Travel: Malaysia - General

[ChiefKiasu]

sleepy:

Hi


Any recommendation for GPS?
brand & model#

Thanks Thanks!!

It's hard to get wrong with Garmin devices. The http://www.trendsmobile.com/main/showdetails.asp?ProductType=GPS&ProductID=99651 is my favorite, with text-to-speech (yes, it reads out upcoming road names to you), and a huge 4.3\" screen.

Garmin is good not just due good hardware and software, but also the great support by the community. You can go to http://www.malsingmaps.com to download free Singapore/Malaysia maps. Also, there are tons of POIs (Points-of-Interests) that are contributed by the community, which includes ERP Gantry, redlight camera, police speed traps and ambush warnings! There are also clear indicators of locations of gas stations, DBS autotellers, etc. The free maps are updated regularly about once in 6 months. Even MapKing devices are using maps converted from the Malsingmaps sources.

[ZacK]

I'm using the Garmin 205W and so far no complaints with it.


One point to note for those driving into Msia and wanting to go back to Singapore via Tuas Chkpt or perhaps via Woodlands Chkpt. I would suggest putting that as one of your favourites.

On a trip to Genting with other friends who drove as well... On the return home trip, I simply selected Home on my GPS.... We were driving as a convoy and heading towards Tua Chkpt, anyway I was not paying attention to the road signs and simply relying on the GPS... Apparently my GPS had routed me to go back to Singapore via Woodlands Chkpt instead, resulting in me breaking convoy with my other friends... So ended up making my way home on my own.

Thot I'd share this. To those driving into Msia during the holidays... .Have a safe trip yeah

[Fundad]

Technology does wonders. If only they were 100% reliable always.

[ZacK]

Fundad:

Technology does wonders. If only they were 100% reliable always.

Hahaha... That is why it's good to manual override these technologies once in awhile... Not good to be overly reliant on them

[en107rn.01056yahoo.01056com.01056sg]

[quote]police speed traps and ambush warnings![/quote]
Wow! I better check out the Garmin. We were hit twice by police road block when we were driving to Port Dickson. The numbers of cars asked to park to the left for summon is astounding.

The GPS I am using is my PDA which is not user friendly. I bought a map which only shows the major expressway. Once we hit town, it all depends on how fast we read the road sign and decipher the meaning.

[ChiefKiasu]

EN:

... We were hit twice by police road block when we were driving to Port Dickson. The numbers of cars asked to park to the left for summon is astounding...

Lemme guess where you were stopped... KELANTAN?

[en107rn.01056yahoo.01056com.01056sg]

[quote]Lemme guess where you were stopped... KELANTAN? [/quote]
Errr.....1st time driving beyond JB, I go Kelantan without proper GPS & lousy map, we must be a very brave family. Haha.

No lah. Hit between Pagoh and Tangkak. Port Dickson comes before Seremban and KL. Time is after 8.30 am. Friend told us that's the time when the \"Polis\" start working & should aim to go very much earlier. We were not slap with any tickets but it's the 1st time road block experience outside of Singapore, scared ah.

Like Winth, I am looking for another place to drive. So waiting for the next recommendation.

[MMM]

We are just back from Colmar and Genting. Colmar is really boring and rooms condition are ...... Doubt we will go back again. Genting for us is great fun (for adult and kids). The kids just love the theme park and the weather.


For those who don't have a touch and go card, you can still opt to go cash.

We were hit by TP shortly after clearing Tuas at 9plus on friday morning. Well... hubby asked if can settle and gave RMB 50. He went on to give us tips on other sites that are doing speed check for the day

[winth]

Hi, where to get the Touch and Go card?

[astroboy]

Went for a week driving holiday with a 21 car convoy to Bukit Merah Town Resort (BMTR), Cameron Highlands (CR) with my two young kids. wife and maid during the June school holidays. Stayed two days each in BMTR and CH. I extended the holidays to include an extra two-day stay at Kuala Lumpur.


a) BMTR – Located in Perak, it took more than nine hours to reach there. We started off at 6am and reached there at about 4pm. Took our meals at the NS Highway Yong Peng / Ayer Keroh / Rawang & Tapah R&R outlets. BMTR is a nice decent quiet resort located next to the Bukit Merah Lake. The hotels looks like old 4-storey army camps and the F&Bs outlets are limited. Not much to do at nite. The water resort is not bad though and is quite big. They have the usual wave-pool, slides and flow-pool similar to Sunway Lagoon. My kids love the chair lift and the eco-garden which I find interesting as you can see and pet some exotic animals like bear cats, squirrel monkeys… You can also see families of ducks wading in the lake waters. Very good for the children to learn abt nature. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see the main attraction Orang Utan Island due to the low water level which couldn’t take the ferry boat.

b) Cameron Highlands - Enroute to CH, we stop by at Ipoh town to do some shopping and bought some pomelos and ‘pong piah’ for my grannies back home. We took the Simpang Pulai route to Cameron Highland. The roads are good and wide and we get to see lots of scenic mountain views, forests and wide expanse of open space. We stayed at the Equatorial Hotel and from my 12th floor balcony, we could see the whole countryside view and enjoy the mountain sunrise and sunset. The mysterious grey mountain mists enveloping the mountains make good conversation topics with my kids……what is this and what is that??/ must be an eye opener for them!!

c) For dinner, we took the Hotel steamboat as we were too tired to drive out. At night the view is pitch dark with the occasional headlights of cars travelling along the winding slopes………very nice just to sit in the balcony and soak in the pitch dark, chilly and quiet countryside.

d) The next day, we took the half-day hotel guided tour and visited the Rose Garden, Butterfly Garden, Vegetable Farm, Honey Bee Farm, Boh Tea Plantation, and Strawberry Farm. Of these, only the Butterfly, Boh Tea and Strawberry Farms are worth visiting and the kids will love them, especially picking and eating strawberries straight from the trees.

e) In the evening, we drove to Tanah Rata and Brinchang which are small laid-back towns less than an hour drive from the hotel. Tanah Rata is a touristy town so we drove back to Brinchang to have our steamboat dinner (RM15/head) at a roadside stall. They have lots of fresh, crunchy and sweet vegetables which we really enjoy.

f) The next day, we drove from CH to Kuala Lumpur and stay at KL Renaissance Hotel for two days. Drove around KL and had dinner at the newly open mega Pavilion Shopping Centre at Bukit Bintang. There a giant Food Republic food court at the Basement which we had our dinner there.

g) On the second day, we drove to Genting Highlands and have fun at the amusement rides there. Took my kids to take the skytrain and they had a thrilling ride there. In the late afternoon, we drove back to KL and visited Jalan Petaling for some bargains. Had our dinner at Suria KLCC.

h) Enroute back to Singapore, we stopped by at Malacca and had lunch at Palahwan Markhota. Did some last minute shopping and finally reached Singapore at 7.30pm.

In summary, we had a great time for family bonding, the kids had many opportunities to see nature, visit the countryside, see exotic animals and had fun swimming and taking many thrilling rides. Now my kids are pestering me to go back again during Sept holidays!!!