 Our family had a fabulous time in Sabah and Kuala Lumpur. The Sutera Harbour was fantastic, the rooms were great. The kids' club was nothing special but the kids spent most of their time in the pool or water slides. The breakfast buffet was fantastic - pleasing everyone with all food very fresh. We found the nightly buffet at the Pacific the best value and most agreeable to our tastes.
We found alcohol very expensive to buy at the resort - approxiately $7AUD for a wine or beer. My husband mainly bought Tiger beer at the supermarket, which cost about $2AUD, and we suffered with the wine. There was no champagne to be found but we managed to take a few bottle with us. Spirits are relatively cheap in the duty free shop or supermarkets.
There were always loads of activities to enjoy. While in Malaysia we did a few tours to see the sights. We went island hopping - the snorkelling was fabulous. My husband and daughter went joint parasailing. We went on the Borneo railway which was okay, and we also went to see the Orangutans which was excellent. We joined the night tour of KL market and cultural show which was so-so.
We got sucked into to going to a market at Kota Belud that was sold to us as an authentic handicraft market with native horsemen in costume riding horses and buffallos. Well, this market was 1½ hours away by bus, and the market sold very little handicrafts but a lot of fresh fruit and very smelly fish and crabs (no ice). There were no horsemen and no water buffalo. The guide gave the whole bus a quick tour and then left us on our own for 2 hours. We had completed done the market in 30 minutes, and ended up sitting under a big tree, waiting for over an hour to return to our hotel. We all need these tales to tell!!!
We all think Sabah is such a development waiting to happen. I am so glad I have been there before it becomes to commercialised. The Federal was a 3 star hotel; breakfast was so so (nothing like the Sutera) but it was very central for shopping. I spent a lot of time at the shops - I bought a lot of stuff in Chinatown, such as bags, sunglasses watches and t-shirts. We also bought DVDs, CDs and Gameboy games which were all very cheap.
We took a copy of "Shopping Hints by Michelle" on the Holidays with Kids website. This was excellent and helped us out heaps.
We went to the Twin Towers - the view was excellent. While I shopped my husband took the kids to an attraction similar to Scienceworks - it was located in the middle of the shopping centre and cost $25 all up for them.
Another day we went shopping at Times Square and he took the kids to Cosmos world - an indoor theme park. Again it costs only $25 in total for all of them and they had a ball.
We also went to the revolving restaurant at KL Tower for lunch and beautiful views. The meal was delicious and cost approximatly $30AUD per adult, including a glass of
wine or beer.
We wanted to go to the Cultural centre and Batu Caves but ran out of time.
We travelled on the monorail and the trains - we had to ask for directions a couple of times but found the experience fun. We mostly took taxis which were very cheap, though because the traffic was so bad, you really had to close your eyes and pray to God! Despite their chaotic driving there where surprisingly very few accidents.
I found the culture fantastic. There were very few beggars in both Sabah or KL. We felt safe especially in the shopping centres.The trip over on the plane was great - the kids loved the individual screens with games and shows. The flight back was horrible with only my young son sleeping.
We can thouroughly recommend the International Airport Hotel. It was just a short stroll to our rooms and they even have complimentary golf buggies to take you and your luggage if you are too tired to walk.
Hope this info helps other families with their choices!
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