Vibrant city breaks, treks deep into the jungles of Borneo in search of orangutans, release newborn turtles into their natural habitat, play a round or two of golf, explore the wonders of the ocean, or just soak up the sun on a Crystal view sandy beach. blue waters. Holidays in Malaysia really do offer a fantastic range of variety and have something for everyone.

I have been to Malaysia many times and I never get tired of this place.

During my last trip to Malaysia I visited Kuala Lumpur (of course), Penang, Langkawi and Borneo

In Kuala Lumpur I stayed at the Berjaya Times Square Hotel and highly recommend it. It is rated as a 5 star property however I would probably rate it a very good 4 star. The suite was very spacious and very well priced and offered a great location, 3 min walk to the Bukit Bintan area. I can recommend a visit to the Petronas Twin Towers, a dinner at the KL Tower and a visit to Chinatown. There is much more to do in and around Kuala Lumpur, such as a trip to the Batu caves and see the glow worms, but usually 2-3 days is enough to get a good idea of ​​the place and there is not much you can do. without stretching your time too much.

Penang is a great place, but many people treat it like a beach vacation; however, I would personally recommend that you stay in the capital of Georgetown and treat it as a city break before moving on to somewhere like Langkawi. Langkawi is just a short flight or ferry ride from Penang and offers a far superior beach experience in my opinion. Sights in Georgetown, Penang would be Cheong Fatze Mansion, a trike ride through Little India, and a trip to fruit, spice and butterfly farms.

Langkawi is one of my favorite places in Malaysia. It had a very relaxed atmosphere and is an ideal place to unwind for a while. It also benefits from being duty-free, making it slightly cheaper than the other destinations. Good excursions here are the cable car ride, a boat trip through the mangrove forest and an island hopping trip to the ‘Island of the Pregnant Woman’ so called because it looks like a pregnant woman lying down from a distance. There are numerous hotels to choose from in Langkawi ranging from the 3-star Mutiara Burau Bay Resort to the luxurious Datai Hotel.

Borneo is in my top 2 favorite places in the world. I began my journey with a stay at the Shangri La Tanjung Aru Resort near the Kota Kinabalu Center. Standards here are top-notch, even though the beach is man-made. This was not a big deal as I was only here for 1 night before heading out on my Wildlife Tour.

After spending the night at the Shangri La Tanjung Aru Resort, I headed to my flight to Sandakan before transferring to the Kinabatangan River. Along the way I stopped at the Gomontong caves to witness where they harvest the birds’ nests for bird’s nest soup. This place is full of bugs and it’s pretty hard to avoid stepping on them so this isn’t for the faint of heart. To get to Gomontong you have to walk through a wooded area for about 15 minutes and I had my eyes wide open the entire time, hoping and praying to see an orangutan. Unfortunately, it didn’t and I decided I was being too optimistic in expecting to see the ‘Wild Man of Borneo’ during my first encounter with the rainforest. Slightly disappointed, but not too downcast, I proceed to the Kinabatangan River. It took around 1 hour by boat to get to my accommodation from the jetty and again my eyes were wide open. I checked in and we had a little time to relax before our first scheduled boat trip in search of Wildlife.

I’m not good at spending time alone, so I headed over to the bar and struck up a conversation with an American couple who were finishing their trip around the world. They, along with a couple consisting of a German man and a French woman, were to be my company for the 2 nights I was there and we all seemed to get along very well. After a drink or two we headed towards Kinabatangan and were lucky enough to see the peculiar Proboscus Monkey and a Crocodile along with many birds but still no Orangutans. In the afternoon we practically repeated this process although in a different direction and we were told that there had been sightings of pygmy elephants but we could not find them.

The next morning we headed to an area called Ox Bow Lake and set off on a hike through the jungle. I felt like I was on cloud nine. I always dreamed of going to Borneo because I love wildlife so much and I felt like I was on a wildlife documentary expedition as we walked through the jungle. My guide was giving calls to try to attract the orangutans, though he told me this was considered an orangutan confrontation, so he wasn’t quite sure how I felt about it. I decided that if my only chance of seeing the Wild Man of Borneo in his natural environment was to end up in a fight with one, so be it! We found an orangutan nest but no orangutans yet. On the way back to the boat, my guide had a conversation with a brightly colored bird. He whistled a tune and the Bird was responding, it was quite amusing to watch.

After dinner I had planned to go on a night walk with my Guide and we set off and I realized we were heading in a different direction than everyone else. I asked where we were going and the guides response was ‘that’s where the planned hike is, that’s for cowards, I like to do my own hike’. Excellent!!! We set off, machetes in hand, as Terence made our way through the thick vegetation. We hadn’t seen anything but bugs and a deer when we reached a river that blocked our path. ‘Hmm’ Terence said, it looks like our path is being blocked, we may have to turn back.’ He looked at his watch and said ‘too early to turn back’ and continued on across the river. He was knee deep in the river, completely dark except for the small amount of light that came from my flashlight. Some may not have been too impressed, but I couldn’t be happy. A real experience, what I had been dreaming of for years and to top it off I was getting paid to do this.

The next morning, I woke up still thinking about my experience the night before, and while my journey so far had completely blown me away, something was still missing. He had yet to see the elusive orangutan in its natural habitat. We had one more boat ride before we left and I was convinced that we would see one. We had reached the end point of our trip and now it was time to return to the Resort to collect our bags and leave for the airport. I kept my head down, bitterly disappointed that I hadn’t seen the one thing I expected to see when suddenly I heard a cry from my Guide, he hadn’t failed me. He saw an orangutan in a nearby tree. The captain brought the boat close to the riverbank and my guide jumped out of the boat to get closer. I came to the conclusion at this point that he was indeed a little crazy, but in my eyes he was now my hero. The orangutan threw droppings at him, a defense mechanism to deter unwanted visitors, but to be fair, he put on quite a display for us. Now I could go home a very happy man.

On the way home I stopped at the Sepilok Rehabilitation Center to see the orphaned orangutans and witnessed the morning feeding. It is a very enjoyable experience watching them play with each other and definitely worth a stop if you are in the area.

I spent my last night at the Shangri La Rasa Ria Resort, which is about a 45-minute drive from the Kota Kinabalu Center. This hotel benefits from a spectacular 3km stretch of white sand beach and has its own nature reserve within its grounds, where you can visit orphaned orangutans and watch them rehabilitate, ready to return to the wild. This Reserve is working together with the Sepilok Rehabilitation Center and together they are doing a great job to preserve this fantastic creature.

This vacation in Malaysia was by far the best and I can fully recommend Borneo to anyone with a passion for wildlife. I cannot thank my guide Terence enough for everything he did to make my stay everything and more than he expected. Terence was actually born in the jungle and it was a way of life for him, not a job for him and this shone through every minute I spent with him.