How to split curreny in Malaysia - Need advice

Gaz84

Hi guys.
I have just today paid off my honeymoon to Langkawi. We are going end of Aug this year. Now, I need some help. My mrs and I are not particulary well travled. I am a avid skier, and hit the alps, and Scotland 3 times a year, Mrs is a beach bum and stuck to spain and Italy. We have both Bugeted £1000 for a 9 days stay. ( this can be increased if people think its a bit low) My question is this. I don't want to carry all that in cash. How do I split it? What do I split it with? I only have one credit card which is a Vanquis with a 1k limit ( I'm using this to build my history as I don't have any previous credit) I will take this with me as an emergency. How do I do this? Where is the best place to exchange currency? DO I do at the airport? Uk? In Malaysia? Thank you for your help :beer:

eDicky

What do you mean by 'split'?

See the MSE travel money advice articles. Take at least two suitable cards for travel, if you can't get the best credit cards there are good prepaid cards, Revolut, Monzo, Loot.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/prepaid-travel-cards

Voyager2002

Not much skiing on Langkawi...

There are plenty of ATMs (including in the airport in KL).

lady1964

We've just got back from KL & Penang, we changed our cash into ringitts before we left the UK but DH says he wished we'd waited & changed it there as we'd have got a better rate.

We have a Halifax clarity card which we used to pay the hotels, everything else we paid cash & we took about £1k, we came back with about £200.

From everything I've read and from what other hotel guests told us who'd been to Langkawi, it's duty & tax free so cheaper than KL & Penang. We found food, taxis & other usual expenses cheap, alcohol was not exhorbitant, around £3 for a glass of wine, a bit less for a large bottle of Tiger beer and £5-6 for a cocktail, does depend where you go though. We didn't do high end & found bars which did happy hour or 2-1.

I'm assuming you've looked on TA, tons of information on there.

Voyager2002

lady1964 wrote: »

We've just got back from KL & Penang, we changed our cash into ringitts before we left the UK but DH says he wished we'd waited & changed it there as we'd have got a better rate.

We have a Halifax clarity card which we used to pay the hotels, everything else we paid cash & we took about £1k, we came back with about £200.

From everything I've read and from what other hotel guests told us who'd been to Langkawi, it's duty & tax free so cheaper than KL & Penang. We found food, taxis & other usual expenses cheap, alcohol was not exhorbitant, around £3 for a glass of wine, a bit less for a large bottle of Tiger beer and £5-6 for a cocktail, does depend where you go though. We didn't do high end & found bars which did happy hour or 2-1.

I'm assuming you've looked on TA, tons of information on there.

The problem with Langkawi is that it has minimal or zero public transport, and taxis are expensive. Transport issues, along with fairly large numbers of well-off tourists, tend to push up prices above the general dirt-cheap level found elsewhere in Malaysia. Alcohol is duty-free there but still seems expensive: elsewhere in Malaysia alcohol seems outrageously expensive, mainly because everything else is so cheap.

Disclaimer: I did not actually get to Langkawi (partly because I realised that getting from the ferry pier to my hotel would cost too much) but spent time on the island of Tioman, which is also duty-free and where there were similar transport issues.

If I wanted this kind of holiday experience I think I would choose an island off Thailand, which in fact is just a ferry-ride from Langkawi.

punk84

I am getting conflicting information, I'm in similar situation to OP some people saying taxis are cheap others like above saying its expensive. DO I take part cash and part card? Debit card? credit card? where is the cheapest place to get Ringits here or Malaysia?

Voyager2002

punk84 wrote: »

I am getting conflicting information, I'm in similar situation to OP some people saying taxis are cheap others like above saying its expensive. DO I take part cash and part card? Debit card? credit card? where is the cheapest place to get Ringits here or Malaysia?

Get your Ringgit in Malaysia! If you have the right kind of card (eg Halifax Clarity) then just withdraw from an ATM in the airport: otherwise spend a bit of time and trouble finding a good money-changer.

Taxis in Malaysia are SUPPOSED to be very cheap: you can look on-line to see what the fare should be if they use their meters. Unfortunately in many places, particularly those that attract tourists (eg Melaka, Langkawi) they have their own ideas about how much a foreigner should pay... In this context, "expensive" means something like five pounds, which is a lot of money compared with what other things cost.

dj1471

Taxis are cheap but like everywhere they'll rip you off if you let them. Uber is available at least in KL and Penang (probably all the other major destinations too), you'll still get ripped off but can get refunded through the app.

eDicky

In what way do Malaysian taxis try to rip you off?

dj1471

eDicky wrote: »

In what way do Malaysian taxis try to rip you off?

Not exclusive to Malaysia but typically by trying to make you pay a fixed price rather than using the meter or by taking a longer/slower route than necessary when on the meter. Not all drivers do it, obviously. I recommend Uber since you can review the journey afterwards and dispute it if they've tried it on.

dj1471

Just for fun, here's an example from Uber. More blatant than usual but this happens to some degree almost every time in SE Asia (this was in Hanoi):



This is why taxis can be expensive