Cheapest cities in Malaysia

expat000 wrote:

bahter wrote:

If you have clean air as a priority may l suggest Ipoh.

It is a very interesting place indeed! Since Kota Kinabalu has also very clean air, I will compare Ipoh with Kota Kinabalu here.

MODERN CITY-
There are a lot of new condominiums with the pools, very good shopping, very good grocery stores; nicely restored old part of the city. It has nice view on the mountains. Ipoh is  not too big and not too small; it has enough of development for comfortable living.
Kota Kinabalu has also a lot of nice completed condominiums and in-process developments, but not as much as in Ipoh. However the infrastructure in KK is not well developed yet to support new fast growing housing there. Also I found that grocery stores are much nicer in Ipoh than in KK.

RENT PRICES ARE VERY LOW-
The most shocking is how cheep is to rent there compare to KL, or KK, or Penang! It looks like they overbuilt there and it is why the prices are so low.
According to NUMBEO, rents are 124% higher in Kuala Lumpur than in Ipoh. Prices for restaurants and groceries are also lower in Ipoh.
Rent prices for the apartments which are waterfront or in the nicest areas in  KK are comparable with the similar quality in KL, by my research.

AIR QUALITY-
According to meteoblue site, it is indeed much better than in Penang or KL. However, Kota Kinabalu is still winning in air quality.    Probably the air quality in Ipoh is still affected by the plastic burning illegal operators which are spread along the coast, but since Ipoh is much further away, it helps.

HOW TO GET THERE-
There are flights from Ipoh to Singapore (~USD100) and Johor. I didn't find any other destinations.
Therefore if you need to fly internationally from Ipoh, you would need to fly through Singapore.
To compare with Kota Kinabalu, which has the second busiest airport in Malaysia, Kota Kinabalu is more convenient if you plan to travel a lot.
2 hours to Cameron Highlands, Pahang
Train or car: 3.5 h to KL, 2 hours to Penang

NOT BUSY WITH TOURISTS-
Kota Kinabalu is very busy with tourists and people in general. There are about 4 million tourist/year visiting KK.  Ipoh receives tourists too, but maybe not as many. So I guess Ipoh is more comfortable for living.

expat000 wrote:

On the topic of the horrendous air quality in KL-
We moved finally from KL to Ipoh, Perak.
Blue sky every day, no smell of toxins in the air. We live north of Ipoh, in the country club surrounded by the hills. It is a really peaceful life here.

There are several options for a place to live we liked and one of them is a new development, Upper East. It is near a park and it has a very big and beautiful pool. But we found that the best option for us is Golf Vista at Meru Valley.
We didn't find that we are lacking anything we could find in KL.

Our big thanks to someone on this forum who brought an idea about Ipoh.

However, if you are looking for a job, KL and Johor will work better.

If you prefer a quiet place to settle down, Miri, Sarawak could be an option.
Here in Miri, house rentals (with 3 bedrooms) start from RM 1,000 to  RM 3,000 a month. Fruits here - the Borneo fruits are different from fruits in KL or any other places in West Malaysia, as well as vegetables. Expats in here are mostly working from either Shell or Petronas.
Some people whom I interviewed liked Miri due to it's simply, quiet lifestyle. But if you prefer the KL lifestyle, this place is not for you. There are fewer bars and malls in here as compared to KL. Expats from Brunei travel to Miri normally on Fridays to have some drinks to relax.
Travelling to Miri from KL is around 2 hours and 10 minutes, and is more or less RM300 for a two-way-trip.

I am a retired academic aged 64 from Dhaka. I have a son who also works as an academic at a university in Selangor, and the place where he lives is called TTS Semenyih, about 50 km from KL Central. Here lives my son at a nice duplex on levels 3 and 4 - two spacious bedrooms on the upper floor and the dining and kitchen on the lower floor, 75% furnished.  This costs a little more than RM1,100 p/m including electric and water. The place is very calm and quite, and on the west is a bush-land where there is a roundabout walkway - people from nearby areas drive to this place to have a walk from time to time, especially in the morning and evening. Known and unknown birds chirp and chatter in the morning and evening. Wild rabbits, giuseppes, cats, squirrels, turtles and some other small wild animals are seen frequently running here and there. Some cats are very friendly and seem asking for food and affection.

This is an excellent place, I think. My wife and I fly to KL from time to time, take a taxi for RM70 (my son has got a middle-aged Bumiputera taxiwala who is a very good man and his whole family runs this business) to come and stay here for 3/4 weeks at a time. The nearest rail station is Kajang, for some RM25 by Grab from here, and for RM3 from Kajang to KL Central by Rapid KL bus.  While here, I feel great and relaxed, and have ample time to walk and read books, especially novels, short stories, and some poetry as well, by English and other writers. Classic literature by Russian writers such as Gogol, Pushkin, Tolstoy, and the like makes a good reading for me. I admit. My dream now is to move out from Dhaka and settle here on a long-term visa. Thank you indeed.

Great post 000. I've always lived in the centre of KL, walking distance to Pavilion and the hospital etc but wondered about trying somewhere else. One question..what about healthcare? We have great hospitals in KL, ours being Tung Shin which is really good. As I get older that is one priority.

Hello everyone,

indeed great posts, thank you very much for your contribution 

MANXMONKEY wrote:

I've always lived in the centre of KL, walking distance to Pavilion and the hospital etc but wondered about trying somewhere else. One question..what about healthcare? We have great hospitals in KL, ours being Tung Shin which is really good. As I get older that is one priority.

In any place, there are good doctors and bad, right? My husband visited two specialists recommended highly by a friend in one "very good" hospital in KL.  As a result- very high bills, unnecessary procedures, not much help and no consideration if a patient actually wanted these procedures.
In KL, we've been angry at the doctors because their primary motive is money and patient-centered  care. Since my husband was a doctor and has good understanding and knowledge in medical field, we were very sad that we needed to argue with doctors proving our position with articles in wikipedia and medical journals in order to get right prescription.

Any time you move to a new place, start making enquirers on doctors and medical facilities. In Ipoh,  our neighbor is a surgeon and our friend is a doctor. They made some recommendations. If there is anything not very urgent and you really need to go to KL for that, Ipoh is not too far.
Also, even doctor's visit  in Ipoh is cheaper than in KL.

Well, we are relocating in KK tomorrow and this means a new search again. We really loved our stay in Meru Valley in Ipoh. Gorgeous place surrounded by the hills and with a golf course in the valley. Monkeys and tropical birds. Very relaxing. There are many retirees here. People here are very-very friendly and mellow. They all look happy here.