# Best and worst of Malaysia



## kelfish

Hi,

I am looking to move to Malaysia shortly (moving to KL under MM2H).

What are the best and worst of living in Malaysia for a UK expat?

Thanks


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## lorgnette

kelfish said:


> Hi,
> 
> I am looking to move to Malaysia shortly (moving to KL under MM2H).
> 
> What are the best and worst of living in Malaysia for a UK expat?
> 
> Thanks


best/worst depends on individual. 

pluses- comparable IT/water/air/sea/land network infrastructure, easy road access to Thailand north or Singapore south of boarders, multi racial harmony creating a huge array in indigenous, national, exotic and international dishes- go for scents and colours, plenty seasonal and imported fruits and vegs, meats, chocs, cheeses and delicacies, warmer smiles than many other SEA cities, quick assistance from public, low violent crime rates, relatively low costs of living than other cities, decent public transport in KL but almost everyone is a driver due to comfort, largest Premier Outlet mall opened 7 months in JB, lots sun and sea and sand island/beaches or hilly choices, etc......

minuses- lots of insects: mosquitoes at night esp as there is precaution- clear all opened cans and containers of rain water etc as there is no fogging (chemical spraying) exercises as in Singapore, Japan etc, higher humidity than UK e.g., tie up your opened bag of cookies or chips...

you will feel at home in a couple days... 

when is your planned relocation?


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## kelfish

lorgnette said:


> best/worst depends on individual.
> 
> pluses- comparable IT/water/air/sea/land network infrastructure, easy road access to Thailand north or Singapore south of boarders, multi racial harmony creating a huge array in indigenous, national, exotic and international dishes- go for scents and colours, plenty seasonal and imported fruits and vegs, meats, chocs, cheeses and delicacies, warmer smiles than many other SEA cities, quick assistance from public, low violent crime rates, relatively low costs of living than other cities, decent public transport in KL but almost everyone is a driver due to comfort, largest Premier Outlet mall opened 7 months in JB, lots sun and sea and sand island/beaches or hilly choices, etc......
> 
> minuses- lots of insects: mosquitoes at night esp as there is precaution- clear all opened cans and containers of rain water etc as there is no fogging (chemical spraying) exercises as in Singapore, Japan etc, higher humidity than UK e.g., tie up your opened bag of cookies or chips...
> 
> you will feel at home in a couple days...
> 
> when is your planned relocation?


Hoping to go in a few months. 

I have visited before and the things that put me off most were insects (I was bitten over 20 times on one visit - they love me for some reason - while other members of the family never got one bite) and rain (although I do love a good storm and we had a great view of a storm over the Petronas Towers). 

How did you find most Malaysia people with the English language?


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## anneteoh

Hi kelfish
Welcome to Malaysia says me from the UK. it's interesting for me, a Malaysian UK expat (British now) to find a UK expat moving to Malaysia. I really hope you can become Malaysians if you want to, later on.
That's my dream for the world.
Malaysians of 1-2 generations back should speak perfectly good English but nowadays, the standard has slipped due to changes in the national language policies; still, you will find almost everyone able to speak English. except the very old Chinese, Malays or Indians.
I read that lavender oil is a good repellent for mosquitoes and I was able to find plenty of that in Sg and KL. Otherwise, wearing long sleeves, in spite of the heat, and being covered up, neck to ankles, is a good way to keep off mosquitoes.
Which part of Malaysia are you retiring to?


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## daledale

kelfish said:


> Hoping to go in a few months.
> 
> I have visited before and the things that put me off most were insects (I was bitten over 20 times on one visit - they love me for some reason - while other members of the family never got one bite) and rain (although I do love a good storm and we had a great view of a storm over the Petronas Towers).
> 
> How did you find most Malaysia people with the English language?


All due respect to lorgnette and anneteoh but there are a few more bigger issues than mosquitos that you may have difficulty with.

We have been living here for a few months now. We are a Canadian family who finished our first overseas stay (4 yrs) in London this spring and then moved directly to KL. We've discovered that there are expats (US, UK, Aus, Cdn etc) that absolutely fall in love with the place and hope not to leave. As there would be anywhere there are also those, like us, that fall in the other camp of taking what they can from the experience and then happily moving home or elsewhere. 

When we were settling into the UK we were suprised that the adjustment was bigger than we anticipated. There were small things that took getting used to but we ended up having a very enjoyable time and making good local friends. The kids international school was fantastic and the travel opportunities terrific. In KL though, issues are coming up constantly that make it difficult to go through your day. And after a while you just get beat down and give up!

It's just a very dirty and dysfunctional city. Abandoned broken buildings everywhere. Pollution. Thick smoke blanketing the whole city for days. Absolutely atrocious driving habits, corrupt police. Inexplicably byzantine processes to: exchange your dl, get cable tv, internet, get your car repaired with insurance. If you are taller than 5'10" make sure you buy lots of clothes at home because you won't find much here that will fit. 

I don't want to come across as a misanthrope because I'm not. I just want to give a balanced view of expat expectations. There are a lot of hurdles here. Some will find them to be hardly any issue at all, others will.

On the positive side you will find wonderful inexpensive food everywhere you turn, excellent international schools and reasonably priced accomodations. 

Come to KL but do it with eyes wide open.


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## anneteoh

daledale said:


> All due respect to lorgnette and anneteoh but there are a few more bigger issues than mosquitos that you may have difficulty with.
> 
> When we were settling into the UK we were suprised that the adjustment was bigger than we anticipated. There were small things that took getting used to but we ended up having a very enjoyable time and making good local friends. The kids international school was fantastic and the travel opportunities terrific. In KL though, issues are coming up constantly that make it difficult to go through your day. And after a while you just get beat down and give up!
> 
> It's just a very dirty and dysfunctional city. Abandoned broken buildings everywhere. Pollution. Thick smoke blanketing the whole city for days. Absolutely atrocious driving habits, corrupt police. Inexplicably byzantine processes to: exchange your dl, get cable tv, internet, get your car repaired with insurance. If you are taller than 5'10" make sure you buy lots of clothes at home because you won't find much here that will fit.
> 
> Come to KL but do it with eyes wide open.


Hi.

Glad you enjoyed 4 years' living in London. I agree the UK's a great place - beautiful countryside, mostly clean especially in the countryside, friendly and kind people, immense varieties of people, food and cultures, great entertainment and most of all, a sense of civil order and security. Hope you'd travelled to the countless other most alluring British countryside e.g. Wiltshire, Wales, Somerset, Devon, Dorset, Scotland, Ireland etc... might take decades... but there're some less desirable aspects here too.

Some inner cities' districts have very dirty areas - black spots of solidified chewing gum carpeting the pavements, rubbish, run down buildings, mice and rats invading people's homes ( even in Primrose HIll ), not to say the British economy at the moment ; which one wonders why, considering we have so much that's outstanding comparatively speaking. The crime rate's pretty shocking too; and the recent riots unacceptable.

What you described for KL, which is what I assumed the 'city' to be, sounds to me more like Bangkok than Malaysia; so I am surprised to hear it being a 'dysfunctional' city with corruption and pollution too. is it really? I haven't heard much about this of KL. but times have changed and KL's expanding so much today, I'd feel quite lost in it for weeks. 

I've heard the police in Johore are corrupt and many local Chinese and especially Singaporeans go there to suffer all kinds of mishandlings by the police and had to come up with unfair payments to be free. 

A friend had had her car driven off from her porch though the gates were locked in broad daylight at 2pm in JB while they were inside the living room looking out helplessly as the thugs were wielding parangs. Luckily, they called the police who retrieved their Mercs hours later. A Chinese IT worker who travels to work daily in SG was stopped by the police and fined for nothing. He said that if he didn't pay, they'd have taken him to a dark room and beat him up... from people and newspapers, there are endless stories of robberies, murders and really testing times for some Sg'poreans venturing into JB,

It's sad to hear of such degenerations in KL and JB though I wouldn't have ever imagined KL would have gone down so much. It was a capital city in the 70s. Many. including the dailies, attribute the hike in crimes to be committed by illegal immigrants from Indonesia, India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Burma etc The last I heard was that in jB the Sultan and a Chinese tycoon were working to clean up the state and to get several projects rolling. 

When I grew up in from the 50s - 70s, Malaysia was a clean and safe country, with many paradisal features, a vibrant mix of races and cultures and a really laid back lifestyle. 

I very nearly bought a condo in a golf resort in JB and I must say, it's really swell and swanky; perfect to the finish, but outside the resort, in JB itself, little things like potholes near the curbs filled with dirty water, some rubbish strewn about, discoloured, mouldy walls here and there etc give it a developing world appearance when in fact, malaysia's really a rich and developed country with excellent infrastructures and a very civil population who are warm, kind and generous.


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