Remote Lands

Malaysia

Suggested Itinerary

Day 1 – Kuala Lumpur

Arrive in Kuala Lumpur and check in to the opulent Mandarin Oriental Hotel, spectacularly located next to the twin spires of Cesar Pelli's Petronas Towers, among the tallest buildings on earth. From the traditionally inspired décor of the Oriental, plunge straight into Malaysia's diverse cultural mix while wandering the bustling morning Pudu Market, the main produce market in KL. Here, ethnic Chinese, Malay and Indian vendors hawk tropical fruit, greens, clothes, local crafts, and just about anything you can imagine. Take some respite from the marketplace in the calming grounds of Masjid Jamek, Kuala Lumpur's most beautiful mosque — a Mughal fantasy of arches, minarets and onion domes.

Make your way from KL's oldest mosque to its Islamic-inspired new landmark: the Petronas Towers. A symbol of Malaysia's booming economy, the towers were financed by the state-owned Petronas oil company, which occupies the entirety of Tower One's 88 floors. After freshening up in your suite, meet some key members of Malaysia's business community, and join them for a high-speed elevator ride to one of the tower's highest floors. Visitors are normally only allowed up to the Sky Bridge connecting the two towers on the 41st floor, so you will have the privilege of the best view in town all to yourself.

End the day with a "food crawl" through the eclectic, flavorful world of Malaysian street-food, run by KL's resident food experts, the bloggers of FriedChillies.com. Sampling "hawker" food is practically the national pastime, and your knowledgeable guides will introduce you to the top local specialties, which blend Chinese, Indian, and Malay influences with a liberal splash of spice. Sample nasi lemak, rice steeped in coconut milk, lemongrass and ginger and garnished with anchovies, roasted peanuts, pickled vegetables, a variety of meats, and hot spicy sauce (sambal). You'll also find Indonesian satays, South Indian roti chennai (a cheap and popular flaky flatbread), and Chinese-style fried rice noodles, or mee.

Day 2 – Kuala Lumpur

After a sumptuous breakfast your private driver will take you to the Batu Caves, a major Hindu Shrine, and the site of the yearly Thaipusam Festival. If your visit falls on the full moon during the Tamil month of Thai (roughly January 15-February 15), you may be lucky enough to witness this fascinating spectacle. During Thaipusam, thousands of Hindu pilgrims journey to the Batu Caves to do penance for their worldly sins, often through elaborate body piercing. Some of the faithful go so far as to pull small altars, or kavadi, with numerous hooks placed through the skin of their backs.

The caves, however, are worth a visit at any time of the year. Up a 272-step flight of stairs, a series of caverns and grottoes are filled with colorful painted sculptures of the pantheon of Hindu gods, and the immense cliff faces outside the caves are the site of some amazing rock climbing by the local macaque monkeys.

Back in KL, walk through the streets of old Kuala Lumpur, starting in the Colonial District, for a taste of the city's British past, on through Little India and its vibrant community full of kaleidoscopic colors and pungent smells, and finishing in Chinatown, the heart and soul of KL's large Chinese population.

Return to the Oriental to soothe your senses and and muscles with a trip to the hotel spa, where indulgent treatment packages include local ingredients such as Andaman sea salt, kaffir lime and sweet basil.

In the evening, dine with the family of a prominent Malaysian art collector and get a private tour of their world-class collection of local and international art.

Day 3 – Kuching, Borneo

Fly across the South China Sea to Kuching, capital of Sarawak, one of the Malaysian states in Borneo. Kuching means cat in Malay, and the city of felines sits on the banks of the Sarawak River, full of landscaped parks and gardens. Check in to the waterfront Hilton Hotel and have a short stroll on the esplanade, before getting into a private tambang (river ferry) for a cruise along the river.

Visit the Sarawak Museum, devoted to the history of Borneo and to the lifestyle and culture of Sarawak's multitude of tribal groups. The museum is one of the best in all Southeast Asia. On a lighter note, there is also the quirky Cat Museum, which pays tribute to the city's namesake.

End your afternoon in the Main Bazaar, where ateliers and galleries are stocked with tribal handicrafts and artifacts from across Borneo, from beads to textiles to even spears!

Sarawakians are famed for their hospitality, and for dinner, a group of interesting and remarkable locals will take you out for food and discussion, and maybe your first sips of tuak, — the potent Iban rice wine. Try out regional specialties such as mud crab in pepper sauce — Kuching is known for its excellent local seafood.

Day 4 – Bako National Park, Borneo

Rise early for a Sarawak-style breakfast. Try famed noodle dishes such as mee goreng (fried rice noodles with egg, tomato, tofu and chilies), and sip on teh tarik a frothy mixture of tea and condensed milk.

From Kuching, a short drive (40 minutes) leads to a private boat that will take you on a 20-minute crossing to Bako National Park, an ecologically rich area of rainforest, waterfalls, mangroves, and beaches. The park lies on a headland, where eons of erosion have shaped the coast into a series of rocky cliffs, white sand bays, and dramatic sea arches and sea stacks. Sarawak's oldest protected area, Bako is home to a wealth of species, such as macaque and proboscis monkeys, monitor lizards, flying lemurs, and countless types of birds. After a picnic on the beach, explore the area on any of the 16 well-marked trails — from short strolls to more involved treks — that will guide you through Bako's remarkable diversity of landscape and ecology. Return to Kuching in the evening.

Day 5 – Kapit, Borneo

Fly 40 minutes from Kuching to Sibu, Sarawak's second city, then transfer to a private boat for a three-hour journey up the mighty Rejang River to the town of Kapit, the gateway to the Iban tribal community. The Iban (or Sea Dayak, as they were once known) were renowned for their fierce warriors and practice of headhunting, but now lead a more settled life. In the heart of the Iban region, you will stay at the deluxe Regency Pelagus Resort, near the roaring Pelagus Rapids and surrounded by rainforest. Designed to complement the remote and natural setting, the resort is a luxurious take on a traditional Iban longhouse, built with local materials and run by the community.

Dinner is served on a terrace overlooking the rapids, and includes your choice of western or Sarawak cuisine, including local Iban specialties such as pansuh, chicken cooked in a bamboo stem over an open flame.

Day 6 – Kapit, Borneo

Continue your stay along the Rejang with a private boat trip upriver, heading towards the bazaar town of Belaga, and stopping along the way to visit the longhouses of the Kayan and Keynah peoples, relatives of the Iban known for their beautiful wood carvings and metalwork. The Kayan and Keynah are traditionally animists, and practice both tattooing and earlobe stretching. In longhouse culture, multiple families in the community all live together in the same long building, typically raised on stilts, with common space along one side, and private quarters for each family on the other. The hospitality of the longhouse peoples is legendary, and your guide will give you a full briefing on etiquette and tradition.

Spend the day, with the aid of your translator, discussing with village elders, enjoying lunch with a local family in their home, learning about social life in the longhouse, and getting the rare chance to see a vanishing way of life. Return to the comforts of the Pelagus Resort in the evening, where you can relax by the pool or on the terrace.

Day 7 – Gunung Mulu National Park, Borneo

Start early for the return boat trip to Sibu, and then take a short flight (one hour) to Miri, Sarawak's northern hub, near the Brunei border. From here, it is a short and spectacular flight over the dense jungle in a Twin Otter plane to reach Gunung Mulu National Park. While Bako National Park is Sarawak's oldest, Mulu is its largest, and is famed for its geology and an immense limestone cave system. The world's biggest natural enclosed space, the Sarawak Chamber, is found here, and is spacious enough to enclose all of St. Peter's Basilica. You can also explore Clearwater cave, which reveals part of an underground river running through the park.

Accommodation in the national park will be at the Royal Mulu Resort, a deluxe hotel surrounded by tropical gardens full of local flora. The longhouse-style buildings sit on stilts high above the ground, and overlook the banks of the Melinau River. Spend the evening taking in a dance performance at the resort's restaurant, or relax with a detoxifying black pepper treatment in the spa.

For the adventurous: Take a jungle trek starting in the afternoon onward that will lead you to an otherworldly karst formation known as The Pinnacles. After a boat trip upstream, you'll start a three-hour walk from Kuala Litut on a level trail to the park's Camp 5, where you will stay for the night. Once you arrive you can have a cooling swim in the Melinau river right by the camp and admire the stunning views of surrounding cliffs, before tucking into a picnic dinner prepared by the chefs at the resort. The bunk room accommodations here are very spare, as they are provided by the park for the benefit of trekkers, but do have full kitchen facilities and bathrooms.

Day 8 – Gunung Mulu National Park, Borneo

The next morning get up for the sunrise, before heading out for a 2-3-hour hike to the viewing point of The Pinnacles. A strenuous, but thrilling trail, leading over rope bridges and up ladders, takes you into a forest of jagged stone towers, some up to 150 feet high. After admiring the view, head back to Camp 5 for another night, and rest those weary muscles before starting the trek back to Kuala Litut in the morning.

Day 9 – Gunung Mulu National Park, Borneo

Rise early and walk the three hours back to Kuala Litut, before heading downriver by boat.

Once back in Mulu, a guide and translator will be arranged for a visit to a Penan tribal settlement and their primary school. The Penan are nomadic hunter-gatherers who live in this region of Sarawak. Though many have become more settled over time, taking up a longhouse-style of living, they continue to live according to an ages-old principle known as molong: only taking what you need from your surroundings. Your afternoon will be spent learning how they live off the rainforest, and gaining insight into a truly ancient way of life, still practiced by only a few indigenous peoples. The Penan way of life is increasingly threatened by deforestation due to logging of Malaysia's valuable tropical hardwood trees.

If you have time in the late afternoon, apply your newfound understanding of the rainforest's ecology on a treetop stroll along Mulu National Park's 1,400-foot skywalk — the longest tree-based walkway on earth.

Day 10 – Sipadan Island

Retrace your path to Miri, and then take a short flight to the capital of the island of Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, and on to the small southeastern city of Tawau. From here, it is a quick jaunt by private car to the Semporna pier, where a boat will whisk you out to nearby Sipadan Island. Sipadan, a massive limestone column rising from the floor of the Celebes Sea, is considered one of the top ten diving spots in the world, with startling turquoise waters home to an amazing variety of marine life, including dolphins, giant turtles, sharks and a technicolor array of tropical fish.

Due to environmental protection, Sipadan is only open for day diving, but nearby Mabul Island, also a top scuba spot, is home to Sipadan Water Village, a premier luxury dive resort. Tonight you will stay in a bungalow built on stilts right over the pristine waters, mere steps away from your next dive.

Day 11 – Mabul Island

Spend the next day diving at Mabul, relaxing on the immaculate and private beaches, eating fresh seafood prepared by the resort restaurant, and taking boat trips out to nearby, spectacular islands that offer more diving possibilities and a real slice of paradise.

Day 12 – Turtle Island

You have time for one last dive in the morning before checking out and returning by a 45-minute boat ride to Semporna, while you'll board a short flight to Sandakan, and then take a boat two hours out to the Turtle Islands and their protected sea turtle hatcheries.

Turtle Island National Park, known locally as Pulau Penyu, is the nesting site of the green and hawksbill giant marine turtles, which come to three small islands here to lay their eggs. The turtles nest year-round but are most common between July and October when the seas are calmer. The park is heavily protected with only limited visitation allowed, so you will have a golden opportunity to see this rare natural phenomenon in near-solitude. Your accommodation will be at the basic, but clean, comfortable and air-conditioned private chalets run by the National Park.

You will arrive in the afternoon, just in time to catch a sunset stroll on the beach and some dinner before the show begins. After dark, the female turtles will come ashore to lay their eggs, which park guides will permit you to watch from a safe distance. Afterwards, you'll tour the hatchery where the eggs are taken after being left by their mothers, to protect the hatchlings of this very endangered species from predators such as monitor lizards. If you're lucky, you may get to witness the tiny turtles emerging from their shells and even hold one.

Day 13 – Sandakan, Sabah

After returning by boat to Sandakan, a 30-minute car ride will lead you to the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center — one of only four orangutan shelters in the world — where captured or orphaned orangutans are re-habituated for a return to the wild. Your guide will take you along trails and to viewing platforms where there are wonderful opportunities to view these "men of the forest" (orang is the Malay word for man). Later, you'll meet with biologists working for the center, who will give you a special, behind-the-scenes look at their work to save these endangered primates.

After lunch, go to the nearby Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary, for a chance to see another of Borneo's jungle dwellers. The Proboscis monkeys are famed for their long, protruding noses, used to attract a mate, and are the most captivating of all the forest creatures in Borneo. A visit to this sanctuary is a chance to see them unobstructed and close-up, yet still in a natural habitat.

The perfect cap to your day as an amateur wildlife researcher is in Sukau, the main village on the mighty Kinabatangan River, home to an astounding variety of plant and animal life. Here, you'll check-in to the comfortable, exclusive and remote Sukau Rainforest Lodge, a 20-room ecolodge with a 1,500-foot bird-and-wildlife-viewing boardwalk stretching into the surrounding jungle.

Day 14 – Sukau, Sabah

Start your day with your choice of several wildlife observation trips - one each in the early morning, afternoon, and evening will maximize your chances to take in the amazing diversity of wildlife that resides in the area. Commonly seen animals include proboscis monkeys, orangutans, herds of elephants, macaques, and all eight species of hornbills. If you are lucky, you may see a flat headed cat, or even a rare Sumatran rhino.

Have dinner tonight at the lodge's Melapi restaurant overlooking the river.

Day 15 – Kota Kinabalu, Sabah

Return to Sandakan by car (2 hours), and then fly one hour to Kota Kinabalu, the capital of Sabah. Check in to the Shangri-La Tanjung Aru Resort, a five-star hotel located right on the beach, often frequented by visiting dignitaries.

Spend the day visiting the nearby Tunku Abdul Rahman National Marine Park, a series of beautiful islands just a short boat ride from the city center, which offer great snorkeling, swimming and other beach activities.

Another option is to drive 1-2 hours out to the Tambunan Rafflesia Reserve, out in the Crocker Range Mountains, where you can see the indigenous rafflesia, the largest flower in the world. Back in Kota Kinabalu, visit the bustling and friendly Filipino Market, and have a seafood buffet in the port at the well known Port View Restaurant, serving up KK's freshest catch.

Day 16 – Kota Kinabalu, Sabah

An early morning drive (two-to-three hours) will deliver you to the base of the sacred Mount Kinabalu, which, at 13,513 feet is the largest peak between the Himalayas and Papua New Guinea. The mountain sits in a national park of the same name, and has excellent hiking trails, with ample opportunities to spot rare local flora, such as carnivorous pitcher plants and wild-growing orchids. Stretching from lowland rainforest to alpine meadows, the park was Malaysia's first World Heritage site, recognized for its rare ecological wealth.

Spend the day hiking through the terrain surrounding the peak, or, alternatively, start a hike to the mountain's summit. (This can be done in one day starting very early in the morning, or in two days with an overnight at the Laban Rata mountain hut maintained by the park.) If the weather is clear, the striking granite peaks of Kinabalu will be a long-remembered highlight of your trip to Borneo.

After an exhilarating hike and a rest for lunch, unwind at the nearby Poring Hot Springs in Japanese-style onsen tubs that were first built during the occupation of WWII. A number of hot and cold, private and public pools are available. There is also a canopy walk nearby, where you can wander through treetops hundreds of feet above the jungle floor.

Deeper relaxation can be had in the evening at the Shangri-La Tanjung Aru's new CHI luxury spa with multiple garden suites for their Asian healing therapies, all located on a private island within the resort.

Day 17 – Kuala Lumpur

Fly from Kota Kinabalu to Kuala Lumpur in advance of your flight home. After your sojourn in Malaysia's remote islands and jungles, you'll have one last chance to savor the multi-cultural and cosmopolitan flair of the capital. Your final lodgings will be at the Carcosa Seri Negara, an intimate 13-room boutique hotel housed in the Victorian former residence of the Her Majesty's representative to the Malay states. The extremely spacious, sumptuous, period-styled rooms and suites overlook several acres of landscaped grounds, which you can appreciate from your private verandah or terrace, should you choose to stay in and unwind before your flight.

Day 18

Fly home from Kuala Lumpur

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