flipstah

Thanks for the tips! I'm staying close to KL Sentral because of that same reason; close distance within transit.

Looks like I made the right choice.

zehbra

+1 for tips for Kuching
Have about a week there, with first and last night booked in Kuching.
Thinking of doing the overland trip to Brunei with stop in Miri for Mulu National Park... Any hints/tips on what else one could do? I'm slightly overwhelmed by all the choice :=)

wolf72

You need to check what time the feeding times are at the orang utan sanctuary.

And If I remember, it was quite a journey outside of Kuching city and was not near the airport.

Mulu caves is not in Miri but a 30-45 minute flight (depending if you fly the twin otter or newer ATR) away from Miri.

3D2N days is sufficient for Mulu if you don't plan on climbing up the pinnecles.

Miri is a laid back city...not much to do.

A380 Flyer

I think Kuching is a good city, and very underrated in Borneo. I have written a simple guide to Borneo (the whole island), maybe someone may find it useful.

https://backpackerlee.wordpress.com/...viving-borneo/

wolf72

Agreed. It is under rated but it is a quiet, laid back city with not much to do unlike a more vibrant Kota Kinabalu.

I would bypass Brunei in a heart beat..

zehbra

Thanks both of you, wolf72 and A380 Flyer, you've been very helpful! I think in that case I'll split my time between Kuching and Mulu. The idea of going to Brunei was more a case of.. getting a new country in the passport

tentseller

I will have business meeting in KL (InterCon) to Jan 23 and then SG (InterCon) from Jan 26 onward.

My DW will be with me as she has never traveled in this region. I am looking at spending Jan 23-25 in Melaka at the Hoilday Inn at Jalan Syed Ab. Aziz, Melaka.

What would be the recommended way of getting from KL to Melaka and then onto SG? We will be bringing our "luggage" of two 26 check in plus carry-on as I need business attire before and after the Melaka visit.
Is there a direct car service between the hotels? What would be the going rate for such?

TIA

wolf72

I did this a couple of weeks back with the wife. We stayed at the Shangri-La in downtown KL..I had a business trip into KL for 2 nights and then we opted to hire a luxury taxi to take us down to Melaka for a 2D1N trip and then drop us off at the Johor airport. We took an airport taxi into Singapore via the 2nd link (the new bridge closer to the airport rather than driving all the way into downtown Johor and taking the older bridge).

The airport taxi's at johor airport are licensed to drive anywhere in Singapore to drop passengers. It was RM180 for the ride. We were at our hotel in Singapore within 45 minutes as it was lunch time.

The drive from KL to Melaka was about almost 2 hours plus.

The drive to Singapore was a tad bit boring..all on highway but we had a good driver who kept us entertained and was chatty and knew the places to visit in Melaka so we didn't need to hire a tour guide or go on a tour.

We got everything done/seen in Melaka in a short 2D1N and paid for his accomodations and of course paid for his services. It was reasonable.

The other option is to hire a car and drive it yourself but the hassles of not knowing what to see/where to go and then parking...we decided it was probably smarter to pay for the cab hire and to let him show us around and then drop us off in Johor airport.

Let me know if you want a recommendation for the chap we had who was pretty good.

flyernick

Thanks. Yeah, unfortunately, our flight arrival is between feeding times, and from what I've read, one really wants to be at the sanctuary for feeding. So for that reason, I think we'll come up with another plan. It maybe not really near the airport, but more-or-less on the same side of the city as the airport, when compared with the Damai Beach area.

wolf72

We tried going to the sanctuary on a tour..the orang utans did not come out that day..and that was that.

Was very disappointed but...oh well..

wolf72

Takes me 1 hour from KLIA to get to Ampang and the Nikko area by taxi at 5.00pm. There is some traffic getting into Ampang as traffic is trying to get out of Ampang but the hassles and time spent just getting to the KL Sentral train, getting off at KL sentral, getting a cab (big problems at KL Sentral on some days/especially rainy days is no cabs are available and there are long waits for cabs..it does happen SOMETIMES..though not ALWAYS) just to get to Ampang...I would just hop in a cab at the airport and go straight to the hotel instead of monkeying about on a train and then switching to another cab.

You do end up wasting more time on the train and switching to cab in the long run. Tried and tested this and proven correct.

nacho

Anyone knows about that?

Another question: Anyone knows if there are ATM charges in KL?

Thanks in advance!

tentseller

Arrived KL Wed am, took KL express's VIP service. Arrived KUL 830am and was checkin in over breakfast on 26th fl at 9:30. Cost was RM170 for two.

I can see an 1 hour teksi ride fro KUL at 500pm.

Met nice knowledgable young teksi driver who is taking us to Melaka for the day for MR250.

Jaimito Cartero

I'll be arriving in KUL later this week. Our party will be 4 adults and one toddler with a medium amount of luggage. (1 checked bag, and 1-2 smallish hand carry bags each)

What's a reasonable price to pay for a van transport to the Hyatt? I see 200 or so ringgit quoted but was hoping for something a little better.

Any other tips for a leisurely day tour of the city, and things to do near the Hyatt?

nacho

200 is not bad from the airport. I was quoted 250 for 5 pax (2 adults and 3 kids) at KUL. On the way back we got a Van from Renaissance KUL to the airport for RM170.

If you want to really go cheap, then you could take the airport bus. We did it after finding out the expensive taxi. We took the big airport bus from KUL and then changed to a smaller van to take us to the hotel. We were the last ones being dropped off so we got a 'city tour' before we got to the hotel. That made us aware of which area we should be avoiding.

Star limo