Places to visit in Malaysia

[Sarah]

Some of the best places we visited in Malaysia

We explored Southeast Asia for a total of eight months. Here in this post, we want to share our new favorite destinations. When people think of Malaysia they usually only think of Kuala Lumpur in the West peninsula but today we're gonna talk about the lesser-known part of Malaysia called Borneo.

Borneo is made up of three countries. Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia but for now let's just focus on Malaysian Borneo so without further ado let's jump into our top five things to do in Borneo.

• Kuching Sarawak
  If you didn't already know this Malaysians love their food. From an outsider's point of view, you could say that's the most important part of their culture and we loved every second of it. People from all around the world travel to Kuching Sarawak to try a famous dish called Sarawak locks. Even the great Anthony Bourdain streamed laksa as the breakfast of the gods. That's when you know it's gotta be good. Although Kuching is known for its food, you can see some of the most unique architecture and murals that highlight Sarawak's culture but if you're trying to take a break from the city and maybe burn off some of those calories, the outskirts of Kuching is filled with tons of national parks. We ended up taking a day trip to Bako National Park and we were able to see silver leaf monkeys and even wild boars digging up crabs on the beach.

• Kota Kinabalu.
  There's a lot to do in Kota Kinabalu. It truly has something for everyone. You can visit Saba's largest mosque and learn about Islam while getting to gear up for jobs and traditional clothing. The city has awesome night markets from the Filipino night market to the weekend market. You really can't go wrong. We're looking for food, we're looking for the best ride! During the day you can sunbathe and swim at Tong Zhong guru beach. Here's a little secret from the other side if you walk down to the beach and some about 25 meters out there is an amazing spot to snorkel. Out where nobody else is and no one knows about at night Tong Zhong guru Beach is known for its beautiful sunset. Again if you walk down the beach you are sure to beat the crowds that you might run into if you were sitting at the beach. Probably one of the best things to do in KK is to island-hop off the coast of Kota Kinabalu lies five islands. We loved island hopping and was fairly cheap. It cost each of us around five dollars to visit one island. When you're on the islands you can snorkel of course and there are also really great spots to relax and take pictures. One of the main reasons people come to Kota Kinabalu is to climb Mount Kinabalu which brings us to our third destination.

• Mount Kinabalu and Kinabalu National Park.
  Mount Kinabalu is 4095 meters tall and is the highest mountain in all of Southeast Asia. That's tall! Like I said people come here to climb the mountain, unfortunately, we haven't gotten the chance to get around to it yet but we want to do it soon. We took a day trip from the Kinabalu national park and was one of the most fun days we ever had. We drove up with some local friends who showed us the ropes on how to travel the park the right way. The view of the mountain and the whole trip up is breathtaking. To be quite honest Kinabalu national park itself was not nearly as enjoyable as the stops we made along the way.

• Semporna.
  Semporna isn't really your next destination but it serves as a gateway to some of the world's best dive sites. There are so many different options right off the coast to choose from, we stayed in a house on stilts in the middle of the sea near bum bum Island. We chose env divers as our dive company because of their environmental initiatives. Three times a day they clean up garbage out of the sea and are teaching kids the importance of saving our beautiful waters. If you're not a diver though do not stray away from the sipping on the area there are so many other options for you you can island hop, hike up picturesque viewpoints and snorkel the same spots.

• Sandakan
  At first, we want to start off by letting you know that once again the best adventures are a drive from the city, we suggest you stay in Sandakan and figure out the best tour that fits your itinerary needs. For us, that was a four-day three-night tour with River junkies. On the tour, we went to five main stops. Our first destination was the turtle island. There are many turtle islands in this area but the one we went to was selling an island there we saw mom lay her eggs and watch baby turtles make their way to the sea. We spent the night on the island. On the next day, we visited the cephalic orangutan rehabilitation center. Orangutangs are an endangered species so it is extremely important what Malaysia is doing. Next, we went to our favorite part of the trip which was the Kinabatangan River. We spent 2 days and 2 nights in the river and got very lucky because we saw the big five wild pygmy elephants which are the smallest in the world. Proboscis's monkeys who have been called the weirdest looking animals.

All right I hope you enjoy that the reason we made this post is that we really really love Malaysia and we want more people to come to visit.

[redkoala489]

@Sarah Thanks for sharing these spots. Would love to visit Malaysia one day

[redswan469]

Thanks for visiting Malaysia especially the Borneo parts. Your introduction hit the point's in term of Malaysia is not just West Malaysia. Save and fun journey to you 2. A bit of history. Singapore, Sabah, Sarawak and Malay Peninsula formed Malaysia in 1963. Singapore opted out of Malaysia in 1965. A bit tricky that Sabah and Sarawak are considered as one of the "State" nowadays whereas in the start we're one of the Country that formed Malaysia. It a sensitive issue to the East Malaysia especially in term of equal partners. East Malaysia are the biggest oil/gas producers in Malaysia but in terms of Development especially infrastructure, we're far behind the west Malaysia. Unequal partnership.

@sarah what can I say about this lovely town Sandakan This town remind me so much of my own hometown,Ipoh. A small town with simple living style. nothing to rush here. the people are nice. the foods are great. and the nature are absolutely amazing!! i went here last February 2011 for a 4 days trip. went to various amazing places! im proud to be Malaysian and Sabah is definitely a jewel of Malaysia!