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Malaysia and Singapore |
From our own experience:
Accommodation:
Accommodation is more difficult to find then the other SEA countries. Hotels are
available all over the country in the larger towns. We cycles on the west side
of the Peninsula and really needed to search for accommodation. Malaysia is a
bit more expensive then Thailand. About 30 Ringgit (2003: 4 Ringgit for $1) for
an cheap guesthouse. In this country we really needed an travel guide to find te
accommodation.
Money:
4 Ringit for $1 (2003). ATM’s widely available, credit cards and traveller
cheques are accepted but not necessary to bring because of the ATM’s. Consider
Malaysia a western country when it comes to facilities.
Food:
A variety of Chinese, moslim and hindu food… depends on where you are in
the country. Especially the Hindu curries were our favourite.
Water:
Widely available. The cheap plastic bottle which you have in Laos, Cambodia and
Thailand are not available here. Only the commercialist water in the hard
plastic bottles can be found here and is therefore also more expensive.
Safety:
Alike western countries, only pickpockets in bigger cities. (2003/4) The
difficulties in the poorer North Eastern (Muslim) provinces are only directed to
governmental institutions.
Visa:
a simple stamp in your passport where ever you arrive in the country and you are
set and done for three months.
People:
Malaysia exists out of three groups, Malay, Chinese and Hindu. Very eager to
talk with tourists, everybody speaks English.
Language:
English is the main language in Malaysia, no need to bring a phrasebook.
Clothing:
Alike western countries but still I felt more comfortable in 3/4 pants and
didn’t dress in tops showing shoulders, especially in the Nothern (Muslim)
provinces. After countries like Laos and China we felt relieved to see that the
Thai dress according the latest trends.
Vaccinations:
None.
Road
conditions: Very good, flat smooth roads (not our favourite). The scenery is
nicer and has more variety then Thailand. We heard from various sources that the
middle area and the eastern coast is much nicer then the West coast that we took.
NOTE:
Cycling to Singapore, you should take the Johor Bahru link to Singapore. The
Second Link, coming from the West coast is connected with a highway… which
your officially are not allowed to cycle on ;-).
But when you enter Singapore over the Second Link, its highly possible
that the police will send you back, there it’s ‘a criminal offense’ to
cycle on the highway in Singapore (and there is no alternative road from the
border crossing. We, however, were excused and were aloud to take the first exit
(at the bottom of the hill).
Map:
We used a local map, which is easy to get anywhere in a large bookstore.
Though its difficult to get a good road map with distances. Lots of road atlases
are available.
Traffic
behaviour: Normal, no aggressive driving.
Public
transport and bicycles: Train: We took the 21:30 (only) night train from
Butterworth (next to Georgetown, Padang island) to Kuala Lumpur (KL). We bought
a ticket for ourselves and brought the bicycles to the cargo building, paid and
received a receipt. The cargo wagon was attached to our train. The only thing is
that the cargo area in KL is in a different station then where the passengers
get off. You can pick up the cargo at Kuala Lumpur while you get of at the new
‘KL Central’, which is one station from KL. You can use the same ticket to
take a commuter train to this station. Have a nice breakfast at KL, there you
need to wait for another hour for the cargo wagon to arrive and emptied.
Bicycle
parts/shops: In KL it should be easy to find bicycle parts.
Internet:
Every town has an internet café, most of them have a good connection and it is
cheap (sometimes high speed).
From the World Factbook (2003):
Background <under construction>
Geographical facts <under construction>
Population <under construction>
Government and economy <under construction>
This page is last updated: May 2004