Malaysia
Travel Advice / Travel Tips

I'm here trying to provide travel advice that I think will help you out on your Malaysia vacation plan.

Entry requirement

The first travel advice would be helping you to get into Malaysia smoothly.

Basically, everyone who wants to enter Malaysia must posses a Passport or Travel Document or Document in lieu of Passport with a minimum validity of six months beyond the intended visiting period. Passport is needed for travel between Peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysia (Sabah and Sarawak), as well as between Sabah and Sarawak.

Based on different Visa requirement by countries, some foreigners may need to obtain a Visa in advance at Malaysian Representative Office before entering the country.

Besides, one must not be a prohibited person, and have valid return ticket to any other country and sufficient fund to proof your financial ability to finance your stay in Malaysia.

Upon arrival at the gazette entry point of Malaysia, visitors are required to complete the Arrival/Departure Card and present it together with your passport to the immigration officer. Don't forget to ensure that the passport or travel document is endorsed with the appropriate pass before leaving the immigration counter.

For more information about visiting Malaysia, you may want to refer to one of the Overseas Tourism Malaysia Offices.

Standard measurement unit

The standard measurement unit in use is the metric system. Below is the chart of some conversion between the metric system and traditional system.

Electricity

The single-phase voltage in Malaysia is 240 volts with a frequency at 50Hz. And the main power plug and socket used in Malaysia is the British Standard BS 1363. It is a 3-rectangular-pins plug with two horizontal pins for live and neutral connections, and a larger vertical pin above these pins for an earth connection.

This travel advice is useful for you to connect your laptop, charger etc. Prepare an international adapter if necessary.

Useful contact number

Emergency/Police/Ambulance/Fire & Rescue = 999
Directory service = 103
Time announcement = 1051
Weather forecast = 1052
PLUSLINE (24 hours) (for emergency at highway/expressway) = 1800-88-0000

Ipoh Imigration Department = 05-5017100
Ipoh Railway Station = 05-2547987
Ipoh Airport = 05-3120848
Ipoh Ambulance (24 hours) = 05-5461999
Ipoh General Hospital = 05-2533333
Ipoh Headquarter Police Station = 05-2542222
Ipoh Fire Department = 05-5474444

LOCAL TOURISM OFFICE (Ipoh Branch)
Address: Ground Floor, Lot 7 & 9, Jalan Medan Istana 3, Medan Istana, Bandar Ipoh Raya, 30000 Ipoh, Perak.
Phone: +605-2552772/9962/5055 Fax: +605-2532194
Email: mtpbperak@tourism.gov.my

Bank & ATM machines

Most banks are practicing 5 days working from 9.30am to 4.00pm.

ATM machines used to be operating 24 hours but this has changed, due to security consideration. Now, most of them are operating from early morning to 12 midnight while some remaining 24/7.

Always be caution when you use your credit card as credit card fraud problem is serious in Malaysia. Never take your eyes off your credit card when the cashier/salesperson processing the transaction.

Tipping etiquette

Every travel advice must include tipping etiquette.

Tipping is not necessary and seldom happened in Malaysia. It is because most of the bills charged are inclusive of 5% government tax and 10% service charge. However, it's always a nice way to express your appreciation for a good service with tipping. (^_^)

Mailing

When you are traveling or having vacation, the best way to send simple messages to your friends and relatives abroad is by postcards. It's easy to do and cheap in price. The cost involved for mailing an international postcard is only a RM0.50 stamp.

Mobile service

There are few mobile service providers you can choose from, which are Maxis (012, 017), Digi (016), Celcom (019) and U-Mobile (018).

Note: Number in the brackets is the prefix of the mobile phone number of a particular service provider.

Instead of having international roaming for phone calls back to your original country, you can choose to buy a second hand mobile phone and a low cost mobile service start up pack. For example, with Maxis' prepaid Hotlink package, you can enjoy calls to fixed lines of 20 countries as affordable as local calls, which is RM0.20/min.

You may want to know more about IDD 132 from MAXIS.

Travel advice will be added from time to time. OR, do you have any suggestion on things you want to know about? You can make a suggestion through the contact form.

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