Malaysia

  Fast Facts

Official Name: Malaysia

Location:  South East Asia – Mainland Malaysia has land borders with Singapore and Thailand. Malaysian Borneo has borders with Brunei and Indonesia (Indonesian Borneo or Kalimantan.)
Population of Malaysia: ~ 33 million
Capital of Malaysia: Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia Money: Malaysian Ringgit (MYR)
Malaysian Timezone: UTC +8
Visa Requirements for Malaysia:  Many nationalities do not require a visa for up to 60 days to enter Malaysia. Note that you get a separate entry and exit stamp if you visit Sabah and Sarawak in Malaysian Borneo. Check your eligibility and additional requirements for entry HERE.

Things to Do and See in Malaysia

Our Experiences in Malaysia

We have visited Malaysia many times as independent, travelers. The rise of Air Asia as the dominant budget airline in the region, and its amazing food, history, and culture, make it the perfect stopover.

Our first visit in 1996 was part of our big three-and-a-half-year world tour. After almost 2 months in Indonesia, we flew to Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia Borneo. We climbed Mt Kinabalu, soaked our weary bones in Poring Hot springs, visiting orangutang sanctuaries and war memorials, explored the Kinabatangan river, and hiked many of the national parks in both Sabah and Sarawak, before heading overland to Kalimantan for a less than pleasant experience. To cut a long story short, we didn’t get very far and flew out well ahead of schedule to explore Singapore.

From there we headed north and crossed into mainland Malaysia to explore Malacca, Kuala Lumpur, the Genting (AKA Cameron) Highlands, and Penang, before heading north to Thailand. 

Unfortunately, all the stories for that visit are safely stored in a container with our other remaining possessions in Australia.

The second visit was at the start of this current adventure in May 2010. Once again we entered via Singapore. This time we did a bit of Island hopping on Tioman Island before heading back to Malacca and Kuala Lumpur before flying into Cambodia.

The next time (2011) we took the ferry from Koh Lipe in Thailand to the beautiful island of Langkawi for a few days before hightailing it down to KL to get a visa for Myanmar and a flight to Yangon.

KL was also the launchpad for our Silk Road Adventure in 2012

And there have been multiple other visits as either stopovers or long stays while we housesat some very cute cats and dogs in both and 2018 and 2019

You can read some of those experiences below:

Time out on Tioman – Tioman Island

Nonya Business – Malacca

KLT’s – Kuala Lumpur

Kicking off in KL – Kuala Lumpur

Guided Tours of Malaysia

Malaysia is relatively easy and safe to travel independently if you’re visiting the main destinations. But not everyone has the time or desire to plan and complete an independent trip. So for those who prefer to have someone else do the organizing, would like input from a local guide, or just want to skip the line for attraction tickers, here’s a selection of what’s on offer.

Short Tours (1 to 3 days)

Get Your Guide has around 100 short tours for popular activities in various destinations for you to investigate. Take a look HERE.

Viator has over 3000 tours and experiences!!!. You can check them out HERE

Longer Tours

Intrepid Travel has a range of tours, with a good selection for both Malaysian Borneo and as part of a longer tour through other parts of South East Asia.  You can check them all out HERE

GAdventures has a smaller range of tours than Intrepid that are ‘same, same, but different.’ You can check them out HERE.

Tour Radar – Has a large range of different experiences, from city tours to multi-day hiking experiences.