Customer Reviews

Culture Shock! Malaysia

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I bought this book shortly before moving to Malaysia for a year. Reading it filled me with absolute terror. It made the country sound uncompromisingly alien and rather unpleasant. Thankfully I ignored the book and discovered Malaysia to be a very pleasant and incredibly inviting place.

The problem with the book (apart from the writer's continually negative attitudes to everything) is her very narrow perspective. Before coming to Malaysia, she admits, she spent her whole life in a small Swiss town. Thus, she finds everything that is slightly different from her upbringing horrifying and worth commenting on. The fact that not everyone in Malaysia is European and that they don't eat European food is considered worth several awe-inspired mentions . For anyone who has ever travelled, or who has a more cosmipolitan background, most of these comments are useless and are in fact rather nauseating.

Even worse, however, is the fact that she is only writing for those likely to live in her very specific situation - namely as the wife of a rich ex-pat. She spends a whole chapter lamenting the difficulty of choosing a good maid. She also points out the importance of finding things to do when you are at home and your husband is at work.

For me, as someone working in Malaysia full-time for a relatively modest salary, all this was completely useless. In fact, I'd imagine that for the bulk of people coming to Malaysia, much of this information will be either off-putting or superfluous.

Thus, I'd recommend avoiding this book - otherwise you might decide not to come at all.

This book an invaluable resource for anyone traveling to Malaysia. Did you know it's highly offensive to hand someone an object with your left hand? This book explains the local customs and cultures, so you will be a welcome guest, not one who is just tolerated.

this book was an excellent guide to malaysia, it not only helped my camping trip there, it was enjoyable as a book as well