We’ve been in our new house for over a week now and we have almost all of the essential items we need in place now. For this update I’d like to share with you some of the adventures we have had and also some general observations from my time here.
To be honest, there isn’t much I have been missing from life back home. However, one thing that I miss the most is carpets! Pretty much everywhere here is stone flooring. It still feels weird walking around in bare feet all the time – my feet aren’t used to it. Perhaps in time I will get used to it, otherwise I might have to buy those ludicrous looking sandals that have a fluffy carpet in the soles for me to walk around the house in. I’m already loosing fashion points for wearing crocs, so I may have to lose a few more.
We made our first day trip to Port Dickson, which is the closest area to us that has beaches. There are several in the area, but we chose the most popular one for our first visit ‘Pantai Telok Kenang’, as we went on a Tuesday when it would be quieter and had lots of amenities to make the visit comfortable. We were able to rent a table and chairs under a canopy for the day, and there were plenty of street stalls behind us offering a variety of food and drinks to sample – our favourite was deep fried battered banana covered in cheese! There was also a sound system nearby, pumping out reggae, which was the perfect accompaniment to a chilled day out. The kids really enjoyed playing in the sand and the sea, and this was one of the only times we felt considerably relaxed around them since we’ve arrived. Only an hour from home, we are certainly going to be paying regular visits back here in the future.
I have taken the new car out for a few spins, and one thing I have noticed here is that people either drive slow in the inside lane, or they speed in the outside lane; and there is little much going on in the middle lane. Our car is also an automatic, which has been super chill to drive – I don’t think I’ll ever go back to driving a manual, because of the convenience. First it was the electric mountain bike, and now it’s the car – I’m the paradigm of carefree living, your saviour, the automatic man!
Alcohol wise, it is highly taxed here. The cheapest from the supermarkets is 6-7 pounds for 6 x 330ml cans of lager (Carlsberg, Asahi, and Tiger are amongst the most common). There are a few alternative options for a different experience, they have Guinness Foreign Extra for Stout, Anchor Smooth for a more ale feel, and Kronenburg Blanc for a white beer feel. I was in a restaurant the other day and they had bottles of moonshine made from coconuts, so I aim to give that a whirl soon. We also booked our first holiday for October to the tax free island of Langkawi in Malaysia, so we will be able to bring back some bottles of spirits from there. Speaking of holidays, we will be holidaying a lot in Malaysia over the first year (due to tax purposes), as we are only allowed a combined amount of 28 days out of the country.
I have also found there to be many hidden costs to starting life as an expat here (things that I didn’t seem to read about on blogs prior to starting this whole process). There is a Malaysian and Foreigner rate for some services out here, in particular for entry to tourist destinations and also for ‘sign up fees’, for example getting a SIM card. Along with a new taxation system, getting to learn a new economy is also something that will take a while to get to grips with.
I may have mentioned before that WhatsApp is used for everything here. Everyone is using it for social chat, and I am amazed by the amount of business and legal transactions that it is used for. It’s also useful for when somebody does not speak good English, as you can often ask them to WhatsApp you, and they usually can communicate better using the written word.
The food continues to amaze me. We have had some amazing food from new restaurants we have tried, and I have found some amazing food from the food stalls that occupy the small town centre we live nearby to. The crazy thing I love about this place, is that it is cheaper to eat out than buy everything for home and eat in.
Speaking of food, we also attended a welcome dinner for the new expat teachers that was organised by the school. It was nice to meet some of the new staff, and we have also had a HR and ICT induction at the school too. It feels like we are slowly easing our way into the new academic year, and there is certainly some exciting opportunities ahead for me professionally, which I can’t share with you at this stage just yet.
As far as the weather goes we are acclimating to the heat a bit better – some days feel brutally hot, yet when there is cloud coverage we are fine, and the days are much more manageable. We experienced our first major downpour the other day, and a big storm passed through. The thunder and lightning started, and one flash went past every window, followed by a huge bang akin to a howitzer cannon being fired. My partner was outside, and came running in scared for her life. After she inspected the outside, there was huge hole in the ground on the other side of the fence, where the lightning had hit. Talk about a lucky escape! They do say that you never get struck by lightning twice.
Another bonus about working in Malaysia is that there are a large amount of public holidays here. So you know the score in the UK, Christian holidays count as public holidays for all citizens, and other religious holidays can only be taken by the respective religions, e.g. Muslims have a legal right to take a day off for Eid. However here, the religious holidays for the majority religious groups are public holidays for all people, so for example, everyone here will get December the 25th off as a public holiday, not just Christians. That is a fine example of multiculturalism, and also an example the importance of a deity here. The general rule of thumb seems to be that you are more respected if you hold a faith, rather than not.
Speaking of religion, we also made another day trip to a nearby Taoist temple called ‘Sak Dato’. In classic Asian style, it is situated on a hillside, and features all the standard temple things, including lots of statues of animals. Even though I am not religious, I do find more affiliation with Taoism due to it not believing in an omnipotent being beyond the cosmos. The highlight of the area, is Malaysia’s largest monkey statue situated at the top of the hill opposite, which you have to get to by crossing a suspension bridge. We decided to make the ‘pilgrimage’ despite it being roasting in the middle of the day, and the kids did really well with the climb. As we were near the top, my partner decided she couldn’t carry on and turned back. A spiritual elder saw this and told her off, convincing her to carry on as she had made it so far. I am glad we did, because the views were stunning and the sense of achievement was strong, considering we had two kids in tow. As part of this trip, we also ate at a cool local Chinese restaurant, where the only person in the village who spoke English had to come along and help us order our food. My fish was hooked out of the neighbouring lake, and the English speaker also got us to try some exotic fruit he’d picked – something that we had never seen or eaten in our lives before.
And finally, I managed to take a few hours out of everything to go and take in my first Malaysian punk-rock show, but in the spirit and ethos of Ont Road I will write a separate piece about this later. That’s it for now, I will be back next week to share some insights into my new life. Peace be with you.
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