Lodge Review: Sentosa Villa, Taiping

Posted on July 18, 2015 by Tara

Since the Sentosa Villa website is down, I will also include their Facebook page for reference. You can easily get there from KLIA by bus to Taiping’s bus station, then taxi to the lodge. Sentosa Villa is located in a residential area near a bird-rich forest and there is no public transport here.

They are on top of a hill so you can walk down the hill to get to Taiping Lake Gardens and the town centre, then get a taxi back for around 15 ringgits. Get the taxi driver’s phone number so you can have reception call him if you need to go elsewhere and don’t want to walk to town.

Here you can see the beauty of the local area surrounding Sentosa Villa.

Reception is in a separate building just as you come in.

We were in the main building (booked the cheapest room) which is linked to reception by a covered area. It does rain a lot here so this is a good thing!

The room was simply furnished and spotless.

The restaurant is about 5 minutes walk from the main buildings. We had dinner and breakfast here and the food is excellent!

We did cop some rain so I had to leave the walkways when birding and take shelter here. They have wifi in the restaurant.

Root beer floats! I couldn’t believe how huge they were!

I had lamb chops which were amazing and my husband said the seafood was equally delicious.

This is a really amazing lodge which is off the main birding trail for the usual groups visiting Malaysia but it shouldn’t be. There are plenty of birds in the lodge grounds as you will see on the birding posts and even more just a short walk down hill to Taiping Lake Gardens. I booked it on Hotels.com to add to my list of 10 nights for a free night but you can also book direct if you prefer.

Planning A Birding Trip To Peninsular Malaysia

Posted on July 17, 2015 by Tara

I want to make the distinction between Peninsular Malaysia (PM) and the Borneo states of Sabah and Sarawak which would be a completely different experience. PM can be a stand-alone birding destination or tagged onto a trip to Thailand and/or Singapore. The main birding hotspots are easily reached from Kuala Lumpur by bus so we decided to go with public transport and not hire a car. I was especially pleased with this decision when I saw how many toll booths there were on roads leading out of KL!

DO YOUR HOMEWORK

With so much on offer, you have to do lots of research online to find out your best chances of seeing the species you really want to see. I always check trip reports on Surfbirds and more recently added Cloudbirders to that. Xeno-canto has mapped locations where birders took sound clips of many species so that can pinpoint them even more.

I also look through trip reports by major birding companies such as Birdquest, VENT, Naturetrek, Rockjumper and more. The itineraries can provide inspiration for your own or you may decide that it is easier to just join a tour. They are not cheap but they do have excellent guides to help you find a lot more birds.

Independant birders have a lot of resources too. Have a look at these websites.

Malaysia Birding

Bird Malaysia

Birding In Malaysia

HOW I CHOSE MY ITINERARY

I was prioritizing parrots, knowing that there would actually be lots of different bird species in the same habitats. We didn’t have a lot of time – just 6 days. Using the websites referenced above, I decided on these national parks, all of which make for fantastic birding.

Taiping – Long-tailed Parakeets are commonly found in Taiping Lake Gardens.

Cameron Highlands – Beautiful scenery and some cool birds midway between Taiping and Taman Negara.

Taman Negara – Blue-rumped Parrots, Blue-crowned Hanging Parrots and much much more!

These parks will be covered in detail as the report progresses.

HOW I BOOKED OUR FLIGHTS

United Airlines has a fantastic deal on awards between Australia and South-East Asia for 35,000 RT in economy. Since I had burned so many miles on last year’s Africa trip, the best I could do was scrounge enough miles for economy but I did maximize the rules but having a stop-over and 2 open-jaws.

BNE – BKK – CNX

Stopover

CNX – BKK – USM

Open jaw #1 which was filled by a super-cheap fare on Air Asia from Surat Thani to Kuala Lumpur.

KUL – BKK – PVG (8 hour layover) – AKL – RAR

Open jaw #2 ending in Oceania zone so added 5k to each person’s award.

Final cost was 80,000 United miles plus 47,800 Virgin Velocity miles for the final RAR – AKL – BNE to get us home. The Rarotonga stop was for my husband to visit his friends and family.

LOGISTICS

Our budget was pretty well tapped out after last year so this trip had to be done as cheaply as possible. The parks I was targeting are all easily reached by public transport and/or short walks from the accommodation. We used the Starmart Express bus from KLIA to Taiping and regular buses from Taiping to Tanah Rata with a change of bus in Ipoh. In Tanah Rata, we booked the minibus transfer from Father’s Guesthouse to Taman Negara which includes a boat ride from the jetty at Kuala Tembeling to Kuala Tahan just opposite the Mutiara Taman Negara hotel. Finally we used a local bus from Kuala Tahan to Jerantut, then a larger bus to Kuala Lumpur.

There are a few other birding hotspots we didn’t get to this time – Selangor, Fraser’s Hill and Genting Highlands. All are very close to Kuala Lumpur and in a pinch could be a day trip. I decided to save these parks for a future trip when we may be on a One-World ticket via KUL or using Air Asia to get somewhere else in Asia and able to stop over a couple days.

WHEN TO GO

This was a delicate balance of avoiding the rainy season and allowing enough time after returning from Africa and allowing a full year until our big Ecuador/Colombia trip next year to replenish the coffers.

Weather2Travel is my go-to site for weather planning. April was the last possible time to travel and avoid the rains but still save up for the trip. March would have been better but wasn’t financially feasible for us at the time, waiting until Nov would be too close to the upcoming 2016 trip. Always take your personal situation into consideration.

VISAS

The citizens of most countries that are likely to be reading this blog can enter Malaysia for at least a month (or 3) visa free. See details here.

ACCOMMODATION

I booked lodges in Taiping and Tanah Rata on Hotels.com because at the time they were a partner of Chase Ultimate Rewards and I was chasing the free night after 10 paid nights for next year’s trip. The hotel in Kuala Lumpur was booked on Pointshound with me referring my husband so both he and I could get miles. We booked the Mutiara Taman Negara on Rocketmiles to maximize bonus miles and this hotel was the same price no matter where you booked it. Each property will be reviewed in the appropriate section of the trip report.

Getting To Malaysia With Airline Miles, Getting Around By Bus

Posted on July 16, 2015 by Tara

Since I already have a more detailed post on South-east Asia, I will only add some Malaysia specific tips here. The good news is that there are lots of airlines flying here so you have plenty of choices no matter which alliance you participate in. You can get a full list of airlines flying to KUL (KLIA) on Wikipedia. The first step is to identify which airlines that participate in one of the 3 alliances serve the airport in question. You can do this by looking the airport up in Wikipedia and making a note of which airlines fly there and cross referencing with my guides on Star Alliance, OneWorld Alliance and SkyTeam. Since this list is so long, I will only put a snippet here to give you an idea.

You don’t necessarily need miles to get to Malaysia, especially if you are already in Asia or even Australia. Air Asia is an excellent low-cost carrier (LCC) which has a huge network of flights around Asia. They usually have good sales on so it pays to check with them before spending your miles. Here’s some examples.

KUL’s KLIA airport is easy to navigate with everything well signposted. There are some interesting shops downstairs near the bus kiosks as well as a food court.

If Kuala Lumpur is your first destination, you have a choice of buses, trains or taxis to get downtown. But if you are headed elsewhere in Malaysia, you can usually get a bus direct to your final destination. Here are some bus schedules showing departures to our final destination – Taiping. SInce our Air Asia flight from Surat Thani got in around 4pm, the soonest we could get away was that 17:30 Starmart bus. Although you can book buses online, there is no need to unless possibly during public holidays. Just go to the bus kiosk downstairs and they will sell you a ticket on the next available bus.

Malaysia buses are an excellent way to get around peninsular Malaysia. They are timely and very comfortable. They pick up at a specific bay which will be on your ticket just outside the airport at both KLIA 1 and KLIA 2.

The seats rival domestic business class on Australian or USA based airlines with an even better recline. Surprisingly it was half empty – good for us, maybe not so good for the bus company! If it had been full, I wouldn’t have used the recline so much as I would have been in the lap of the person behind me. Since we were pretty tired already, I had no problem dozing off before we reached Taiping, thankfully the driver woke us up when we got there!

I’m trying to show how deep the recline is.

Marriott’s New Rainforest Hotel Available – 10,000 Points

Posted on June 25, 2015 by Tara

Eco-tourists visiting Borneo now have a new points option. The beautiful Mulu Marriott Resort & Spa is a Category 2 and costs 10,000 points a night, 7500 if Pointsavers are available.

Getting To South-East Asia With Frequent Flyer Miles

Posted on January 28, 2013 by Tara

The countries of South-East Asia’s bird populations are as colourful and diverse as you could expect from this culturally rich region. let’s concentrate on the countries which are classified as “South-East Asia” by the frequent flyer programs and have great birding and eco-tourism opportunities such as (alphabetically) Burma, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. If you are married to or involved with a non-birding partner, this is a great region to plan a trip to as they will find plenty to do while you are off chasing birds. Unfortunately, being so far from everywhere except Australia, it can be very expensive to get there whether you use miles or cash. Let’s look at a few options.

South-East Asia

ONE WORLD ALLIANCE

AMERICAN AADVANTAGE

For most people, joining American Airline’s AAdvantage will be the best option. They have quite a few credit card options to quickly build your miles stash and a few partners such as E-Rewards and various hotels where you can transfer points in. The region is called “Asia Zone 2” on this chart and includes Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Guam, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Saipan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam. Airlines which serve this area include Cathay Pacific and Qantas with Malaysian Airlines, Sri Lankan Airlines and Qatar Airways joining very soon.

Peru Award2

These figures are one-way so double if you want a round trip. The nice thing about AAdvantage is the flexibility, you may choose to go one way in economy and one way in business, or do an open jaw where you fly into Bali (DPS) for example and out of Bangkok (BKK). Please note that awards between South-East Asia and South America Zones 1 & 2 are not available so if you want a route like that you will have to join up two awards such as Asia-North America and North America – South America.

USA and Canada: Each way is 35,000 economy; 55,000 business; 72,500 first. You can use Qantas, Cathay Pacific, and Malaysian but there are no stopovers allowed.

UK and Europe: Each way is 35,000 economy; 52,500 business; 70,000 first. You can use British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, Etihad or (coming soon) Malaysian Airlines and SriLankan Airlines; or use Finnair, Air Berlin or Iberia to get to Bangkok, Singapore, Hong Kong or anywhere Qantas flies.

Australia and New Zealand: Each way is 25,000 economy; 35,000 business; 45,000 first. You can use Qantas, Cathay Pacific and Malaysian.

QANTAS

For Aussies who have easy access to Qantas points via their employer or Everyday Rewards, it’s worth checking out QF’s awards to South-East Asia. Use their points calculator as the awards are distance based, not by country. A long distance award such as Brisbane – Bangkok will cost more than a short one like Darwin – Denpasar/Bali. The awards look expensive compared to AA, UA and US but if you got your points for free, might as well enjoy them!

Qantas Awards

AVIOS (BRITISH AIRWAYS AND IBERIA)

By the time you read this, Malaysian will have joined One World, though the booking engine may not be online yet. Look for bargains in one way awards between Kuala Lumpur and nearby cities such as Singapore, Jakarta, Bali, Bangkok, Vientiane and Manila. In the examples below, the awards will range from 4500 Avios to 10,000 Avios.

AVIOS AWARD CHART

STAR ALLIANCE AIRLINES

No matter where you live, the two best programs to use in Star Alliance are United and US Airways. Both have their pros and cons. With United, you can book partner awards online, book one-way awards and get lots of miles via several Chase credit cards; but if you can’t get these cards it can be hard to get miles in United Mileage Plus. With US Airways, the major drawbacks are you have to book round-trips and you can’t book online, you have to call them. The advantage with US Airways is that they offer frequent “Buy miles, get 100% bonus free” promos and in the past, they had the wonderful Grand Slam promos where it was possible to do partner transactions and with careful planning you could get about 120,000 miles for $400-600 incremental cost. The US Airways Grand Slam hasn’t been seen since Sept-Nov 2011, unfortunately they didn’t do it in 2012. Depending on where you live, Avianca/Taca Lifemiles could be useful too, but it is hard to use their booking engine for complicated routings so I suggest saving them for USA-Central/South America where they offer better value and ease of booking.

US Airways Chart

US AIRWAYS (round-trip only) Region is South & Central Asia which includes Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, Chagos, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam.

USA and Canada: Economy 80,000; Business 120,000; First 160,000. You can use United, Air Canada, Air New Zealand (hard to get) or sometimes take the “scenic route” via Asia using Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways, Asiana or ANA (All Nippon Airlines). US has recently started enforcing MPM (maximum permitted miles) so some Asian routings may not be acceptable.

UK and Europe: Economy 70,000, Business 90,000; First 110,000. Most people try to get routings using Singapore, Thai, Lufthansa, Swiss and Turkish Airlines. Some airlines do not give US Airways business or first class awards such as Singapore, Lufthansa and Swiss.

Australia and New Zealand: Economy 70,000, Business 90,000; First 120,000. You can fly on Singapore, Thai and Air New Zealand.

UNITED AIRLINES (can book one-way or round trip.

The award chart is too big to copy paste here so please follow this link to see the whole chart.

USA and Canada: (each way) Economy 40,000; Business 62,500; First 80,000. You can use United, Air Canada, Air New Zealand (hard to get) or sometimes take the “scenic route” via Asia using Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways, Asiana or ANA (All Nippon Airlines). You can easily see the routings via their online award booking engine.

UK and Europe: (each way) Economy 55,000, Business 75,000; First 90,000. Most people try to get routings using Singapore, Thai, Lufthansa, Swiss and Turkish Airlines. You can easily see the routings on their online award booking engine but be careful if you are looking at business or first class awards as sometimes they offer mixed class awards and the long-haul section could be in economy with a short sector in business or first.

Australia and New Zealand: Economy 30,000, Business 45,000; First 60,000. You can fly on Singapore, Thai and Air New Zealand.

Here’s an example of London to Bangkok, as you can see they quote both the miles and taxes and the business class award are “mixed class” and if you hover over the fare, you can see which flight is in which class.

United Chart

You can see how much cheaper it is to fly from Brussels due to the very high UK departure taxes.

United Award ex-Brussels

These are just a few examples, please feel free to ask questions in the comments.

If you need ideas on how to acquire frequent flyer miles, please see the Resources tab and Miles and Points tab. which I will update with new offers for free or cheap miles.

LIST OF PARROTS IN SOUTHEAST ASIAN COUNTRIES

Miles To The Wild

Create unforgettable eco-tourism and birding adventures using miles & points!

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