Malaysia

Malaysia

Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia, located partly on a peninsula of the Asian mainland and partly on the northern third of the island of Borneo.

West (peninsular) Malaysia shares a border with Thailand, is connected by a causeway and a bridge (the ‘second link’) to the island state of Singapore, and has coastlines on the South China Sea and the Straits of Malacca.
East Malaysia (Borneo) shares borders with Brunei and Indonesia.

Malaysia is a mix of the modern world and a developing nation. With its investment in the high technology industries and moderate oil wealth, it has become one of the richer nations in Southeast Asia. Malaysia, for most visitors, presents a happy mix: there is high-tech infrastructure and things generally work well and more or less on schedule, but prices remain more reasonable than, say, Singapore.

Climate

The climate in Malaysia is tropical. The north-east monsoon (October to February) deluges Borneo and the east coast in rain and often causes flooding, while the west coast (particularly Langkawi and Penang) escape unscathed. The milder south-west monsoon (April to October) reverses the pattern. The southern parts of peninsular Malaysia, including perennially soggy Kuala Lumpur, are exposed to both but even during the rainy season, the showers tend to be intense but brief.

Malaysia is close to the equator, therefore warm weather is guaranteed. Temperatures generally range from 32°C/89.6 ºF at noon to about 26°C/78.8 ºF at midnight. But like most Southeast Asian countries, Malaysia’s sun-shining days are interrupted by Monsoon season from November and February every year, and night temperatures can hit a low of about 23°C/73.4 ºF on rainy days.

Temperatures tend to be cooler in the highlands, with the likes of Genting Highlands,Cameron Highlands and Fraser’s Hill having temperatures ranging from about 17°C/62.6 ºF at night to about 25°C/77 ºF in the day. Mount Kinabalu is known to have temperatures falling below 10°C/50 ºF.

How to get to Malaysia

National carrier Malaysia Airlines (MAS) has extensive worldwide network coverage and regularly ranks high in airline quality assessments, while no-frills low-cost carrier AirAsia and its sister company, AirAsia X, now cover an ever-expanding set of destinations including Australia, China, Cambodia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Laos, Macau, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar and Vietnam.

• AirAsia, +60 3 8775 4000 (hotline within Malaysia: 1-300-88-9933)
• Malaysia Airlines, +60 3 7846 3000 (hotline within Malaysia: 1-300-88-3000)

Most international flights land at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) [10] (IATA: KUL | ICAO: WMKK). Low cost airlines such as Malindo Air and AirAsia flights land at Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (KLIA2) (IATA: KUL 2 | ICAO: WMKK), a 5km road transfer away from the main KLIA terminal. KLIA’s predecessor, the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport (IATA: SZB | ICAO: WMSA) in Subang near Kuala Lumpur handles chartered and turboprop aircraft for regional operators Firefly and Berjaya, +60 3 7846 8228 (ticketing only);, +60 3 2145 2828. See the Kuala Lumpur Get in section for detailed airport information.
Other airports which have significant numbers of flights to regional destinations are Kota Kinabalu (Sabah), Kuching (Sarawak), Penang, Langkawi and Johor Bahru. Many major Malaysian cities have service to Singapore via AirAsia or Firefly. Berjaya Air also operates routes from Singapore to the popular dive spots of Tioman and Redang.