I am going to Malaysia for 16 days. Planning to visit Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Langkawi Island, Cameron Highways and northern part of Borneo.

Any protips?

Am I tripping, or is Malaysia the 3rd most Chinese country in the world (behind Singapore and China itself)?

>huge ethnic Chinese population
>Mandarin/Simplified an official language
>half of Malaysian cuisine is literally southern Chinese food (the other half is Indian)
>especially Penang
>so much British colonial but obviously not actually white Briton aesthetics that looks straight up facelifted from HK (like "Cameron Highlands" or "hill station"), but not to as bastardized of a degree as in India

>>2801360
Virtually every Malaysian town has a Chinese community. However, racial segregation and Malay supremacy is the prevailing norm in Malaysia, so the country as a whole doesn't feel Chinese at all. And no, Chinese is not an official language of Malaysia, though many Chinese shops do business entirely in Chinese.

>>2801335 (OP)
>protips
avoid paytoilets
bring your own tissue paper especially closer to rural areas
eat at establishments where you can see their kitchen (or see a lot of Chinese eat), Malay and Indian immune systems are built different. yes, this also applies for malls, watch if their workers look disinterested or overworked
use Grab, avoid taxis

>>2801702
oh, and avoid drinking ice, easy trip to food poisoning land. ask for hot water to wash your plates and cutlery when eating out at kopi-tiams

>>2801335 (OP)
>Planning to visit Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Langkawi Island, Cameron Highways and northern part of Borneo.
it's cameron highlands
these are all the standard tourist places. just add a day trip to melaka and your basic "i've done malaysia" card will be complete
>Any protips?
drink lots of water

>>2801704
I've had to bring my utensils to the handwashing sink a time or two.
>>2801702
The big 24 hour franchise places with 80 tables and staff wearing Muslim hats are usually great quality. Expect to pay RM 20+ for a good meal.

I’ve been to Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand. Is the hygiene standard worse in Malaysia than in these countries?

Also I’ve been thinking about skipping Penang, why is this place is so popular? Doesn’t look interesting on the pictures


Also I was thinking to spend only 1 days in kuala lumpur as in general I was planning to spend 2 days there but I decided to spend 1 day in malakka

>>2801752
I would say it's comparable except for the mold, of ehich there is sognificantly more in Mala. Penang is nice for family vacations, it has nice museums, beaches and historical sites. It is also the least muslim place in all of Malaysia, so they are more relaxed about alcohol usage and casual dating.

Don't arrive at the airport during prayer time - fucking taxi wait times are a cunt.
Eat a lot - some of the best food in the world.
Otherwise just enjoy, IMO Malaysia is severely underrated as a tourist destination, I had a great time.

>>2801752
Georgetown is like Singapore if it never became hyper succesful and sterile.
Kek Lok Si is very cool, I went during Chinese new year and it was beautifully lit up at night - Georgetown also had great festivities.
Penang Hill is very pleasant too, great for a cup of tea and enjoying the milder temperature after a walk through nature.

>>2801752
>Is the hygiene standard worse in Malaysia than in these countries?
it's the toilets. outside of the capital and major tourist spots, toilets are still behind third world tier with their usage of bidets flooding water everywhere and overall lack of toilet hygiene. wish they'd get their shit together (literally) because it's the one thing holding them back.

>>2801752
>Also I’ve been thinking about skipping Penang, why is this place is so popular? Doesn’t look interesting on the pictures
mainly because of its colonial history, importance as a trading port and so on. it is the most developed place in malaysia outside of kl.
penang is a state that includes penang island and part of the mainland but when tourists talk about penang they are usually talking about the island particularly george town (the state capital) and the beach resorts etc on the north tip of the island
>Is the hygiene standard worse in Malaysia than in these countries?
if you eat at cheap shit places then expect cheap shit hygiene. keep in mind a lot of those places are staffed by banglas and other random thirdies. best advice is to eat at decent places even though that doesn't fit in with this board's fascination with poverty tourism
>>2801757
>Don't arrive at the airport during prayer time - fucking taxi wait times are a cunt.
this is nonsense

>>2801767
>this is nonsense
ah cool, I guess the hour of waiting for a single taxi arrive, which I then shared with three others because we had no choice, is nonsense.

>>2801335 (OP)
>disgusting idol

>>2801767
>goes to "decent" indoor restaurant
>same banglas in the kitchen, same slop on the plate
>2x the menu price + service charge + tax
The ingredient quality is what sucks about cheap food in Malaysia. The Chinese places in particular will serve you slop that is nothing more than noodles, meat scraps, and some spicy onions sauce. Trash-tier.

Most Malaysian eateries are cleaner than Thai eateries. Tile floors that are regularly mopped instead of stained concrete underfoot with a filthy drain where waste is dumped and rats scamper in and out freely.

>>2801764
Many places don't even have bidets, just a freakin piece of hose. Even hotel rooms often lack a bidet nozzle.

>>2801335 (OP)
watch out for monkeys

I didn’t like Penang. Can’t explain why, it just didn’t do it for me.

KL is great if you have low expectations. Batu Caves, botanical gardens, KLCC, old town, bukit bintang, pasar seni, KL Sentral all interesting places.

>>2801335 (OP)
Isn't Malaysian Airlines the ones that keeps losing its planes?

>>2802755
One was pilot suicide and another was shot down by a missile. They were just tremendously unlucky.

>>2802237
i suspect you and i have quite different opinions of what constitutes a decent restaurant, anon
however
>The ingredient quality is what sucks about cheap food in Malaysia.
this is true. malaysia has quite poor agriculture. local grown stuff tends to be a bit crappy (of course there are exceptions) so a lot of food is imported. the cheap stuff is from thailand or china and the chinese stuff has who-knows-what mystery chemicals pumped into it
>>2802356
>watch out for monkeys
this is good advice. especially on langkawi. those little fuckers are everywhere and if you are not watchful they will just come up and steal stuff from your bag or straight out of your hands
same advice applies to rohingya migrants

Any recommendations on flights? I'm looking at $1700-$2000+ to travel CLT-KUL around December. Would it be cheaper (and more interesting) to go into SIN, spend a day then take a bus into KL/PJ?

>>2803004
>Would it be cheaper (and more interesting) to go into SIN, spend a day then take a bus into KL/PJ?
it depends how much you value your time and sanity and your personal attitude to risk
the trip can take 6hrs+ (depends on traffic)
there have been a number of highly publicised bus incidents in malaysia this year. keep in mind the road casualty rate in malaysia is about 8-10x usa/euro rates. of course it is still not very likely to happen to you.
if flying to singapore works out to be a lot cheaper for you then it would probably be better to get air asia from singapore to kl. multiple flights daily. a bit more expensive than the bus obviously but if you can afford a flight from the usa to asia you can afford one more cheap budget flight

>>2803007
Flight idea still seems to save a few hundred dollars, I'll consider it.

>>2803007
While Malaysian bus drivers love to speed, Thais take the cake when it comes to reckless driving.

The train from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur is three separate legs from the Woodlands Checkpoint, which makes it a pain in the ass. Eventually KTM plans to extend the electric rail service all the way down to Johor Bahru. Currently it terminates in Segamat.

>>2801335 (OP)
I really loved the caves.

>>2802397
Penang is like a satellite town for people escaping China, when you look at it that way everything about it makes 100% more sense. Everyone keeps their heads down just enough to not bring attention to themselves and fly close under the radar. It can have some decent food and cheap living. If you're going to live anywhere just pay the extra 50bucks a month and stay in George Town proper.

At the very least there you're able to deal with some good bars, 'good enough' beaches, gyms, and events to keep you from going insane. Basically that's my plan for Feb-March, when most of asia is dumb and gay for events

>>2805133
Foreigners love Penang, which is why I've avoided it so far.