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Ziggy

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Malindo air are not a JV between respective governments, but a JV between NADI and Lion Air.

Lion Air are an appalling airline. They are trying to join IATA but their first application was denied on safety grounds. Their on time performance is one of the worst in the region.

It has been sanctioned on more than one (many) occasion due to its pilots being intoxicated including instances of methamphetamine use (more than once).

It's safety record is quite amazing for such a young airline. Their planes dont seem to get on with runways, which is kind of important, sometimes missing them, running out of them, falling short of them, bouncing on them and sometimes when they do manage to get onto the runway, they tend to hit cows.

It has improved slightly and was removed from the EU blacklist last year, but it's got a long way to go.

You have heard this before. Naw, don't do it ;-)


I thoight i was the scare monger :).

I like Malindo. Got tvs and inflight snacks on the non propeller planes. Good baggage allowance too. Havent flown lion for ages but that cow shouldnt have been hanging the airport anyway round anyway. Indonesian air companies give me the fear in general. I think malindo is the one they throw money at because its run by a family member of a certain leading politician. Anyway thats a fairly big tangent.

Skyscanner doesnt always pick up the smaller companies although it is a fantastic app. Ive mentioned before but i never book through the 3rd party companies, always book through the airline direct. Yeah it might be nice saving 50 quid but on the off chance anything goes wrong youll regret not being able to deal with the airline directly.
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I thoight i was the scare monger [emoji4].

I like Malindo. Got tvs and inflight snacks on the non propeller planes. Good baggage allowance too. Havent flown lion for ages but that cow shouldnt have been hanging the airport anyway round anyway. Indonesian air companies give me the fear in general. I think malindo is the one they throw money at because its run by a family member of a certain leading politician. Anyway thats a fairly big tangent.


Unaware of any political/family connection of Chandran Ramamurthy, but he did have a track record in the low cost airline industry.

Lion Air took a pasting from Air Asia, particularly when Air Asia moved into the Indonesian market. Lion Air can't really compete as their brand is a joke and out with Garuda, Indonesian airlines and the aerospace industry there has a shocking reputation.

The previously mentioned instances in my previous post, although in joke are purely based on fact. The reputation of Lion Air is shocking and the OTP is absymal. It's success is purely based on numbers, the low cost making it affordable to fly for many who normally couldn't and thus have hobsons choice of they want to get from one island to another. Personally, I've sat for 6 hours in Jakarta waiting on a 30 minute flight when the whole Lion Air fleet had been grounded and all staff disappearing. For that time. I understand, that situation was for unpaid bills to the airport. If you check the boards you would expect the airlines name is actually Lion Air Delayed.

Malindo, looks like their attempt to seriously challenge Air Asia under a different flag, and I know the name will change sometime this year and likely the lion branding will disappear/reduce. I would guess this would be to further detach itself from Lion.

Lion Air is inexcusable as an airline, if you compare a kind of like for like, that would be Cebu Pacific, which if you can be bothered with the inflight games and other strange antics are a fantastic airline offering similar services as Lion Air, in the Philippines.

From my perspective, in South East Asia you do need to be selective with the airlines you choose, safety being obvious, but more so for being on time and the service and support you get. I can't imagine it would be fun on holiday and having a horrendous flight delay with no support or fall back just because you wanted to save an extra $20.

There are plenty of decent low cost airlines out here and some good prices from flag carriers, as a major airline, Lion Air and its subsidiaries/JV's are the only one I would currently avoid.


I wouldn't be surprised that with Malindo being based in Malaysia and having more stringent laws/policies enforced, the rebranding, which appears will co-incide with one of lions smaller subsidiaries, Batik Air is the start of an overall rebranding of the company as a whole to shake off the Lion Air stigma.

I suppose flying in a plane piloted by someone out his nut on crystal-meth would be an experience though.

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I used Air Asia a fair bit when I lived in Malaysia, but internally I often found Malaysia Airlines to be competitive and a much nicer experience.

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I find the staff to be outrageously rude at times on Malaysian, in economy anyway. Super nice in business class.

Yeah I know all those instances are true stories, as facetious as im being. As much as airasia always run a bit late i find Indonesian airasia to be dreadful. I have a friend who arrived at the airport early and walked up to the gate before the earlier flight and asked to get on that flight and they let her no questions asked. I also know of someone who got blocked fron boarding a plane at immigration (cant remember the phrase when they kick you off a flight) and walked to the gate and walked onto the plane anyway (i know because it was me). Al jazeera did an interesting documentary on the airasia crash which then talked about Indonesian air traffic in general. Was an eye opener.

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From a safety perspective your going to be 99% fine, probably more statistically. But you should consider that South East Asia isn't quite as regulated as other places and there's a huge difference between here and the EU. It's only the last couple of years that even some of the regions flag carriers were allowed to fly to Europe.

When I lived in Vietnam I knew an Australian engineer for Jester who was sacked for whistle blowing on the local service centre who were falsifying maintenance work documents resulting in several planes being flown when not airworthy, his opinion was a real risk of an accident. He was sacked for his troubles, sued Jetstar and settled out of court for a figure that set him up for life.
As a frequent traveler in the region, I tend to try and fly with reputable airlines as much as possible.

On time performance is another consideration for myself, but at least there not as bad as China where every flight is delayed.

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On time performance is another consideration for myself, but at least there not as bad as China where every flight is delayed.

 

 

To be fair, everything in SE Asia works on a different perspective of time than we have so why would air travel be different?

 

In the Philippines the concept of time passing getting from A to B doesn't exist i.e. my wife thinks my son being on time for school means leaving our house at 10.45am - the time school starts. The 10 minutes it takes to get there isn't part of tge equation!

 

 

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Going to book a 2D 1N tour on the Kinabatangan River through Amazing Borneo. Consists of a jungle trek, and 3 river trips. Decent price all in, about £170 which includes the tours, meals and accommodation. 


Obviously we all know that your going to be brutally raped by aids ridden monkeys, your plane will crash on the way home and while recovering in some God forsaken country, there will be a military coup, etc, etc.

But in the off chance you survive it would be interesting to know what you thought of it ;-)
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26 minutes ago, Tight John McVeigh is a tit said:

 


Obviously we all know that your going to be brutally raped by aids ridden monkeys, your plane will crash on the way home and while recovering in some God forsaken country, there will be a military coup, etc, etc.

But in the off chance you survive it would be interesting to know what you thought of it ;-)

 

That's if I don't die on the way out! 

I'll definitely let you know. Planning a trip to the Sepilok Orangutan Conservation Centre as well as the Sun Bear one next door. So glad you all talked me into going to Malaysia as it offers a lot more than the Philippines. 

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Obviously we all know that your going to be brutally raped by aids ridden monkeys, your plane will crash on the way home and while recovering in some God forsaken country, there will be a military coup, etc, etc.

But in the off chance you survive it would be interesting to know what you thought of it ;-)

Easy now. Us Thaia love a military coup, we also don't believe in God.
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  • 3 months later...

Got my route all sorted. Long shot, but does anywhere know of a decent place near KL airport with day facilities (i.e. a swimming pool, showers & somewhere to ditch our bags). Will be flying in to KL airport from Medan, Sumatra around lunchtime on the 26th July, and our flight home isn't until 10pm at night. So, need somewhere to go/something to do without venturing too far.

Found one place called Sama Sama but it's a little pricey 

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2 hours ago, Alex_14 said:

Got my route all sorted. Long shot, but does anywhere know of a decent place near KL airport with day facilities (i.e. a swimming pool, showers & somewhere to ditch our bags). Will be flying in to KL airport from Medan, Sumatra around lunchtime on the 26th July, and our flight home isn't until 10pm at night. So, need somewhere to go/something to do without venturing too far.

Found one place called Sama Sama but it's a little pricey 

Tune hotel at kila 2 is dandy,ive stayed in it a couple of times for basically the same purpose.Just use the airport express train in between the terminals and its a 2 min walk and its connected to the terminal

http://www.tunehotels.com/my/en/our-hotels/klia2/?_ga=2.100175901.285941630.1495398098-2004568420.1495398097

 

Forgot to add,theres a new massive shopping centre not far from the airport and theres free buses from the airport(just follow the signs to the bus terminal) thats ok to kill a good few hours

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The bus drivers I had last year were feckin mental, at one point near the shopping centre we went over a bridge and we actually took off like the Dukes of Hazzard such was the speed he was going at.

Mind you we were being overtaken on the inside by a motorbike at that point.

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  • 2 months later...

Just got back in the last couple of days, had an absolute blast. Have hundreds of photos but my favourites are of the wildlife we saw so I'll post them.

A quick run down on each place if anyone cares...

Kuala Lumpur

Hectic but vibrant city, we stayed in Bukit Bintang and there was a lot going on, bars etc, close to the KL Tower and Petronas Towers. We went to the revolving restaurant in the KL Tower which was pretty awful but the views make up for the price you pay. Couldn't live there though, it's just too big. We did the hop on/hop off bus tour which let us see the main sights although jet lag kicked in and I fell asleep on the bus...!

Sandakan & Sepilok, Borneo

Incredible beauty down at the Kinabatangan river. If anyone is ever planning a trip, you have to go with Mr Aji - he's cheap, meals and accom are included in the £120(ish) cost per person. All of the large companies charge £300+ for the same thing for no real reason. He's an expert, he finds the wildlife from quite literally miles away. Our boat was going the opposite way from the rest of the tourist boats and it made the experience all the more intimate.

Despite being ecstatic with the experience, it was hard not to feel a little sad when leaving, because as Mr Aji explains, we're only able to see most of the animals (pygmy elephants, orangutans etc) because the palm oil industry has pushed them to the river's edge. Somewhat heartbreaking.

nJmJGtl.jpg

o656vI4.jpg

SOnSonw.jpg

ofbBfm0.jpg

P9f5dqD.jpg

 

Kota Kinabalu

Nice city, bigger than I had expected. We made a day trip to Sapi Island to do the coral zipflyer and a little bit of kayaking which is well worth doing. The main highlight for us though was the Welcome Seafood restaurant. It's very much a local vibe, with the freshest, tastiest seafood I've ever had. It was the kind of place where you select your own live lobster, prawns etc, so if you find that a bit sadistic, then it's not for you. Didn't bother with Mount Kinabalu which is probably the main draw to there.

Perhentian Islands

This was where we had a bit of down time, just relaxing on the beach, snorkeling (we saw sharks and turtles amongst others, including a fish that was about a metre long). We went to 'long beach' on the small island on a couple of seshes, which is where all the backpacker gap year types hang out and had a blast. Fire shows, cheap drinks etc...standard.

Langkawi 

We stayed in a bit of luxury here and again relaxed somewhat after a hectic couple of days, although we still kept busy seeing the sights (Eagle Square being a highlight). We spent some time at Cenang beach, at the night markets, and, best of all, we did a jet ski tour of the entire island and the islands off of it. Well worth doing and not overly pricey. Duty free makes this a great place to get pissed - a litre of Bombay Sapphire gin for example was about £8. 

The cable car to the Skybridge is one of the most terrifying things ever, i'm not exactly great with heights and have no faith in the cable car engineering. But, well worth it and the views from the top are pretty spectacular.

Penang

This is called the food capital of the world and for good reason - the street food/food at the hawker centres are to die for, some of the best food I've ever eaten. A highlight was Kun Bao chicken, alongside the classics Nasi Goreng and Char Koay Teow. It's a great place for street art too, we saw the typically touristy things like the boy reaching up on the chair and the boy on the bike. We used their Link Bikes (essentially Boris Bikes) to see the city which was fun, if a little nervewracking. Dirt cheap to do so, too. 

Love Lane is where it's happening at night, lots of live acoustic music and just a decent vibe.

Sumatra

We arranged a tour with a guide which is extremely necessary as if you just flew in and tried to wing it, you'd not have a chance. He picked us up, took us on a food tour (which was amazing, beef rendang in Sumatra is wonderful), and we went to the palace and saw the mosque. He was very informative and we learned a lot. Great fun there as well as the locals don't see us white tourists very often, so we were treated like celebrities and people were asking for photos quite literally every minute and giving us free fruit etc at their stalls. I can see why celebrities hate their fans, but my ego loved it too much to say no to anyone.

Anyway, after the food tour we were taken to Bukit Lawang (about a 4 hour drive all in - it's not particularly far, perhaps 90km but the roads are WOEFUL). Again though, having the driver arranged for us was a lifesaver as you quite simply can't drive yourself, Medan is organised chaos, and I didn't see much in the way of public transport or taxis. From here, we did a jungle trek the next day and saw 8 orangutans, white handed gibbons, short haired macaques and some wild peacocks. We were extremely lucky as we spoke to some people who trekked the day before and saw nothing at all. 

We then embarked on a long drive to Beristagi - from here we did the sunrise Sibayak volcano hike (we saw the active Sinabung volcano errupting from the top of the volcano we were on which was pretty sensational). The entire place is permanently covered in ash as Sinabung spews it out about 12 times a day. We went to more local markets, had the best fresh fruit i've ever had, went over to Lake Toba and went to the hot springs. It was all pretty full on, hectic and tiring, but such a great experience and it all went to plan.

HjjBivj.jpg

That's just about it, I've left out a lot but that's the gist of it. It's such a beautiful and underrated part of the world.

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Just got back in the last couple of days, had an absolute blast. Have hundreds of photos but my favourites are of the wildlife we saw so I'll post them.
A quick run down on each place if anyone cares...
Kuala Lumpur
Hectic but vibrant city, we stayed in Bukit Bintang and there was a lot going on, bars etc, close to the KL Tower and Petronas Towers. We went to the revolving restaurant in the KL Tower which was pretty awful but the views make up for the price you pay. Couldn't live there though, it's just too big. We did the hop on/hop off bus tour which let us see the main sights although jet lag kicked in and I fell asleep on the bus...!
Sandakan & Sepilok, Borneo
Incredible beauty down at the Kinabatangan river. If anyone is ever planning a trip, you have to go with Mr Aji - he's cheap, meals and accom are included in the £120(ish) cost per person. All of the large companies charge £300+ for the same thing for no real reason. He's an expert, he finds the wildlife from quite literally miles away. Our boat was going the opposite way from the rest of the tourist boats and it made the experience all the more intimate.
Despite being ecstatic with the experience, it was hard not to feel a little sad when leaving, because as Mr Aji explains, we're only able to see most of the animals (pygmy elephants, orangutans etc) because the palm oil industry has pushed them to the river's edge. Somewhat heartbreaking.
nJmJGtl.jpg
o656vI4.jpg
SOnSonw.jpg
ofbBfm0.jpg
P9f5dqD.jpg
 
Kota Kinabalu
Nice city, bigger than I had expected. We made a day trip to Sapi Island to do the coral zipflyer and a little bit of kayaking which is well worth doing. The main highlight for us though was the Welcome Seafood restaurant. It's very much a local vibe, with the freshest, tastiest seafood I've ever had. It was the kind of place where you select your own live lobster, prawns etc, so if you find that a bit sadistic, then it's not for you. Didn't bother with Mount Kinabalu which is probably the main draw to there.
Perhentian Islands
This was where we had a bit of down time, just relaxing on the beach, snorkeling (we saw sharks and turtles amongst others, including a fish that was about a metre long). We went to 'long beach' on the small island on a couple of seshes, which is where all the backpacker gap year types hang out and had a blast. Fire shows, cheap drinks etc...standard.
Langkawi 
We stayed in a bit of luxury here and again relaxed somewhat after a hectic couple of days, although we still kept busy seeing the sights (Eagle Square being a highlight). We spent some time at Cenang beach, at the night markets, and, best of all, we did a jet ski tour of the entire island and the islands off of it. Well worth doing and not overly pricey. Duty free makes this a great place to get pissed - a litre of Bombay Sapphire gin for example was about £8. 
The cable car to the Skybridge is one of the most terrifying things ever, i'm not exactly great with heights and have no faith in the cable car engineering. But, well worth it and the views from the top are pretty spectacular.
Penang
This is called the food capital of the world and for good reason - the street food/food at the hawker centres are to die for, some of the best food I've ever eaten. A highlight was Kun Bao chicken, alongside the classics Nasi Goreng and Char Koay Teow. It's a great place for street art too, we saw the typically touristy things like the boy reaching up on the chair and the boy on the bike. We used their Link Bikes (essentially Boris Bikes) to see the city which was fun, if a little nervewracking. Dirt cheap to do so, too. 
Love Lane is where it's happening at night, lots of live acoustic music and just a decent vibe.
Sumatra
We arranged a tour with a guide which is extremely necessary as if you just flew in and tried to wing it, you'd not have a chance. He picked us up, took us on a food tour (which was amazing, beef rendang in Sumatra is wonderful), and we went to the palace and saw the mosque. He was very informative and we learned a lot. Great fun there as well as the locals don't see us white tourists very often, so we were treated like celebrities and people were asking for photos quite literally every minute and giving us free fruit etc at their stalls. I can see why celebrities hate their fans, but my ego loved it too much to say no to anyone.
Anyway, after the food tour we were taken to Bukit Lawang (about a 4 hour drive all in - it's not particularly far, perhaps 90km but the roads are WOEFUL). Again though, having the driver arranged for us was a lifesaver as you quite simply can't drive yourself, Medan is organised chaos, and I didn't see much in the way of public transport or taxis. From here, we did a jungle trek the next day and saw 8 orangutans, white handed gibbons, short haired macaques and some wild peacocks. We were extremely lucky as we spoke to some people who trekked the day before and saw nothing at all. 
We then embarked on a long drive to Beristagi - from here we did the sunrise Sibayak volcano hike (we saw the active Sinabung volcano errupting from the top of the volcano we were on which was pretty sensational). The entire place is permanently covered in ash as Sinabung spews it out about 12 times a day. We went to more local markets, had the best fresh fruit i've ever had, went over to Lake Toba and went to the hot springs. It was all pretty full on, hectic and tiring, but such a great experience and it all went to plan.
HjjBivj.jpg
That's just about it, I've left out a lot but that's the gist of it. It's such a beautiful and underrated part of the world.


See much better than being shot, blown up or abducted in The Philippines.

I'm just back from Malaysia last week (Penang, Ipoh, Shah Alam and Johor Bahru), all be it working, but have come to the conclusion that Malaysia has the worst food in all of South East Asia.

Glad you liked Sumatra. Its devoid of most things and poor in most parts but can be beautiful and the people are great (not just saying that as the wife is from there). The food in Sumatra is wonderful as you say. Although Indonesian, it has some similarity to Thai. Beef rendang is fantastic, especially if made well and served with plenty of sambal goreng. Hope you had a chance to try some tempe.

The roads in Sumatra can be brutal and driving is a challenge, you certainly need your wits about you.

Tourism is in its infancy in Sumatra, but small areas are rasing interest (mostly surfing) and they are building a new toll road which will stretch from the port in Lampung (ferry from Jakarta) right up to Medan so in the future things may change. You probably have now been at a good time.

For right now, westerners are a novelty and if you were in shorts and t-shirts, no wonder you would be getting approached all the time!

As most will never have interacted with westerners you do get some bizzare reactions. A few weeks ago I was getting my haircut there and after cutting my hair the barber asks if he should use an open razor to tidy up my neck (common for SEA haircuts), I say of course and he goes on to say he had heard that westerners skin is much, much thinner than Asians and if you take a razor to it, it will cut right through?!?
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10 hours ago, Tight John McVeigh is a tit said:

 


See much better than being shot, blown up or abducted in The Philippines.

I'm just back from Malaysia last week (Penang, Ipoh, Shah Alam and Johor Bahru), all be it working, but have come to the conclusion that Malaysia has the worst food in all of South East Asia.

Glad you liked Sumatra. Its devoid of most things and poor in most parts but can be beautiful and the people are great (not just saying that as the wife is from there). The food in Sumatra is wonderful as you say. Although Indonesian, it has some similarity to Thai. Beef rendang is fantastic, especially if made well and served with plenty of sambal goreng. Hope you had a chance to try some tempe.

The roads in Sumatra can be brutal and driving is a challenge, you certainly need your wits about you.

Tourism is in its infancy in Sumatra, but small areas are rasing interest (mostly surfing) and they are building a new toll road which will stretch from the port in Lampung (ferry from Jakarta) right up to Medan so in the future things may change. You probably have now been at a good time.

For right now, westerners are a novelty and if you were in shorts and t-shirts, no wonder you would be getting approached all the time!

As most will never have interacted with westerners you do get some bizzare reactions. A few weeks ago I was getting my haircut there and after cutting my hair the barber asks if he should use an open razor to tidy up my neck (common for SEA haircuts), I say of course and he goes on to say he had heard that westerners skin is much, much thinner than Asians and if you take a razor to it, it will cut right through?!?

 

Yep, I'm delighted with the Malaysia over Philippines shout that was thrown out on here.

You say Malaysia has the worst food! Don't you rate it over at Penang at least? I found it to be quite simply delicious, much better than the food I've sampled in Bali, Hong Kong and Singapore. Had plenty of tempeh, although I believed it was tofu the entire time...I'm not exactly an expert on that front. 

Like I say, we had a guide the entire time in Sumatra so we purely went to the 'better' areas, we didn't see much of the poorer side although obviously every area in the world has its poorer places. I thought the whole thing was brilliant, little kids coming up and wanting to practice their English. They're amazingly friendly and they seem happier than us, despite being worse off. Maybe this is because, cliche alert, they're not obsessed with technology and social media - people come first - that's very unique nowadays and a great escape from the digital world we live in.

 

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Its each to their own, I suppose but I really find Malay food a real disappointment for the region. But my eating habits will be different (being married to someone from Sumatra, I live on spicy fresh food). Although your comparisons are fair, Singaporean food is pretty woeful and food in Bali is a bit mixed (too much western culture influence I think). Hong Kong/Canton food is pretty so so, for me bland. In China I'll look for Yunnan, sichuan then Hunnan. Tempeh is fantastic, especially when fried. Stuffed tofu and raw chilis is also brilliant.

Clearly you have done a fantastic trip and got away from the norm. Your pretty much right on the attitude of the people out here which is great. Most don't have and know they will never have so get on with life and accept things as they are. The likes of these places, especially sumatra, will change and change soon. Only recently Google have tied in their 'project Loon' in the south of Sumatra. A few months ago you could hardly get one bar on a mobile phone, you are now getting 4g. Great progress, but the rural culture will be lost forever.

How many little kids looked puzzled when you told them you were from Scotland?



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Yeah one of the people I was with is super sad and needed data, I was disappointed to find he was able to get 4G in Sumatra. At the top of a volcano no less, ffs.

A lot of the kids hadn't even heard of Scotland! They were all probably mesmerised by how pale I was/am

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