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Hi there,
Myself and a friend will be backpacking from Singapore to Thailand, so was hoping someone could give us some idea of what to do in Malaysia? The way I figure is that we'll either go up the west coast, and visit KL/Langkawi, or go up the east coast and visit Perenthian islands. Anyone any recommendations or ideas for an itinerary for either coast, and which would be better to do (in terms of things to do, and border crossing in Thailand)? We'll both be backpacking, and we only have about a week or so to spend in Malaysia.
Cheers!

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hey m8 ive just got back from what sounds like the same trip lol had a total blast i started in Borneo though, spent 3 months there living in different villages but yeh then i jumped on a plane flew to KL than on a spur of the moment kind of feeling booked another flight to meet a few friends down Singapore way from there me and my friend booked another flight (though we wished we had taken to bus) to KL where we met up with some other friends and had a few night round KL if you have chance visit the water park and times squarer you can get the tube to most places and we stayed at a hostel just east of the BB plaza (cant remember what it was called but if you get a taxi to BB [plaza its about a 2 min walk east from the front its a really good hostel) anyway from there we made our way north to Penang its a really good place quite chilled out if you want to see all of the island i recommended renting scooters, think we paid 20rm+200rm deposit (but don't hold me to that) well worth it though as you get to see allot of the island in a very short amount of time then we made our way (on a ship owned by a guy who we met in a bar) to Langkawi where we boarded a boat to Sutton (thus entering Thailand) its a reletivly east entrance from there we headed to Phuket to meet some more of our friends who had travelled str8 to BKK there we stayed in the old part of phuket if you get the bus from sutton we found a really nice hostel recommended by the tourist info place situated just around the corner from the bus station were you get dropped off from there we made out way to Ko samui via boat i recommend just booking a hostel when you get to the island as the Taxi drivers probably wont know where you want to go anyway (as we found out after booking a place in the planet and ending up staying in a random hotel) after spending a few days further up the beach from all the tourists we made our way to Ko Phanang and to the fullMoon which was the best party ive been to 5000 people on a beach was amazing we spent our time in Rainbow Bungalows as recommend by the Planet, would really recomend it its a secluded part of the island which means cheaper rates and a quieter atmosphere just what you need after a hard night out ( though there are two rainbow bungalows to you have to specify [if your coming from Ko samui, its the second one]) from ko Phanang we travelled to BKK, by this point travelling is easy just pop into the many travel shops on the high street [just off the beech and scan them all for the cheapest price, saying hat the other shop can do it cheaper gets you a long way] Bkkis a tough touristy town weather you get there a 12 at night or 12 in the morning its full of western tourists we stayed at the New Joe hostel just of Kaw san road was a bit of a dive but for 500bt a night for 3 ppl you cant really complain the area is a bit grimy but after a few days you get used to it would really recommend a visit to saiam square as its the most metropolitan place and try and get to the design museum if you interested in design/media/art as they have a gr8 selection and offer free 1 day passes the main park is also a really good place to get a view of the city and to get in some much needed space and greenery. from there i flew back to KL and then back to London

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I say the east coast is preferable to the west coast. Go to Perhentians, not Langkawi.

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Both coasts are great, it all depends on what is most important to you: great beaches or good beaches with shopping. If nature and great beaches are more important than east is better. Why not Tioman island? And giant turtle at Rantau Abang (I think that´s the correct name).

Have a nice time

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