Yes I'm in Malaysia, the land of fiery red ants, I thought it was so cool to find these ants trying to make a nest from a fern in the tree in our garden.
They worked together, and I decided that pulling together book-lovers and kindle fanatics is something I'm passionate about right now...It's made the transition from US back to Malaysia much smoother...
You get a little pampered as a book lover after living in the USA for 5 years ;)
Books are available cheap and shipped to ur doorstep in a matter of days...reliably...
I've had my Kindle for 5 months now and brought in a few more for friends in Kuala Lumpur. It's really been an amazing investment. It's really not funny how much we pay for hardcopy books here in Malaysia. The Kindle cuts that cost and gave me access to books that I would otherwise not be able to read here.
So my marriage with my Kindle when it arrived in August has been an ever deepening love affair.
Also there's been children...friends that wanted kindles here.
Turmoil, as I finally sorted out a troublesome Kindle account.
That finally gave me the confidence to go full swing back to blogging about it.
And anticipation...I'm waiting for Jung's autobiography on Kindle...I already have it on pre-order...
So first things first, how would you get the Kindle into Malaysia?
Option #1: Buying a Kindle 3 online and have it shipped to Malaysia - unfortunately no can do - Kindle still doesn't ship to Malaysia as far as I know at this point. So you cannot buy
Option#2 Buying a Kindle online and having a relative, friend or acquaintance bring it to Malaysia - YES that is possible - but wait, how would you buy a kindle with a Malaysian credit card when they would KNOW ur from Malaysia...
Technical tip #1 - Register an US Amazon.com account with an email account not linked to a particular country, have a friend with gmail invite you to join gmail or yahoo (without the .uk etc)
(There's a reason I like gmail...since I've used that I've never lost an email I accidentally closed the browser on, or couldn't find in my mailbox)
You will be able to buy the Kindle online - but wait how do I do that?
You will need a valid US address - any address will do...pick a point on the google map...
Technical tip #2 - Register a separate MYS Amazon.com account with ur regular email and buy a gift card with a Malaysian credit card and send it to the gmail email (or any email account for that matter)
Note try NOT to send it to facebook, as it will link amazon.com to it and detect ur in Malaysia.
Remember to redeem the gift card on the US gmail Amazon.com account...then just purchase the Kindle, Amazon will always use ur giftcard before looking for credit card...
Option#3 Buying a Kindle online, have it shipped to a US based shipping warehouse, e.g
http://www.myus.com/cgi-bin/aff/new_landing.cgi?id=1000721&gclid=CP3ors3H1qYCFUN66wodYGggIA
Then have as many Kindles as u want shipped to Malaysia...
Option#4 Go to the USA...if you do, visit Rickett's Glen in PA...it's a beautiful hidden gem of a mountain with many waterfalls...
So this is the rough sketch of the first step, more details and trouble shooting tips as questions roll in.
I really hope they open up to Malaysia, but meanwhile...loopholes have been found...
I've had two friend successfully started their very own Kindle accounts this way...
References:
http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/1053076
Please feel free to email julee.kindlefanatic.tay@gmail.com with any questions
