# Living in Malacca (Melaka)



## meandherindoors

Hello readers,

I'll be moving to Malacca to start a new job very soon. I joined your community to learn the basics about living there. However, there seems to be little information posted about Malacca on this forum. I'm not sure if i should be worried about that. Will i be the only foreigner there in Malacca? Hope not

I would like to know about....

1. Which are the safe/safest areas to live in Malacca?
2. Which restaurants are good in Malacca.
3. How to buy a car there? Specifically, does a foreigner have to purchase a car in a Malaysian's name? Does a foreigner have to pay hard cash or can he get a car on credit etc? 
4. Typically, how many months rent does one have to pay in advance? What is the usual duration of a tenancy agreement? Can anyone name some condos or streets that are decent. (Mid to top end of the rental market) 
5. Should a newbie like me first live in an apartment block....or is it perfectly safe to live in a house?
6. Nightlife......I have only spend a short time in Malacca and that was during the daytime hours. I loved the bars near Jonkers Walk etc. Is that the only place to wind down?
7. The locals appear to be very friendly there. Do you agree? What are the main dangers, scams and annoyances?
8. Traffic.....It seemed OK when i was there recently. 

I hope you can help....

Thanks in advance

Me And Her Indoors!!
XX


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## Bill Taylor

Hi Mate, I have been visiting Malaka yearly for 25 years, great place, historical, local friendly people. It appears you don't know much about the place, and if your employer has not given you the information you need to start your new life and new career, you should reconsider your employment. Usually you will get a full disclosure and what to expect. From your comments and zero responses it looks like you have no real experience with the outside world. Malaysia is a great place, it's as safe as you want it to be, it works the same as anywhere in the world, Finance institutions, Internet, Insurance Medical and the Malaysian Embassy will give you guidelines and hints with your visa. Don't underestimate the natives, they are far more advance that you will give them credit for. If you ask the same questions in google you will get 100's of sites with valuable information. Go yourself for a couple of months and get acquainted, then bring the rest of the gang

Good luck


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## meandherindoors

Hello Bill,

Many thanks for the pointers and the vote of confidence regarding Melaka. My original post dates pretty far back. Since then, thankfully, I've found out everything I need to know. I asked my employer about everything and they happily obliged with detailed answers. I also had a look and found some very good sites, which contained decent levels of general information. However, those sites were mainly aimed at tourists and, as such, arguably biased. What i really lacked...and still do lack....is feedback from a broad section of expats based in Melaka. 

My previous expat experience is NIL regarding Malaysia, but I lived in Thailand and Brazil for a total of 11 years. What surprised me about Melaka and indeed lead to posting the original queries here on this message-board was the absolute absence of other expats responding on other websites (in addition to this website). For example, if i were to post something on a Thailand forum I would get about 100 replies in about 2 days. I have since decided that sheer mathematical probability would be the reason for that - as there are lots of expats in Bangkok and not so many in Melaka. It strikes me as (slightly) odd that there appears to be hardly any internet traffic from expats currently living in Melaka. Is that because there are hardly any expats in Melaka? I hope so. 

Bill. if there is anything else you can add, please let me know. Or if you know of other forums tell me. Finally, could you tell me where I would be able to meet other expats in Melaka? I would be interested in finding a core group of people I could learn from and get to know.

All the best,

Meandherinddoors!


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## Anthony20031989

Hi there,

I am moving to Melaka soon and I'll be staying for 2 years as I got a job as an expat for a French company. Are you still in Melaka? How's life out there? 
Anthony


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## Stephie1234

Anthony20031989 said:


> Hi there,
> 
> I am moving to Melaka soon and I'll be staying for 2 years as I got a job as an expat for a French company. Are you still in Melaka? How's life out there?
> Anthony


Hi Anthony, are you still in Melaka? I just arrived here and would like to meet new people


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