Budget Trips to Malaysia

Although aged 80 I was probably at least 15 years older than anyone else, however this in no way spoiled my experience of this holiday. The group was fantastic, the best I have experienced over the last 20 years of trekking. It was certainly added to by the local 'guides' who were excellent and very friendly to all the group. I and 2 others were not able to get to the summit of Mount Kinabalu as we ran out of time although we had passed the last checkpoint. We should have left the Laban Resthouse earlier. We did not sleep anyway! The whole holiday experience was far better than I expected although I did need to buy a new camera in Kuala Lumpur (a waterproof one). The humidity and going through the 'rapids' on the river was too much for my old camera!

I wasn't sure where I wanted to go away this year, but the itinerary of this trip just jumped out at me and certainly didn't disappoint! You get to experience two distinct parts of Malaysia - the Malayan Peninsula and Borneo - and this allows you to see its diversity firsthand. KL is a city that never sleeps and is a treasure trove of culinary delights; the Cameron Highlands, with its rolling hills and tea plantations is a real highlight, particularly the trek with Jason. Our next stop in the Taman Negara National Park, where we were surrounded by ancient rainforest, allowed us to live with monkeys all around us and to experience some real jungle trekking and river rapids too! Borneo, is simply teeming with wildlife. You will not get tired of watching the orang-utans eating, playing, squabbling and doing ridiculous acrobatics. This goes for the sunbears and striking proboscis monkeys too. The Mount Kinabalu trek to follow is tough but totally worth it, especially when you get up to the clouds...and setting off for the summit to catch the sunrise is a surreal and exciting experience. The hotel right by the South China Sea is the perfect R&R finish to a perfect holiday!

To be honest its a bit of a task to sum up everything that we experienced on this one. We did and saw so much. And there really were no dull moments. We were told that we were the first group to try out the all new Trekking Borneo & Beyond trip and I reckon that none of it really needs any tweaking for future trips. It was all good. In fact better than good at moments.

If you're looking forward a holiday with a nice mixture of everything then I can't recommend this trip highly enough. We enjoyed the best part of two days and nights in the bustling and lively capital Kuala Lumpur where we sampled lots and I mean LOTS of different food and drink, Opium restaurant was delicious and the Sky Bar contained stunning views of the city at night. Elsewhere on the peninsula we explored the Cameron Highlands with its nearby tea plantations, even calling in for Tea and Scones, the weather was much cooler in the Highlands and nice and refreshing after the heat of Kuala Lumpur. We also spent 3 nights in Taman Negara in the jungle, the treks here were fun, especially the swinging canopy walkway one. Our second week was spent on the Island of Borneo, which contained the two highlights of the holiday for me. The Orangutan sanctuary at Sepilok was a fantastic experience, so much so I went twice in one day, it was just so fantastic to see these apes in their natural habitats. Towards the end of the trip the trek up Mt Kinabulu is a demanding one but a thoroughly rewarding one, we were lucky enough to see a glorious sunset at Laban Rata hut the night before and got the all important sunrise at the summit of Mt Kinabulu, ending the holiday at a beach resort for two days is the perfect tonic, beach, pool, sunshine and RELAX. The perfect holiday.