We spent three weeks on the Malaysian side of Borneo, the third biggest island on earth, traveling from west to east, and also made a stop in the tiny Islamic sultanate of Brunei. Our experience was mostly very positive and we’d highly recommend a trip here most notably for the diverse and unbelievable array of wildlife, but also with some surprisingly lovely cities.
Below is our personal list of stats, as well as upsides and downsides for the region.
In Summary…
Time Spent: 21 nights (June 7-28, 2024)
Money Spent: $1234.51 or $58.79/day
Our Itinerary: Kuching (5) Bako (2) Miri (5) Airport (1) Sandakan (2) Sepilok (1) Uncle Tan’s (2) Mount Kinabalu (2) Kota Kinabalu (1)
Favorite Place: Kuching
Least Favorite: Sandakan
Best Stay: M City Suites, Miri
Favorite Experience: Getting up close to the proboscis monkeys at Bako NP
Least Favorite: Sleeping at Uncle Tan’s
Would we return? Probably not to Sabah, (the east side of the island), but possibly to Sarawak (the west). We’d especially love to visit Gunung Mulu NP and spend more time in Kuching.
Our Upsides
- Almost everyone speaks English…incredibly well!
- Absolutely incredible flora and fauna
- The most generous and kind people we’ve met in SE Asia, especially the locals from Sarawak.
- Music that made us feel like home…’80s and ‘90s in almost every Grab, mall and restaurant
- Diverse and interesting food, especially Sarawak
- Easy to hitchhike and meet amazing people
- Cheap and easy to fly across
- Inexpensive accommodation and food
- Access to decent grocery selection everywhere we stayed
- Beautiful green spaces
- A lively indigenous culture
- Well-organized national parks which are able to be accessed and hiked independently
- Credit cards on Apple Pay accepted most places
- Fantastic, well-stocked and inexpensive pharmacies with knowledgeable staff
Our Downsides
- Heartbreaking environmental destruction due to palm oil plantations
- Foreigner pricing, which seemed more prevalent in Sabah
- Entry stamp confusion during immigration in Sabah
- Beaches difficult to access
- Possible unfair distribution of wealth. We saw this mostly in Sandakan
- Poor walkability most places we went!
- Not the easiest public transport, within cities and also, long distance buses. Information difficult to find online
- The biggest challenge for us, however, was our personal exhaustion. We were on the cusp of travel burnout for the entire month which had been building for awhile.
