"My first time in the East Asia" a Malaysia Travel Page by Petrosken

I had a hard time sorting out all my pictures and choose the one to be put on the main paragraph about my trip in Malaysia. At the end I decided for this orang-utan, from the Sepilok reserve in Sabah (Borneo).
25 days around Malaysia touching Borneo, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Pulau Perhentian and the Taman Negara. I'm going to write specific pages about these locations, with accomodations tips, and my impressions about the sites.
All in all, this trip was great. Partly self organized it's been our first bite at the asian area. Following (incorrect) advices we got by others who went there, we decided to rely completely on a local tour operator for everything... actually too much. They arranged for us all the transfers, all the entrances to parks, all hotel accomodations, even the meals when the transfer was too long and there was lunch in the middle. The top was when we received a voucher to rent mask and snorkel during a trip on ManuKahn island. Well, that's probably the malay concept of "taking care of the customer", but in my opinion it was just too much :)
As a result we were bound to a precise schedule, and that's exactly what I don't want during my travels.
This anyway is not a detraction from the overall judgement of this trip. I rate it great.
Places, people, nature, food, landscape, everything has been very nice. So nice we decided that East Asia is definitely a place to be considered for some of our future travels (but not next year).
But, here is my global consideration about the dangers of the area (even Sabah): NONE.

Everybody told us that this far area of the Borneo could be dangerous for a self drive trip. My impression? FALSE!
We had all the transfers arranged by the tour operator (Intra Travel, I can give references if needed). So someone else was driving and... I don't know, but I did not spot even the vaguest sign of danger. Roads are more or less good, tarred with the exceptions of the roads that cross the palm plantations.
The problems, if any, are with signs. Sometimes I had the impression that the only way to get out (or to) some place was the experience of the driver. Expecially through the palm plantations, where BTW, I'm not sure you can drive through without some authorization.
So, maybe, being driven by a local driver is a good idea just to avoid to get lost in those mazes (and waste your precios vacation time). But don't worry about roads and the people. Just be careful and reasonable, and no one will bother you. They will help you eventually.
Tourism here is mainly asian, and it's highly under construction. I mean, there's a lot more to be done, and maybe it's better if the malay don't rush into the mass-tourism industry.
The keyword is "eco-tourism", you'll get some really nice experiences if you come here.

After the Borneo, returning on the peninsula, is almost a shock. The region is somehow more civilized compared to Borneo. Even too much if you are looking for some jungle adventure (you have probably seen too many movies, like me).
Roads here are pretty good, decently signed, and far away from the big cities, traffic is not an issue (but I would not suggest to venture in Kuala Lumpur without a GPS or a good road map).
Big tourism routes seem to consider Malaysia as if made only by the peninsula (I mean those of the western famous tour operators). Here we moved to high rated locations and we started to find european people everywhere so if you like to go to the other side of the world and still hear everybody around you speaking your native language, then I strongly suggest you these two locations:
a. Pulau Perhentian, two small highly rated (for a good reason) islands in the far north-east
b. the Taman Negara, rated as the most ancient forest of the region, but all in all reduced at the rank of "turistic attraction" (see my dedicated paragraph)

Kuala Lumpur is a nice city. We stayed there 5 days (3+2). In an historical period of religious and political unrest this city could be named as THE example of cultural and religion cohesistence. It's not uncommon to find a chinese temple, an indu temple, a mosque and a chirch almost in row along a street.