It’s been a rough few years for Thailand as regards negative publicity - SARS, bird flu, tsunami, government corruption, military coup, terrorist attacks and dodgy government decisions contributing to stock market crashes and an artificially strong currency, which has led foreigners, both businesses and individuals, to look at alternative destinations to exist in. Some of these problems have been Asia-wide, but most not, and many people have been talking about Malaysia as an alternative to the Land Of Smiles. At first glance this would appear to be a decent alternative - similar climate, a more welcoming immigration policy, the ability to buy property, better infrastructure, a diverse culture and equally beautiful landscape, so on a recent trip there I tried to look at things there from the perspective of possibly living in that country instead of Thailand.

Before I get into that though, I obviously had to consider my personal situation, which is that I am married to a Thai, so any thought of living in another country has to take that into account, so this is by no means a view that will be shared by all who go to Malaysia. I had been there before, on a couple of occasions, to the Cameron Highlands and Penang in 1998, but had never been to my destination on this trip, Kuala Lumpur. My previous trips had given me some contrasting impressions - I very much enjoyed the Cameron Highlands as a tourist, but thinking back on it, it was much too cold for me to consider it as a permanent place to live. Then there was Penang, a more stark contrast to the Highlands I can’t really imagine; filthy rat and cockroach infested streets, sleazy and potentially dangerous at the same time, hot, humid and smelly - as you can tell I didn’t like the place. I was thankful it was only a stopping off point for me to take the boat across to Sumatra, although I had to suffer a couple of days more of it on my way back. Other than Penang though, Malaysia had seemed very clean, with a good road system, relatively high driving standards and of course a high level of spoken and written English. However, after Thailand, it seemed, for want of a better word, boring. Almost like the home country I had left behind, namely England.
My trip to Kuala Lumpur 8 years later merely confirmed and magnified this feeling;yes it was nice to be able to buy certain things I couldn’t get in Thailand (Ploughman’s Pickle, Crunchies, Hob-nobs and Marmite (large jar!)), but it was just dull, and what’s more, my wife was unable to find any Thai food to eat. The places that did advertise Thai food she found to lack the flavours that make it so unique, although I can’t imagine that the necessary ingredients are not available in Malaysia. I had thought that the capital city would offer a bit more excitement and action, but it seemed to be almost like a series of shopping malls, all offering designer labels, with very little local ‘colour’. As we only spent 4 days there this was not an extensive trawl around the city, so it is entirely possible that we missed the area(s) that were most vibrant, but I doubt it. Another thing that occurred while we were there was that, despite it supposedly being the dry, cool season (as it has been in Thailand), every day it rained and was oppressively hot and humid. Now we are obviously used to that kind of weather in Thailand at certain times of the year, but in February? No thanks.
And then we come on to the little matter of pork. On my previous trip I had not been aware of any problem getting hold of a ham sandwich, or full English breakfast with pork sausages and bacon, but in KL? No chance. I really had not been previously aware that it was so strongly Muslim, as the majority of people I had seen were of Indian origin, and (presumably) Hindus. Now don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against anybody’s religious beliefs, but I found it a bit strange that in an international hotel I had to make do with ‘beef bacon’ and chicken sausages, as well as everywhere else in the city, or so it seemed. One other thing that really struck me was the total absence of dogs anywhere, and whether that is due to an efficient system of licencing, neutering and pounds, or something less savoury, I wouldn’t know, but after Thailand it was almost eerie!
For want of anything better to do, we visited a number of the shopping malls, as they offered relief from the heat and shelter from the rain, and my most abiding memory is of my wife looking at everything and saying, “Pairng maak” repeatedly - in other words, very expensive. I am sure there are some things that are the same or cheaper in Malaysia, but the overall impression is that it is more expensive to live there.
All in all, for me, Malaysia is not a viable alternative to Thailand, and to be honest I am not sure there are any viable alternatives when you are married to a Thai. This explains the growing concern amongst expats in Thailand about what appears to be a government policy making it increasingly difficult to stay in Thailand, although it may well be that another country is pushing this agenda in the ‘war on terror’. Whatever the reason, I will have to keep looking for the potential escape route if the worst happens - Laos, anyone?

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 11th, 2007 at 4:13 pm and is filed under Expats. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.