Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia etc. - Honeymoon ideas

Nix · 1 Dec 2015 at 22:44

You only really need a few days to see Singapore IMO. There's a huge botanical garden thing behind the Sands hotel. May be worth booking a night there actually and enjoy the swimming pool on top. Chinatown in Singapore is basically two small streets. You can see it in about half an hour. The Sands is on the waterfront more or less, so you can spend a day ambling around there but once you've seen it there's not much left to do. There are some interesting malls around (one mall for example has a floor full of camera shops and another floor full of tech gadgets such as USBs) so if you fancy wasting time shopping, Singapore isn't a bad place to do it. Easiest way around Singapore if you want to explore is the subway. Taxis are about the same as the South East in UK.

Thailand would be good, but it can be hard work at times. If you're looking at Phuket, consider Ko Phi Phi. Alternatively, you have the islands on the east such as Ko Samui.

Bangkok is very full on, so unless you definitely want to see it, I'd avoid it if you want to relax. Consider looking north towards Chang Mai and Chang Rai although that will likely require an additional flight to get there from Bangkok. The White Temple is supposed to be interesting. There's also an elephant sanctuary near Chang Rai I think. Bangkok is good for going to the new developments and shopping centres. The touristy areas are incredibly busy. If you go, make sure you decide what you want to do before landing. Getting a cab will be quickest.

Jimbeam3678 · 1 Dec 2015 at 22:54

You need more than just a ay trip to Gilli Isles the diving there is sublime. Manta's , Octopus , bump head parrot fish you need it its there.

Quartz · 1 Dec 2015 at 22:59

NVP said:
Howdy,

Planning my honeymoon for Feb/March next year and think we have narrowed down the area - we are thinking of Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia (esp. Bali).

Do be aware that there's a total solar eclipse in Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines on March 8th.

a1ex2001 · 2 Dec 2015 at 01:40

I found Bali both amazing and disappointing at the same time! The beaches I thought were rubbish and seminal massively overated but in land around ubud and in the north the place is like a dream stunningly beautiful incredibly relaxing.

NVP · 2 Dec 2015 at 09:59

mjt said:
Sod the mainland, go to Borneo! *snip*

Thank you, will check this out

Dr House said:
http://www.pangkorlautresort.com/intro.htm

That looks lovely too. Going to have to find all of the decent ones and see which we can plan in / which order.

Hades said:
I spent part of my honeymoon at the Datai in Langkawi in Malaysia and loved it.

skaif said:
Ok, I went to the shangri-la rasa sayang in batu ferringhi. Was the best ever.

Thank you for the suggestions, both look pretty luscious! Especially like the Datai

JBuk said:
For Singapore I can recommend the mandarin oriental club rooms

For activities add sentosa island to your list

Thank you, added to my list

Nix said:
You only really need a few days to see Singapore IMO. *snip*

Thank you, I think it will just be a couple of days in Singapore and then off travelling again. That and KL will be the city tour/shopping type of places for the trip hopefully with nice restaurants etc.

Thailand will be for another trip, but thank you for the info

Jimbeam3678 said:
You need more than just a ay trip to Gilli Isles the diving there is sublime. Manta's , Octopus , bump head parrot fish you need it its there.

It does sound lovely, depending on how long we spend in Bali the time can be shared with trips to Gili Island.

Quartz said:
Do be aware that there's a total solar eclipse in Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines on March 8th.

Wow! Thank you so much for telling me this, it will be such a nice part of the honeymoon now

I hope it doesn't make it too touristy/crowded at the resorts.

a1ex2001 said:
I found Bali both amazing and disappointing at the same time! The beaches I thought were rubbish and seminal massively overated but in land around ubud and in the north the place is like a dream stunningly beautiful incredibly relaxing.

This is the main draw, it is a ridiculously beautiful place from what I can see, however it's a shame the beaches aren't as nice but perhaps we can get the full beach experience on one of the islands mentioned above.

Thank you all for your advice, this is really apprecaited

Dr House · 2 Dec 2015 at 10:07

As a general rule when I am in Asia I try and stay in shangri la's, they are always good, around half the price of the mandarin oriental but still offer very nice rooms and service. I checked out of the MO in KL and moved to the shangri la other than the location I actually was happier in the Shangri la.

JBuk · 2 Dec 2015 at 11:38

I was looking at the MO in Kuala Lumpur, what made you check out?

Traders looks goo, owned by shangri-la but a better location

Dr House · 2 Dec 2015 at 11:42

JBuk said:
I was looking at the MO in Kuala Lumpur, what made you check out?

Traders looks goo, owned by shangri-la but a better location

Small room. They then charged me for Internet (who does that??) and the final insult was after I paid a grand for a table for the NYE lobby party only to find they where giving them out for free because no one showed up.

Dr House · 2 Dec 2015 at 11:44

The view is amazing. I have also stayed in the traders but can not remember it.

NVP · 2 Dec 2015 at 12:46

Dr House said:
As a general rule when I am in Asia I try and stay in shangri la's

Thanks

There seems to be a variety of hotels which look decent from the published info but reviewers seem to be unimpressed so recommendations are always welcome

Russinating · 2 Dec 2015 at 12:50

I always use Booking.com and only stay at hotels that are 8+, or as high as possible for my budget. You can view reviews for your type of travel (so young couples in this case) and see what people are raving or complaining about.

Nix · 2 Dec 2015 at 15:13

NVP said:
Thank you, I think it will just be a couple of days in Singapore and then off travelling again. That and KL will be the city tour/shopping type of places for the trip hopefully with nice restaurants etc.

Thailand will be for another trip, but thank you for the info

No problem. I did KL too this year. The Petronas towers is definitely worth popping up -- you can do a walk across the bridge.

KL is a strange beast as it's quite developed but also feels incredibly poor. I'd say you also only need a few days there. Don't bother with public transport like I did as it's incredibly time-consuming and slow. You're better off getting taxis which are cheap and much faster -- just make sure you get them to run the metre!

Chinatown in KL can be fun as it's basically a lot of markets, so you can find yourself spending a lot of time wandering around haggling for tat. KL can also be really good for shopping if you want to do that as there are some huge and fancy shopping malls around.

If you want day things to do, I'd suggest heading to the south west-ish of the city where they have the national mosque (I didn't get to do this), a huge aviary (I did this), and the national police museum (didn't get to do this either). You could easily spend a couple of days doing those.

I found the humidity in KL quite oppressive. You'll probably find if you're not used to it you'll have to get yourselves into aircon every now and then. A 10 minute walk ends up taking much longer. I found my days disappeared like that.

There's a touristy centre place to the west of the city, so it'll probably be worth your while to pop there and see whatever takes your fancy trip wise. That's what I'd do next time.

Supercow · 2 Dec 2015 at 15:19

When in Indo / Bali, the top things are:

1: Banana Pancakes
2: Banana Pancakes
3: Banana Pancakes

Not sure if I mentioned, but the Banana Pancakes are amazing

Pneumonic · 2 Dec 2015 at 15:20

Dr House said:
As a general rule when I am in Asia I try and stay in shangri la's, they are always good, around half the price of the mandarin oriental but still offer very nice rooms and service. I checked out of the MO in KL and moved to the shangri la other than the location I actually was happier in the Shangri la.

Travel a lot on business in Asia and would agree.. nice hotels

Rifte · 2 Dec 2015 at 15:33

I pretty much go to Singapore twice a year and Malaysia once a year. Here is some info :

Singapore

-Marina Bay Sands Hotel - The infinity Pool.......google this and you will understand why you need to stay at this hotel especially if you are on a honeymoon
-Sentosa Island - Universal Studios (if you like theme parks), Dolphin Island (the dolphin interaction experience is awesome). There are also numerous other activities to do on this Island.
-Shopping - Singapore IMO is better than New York and London. Orchard Road is the place to go, and you can literally spend hours and a fortune down this road. Not honeymoonish but I also love the digimalls (Sim Lim and Funama) are like tech heaven.
-The Night Safari is also awesome

Singapore is a small country and the transport network is awesome and damn affordable. Food is also excellent. The country is also incredibly clean (aside from the exotic night life -----ahh my single days------thats for another post another day)

I saw you mentioned places to see as Little India (AVOID!),Chinatown (ok for a few hours and a massage if thats your thing

)

In respect of Malaysia, I have spent most of my time in KL. Again like Singapore, awesome shopping and cheaper, awesome food.

I always stay in the Berjaya Time Square. AWESOME HOTEL

Things to see and do

-Petronas Towers (MUST DO). You can get in the link if you queue up early enough and get a free ticket or alternatively pay a tout.
-KL Tower (highest towers in SE Asia I believe?). Great experience, enjoy the restaurant up there as well.
-Genting Highlands - Awesome view up there with the cable cars, but some of the parks up there are currently closed as FOX are constructing a theme park up there I believe. Worth a visit though.
- Sunway Lagoon. Mixture of water and theme parks.

Hopefully this is of some help!

Nix · 2 Dec 2015 at 15:41

Rifte said:
Singapore

-Shopping - Singapore IMO is better than New York and London. Orchard Road is the place to go, and you can literally spend hours and a fortune down this road. Not honeymoonish but I also love the digimalls (Sim Lim and Funama) are like tech heaven.

Singapore is a small country and the transport network is awesome and damn affordable. Food is also excellent. The country is also incredibly clean (aside from the exotic night life -----ahh my single days------thats for another post another day)

I saw you mentioned places to see as Little India (AVOID!),Chinatown (ok for a few hours and a massage if thats your thing )

Ah, I was staying in a hostel just off Chinatown. I had no idea how close I was to Orchard Street! Live and learn, eh!

Dr House · 2 Dec 2015 at 16:29

Pneumonic said:
Travel a lot on business in Asia and would agree.. nice hotels

Yes, the only shangri la I was not happy with was Bangkok, in BKK I generally start in the Hansar or FS. I also quite like the Luba which is greenly well priced and loved the suit which is huge (260m2).

This thread has me wanting to go back to Asia lol

Jano · 2 Dec 2015 at 16:32

Check out Nikoi Island, 50 miles or so from Singapore.

StriderX · 2 Dec 2015 at 16:39

But the smog isn't it horrible in that area currently?

Ekim · 2 Dec 2015 at 16:48

Went on Honeymoon in August/September and did Hong Kong -> Bali -> Singapore.

Bali was brilliant and we really enjoyed ourselves. We stayed 4 nights at The Samaya in Ubud and then 3 nights at the Jamahal in Jimbaran Bay.

http://ubud.thesamayabali.com/

Ubud was, in our opinion, the better of the two locations as it was a little less touristy than Jimbaran Bay. I think that is true of most of the Island the further north you go the more peaceful it is. You should avoid Kuta, as I understand it is basically the Australian equivalent of Magaluf.

We spent a couple of days hiring drivers to take us around the different temples. I would recommend doing the same we used a company called Bali Traditional Tours and there were absolutely brilliant.

http://www.balitraditionaltours.com/

The one thing that I would recommend that you don't miss is the Kecak dance at the Uluwatu Temple at Sunset. It was one of the highlights of our trip.

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attrac...ire_Dance-Pecatu_Nusa_Dua_Peninsula_Bali.html

We also went to Locavore for dinner one evening. It was the most incredible food we have ever had - think you need to book in advance. They only do tasting menus. I think we went for the 9 course menu, but actually ended up with 21 different things as there were small plates of food that were brought out through out the meal.

http://locavore.co.id/

In terms of Singapore we weren't there for long (2 nights), but would recommend the Zoo if you like Zoos. We did a whole day (10am -> 11pm) we went to the River Safari then the Zoo then the Night Safari. We did the VIP Tour at the Night Safari which was great. We got to feed the Elephants!