Planning your trip

Historical sites Melaka is one of malaysia’s two historic gems. There are buildings dating from me Portuguese and Dutch period, as well as some fine Chinese shophouses. Georgetown, the capital of penang, is Malaysia second architectural and historical note with probably the finest assembly of Sino-colonial architecture in the region.

Culture Traditional Malay culture is best preserved on the east coast of the he and especially in the Malay heartland of Kelantan (Kota Bharu), with is rural kampongs and thriving craft industry The Sarawak Culture Village near Kuching offers an anaesthetized vision of tribal life and culture; the Upriver tribes longhouses give a taste of the real thing the Rajang, Skrang and Kinabatanaga. river dotted with towns and small tribal settlements, are all worth exploring by boat.

Shopping KL is the best place to buy the full range of handicrafts from batik to blowpipes, although prices are higher than at their source-The east coast is the of the Peninsula's Malay handicraft industry, particularly Kelantan (Kota Bharu) and Sarawak are the places to find tribal handicrafts Many are on sale in the towns, although smaller communities potentially offer the best buys.

Museums KL's museums are less impreive than those in Singapore but worth visiting Surpisingly, perhaps the the best museum in east Malaysia is the Sarawak Museum in Kuching with its superb ethnographic collection.

The above is only a selection of places of interest and is net exhaustive It is de to assist in planning a trip to the region. Any highlight list is inevitably subjective.

When to go
The rainy seasons should be borneo in mind when planning intineraries in Malaysia the best time to visit the pinsulas east coast is between November and September along the east coast and interior jungles are not advisable between November and February, during the northeast monsoon. The east coast suffers flooding at this time, year, and it is inadvisable and also impossible to take fishing boats to offshore such as Pulau Tioman as the sea can be very rough. taman Negara National dosed from November to the end of january. Other parts of peninsular Malay be visited year round as the rainy season Is nor torrential, although it is tai, during the northeast monsoon period. Rainfall is worst from May to September west coast of the Peninsula, but is never very heavy

In East Malaysia March and June are the best times to visit the interior, the rains are usually from November February and some roads are impassable it months. Conversely, in the are season, some rivers become unnavigable. in recent years the onset of the wet and dry season, in both Sabah and sarawak have become less predecatable, environmentalists ascribe this to deforestation, although the scientifically proven link.

NB School holidays run from mid-to late February mid-May to early June, late August and late November to early january. During these periods it is advisable book hotels.

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