The East Coast is the poorest and most culturally conservative part of Malaysia.
The economy is largely based on agriculture, and the people are fairly conservative. Most women wear a headscarf. Kelantan and Terengganu (but not Pahang) implement many aspects of Islamic law (syariah) in public. Beaches and supermarket queues are sex-segregated, and the availability of alcohol is limited. Unlike the rest of Malaysia, the weekend in Terengganu and Kelantan runs from Friday to Saturday, with shops and banks closed on Friday but everything open normally on Sunday.
On the resort islands, however, rules are far more relaxed. On these islands there is little gender-segregation and alcohol is readily available. If a backpacker decides to sunbathe topless in these areas, oglers (not mullahs) are her top concern.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about East Coast (Malaysia)
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in East Coast (Malaysia) - updated May 2024
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East Coast (Malaysia) Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
