Best places for w-e trips in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia?

[Vanyh]

We arrived in Singapore about a month ago where we'll stay for several months. Being here, we would like to start visiting neighbouring countries. Any recommendation of places to stay, even cheap airlines or travel package is very welcome!
Also if you have experience in buying sin those countries - where to go, how to transport the furnitures back to Sg, please share your good tips!

[Guest]

Sibu is beautifl as are the Pehantions. Rawa too.

Malacca good for teak furniture and rosewood. Bring back in car or have them send it.

JB good for a day out. Careful of pirate videos and pirate everything. Customs are very strict. Don't even TRY to sneak things across.

Penang...rubbish.....Bangkok...fabulous....Langkawi...great....

All islands near Sing .ok, but not fabulous.

[Guest]

Sibu is beautifl as are the Pehantions. Rawa too.

Malacca good for teak furniture and rosewood. Bring back in car or have them send it.

JB good for a day out. Careful of pirate videos and pirate everything. Customs are very strict. Don't even TRY to sneak things across.

Penang...rubbish.....Bangkok...fabulous....Langkawi...great....

All islands near Sing .ok, but not fabulous.

pattaya and phuket are also nice.

[Bubbs]

KL is great for a day or two. Go up on the train, it's an experience. There are plenty of good, cheap places to stay. Ask your local travel agent. Central market there is great, so is the indian area around it. The caves with the bats are a good place to look at. Nightlife in KL is fantastic, as are the clothes and esp the shoes in places like Lot 10. Much, much more reasonable than in Sing.
Must also see the night market, don't miss it.
Kota Tinggi with the waterfall just into Malaysia is good as is that village on stilts nearish to it....what's it called now?
Tioman has the most beautiful white beaches and snorkelling, but is a bit commercialized. Wroth going to.
Bangkok I agree. Must go to see Royal Palace and also to Pat Pong for the 'nightlife'.....warning....don't go into bars unless you have lots of money as sometimes they don't let you out without paying, esp if you just went in there like us, to stare and buy just one drink!!! Big trouble with the bouncers at the door. Good job there was a crowd of us and the blokes were big.
Sarawak is wonderful. Try to go. Take a trip up the skrang river to the longhouse. Very commercialized now, but truly worth it.
Kuching is also fab. Fish market area wonderful and people in their national type dress just walking around, not trying to impress tourists. Wonderful.
The islands in Malaysia are more than worth a visit. Be prepared for basic accomodation on the beach. Try not to let the recent devestation in Thailand and Malaysia scare you. We all know anything could happen, anytime, but if no one goes back to these beautiful places then it would be a loss to everyone. They are really gloriously beautiful.
Watch out for the falling coconuts thought.....i.e....don't sunbathe under a tree!!!! And please don't buy the shells they hawk on the beach...not fair on the wildlife, is it?

[dot dot dot]

[thaisuggestion]

For a start, you can book yourself for 4 day, Bangkok Pattaya trip. Don't forget the diving ( Walking on Sea Bed) and Parachute flying in Pattaya. Absolutely wonderful.

In fact I enjoyed the diving and the irony is , I don't know swimming.

Happy W-Ending

[Vanyh]

.. to everybody for your advices!

We start this week end with Bangkok (only 2 and half days so no Pattaya this time ). Tiger Airways or Air Asia seem to have the best fares, but with travel agencies we can get pretty good flight/hotel packages, which I may try at first... Any recommendation?

[bUBBS]

Thands Vanyh, interesting links.

Bubbs.

What's the cheapest way to Malacca, by the way?

Bus from KL?

Ta.

[Bubbs]

Sorry Vanyh,...........I mean thanks Eric from the Netherlands for the links.

[disagree]

I do not agree that pattaya is a nice place for a weekend trip. It is cheap thats for sure and the food is great. but there are no nice beaches. The effluent goes from the hotels directly into the sea. the whole entertainment area is an open air brothel. And the majority of the other tourists are the exactly what is called sex tourists. u can go into the gogobars and watch shows like" pussy-shooting-pinpong-balls". I dont think u r looking that.

[dissipate]

btw, (sorry to hijack this thread for a bit) how do you get to pattaya from bangkok?

[jpatokal]

btw, (sorry to hijack this thread for a bit) how do you get to pattaya from bangkok?

Taxi 1.5 hours, around 1000 baht. Bus 2 hours, less than 100 baht. Both figures of course depend on Bangkok's fickle traffic gods...

[Guest]

thanks for your reply jpatokal, i didn't know the buses take only 2 hours to get there! which buses/bus companies would you recommend, where are they located and do they have websites where i can read more about them? do you think buses and taxis are safe for solitary female travellers as well?

[dot dot dot]

[amyjehi]

Sorry Vanyh,...........I mean thanks Eric from the Netherlands for the links.

Hi Bubbs,

My pleasure. The cheapest way to Melacca would be by bus indeed. You could stay over there itself of course, but here's a very nice resort in Port Dickson, not too far away from Melacca: www.avillion.com.my

Port Dickson itself is not interesting, port town...

Cheers,

Eric

akka loo, I say to this poster it does make a lot of sense but it is a bit ooshalam if not ikedo