Nick Jansen

Our local specialist was Nick Jansen in Kuching, Sarawak. In a word, Nick is fantastic! He is with the tour operator, Borneo Transverse, and has extensive experience booking trips in all parts of Malaysia and was able to easily understand the trip we wanted to undertake, and provide a trip plan a couple days later. This was quite a challenge, because he had to accommodate the 14 people in our group into the rather small rainforest lodges we wanted to visit. His initial trip plan was very close to what we ended up with. After some conversations and adjustments, we finalized the trip plan less than a week later. Nick quickly set up a system for each couple to make their own payments. A couple of months before the trip we had to make some adjustments in our traveling group members. Nick was able to sort this out in a very satisfactory way.

The main thing that I want to say, is Nick and Borneo Transverse came through 100%. Everything that was specified in the trip plan was provided exactly as specified. We were a large group, and had plenty of luggage, so it was so nice to be confident that at each location we would be met with friendly personnel, who were able to get us to our destination easily. The hotels and the rainforest lodges all provided excellent accommodation. Our time on Lankayan Island was amazing.

Unfortunately, one of our team members suffered a serious medical emergency during the trip. This was rather frightening since we were at a remote location far from medical infrastructure. However, Nick and his staff and Sarawak staff were able to make appropriate arrangements, as well as to provide on-the-ground personal assistance.

Overall, I would have to say it was the trip of a lifetime. It was an expensive trip, but we felt we got full value for what we paid. If you ever go to Malaysia, especially, if you are traveling to Borneo, make sure Nick Jansen is making your trip arrangements. He is the best.

***NOTE***
This paragraph provides comments to the kimkim staff at kimkim headquarters. This was my fifth trip with kimkim and was surprised at how poorly our request was initially handled. Our trip request was misinterpreted to be a partial itinerary. My initial text/chat to clarify was ignored. After the five minute initial call with the kimkim team member, it took over a week to be assigned a local specialist. I got bounced around a with a couple of different people, and only got assigned to a local specialist after making a direct telephone call to kimkim headquarters.

Hotel Reviews

Casa Del Rio Hotel Melaka

Milaca is an interesting location, absolutely full of history. The Casa Del Rio Hotel has a perfect location to learn the history. The rooms are quite nice, but have some stairs leading into the bathrooms. Can be quite dangerous to navigate at night in the dark. Recommend some Night lights.

Authenticity & Character

An older property that fits in well with his location.

Location

Very central location to start from for historical walks.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Grandis Kota Kinabalu

Kota Kinabalu

Nice hotel of fairly standard quality. Amazingly located and connected to a shopping mall. Everything could be found at this mall. We had fun checking out Malaysian KFC.

Authenticity & Character

“OK, but of fairly standard character. No special features with regard to authenticity.

Location

Perfect location adjacent to the historical quarter, shopping mall, seafood restaurants and night markets.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Danum Valley Rainforest Resort

Lahad Datu

This is the real thing. Not easy to get to, but extremely worthwhile. A rare opportunity to see unspoiled nature. The rooms are comfortable when the food is good. He had extremely qualified nature guides, Helen and Alex. We saw nature up close and personal. Lots of monkeys.

Authenticity & Character

This is the real thing. Architecturally fits in well with the rainforest.

Location

In the heart of primary rainforest. Untouched by loggers and far from palm oil plantations.

Staff

Full board, and the food was really good.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Walking City Tour Melaka

Melaka

So interesting to learn about the complicated and varied history of Melaka.

Kuala Lumpur City Tour & Batu Caves

Kuala Lumpur

A lot packed into a short amount of time, and an excellent introduction to KL.

Kinabalu Park & Poring Hot Springs

Malaysia

A long day, but really amazing. I have to say the Botanical Park, had the most amazing and varied selection of plants in a small area, absolutely authentic and we got to see Rafflesia. The canopy walkway was arduous, but interesting.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Our guide Zee was the best. She took so many pictures, and shared them with the group. Very knowledgeable!

The overall trip was wonderful, beautiful and amazing. The guides were good and connections and transfers went smoothly. Accommodations were great and food was super. Overall everything was well organized.
Here are a few thoughts, my personal opinion:
A better list of what to bring for the Rainforest Resort would have been helpful. We needed long socks, long sleeved shirts and long pants. It would be a good idea for the resort to provide boots. It was very muddy and slippery. Utan Rainforest Lodge did provide boots.
The snorkel gear was not included in our stay as the information provided said.
Melaka was very interesting and I enjoyed the historical background, but it took a lot of time in transit.
I would leave out the day of the Heritage Walk and Trainride Adventure in Kota Kinabalu and substitute a day to walk around the waterfront, shops and markets.
The cooking class was great and the Kinabalu Park was great.

Great trip and I would highly recommend it to others.
The logistics seemed spot on, the guides were excellent, and the lodging was top notch.
As for activities, the day trip from KK to Papar was the least enjoyable activity. This felt like a missed opportunity to learn about the people/culture. Also, I wish I had known in advance that the Danum Valley Lodge did not provide boots and gators for hiking through the jungle. The cooking demonstration in KK and the excursions at the jungle lodges and Lankayan Island Resort were truly awesome.

Activity Review

Heritage Walk & Trainride Adventure

Kota Kinabalu

The train adventure involved getting on a regular train for a short trip to a town just outside of KK. The heritage walk amounted to walking to a church, mosque, and temple. The entire activity felt like a missed opportunity to learn about the culture and people. The time for this activity could be better used doing something else.

The entire Kym Kim team did a great job. The things that really stood out for me personally are as follows:

1. Helen, who was one of the guides at the canopy tour did an excellent job of hanging back at the end of the line where I was struggling along because of my Parkinson’s disease. She was very encouraging and supportive, but did not attempt to push me ass doing something I didn’t want to do or wasn’t comfortable. As it turns out I did in fact cross all of the bridges on the canopy tour and it was amazing. On our way back we had a really good personal discussion about Parkinson’s disease, it turns out that Helen‘s mother has Parkinson’s disease as well. So we ended up talking about all of the work that the caregivers have to do to support a Parkinson’s patient in the family. It was a very real and touching discussion. I appreciated her honesty and her wellness to share.

2, on a lighter note, Layne provided a great experience of buying all the ingredients for lunch at the market and then taking him home for her and her mother with the help of several other people made us this fabulous lunch. But it was the richness of the discussion, especially with lanes, mother, who clearly is the matriarch of the family that made much so special.

3. By far, Sylvester was the biggest highlight of them all. When it was clear that I had a serious medical condition in my left eye that required immediate attention. He was on top of the situation from the beginning to the end and stayed with me and my wife, every step of the way. I especially appreciate his support from my wife. I’m not sure if she would’ve held it together if it hadn’t been for Sylvester. He made it quite clear that he was there to remove any barriers and help us get to Singapore to get medical help as soon as possible. He helped us understand, not only the policies and procedures but at times also the politics around how to get things done in the Malaysian system. He was excellent at offering a third alternatives that might help us achieve our goals quicker and better but he also let us make the final decisions. It was clear that he had management support this endeavor as no obstacle was too big for him to tackle. We will be indebted to him for the rest of our lives. As it turned out, I had a very successful surgery and the doctors expect I will recover to 90% of my vision in my left eye. Without his help, it could’ve easily been an entirely different outcome. And lastly, I want to thank Nick for developing such a caring culture in his organization and other senior leaders as well or their critical role in the behind the scenes Support of all the help that Sylvester provided to us. Of course the help was not limited to Sylvester, we got support from the office staff. The on-site staff, etc., if you ever need someone to talk about what a caring culture looks like in the action and how Kym Kym exemplified carrying culture, I would be happy to share my story and experiences with others. do some, it may not seem like that big of a deal. But letme insure you that when you lose virtually 100% of the vision in one eye and you’re not sure if it’s gonna be permanent or not. You are so preoccupied with worry and fear about the loss of your vision, that it is hard to focus on solving the immediate problems at hand to enable you to get the medical care you need. So the role that Sylvester played is not only essential because we were in a foreign land far away from home. But it was also essential because we were not in the best mental frame of mind to sort things out and make the best decisions on our own. I will be forever grateful to you and your team for the support we received which was certainly way beyond the minimum that could be expected. Please share as you see it. Thanks for everything, Byron.

Had an amazing time in Malaysia, exploring Sabah and Kuala Lumpur. Nick did a fantastic job organizing a killer itinerary and also went above and beyond to help when I needed visa documents. An unreal 10 days!