Moving to Malaysia

How to settle is very easy, wherever you want to stay you'll be able to find a condo. The market is already flooded with condos for rent and more condos are being built at a fast pace.

Where you want to settle is a bit more tricky to answer without more details from you. As you probably know Cyberjaya is not part of Kuala Lumpur, it's possible for you to stay there but i think it will be boring. Nothing much to do around there. However if you just wanna sleep-eat-work i guess it will be ok to stay there.

Anyway, a few thing for you do consider before getting any good recommendations:

How much would you be willing to spend for your rent?
Do you want to live in an area with a lot of expats?
Do you want to live near the night life (e.g. clubbing)?
What is an acceptable travel time for you between home and office (it might look close on the map, but wait until you see the traffic!) ?
How big unit do you need?
Are you willing to share with others and just rent a room?
What is most important to you when you choose the location?

There are many nice areas to stay but it all depends on your preferences and of course how much you want to spend.

By the way you should get an international drivers license so you can drive to work later, public transport is not that good (although possible to use of course).

Thanks a lot for your reply!!

so answers to your questions:

How much would you be willing to spend for your rent?
I would say not more than 1,5k but would prefer far less

Do you want to live in an area with a lot of expats?
Sure! as I don't really know anyone there and would be thrilled to make new friends from all around the world.

Do you want to live near the night life (e.g. clubbing)?
maybe not near but close enough to be able to go out and go home by public transportation (even late at night)

What is an acceptable travel time for you between home and office (it might look close on the map, but wait until you see the traffic!) ?
30 mins at most

How big unit do you need?
I would settle for a 1 bed room and 1 living room (but I'd like to enquire about prices of 2 bed rooms and 1 living room)

Are you willing to share with others and just rent a room?

I would love to share a nice house/flat with expats from around the world (even prefer that to living alone)

What is most important to you when you choose the location?
should be confortable, and close to my places of interest (work, leisure, supermarkets, etc...


About the international driving license, do you think I can get it there or should I request it from my home country?
I am not planning on getting a car, do you think its important?


Again thanks a lot for your time!!

It will be easier for you to get within you budget of 1500 if you share with others. You'll be able to stay in a nicer area/condo as well. If you share with 2 other and pay 1500 each you'll have a nice place to stay. 1500 is actually a bit low if you want your own unit.

I'm gonna have to disappoint you on the 30 minutes to work unless you're willing to give up on all the other things (entertainment, shopping, leisure, etc). It will be impossible to commute from a condo in KL to Cyberjaya in only 30 minutes. Only way you'll be able to get below 30 minutes is if you stay in Cyberjaya/Putrajaya = boring (imho). Let's assume you stay in Mont Kiara which is an expat infested area, you won't be able to drive to Cyberjaya in 30 mins even when there's no traffic jam (at least not within the legal speed limits).

For international drivers license just get it in your home country before you leave. That's what i did and I'm not sure if it's possible to fix from here (don't think so). If you don't have a drivers license already then you can easily get one here. And yes i think you should have a valid drivers license while here, life's so much easier with a car when you stay here.


As for areas to stay, Mont Kiara & Bangsar are both expat infested, you'll see more foreigners than locals there. Public transport is not so good here though, the Bangsar LRT station is quiet far away (not walking distance) to what most people affiliate with "Bangsar" but you'll be able to find pubs and shopping and other stuff to pass your time with during weekends

KLCC is another area which is nice (driving there is horrible though!) and you'll have clubbing, pubbing, shopping and convenient public transport all within walking distance. LRT is open 6am-12am although it's quiet common that some stations close already at 11.30pm because the staff there "feels like going home" , happened to me a couple of times before.

Bukit Bintang is another area (just next to KLCC) and i guess this is the worst place in terms of traffic, but you'll find a lot of entertainment here. A LOT.

I recommend that you have a look on KL expat groups on Facebook, quite often that people post there looking for room mates and usually they will ask within your budget!

Thanks for all the tips!
Now I think I have everything I need to start the hunt

wa alaikum salam amine:
just find yourself a place in cyberjaya , there are some students from Morocco studying there, they are nice and been here before you so they can show you around..cyberjaya might be boring as it said before but it's not that far from kl, so when you're bored KL still a minutes away where you can enjoy your time..
Welcome to Malaysia and Good luck in your new life experience , just know that you have Moroccan brothers and sisters in here that can help you when needed..
Salam.

Thank you brother! Thats good to hear