Ampang Market

Visit to Ampang wet market with Tony H.

Shipping to Malaysia

We are adjusting to this very different way of life here. We are still transient even though we now have an apartment- it is empty and we are awaiting our cargo.

I've heard some stories about shipping items into Malaysia recently so I'm leary now to suggest shipping anything from the states... Judy told us that she had something shipped to her and all that arrived was an empty box- someone at the post office stole the contents! Doug also told me that out of the two things they had shipped from the states last year, only one arrived. He also shared a story about someone who received a birthday gift 4 years later because it went missing in the shipping process. Just last week my mom shipped a Garmin GPS to us labeled "children's toys" to see if it could slip through customs... that was prior to hearing these stories, so we'll see what happens.

Having said that, if you still want to attempt a shipment direct to KL the best shipping address for us will likely be the school's:

Brian Inskeep
c/o ISKL PO Box 12645
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 50784

Our Home... Finally!

Well, today we finally did it... we actually committed to an apartment very close to the ISKL Ampang campus and with an easy commute to Melawati (where Brenda will be teaching and Rex will be attending prep senior (kindergarten))

The apartment is about 2500 sq ft and well renovated in an older type block, set amongst the rain forest and only a few minutes walk from Ampang Point, shops, taxis etc. There are plenty of good walks around the area... the location is ideal.

It has 3 bedrooms plus a maid's room behind the kitchen. It also has 3 bathrooms... and one with a bath tub! (Bath tubs we are finding are a rarity here)

The whole apartment was renovated last year with light sand beige marble throughout. It has central air (also a rarity here). Kitchen & bathrooms all have new fittings and fixtures. The kitchen is quite modern (although small) with granite counters and relatively new electrical appliances inc a washing machine and drier and a fairly large fridge and microwave.

Apartment is on 4 levels with the dining room and kitchen/maid's room & bathroom on the ground. The back windows face the jungle where we can see some very entertaining performances from the local monkeys. On the next level up there are nice big patio doors to the balcony overlooking the city. The building is high above the city so the view from the balcony incorporates the city with those amazing Petronas Twin Towers and the KL Tower. Great view! Up one more level is a family area/loft plus the two bedrooms with a bathroom.
The final staircase leads to the master bedroom and a gorgeous master bath.

We have extremely easy access to my school 5 minute drive/ 15-20 minute walk.
We can also get to the KLCC quickly via the elevated highway and be at the Twin Towers in less than 10 minutes.

We are still staying at the Woodward's... but now that we have secured a home we will begin preparing for our cargo to be unloaded. (Tomorrow we find out if it is here)

Jalan Alor

http://www.malaysiasite.nl/jalanaloreng.htm





Brenda smoking a shisha.

Pangkor Island Beach Resort

http://www.pangkorislandbeach.com/

Zoo Negara

We decided to put all of the home hunting, car shopping, and getting to know Malaysia aside, and we allowed ourselves some fun at the National Zoo. Our entrance cost for the entire family was $12 US and lunch cost $5 with drinks. The zoo was full of all kinds of exotic animals and plants. We saw crocodiles, hippos, tons of monkeys, various Asian bears and tigers, and apes including chimpanzees. Many of the animals are indigenous to Malaysia like the Sun Bear also known as the Honey Bear which looks friendly enough, but I’d hate to run into any of these animals in the jungle while hiking or riding bikes. We took a family photo with a Shetland pony and Brian and I holding two boa constrictors. Phoenix got a little nervous with the snakes because they seemed extra interested in him and they kept wrapping themselves around his feet. The only other time I had the opportunity to hold a snake of this size was on our honeymoon in St. Lucia and that was two guys on the side of a street in the jungle. We didn’t stop for that photo.

The most obvious differences at the zoo here compared to the US, are that the animals are so much easier to see and they are really active. In many areas, you could almost get in with them if you wanted to, but I don’t think that it would be safe. We ended the day by the two boys feeding an elephant with huge tusks.

Checkmate

Rex beats Mommy in a game of chess at ISKL. This is what a picture is worth… a thousand words. My strategy at chess??? I don’t have any. I just feel lucky that I know how most of the pieces move.

New Friends

We went out today to look for cars and Courtney and Jake went with us. It was an educational time. We learned that it is easy to get lost even when you’ve been to a place. We learned that sometimes it just seems that you are lost and then viola, you arrive! We learned that cars are heavily taxed here and in a few short years all cars look like they are 10 to 15 years old. We are considering a Toyota Avanza which is made here in Malaysia and not nearly as expensive because there are no import taxes.

After test driving the car, we had some Thai food before meeting all of the “newbies” for a fun time at a wine bar called Denise’s in Ampang. The night out was another invitation from Simmo and Margaret Chang and Richard and Dante to all of the new folks that had been staying at the Renaissance Hotel for the past ten days. So lots of people took up the invitation and met up for some fun. There was quite a few… let’s see… Donna and Joseph (US), Simmo and Margaret (Australia and England), Richard (US), Heather (US/ Taipei), Alyssa (US/Taipei), Jake and Courtney (US, San Francisco) us, Chris and Max (US, Cambodia and Philippines) and Bernie (England). It was a fun evening and didn’t end there. Several (most) of us went up to Margaret and Simmo’s for a night cap, the view and more visiting.

Getting Situated

Today we made some head way with our house searching. We met with the owners of the place in Taman Tar near the school. Taman Tar is an ideal location next to the country club/golf course. Being next to the Ampang campus, Brenda would be able to drop me off on the way to her campus and it would simplfy our transporation needs.

The Chang's Home

We met Margaret and Simmo Chang at the Canada Party we attended earlier in the week, and then we called them for help pricing out appliances. They invited us out for lunch and swimming at their condo. It was a great time and we met their kids Keira and Conner. Nice kids and I’m hoping that Keira will baby-sit the boys once in a while. She was very good with them. This is where we would really love to live… UKay Bayo. What a view!

USA Independence Day

We were invited to a Fourth of July Party at the DeHart’s home. That was great as there were so many kids with 4 different families. Barb DeHart is a permanent substitute at the Melawati campus, so she is there every day. Her husband is a minister/missionary of a Christian church. The two other families that were there were new to KL as well and I think that we were all on overload with the newness of it all. It is nice to be part of such a welcoming expat community. That is very new and refreshing for us. Barb would have been our neighbour had we signed with the home in Sri Ukay at Mr. Lim’s huge home. It just wasn’t the best location for us.

First Day Driving in Kuala Lumpur

Driving is an adventure all on its own. Judy really wanted to take Brian out on a driving lesson before she left, but that didn't happen as we were so tired.

What's different about driving here... the driver is on the right side of the car, you drive on the opposite side of the road than the US, and no one obeys street signs which there are very few of, and the signs are in Malaysian. We decided that a GPS is in order.

Brian really did well. I was to afraid to try it. Remember that the driver is on the right and that has some connotations. Shifting a manual car on the left is weird, looking through the rear view mirror on the left is weird, backing up and looking through to the left is weird, and every time you change lanes the windshield wipers come on because that lever is opposite what we are used to. Crazy. My job was to navigate ~ HA! ~ and to remind Brian constantly to "stay to the left". It was very comical.

This was our second day house hunting or is it the third? We have found interesting choices... but are still looking. We stopped at the stalls by the schools to pick up dinner. It is called Nan Corner and is in Taman Tar. The boys ate their first satay from the stalls. They were hungry and liked it. No house yet.

Home Hunting

Looking for housing in KL has proven to bit of challenge for us that are used to American standards. Everything is just really different. For instance most older homes have the asian style toilets in the ground. There are bodes in every bathroom and a bathroom in every room, but bathtubs are a rarity. We did find a couple of places that we considered but for one or more reasons we by passed them because the location, lack of tubs, funky potty, funky smell, no view, or scary neighbourhood. We really wanted somewhere that we could use just one car. We hoped for Taman Tar which is near the Ampang Campus where Brian would be located, but anything decent and updated was out of our price range or unavailable. Then we received a call about a place that became available in the last few days as the teacher living there just found out about a job that she had been hoping for in Jordan. Her name was Julie Mosca and had been staying in Arizona with family. She actually met Joan, Robin Inskeep’s cousin on the telephone. Robin let me know about Julie and that she was a teacher at the Melawati campus through ISKL. What a small world. Anyway, long story short… that is our new home and it is available on August 1st. So, we have a home it just isn’t available for awhile. Luckily we have a great place to stay on Bukit Anterra Bangsa for the interim. Worst case scenario, we will have to stay at a hotel near the Ampang campus for a few days. We got the link home for RM 2800 (under $1000 US) and the owner is putting in a new tile floor upstairs, polishing the marble floors downstairs (don’t get excited, they are marble tiles flagstone style), hot water in the kitchen, and a new air conditioner in the salon (we call it a loft) or second living room area. It is smaller than our US home, but I think we’ll be happy there. There is a 9 hole golf course and a loop around it with a walking path. There is a club with a pool and apparently there is yoga classes there a few days a week. We will see how we do once all of our stuff arrives and we try to cram it into the home.

Down to the Business of Getting Established

Today we met our new amah, Daisy. The kids liked her right away and she is good with gentle but firm discipline. She will take great care of our family which gives me great relief. While Daisy cared for the kiddos, we were driven to Maybank which is the bank here to set up our accounts. There was another couple with us, and it took nearly 3 hours to set everything up. We even had an appointment, so I cannot imagine what it would be like to go to the bank without an appointment. I found it interesting that while we sitting at a desk being helped people were standing right behind us like within 6 inches or so waiting to conduct their business.

The next stop was ISKL to pick up our seed money from the school to help us get set up. We were told that it would be a check, but they handed us RM $9000 (about $3000 US) in an mafia style envelope and told us to be careful with that. Okay. I think that jet lag has set in now as everything was starting to feel surreal. Doug and Tracy Woodward, our new great friends, showed up with Reeve and Gabriella (two of their kids) to meet Rex. The kids played "hide from the parents" (Rex's idea) while we had a look around. There is a great turtle/koi/meditation pond that the kids had fun with.

From there we drove up to Bukit Anterra Bangsa (Bukit means "hill" in Malaysian), which is where the Woodward family lives. There is only one road in and it is backed up to the jungle. We would choose to live up here, but that would require us to have two cars and we have a goal of only purchasing one car. They have a beautiful home. Then we went over to another ISKL family home to celebrate Canadia Day with a BBQ. We met lots of people: Simmo and Margaret, Richard and Dante, and others. Did I say it was surreal and jet lag was setting in?

First Day in Kuala Lumpur

Our temporary home for the next ten nights will be the five star hotel called the Renaissance. It was gorgeous inside like an oasis from the bustle of a big, busy, crowded city.

We were greeted by our great friend, Judy Irving. She handed us a hand phone, her car keys, and her help and guidance for the next 24 hours before flew back to the US for her vacation. Judy treated us to a short walking tour around her area of the city which included KLCC which is the ENORMOUS mall in the breathtaking Petronas Towers. I could not believe the size of this mall. WOW! I couldn't even considering shopping there as it was so overwhelming. You can get anything your heart desires there I'm sure, but it will be at a price.

We stopped at the stalls by Judy's apartment and she let him know that he should look for rats. Great! Now every time to go to the stalls for food, he asked where the rats are. Nice. Just as a side note, the stalls are everywhere. They are kind of like camping shacks. They feel like temporary buildings at offer an array of foods and drinks. This picture is of a man making a desert roti. It is a Malaysian bread that is definitely not on my diet, but it was delicious.

We slept very comfortably that first night in our two rooms at the Renaissance Hotel. Thanks for your help and patience Judy!