Hi, we are a couple and we want to travel to the perhentians after staying 6 nights in koh panghan, so we wanted to take the train from suratthani to sungai kolok, then take a cab to kuala besut and then a ferry to perhentian besar.
I read that it is dangerous to travel this way to malaysia via sungai kolok because of the political situation, what do u recommand us, we dont have that much time?? and how is it at the boarder, do we get the visum there for malaysia?
Which Island of the perhentians is better, cheaper and more beautiful??
We are gonna be on the island beginning of september, do we need to book some place to stay in advance?
Did anybody stay in Mamas place or in the abduls place on besar? Is it a good place to stay?
After this stay we are gonna fly for 2 days to KL, do u know any nice and cheap places there to stay??
Thanks for all replys
Hi
Can't answer all your questions but I've just been to Perhentians and it is difficult to tell which island too choose. I found the beach at Long Beach on Kesil to be very nice and the view from there is fantastic. It is also on Kecil that you will find more cheaper accomodations. However, it is also here that most backpackers stay which makes it a magnet for some and a place to avoid for others all depending on your temperament. If you are undecided there are taxi boats between the islands that you can use (like I did).
In KL I can recommend Green Hut Lodge. Nice and friendly hostel.
Hey, we are in Koh Panghan at the moment, just arrived a couple of days ago from Perhentian islands and we traveled through Sungai Kolok. It's full of soldiers guarding markets, shops, etc. and it felt like we were the only tourists there, we didn't see any western people at all but we felt very safe, no hassle at all and the border crossing was very easy. In Perhentian we stayed on the smaller island, it's beautiful, especially the Romantic beach (it's only beach, no huts, nothing else). We stayed on the Coral beach and I was disappointed with it, nothing what LP says. The river of dirt flows into the sea and there is a big building site there ruining all the view, so I say stay away from it. Long Beach is beautiful. Also I would recommend to pay a little extra for accommodation and stay somewhere nice because budget accommodation is extremely poor there (its poor all over Malaysia)! Besar is probably better option.
Also my preference is Koh Panghan and Thai beaches in general, much better standards in everything!
Enjoy your holidays.
Hi all,
I'm also going to make the journey from Phangan to Perhentian in about a months time. Can anyone give me the latest situation regarding going through Sungai Kolok. I know the Western route is safer but it does add an an extra half day and I have already gone up from there so would be good to go another way, however I also don't want to be taking undue risks either.
Also if I do decide to go through there, what is the best way to do it? I understand there is a night train that from Surat Thani, are there buses as well?
Any information would be greatly appreciated.
cheers,
Khoa
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