Malaysia / Indonesia / Brunei, self-organized trip report

[BigNick]

DW and I are just back from a 19-night intensive (8 cities) tour of Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brunei. (A few months ago I started this other thread when we were starting to think about this trip. In the end we didn't go to the Philippines and we didn't use an incoming tour company as we had planned, so I thought it was worth a new thread for this trip report.)

We visited Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh, and Penang/George Town (in Peninsular Malaysia); Surabaya, Yogyakarta, and Jakarta (in Java/Indonesia) and Brunei and Kota Kinabalu (Malaysia) in Borneo. One of us had previously been to Bali, so we left that out. There was of course a whole lot more that we could have done (Sumatra, Sulawesi, Papua, Indonesian Borneo, etc etc).

We made all the arrangements ourselves: hotels (looked up on Booking dot com even if we didn't book much with them), transport (4 trains from the local operators' websites, 4 flights direct with the airlines after researching on Skyscanner - not counting the flights to get to the region), sightseeing (a mixture of GetYourGuide/Viator and some direct contacts after some Googling), etc.

We ate mostly at local restaurants, including genuine street food places, and didn't get sick at akk. About every third day we would find a slightly more upmarket place if we fancied western-style food or a cocktail.

This pace might not be for everybody, but we travel for food/people/nature more than to visit historical or cultural sights. Last year we did a private tour of India with local drivers and guides, and before that Korea/Japan in a group, and one thing we wanted to change from both was to have fewer visits to "the palace of the 9th emperor" or "the fifth-biggest mosque in the country", which is where the incoming tour companies will tend to take you (also passing by the handmade rug shop).

Anyway, if anyone has been thinking about visiting these countries, feel free to ask me anything, and I will give my non-authoritative opinion!

 

[Lorenzo]

Was Brunei easy to visit, and do you feel it was worth it? Of the places you mentioned, Brunei is the one I haven't yet made it to.

 

[walkinwood]

Will you do a longer write up like the one you did for your trip to India? I enjoyed reading that.

 

[flyingaway]

Last year, I had flights from Jakarta to Brunei, stay one night, then to Manila, booked, including hotels. But I did not make the trip and stopped in Yogyakarta, because of unrests in Jakarta and got sick with local food. Lost money on all flights and hotels as they were nonrefundable.

 

[BigNick]

Was Brunei easy to visit, and do you feel it was worth it? Of the places you mentioned, Brunei is the one I haven't yet made it to.

It was easier to visit than we thought. It is very Islamic, but not in an oppressive way (although it may have helped that we are a retired heterosexual couple). We had expected it to be a little bit like a rich version of North Korea, having read about some of the Sharia policies in force, but it did not feel like a police state at all.

The population is nearly 90% Muslim, but there is freedom of religion and we saw Christian churches. Most women have their heads covered, but the Chinese population and the occasional Westerner are exempt. You can't buy alcohol but you can bring in duty-free beer or liquor and drink it at your hotel. Nor can you buy tobacco, and we were told that if you bring that in, there's US$1.50 tax on each cigarette!

Most western nationalities can enter without a visa - you are supposed to fill in an online landing card and health declaration before you fly, which we did, but nobody checked that before we got on the plane, so I assume we could have done that at passport control. Unlike Malaysia and Indonesia, customs did not X-ray our bags, there was just a green channel.

It's a small country and there is not a whole lot of stuff to do, but you can get a 6- or 8-hour tour of the main points of interest. I also had a contact there through a mutual interest, and he took us to a nice family restaurant.

Brunei is prosperous because it has a lot of oil and not many people. In parts it looked a bit like suburban areas of the US, unlike Malaysia and Indonesia. It lacked the "dynamic" feel of those other two countries, where you can tell that people are hustling a little bit to get ahead; it felt as if Bruneians were a bit more content (complacent?). We stayed at a local hotel and had a huge room (in fact it was basically an apartment), but it was a bit shabby. There is less genuine enterpreneurship when oil revenue and government jobs provide for such a large percentage of the population.

We had a lovely experience when we got caught in a heavy rainstorm when on a walk. We took shelter under a carport roof, and after a few minutes a teenage girl came out of the house opposite and brought us chairs to sit on!

All in all, if you are in Borneo and logistics allow, I would say go there. If I returned I would stay at the Radisson, which seems to be the only Western-grade hotel (but still without beer).

 

[BigNick]

Will you do a longer write up like the one you did for your trip to India? I enjoyed reading that.

Maybe. DW and I are working on it for our own records (we regretted not doing it on previous trips).

 

[brett]

Leaving in three days for our snowbird trip. Fly into KL, then Penang, then southern Thailand. This will be our sixth snowbird trip to this part of the world. Love it.

All spontaneaous travel. We do our own bookings. Only way to go! Only give is our March 23 flight home from KL.

 

[BigNick]

Fly into KL, then Penang, then southern Thailand.

If you go to George Town, you *have* to stay at the Eastern and Oriental!

 

[brett]

If you go to George Town, you *have* to stay at the Eastern and Oriental!This will be our third stay at Royale Chulan. DW like the hotel and the people.

Our third visit. This time it will be Royale Chulan. We have stayed there before. DW loves this place!

We will back on Penang in late March for a few days... on our way back from southern Thailand to catch our return flight home from KL. We may well stay there.

 

[audreyh1]

@BigNick and @OldConch - I really like it when you mention hotels. I go look them up on Google Maps, browse the photos and some reviews, and overall get an enjoyable vicarious travel experience. Thanks!

 

[Montecfo]

For Brett and Big Nick: what is best about this part of the world?

What do you enjoy most?

 

[brett]

Five winters spent in the area. We have really enjoyed the cities...Singpore, KL, Georgewtown, Bangkok, Saigon, Hanoi etc.

Much of our time is spent in the coastal areas or on smaller islands (not Phuket or Samui). The different culture. The quiet beaches. The wonderful local food. The friendly people.

It has also served a great jumping off place to extend our snowbird trip to include Australia for an extra month or so.

What we like most is that spontaneous travel is so easy. We can easily find accommotion on short notice. Good transport....air, minibus, ferry, train. We are going for 7/8 weeks. We have one week booked. Rest will be on the fly. Which is why we slimmed our packing down to carry on only.

For us it is a wonderful way to head to a warm climate and avoid the snow and ice. We have been doing these bucket list choices for the past 13 years.

 

[BigNick]

For Brett and Big Nick: what is best about this part of the world?

What do you enjoy most?

For us it's the people, the food, and the nature. Lots of younger people, fewer old f@rts like us. In Malaysia, in particular, it feels like the future is happening.

 

[Jheroine]

I also travel for the food first, nature and historical monuments second. I'm interested in going to Japan and Korea next year. What time of the year did you go and what specific cities, hotels, restaurants do you recommend?

I am thinking of Japan for the winter since I snowboard and my friend skis so we would most likely use our Ikon Passes there. There are quite a few ski resorts in Japan that is included.

Also would love to visit Korea for the food and maybe some facial spa treatments if you have any recommendations as well. Thanks!

 

[catii]

About a decade ago, DW & I spent two weeks in Malaysia & Singapore. Our trip was paid for by the U.S. government, for a two-hour speech I gave on fracking technology. Other than a few (mandatory) hotel meals, we also ate local foods & loved it. Only "mishap" was the loss of DW's camera, that was grabbed by a monkey that ran up a tree with it! Note to travelers: if you wear anything around your neck, be prepared to lose it if you trek into the jungle! Monkeys are faster than you are!

 

[BigNick]

About a decade ago, DW & I spent two weeks in Malaysia & Singapore. Our trip was paid for by the U.S. government, for a two-hour speech I gave on fracking technology. Other than a few (mandatory) hotel meals, we also ate local foods & loved it. Only "mishap" was the loss of DW's camera, that was grabbed by a monkey that ran up a tree with it! Note to travelers: if you wear anything around your neck, be prepared to lose it if you trek into the jungle! Monkeys are faster than you are!

There are some great videos on YouTube of monkeys stealing people's phones and then demanding food to return them. I'm not always sure which country they are filmed in. They strike a hard bargain, too. You need to offer more than just a couple of peanuts. I'm not sure if they know how to distinguish an iPhone 17 Pro from the $200 Samsung A15 that I use, though.