My first visit to Ko Samui was a bit of a last-minute change of plans and I had to find a hotel on Chaweng beach quickly. As this was part of the ASEAN Explorer budget-y trip, I settled on the Mercure Chaweng Tana Resort, and it was a good choice.
On my recent ASEAN Explorer trip, I had to make two stop-overs in Kuala Lumpur, their biggest hub. While I like KL, I wasn’t planning on spending a lot of time there on this trip and just needed hotel for one night each. Because I also had (another) Accor promotion going on, the ibis styles
As part of my ASEAN Explorer trip, I booked 11 flights with AirAsia, courtesy of their ASEAN Pass +. I figured that if I’m going on a budget trip with AirAsia, I should also check out their budget hotel, Tune hotel (read an overview here). I had planned lots of activities for Kuching and with
Kuching is a great base to explore Sarawak, Southern Borneo, and all the scenery, wildlife and cultural sights it has to offer. But it’s a great destination on its own – it has a lot of character and a great place to go for an evening stroll along the waterfront, see the old buildings are
If during your stay in Kuching you haven’t had your fill of wildlife watching after Bako National Park and Semmengoh Wildlife Center, you should add the Kuching Wetlands National Park to your list. The park has mangroves along a network of rivers near the ocean with a chance to see proboscis monkeys, macaques, silver leaf
Because I embarked on the ASEAN Explorer trip with the AirAsia ASEAN Pass +, and because I think AirAsia has done a great job in bringing air travel to the masses in South East Asia, I figured I should try out their attempt to apply their low cost, pay-for-what-you-want to the hotel market and stay
Have you ever seen (or been?) the traveler in line at the airport or the taxi stand, struggling with a pile of airline itineraries, hotel confirmation emails, rental car reservations, trying to find the right piece of paper? You can save yourself a lot of trouble (and a tree or two!) by using a mobile
Bako National Park is one of the top attractions in Sarawak, Borneo, and was high on my list! It turned out to be the favorite tour of my trip to Borneo – that’s high praise, considering I went from one natural wonder to the next in Northern and Southern Borneo! Part of that amazing experience
The Semenggoh Wildlife Center has been handling orphaned or rescued Orang Utan for more than 30 years and currently has 37 Orang Utan in the area, 16 of them having been born at the center. The oldes one, a female, is 44 years old, has 3 offspring and 3 “grandchildren” already! The oldest male and
For my exploration of Sarawak, Southern Borneo, i chose the Hilton Kuching as my first base. It’s one of the top hotels in the capital of Sarawak, situated in a prime spot on the riverfront. I booked the hotel using Hilton HHonors points and enjoyed the extra comforts of being a Gold member – too
The Sarawak Museum is close to downtown Kuching, a short stroll from Merdaka Square. It’s housed in a historic buiding from 1891 and covers a number of different topics. The one that made the trip worth it for me was an excellent exhibit about the traditional longhouses so typical for the inhabitants of Borneo. On the
On my first visit to Borneo, I visited the Orang Utan Rehabilitation Center in Sepilok and the rain forest in Danum Valley, skipping Mount Kinabalu – and I felt bad about it! It’s the highest peak between the Himalayas and New Guinea at 4,095m, Malaysia’s first UNESCO World Heritage site (since 2000) and even gave