7 Things You Didn’t Know About Malaysia

Malaysia is an excellent country, one which truly deserves a place on your ‘must visit’ list. If you’re not sure why this is, this article is here to invite your interest. We’re going to do this by trying to unveil information about this fascinating country you may not have previously realized. Everyone knows the basics about this nation. It’s majority Muslim, the capital is Kuala Lumpur, and it’s famous for its religious and ethnic diversity. But is that the whole story? We’d argue not, and the following ‘seven things you didn’t know about Malaysia’ should prove it.

Malaysian Properties Are INCREDIBLY Competitive

When you travel to a new place, it’s unlikely you try and research the house prices listed there. If you think one day you might buy a house in Malaysia, you will be floored by researching the prices there. Not only are they cheaper than most areas in Asia, but they offer beautiful surrounding vistas, a great quality of architecture and close community support links for everything you could ever need. If you’re at all interested in this, we’d recommend researching further and consider the long term house prices of the nation. Getting while it’s good might just be the best option.

George Town = Unreal Street Food

If you’re looking for the best of the best street food in Asia, you might be surprised to hear it’s located in the George Town district of Penang. Serving all forms of international cuisine (but of course mostly Malaysian,) your taste buds will embark on an adventure when experiencing what this place has to offer. The cuisine is a blend of Chinese, Thai, Indian and authentic Malay. For that reason the best spices, meats and vegetables are used, as each culture makes use of friendly competition to try to best the others in a given day of selling. Add that to the luxury gorgeous vistas Malaysia is known for, and you quite literally have a recipe for success.

The Petronas Towers Are Seriously Impressive

The most iconic pictures of Kuala Lumpur often sport these two towers, and for good reason. Not only are they the tallest towers in Asia, but they stand as the tallest coupled towers on the entire planet. This should signify just how advanced and modern Kuala Lumpur is. You’d be understandable mistaken for thinking you were in a highly developed Western nation walking it’s streets. Unfortunately tours to the towers are somewhat limited, thanks to them serving as corporate offices for Petronas and a number of other businesses.

Spoken Language Can Be A Blend

Thanks to the large amount of different ethnicities that line the countries diversity, Malaysian speech is often quite varied. While almost every Malaysian speaks English, the mix of Indian, Chinese and Thai occupants have left interesting speech patterns to grow and culminate in quite varied phrases. It’s not uncommon to hear someone speaking many languages at once, and fluently. For that reason the parlance can differ depending on who someone is speaking to, the location and general ethnic grounding of the speakers in question.

Luckily, if you’re reading this article, it’s likely you know English, and that is more than a compatible language over there. In fact, many of the signs are in both Malay and English, in order to cover both language barriers. Despite the range of parlance spoken here, you’d be surprised to hear that language difficulties often do not occur. Of course, you may find exceptions to the rule as you travel there, but for the most part the people and culture do a great job of welcome people from many different dialects. It could be argued that this was one of the major contributing factors to Kuala Lumpur’s rapid and impressive development over the last thirty years.

It’s A Spiritual Haven

There are many spiritual havens that still exist, despite the worldwide trend of seemingly abandoning some form of religion and focusing on empirical rationalism to explain a worldview. The power of faith will always ring through no matter what, and this is perhaps best emphasized by the incredible diversity of religion practiced here. This, like in most places, has culminated in some truly wonderful religious building across country. From giant carvings of the Buddha in the wilderness to some seriously impressive British-commissioned Mosques, as well as Hindu and Buddhist temples.

If you’re looking to visit a place where quiet religious contemplation is encouraged, look no further than Malaysia. The pure range of faiths on show allows you to almost experience a ‘greatest hits’ level of the beauty of belief.

Travel Is Cheap

Travelling around the entire country is also incredibly competitively priced. Flights chart the span of the country, as well as boats, buses and even a thriving taxi service. That’s right, even Uber is located in Kuala Lumpur, allowing their worldwide conquest another year of victory.

While you might need to carry your passport to travel between Sarawak and Sabah (two more singular states within the country,) for the most part you are free to travel and explore. Just be sure to stay aware of the wildlife as mentioned before, preferably staying to tourist allocated zones or heading out after researching the area and being accompanied by a knowledgeable tour guide.

Alcohol Is Expensive Compared

The cost of living is cheap in Malaysia, as we have already discussed. What’s a little less cheap is the alcohol pricing. A six pack of beers is likely to cost you around $14, which isn’t too expensive, but is quite disproportionate when considered amongst the normal food and drink prices of the country. Malaysians have healthy attitudes around drinking, and the prevalence of religious sects allows for less demand of this.

The government also taxes the sale of beer and limits its sale in certain areas due to the religious grounding the country has. Still, if you’re interested in drinking while there, it’s perfectly possible if a little more expensive to find. Malaysians are nothing if not friendly to tourists.

We hope this article has helped you learn more about this wonderful, fascinating country.