Family travel Malaysia

Article by: Michael Day & Verity Campbell, September 2008

What do travel writers do when they start making kids? For us the answer is this: they slow down and luxe up. All it took was a couple of dusty long-distance bus trips, heat rash, nappy rash and a bout of gastro and we graduated from no-star to four-star in a flash.

Gone were those carefree days of island-hopping on old fishing boats. Now the boats would have to have safety rails and children's life vests

Gone were those carefree days of island-hopping on old fishing boats. Now the boats would have to have safety rails and children's life vests, and the islands had better not be malarial... Which brought us to peninsular Malaysia - safe, prosperous and easily travelled, but still with the diverse cultures, tropical seas and rainforest retreats we'd grown to love. Seemed perfect.

The first thing to like about Malaysia is that you don't need to travel the entire country to experience its multiculturalism: it can all be found in Kuala Lumpur. Where else can you have dahl and dosa for breakfast, laksa for lunch and fish ball soup with rice noodles for dinner? You can tuck in to authentic Indian, Malay and Chinese fare while the kitchen staff merrily play 'pass the parcel' with your baby, freeing you up to enjoy the food.

The two greatest attractions of KL are undoubtedly the food and the shopping, both of which offer fantastic variety and value. But when it comes to family travel it has to be admitted these are parental indulgences, so after a couple of days dragging a gracious but plainly bored preschooler around KL's malls and markets, it was time to embark on the next leg of our journey.

From KL we'd booked a sleeping compartment on the 'Jungle Railway' to Tanah Merah in Malaysia's northeast. Tanah Merah, 13 hours by train from KL, was the last stop before the Perhentian Islands, our appointed beach resort. Train travel is a great way to see the countryside, which is one of the reasons we opted for it, but for the travelling family it does carry challenges. If you've ever tried to share a sleeping berth the width of an ironing board with a restive child you'll know that you are bound to wind up with your backside hanging over the edge. We noted there was room on the floor for a camp bed, but that's a lesson we'll take on our next trip. (Unsurprisingly, most people who travel to Perhentian opt for the 40-minute flight.)

Though their hinterlands are rugged and inaccessible, the Perhentian Islands have enough natural charm around their fringes to keep you occupied for a few days. Perhentian Besar, the larger of the two islands, has wide beaches lapped by calm, shallow seas, making it an ideal family playground. Every morning, little Jake would drag his inflatable police boat with leg-holes down to the water, where he would patrol the shallows. Inevitably he'd attract a crowd of local holidaymakers eager to have their picture taken with him. Far from minding the attention he seemed to relish his celebrity status, and he and his boat became a beach fixture.

The downside of Perhentian is the built environment, in particular the hulking concrete jetties that jut from the centre of the main beaches. Not that the jetties bothered Jake, who wouldn't hear a word against his beach. He declared, 'I like ugly things'. Happily the abundant fish life and coral just metres from shore meant that the best views were below the water, not above it.

After five days of island frolics, we - the parents - were beginning to grow as bored as Jake had been in KL. It was time to embark on the jungle leg of our journey, Taman Negara National Park in central Malaysia.

Vast, primordial Taman Negara is one of the last stands of virgin forest on the peninsula. It's such a precious bioreserve that there are concerns it could be loved to death by tourists. Yes, the park's many trails do encroach upon habitat, but the trails are nothing compared to what surrounds the forest: mile after mile of palm oil plantations, interspersed with rubber plantations. Tourism helps ensure the economic viability of unspoiled wilderness, so bring your kids here and teach them its value.

Our favourite moment was when we watched a herd of wild pigs tear through a bunch of tents, trash the contents and make off with a packet of Pringles

Taman Negara is the ideal place for children (and parents) to appreciate the majesty and fecundity of the rainforest. In our six-night stay at Mutiara resort, on the fringes of the park itself, we saw monitor lizards, monkeys, deer, a number of fleet and skittish critters that might have been anything, and an innocent-looking but deadly pope's eye viper. We climbed 40m-high swing bridges and swam in pristine streams brimming with fish. All this without walking more than 2km from the resort.

Our favourite moment was when we watched a herd of wild pigs tear through a bunch of tents, trash the contents and make off with a packet of Pringles.

We'd done city, beach and jungle, and finally we'd found a destination that no-one wanted to leave. But - as we told Jake - don't worry, we'll be back.