Search Results For : Malaysia

230316 Sandy Beach Resort Night View
MARCH 2023 - MAY 2023 OVERVIEW In my previous post, I provided General Information about Cenang Beach including: Exchange Rates; Money / Banks / ATMs; Getting There; When to Go; Transport; Where to Stay; Accommodation Options; Internet / WiFi; Your GRANDPAcking Costs. … now, let’s look at what it is like to LIVE here on a GRANDPAcking Budget … BEACHES CENANG BEACH / PANTAI CENANG Cenang Beach is the most popular beach in Langkawi. This sandy beach is lined with many hotels, restaurants, and bars. It is 2 km long. This is also the busiest beach on the island with […]

Cenang Beach – Langkawi – Malaysia – Living on a GRANDPAcking Budget (2023)

MARCH 2023 OVERVIEW We have just finished our SCUBA Diving Liveaboard and Island Hopping in the Andaman Sea, Thailand. … our next stop is Cenang Beach, Langkawi, Malaysia … EXCHANGE RATE The currency in Malaysia is the Ringit (or the ‘MYR’). At the time of writing, the exchange rates for the major currencies were: US$1 EU€1 GB£1 Published Wholesale Rate 4.50 4.77 5.38 Actual Exchange Rate (Wise Debit Card) 4.46 4.73 5.33 Actual Exchange Rate (Typical Credit Card) 4.36 4.62 5.21 Actual Exchange Rate (ATM) 4.40 4.66 5.25 You will NOT get this Wholesale Rate … you will get the Actual […]

Cenang Beach – Langkawi – Malaysia – Information (2023)

JULY 2015: OVERVIEW: My costs start in Kota Kinabalu (“KK”) and include: A total of 8 nights in KK itself A round trip to Labuan Island; 4 nights in Labuan; a 1-day car rental in Labuan A day trip from KK to the Klia Wetlands for a River Cruise Transport to and 2 nights in Kudat; a round trip to Banggi Island Transport to and 6 nights in Sandakan A day trip to Sepilok to see the Urang Utan, Sun Bear, and Rainforest parks Transport to and 2 nights in Semporna 7 all-inclusive nights as a TRACC Turtle Conservation Volunteer on Pom Pom […]

Sabah – Malaysia – GRANDPAcking Costs

JULY 2015: Click here to read our Malaysian Retirement Reviews. GETTING ON TRACC: Pom Pom Island is idyllic. A desert island paradise. You can walk around the whole island in 30-45 minutes. You can kayak around it in just over 1 hour. And, as I found out on my penultimate day, you can snorkel around the reef crest in about 2.5 hours. If you haven’t done so already, click here to find out how we ended up as Tropical Research And Conservation Centre (TRACC) Volunteers on Pom Pom Island in the first place. To find out more about TRACC Borneo, itself, click […]

Pom Pom Island – Malaysia – Another TRACC Record

JULY 2015: Click here to read our Malaysian Retirement Reviews. WARNING: At the moment, the trip to TRACC Pom Pom Island (that I describe, below) is not yet suitable for GRANDPAckers. The appropriate facilities are not yet in place. Read here for more details. However, when TRACC get their facilities right, this trip is definitely worth putting on to your ‘bucket list’. YOU SAVE YOUR LIVING ALLOWANCE: So, you are GRANDPAckers and it has been 4 months since you went on the Andaman Sea Liveaboard SCUBA Diving trip. You live in a GRANDPAcking Retirement Location where you (typically) have about 35% of […]

Semporna – Malaysia – Information

JULY 2015: Click here to read our Malaysian Retirement Review. OVERVIEW: In summary so far… I didn’t like KK, nor Labuan, nor Kudat… things weren’t looking good. I was thinking about giving up on Borneo completely. In the end, I decided to ‘hang in there’ and it was a choice of heading back to KK to catch the over-night bus to Semporna or to catch the bus from Kudat to Sandakan. A opted for the latter as it got me closer to Semporna anyway. GETTING THERE: The Sandakan Express Bus leaves Kudat at 9:30am, costs MYR60 and arrives in Sandakan at about […]

Sandakan – Malaysia – Information

JULY 2015: Click here to read our Malaysian Retirement Review. INTRODUCTION: For more general information on things like getting to Sabah, prices, and communications please read my post on Kota Kinabalu. GETTING THERE: Kudat is near the ‘Tip Of Borneo’; I thought that it might be worth checking out. I walked to Padang Merdeka bus station from my hotel; it was only a 5 minute walk. I read that the bus to Kudat left at 9:00am, so I turned up at 8:30. Just as well… as it left at 8:30. The price to Kudat was MYR25. It took 3.5 hours to get there. […]

Kudat – Malaysia – Informaton

JULY 2015: Click here to read our Malaysian Retirement Review. OVERVIEW: One of the main reasons why I went to Sabah was to have a look at Pulau Labuan. Pulau Labuan is one of the three ‘duty free’ islands in Malaysia (Langkawi and Tioman are the other two). Labuan is also being touted as the ‘next Penang’. Langkawi and Penang have both already made it into my list of Retirement Locations. I just had to go and have a look at Labuan. I, also, had wider hopes for Borneo… especially because of its ‘nature lovers paradise’ marketing and because of the many […]

Kota Kinabalu – Malaysia – Information

JULY 2015: OVERVIEW: My costs start in Kota Kinabalu and include: The fast ferry from KK to Labuan 6 nights / 7 days in Labuan The fast boat from Labuan to Menumbok The Arcon bus from Menumbok to KK CROSS REFERENCES: For more information, read my post on Labuan. Click here to read about Retirement Locations in this country. Click here for detailed Travel Information and more Travel Budgets in this country. Read About – GRANDPAcking Costs if you don’t know how to interpret my figures. SPREADSHEET SUMMARY: MY ACTUAL 1 PERSON GRANDPAcking COSTS: Accommodation: Typical accommodation was a Double Room with aircon, hot water en suite, […]

Labuan – Malaysia – GRANDPAcking Costs

JULY 2015: Click here to read our Malaysia Retirement Review. OVERVIEW: I went to Labuan because it is one of the 3 ‘duty free islands’ of Malaysia (the other 2 are Langkawi and Tioman). Labuan is, also, touted as being the ‘undiscovered’ Penang and there are rumours that they are planning to build a bridge connecting it to mainland Sabah (as they have done with Penang and Butterworth). Is Labuan going to be a ‘perfect merger’ of Langkawi and Penang in years to come? I needed to find out… GETTING THERE: I took the Ferry Express from Jesselton Point in […]

Labuan – Malaysia – Information