Driving in Malaysia

 

This is approximate route of my driving in Malaysia about 1500 Km 

Google Map

For Kualalumpur, here is the Kuala Lumpur Tourist Guide map and Metro system Map guide Link

I started from Kuala Lumpur and stayed first night at Seremban which is around 80 km from Kuala Lumpur. It seemed to me a historical City and like all the other Malaysian cities, there are same typical colonial time buildings that confirm the downtown of the city.

 Seremban city street view 

I stayed in variety of places like downtown of the big city, small  towns/villages and on Highway motels during my driving in the Malaysia. Only avoiding tourist places because I think Tourist places are mostly artificial. They just want to show what they want to show and you do not see what is the reality as a life of a common man. Anyway the benefit of this also is that normal places are quite cheaper in every terms like food, stay or even any other services.

City Entrance or Muar

Hotels : Malaysia is quite costly compared to nearby countries like Thailand or Cambodia in terms of hotels. Moreover the hotels have fixed price, starting from 50 ringgit to 150 ringgit on a cheaper range and usually there is no bargaining.

I searched through agoda.com and I went to the hotel using directions given by the websites and then compared the online price and the hotel desk price, whichever is lower. I booked according to that ( don't fall into the trap of agoda points).

Internet: I have Malaysia SIMs (U mobile and Maxis). I found that U mobile has better net speed. Malaysia has 4G internet. Not yet 5G like Thailand, so that is okay but not super fast in most of the places but all the hotels even in villages have Wi-Fi .

Food : Food is not a big problem on the highways or in the town. Again compared to nearby countries (Even for a Eggetarian like me).  In Malaysia as long as you get the Roti Chanai which is basically South Indian type of roti or bread and it's all over available in Malaysia because there is a ancestry of South Indian people in Malaysia. As a travel one should forget about the taste.

Fuel is very cheap in Malaysia, just like gulf countries and for small bikes it takes around only 10 Malaysian ringgit to fill the tank.

I drive Malaysia preferably on state road or village side road, avoiding motorways.

Below is the Chinese Graveyard hill on highway- Nobody was there. All usually avoid visiting this because eventually one has to visit one😁.

In Malaysia, driving is very very disciplined and roads are mostly good except few parts and discipline of the driving is so much that Malaysia can apply for a European union membership.

North part of Malaysia has some hilly area which I enjoyed but the other parts are quite plain.

Rubber trees yard and below is the closeup of the basket on the tree 

Malaysia is completely covered with the rainforest and it's very hard to see a land or soil and everywhere there is a forest and I liked the weather. It is humid and mostly like typical rainforest countries have but it's better to carry a raincoat if you don't like to get drenched in the rain.

I never took out the rain-coat because all my important documents were in my scooter boot (under seat compartment) and I was free to enjoy the rain and it was like getting wet, getting dry, getting wet, getting dry. So much rain that sometimes I enjoyed the rain three four times in a day.

In the next blog, I will write about driving in Thailand because I am entering to the Thailand from Malaysia on to the land border.

Good news is that now Malaysia is visa free for many many countries including India. You just need to fill Digital Entry Form within the 3 days prior to yopu travel.