Singapore Hotels & Malaysia Hotels
About Singapore Malaysia

GETTING AROUND 3

Also, within each of the smaller lies, feel free to negotiate with anmetered taxis for hourly, half-day, or daily rates. It's an excellent way to get around for sightseeing and shopping without transportation hassles. Hourly rates are anywhere from RM 15 to I,A125 (US$3.95-US$6.60). As recently as the 1970s, there was trouble with roadside crime-bandits stopping cars and holding up the traveIer’s inside. Fortunately for drivers in Malaysia, this is a thing of the past. In the mid-1990s, Malaysia opened the North-South Highway, running from Bukit Kayu Hitam in the north on !u Thai border to Johor Bahru at the shouthern tip of the peninsula. The highway (and the lack of bandits) has made travel along the west coast of Malaysia easy. There are rest are as with toilets, food outlets, and emergency telephones at intervals along the way. There is also a toll that varies I, pending on the distance you're traveling.

Driving along the east coast of Malaysia is actually much more please than driving along the west coast. I lie highway is narrower and older, but it takes you through oil palm and rubber plantations, and the essence of kampung Malaysia permeates throughout. As you near villages you'll often have to slow down and swerve past cows and goats, which are really quite oblivious to oncoming traffic. You have to get very dose to honk at them before they move.

The speed limit on highways is 110 km ph. On the minor highways the limit ranges from 70 to 90 km ph. Do not speed, as there are traffic police strategically situated around certain bends. Distances between major towns are: from KL to Johor Bahru, 368km (221 miles); from KL to Malacca, 144km (8G miles); from KL to Kuantan, 259km (155 miles); from KL to Butterworth, 369km (221 miles); from Johor Bahru to Malacca, 224km (134 miles); from Johor Bahru to Kuantan, 325km (195 miles); from Johor Bahru to Mersing, 134km (80 miles); from Johor Bahru to Butterworth, 737km (442 miles).

To rent a car in Malaysia, you must produce a driver's license from your home country that shows you have been driving at least 2 years. There are desks for major car-rental services at the international airports in Kuala Lumpur and Penang, and additional outlets throughout the country (see individual city sections for this information). Hitchhiking is not common among locals and I don't really think it's advisable for you either. The buses between cities are very affordable, so it's a much better idea to opt for those instead

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