A New Chapter

Subject: Malaysia

Location: Malaysia

Mood: Malaysia

"So...why Malaysia?" This question was inevitable as my husband, Maz, and I were selling our worldly possessions and downsizing our lives into 7 suitcases and 2 cat carriers to embark on a new adventure on the other side of the world. I'll be honest, I didn't know much about Malaysia prior to embarking on this adventure. Maz had traveled to Kuala Lumpur and Penang, but that was a decade ago. Fair enough question to be asking a couple of 30-somethings moving out of their house in suburbia-Colorado! The answer: location, location, location.

Malaysia is situated in the middle of South East Asia and is home to a major airline, making travel very convenient. Given the geographical location, Malaysia is not susceptible to natural disasters like typhoons, volcanic activity, earthquakes, or tsunamis. There are 2 seasons here - monsoon vs. "dry" (which is funny for Coloradans who are accustomed to a truly dry climate). Malaysia is a very multi-cultural populace - Malays, Chinese, and Indian are rather equally split, with a large ex-pat community present. English is common given the cultural diversity, though we have picked up a few words of Bahasa, the native Malay language. Malaysia is a Muslim country, however Muslim rules are not enforced for non-Muslims. Safety is a high priority to the community, and as a woman, I feel safe walking around without my husband - I am not bothered and there are national guards on many street corners and entrances of buildings. Guns are not allowed and there are very strict rules - a pleasant change from America. The cost of living is very affordable, especially converting from the US dollar (about 4 Ringgit to1 USD). With all of these pros (the only con being the travel distance to visit home), Malaysia was a clear and obvious choice when we decided to move to an entirely new continent.

We did test the waters by spending 3-weeks in August 2025 to make sure I liked the region and could coordinate my US-based work schedule. We also explored multiple neighborhoods to find an apartment (we found a gem that checked all of our wish-list boxes, situated in the heart of Kuala Lumpur City Center, KLCC). We even made some friends during our research trip! We returned from our KL tour with a deadline of 6-weeks to turn our dream into a reality. (Spoiler alert - we did the thing!)

First and foremost on the checklist was to figure out how to ship 2 cats ~9,000 miles overseas. After much research, we landed on "Starwood Pet Relocators" and I was so pleased with their customer service and handling of my furry babies. If anyone needs to move their pets abroad, I would recommend them without hesitation. With one giant headache (and heartache) sorted, next was to offload all of our worldly possessions. Garage sales galore, Facebook Marketplace night-and-day, and supportive friends and family took a full house and shrunk it to a couple storage boxes and a few suitcases. It was invigorating to purge the arts/crafts, silly decorations, plants, and furniture that we accumulated over our 5-years in Colorado (a good practice for my nostalgic pack-rat tendencies). Finally, on November 7th, a short 6-months since deciding to move, we were out the door to embark on the next chapter of life!

Whew, what a whirlwind! More stories and anecdotes to come! :)