Malaysian taxi cartels

For this trip we actually did a little bit of research, however, as usual, some things just don't go the way they've been planned.

We took an MRT to Changi airport on Thursday afternoon. This was my first departure from this airport, so I hadn't realized until then that Changi is actually a huge and a very modern facility. I was going to get a GST (sales tax) refund for my camera so we got there a good time before the flight. For my surprise, the refund process was, in fact, really easy and straightforward and I got my refund right away in Sing dollars.

The AirAsia flight to Kota Kinabalu wasn't among the cheapest ones, but our schedule was just not flexible enough to save a few dollars by getting the plane from Johor Bahru instead. Having arrived in KK we experienced the Malaysian taxi cartels for the first, but not for the last time. They only had a non-negociable fixed price trip to town centre, so we had no choice but to pay what they asked (I think the night fare was RM30 when bought at the counter).

Red Palm Hostel on Jalan Gaya was looking quite unimpressive on the outside, but was really nice indeed from the inside. The lobby, the bathrooms and our room were nicely decorated, clean and overall fine, and the staff was truly helpful. The three-person private room was RM90 total (6 € per person), really a good deal.

We woke up quite early on Friday to make a tour to the KK archipelago. You could have picked anything between 1 and 4 islands to visit, but because of our limited time, we chose only two: Manukan and Sapi. The boat trip was RM28 per person plus a RM5 ferry terminal tax, and a RM10 conservation fee to enter the islands (you only pay this fee once regardless of how many islands you visit).

Islands offered all the typical stuff: white beaches, snorkling, scuba, banana rides and other water sports. There were a few restaurants and I think accommodation would have been available as well. I burnt considerably badly on the beach but I didn't realize until the evening when my chest and back started turning bright red.

Once again when leaving to the airport, the taxi was not using the meter and tried to charge us RM30 despite that we had been told the price being fixed RM20. We did not consent to pay more than RM20, which was then suddenly OK.