Moving from London to Kuala Lumpur

First glimpse of my new home

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Even by my standards, moving to Malaysia was a risk. In fact, it was easily the biggest gamble I ever took. 

The last time I'd visited was 14 years previously, for a few days. And now - in 2023 - I was moving, lock, stock and barrel. Selling my flat. Shipping my worldly possessions. Saying goodbye to people I loved, and a country I'd spent half my life in.

The only thing I remembered about Malaysia was the unrelenting heat and humidity. I don't do well in heat and humidity. I might actually have a medical condition that makes me unable to regulate my body temperature. Like a lizard, yes.

Well there's air conditioning everywhere in KL, you might say, and you'd be right. But I love being outdoors, and I just like to walk everywhere. In London I used to walk for one or two hours instead of taking the tube.

Which brings me to the topic of sidewalks in KL - or lack thereof, from what I'd read. Another black mark. Luckily I didn't know just how hard it would be to even cross the road here!

Then there was arts and culture. Would I find a supportive community of fellow writers? Would I find decent museums and art galleries and theatres? 

What about my social life? "I'm afraid you'll be lonely," my friend Sarah said. I understood her concern. It had been a long time since I lived in a non-Anglo country, and when I did, it was expats I bonded with. Expats who kept leaving.

So why move at all? Well, if I wanted to become a struggling novelist, I needed to make the pound stretch further. And if I wanted to live closer to my parents, I had to either move back to Canada (which does not tick the pound-stretching box) or go to Malaysia, where they were thinking of moving to permanently.

Now, I'm not a complete idiot, so I did consider visiting Malaysia for a few months before moving. But what good would it do, I asked myself. Even if I hated it, my reasons for moving didn't leave much wiggle room. And I knew I could adapt, somehow. After all, I detested London at first, yet ended up loving it.

Nor did I do any research before I left, beyond looking for a place to live. Arriving in a new city is, I think, like meeting a potential lover for the first time. Nothing really prepares you for it, even if you know a lot about them or even if you’ve met virtually. Maybe there'll be an instant connection. Maybe you won't take to each other at all. Or maybe it'll take time to brew. Which one it was, I would only know once I got there.

The gamble paid off. I did have cold feet at the last minute, I'll admit. Leaving British airspace tugged at my heartstrings; I wanted to turn the plane around. But from the moment I landed in KL, I think I knew.

It was love at first sight.

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