Dolphinyong

Hi, hope you would like this thread. If you are traveling from KLIA/LCCT airport and carrying a lot of luggage, you can actually catch the shuttle bus directly from KLIA/LCCT to your hotel, that's will cost you MYR 20, have a look on this link : http://www.starwira.com/

If you wanna save some money, you can take shuttle bus from KLIA/LCCT airport to KL sentral, then take LRT to Raja Chulan station. From the station, you need to walk for about 15minutes to reach your hotel, or you can take bus number B103 to that hotel, or you can take taxi to the hotel.

Do provide some feedback after your trip. That would be helpful=)

Dolphinyong

Hi,

I have found out the way to get cheaper rate compared to the public rate for hotels below, if you are interested, PM me=)

Renaissance Kuala Lumpur ( MYR 280 all inclusive )
Intercontinental Kuala Lumpur ( MYR 314 all inclusive, without breakfast)
Crowne Plaza Kuala lUmpur ( MYR 295 all inclusive, without breakfast)

Renaissance Melaka ( MYR 230 all inclusive )
Holiday inn Melaka ( MYR 212 all inclusive, without breakfast )

Besides that, groupon is selling voucher for non-member (it's a sign up voucher that comes with points) With that, you spend MYR 130 for any hotels worldwide that costs USD 80. Please read the fine print carefully though. This is the link : http://www.groupon.my/deals/travelci...club/716133688

With that, you can get some fabulous hotels in KL with that hotelclub voucher, for eg :

Furama Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur
Parkroyal Kuala Lumpur

Regards=)

Hawk Circle

to the OP --

I'm looking for the best snorkeling opportunities in Malaysia for a trip in December. Any recommendations on where to go and where to stay?

Dolphinyong

Hi,

Tioman island is the well-known place for snorkeling in West Coast of Malaysia, you can take a flight from Kuala Lumpur to there, or there's also ground transport available.

Perhentian island is the other hidden gem, it's more conserved I would say, nicer of course but few transportation option.

The best of all for snorkeling I would say is Sipadan island located at the east coast of the Malaysia. It's ranked among the best diving/snorkeling spot in the world. But I have to tell you that there was a kidnap happen to travelers by the rebels in South Philippine, I can't remember the exact year of it, but it's some time ago...

Hawk Circle

Thank you, Dolphinyong!

eponymous_coward

Beg pardon, but my understanding after reading up was that Tioman and Perhentian were on the east coast of Malaysia, and that the winter monsoon tended to make that a chancy place to visit (possibility of lots of bad weather, lots of places closed due to little tourism):

http://wikitravel.org/en/Tioman
http://wikitravel.org/en/Perhentian_Islands

I was researching this because I am actually planning travel to that region myself in December/January, though on the west coast near Penang (and considering Langkawi, as it has some snorkeling there). The winter monsoons don't really hit that region (they get more in the summer).

Dolphinyong

Hi, thanks for your information. I should be more clear on that...Malaysia is divided into 2parts, East Malaysia and West Malaysia...I should say that Tioman and Perhentian island is at East coast of West Malaysia...My mistake,sorry...

About the raining...It's raining throughout the year in Malaysia, and normally there's more rain in April and October. However, it seems that weather is changing globally, and it's really hard to predict it nowadays. It's true that the monsoon rain will affect the weather from Oct to March at the East coast of West Malaysia...But normally it's very rare to have rain for one week consecutively, but again, it's hard to predict...

Langkawi is a good place for tourist and also for snorkeling, but I would rank it after those islands that I mentioned. However, Langkawi and Penang island is good for a family trip, there are some other nice places to visit there=)

Dolphinyong

Her are some nice websites selling restaurants, hotels or spa vouchers from time to time. It saves me some money when I travel in KL=) Read the fine print carefully though.

http://www.milkadeal.com/
http://www.groupon.my/deals/klang-va...-one/716133948
http://www.mydeal.com.my/deals/kuala...-Piccolo-Mondo
http://www.ilovediscounts.my/klang-valley/
http://www.jackcow.com/

Send me your email if you're interested, so I can send you referrals and I can earn some credits=)

Regards

eponymous_coward

So would you agree or disagree with this statement that Wikitravel has in the link I posted above?

That would be my concern in visiting that region: the possibility of very limited services for tourists, and weather making snorkeling rather questionable. Granted, no crowds can be a plus. That being said, any wiki where anyone can edit probably needs some additional confirmation...

Dolphinyong

I agree on what is written on your Wikitravel link. It has correctly described those island. My point is, the chance of you to meet the rain in Perhentian and Tioman island during the monsoon season is probably the same or slightly higher than the chance of you to meet the rain in other period of year, it's hard to say.

So, let me put in this way, if you wanna to have a safe & secure snorkeling, you should go to Langkawi island, but it's not as nice as other islands. If you wanna risk a bit in order to enjoy something better, then head to Perhentian island or Tioman island. If you're seeking for the best while willing to face higher risk, then head to Sipadan island. It's about give and take...

It's up to you=)
Regards=)

eponymous_coward

Thanks. I'm actually more concerned about ocean conditions/monsoon/nasty weather and being sure that everything isn't closed up for business, than just a bit of rain at 25 Celsius when you're going to be swimming/snorkeling and getting wet anyway, who cares about that? But ocean conditions that are bad/dangerous for swimming are a bit different than getting rained on. That and if most of the restaurants/hotels/places to get services are closed, it can make things a bit of a hash.

I don't mind going places in offseason so much- I've been to CUN and the Yucatan in July, for instance, and spent time in SE Asia in summer, Germany and Europe in February- places that are definitely in low season for tourism when I've been there, but there's still plenty of infrastructure for tourism there. It just strikes me that that region of Malaysia calls for a lot of "local knowledge" if most of the tourist spots are completely shut down (it seems the east coast of peninsular Malaysia and Eastern Malaysia are definitely less touristed than the Andaman Sea/Malacca Straits side, which is both good and bad, depending on what you are looking for) and there's higher chances of bad weather throwing wrenches into things. Would you have recommendations?

How would you rank TAR Marine Park in the scheme of things, compared to the place you've mentioned? Pulau Payar?

Dolphinyong

Yaya...I should mention that the condition of ocean must be taken into account...TAR Marine Park is nice also, but I would recommend to pay a visit to Sipadan island too if you have reached TAR Marine Park, and again, safety must be taken into account.

You can visit Payar Island also if you are visiting Langkawi island=) They are hidden from the monsoon season=)

Regards=)

Me2Earth

Hi,

Thanks so much for the info.

I will be staying at the Intercontinental KL ( formerly Hotel Nikko). My flight arrives at 810PM in LCCT so I am guessing here that I will be clearing customs around 9PM.

Can you please advise which is the better choice between a private taxi or a star shuttle limo or star shuttle bus.

Travel time? Cost?

Cheers!

Dolphinyong

Option 1 : Take shuttle bus from LCCT to KL Central (MYR 8, 1hour roughly) then take LRT from KL Central to Ampang Park station which is within walking distance to Intercontinental KL ( MYR 2, few minutes )

There are several different bus shuttle company that provide shuttle service from LCCT to KL Sentral, you will see those counters at the arrival hall, just pick the colour you like there are almost the same=)

http://www.lcct.com.my/transportatio.../about-aerobus
http://www.lcct.com.my/transportatio...s/about-skybus

Option 2 : If you have a lot of luggage then maybe you wanna take the star shuttle directly to your hotel, it costs MYR 20 and takes roughly 1hour or so, you better ask the counter before you buy the ticket, I think the same bus will bring the passenger to different hotels in Bukit Bintang area, so you may be the first one to get off the bus but can be the last as well.

http://www.starwira.com/

Option 3 : Taking taxi is easy, but it costs about MYR 70.

Sorry for late reply. Hope it helps=)

RussellJ

Just to give you some experience of what we encountered in March when we landed at LCC (approx 2.30pm) & stayed at Berjaya Times Sq-every connection went as well as it could & it still took us 2hrs to get to hotel. This is what we encountered-Flight departed on time & landed a few minutes early. We disembarked down stairs & it was a long walk to the terminal but 99% under cover. No immigration form, received a stamp, some bags were already taken off the carousel by the time we arrived to collect! We then walked straight out of the airport - no checks seemed be happening.

LCCT to Berjaya Times Square Hotel
We opted for the combined bus/transit train to Sentral & then monorail & purchased bus/train ticket on the way out of airport. Found the bus ok (it was just pulling up) & then a 20 odd minute ride to Selak Tinggi Station for the transit train- very quiet & we were there about 15 minutes before the train arrived. Train was modern & clean, plenty of room for bags but no racks. Arrived at Sentral & had to make a bit longer walk around to monorail as there were building works going on. Purchased tickets for monorail (get a blue token) & did the quick 4 stop trip to the station that is linked to the hotel. The connections all worked well although the reality was it was 2hrs from touchdown until we walked in the hotel door.