The day our first baby Hannah was born, I received an interview call from Malaysia. I replied I’ll contact her back. Long story short, I got the job in Malaysia. After 2 months of stay in Denmark moved to Malaysia on the 1st of February 2017. Even though my wife and I used to talk about living in a different country, Malaysia was not on our list. We didn’t know how long we would be staying, but we lived for 3 years and made it our first home and we had a wonderful family life in Malaysia.
We found a perfect home in Malaysia. Our apartment was a few minutes drive from the Petronas tower. The apartment had a pool, a Jacuzzi, gym, kids’ play area with a pool and several other amenities. Twice a day swimming became a daily routine.
The Taman Tasik Ampang Hilir lake was half a kilometre away from our home. It’s a busy location during the weekends with people of all ages gathering for different activities. Also during the day time, stalls were selling Ice Milo, Ice Kacang and Ice Lemon Tea to quench the thirst in hot weather. Weekday mornings were excellent for a walk or jog. I trained for a 5 km run around this lake. Also, it has plenty of play areas for kids, so we would go there very often.
The tropical climate in Malaysia gave us the freedom to spend outdoor life throughout the year. We would spend the whole evenings relaxing by the stunning Symphony Lake Water Show at the KLCC park. Kuala Lumpur city offers a huge variety of attractions and fun activities. We spent most of our weekends outdoors in the play areas, family-friendly parks or attractions. FRIM was another wonderful cool location to spend some quality outdoor time with the family. Also, we enjoyed the tunnel and bridge walk from KLCC mall to Pavilion Mall. Time square Theme Park and the Sunway Lagoon Water Park was our occasional destinations with visiting friends and family. Soaring skyscrapers and dazzling architectures make the city very interesting to explore.
Family life in Malaysia was always full of happenings. Many malls were weekend getaways for indoor play areas, shopping and trying out food varieties. Nasi Lemak and Char Kway Teow were my favourites and on the other side, Mamak and seafood were my wife’s favourite. Besides that, we enjoyed many local, Middle Eastern, Indian and Asian dishes while exploring the food culture in Malaysia. Our weekend trip to Melaka allowed trying a few authentic dishes including Durian Cendol and Ice Kecang. Our 3rd-anniversary dinner at the KL Tower Atmosphere 360 restaurant offered the best twilight view of the city.
Kuala Lumpur is surrounded by many forests and hills. I was a member of the KL Hikers group. Hiking to several locations such as Bukit Cheras, Bukit Gasing, Bukit Kiara, Cameron Highlands to name a few that will always be in my memory forever. This allowed me to experience life outside busy Kuala Lumpur. Cameron Highlands hike was a delightful one because of the misty hills and a huge forest area.
Genting highlands was one of our favourite weekend getaways from Kuala Lumpur’s warm climate. The outdoor theme park was under construction during our stay, but the cable car ride to the top of the Genting hotel and the cold, windy breeze at the Chin Swee Caves Temple were the things we were going after and of course some shopping.
Malaysia being at a 4-hour flight distance from Sri Lanka and also a prominent tourist destination, we used to have visitors often. It was a fantastic phase of life. We were very much delighted to be part of their pleasant memories.
Wet markets are one of the busiest locations that you would find in Malaysia. We usually buy fresh fish, meat and fruits from there. Early morning visits to the market would save up the whole day for more fun activities.
I worked with wonderful colleagues from different nationalities and I learnt different cultures, lifestyles and to see things from a different point of view. On Thursday nights we used to play badminton at KLCC or work out with my ‘Shifu’ Jason at the gym for a better transformation.
We love Malaysia, for its culture, for its food, the lifestyle and of course the people. As an ex-pat, I found it was very easy to blend into the norms of Malaysia because of the very welcoming people. We had a great family life in Malaysia. Every country has its pros and cons, and we will preserve Malaysia memories for the rest of our lives.
