Things to do in Malaysia
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FEATURED
Red Ape Trail
5 days (Kuching)
An adventurous trek through virgin rainforest with opportunities to spot wild orangutans in their natural habitat, visit remote Iban communities and learn jungle survival skills.
Not LP reviewed
from USD$1,290 - All things to do
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Rohani Jelani
Book online for courses with cookbook author Rohani Jelani in her kitchen out at Sungai Penchala, 10km southwest of KL.
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Top Spot Food Court
The double entendre definitely holds true. This excellent rooftop plaza has acres of tables and a good variety of stalls. Order anything from abalone to banana prawns or numerous varieties of fish, and chase it down with a cold bottle of Tiger. To get here, climb the stairs leading from Jln Padungan to Tapanga restaurant, and keep heading upstairs from there.
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Kohinoor
There are several excellent restaurants along the Waterfront Esplanade, including this Indian place offering comfortable indoor seating and a breezy outdoor patio. Take advantage of their authentic tandoori oven and don’t forget to grab a side of pillowy garlic naan.
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Mt Kinabalu
Towering 4095m above northern Borneo, Mt Kinabalu is the highest mountain between the Himalayas and the island of New Guinea. Known as Gunung Kinabalu in Bahasa Malaysia, the mountain is quite unlike any other on earth, rising almost twice as high as its Crocker Range neighbours and culminating in a crown of wild granite spires. When the summit is visible (usually in the morning, before the clouds close in) the mountain literally demands your attention. .
It is clearly visible from many parts of Sabah, including Kota Kinabalu and the islands of Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park. Even if you decide not to do the climb to the summit, the park itself is a beautiful spot, and…
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Islamic Arts Museum
Containing one of the best collections of Islamic decorative arts in the world is KL’s outstanding Islamic Arts Museum. Aside from the quality of the exhibits, which include fabulous textiles, carpets, jewellery, calligraphy-inscribed pottery and an amazing reconstruction of an ornate Ottoman room, the building itself is a stunner, with beautifully decorated domes and glazed tilework. There’s a Lebanese restaurant offering a set lunch (RM43; closed Monday) and a well-stocked shop selling beautiful high-quality crafts products and art books.
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Honky Tonk Haven
A great new addition to the Melaka drinking scene, this music bar is run by Kiwi jazz pianist Joe 'Itchy Fingers' Webster and his singing wife Jill. Jazz memorabilia photos line the walls and spontaneous sessions of live music are performed by Joe, Jill and their collection of talented friends. It's a place to make fast friends, grab a quick meal (including real New Zealand-style burgers, and all-day breakfasts) and find out how funky you really are.
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Bla Bla Bla
Spiffier than a pimp’s outfit, Bla Bla Bla brings a splash of Hollywood to Kuching. The tasty fusion food is anything but ‘blah’, and patrons will adore the koi pond and golden Buddhas.
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Night Market
KK’s brilliant Night Market is a place of delicious contrasts: it huddles beneath the imposing Le Meridien as venders hawk their knock-off wares. The market is divided into two main sections: the southwest end is given over mostly to produce, while the northeast end (the area around the main entrance) is a huge hawker centre, where you can eat your way right through the entire Malay gastronomy. If you’ve never seen a proper Southeast Asian market, this place will be a revelation.
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Batu Caves and Temple Tour from Kuala Lumpur
3 hours (Departs Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
by Viator
Discover Malaysia's multi-racial and multi-religion influences on this half-day tour to the Batu Caves from Kuala Lumpur. With your fun and knowledgeable guide,…Not LP reviewed
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Kampung Baru Hawker Stalls
Saturday evening is the best time to eat in Kampung Baru, when dozens of hawker stalls set up around Jalan Raja Muda Musa for the weekly pasar malam, which rolls through till early Sunday morning. You can find all sorts of Malay specialities here, from ikan panggang (grilled skate) to rojak (spicy fruit-and-vegetable salad), and the night market positively crackles with energy.
reviewed
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Bako National Park
Bako National Park proves that you don’t have to go too far to find Borneo’s signature jungles stuffed to the treetops with wildlife. Sarawak’s oldest national park is a 27-sq-km natural sanctuary located on a jagged jade peninsula jutting out into the South China Sea. Although it’s only a stone’s throw from the capital, it’s well worth spending the night here.
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Junk
The coolest car-boot sale you’ll ever see, Junk is filled to the brim with…well…junk. But it’s all so very chic – when you walk in you’ll think, ‘Did Amelie explode in here?’ A favourite among Malaysian celebs, Bla Bla Bla’s sister restaurant offers superb sophisticated Western food with an Italian bias. A word to the wise: don’t set your watch by any of the wall clocks…
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Sunset Corner
Right near Nazri’s on the plush southern part of the beach, this is the ideal place to split a pizza and sip a cold beer while watching the sunset. Fresh fruit juices are also available for RM5. Happy hour is from 5pm to 7pm.
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Devi’s Corner
A pavement-cafe mood prevails at this food court facing the Bangsar Village II mall. The tray curries are excellent, with plenty of fish, prawns and other seafood. You can get dosa, biriyani and great satay here.
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Old Town Kopitiam
This more upmarket coffee house facing the padang seems to be forever crowded. Simple chicken rice dishes prevail.
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Itroo Cafe
A popular cafe with very friendly service in JB’s colonial district. The best iced cappuccino in Malaysia.
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Jln Alor
KL's biggest collection of roadside restaurants sprawls along Jln Alor, just north of Jln Bukit Bintang. From around 17:00 till late every evening, the street transforms into a continuous open-air restaurant, with hundreds of plastic tables and chairs and rival caterers shouting out to passers-by to drum up business.
Most places serve alcohol and you can sample pretty much every Malay Chinese dish imaginable, from grilled fish and satay to kai-lan (Chinese greens) in oyster sauce and fried noodles with frogs' legs. The best way to experience the food street is to stroll along looking at the signs and the dishes on the tables to see what takes your fancy.
Stalls to look out…
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Café Café
Tucked down the street in the shadow of the towering pagoda, this local hotspot puts a modern spin on the traditional kedai kopi. Excellent local fare (and a smattering of designer coffee beverages) is served up amid bodacious decor and flickering candles.
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Bukit China
East of Little India is Bukit China, which, besides being the largest Chinese graveyard outside of China, is also Melaka's best jogging track. More than 12,500 graves, including about 20 Muslim tombs, cover the 25 grassy hectares. Since the times of British rule until today there have been several attempts to acquire Bukit China for road widening, land reclamation or development purposes. Fortunately, Cheng Hoon Teng Temple, along with strong community support, has thwarted these attempts.
In the middle of the 15th century the sultan of Melaka imported the Ming emperor's daughter from China as his bride, in a move to seal relations between the two countries. She brought…
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Guided Walks
Bako has a total of 17 trails ranging from short walks around park headquarters to strenuous day treks to the end of the peninsula. Guides are available, but it's easy to find your way around because all trails are colour-coded and clearly marked with splashes of paint. Plan your route before starting out on longer walks, and aim to be back at Telok Assam before dark (about 18:45). Some trails may be closed for maintenance after the wet season - check at the park office before setting out.
If you have only one day in Bako, try to get here early and attempt the Lintang Trail (5.25km, 4 to 5 hours). The longest trail is the Telok Limau, a 12km walk that's impossible to do…
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Taman Negara National Park
Taman Negara is billed, perhaps wrongly, as a wildlife park. Certainly this magnificent wilderness area is a haven for endangered species such as elephants, tigers, leopards and rhinos, but numbers are low and sightings of anything more exotic than snakes, lizards, monkeys, small deer, and perhaps tapir, are rare.
The birdlife is prolific, however, and chances are you'll see more insects than you've ever seen in your life. Traditionally, the park was only accessible by river. These days there's a road, but the boat trip is still recommended for the full Taman Negara experience.
The jungle at Taman Negara is so dense that you could pass within metres of an animal and never…
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Batu Caves
Just north of Kuala Lumpur a towering limestone outcrop is home to the impressive Batu Caves. The caves were 'officially' discovered around 120 years ago by American naturalist William Hornaday. A short time later a small Hindu shrine was built in the vast open space, later known as Temple Cave.
A flight of 272 steps leads up to Temple Cave. Beyond the towering main cavern, the space opens to an atrium-like cave at the rear. Many visitors are more spellbound by the monkeys that scale the vertical cliff faces than by the shrines which are dwarfed by the scale of the cave. The whole spectacle has been enhanced of late by an enormous golden statue of Muruga, also known as…
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Pinang Peranakan Mansion
The wealthy Baba-Nonyas of the Straits colonial period had some of the most eclectic tastes of their time; their wealth and their home’s position on so many trade routes afforded access to English tilework, Scottish iron embellishments, continental European art and furniture and, of course, the heights of Chinese opulence in interior design. All of the above crash together rather beautifully in the restored Pinang Peranakan Mansion, former home of Chung Keng Quee, 19th-century merchant, secret-society leader and all-round community pillar. His ornate home is full of antiques and furniture of the period he lived in. There’s also an exhibition on Nonya customs, and guided…
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Kubah National Park
Only 15km from downtown Kuching, Kubah National Park is a good natural retreat within easy striking distance of the city. Kubah offers good trekking and the trails are more shaded, which is a plus for the sun-averse. The 22-sq-km park consists of a range of forested sandstone hills that rise dramatically from the surrounding plain to a height of 450m. There are waterfalls, walking trails and lookouts, and the beautiful rainforest is home to a wide variety of palms and orchids. Kubah National Park has also played host to two Hollywood productions: Farewell to the King, starring Nick Nolte, and the more recent The Sleeping Dictionary, with Jessica Alba.
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Penang Museum
From the town’s foundation site, it’s only a short stroll to the Penang Museum, one of Malaysia’s best presented museums. The permanent exhibition is a comprehensive walk-through of Penang’s history, festivals and cultures. No settler group is left out and all are admirably described in sympathetic detail, a testament to this state’s admirable record of tolerance. Look out for the beautifully carved opium beds, inlaid with mother-of-pearl, and the incredible silk-brocade outfits once worn by the Baba-Nonya (Straits Chinese) population. Temporary exhibitions are eclectic, ranging from galleries of colonial prints to displays on traditional Malay seamanship.
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