Malaysia Travel Answers

Again this depends on how much money you want to spend, but how about going down to Penang and taking the hydrofoil over to Medan and from there explore Bukit Lawang where the Oran Utang Rehab Center is. Afterwards head over to Berastagi, a beautiful town with great guest houses (Wisma Sibayak recommended) where you can climb a volcano, hot springs. Other places from there would be Kotacane and of course Lake Toba and Samosir Island. .
I believe that Indonesia would be much cheaper than Malaysia and this would be a great trip for 15 days. You could actually get back to Singapore by taking a boat from Pekanbaru in Sumatra that arrives in the Indonesian Island of Batam or Bintam (forgotten which one). If you just want to relax in one place there are wonderful places to stay around Samosir Island.

Langkawi is expensive. You could try east coast Malaysia, Kota Bahru, Kuala Terengganu, Kuantan or islands off east coast. Then head back to Kuala Lumpur for a few days.

Check whether Air Asia or Jestar fly from the island. I have just returned from Sabah, (North Borneo), a fantastic destination and caters for all categories of travellers, many backpackers.
We visited Kota Kinabalu, , Poring Hot Springs edge of Kinabalu Park, Ranau, all of which I have put pages on VT, just commencing Kinabalu Park.
If flying Air Asia they will most likely fly to their hub - Kuala Lumpur, you could easily have a few days there, and then fly to Kota Kinabalu, or Kuching ( I have a page on our travel there 3 years ago) Air Asia fares are cheap. I have other Malaysian pages such as Melaka (Malacca).

Let me know what you decide.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll grab and map and see what we can come up with.

Sounds good! Thanks for all the help.I'll post what we decide to do in the coming days

I am sure about the flight between Langkawi and KL with Air Asia, but I don't know if you find direct flights to Borneo from Langkawi. If you haven't spent time in KL, it could be interesting to visit KL, Penang, Melakka and islands on east coast such as Perhentian or Tioman. You can check some of my pages for some info including Langkawi.
"An island blessed with nature" - Pulau Langkawi by muratkorman
"KL - The capitol of Malaysia" - Kuala Lumpur by muratkorman
"A multi-cultural port city" - Melaka by muratkorman
"The island where my diving adventure starts" - Pulau Tioman by muratkorman
"A central point in Borneo" - Kota Kinabalu by muratkorman

I would suggest you head down to Penang first.
It's quite a bit cheaper than Langkawi and also nicer in my opinion.

Melaka in Malaysia would be an obvious stop on the way to Singapore and so would Cameron highlands if you ask me.
Both these places have very affordable accomodation and food.

Penang or Melaka.......both really interesting with great historical sites and exotic variety of foods. Would be a lot cheaper than Langkawi.

Like most of the members suggested. buy a ferry trip down to Penang and stay for three days, if you find it interesting then continue for another few days. you can book a rooms budget type RM70.00++ and a simple meals RM5.00++ person with rice, and noodles RM3.50++ per bowl. After Penang then to KL or maybe Malacca, these are very good suggestion, you can search in the web to know more, even in our web page.

I agree with most members, Penang is your next stop, you can reach Penang by AirAsia, Firefly or Mas Airlines, or by ferry from Kuah Jetty. Do stay in Penang Road, Georgetown, many budget B&B or homestay are available. You can explore Penang for a few days, the heritage buildings and the multiracial cultural in the city, go up to Penang Hill, to Batu Feringhi Beach, to the Botanical Garden that rich in flora and fauna, remember to ride the ferry to and fro Penang/Butterworth, you can see the island from the sea. Then by road to Cameron Highlands ( I write tips about CH ) or fly to Kuala Lumpur, Bukit Bintang area has many budget B&B, in KL, do not miss the Twin Towel, KL Towel and Batu Caves. Petaling Street is another place to go. From KL you can then go to Melaka, it is another city that full of historical and haritage, and with budget lodging you can get. In Melaka, remember to do a river ride. At those cities, please try our Malaysian hawkers' food. We have Malay, Chinese and Indian food which I highly recommended to you. At Melaka, you are very close to Singapore, your next stop. Enjoy travel Malaysia.

Simply reduce your stay in Singapore and go for Penang as it is much cheaper and when in Singapore stay near Mustafa Center as it is the cheapest area in Singapore.

As already mentioned above, I will first go to Penang by ferry and stay around Georgetown. Although we found the island a bit boring but majority of people would disagree from that, mainly because there are lots of options for backpackers and food is cheap with great variety. Georgetown is a backpackers favorite, I must say.

From Penang, I would take a bus to Cameron Highlands which is a great option imo after one has spent sometime in SEA and fed up with the typical tropical weather. We found CH a nice hill station with many laid back towns. Temperature remains around 16C and then there are many options for nature lovers, e.g. jungle treks. Rooms were not expensive although we went there around school holidays and food was also cheap.

Btw, I loved the first response by davidjo about Indonesia, if one wants to stick to the beaches.