MALAYSIA - Labuan - Brief Article

In October 99 my wife and I, both senior citizens, took a 13-night Saga Holidays (Boston, MA) tour to Labuan Island in Malaysia. Labuan is a small island close to the northwest coast of Borneo.

The tour was well run, interesting and inexpensive. We paid $1,499 each plus some incidental charges for extra excursions to Brunei and Kota Kinabalu and a river trip on Borneo to see wild proboscis monkeys.

On Labuan we stayed in a new, luxurious Sheraton Hotel. Three buffet meals each day and a free bar for the Saga group were included. The hotel had a large swimming pool and a fitness center available at no extra charge. Our sixth-floor room overlooked the, busy harbor where ferries, freighters, naval ships, fishing fleets and small outboards were in constant motion all day.

Each of our excursions was led by a well-informed and helpful guide. We visited the local market, water village with houses on stilts over the harbor waters, a school, a large modernistic mosque, a fascinating bird sanctuary and various other sites of interest, including a large and well-kept cemetery for veterans of WWII who died fighting during the. liberation of Labuan from the Japanese.

The people were friendly and helpful. English is their second language, so communication was, no problem.

Labuan is a great place to shop. It is a duty-free location, so prices are low. The shops and markets were full of American goods. There were also many local items, such as fabrics. The Moslem women all wear head scarves; as a result, there were many such beautiful scarves for sale. Some of our group found computer software at bargain prices.

The currency unit in Malaysia is the ringgit. Exchange rates were 3.65 to 3.75 per U.S. dollar. ATMs, banks, money changers and the hotel all were easily available.

The weather was hot and humid, with thunder storms at night, but we, never needed to use our umbrellas during our day trips.

Other highlights were trips' to museums. In Kota Kinabalu we saw an informative display of the history of Borneo as well as an outdoor reproduction of various native dwellings. In Brunei there was a dazzling museum mainly concerned with the royal family and the opulent examples of their wealth and coronation pageantry.

Both legs of our trip included an overnight stay in Kuala Lumpur at the Federal Hotel. Kuala Lumpur is a fascinating, highly modern metropolis, with the Petronas Twin Towers, the world's tallest office buildings. Optional extensions to the tour were offered here, but we did not take them.

We flew from Los Angeles on Malaysia Airlines. The flights averaged 19 hours each way. The airline people did' their best to help us endure the journey, but it was long and tiresome.

This was our first journey to the Far East, and we are grateful to Saga for making it such a good one.

COPYRIGHT 2000 Martin Publications, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group