After 10 weeks travelling around the Malay peninsular and Malay Borneo we have concluded the following facts.
Daily Budget including everything except connecting flights £38.60 per day for the pair of us. We found it so cheap for hotels of a really good standard. We had no horror stories to report of anywhere we stayed and service was always prompt and rooms of a high quality averaging out about £16 a night including breakfast. Agoda was the best site for discount bookings.
Connecting flights inc baggage of 20kg each and meals with Air Asia mostly worked out at between £20-25 each flight.
Taxis were super cheap if you download a GRAB app. We averaged £1 per 6km.
Food was also super cheap if you went local and didn't order lobster and crab. We averaged £3-4 for the pair of us inc drinks but beer was extra and could vary enormously between 33p a can in Langkawi to £3.50 a bottle in Kota bhuru. It depends on how Muslim the state you are in is.
Buses were also super cheap and really comfy with big executive chairs. We went from Kota Bhuru to Penang which is right across the top of Malaysia for less than £10 each which took 7 hours.
Why choose north Malay Borneo rather than Indonesian Borneo? It just seemed so easy in the north half as Internet was good most places although a bit slow, buses worked, connecting flights super cheap and accessibility to the main attractions were easy without having to join a tour group.
Also there is no visa fee for UK nationals and with most other countries as you get 3 months on entry.
The best thing was not having to barter all the time. The price was set so you could take it or leave it. The Indonesian side may have thrown up more adventures maybe but as we had already done 2 months there and would have to extend our visa again we decided north would be better. We also found entry fees and accessibility issues in Indonesia as everything seemed to have the necessity to book with a tour company which is OK mostly but can be restrictive and timetabled to a point where you are herded around with people you may not like but each to their own. Entry fees were very high as well.
Daily Budget including everything except connecting flights £38.60 per day for the pair of us. We found it so cheap for hotels of a really good standard. We had no horror stories to report of anywhere we stayed and service was always prompt and rooms of a high quality averaging out about £16 a night including breakfast. Agoda was the best site for discount bookings.
Connecting flights inc baggage of 20kg each and meals with Air Asia mostly worked out at between £20-25 each flight.
Taxis were super cheap if you download a GRAB app. We averaged £1 per 6km.
Food was also super cheap if you went local and didn't order lobster and crab. We averaged £3-4 for the pair of us inc drinks but beer was extra and could vary enormously between 33p a can in Langkawi to £3.50 a bottle in Kota bhuru. It depends on how Muslim the state you are in is.
Buses were also super cheap and really comfy with big executive chairs. We went from Kota Bhuru to Penang which is right across the top of Malaysia for less than £10 each which took 7 hours.
Why choose north Malay Borneo rather than Indonesian Borneo? It just seemed so easy in the north half as Internet was good most places although a bit slow, buses worked, connecting flights super cheap and accessibility to the main attractions were easy without having to join a tour group.
 |
| And so the sun sets on another country. |
The best thing was not having to barter all the time. The price was set so you could take it or leave it. The Indonesian side may have thrown up more adventures maybe but as we had already done 2 months there and would have to extend our visa again we decided north would be better. We also found entry fees and accessibility issues in Indonesia as everything seemed to have the necessity to book with a tour company which is OK mostly but can be restrictive and timetabled to a point where you are herded around with people you may not like but each to their own. Entry fees were very high as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment