My friends and I are planning for a getaway due to a substantially long weekend coming up in a little more than a week time. Since it is super last minute, most hotels and resorts in Malaysia's major tourist attraction (eg. Melaka and Penang are fully booked. We were considering an island vacation. For some reason, all 4 of us are a huge beach bum. Our initial choice was to go to Pulau Kapas. But all the chalets there were fully booked. Then we considered Tioman. There were a few rooms available in Juara Beach but the guys were not to thrill with the location of the beach.
I came up with the plan to go hangout in Perak, my home state. There are many tourist attractions, amazing local delicacies and a free accommodation (due to the fact that my parents are still in Mecca performing Hajj) It was the safest and cheapest idea. I was thinking of a road trip of discovering waterfalls and of course food hunting. There are so much to do in Perak. Taiping lake garden is very beautiful, Ipoh cafe scene is one of the best in Malaysia and there are other attractions to explore.
Another friend was insisting to go to an island. All the major islands in Malaysian are fully booked so we have no choice but to look at those islands in Thailand. We agreed on Koh Lipe since the pier is near and the accommodations are cheap.
Crossing the border was a huge hassle. It needs a post of its own. The island is beautiful, the underwater scene is so-so. I think Malaysia's is much nicer. The food is good but most of all, the group that I went with is just awesome. I had so much fun and I am so glad i made new friends.