hk blues Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 I absolutely loved Singapore. Very liveable. Perhaps not as exciting as other cities but I don't buy the sterile viewpoint. There's a wide range of things to see and do. A bit pricier but as with everywhere else it's possible to do it on the cheap. Didn't think much of Kuala Lumpur. It was alright for a few days, but not much to see. The caves were filthy as well. Managed to get pissed on by a monkey there too[emoji38] Sterile compared to other SE Asian cities perhaps. It doesn't have that certain odour in the air or the overflowing garbage bins in back alleys or the trash on the streets that you are likely to find in many SE Asian cities. I'm being simplistic but it does lack some of the Asian mystique.I do agree about it having a range of activities but I've never lived there so I'm guided by those who have who suggest it's a wee bit dull. I've never lived in KL either t.b.f. so im judging purely as a tourist, I'd agree KL is ok for a few days but I'd choose Singapore over KL t.b.h. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tight minge Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 I absolutely loved Singapore. Very liveable. Perhaps not as exciting as other cities but I don't buy the sterile viewpoint. There's a wide range of things to see and do. A bit pricier but as with everywhere else it's possible to do it on the cheap. Didn't think much of Kuala Lumpur. It was alright for a few days, but not much to see. The caves were filthy as well. Managed to get pissed on by a monkey there too Liveable, but a hell of a challenge. £100k +++ for a car! Definately a sterile place compared to the rest of South East Asia and it is badly limited by its size. Very happy being here just now with the baby, but would be off like a shot otherwise.Singapore actually has a huge problem retaining its citizens. Many of the younger generation born here are off at the earliest opportunity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Booker_d Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 To correct my earlier post, the fish and chip place in langkawi is the Scarborough fish and chip shop not the manhattan. Manhattan is a chain restaurant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex_14 Posted January 30, 2017 Share Posted January 30, 2017 Bonus for me, the flights via Dubai increased in price so we're getting cheaper flights that go via Istanbul. No stop off in Dubai and money saved . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S7C Posted January 30, 2017 Share Posted January 30, 2017 1 hour ago, Alex_14 said: Bonus for me, the flights via Dubai increased in price so we're getting cheaper flights that go via Istanbul. No stop off in Dubai and money saved . The negative: Ataturk airport is a shithole Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Booker_d Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 10 hours ago, Alex_14 said: Bonus for me, the flights via Dubai increased in price so we're getting cheaper flights that go via Istanbul. No stop off in Dubai and money saved . Yeah the reason(s) for that include airport bombings, shootings and attempted coups. Ukraine airlines were doing return flights for under 200quid a couple of years back. Not sure they had many takers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex_14 Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 Yeah the reason(s) for that include airport bombings, shootings and attempted coups. Ukraine airlines were doing return flights for under 200quid a couple of years back. Not sure they had many takers. Scaremongering at its finest! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S7C Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 7 hours ago, Booker_d said: Yeah the reason(s) for that include airport bombings, shootings and attempted coups. Ukraine airlines were doing return flights for under 200quid a couple of years back. Not sure they had many takers. To be fair Turkish have been cheaper even before the recent upheaval in Turkey. The airline itself is pretty good, I just hate Ataturk with a passion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Booker_d Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 On 1/31/2017 at 15:03, Alex_14 said: Scaremongering at its finest! Ha maybe. These things have happened recently and a friend of mine got stuck there for a couple of days during the coup. Having said that though he got put up in a very nice hotel for the 48 hours he couldn't get out of the country. Jammy git. I've no doubt it'll be fine...or will it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex_14 Posted February 7, 2017 Share Posted February 7, 2017 Looking at doing a small safari in Borneo (Sandakan) - is Sumatra a better shout? It's one or the other as we don't have that much time (3 weeks).Can anyone help me, on that note - our plan at the moment is:KL - Sandakan - Kota Kinabalu - Perhentians or Redang (but getting here is proving challenging) - Penang/Langkawi - KL (via Cameron Highlands)Is this decent? Any ideas re getting to the east coast (and Redang etc) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Booker_d Posted February 7, 2017 Share Posted February 7, 2017 Sounds busy but pretty decent. You should be able to fly from kk to kota bharu and get to Perhentian or Redang from there. Then from kota bahru with either air asia or firefly to Penang. Please don't take this as gospel though but hopefully helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tight minge Posted February 7, 2017 Share Posted February 7, 2017 Looking at doing a small safari in Borneo (Sandakan) - is Sumatra a better shout? It's one or the other as we don't have that much time (3 weeks).Can anyone help me, on that note. Don't go to Sumatra!Only joking, the wife is from there and I was over last week. Where would you have in mind for Sumatra or what would you want to do there?It is very underdeveloped just now and next to no tourism although there is a bit of surfing tourism developing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex_14 Posted February 7, 2017 Share Posted February 7, 2017 5 hours ago, Tight minge said: Don't go to Sumatra! Only joking, the wife is from there and I was over last week. Where would you have in mind for Sumatra or what would you want to do there? It is very underdeveloped just now and next to no tourism although there is a bit of surfing tourism developing. Bukit Lawang - no idea about logistics for that, though. I think it's much more likely that we'll settle for Borneo as it's a lot easier. 5 hours ago, Booker_d said: Sounds busy but pretty decent. You should be able to fly from kk to kota bharu and get to Perhentian or Redang from there. Then from kota bahru with either air asia or firefly to Penang. Please don't take this as gospel though but hopefully helps. Yeah, me, the bird and the couple we're going with like to keep busy, so no harm there. Great, thanks for that, I'll get onto the air asia site and see what it's saying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tight minge Posted February 8, 2017 Share Posted February 8, 2017 You will need to fly into Medan, which does have a new airport. You can either travel into Medan or I understand there is an indirect route that bypasses Medan. Travel will be by bus/minibus and I believe there is a train from the airport to Medan. The main bus company for Indonesia is Damri and are usually decent. The other bus companies are usually OK. You could take a private taxi, if so and if possible always take Bluebird in Indonesia. They are extremely professional and the drivers get a good package from the employer meaning it will always be meter and no hassle. Other taxi companies are not so reliable. If you can't take Bluebird which are not so many outside Jawa, always arrange via a hotel or from a taxi stand. Medan itself is probably not worth hanging about in, it's not so touristy. Bukit Lawang, does look interesting though. One other thing I can offer is that Sumatra is relatively poor compared to Jawa and miles apart from Bali. The north around Medan is more affluent than the south, but the roads will generally be very poor condition so consider extra time when planning even though the distance is not so huge.If your traveling light, the main mode of transport, like all of SEA is of course motorbike and they are plenty of motorbike taxis, either official or non official. The official ones have green helmets and are go-jek (the main company) and Grab (as in Grab taxi). Both have apps, but again they (the official ones) will be few and far between in Sumatra. They will take you probably up to 15-20km and I'd doubt they would go from Medan to Bukit Lawang, but I'd assume you would have some luggage.North Sumatra has a concentration of Christians and with Bukit Lawang, being touristy, you should be able to get a few beers, but generally it is very difficult to locate alcohol on Sumatra. For clarity, I have never been to the north myself, the wife is from Bandar Lampung in the South so we are usually always around there, which is jungle, rice farms and bird nest farms (as in birds nest soup). There is an elephant sanctuary, which isn't worthwhile planning a trip to. If your in the area is fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted February 8, 2017 Share Posted February 8, 2017 13 hours ago, Alex_14 said: Looking at doing a small safari in Borneo (Sandakan) - is Sumatra a better shout? It's one or the other as we don't have that much time (3 weeks). Can anyone help me, on that note - our plan at the moment is: KL - Sandakan - Kota Kinabalu - Perhentians or Redang (but getting here is proving challenging) - Penang/Langkawi - KL (via Cameron Highlands) Is this decent? Any ideas re getting to the east coast (and Redang etc) From all the warnings you're getting I'd just stay at home and slit your own throats with a rusty stanley knife, much cheaper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Booker_d Posted February 8, 2017 Share Posted February 8, 2017 Yeah, me, the bird and the couple we're going with like to keep busy, so no harm there. Great, thanks for that, I'll get onto the air asia site and see what it's saying. Alao check out the firefly and malindo airlines too. Theyre the more local carriers but both more than decent. Firefly are like the malaysian equivalent of flybe and owned by malaysian airlines. Malindo are a joint venture between the malay and indonesian government (hence the name mal-indo). They do a lot of the shorter flights and often have great deals on. Its not uncommon to get these internal flights for 10-20 quid with firefly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tight minge Posted February 8, 2017 Share Posted February 8, 2017 Malindo are a joint venture between the malay and indonesian government (hence the name mal-indo). 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 ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex_14 Posted February 8, 2017 Share Posted February 8, 2017 Alao check out the firefly and malindo airlines too. Theyre the more local carriers but both more than decent. Firefly are like the malaysian equivalent of flybe and owned by malaysian airlines. Malindo are a joint venture between the malay and indonesian government (hence the name mal-indo). They do a lot of the shorter flights and often have great deals on. Its not uncommon to get these internal flights for 10-20 quid with firefly. I'm just using Skyscanner and they're picking up decent prices for me. I presume they'll have those smaller airlines on their database too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted February 8, 2017 Share Posted February 8, 2017 1 minute ago, Alex_14 said: I'm just using Skyscanner and they're picking up decent prices for me. I presume they'll have those smaller airlines on their database too Skyscanner's good for a starting point but it doesn't include all the options. I'd check out the airport sites next to see who flies where. Saved a fortune flying to Tbilisi by ignoring Skyscanner and going via Warsaw instead of Istanbul or Kiev. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex_14 Posted February 8, 2017 Share Posted February 8, 2017 Skyscanner's good for a starting point but it doesn't include all the options. I'd check out the airport sites next to see who flies where. Saved a fortune flying to Tbilisi by ignoring Skyscanner and going via Warsaw instead of Istanbul or Kiev. Thanks, that's helpful and never crossed my mind TBH.Thanks for all the posts and tips BTW folks - on my phone so it's hard to reply to everything but it is all appreciated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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