Hong Kong, Singapore, Bali or Kuala Lumpur??
Hi me and my friend are planning a trip to australia, and want to stop off on the way. we are trying to choose between Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Bali. please help!! recommendations etc would be fantastic as this is our first time to Asia. However, we are going to India in march so would preferably like somewhere with a contrast to india. we are planning to leave in april. we may stop off on the way back too depending on money situ. we are female students so safety advice would be good aussi. thankyou!
Other - Asia Pacific - 5 Answers
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1 :
Bali any day .... India will be a little hot in may and june..but i suggest mumbai (formally known as Bombay)would be a lot of fun...if you like NY city ....Bombay would be the place 4 you all
2 :
If you want to do some seriously cheap shopping, go for Kuala Lumpur. Kuala Lumpur also has a killer transport system. Then again, so do Singapore and Hong Kong, but the shopping and accomodations aren't as cheap. You can also find a lot of cheap food in Kuala Lumpur, of all sorts. Hong Kong can get very pricey, although it does have some nice night markets and good food. My friends that have bothered to visit Disney Land there said it was terrible. Bali may have been nice some years ago but it is now overcrowded, over polluted and full of traffic jams. I used to live there some years back and have been there several times since. Was recently there again and could NOT believe the horrid traffic and pollution. Much like Jakarta. Hotel and homestay prices have also gotten absolutely stupid. Kuta/Legian/Tuban/Seminyak beaches are really terrible. If you're only there for a day or 2, that's all you'll get to see. Better beaches in Lombok and Sulawesi. Another option would be to just fly to Kuala Lumpur, travel around a bit, take an aircon bus all the way down to Singapore and check that out too. Buses are really cheap and comfy with lots of choices of companies. Then fly from Singapore to Australia. I've done the Singapore/Malaysia-Malaysia/Singapore trip by bus many times and loved it. Regarding personal safety for females, I'd not recommend Bali. A few years back an Australian friend of mine was seriously assaulted trying to walk back to her hotel in Legian. The group of guys beat her black and blue. Another female friend was beaten to a pulp right in front of me buy a Balinese guy outside a club for accidentally touching his head. The club owner just stood by and watched. Nice. Not.
3 :
I would say Bali or Kuala Lumpur. Hong Kong and Singapore are going to be a lot like other major cities around the world. They say Singapore is like a beginner's Asia because people speak english, things are easy to understan there, etc. I would want to see as much of the opposite of Australia before going. Bali should give you paradise and a laid back atmosphere. Kuala Lumpur should give you a city scene but with very different cultural scenery.
4 :
Hong Kong would give you an experience of modern China, that's quite different from India. If you choose this, stay at the Kowloon YMCA. Rooms are clean, location's safe and convenient, and the price is cheap for HK. Singapore and Kuala Lumpur are both multicultural, safe and nice. I just got back from them. KL is cheaper. Yet I don't advise staying in a hostel or guest house there as they're dirty. So really Singapore could be cheaper. You can do both and travel by the overnight train easily and cheaply. These cities show how Malay, Chinese and Indian peoples live together and how the old and new can be blended in Asia. Shopping and food choices are plentiful. Bali disappointed me. I found the constant, aggressive hawking irritating. Some people are lovely, but a lot get nasty once they find you won't buy something. It's actually rather expensive because prices are geared to the "rich Western tourist." If you do go here, Ubud is nice and I loved the Casa Luna cooking class. You can sign up at that restaurant on Jl Raya, perpendicular to Monkey Forest Rd. Transportation in Bali is expensive. It's hard for a tourist to get around in anything but an expensive cab. So I advise you limit yourself to just one city or two. My blog has pictures of my trips to Singapore, KL and Bali. I went to Hong Kong before I started blogging. I'd go back though.
5 :
Skip Kuala Lumpur especially if you are all girls. I was robbed in Kuala Lumpur when I toured the city all by myself, so chances of you being harassed is quite prominent. The locals don't talk about these incidents but they are surely happening in their own midst.
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