adventurous tour
Adventure tour: Thailand - Malaysia.
Introduction.
Having lived to the age of 53 and having visited more than 10 countries, we decided to plan a trip to Malaysia completely on our own without resorting to tour operators. And in English, my wife and I know no more than 15 words. All prices are given in rubles at the rate of 1 baht = 1 ruble, 1 ringit = 10 rubles.
Novosibirsk - Bangkok - Novosibirsk: 30.000 rubles were bought on the S7 website.
Bangkok - Kuala Lumpur - Langkawi - Kuala Lumpur - Bangkok: 17.000 rubles - on the website airasia. com. It was possible to buy cheaper, but it turned out to be inconvenient for connecting flights. I decided not to bother and paid for convenient flights.
1. A hotel in Bangkok was booked for one night for 1250 rubles without breakfast, but with a transfer (The Cottage Suvarnabhumi 4 *).
2 A hotel in Langkawi for 5 nights was booked for 21.500 rubles without breakfast and without transfer (“Holliday Willa 4*”).
2. The hotel in Kuala Lumpur (“Hotel Maya Kuala Lumpur 5 *”) was booked for one night on the booking website. com for 4.200 rubles with breakfast without transfer. Moreover, the money was debited from my card five minutes after I PRESSED THE BOOKING CONFIRMATION BUTTON.
3. I booked and paid for our favorite hotel in Pattaya Avalon Beach resort 4 + * through the Barnaul travel agency Renaissance Travel for 8 nights, along with insurance for my entire sixteen-day trip (two countries) - 35.000 rubles.
TOTAL: about 110 thousand of our rubles for 16 nights in four hotels and six flights.
We take off without flight delay from Novosibirsk on the morning of February 07.2012 (- 24).
We arrive without delay at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport (+34), stand in line for passport control for a long time, eventually we go through it and, having received our luggage, at exit No. 4 we get into the car sent from the hotel and drive 15 minutes to it. We get a room without any problems, immediately pay with a card (no deposits and blocking of funds), swim in the pool and walk around the city in the area of the hotel. We replenish the account to a local Thai SIM card, issued to us upon arrival at the airport for FREE with 7 baht on the account. We took the night in Bangkok, being afraid of our S7 airline and our Siberian February with its constant snowstorms (well, who would have known). Just lost the night reinsured. In the morning we are taken to the airport for our flight (2.5 hours). My heart is not calm. If we have been to the Bangkok airport more than once and at least know something, then Kuala Lumpur (KL) is a mystery to us. What is waiting for us there? Without any problems we find red racks like AirAsia, show the girls (in red) the tickets and they send us to check in luggage, writing the numbers of the racks on the ticket and pointing the direction with your finger. We check in our luggage, return to the counters of AirAsia, check in for our flight, go through (WITHOUT PROBLEMS) passport control, wander through the Duty Free and take off on schedule. Airbus A-320. Clean, some kind of cozy, red itself, a salon with red chairs, pleasant stewardesses in red.
Airport KL.
On the plane, we asked the flight attendants for a migration card to enter Malaysia. We had a printed, completed sample with us. They said they don't have. Weird. We give them out on the plane. At the passport control in ap KL they were not there either. We go without them. We pass, they scan my fingers, paste them into my passport, but for some reason my wife does not. Not a single question. The whole procedure from getting off the plane to getting luggage took about 10 minutes. We are in shock. Here is the country. The same +34 only more humidity. Some clarification. When we bought tickets on the websites, we already knew that we would arrive and depart from the LCCT airport. This is the airport of domestic Malayan airlines and, including AirAsia. It is considered to be budget ak. We would like to transfer our airlines to such a budget. The fact is that the ap CL consists of two aports LCCT and KLIA. KLIA is the main international huge ap and everyone arriving from abroad has to (15 km) independently get to LCCT in order to fly further in Malaysia. Further. We go through registration, check in luggage, get into a red A-320 with red seats and red stewardesses, take off with a 15-minute delay and land on about 45 minutes later. Langkawi. We get luggage, take a taxi (200 rubles) and we, in 15 minutes, are at the hotel.
Holiday Villa Beach Resort & Spa and Langkawi Island.
Naturally, we get a room on the 1st, the most not prestigious floor with mosquitoes. Even a box of "Bird's Milk" bought back in Barnaul and a promise to give money does not help. Moreover, it should be taken into account that in Langkawi, and indeed in Malaysia, no one knows the Russian language, and we do not know English, not to mention Malay. This is not Turkey or even Thailand. They swearingly promised to relocate “tomorrow morning”, which in the morning flowed into the oath “tomorrow afternoon”, but with a specific number. About the hotel. In fact, it looks even better than in the photo of various sites. Everything is clean, tidy, invisible staff, rooms are cleaned daily and very tidy. But! A bottle of water (0.5 l) is given only on the day of settlement. Further for money (35 rubles, 5l). We decided not to bother and drink from the tap, after boiling it. There is no Russian TV channel. Internet - 160 rubles per hour. Even more expensive than in GOA. Tea, coffee, sugar - two bags per day of settlement. More for money. Deposit - 2000 rubles. The beach is very good. The sunbeds are free. Sea without waves. Warm. There are no merchants. Jellyfish were not observed. There is a small bar on the beach. Works from 11 o'clock. Beer - 90 rubles a bank (in a cafe on the street - 40 rubles, in a store 14-20 rubles). Any cocktail, including "Mojito" - 160 rubles. The shops. We went to Duty Free. I don’t know about rags - this is for my wife. When I entered the alcohol department, I realized that I wanted to live here. For comparison, a liter bottle of Red Label whiskey in a box costs 400 rubles. Were in the vaunted Oceanarium (according to all the guides - the best in Southeast Asia). The cost is 380 rubles. I saw aquariums in Klaipeda, Sochi, Yalta, Shanghai, UAE, Pattaya - they are all much more interesting and, as I remember, much cheaper (except for the UAE). The kids are probably interested. Seems like a waste of money to me. Taxi. The prices are fixed. From the hotel: Cable car - 280 rubles, Kuah (where the statue of a huge eagle) is 220 rubles, to the nearest "Duty Free" - 60 rubles (on foot - 15 minutes of an easy step). The car was not rented. There is nowhere to go, and a taxi is cheaper. Hunting to lie with a beer on the beach, and the taken car, in my opinion, should not be idle. It turns out - the money was paid in vain, a kind of nasty worm is gnawing. But for those who want to drive around Langkawi, I recommend it. The traffic is very calm, the roads are excellent, the markings are clear. Just do not forget that in our opinion we need to go, as it were, in the other direction. The number has been changed. Second floor. Much better. View of the pool and a little bit of the sea. Magnolias interfere on the beach. The best rooms in the hotel are the second, third floors with a view of the inside. Some music in the restaurant interferes, but not for the whole night, as in Turkey. Ropeway. Impressive. I recommend. The cost is 300 rubles per person + taxi.
Difficulties with not knowing English (or with knowing only Russian).
We have the PROMT Translator program in the Netbook. She helped us a little when checking into a hotel in Bangkok, but she was completely unsuited to Malaysia. Either they don't translate correctly, or they misunderstand something. And Google Translate requires an internet connection. Preparing for the trip, I found the phones of Russian-speaking comrades in Kuala Lumpur, but never used their help. And I realized that with the help of gestures and knowledge of 10 English expressions (the main thing is “how match”), you can easily travel throughout Southeast Asia. I did not understand whether the SIM card is paid or not here. Gave ap Kuala Lumpur 100 of their money, received 97 in the account. A minute with Russia - 3-4 of them. There is no roaming within Malaysia.
Food in Langkawi.
In a Chinese restaurant, they pointed at the Sea Bass fish (weighed = 820 g). They asked not to grill, but to fry. How it came to them, kill did not understand. For persuasiveness, they said "oil" (oil). Indeed, they were fried. A little salty, but delicious. Plus a salad, beer, freshly squeezed juice = 800 rubles. But the Chinese do not eat bread, and it is completely absent from their restaurants. And the fish is ordered. I had to run to a nearby shop to buy bread there. Further. The vaunted restaurant "Cactus", located opposite the hotel, somehow did not impress with its unsanitary conditions and we did not eat there. In principle, unsanitary conditions are the scourge of Southeast Asian countries. But nobody gets hurt. I really want to see the facial expressions of Mr. Onishchenko, showing him the fish markets of Oman, the United Arab Emirates or leading him through the tunnel connecting the territory of the Royal Palace of Bangkok with the mooring on the canals. I wonder if he was there? There are plenty of eateries around the hotel. For every taste and budget. Dinner with beer from 300 rubles. Lobster - 150 ~ 170 rubles 100 grams, the average pulls per kilogram. Restaurant "USSR" opposite the hotel - complete squalor. This is not "Rasputin" in Pattaya. They didn't even come. By the way, breakfast in our hotel costs 480 rubles. Naturally, we rejected it. For 200 rubles, you can have a more satisfying breakfast in nearby eateries.
Chinese in Malaysia.
I'm far from being a racist. And I respect all the nations of the world. Especially the Chinese. Somewhere I even bow before them, meaning their determination, diligence, ability to navigate the business. But not just on vacation. Travelers in Southeast Asian countries will understand me. In the Russian-Chinese huge hotel Pattaya "Pattaya Park" on the weekend you have to go to breakfast very early. After the Chinese have finished their morning meal, there is nothing to eat. Unceremonious, yelling in their own language, completely disregarding others, and yet - there are too many of them. Shameless Germans and even drunken Russians are better. I remember at the Insite 5 * hotel in Hainan in Dudonghai Bay, an elderly Chinese man (apparently the father of some Chinese nouveau riches) after breakfast turned around in a chair with his back to the table and began unceremoniously cutting his nails on..... FEET. So. Evening, Friday. We return peacefully, having eaten half a duck in one of the nearby restaurants (duck, salad, french fries, freshly squeezed juice, beer = 400 rubles), we suddenly see a huge 50-seat bus approaching our hotel, from which climb out (do not leave) order 100 Chinese. Noise, hubbub, etc. Goodbye relaxing holiday? An, no. Where they settled in a crowded hotel is not clear. We came across separate groups all the time. But everything is quiet, decorous, peaceful. Paradox.
Compatriots.
Despite the freebies of drinking, drunken companies were not observed. Russians are present, including in our hotel. Eat with children. Sometimes you can hear Russian speech in stores. But very little.
We went to Kuah. This is the capital of the island. Great Eagle Monument. Well, an eagle and an eagle. We took pictures. "Duty Free", as in our village. With transfers there and back - 700 rubles taxi. We didn't go anywhere else on the island. Overall, I really enjoyed my stay in Langkawi. The beaches and the sea are some of the best we've been to. But for parties - not here. Complete relaxation. Everything is very calm.
Kuala Lumpur.
We rent a room at Holiday Villa Beach Resort & Spa. When the deposit is returned, the amount of 70 rubles is calculated from us. It turns out that water is paid during check-in. For 200 rubles we go by taxi to Langkawi and on the Airbus A-320, red, with red seats, pleasant flight attendants in red, we take off on schedule and land at LCCT Kuala Lumpur. There I was met by a certain girl AYu Mavzlan, with whom, thanks to the Internet, I arranged a transfer, a sightseeing tour of KL, and the purchase of tickets in advance to visit the Petronas Towers at 9:00 am the next day, as well as assistance with accommodation at the hotel. She rides us around KL for half a day (she drives a small car made in Malaysia), speaks excellent Russian, conducts a drop dead tour with a visit to 5 sights of KL and, as a result, helps to check into a hotel, gives tickets for visiting the towers, and takes a prearranged $200. The Maya Hotel does not have available rooms of my class and they kindly offer me a suite, though with a view of the Menara TV tower, and not the Petronas Towers. Deposit - 2000 rubles. He gave me one of the plastic cards. The money was debited immediately. In the morning they explained that they had not written off, but blocked it. Here, something is not clear. When I return home, I will go to my bank to sort things out. I explain. Why am I asking to block money on the card. Because in the morning in Malaysia we have nothing to spend money on, then a reasonable question is why do we need their money, and even in such an amount in Thailand. (It’s a pity they didn’t know that in Pattaya, ringgits are taken in terms of better than dollars). Duty Free is better in Bangkok (spend the rest of the money). The location couldn't be better. The towers are 4 minutes walk. They look great, especially at night. We sit in the hotel in the evening, for a free lunch with coffee, tea and cakes, and admire these same towers. The view from the room is not so impressive, except for the fact that there is no outer wall, but there is a solid window, behind which is the view of the night CL. Impressive. Obzorka from the tower observation deck and from the connecting bridge - like everywhere else. City, skyscrapers, haze, etc. In the morning, after visiting the towers, we rent a room, take a taxi at the hotel (1500 rubles), move to the LCCT CL airport and, with a 20-minute delay, take off on red...., which, according to the schedule, lands in Bangkok airport. Migration cards are issued on the plane. We go through passport control, get luggage, hire some private trader with a new Toyota Camry for 1300 rubles and drive to Pattaya. A private owner, apparently not a local and does not know where our hotel is located. But for us, Pattaya is our home. We show the direction with our finger and check out safely at the hotel. Outcome. We, not knowing the language, flew on planes four times and lived, booking ourselves, in three hotels - no troubles for you. Everything is clearly debugged. Special thanks to AirAsia.
Malaysia. Fairy tale country. All employees receive a pension of 50% of the last year's average monthly salary. Retirement age - 55 years. No more work. Very rarely. Make way for the young. Economy: oil, new technologies, palm oil exports, a little tourism. The average salary in the COUNTRY is $1000. Penthouse in KL - from 2.000, 000 rubles. An apartment in KL (100 sq. m) - 1.700, 000 rubles (in a good area). Housing maintenance is inexpensive. Fur coat, hat, winter shoes are not needed. I bought slippers, a T-shirt, shorts and walk all year round. The food is worth every penny. Fruit all year round. Paradise. Of course, living in Thailand is cheaper than in Russia, but only different salaries.
Hotel «Avalon Beach Resort 4+*».
Deposit - $100. For some reason, they give me the keys to room 205, overlooking the garbage, motivating this by the fact that they have booked Superior for our last name and show some paper with seals. I call the Barnaul travel agency, explain the problem, pay extra 8.000 rubles with a card and check into my favorite Garden room on the ground floor with access to the pool. Twenty minutes later, all the staff from the reception comes running to me, muttering some kind of apology, they take away a credit card, to which the money is immediately returned. "Revival Travel" worked quickly. Advice. Request the hotel staff to provide the room indicated on your voucher. Over the past ten years that I periodically visit Pattaya, the Thais have become more quirky and cunning. They began to consider tourists suckers. Fuck them. The hotel is very small, almost without territory, but very cozy. On the first line. At the expense of talk about the gay beach at the "Avalon" and the "Rabbit Resort" adjacent to it. Well, sometimes old guys with young Thai boys go hugging or holding hands. So this shit is full in the evenings and Beach Road and Walkin Street. They are with you, sorry, do not fuck, I, in any case, have not seen. What can you do if she's all so fucking....me, this Pattaya. Puritans need not to Thailand, but to the UAE. Rooms should be taken with a view of the pool or suites on the sea. Very convenient location. If you want - walk 200 m and you are on Jomtien Road, too lazy to drag yourself in the heat - take a free hotel electric car and it will take you to Tapraya Road. Anywhere in Pattaya - 10 rubles. If in the distant "Big C" or "Lukdod", with a transfer - 20 rubles.
That's all, perhaps. I will not write about Thailand, especially Pattaya. Without me full of reviews. Considering the recent situations with Capital Tour and Lanta Tour, don't be afraid to ride the world on your own. The main thing is to always have a mobile connection. In the end, call your English-speaking friend in Russia and just hang up the phone at the hotel reception or airport employee. And try to find phones of Russian speakers in the country of the planned visit.
Happy holidays everyone.
