Ocean-View Luxury with $824 Rent
Why this hidden kingdom could be the most affordable luxury escape in the world today.
Before I left Chicago, I never thought I’d live such a luxurious lifestyle.
I’m a typical middle-class girl who has always worked hard but had to watch my pennies because of the cost of living back home. But after we moved to Penang in 2013, things changed. My office went from being a loft with a view of the alley to one with tropical ocean breezes coming through my windows, whipping through my hair and tickling my nose with the slight smell of salt.
I became one of those people; the ones that I used to be envious of, living that lux life.
I’d always dreamt of living on the beach, on some amazing island with good food and even better people, but it was always a dream until we moved to Penang.
Our modern apartment was 2300 square feet with three large bedrooms, all with ensuite bathrooms and views to die for. No matter which window I gazed out of, I would regularly find myself lost in what’s in front of me: the bright blue sky with a few wispy clouds on the horizon, the bright green jungle full of monitor lizards and monkeys, and the Straits of Malacca’s multi-colored blue hues.
I still pinch myself when I remember that we only paid $824 per month. A condo with an ocean view? Me?
We couldn’t have afforded a place like this back home; it would be over $5000, but in Penang, an ocean view condo is an affordable luxury that we took full advantage of.
It’s more than just housing that is inexpensive. Adventures are equally as reasonable.
For $33.50 or less, depending on your negotiating skills, you can hire a boat for ten people to motor over to Monkey Beach, a quiet little beach in the Penang National Park that is never busy.
Or for $42 a person, you can hire a boat for the day, and the captain will cook you a BBQ feast while you’re snoozing in a hammock. All you bring are your sunnies, swimmers, and beers.
One time, we drove 2.5 hours to Gopeng to go white water rafting. We spent the day riding the class II and III rapids through some of the most beautiful scenery I had ever seen. We rowed past 15-meter waterfalls and tall green mountains peering out of the rainforest while an army of black and electric green butterflies led the way for us.
We worked up quite the appetite and had a major buffet waiting for us when we got back. But as with all things food in Malaysia, this wasn’t just any ordinary buffet; they went all out. We had live cooking stations; homemade noodles were being rolled for our made-to-order curry noodle soup, black pepper lamb, chili prawns being stir-fried, fried chicken and a dessert bar with fresh fried bananas and pandan crepes with sweet coconut filling being hand rolled for us.
An experience like this could easily cost hundreds of dollars, but in Malaysia, it was only $44.
While we lived there, we travelled to Cambodia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Indonesia, Japan, and Sri Lanka. We’ve even had to get more pages put into our passports to make room for more stamps.
Flights within Asia can be as low as $70 round-trip but rarely exceed a couple of hundred dollars. And accommodations are even more wallet-friendly. We stayed in a beach bungalow in Phuket for $64…a four-star boutique hotel in Hoi An, Vietnam, for $65…in Bali, we rented a 3-bedroom pool villa, a five-minute walk to the Seminyak beach, which came with a housekeeper, for $130.
It’s not just the big-ticket items like rent and travel that are inexpensive. It’s the whole lifestyle. We used to get two-hour massages at our condo for $22, a plate of really yummy noodles for $2 and a week’s worth of all local organic produce for $14.75.
It turns out, you don’t need a million bucks to live a million-dollar lifestyle. You just need to know where to look.
Want to Dig Deeper on Life in Malaysia?
If you’re curious about what it really costs to live in Malaysia, how to get a visa, or what it takes to make the move, we’ve got you covered. Check out these helpful resources: