天美麻豆

Good local food but also good international food. Weather is too hot.

The Indian food is very good as is the mamak food (Indian Muslim). I always eat banana leaf food, roti canai, dosai masala and regular north indian food whenever I am in Malaysia. I cannot get enough of butter chicken, tikka masala, aloo gobi and that green chicken curry saag something. I don't like to eat madras curry or chicken vindaloo because it's too spicy for me, but my brother loves it. In fact he can eat the spiciest Indian curries around. I remember back in London we went to an Indian restaurant and he was daring the chef to give him the spiciest dish he had. Crazy! He also has anger issues and I remember about 20 years ago he went to northern Indian for 1 year of meditation. It didn't do much good. He just shaved his head and grew a beard.

Anyway Malaysia has really good food.

Butter chicken is fantastic!

When you say too hot you prefer somewhere in mountains like in Indonesia?

Sorry, I meant too spicy. I sometimes use the words "hot" and "spicy" synonymously,

As it happens, I do live in the mountains in Indonesia. Bandung is the 4th largest city in Indonesia and it is at 2,520 ft elevation above sea level. I actually love spicy food, but not the ones where the spiciness prevents me from enjoying the taste of the food.

Good cost of living, probably the best in terms of earnings potential v cost of living in Southeast Asia. Also easy to travel many nearby countries, English widely spoken, diverse range of food.

KL is probably the best city for working in Southeast Asia for those not in some kind of job that pays big money in Singapore like in banking (because Singapore is expensive even if high earning potential so need to make huge money to make it work).

I would not choose to retire in a massive city like KL though. In Malaysia I think Kota Kinabalu or Kuching.

But I think Thailand & Indonesia have a better retirement visa as it is just through income not requiring mandatory property purchase or fixed deposit.

An alternative for working to KL could be Bangkok - infrastructure is good like KL. Malaysia and Thailand probably have more work opportunities for expats apart from Singapore than rest of Southeast Asia.

English not as widely spoken in Thailand and I would guess overall living cost will be more than Malaysia due to rent. (Can rent a studio apartment for 470 USD I doubt that can be beaten for a capital city in Southeast Asia). General consensus seems to be that KL is cheaper overall than other capital cities in Southeast Asia at least for living (maybe for tourists as they eat and drink out during whole trip other countries like Vietnam might seem cheaper but heard overall is more when factor in rent).

One more reason that I felt very happy living in Malaysia was because I was not living back home in the UK. The great thing about living overseas for me was that it felt like being on holiday all the time. That's not just because I retired 25 years ago, but even when I was working and living overseas such as in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan etc. I mean with a choice of either living in the UK or somewhere warm and exotic, you have to be daft not to want to live overseas.

Yeah I agree. Sure Singapore is more of a place to make money than I would choose go on holiday but still got great weather, great food (even if Singapore is overall expensive you can get cheap Chinese food way cheaper than UK even if more than other countries although probably only about 50% more than Malaysia which is not bad since salaries so much higher), loads of places for cycling and walking, extremely safe and clean also.

A bonus is the stray cats everywhere. In Malaysia like in Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia these get alot of attention from people with people petting them and giving them food and water. They become part of the community and you can often when walking come across them and pet them. I usually take a walk round the block on the weekend and give some of the stray cats in the area some food.

Another bonus is you can find people selling delicious local food on the street such as Nasi Lemak, kueh, fried noodles etc.

One more bonus is that even though KL is a big city you can go hiking, walk in the park, take a walk along the river (river of life), or even just walk around the block and see birds, geckos etc.

These 3 bonuses are ways that you can get a community feeling and some nature from the big city. I enjoy these as I actually much prefer living in the countryside with nature and community but my plan is to make money working in KL then retire in Indonesia in the countryside (my wife is from rural East Java).

Ahh....I lived in Singapore in the early 80's. It was nothing like it is now back then. Now I still enjoy it but it's become too expensive. That's why I chose to live in Malaysia in 2003 and not Singapore.

There is also Taman Rimba Ampang where you can walk through the jungle, I did a lot of photography there. And Hulu Langat, a nice place just outside KL, lots of old wooden Malay bungalows on stilts.

Good idea, earn lots of money and then retire in Indonesia...!!!

Yeah that's it we shifted from SG to KL due to cost of living.

Yeah that's the plan lol.

Yeah Senkinchan, Fraser Hill nice and close by to KL also Kuala Selangor.

In KL Bukit Kiara, Lake Gardens, Taman Tugu are good even KLCC park although I don't go KLCC that much too busy but sometimes can combine with going to the big Decathlon there (more items than the Nu Sentral one).

If need buy something at a bigger mall can comibine with the park in TRX or the secret gardens in One Utama.

Mostly just stick to hiking/walking or badminton in KL. I am not really a city person but got to go where work is. I am a country bumpkin that enjoys nature.

In Malaysia got alot of places can visit. I'd recommend Taiping and Perenthian Islands these are both great places.

Got Penang, Langkawi, Cameron Highlands, Redang, Melaka. All good but I like Taiping, Perenthian and Senkinchan best so far.