So what is the verdict on life in Malaysia, after two months getting to know our locality, some of the people and how things work in everyday life? Here are some of the aspects we particularly appreciate:

First, the weather. As I write, sitting in our 20th floor flat, the ground has disappeared under sheets of heavy rain. Forked lightening is dancing across the Strait of Johor (between us and Singapore) and the thunder is deafening. Yet two hours ago, I was swimming under brilliant blue skies, topping up my tan. I find the unpredictability of the weather exhilarating, probably because the rain is warm and I don’t generally have washing out on the line! A gloomy morning does not mean a gloomy afternoon.

Bills here are a lot less than in the UK. Our water bill last month was approximately £3.50 (metered), and the electricity about £34. Given that we use the a/c and fans particularly at night, have an electric oven and a whole load of gadgets etc, this is pretty good. I paid £40 for a gas bottle for the hob over two months ago, including a deposit and installation. Petrol is one fifth of the price of the UK.

The people here are very friendly and helpful, especially the native Malaysians, as opposed to the more hard-nosed and business-oriented Chinese Malaysians. It’s not that the latter are not friendly, but they are definitely harder to get on with in general. If you try out your Bhasa Malay, you will get lots of encouragement and BIG smiles!

Food is good – healthy, tasty and unlikely to give you any tummy problems. The variety on offer is wide, including MacDonald’s, Pizza Hut and Burger King for those with no discrimination! Our daughter finds school food fine in the main and has developed a liking for sushi and fresh pineapple.

The trip to take my family to school / work every morning takes six or seven minutes, on good roads with almost zero traffic. I can be at a Western -style shopping mall in 20 minutes, or at my nearest Tesco’s (there are three) in about five. Singapore is within easy reach and travel within Malaysia is very good, with Senai airport about 40 minutes away, good trains and toll roads to most places.

On the other hand, there are some aspects which we find irritating. Tesco’s, for example, opens at 8am but you will not find much on the shelves before 10am. The non-halal and wine / spirit sections do not open until 9am, although Guinness and lager etc are freely available. Other shops do not generally open until as late as 11am. To compensate, they are open until late at night, but we are usually too tired to contemplate evening shopping in the heat. 

Malaysian drivers usually obey the signs and do not speed. The exception is when turning right at a junction: there, no matter which lane they are in, if they want to go right they will, cutting across anything in their path. No matter what the guide books tell you, road signs are in Bhasa Malay and there are not many reminders of speed limits.  You soon learn Awas means caution, and Berhenti means stop!

We are slowly adapting to the heat and humidity. I had heard all sorts of scare stories, but these days offices and schools have a/c, as do all the cars and flats, so you are never far from a cool blast of air. We find that drinking plenty of water and taking life at a slightly slower pace works well for us and have not had any problems. Actually, maybe the day we spent in Singapore, at the zoo, was quite hard work.

There is a dearth of restaurants in our suburb. Apparently Chez Papa, near the centre of JB, is brilliant but it is also pricey and we would consider it for a birthday maybe, but not as a regular haunt. The outdoor food hall behind Today’s Market sells individual portions of very tasty food, cooked to order and cheap (£3 for 20 beef and chicken skewers with satay sauce + a rice and noodle dish last night). I can see this becoming a regular feature of life here for the ex-pats. However, there is nowhere to go en famille, sit down and have a ‘proper’ meal , unless you want to travel to the shopping mall, third floor food court. There you have the choice between Thai, Korean, Taiwanese, Japanese, Chinese, Western, Cambodian, Vietnamese etc etc meals, but in a setting with an ambiance factor of about 1/10.

Ah well, there’s lots still to explore. We are heading to Kuala Lumpur for a few days soon, and maybe to Sentosa Island in November, followed by Penang for after Christmas. Can’t wait!