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Hey all,
Recently since coming back from The Rainforest World Music Festival in Kuching, i had many friends asked about my trip over there. I would excitingly tell them about the music and bands that were playing or how the atmosphere was like and their faces would lit up for a moment with curiosity to what really goes on in this jungle in the far end corner of Borneo.
And this is when i realized that the curiosity of wanting to know what goes on soon quickly translates into the next few questions which include - "how did you plan for this trip?", "how much did the entire trip course" and "when must we start booking if we want to go next year". So i guess my friends do want to go but just don't know where to start.
And with those questions asked and asnwered, i thought that seeing that i am having a little downtime now, i could share some tips on how to plan, book and other things on how to have an enjoyable RWMF experience.
BEFORE - Planning Your Trip
Start with the four basics - Date, Flight Tickets, Accommodation and Festival Tickets.
First things first, you can start blocking out your dates for the RWMF which is held every second week(end) of July (Friday, Saturday & Sunday) every year. It's your best bet to fly in by Thursday or latest Friday on the earliest morning flight. You can start applying for work leave early or make sure you don't have anything that weekend.
From my experience, i usually start searching for flight tickets of all things first. My timeline for searching and purchasing flight tickets starts as early as 9 months ahead. There are three airlines that flies from Kuala Lumpur to Kuching which is AirAsia, MAS and Firefly. The average fare should be around RM 300 per person or more depending. I find that AirAsia has the lowest fare and if you are lucky, you can get them for less than RM 100 for return tickets when the airline have their infamous "free seat" sales. You should try MAS too as they do have that occasional sale for their domestic flights. That's why you should always start looking whenever you get the chance and try to book months ahead for the best deals.
Next is accommodation.
There are two options to where to stay which is either :
a) in one of the surrounding Damai/Santubong resorts nearest to the festival grounds
b) hotels/resorts/B&B's in and around Kuching city.
The best choice would be (a) because it saves tons of time travelling back and forth (almost an hour from Kuching city) and it's safer if you intend/foresee yourself to be drinking throughout the festival. This is a however a little subjective as it really depends on your budget and how willing are you to book (and pay a deposit upfront) months ahead. Please be forewarned that prices for rooms can increase up to three times the published rates for most lodgings because of the demand and even more so for the three main hotel/resorts at Santubong.
A friend who is a loyal festival goer of almost 10 years tells me that the very day they check-out from Damai Beach Resort on the last day of the festival is the very same day they place a booking for a room for next year's festival. So book way ahead which is best done 2-3 months ahead or else you will risk being put on a waiting list or worst still, made to pay overpriced rooms for last minute bookings. Last year, i was fortunate to be able to stay at the Sarawak Cultural Village itself at one of their home stays for being part of Media. This year however, i stayed at Four Points by Sheraton Kuching. Although i had to travel quite abit, the stay was fantastic which i wrote a review for at Trip advisor (click here to read).
My Tip : Try searching and comparing prices from hotel reservation websites like agoda, asiatravel, booking.com, asiarooms and many others. This is especially useful if you are booking a few weeks ahead the festival and need a good bargain. Agoda and AsiaTravel are my two favourite and have been booking with them for many of my holidays. For a list of RWMF recommended stays, check it out here.
Next is the festival tickets which has two options :-
a) 3-Day Pass which you can only buy online only and its not for sale at the festival (RM300)
b) Daily Passes (valid for one day) which you can buy online or at the Festival ground ticketing booth during the festival (RM110 per day)
This has been the standard price for the past three years as far as i know. Many festival goers and first timers hasve complained that it is pretty steep and that puts them off from going. However, don't fret people as there is a few ways to score cheaper tickets. Here is how :-
a) Be an early bird. RWMF starts the sale of tickets in January and sells them through Ticketcharge. This is when you should buy your tickets because it was almost half price for the 3-Day Pass. So instead of RM 300, it was only RM 180.
b) If you were still not sure whether you are going then, no worries as there will probably be more promotions but just not half the price. This year, RWMF contiuned on with two more promotions in the following months. The prices for the 3 Day Passes went from RM 180 (Jan to Feb) to RM 240 (March to April) to RM 260 (May) before it went back to full priced by June. So it gives you about 6 months to think about it and still get a discount.
c) Now for those who really have just decided last minute and is hitting your head because you now have to fork out the full RM300 then stop because you never know when RWMF would decide to have a last minute promotion. For those lucky last minute goer's this year, RWMF offered the same 3-Day Passes at RM180 again for a period of 6 days in the last week of June.
d) Lastly, if you really want to try your luck, there are many competitions and giveaways ongoing where you can score free tickets. I do know that one of the best giveaways is from Heineken where you can win an All-Expense Trip.
Alright, this is PART I where i share a little about planning for your trip. Check out my next post where i discuss some practical tips on what to bring, what to do and others while at the festival (read PART 2 here on what to do, what to bring and more festival tips for the RWMF)
