I was fortunate to stay for 3 months in Malaysia with my wife. It was originally meant to be a 2 month stay, but we extended it to three since we enjoyed the lifestyle and how it complimented what we wanted to achieve as digital nomads.
For me personally, Kuala Lumpur had the right balance of everything. The price for accommodation and going out was affordable. We stayed in a really nice apartment. The food was delicious and there were easy transportation links both locally and internationally.
I’m sharing the insight based on my stay in Kuala Lumpur. If you are considering to go there as a digital nomad, I would consider doing something similar to what we did.
*Note – I financed this stay mainly through getting freelance writing jobs. My digital nomad ebook shows the exact process I used to create an income.
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We took advantage of the exchange rate.
At the time we went, the Australian dollar was worth 3 times the amount of the Ringgit. So this gave us a huge advantage when it came to our purchasing power within the country.
So we were able to stay in nice accommodation and eating out was inexpensive.
The complex that we stayed in pretty much had everything that we needed.
I enjoyed staying at our complex because it had given us what we needed as digital nomads. Our landlord provided us with a 4G internet connection that had a speed of 300MB/second. He also gave us a 4G pocket wi-fi that we could carry around with us in Malaysia.
The complex had a rooftop pool that overlooked the Petronas Towers. There was also another pool to relax in on the lower decks.
There was a gym in one of the lower floors. Although the gym mainly had cardio equipment and a few weights, it was sufficient enough for us to do our workouts in our free time. All we had to do was catch the elevator downstairs and we would be at the gym in 2 minutes.
There was also a convenience store in the complex and other restaurants.
Next to the accommodation was a shopping mall called Sunway Putra, which had several restaurants, a cinema and shops that we could visit. It would take us about 5-7 minutes of walking to get there.
Because of this convenience, we were able to be extremely productive during our stay.
This accommodation cost us about $1400 AUD a month for a private studio that was fully furnished. It cost more than living in Thailand, but the productivity and lifestyle trade-off was more worthwhile, as I was able to increase my monthly average earnings by 20% while I was there.
You can use Agoda to search for accommodation that’s available in Kuala Lumpur.
Or click here to find hostel bunks on Hostelworld.
You can hire a campervan or motorhome and say at campsites.
The weather is nice and warm.
You don’t need to worry about wearing warm clothes in Malaysia. The weather is always warm. So if you fancy hitting or lounging by the pool, this is definitely an option that you should consider.
There’s plenty of activities happening in the city.
We worked hard, but we made sure that we enjoyed ourselves as well. We loved going out to eat at the local food stalls or restaurants.
We would love to get roti Canai, which could cost as little as $1. We could also get fresh samosas for $0.30.
Going out to Publika shopping centre on the weekend was amazing, as there was always an event on. The restaurants that we would go to would be amazing, although they cost a lot more than the average restaurant. We would treat it as our ‘date night’ once a week.
KLCC Park.
This was always a spectacle to see, especially in the evening as the sun sets and the Petronas Tower light up.
Enjoy drinks while overlooking the city’s skyline.
We ventured out to places like Skybar, which had a DJ playing in a lounge with a swimming pool in the centre. We were overlooking the entire city as well.
You can easily do trips around Malaysia or visit other countries.
This is one of the interesting things that I liked about Malaysia. The city has a major connection airport that allows people to travel anywhere in the world. We could have bought a plane ticket to see the Maldives for $100 return. Or I bought a one way ticket to Singapore for $50.
So it was also a really good hub for us to pursue our travel goals as well. We didn’t get to travel on this occasion, but we knew that we could if we wanted that as an option.
The living costs could be kept to under $2,000 a month for two people fairly easily. If you earned that for one person, you would be very comfortable.
What do you think about being a digital nomad in Kuala Lumpur? Or have you experienced living as a digital nomad in Kuala Lumpur? Let me know in the comments.
Thanks for reading!
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