Malaysia? Anyone been? Kota Kinabalu?

[thehabit 420]

Im planning on going there in Jan. I currently live in Guangzhou, and will be traveling with 4 Chinese girls. Ill basically be with just my gf most of the time though.

Anyways, before I knew anything about it, I told my gf, yeah Im down to go, cool.

My questions are...

1.) Is it safe for an American to travel there? should I avoid mentioning the fact that Im American, and say Im Canadian if any1 asks?

2.) Besides some of the best beaches in the world, what else is there too do?

3.) Whats the weed situation? Should I just not even bother looking for safety pre cautions?

I dont know anything about the place besides just some brief reading on the internet, so any Info would be cool.

Also, Ive never been exposed to anything Muslim. I know Malaysia is primarily Muslim. Is there anything I should know, so I dont dis respect someone by being ignorant?

[Ganjasaurus Rex]

Are you only going to Sabah or the mainland too?

1) Yes, it's very safe. Malaysia is a nice country and they aren't very anti-American. They spend most of their time bitching about the British, so we get ignored.

2) Lots to do. You can find the best camping on the planet, see tigers, beautiful jungles, etc. If you like city life, KL is the place to go. If you like beach stuff, hit up Penang island.

3) You want to be careful about the weed and not get caught. They don't usually do much with weed, but they might arrest you and make you pay a stiff fine. The safest place to get it is the beach (ask the guy who rents the jet skis). Definitely don't try to get hard drugs, as that will get you [censored].

4) Malaysia is nice country and you should enjoy your visit. It's clean and the hospitals are decent if you need them. The water is clean and you can drink from the faucet in many places. KL is a world-class city. The people are very nice and friendly. You MIGHT get some hassle about the 4 Chinese girls, because Malaysia is not friendly towards Chinese (long-time racial issues). But i doubt anyone will say anything to your face.

5) Malaysia is a muslim country, but not fanatical like arab countries. More than Indonesia, but less than anything you need to worry about. You're a tourist. They'll respect that. You don't want to shake hands with your left hand, or offer anything to anyone with your left hand. Take everything you're offered and be gracious about it. Don't put your feet on the coffee table or cross your legs like a man (showing sole) You'll do fine. Have fun!

[HP]

Ganj is spot on imo, said everything I wanted to say

[roamer590]

Hey man. You are gonna have so much fun. I went there in January and stayed a weekend in Kuala Lumpur before flying over to Sabah state, which is on Borneo (btw 2nd biggest island in the world). -There is a TON of things to do in Sabah. I spent 3 weeks there taking a slow pace unlike many may others that rushed thru. also took the opposite direction of tourist trail to avoid seeing the same people all the time.

KK is a lively city with very friendly people, a mix of malay, chinese, few indians and loads of filipinos. i never felt or heard of any tension between different groups of people, it was all peaceful and welcoming. The whole city was ruined in WWII, and whoever rebuilt it was a weak nit, its all concrete and one block looks the same as the next. The main walking street has a weekly market where they sell cool stuff like really tiny baby turtles [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]. A steep hill rises behind the city, u can walk up and get amazing views of the whole city and the bay. u can go on day trips to some small islands outside KK, but IMO its not worth it as the snorkling there was disappointing, and you will get all the beach and water fun u need on the east coast.

North of KK is Mount Kinabalu, the highest mountain between the Himalayas and somewhere in papua nu guinea or somewhere around. Its high, alot of tourists go up there , I did not , i just chilled a few days in KK playing poker on wifi in a guesthouse that had a huge veranda with tv and couches and stuff , walking around and going to different restaurants.

I flew to Semporna, the city on the east coast that is the base for diving experiences that are totally unique and many say the best dive spots in the world. I completed a course for PADI level 1 and got my certificate, cheap it was like $700 . Remember malaysia is generally quite a bit more expensive than say thailand. I also went out for some other dives after the course was completed, each time it was more rewarding and I saw some sick stuff, like 100s of huge turtles, a hammer head shark 10m away, the huge manta ray.... and a zillion cool small things that are just too sick to describe.

The most famous island is called Pulau(=island) Sipadan. This is malaysias only "oceanic island". That is an island which is of the continental shelf, in the deep sea. It is basically a huge mountain where the peak is like a spear coming up of the sea to form the island. Off the sides of the islands, you swim over the edge and it is just an infinite drop, and u see the coral wall stretching down to the dark blue , the water around steaming with life. you can see a huge shark like 30m right below u ,and 460 000 differnt fish. you then dive down along the sides and just look at the coral wall and see wild stuff. it is nothing like on tv. i remember thinking how insanely cool it would be to be diving stoned and enjoying that experience. that would be uncool though. WHen you dive, you get a kind of "high" the deeper down u go, i met a russian at a dive later on, who had gone 80m down the coral wall, which is way beyond the limits of what is safe lol, he told me was on the verge of losing the sense of what was up and down at 80m, and he read the numbers on his instruments wrong etc, this guy had also been on top of mount everest 3 weeks before this. he went up alone, with 2 tents, setting up a new one, trekking down and back up with the old until he was at the top. russian rich crazy businees man.

during the time i spent in semporna, there was a big eartquake in the ocean off the east coast of borneo. it was widely reported on cnn bbc and so. i was in a bar 50m from the water playing poker and drinking quite alot with some other tourists then they start with this [censored] and turning on the lights and the tv on super volume. some freaked out american chick is on the verge of breakdown.. but the poker game and drinking goes on. no tsunami_lol though so i live on.

I wanted to go to the deep jungles, to get to see wildlife and live in some village out there or something. Borneo has rainforest areas where u find sci-fi stuff like pygmy elephants and giant mosqutioes. There are some camps operating that allows visitors to go trekking in the deep jungle with good guides and experience i bet loads of [censored] that i didnt get to. i get this pickup driver to start driving north from semporna up the coast. unfortunately for me it was massive rains at the time, and 3 of 3 option i had for jungle action failed because of landslides and floods. check out uncletan.com

i spent a night in a city i dont recall the name of , before going back to KK. took an airasia to bangkok the next day. .


1.) Is it safe for an American to travel there? should I avoid mentioning the fact that Im American, and say Im Canadian if any1 asks?
--------no problem dont worry b happy . u think all muslims hate americans? who told u that? o yeah george did lol.
2.) Besides some of the best beaches in the world, what else is there too do?
------mountain, jungle, just living smooth and taking in impressions. also the beach thing cant be underestimated. some of the islands i went to looked almost photoshopped to perfection.
3.) Whats the weed situation? Should I just not even bother looking for safety pre cautions?
----------------i myself a frquent flyer, took a break for my weeks in malaysia. they are a quite developed country, and they have clear and very strict laws, so i decided to take a much needed break.

I dont know anything about the place besides just some brief reading on the internet, so any Info would be cool
------------------the terrorists may still get u tho. the islands off the east borneo coast that are malaysian, are near to the southern islands of the phillipines. a very strong terrorist group has been controlling the area a while, (im not really updated on this situation).. but i think the phillipine army has defeated them with help of USA now. anyway, there was an incident a few years back, where a boat of tourists were taken hostages and kept on a filipino island. during my trip i several times observed military there to protect the territory and prevent more of that.

Also, Ive never been exposed to anything Muslim. I know Malaysia is primarily Muslim. Is there anything I should know, so I dont dis respect someone by being ignorant?
---------------------just look at the girls with the head thing. they are quite cute actually :P

just dont ask for beer in a malay restaurant, that may or not be offensive. they wont have any anyway so go to chinese places and get pissed with them. plenty chinese restaurants. supermarkets sell beer though.

/ramble

[roblin]

KK is quite boring, 1 night there is enough. Mount Kinabalu a great climb, just dont eat anything from Laban Rata, everyone gets foodpoisoned there. Dont go to P(B)oring Hotsprings, just a tourist trap. Sepilok is nice if you want to see Orang Utan. Then head for some trekking in Kinabatangan. End your trip with a week diving around Sipadan, base yourself in Mabul in for example http://borneodivers.info/ .

[thehabit 420]

Thanks for the awesome post. Im only going for 4 days, will this be enough to have a good amount of fun, see enough, etc? Or should I extend the trip a few days.

Id DEF be down for the jungle trek, but I doubt the girls Im going with would be interested in something like that.

Yeah, seems like Ill take a break from smokin, since none of the girls anyhow smoke, and would find it very strange if I was looking for bud the whole time, and I know my gf would not like this.

Again thanks alot, and any other info, names of good bars, clubs, would be awesome..