10 day trip to Malaysia: Accommodation and Foreign Exchange

• 16 June 2016 | 1286 Views | By Mint2Save

Stage III: Get a classy Accommodation

Hotel Booking

AirBnB was a hot choice to check if we could get a private villa or a less commercialised property, but hard luck we couldn’t find anything there. So, I began searching up over Googling and searching over Facebook for better stays which were under budget. Thanks to the enthusiasm, that  the search ended when we found Ohana Suite at the Bukit Bintang in Kuala Lumpur.

Bukit Bintang is one of the most happening places in Kuala Lumpur and staying there meant access to all sorts of conveyance, shopping malls, restaurants and other amenities. So, I wasted no time and booked. Ohana Suites are combination of luxury service apartments and dormitory, located in the Taragon Square Apartments.

The luxury apartments seemed a nice option as they were located on a high floor, had a fully equipped kitchen, access to a pool, Wi-Fi, Cable TV and huge beds. Depending on the interior design, there were three different types of suites. Out of all those suites, I chose Neillo Suites, for our 5 day stay at Kuala Lumpur. It was located on the 22nd floor and seemed awesome. The cost we paid for the 5 day stay at Neillo Suite was Rs. 13131/-.

After booking the suite, I contacted the manager and he even arranged an airport pickup.

Okay, so stay at Kuala Lumpur was done. Thanks Agoda for that.

Now came the island of Langkawi.

This amazing island had some of the best stays of the world that included private beach resorts, sea side shacks, tree houses and what not. As I began planning late, I did find some problem in finding good accommodation at Langkawi. Taking a longer time to decide and researching through several reviews and browsing several websites, I landed up at De Baron Resort. Located near the Langkawi ferry station (the Jetty). Though it was far away from the popular beaches, it provided us with tranquility and a good view of the ocean. The breakfast was included in this package and was close to the duty free shops and popular vegetarian restaurants.

We stayed for a total of 5 days at De Baron Resort, whose tariff was MYR 870. We had to pay it in Malaysian and that brings to one of the most critical factors of any trip: Foreign Exchange.

Stage IV: Foreign Exchange:

Once you have the tickets, you can apply for Visa and once your Visa is with you, you can buy foreign currency (Malaysian Ringgit in this case). I planned on taking cash to Malaysia as it was convenient and we were not sure whether all cards would be accepted there or not. Foreign Exchange has to be treated like a commodity, where buying and selling price are varying every now and then. The foreign exchange dealer can earn a hefty profit on the foreign exchange.

Googled up again and found numerous foreign exchange dealers. A lot of them were even ready to deliver the currency at comfort of  house. The rate of 1 MYR, as per Google was around Rs. 16.50 and I decided not to shell out more than Rs.16.90 for 1 MYR. Started with the well known Thomas Cook. It quoted at a hefty Rs. 17.10 /MYR but offered a currency exchange right from home. A few more did the same too. It was then I realised that I have to go the place, take multiple quotes, do some bargaining and then get the currency.  Visiting the offices for foreign exchange allowed me to bargain over the exchange rate and I ended up getting 1MYR for Rs. 16.75.

I got a total of 4000MYR for Rs. 68,000.

Total Expenses by now had become: Rs. 118,000.