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MALAYSIA
Communications
Overseas mail takes four to seven days to reach its destination.
Packages are expensive to send, with surface/sea mail taking two
months to Europe, longer to the USA, and even air mail taking a
few weeks.
There's usually a shop near the post office which will wrap your
parcel for RM5 or so. If you leave your letter or package unsealed,
the postage will be cheaper. Each Malaysian town has a General Post
Office, with a poste restante/general delivery section, where mail
is held for two months. GPOs also forward mail (for one month),
free of charge, if you fill in the right form .
There are public telephone boxes in most towns in Malaysia; local
calls cost 10 sen for an unlimited amount of time. For long-distance
calls, it makes sense to use a card phone , either the ubiquitous
Uniphone (yellow), the green Cityphone, or the widespread government
Kadfon (blue). Cards of RM5, RM10, RM20 and RM50 are sold at Shell
and Petronas stations, newsagents and most 7-Elevens. Note that
the Uniphone only takes RM20 or RM50 cards. Check for an international
logo on the phone booth before dialling overseas. To call abroad
from Malaysia, dial 007 + IDD country code + area code minus first
0 + subscriber number.
You can also use your BT or AT&T chargecard in Malaysia. Collect
(reverse charge) calls can be made from hotels or from a Telekom
office (open office hours), though these are found only in larger
towns. In KL, Penang and Kota Kinabalu there are also Home Country
Direct phones - press the appropriate button and you'll be connected
with your home operator, who can either arrange a collect call or
debit you. Many businesses in Malaysia have mobile phone numbers;
they are prefixed 011 or 010 and are expensive to call.
Internet cafés are plentiful and often found in smaller places,
as well as major towns. Many hostels and guesthouses also provide
internet access, as do top-of-the-range hotels. Prices are very
competitive, ranging between RM3 and RM10 per hour. Connections
are invariably excellent. |
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