Tahan, which is right in the rainforest in the Taman Negara. This was the highlight of our trip last summer and we wished we had stayed there longer. However, as someone mentioned up thread, it is malarial so you would have to take antimalarials.

Kayaking sounds great Midnight.

Penang is indeed awesome, has a fascinating history and culture, and the best food in the world (disclaimer: I'm a Penangite by birth ). The beaches and sea are not as good as Langkawi, but are pleasant enough. In addition to the various places mentioned above (Kek Lok Si, Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion) I also recommend Khoo Kongsi and the Peranakan Museum. The Spice Garden and cookery school are well worth a visit. Depending on your budget, there is some fabulous heritage accommodation in Georgetown, like this and this and this.

Langkawi is gorgeous and has some lovely rainforest and unique mangrove habitat in addition to the beautiful beaches - there's even some OK snorkelling (although better diving can be had on the East Coast). As suggested above, try going by ferry (high speed catamaran) from Penang.

Taman Negara is well worth a visit and the Mutiara Hotel is the most convenient place to stay, being almost right in the rainforest. You can get a two-night "package" of guided activities including night walking, boat rides on the river, guided hikes etc.

KL is a giant hot traffic jam punctuated by shopping malls - worth visiting once but that's probably enough for a lifetime (another disclaimer: I grew up there).

Anywhere even slightly touristy will be pretty tolerant of ordinary Western dress. It's seriously hot and humid - unless visiting a temple or other sombre place, I would go around in shorts/skirt, sleeveless top, open-toed sandals. Although officially a Muslim country, it is very multicultural and there is a significant population of other religions. It is completely fine to hold hands/put arms around/other mild PDA your partner in public, but kissing is rarely seen.

Enjoy!

We have just come back from all these places. Will respond fully later - just marking my place for now

So I'm back. We have just been to Malaysia for 2 weeks for Chinese New Year (we live in Beijing) and loved it. DD 10 and DS 8. Would recommend Traders Hotel in KL. V good location and not in one way system. Traffic horrendous so this quite important. Hotel overlooks Petronus Towers. Easy walk to shops there. Plus it has free car park. We did various temples (lots of options listed in any guide book), china town, central market, bird park, Batu caves and Sunway swim place. All great in their own way. Don't do the hop on hop off tour bus - traffic so bad it is seriously quicker to walk. Better to take taxis in KL. We drove outside eg Batu Caves and Sunway.
If you are self driving get a decent NEW map. We had one from 2012 and it was out of date. Nightmare. Thank goodness DH has maps on IPhone or we'd still be lost.
Cameron highlands tea plantations are spectacular scenery but terrible traffic so be v cautious about this. Took us 7 hours to get there from KL (should be 3). But maybe due to CNY.
Would highly recommend Royal belum Park rainforest hotel. Lovely location. Jungle tours etc from here. Excellent.
Penang again a giant traffic jam but I agree with the others. Interesting and some nice places but the weather and traffic make it hard work. I echo all previous recommendations for Penang Hill and the temples etc.
We stayed nr Batu Ferringhi but there was a sewage problem in the sea so we could not swim. V disappointing. Even if you can swim beware jellyfish.
If you want music go have a drink at the Hard Rock hotel bar where there is live music. Also a night market along the street nr Hard Rock which is fun. Also a boat tour to monkey beach is fun and reasonable swimming here.
Hope this helps.
Enjoy!

It is years since I went to Malaysia (1993), but two things I did when I was there:

Diving at Pilau Sipadan. It was amazing, I would go back tomorrrow if I could. We stayed on Sipadan for 10 days and dived 3 times a day, but if you have a chance - oh my God it's beautiful.

Climbing Mount Kinabalu (I still have a T Shirt "It's hard to be humble when you've reached the top"). It's not a climb, it's an extended walk and stepped in most places. We stayed overnight at the bottom in a dorm type building, started the walk in the morning, stopped mid afternoon at a cafe/hotel/youth hostel type place, got up at about 3am to continue the walk and reached the top as the sun was coming up - it was magical being there, above the clouds watching the sun from below you.

Oh I've just thought of something else - a monkey/oragutan sanctuary on an island. Shit, can't remember the name, but they have helped to repopulate a dying species I think. Sorry, google would prob help! I want to say something like Sepa? Sepalock? Can't get on google from work.

All my places are Sabah I think, I know that the airport we landed in was Kota Kinabalu

Best beach resort for me is the Perhentians islands. They are on the right hand side of Malaysia (accessible via speedboat from the mainland near Kuala Terranganu) but internal flights are incredibly cheap with Firefly or Air Asia and that could open up more options. Tbh KL is not really anything special much more to see in Penang. We spent 6 weeks in 2012 and went from KL to Perhentians, to Cameron Highlands, to Penang to Tioman Island. Bear in mind if you want to do true jungle trekking in the National Park Taman Negara (think thats the name but name escapes me!) you need to take anti malarials. The rest of Malaysia is not malarial. We found it a wonderful, welcoming very relaxed Muslim country and everyone we met was helpful.

LtEve The orang-utan sanctuary you are thinking of I guess is Sepilok, although that is in Sabah rather than on an island? Sipidan is indeed utterly amazing if you are a diver although it's now a marine park and you can no longer stay on the island itself.

East Malaysia (Malaysian Borneo - where Sepilok and Sipidan are) is an amazing place and a flight to Kota Kinabalu from KL takes less than 2 hours but it might be a stretch to pack in much in Borneo on top of what you already have planned!

Oh, that sounds right Boleh (although. I thought I remembered a boat journey to it - it was such a long time ago though!) Sorry OP, my ideas were probably useless in that case . Was definitely Borneo, but it shows that my geography is pants once I'm outside UK - I hadn't thought about the size of Malaysia at all.

I'd love to go back to Sipadan. It was amazing. I was very lucky to go when you could stay there then it sounds like. We even had a chance to help hatching turtles get to the ocean - an experience in itself.