Penang, Malaysia anyone?

[sunnywong]

what do you reckon? Any tips?

bump
anyone been, with kids natch

Sorry Suzy. Malaysia was a grave disappointment when we were there a few months ago. I'd stick to Thailand (a carefully chosen island) any day.

We found Malaysia to have been commercially raped - it was truly distressing.

We chose the Perhentians over Penang and were glad we did so because the people we spoke to said that it has lost a lot of it's allure ditto Langkawi. We found the Perhentians to be rather commercialised with mediocre snorkelling and scant respect for the so-called marine reserve we were staying in.

Other than that there are still very beautiful parts of non-mainland Malaysia.

Fiji anyday with kids. Anyday. www.octopusresort.com. Incredible

I loved it, but I was there a very long time ago - mid Nineties. So it may well have gone downhill a lot since then.

Dino - it has and it is so sad. The locals (more than one) told us that in the last five years there has been a push to completely commercialise large parts of some of some of the most beautiful and sensitive ecosystems in the world. Result = sprawling plantations and lots of very polluted tourist attractions

Oh hello sweetheart, how are you? How was the whole trip, are you in Melbourne now?
We were in the Perhentians 93-94, on the small island before it got electricity, it was paradise, although that is where we capsized on the very over crowded ferry in the middle of the monsoon back to Kuala Terranganu, but that's a whole other story.............

we just want 5 nights away for not many dollars and not too far away, given that we live in the most isolated city in the entire world

During my 13 year realation ship with malaysia (DH's family are all from Sabah) I have seen the rape and the pollution - and a lot of it is by the local people's own hand; I once had to pick up the detritus including plastic bags and tin cans from a Local's picnic on the slopes of Mt Kinabalu and one of dh's aunties lobbed all her plastic bag wrapped rubbish in to the stream at the bottom of the garden and I've got pictures of a Kampong in Kelantan that would would make you weep.

However, I need a holiday and I don't buy products laced with palm oil so what's a girl to do

I dunno - what's Indonesia like these days? Had lovely times in Sumatra, Java, Bali and Lombok but again, long time ago now.

Nope the baby has scuppered our plans to move until after the birth in May. So we move to Melbourne or Brisbane or Perth (undecided) in 1st week December.

We stayed on the small island - wasn't great very polluted, noisy (loads of boats) and really poor snorkelling. The reef is just ruined

I can't imagine Fiji is much further than Malaysia. Octopus is ultra laid back, the beach pristine. Access is easy by a fast boat from Nadi and best of all it's not hideously expensive.

Great for kids too - pool, and babysitter (really cheap).

check out the website - it's really a cool place to stay.

Sanur on Bali. It's on the beach but not a gated communty so there's the village too. Haven't been there but Lombok is supposed to wonderful.

Eh dejags???
Malaysia a million times nicer than Thailand imho.
We had a fantastic time there a few years back.
East coast is wonderful in partic (and I know a bit about nice beaches having been brought up on a tiny island in the pacific.)
And the food-!!!

baby? move to Perth? oh that's all good then

Bali is the costa del sol of WA so won't be going there to mix with riff raff thank you very much.

Actually it's all looking out of budget now, may buy a proper tent and go camping instead but thanks for all the input

It's changed Moondog. I kid you not.

Sanur's not full of WA riff-raff - it's mainly used by Germans. Of course, they could be German riff-raff! We went post-Bali bomb so it was v quiet then.