About Langkawi:

Phone Numbers - what to dial / Langkawi has no Public Transport / The Taxis / No Roadmaps - an other Reason why Taxis are needed / Renting a Motorbike or a Car /

Road Safety / Langkawi's Tax Free Status / Personal Safety in Langkawi / Money Safety / Services in Langkawi / 'Out of Stock-Ness' / The Langkawi Hospital / Opening Hours /

Girls, Women and Religious Police / Drinking-Water / Post Office Reliability / Office for Consumer Protection / Visa / Visa run to Satun / Getting Medication on Langkawi / Living in a lonely House

 

There are many Sites on the NET which will tell and show you, that Langkawi is a "Beautiful Tropical Island". This is very true.

Here we concentrate more on the aspects of the 'Daily Life' - the daily life on this Beautiful Tropical Island.   :-)

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Phone Numbers - what to dial

Phone Numbers - what to dial

Malaysia:  + 6

Langkawi: 04

Landlines: 04 and 7 digits

Mobile Phones begin with 012, 017 etc. etc. plus 7 numbers

From a Landline to a Landline in Langkawi  you only dial the 7 digits

(without the 04)

BUT: on a Hand Phone you have to dial the 04 before the 7 digits !

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Langkawi has no Public Transport

Langkawi has no Public Transport

You might think this is a joke - but it is not. The 'Geopark' - Eco-Tourist-Island Langkawi has probably more cars per sqm than many well developed country - at least around the main City - Kuah .

The reason why is that there is no Public Transport on this Island.

But what about all the Bus stations we see on the Main Roads?

They are - so far - just to gather the children together for the School Bus.....

 

And there is another reason why Langkawi has so many cars: Langkawi is 'Tax Free' - and so there is no tax on cars on this Island.

 

(The tax free car is restricted to stay on Langkawi and can only go out of here for not more than 30 days per year.)

The good thing is - the cars are practically all new.

The reason: New cars can be purchased with low or no initial payment and low monthly rates. So most people can only afford a new car :-)

Banks - who are the real owners of these cars organise periodical auctions to get rid of all the cars for which the monthly rent was no longer paid . . .

The City Council just put a new traffic light in the center of the town - and as you can imagine, since then we have our daily traffic jams (with the exception of Friday, which is the 'Sunday' here - when the streets are pretty empty).

 

Why we have no Public Transport is up for speculation.  Some say that too many influential people have  high stakes in the Taxi Business . . . .

 

I hope this is not true and that we will get a Public Transport system soon. Fact is, the Taxis here are not cheap.

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The Taxis

The Taxis

They have a clear price system, which is noted down at a few central taxi stations. The most central station is in the car park beside the Bay View Hotel in Kuah.

 

But if you are not there or not aware of the price - looking like a freshly arrived tourist - some Taxi Drivers might well overcharge you. (They do not use a taxi-meter and I have seen no printout of the Price-List).

The fare  e.g. from Kuah to Telaga Harbor is RM 30

And after 12 midnight - they put another 50% on top of that.

If you ask a Taxi driver at 11.00 pm to bring you from Kuah to Telaga he might tell you that he now has his coffee break - and when he is ready at 11.30 he will already charge you the 50% surplus (own experience).

If you come from Satun (or wherever) and land at the Jetty Point with a ferry - and tell a taxi to bring you to Kuah (which is near by) - he will probably refuse. He will not say so - he will just turn around and ignore you.

He has waited perhaps for a long time - and so he wants to have a guest who needs to go to Telaga or The Datei or anywhere far away - to make some money.

The solution to this seems to be the following:  At the Jetty you do not try to get a taxi by yourself, you go to the official Taxi Counter. There you will be assigned to a taxi which then has to take you to Kuah....

No Roadmaps - an other Reason why Taxis are needed

Langkawi has no Road Map.

The map given to the tourists is so incredibly bad, that in the center of Kuah, one of the main roads is simply missing. Most of them have no street names shown.

Recently the whole Island has been plotted with a GPS - and we all hope that this will result in a new Langkawi Map.

Until then the only way to find something here is to ask around, to go by taxi or find a friend who knows and can explain it, using the well known landmarks, like 'near to the Fried Chicken" . . .

Renting a Motorbike or a Car

In short: if you do not want to be restricted to the very limited range of your folding-bike, you have to rent a car or a motor bike.

 

The price for renting a car is today (22nd of February 2008) :

The prices above are from 'Lankasia Travel & Tours SDN.BHD" at the Jetty Point Komplex. This car rental service has at the moment about 40 cars for rent.

Tel: 017 544 6569 and 012 435 0043

 

Drivers Licence: The practice is that you do not need an International Licence.

If you are from a western country, your original licence will be accepted. For some countries this will not be the case.

See their Websites: www.miervacation.com  and  www.langkasiatravel.com.my

These are tourist prices. If you ask around you can get the same thing - and especially monthly renting - for much less.

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Road Safety

Hmm... be aware that you are in Asia: most people here live in the moment. They live not a few seconds ahead. They will not foresee that when they brake brutally for no apparent reason in the middle of the road the one following them will evidently bump into them and possibly kill himself.

Just a few days ago I stopped my bike behind a car who had stopped at a stop sign. Suddenly the woman at the wheel decided that she was already too far into the street and started to drive backwards. Without looking if there was something behind her.!! She crashed my motorbike to the road and I could just jump from it.

And of course after that she said 'sorry, terribly sorry', smiled and drove away fast.

Be aware that there are many such people on the street. Keep  your  d i s t a n c e.

Another thing is the condition the roads and walkways are in. There can be a huge hole somewhere in a street for months. Then it will get fixed finally. You can not walk or drive where you can not see the ground below you.

 

A good reason to stay awake.

Not so good after a few beers.....

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Langkawi's Tax Free Status

Langkawi's Duty Free (No Tax) Status:

This is mainly important for 2 things: For cars which then are restricted to Langkawi - and for the alcohol.

 

A beer here - e.g. a can of Carlsberg costs RM1.80 in the shop and a carton (24) RM 35 to 36 (a can about RM 1.50), and about RM 3 to 3.50 in a 'normal' restaurant in Langkawi.

 

In Penang, where you have no Duty Free status, you pay RM 9 and more for a can in a 'normal' restaurant.

 

Most items - are not cheaper here than e.g. in Kuala Lumpur. On electronic items there is no tax anyway - and everything that is brought to this island gets a little something added, for 'transport'. Mostly more than justified, of course.

So there are many expats who will go and buy their TV, Computer etc. in Penang or in Alostar. There is a better choice and a cheaper price.

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Personal Safety in Langkawi

Personal Safety in Langkawi

Langkawi is certainly much safer than Thailand. And there is no corruption here on the level a 'normal tourist' would encounter. Which means: Immigration, Harbor Master and Custom will not ask you for money for their own pocket. Which is great!

 

But the days where you could leave something valuable unattended - are over.

A friend of mine bought a new bicycle - a 'sports edition'.  Proudly he showed it to me. - The next day he looked rather unhappy. He had chained it to a little palm tree on the water front in Kuah - and when he came back the next morning from his boat, the palm tree was cut and the bicycle gone.

 

I had burglars in my yacht twice, (the yacht was on the beach) and they took everything they thought they could sell fast.

 

Another friend of mine got his car burned out - and went to the police to report it. When he came back home the house he lived in (rented) was burnt down. This was a Chinese greeting to tell him he should leave his fingers from a certain girl...

99% of the people are  fine and nice  - but don't overlook the 1 % :

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Money Safety

Money Safety

I personally do not use Credit Cards. I have 2 close friends who had money deducted from their credit cards after using them in an ATM on Langkawi. One was an ATM in the Airport, the other the ATM of Maybank in Kuah. Both got their money back eventually - after a long procedure and threatening to go to police. They were lucky, as the money had been deducted from somewhere far away (one from Bangkok) - and they could prove they were here during this time. But this might not always be possible.

 

Just when my anger about Streamyx reached it's climax - an accountant ! - some one who had served me in the TM office in Kuah and was obviously not a technician at all, his name is Mr. Fahmi, drove personally out to my place on his own initiative and fixed it. I was stunned. (And he got some chocolate the next day).

In short: Do not rely on times. Things may take a bit longer and things are not always very well organised, to put it mildly - but as one can see:  positive surprises are also possible.

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If you need something - a service or goods - you can sometimes get it for a very fair price - or, you can be asked to pay twice or more of what it is worth.

Both is possible. So don't rely on the goodwill of  others, check the prices out beforehand. It might  sometimes be a good idea to make friends with a local and to let him do the bargaining. If the seller knows that his goods or services are for a yachtie or an expat, he thinks you have a lot of money. Otherwise you wouldn't be here - right?

It is common knowledge that you should keep calm in every situation - but - hell - what can you do with a western temperament? I am definitively the wrong person to teach you  that...

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Out of Stock-Ness

'Out of Stock-Ness' . . .

If something is 'out of stock', this is a completely normal fact of life.  Don't blame the business. You, the customer, are responsible, because you didn't buy it all. True?

This also applies to pharmacies: don't think they feel responsible to keep a stock of the life-saving medications their customer might use. It is not so. - So provision yourself with what you can get, when you can get it, in a large enough quantity to survive the next 'out of stockness'.

 

In a medical emergency I would go straight to the main hospital.

 By the way:   the best pharmacy in town is probably Joe's Pharmacy in Kuah.

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The Langkawi Hospital

The Langkawi Hospital

The Langkawi Hospital is a good hospital and pretty well equipped. But for several severe emergencies they still have to take the patients to Penang or the Mainland (Alor Setar). And this - until now - happens by using ferry transport. There is no Helicopter Service yet, although this would definitively be life saving in some cases.

My own experiences in the Langkawi Hospital were pretty good. I had nearly cut my thumb off my left hand with a grinder, working on my boat - and I found a very good doctor who fixed me up completely and who was also a very, very nice being.

 

Furthermore it was cheap.

As my injury was life threatening - I had lost a lot of blood - the whole operation was free of charge and I paid only for my stay of one week in the Hospital bed, which cost only RM 600.- everything included

 

The reason is a Muslim practice, that when you save the life of a man you do not charge for it. Indeed a truly great Spirit.

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Opening Hours

Opening Hours

A business is open when it is open and closed when it is closed. There is no reason necessary.

So your favorite 'Cold Store' could decide to be closed for 2 weeks without notice beforehand or during the closing. You best ask the next door business when they will be back . . .

Apart from this it's a good idea not to expect anything open (beside the Food Stalls and some restaurants) before 10.00 o'clock in the morning - or later than 19.00 hr.

Some close earlier of course.

Same insecurity applies to the holidays:

The Malay Business will close on Friday (and some even on Saturday). Chinese businesses might choose to also close on Friday or to close on Sunday.

The Banks are open on Friday but fully closed on Saturday and Sunday.

Malaysia has many many special Holidays. The Malay Holidays, the Chinese Holidays, the Indian Holidays, the Christian Holidays and the Birthdays of different important persons in the country or state, etc. etc.

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Girls / Women and Religious Police

Girls / Women and Religious Police

By far the best advice you can get, is simple: just don't start anything with a Muslim girl or woman, unless:

 

- you want to marry her,

- you are ready to convert to Islam

- prepared to have a little operation on your 'thing'

- and: you make very sure their Families and Clans do approve your intentions. 

  Specially if it is a Chinese woman. Otherwise expect troubles.

With regard to the Muslim Ladies you have to be aware that there exists a 'Religious Police' which worries about the 'souls' and decent behavior of their followers.

We are here in a land where it is still unacceptable for young people of different sex(Muslims) to hold hands in public.  They can be imprisoned  - unthinkable to even think about kissing in public.

Girls and Women - if Muslims - mostly wear the head scarf. They are officially free to wear it or not. But the social pressure to wear it - if you want to be a decent woman - is big. They balance it with wearing the most skin tight blue jeans you have ever seen, which gives a very nice contrast.... 

With regard to the 'Religious Police': Although  they are, in fact, a strictly Muslim only institution and have nothing to say in regard to Non-Muslims - they might sometimes overstep their boundaries.

We just recently had the situation here, that this 'Religious Police', 7 or 8 people strong (if I remember correctly), invaded the private apartment of an American couple in the Lagenda Tower Block late at night/early morning - the same place I lived in at this time - to 'control' if they were legally married or not. They were - and this intrusion produced a public outcry and some official apology from high above. So we can only hope, that something like this will not happen again.

 

But if you are going out with a Muslim girl or woman, be aware that you will be under surveillance pretty soon - probably without noticing at first.

 

So what to do - la ?

There are some very nice Thai girls and women here - and Phuket is not so far away. Officially Langkawi is 'dead at night' - but in fact this is not completely true.

See the section 'Nightlife'.

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Drinking-Water

Drinking-Water

The tap-water in Langkawi might be 'safe' to drink - but certainly not healthy, as it contains a lot of chlorine. And the amount they put in obviously differs from time to time.

 

The traditional Malay and Chinese way to handle this, is to have always a big pot of (practically) boiling water on the fire. In this way the chlorine gets out and you don't taste it anymore.

 

Some restaurants,  though,  just use tap water to make a coffee - and the coffee then smells so strongly and disgusting like chlorine, that I have had to refuse it a few times and indeed brought more than one restaurant to change their practice and to only use  'reversed osmosis' water for coffee.

 

If you are a coffee lover, be aware of that.

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Post Office Reliability

Post Office Reliability

In the past, more and more complaints about missing letters and postcards came up in Langkawi. It was discussed on the Langkawi-Online Expat Forum a short time ago (February 2008).

 

In my own experience nothing went missing - but I receive everything registered and I send everything registered.

 

If you want to be sure to get it - have it registered!

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Office for Consumer Protection

Office for Consumer Protection

There is somewhere in LADA (Langkawi Development Authority) an Officer responsible for Consumer Protection.

 

This is useful to know.

 

I had a situation with an electrical water boiler. The temperature switch did not work: the first time I used it, the plastic melted away...

There was no way to get it replaced, although clearly under warranty.

I was told they had to send it back and have approval to replace it from the factory and this approval just didn't come.

After several weeks of trying it the nice way I threatened to go to the 'Consumer Protection' immediately.

"Oh", they said, "you can do that, you can do that, that doesn't interest us" - but within 3 minutes they found a reason, why it was now ok to replace it, without losing t face.

For me they had lost it long ago....

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Discussion Forum on Alloexpat:

Malaysia General talks, News & Tips: Discuss about the Malaysian News, Expatriates concerns & interests.

http://www.alloexpat.com/malaysia_expat_forum/about-living-in-malaysia-expat-general-forums-c1.html

Note: The Alloexpat Forum is not 'Langkawi-Based' - but many of the people active there are based in Penang, the next Island south.

Living in Langkawi / Visa  Visa

 Living in Langkawi / Visa:

The citizens of most western countries get a hassle free 3months visa on entry.

Free of charge. 

 

When this visa expires you can go out of the country and re-enter the same day.

And get an other visa for 3 months.

For free again.

 

The place most westerners go for this visa run - is Satun, in Thailand.

The ferry to Satun (from Kuah Jetty Point) costs RM30 one way and takes about 1 hr.

 

Ferry Departure Times:

Langkawi - Satun:   09.30, 13.30, 16.00 - on a Friday the 13.30 ferry goes at 13.00

Satun - Langkawi:   10.30, 14.30, 17.00

NOTE: All the above are in Malaysian time. For Thailand time deduct 1hr.

 

On the Satun side the immigration would like to see you stay for a few days in Thailand - but so far they do their job of stamping you in and out of their country (within a few hrs) for free without saying anything. Only once one of those highly decorated officers looked at me sadly, shook his head and said: "Why don't you stay a few days in our beautiful country?"

 

If you are from a neighbouring country, like Thailand or Indonesia or other non western countries, you will get a visa for only one month and in Satun there was long (and perhaps still is) the practice, that someone like this, has to put RM 20 in his passport to be served hassle free...... (my friend from Indonesia had to do it every month for some years).

If you are from Israel - sorry: no entry.

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Visarun to Satun

Visa Run with the ferry to Satun

 

Normally everything goes fine....

 

You should go for your visa run 2 or 3 days before the visa expires.

The Ferry you want to take might have technical problems and not run at all, it might be full and you don't get a seat, or the weather might be so bad, the sea so rough, that you definitively prefer not to be on a ferry at all, or you got the flu......

 

There are normally 2 ferries you can take, if you want to come back the same day: one in the morning at 9.30 and one at 13.30.

If you take the one in the morning you will have to wait for 4 hrs in Satun for the next ferry to return back.

 

If you take the one at 13.00 you only wait 2 and 1/2 hr - officially - but the ferry can have quite some delay....

 

So - once you have a place in the ferry - you have to wait for it to leave for Langkawi. Patiently please. It might well go about 30 minutes late - that is still considered 'normal'.

 

On holidays and Monday mornings the ferries are very full. And if the ferries are very full, the luggage gets stacked in such an uncontrolled and strategically catastrophic way, that it is nearly impossible to get through or out again. If you want to feel comfortable during the journey, don't start to imagine what would happen in the case of an emergency.

 

Often the aircon is turned on as high as possible - which results in 'much too cold' . Whenever I go on a ferry, I make sure I have long pants on, socks in my bag, a pullover and and/or a blanket. (But I have found out where to turn the aircon down - in some vessels...pscht).

 

Once everything is fine, comes the torture called TV.

Although we are just leaving a beautiful tropical Island - outside is normally blue sea and sunny sky - the ones who have the say in  the 'Ferry TV Program' have the worst taste you can imagine. The cheapest 'gangster and brutality films' are playing full power - the English is mostly not understandable (due tp poor quality of the copied CD's and of the TV loudspeaker) and the writing in Thai script will not help us much. This plays relentlessly in front of many families and little children to the bitter end - or the arrival of the ferry . . .

 

So don't place yourself too close to the TV.

But if the ferry is full - you can not choose your seat.....

 

One hour later you are at the ferry terminal in Satun, called Tammalang.

You can now - if you have enough time - go to Satun on the back of a motorcycle - which costs you 50 Baht = RM 5.-

E.g. for a massage.

In the terminal itself you have at the moment 2 restaurants and a few little shops.

One restaurant - the smaller one - has good coffee! Otherwise nothing special. An Internet cafe with 2 computers - mostly closed. Boring.

 

If you want to wait in the terminal for the next ferry back - take a good book with you or whatever to spend your time.

 

The ferry back is normally not crowded - but: at the time they have only one ferry in service - and so the delays over the day accumulate.

 

Just today (27th of February 08) I came back from Satun with the last ferry - scheduled to leave Tammalang at 16.00 (Thai time). At 17.15 the the ferry came and another 15 minutes later we left port. With a delay of 1hr 30min. - something all the people around me took as perfectly normal and I tried to hide my frustration.

 

Back at Langkawi - the immigration department is king.

 

The immigration people who let you in have the full say about how long they will give you a visa.

 

Normally for westerners it is 3 months.

 

But if you have a very young officer before you, eager to please and show his 'professional dedication' to a senior officer who happens to be around, things can turn nasty:

 

He might take a long look at your passeport, count the many times you went out and back in again with his fingers, decide that this matter has to be sorted out on a higher level - and give you only 7 days.

 

This once happened to me.

I hadn't done anything special - it came without warning out of the blue.

 

I had then to go to the Immigration Head Quarter in LADA (now it is in TELAGA) - where the officer there just made me fill out a form to give me a visa. This visa costed RM 50 and was valid for 3 months.

 

From then on everything was normal again. I went out and in again many times with no problem.

 

The explanation seems to be that on one side there is an 'official - Malaysia wide - rule', that the tourist visa should not be misused for the permanent stay in Malaysia - but on the other side, Immigration here must have order from high above, to not throw people out of Langkawi, when they do not work here illegally, but bring them the money this Island is dependent on.

 

Good luck!

 

Discussion Forum on Alloexpat:

Immigration in Malaysia / Visa to Malaysia: Malaysian Immigration related issues and discussion. Information about work permits, employment pass, training pass, spouse program, etc.

 

http://www.alloexpat.com/malaysia_expat_forum/about-living-in-malaysia-expat-general-forums-c1.html

 

Note: The Alloexpat Forum is not 'Langkawi-Based' - but many of the people active there are based in Penang, the next Island 100 km south.

Working in Langkawi

 Working in Langkawi:

Important Phone Numbers

To work in Langkawi you need to have a Work Permit.

 

A Work Permit can only be issued by a company (you can not get one personally as an individual).

 

The company - to be able to get a work permit for you as a 'Westerner', must be a SDN. BHD. with a minimal Capital of MR250 000 .

 

In other words - it's not so easy.

 

And the one wanting to employ you must be able to show, that the job you will do can only be done by you - and not by a Malay.

 

Which is normally not too difficult to show if you have anything to do with computers etc. or if you are cooking special western food or have to use your different language skills on your job.

 

Some Westerners do a little bit of  "odd-jobs" illegally, without such a work permit.

 

The danger in this is that there are other Westerners who have gone through the whole hassle of getting a Work Permit through someone (or who have even registered their own company to get a Work Permit for themselves) and who dislike your free competition and will denounce you at Immigration.

 

Here also: 99% of the Westerner will not do it - but I know personally two people, still here in Langkawi today, who did just that. Not very nice.

Be careful. If you are caught working illegally you are 'escorted' out of the country immediately.

 

You have to either find a company that does help you in getting a work permit for you - or you have to register your own business.

 

How to do that - and how to get a work permit to be allowed to work in your own company, see the next chapter.

 

Discussion Forum on Alloexpat:

Malaysia Jobs, Expat Hunting, Malaysia Employment Search: Looking for a job or need to advertise for a job position? Post them here and discuss about employment issues in Malaysia.

http://www.alloexpat.com/malaysia_expat_forum/about-living-in-malaysia-expat-general-forums-c1.html

Note: The Alloexpat Forum is not 'Langkawi-Based' - but many of the people active there are based in Penang, the next Island south.

Registering a Business in Langkawi

 Registering a Business in Langkawi:

First: You can not do it yourself - you need to have the expert help from a 'Chartered Accountant'.

There are a lot of wrong beliefs around among expats about the possibilities to register a business. The fear that 'one has to have a Bumiputra - and he will have the majority of shares and can then command over the business' and things like that.

 

This is not true. You can register business with keeping full control and ownership, with no risk at all.

 

Do it with some expert based in Kuala Lumpur. KL is the Main City - the Business Metropol. Here they are used to deal with such things and therefore it goes easier.

The whole process of registering a business will cost you (today, February 2008) about MR 5500.

As the approval for a Business name can take some time, you can go for a so called 'Shelf Business'. This is a 'Business' that has been created (the name approved in advanced) but has never done any business and is waiting for some one to take it over. This normally costs a few hundred MR extra. You will not find any intelligent name under the Shelf Companies, but who cares. It's all fantasy names with no meaning whatsoever.

To open up a Business you need to have a Co-Director. There must be always at least 2 directors for a Company. Your Co-Director should be a a 'Bumiputra' (a native Malay, not Chinese or Indian). In fact this is not what the law says - the law says, that you can have anyone as a Co-Director who has been in the country for at least 6months - but if you do not have a Bumiputra as partner, you will probably not get your Work Permit which you have to have to be allowed to work in your own company....

How to make sure the Business is YOURS and the Co-Director does not take it over or start to tell you what he expects you to do?

The way this is normally done is: before the shares of the company are assigned to the Director and Co-Director (may be 50/50), the Co-Director signs a 'Letter of Resignation' as Co-Director, which is not dated, and which you can present to him at any time you need it. You would then be free to choose another Co-Director.

 

A Co-Director normally gets between 3000 and 5000 MR a year - but if you have a Bumi friend, he might do it for free.

 

Money: You will have to pay MR 250, 000 into your newly opened Business Account. If you do not have so much money - ask your expert how to do it. You have to prove that you have paid in MR250, 000  in total - for the process of getting your Work Permit.

Ongoing expenses for the Company:

You have to have a Company Secretary, which will cost you (at the moment) MR 75 per month. You will also, at the end of the year. have to have an audit made and fill out a tax form.

For these activities you will have to pay around RM2,000 to 3,000, depending on the size and activities of your company.

To be on the safe side, count about RM 5000 per year to maintain your company (Co-Director expenses not included).

 

About the taxes I am not yet well informed. From what I know, this is not a problem unless you make a substantial amount of income. I will complete this here in the near future.

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tting a Work Permit to be allowed to work in your own company

Getting a Work Permit to be allowed to work in your own company

You can again choose to let an expert help you - but this will cost you another RM.5000  And here in Langkawi this is not necessary, as the Chief of Immigration in Telaga Harbor is very good in helping you to go through the whole procedure. The Chief is a woman and her name is Mastia.

 

Nevertheless the work permit will cost you around RM2,000 to 3000  and is normally issued for 2 years.

 

I am in the middle of this procedure and will know more about it soon.

Getting a License for your company

All the above is not yet enough.

There are many special licenses for special companies.

If you want to open a restaurant, you need a license.

If you want to print certain materials, you need a license.

For other companies you do not need a license.

Go to the City Council and ask.

People are very helpful if you are willing to follow the rules and regulations.

If you do not - your business could be closed.

But as soon as you have started to apply for a license, normally everything is ok.

Discussion Forum on Alloexpat:

Malaysia Business Networking : Trading, Investing & Finance: When it comes to business matters in Malaysia, discuss in this forum. Share business, investments & trading advises. Look for partners, network in this forum.

http://www.alloexpat.com/malaysia_expat_forum/about-living-in-malaysia-expat-general-forums-c1.html

Note: The Alloexpat Forum is not 'Langkawi-Based' - but many of the people active there are based in Penang, the next Island south.

Housing / Property

 Housing / Property:

Important Phone Numbers

General Overview

 

Renting an apartment or a house is still relatively cheap - although the prices have practically doubled within the last few years.

 

Buying Land is pretty expensive. With this relation between renting and buying it does not really - financially - make much sense to buy anything.

 

If you speak with many people - still the only way to find something on Langkawi - you can still find a house with 2 or 3 bedrooms for RM600 to 800 .

 

Buying:

There are different kinds of 'land' in Langkawi:

There is 'Bumiputra - Land', There is Free Hold Land' and there is 'Government Land'.

The 'Bumiputra Land' can not be sold to an Non Bumiputra.

So you need to have a Bumiputra in-between.

These deals are done by lawyers and property brokers. How safe and secure they are - specially in the event of an unforeseen upcoming legal case - there the opinions differ greatly.

 

Free Hold Land is very expensive. And it seems there are restrictions there too. I will find out more soon.

 

Discussion Forum on Alloexpat:

Malaysia Housing & Relocation in Malaysia: Share advises about the Expat lodging areas . . .

http://www.alloexpat.com/malaysia_expat_forum/about-living-in-malaysia-expat-general-forums-c1.html

Note: The Alloexpat Forum is not 'Langkawi-Based' - but many of the people active there are based in Penang, the next Island south.

Malaysia my 2nd Home program - MMSH

 Malaysia my 2nd Home program - MMSH - :

The Malaysia "My 2nd Home Program" is still pretty fresh and about a dozen people here have applied.  The thing is: they have all had to meet different conditions - to get it finally approved . . .

Although everything is in fact clearly printed out - the whole thing is still 'fluid' and you have to consult an expert in the matter. (Which doesn't have to cost you anything. See the notice about the 'Ombudsman below').

The general interest for the program here on Langkawi is not very big - as the possibility to stay on the Island with only having to go 4 times a year to Satun - loosing just 4 afternoons and the whole only for the price of the ferry tickets - does not call for an other, expensive solution.

Some say, that it could well be that one day Langkawi will change this practice and refuse you a visa after you have used this visa-run for a long time. But Langkawi lives from the tourists and the expats - and as long as you have no negative record of any kind, I am pretty sure, that they will not in practice insist on refusing you the visa. Langkawi is not Thailand and has not the self destructive, irrational tendencies of  it's neighbour.

About living in a 'Lonely' House

About living in a 'Lonely' House

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Discussion Forum on Alloexpat:

Malaysia My Second Home (MMSH), Retire in Malaysia: Malaysia My Second Home program related questions and advices. Information about the application, how to import a car, and all the MMSH specificities.

http://www.alloexpat.com/malaysia_expat_forum/about-living-in-malaysia-expat-general-forums-c1.html

Note: The Alloexpat Forum is not 'Langkawi-Based' - but many of the people active there are based in Penang, the next Island south.

Imporrrtant Phone Numbers and Addresses

 Important Phone Numbers and Addresses:

Important Phone Numbers

All numbers are local. To dial from overseas, first dial your international access code then "60" for Malaysia then "4" for Langkawi.

 

Emergency Contacts Police and Ambulance          999 Hospital                                 Fire Station                            994 Taxi Services: Airport Counter Kuah Town Station     Important Phone Numbers Langkawi Tourist Information Centre Malaysi