Malaysia is cheaper than Singapore but dearer than any other country in South East Asia.

Despite that, the country has a very high standard of living proven by the fact that the country's GDP is more than 10 times the income level of the lower strata of society. While GDP is reported as being in the vicinity of US$4,000 php/pa, the average earnings of the lower half of society is less than US$300 per month.

There are some imported products that are priced almost equal to identical products in western countries and a wide range of imported goods cater for those with the money.

For the majority of us however, while cars and housing are expensive, our daily living costs are a joke to most visiting foreigners.

My husband, who migrated from Australia, gave up converting local costs back into AUD$ because he always gave the game away by laughing.

When a mechanic charged him US$1.50 to replace the rusted accelerator pedal on our Mercedes Benz, the mechanic could not see the joke.

To give you a few ideas, here is a table showing a selection of daily items - (exchange rate RM3.1 = US$1.00)