At the airport of Kuching we arrived by taxi paying 17 RM (fixed price), we took a flight from AirAsia that takes one hour and half to arrive at Johor Bahru. There we took a taxi paying in a counter a fixed price of 160RM and took 2 hours in driving 140 km to Mersing. In Mersing we walked until the jetty where at 13.30 we took a speed boat that takes 1 hour to Tioman. We paid 30 RM. There is also a slower ferry that takes two hours and costs 30 RM. The decision to take speed boat or ferry is not a money question but a question of capacity to resist the seasickness. The different small hotels and resorts are located in different beaches and when entering the jetty you must request the ferry driver to leave you at your chosen beach

We arrived at Pulau Tioman without previous hotel reservation because we wanted to see different options, we decided to go to the biggest beach which is in the north of the island, Salang. The guide says that the biggest beach, Salang, it is a very pretty beach and there are many resorts. We had printed three different hotel website and the reality is very different to the nice pictures of the web. We stayed in Salang Indah Resort (Kampung Salang, Pulau Tioman, Tel. 0060-9 419 5015). We paid 130 RM (the initial price before bargaining was 170 RM) for a villa on pillars on the water for 4 people without breakfast. The villa is in an idyllic place and the beach is also very pretty, but inside the villa-room, it's very simple and most of the hotels are also very simple. If you choose Salang you must not have many aspirations. If we want some better resort we must look for other beaches (we have not verified it personally), for instance the Paya Beach Resort and the Panuba Inn Resort or the Japamala Resort seem to be better options.

To eat we went to the restaurant of resort that at night offers a barbecue (of fish and meat) where they weigh the fish you choose and they cook as you want. The big bottles of water cost in Tioman 3,5 RM. Internet costs 12 RM per hour

Pulau Tioman has 20 km of length and 11 of width and it also has a small airport. It is a paradise island that has small towns that can only be acceded by boat. The island only has one only path that connects with the seaside crossing the jungle. This paradise destination is perfect to make snorkelling, diving or simply nothing.

We took speed boat in Salang at 9.30 that takes 1 hour until a Mersing. We went to Island Connection Travel & Tours (2, Jalan Jemaluang, 86800 Mersing, Tel. 0060-7 7992535) the agency that sell tickets of the company of Transnasional buses. At the arrival to Mersing to go to Tioman, they told us that we needn,t a reservation to find tickets for the direct bus to Kuala Terengganu that "you will always find free seats" in the bus at 12 (26,40 RM price). When we arrived at the agency coming from Tioman they told us that there were tickets available and therefore we decided to take the bus at 12 to Kuantan, it costs 12,40 RM. It took 3 hours until the bus-station of Kuantan and when we arrived at Kuantan there were no more buses leaving to Kuala Terengganu. We decided to take a taxi that costs 140 RM

In Kuala Terengganu we slept in Midtown YT Hotel (30, Jalan Tok Lam, 20100 Kuala Terengganu, Tel. 0060-9 6235288). We paid 90 RM for a double room including the breakfast. The hotel is a tall building and of modern aspect that requires an urgent renovation and where there is a permanent bad smell.

We had dinner in the Ping Anchorage Travellers Café (Ground Floor, Jalan Dato'Isaacs, Kuala Terengganu, Tel. 0060-9 6262020) in front of the hotel. It's also an agency for hotel reservation and different trips for Tioman and other places of the coast of Malaysia, and it also has a bar-restaurant inside

Kuala Terengganu is, for us, a bridge place to arrive to the Perhentian islands. We should have arrived sooner to see something of the city but we arrived at 11 at night and we left at 7 in the morning.

From Kuala Terengganu we took a taxi to the jetty of Kuala Besut that takes 1 hour and we paid 80 RM (in Kuala Besut a bottle of water costs 1 RM). We took the speed boat (30 RM) that took us in 30 minutes till the small island. It leaves the passengers around 100 meters of the beach and there we took watertaxi that costs 2 RM. We bought all these tickets in Yaudin Holidays and Tours (9 6 10 Rumah Kedai 2 Tingkat, 22300 Kuala Besut, Tel. 0060-9 674677)

In Pulau Kecil we stayed at the Suria Perhentian Dive Resort that we previously booked by Internet from Barcelona. It is located in Corale Beach, which is the only beach of the two islands from which the dusk can be observed. Resort is precious, in a spectacular beach, but the villas inside are extremely simple, basic, actually too simple. We chose a package of 3 days and two nights with two snorkelling trips and full board, we paid 350 RM per person. In the beach, only some meters away of the resort there is the restaurant Mama Kitchen that offers barbecue of meat or fish including a salad, potatoes, rice and watermelon by 15 RM.

In the Eastern side of the small island there is the Long Beach, where we found many hotels. The beach is very long and is the one that is considered like zone of discos and bars. The Long Beach can be reached crossing the only path of the island from the Corale Beach, it takes around 15 minutes, we saw some monitor lizards that theoretically are inoffensive.

Perhentian islands bay

We decided to remain more days in the wonderful Perhentian islands but to look for a resort we liked and we changed island, we went to the bigger one: Pulau Besar.

There we visited a precious resort: Tuna Bay Island Resort, a resort ahead the beach with new and modern rooms of beton, costs 250 RM per night. Just some meters away we found the New Cocohut Resort with precious villas, cost 200 RM the night. We went to the Arwana Resort (Tel. 0060-9 752 1741) that is in another beach, and is the newest resort of the zone, we paid 400 RM per person for a package that includes double room in front of the beach, all the meals and two excursions of snorkelling; a double room with views to the swimming pool costs 160 RM. The resort has a precious swimming pool. In the same beach we found the Flora Bay Resort with some perpendicular villas to the beach for 150 RM that are very well (attention: you must request the new villas, New Flora Bay)

Perhentian islands. Pulau Kecil (small island) and Pulau Besar (big island) compose the incredible paradise of Perhentian islands. Transparent waters, charming white sand beaches and cosy hotels on the beach. In the jetty you must pay to 5 RM for conservation fee of the marine park.

More information about these islands: Perhentian Islands and also Pulau Perhentian.

We previously wanted to go first to Kota Bahru and then Tanah Rata, but we discarded this possibility as other tourists told us there is nothing interesting for tourists in Kota Bahru. So we decided to go directly to Tanah Rata.

From Perhentian islands to the Cameron Highlands there is a daily mini van paying 75 RM by person. Organised by Yusoff Awang Ya (tel. 0060-19 9452999 o 0060-9 7442831). It took us 6 hours to arrive to Tanah Rata that is one of the two cities that the guide recommends to go at the Cameron Highlands, the other is Brinchang where according to what people comment to us Brinchang covers mostly local tourism, and in Tanah Rata you'll find more international tourism. In Tanah Rata money is only changed in cash and only at the Maybank

We arrived on a Friday at 8 in the evening and it was difficult to find two hotel rooms. We finally decided to stay in a dirty and ugly hotel, the BB Inn (79A, Persiaran Camellia 4, Tanah Rata, 39000, Tel. 0060-5 4914551). We paid 65 RM for a double room without breakfast (Mondays to Thursdays costs 45 RM). On the following day we changed to another simple hotel but clean and cosy, the Cameronian Inn (16, Jalan Mentigi, 39000 Tanah rata, Cameron Highlands, Tel. 0060-5 4911327), we paid 60 RM for a double room without breakfast. Who prefers to stay in a new one can go to the Century Pines, where the double room (including the breakfast) costs 197 RM standard and 240 RM the deluxe room.

We really recommend to go to the The hotel Old Smoke House (By the golf Course, Tanah Rata, Tel. 0060-5 4911215), it's exactly like and English cottage, if you want to pay prices like 455 RM for a double room. Another good option is to go there just to enjoy a cup of tea with strawberries from the Cameron, delicious!.

In order to eat we recommend the T café (4 Nuncan Road, Side entrance, first floor, 39000 Tanah Rata, Tel 0060-5195722883), very recommendable its lasagne. We also enjoyed eating in the Indian restaurant Kumar (26 Nuncan Road, 39000 Tanah Rata, Tel. 0060-54912624). Restaurants where you definitely must not go another Indian: Suria for their bad service or the Rosendale for their bad quality and also bad service

The Cameron Highlands are at an altitude between 1300 and 1800 meters. Obviously is not as hot as in the rest of Malaysia. The Cameron Highlands are famous for the strawberries farms, delicious vegetables and the tea plantations.

We chose to make a trip that we contracted directly with the hotel Cameronian Inn and we paid only 15 RM for 4 hours of excursion. They took us to visit a strawberry farm, a butterflies and insects farm (3 RM), a farm of bees, a centre of roses and orchids (4 RM), the Buddhist temple of Brinchang and the tea plantation of Boh. Another option of excursion is to make the top of the Brinchang mount with 2.031 meters, and to do trekking through the jungle in 4x4 and to visit the Boh tea plantation, it costs 40 RM per person and lasts 4 hours. The third excursion offered is the one that lasts all the day and costs 80 RM per person and lasts 9 hours. It combines the two previous excursions. In the environs of Tanah Rata there are itineraries to walk with different difficulties and hardness, we tried to do one and although we recognize that we are not used to the mountain, the different paths are not well signalled as the signs are not clear. We recommend to follow Yen, who is a permanent guest of the Cameronian Inn and that each morning does one of the itineraries during 3 or 4 hours and in return he only asks for a tip. There are other excursions to go to the mountain, and we think that the best agency is CS Travel & Tours (47 Nuncan Road, 39000 Tanah Rata, Cameron Highlands, Tel. 0060-5 4911200).

More information about the region in Highlands of Pahang and Cameron Highlands.

From Tanah Rata to there are many buses, we took a bus at 8 in the morning which leaves from the bus station at the Main Road and costs 23 RM. It takes 6 hours to drive 201 km, in taxi it would have costed 280 RM, it's a fixed price. The bus indicates that it goes to Penang and it stops first in Butterworth and later in Georgetown. It left us in the new bus-station in the south of the city, around 15 minutes of the centre. To arrive to the centre in taxi costs 20 RM

We slept in the hotel Cititel (66 Jalan Penang, 10000 Penang, Tel. 0060-4 3701188). We paid 185 RM for a double room with breakfast, it is a modern hotel, of recent construction and has a nice indoor swimming pool with jacuzzi and sauna. In addition it's also very well located, very central. Another option and a little bit more expensive is the delicious Eastern & Oriental Hotel (10 Lebuh Farquhar, 10200 Penang, Tel. 0060-4 2222000). The double room costs 354 RM and the one with sea view 415 RM. It's really worth to go, either to have a drink, either to eat something in the bakery or in the pub or the elegant restaurant. A cheaper option, with simple rooms and also quiet and clean (some without windows) is the Crystal Guesthouse (294 Chulia Street, 10200 Penang, Tel. 0060-4 2638068), double room costs 40 RM. In the Crystal Guesthouse also they make massages and reflexology, 45 minutes they cost 30 RM.

In order to eat we recommend Ecco Cafè (402 Chulia Street, Tel. 0060-42623178), where they do delicious pizzas and Italian-Malaysian pasta home made. Most of big hotel chains offer thematic buffets for dinner: Asian, western, seafood... We tasted the Eastern & western of the Sheraton Hotel (3, Jalan Larut, 10050 Penang, Tel. 0060-4 2261888) for 59 RM per person

Penang island is the favourite holidays destination of the Saudi. We only saw Georgetown, which is the capital of the island and it seemed to us a very attractive city and we think that surely it would be worth to stay longer in Penang if we would have had more time to do so. Penang is united to continental Malaysia by the Penang bridge (the longest bridge of Southeast Asia).

Georgetown has a nice colonial district of which they have rehabilitated only some of the precious buildings, some host governmental institutions. The city offers a free shuttle bus that goes around the centre, and it stops at all the places that are worth to see. The schedule is from 7 to 19 and Saturdays until the 14 hours, and it is worth to take it since it represents the ideal solution if you don't have much time to visit the city and you want to go around the colonial centre. There is a map with the route of this bus in all the hotels. It's also very nice to take a walk by China Town, by the markets of Little India (if we you're able to resist the bad smells). The Fort Cornwallis is surrounded by walls and is where on 1786 Francis Light founded Georgetown. The entrance costs 3 RM and the most interesting thing is that inside we found an exhibition with Penang's history. It is worth to go up the tower of the Komtar building, it has 65 floors and on the ground floor it has the greater commercial centre of Georgetown. Also it is recommendable to visit Watt Chaiyamangkalaran, the Chinese Buddhist temple. Inside we found one of the biggest lying Buddhas of the world, it makes 33 meters. Right opposite the street there is another Buddhist, Thai temple.

To go to Kuala Lumpur from Penang there are many buses that make this route, we bought tickets under the Komtar building, 27 RM and we took a super-vip, a bus with 3 seats by row. They leave from Nibong bus station, southern of Georgetown and to go there we took a taxi per 20 RM. Another possibility would be to take a bus for 2 RM that leaves from the Komtar building. It takes almost 5 hours to arrive at the KL-Puduraya bus station. We paid 10 RM to arrive to the hotel, which actually was near the station but considering the terrible heat and humidity and wearing the backpacks we decided to pay a taxi

We slept at the hotel hotel Bintang Warisan (68 Jalan Bukit Bintang, 55100 Kuala Lumpur, Tel. 0060-321488111) that is located in the Golden Triangle which is the business area with skyscrapers, restaurants and party on night. We paid 115 RM for a double room without breakfast. Other cheaper and well located options near the Golden Triangle area are The Green Hut, and also Number 8.

To eat, like all the Malayan cities, the variety to choose is endless. We went to The Old Siam (23 Tengkat Tang Shin, 50200 Kuala Lumpur, Tel. 00600-321483708), a delicious and very pleasant Thailander. Down of the Petronas towers we ate in the modern Chinoz restaurant (G47, Suria KLCC Kuala Lumpur, Tel. 0060-321668277). Also we eat several times in a simple Indian restaurant called Hanifa at the Nagasari street

Kuala Lumpur. The capital of Malaysia surprised us very positively. It was really pleasant because it is not as chaotic as many other huge city in Asia. KL has three meter lines (subway and on the air, on pillars through the city) and you pay depending on the distance you go. The subway and the taxis are very cheap. In Kuala Lumpur the taxis have taximeters and are forced to swicht it on when a passenger goes in.

Petronas towers

The Petronas Towers are the headquarters of the public oil company Petronas. It's is an impressive building that we all have seen on the TV or the cinema ("The entrapment" movie with Sean Connery is a good example). It's not possible to go to the top, for visitors is only allowed until the skybridge which is free, but be careful as only 800 visitors can accede daily to visit it, therefore if we want to choose when you want to go upstairs, please make queue before 8am and you'll be lucky and you'll be able to choose what time you want to visit Petronas towers in groups of maximum 20 people. They open the ticket offices at 8:30am. Skybridge is in floor 41, between the two towers. Down on the Petronas there is a luxury shopping centre, very big, the KLCC.

You cannot miss to go up at the Menara Kuala Lumpur, the tower of communications, that offers a unique view of the Petronas and all Kuala Lumpur, to go up costs 20 RM and ticket offices close at 21:30. The tower was inaugurated in 1996 and its height is 421 meters.

Also we recommend to take a walk and enter into the National Museum of History. It is for free and helps to understand the history of Malaysia. It is located at the Merdeka square, which is very nice. It is worth to visit it by daylight and also at night, because Merdeka square is very gracefully illuminated. China Town and Little India are classical areas of the city typical to visit and also very recommendable, as well as some mosques.

To go to Melaka from Kuala Lumpur: In the Puduraya bus-station you'll find many buses leaving to Melaka, we recommend to take those of company KKKL because they are the unique ones that have three seats per row, it takes around 2 hours and it costs 9,40 RM. The Transnasional buses leave every 30 minutes and the rest of companies every hour

As we did not sleep in Melaka, we cannot recommend any special hotel. But, if you have the time, please spend at least one night in this wonderful city.

However we found the time to stop in three wonderful and historical restaurants where it's worth to go at least to see them:
Cafe 1511 (52, Jalan Tun Tan cheng Lock, 75200 Melaka, Tel. 0060-62860150), Restoran Peranakan (107 Jalan Tan Cheng Lock, 75200 Melaka, Tel. 0060-62845001), Harpers Restaurant (2 Lorong Hang Jeba, 75200 Melaka, Tel. 0060-62828800)

Melaka is a wonderful city where you can find two parts differentiated: Eastern, in which it emphasizes the legacy of the Portuguese domination and Dutch, and the Western or Chinese Town, which is a very nice and better maintained than any other that we have seen before.

The most important thing is to walk through all Melaka and to visit the Eastern part with its historical legacies. You cannot miss the Stadthuys (or City Council), Saint Paul's church, the Sentosa villa, the Marine Museum (it's inside a recommendable reproduction of a Portuguese ship), and all the temples of China Town and its delicious streets.

Near China Town we also found some nice and original stores that we want to point out:

• T-shirts, not of the typical ones we could imagine, but design t-shirts: Orangutan (59 Lorong Hang Jebat, 75200 Melaka, Tel. 0060-62826872).

• A masterful craftsman who makes shoes and who continues making shoes like the ones high class Chinese women wore. He seems to be as himself explains, unique in the world who still makes them by hand, his name is Raymond Yeo (Wahaik Shoemaker, 56 Jalan Tokong, 75200 Melaka, Tel. 0060-62849726).

• Also we went to the factory of a local artist that made us fall in love with to his works: Temple Street (13 Jalan Tokong, 75250 Melaka, Tel. 0060-62831815).

• Lastly we recommend a non-typical souvenirs and antiques store with a nice café inside: Jonkers Melaka (17 Jalan Hang Jebat, 75200 Melaka, Tel. 0060-62835578)

To arrive to the international airport of Kuala Lumpur (KLIA), which is 75 km away from the centre we must calculate minimum one hour. It actually took us 1 hour and 15 minutes, the taxi costs 70 RM, fixed price. There is a train from the centre which connects with the airport and it costs 35 RM each.

We took a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok (1 hour and 15 minutes), and a second flight Bangkok-Munich (11 hours) and finally a flight Munich-Barcelona (1 hour and 40 minutes), with Lufthansa.