East Coast Monsoon, Colder Highlands Weather.

With the early arrival of north-east monsoon season around 25th October instead of the usual in November, the east coast was pretty much inundated with heavy rain causing extensive flooding on the east coast.

Looking for sun, sand, sea and beach on the east coast? Forget it!

November to January is not a good time to go for stroll by the seaside. You will probably end up indoors more than having fun frolicking in the sunshine. And sure enough the hotel occupancy rate will drop during this period. At some time many years ago, in order to entice visitors during the monsoon period, hotels issued a challenge that should there be a continuous 24 hour rain during your stay, you will be given a free day replacement stay.

Well, read the challenge carefully, 24 hours continuous rain? Well it is possible but does not always happen despite the monsoon. More likely the rain will start and stop and start repeatedly. Well, I don't see the offer nowadays anymore.

However, there's a six day Monsoon Cup yachting race going on right now from the 29th Nov – 4th Dec at Pulau Duyong, probably somewhere on the Terengganu coast. The seas are pretty rough but they seem to like the strong winds. They even commented that it is the ideal condition for the race! Talk about crazy!

Thankfully the west coast, though wet, does not experience the heavy rain like the east coast. Sure makes the weather around KL pretty cool.

And what of Cameron Highlands? Well, for those who complained that it is not as cold as before should make a trip to the highlands. Now is the best time to experience the cold climate weather of Cameron Highlands!

October had the heaviest rainfall, and gradually the amount of rainfall will reduce till January. Bring along your raincoat or umbrellas because you just never know when it will rain!

And for all you jungle trekkers and backpackers out there, prepare to get wet!

For those who like geography, here's a quick refresher about the overall Malaysian climate weather. Normally there are two monsoon season, namely the north-east South China Sea monsoon and south-west Sumatran monsoon. The north-east monsoon usually starts in November and ends in January, while the south-west monsoon starts in May and ends in July. And there is of course the inter-monsoon rain which is just as heavy but not long lasting.

With the mountain range stretching out like a spine from north to south, most of the north-east monsoon never quite crosses over to the west coast. Still it does get pretty wet and cool in the Klang Valley. And yes, it gets quite cold in the highlands!