Rainstorm

Today we were caught in a torrential downpour (hot rain) as we popped out to try to sort out a local car rental. We were literally across the street from the hotel lobby but there was no covered route so we decided, since it was our hotel anyway, we would brave it. Drookit is the only word to describe the result of a 10 second dash. The lightning was spectacular after we got up to the room with some lightning bolts that were VERY close to the hotel. As is the norm though, an hour or so later the rain was stopped and a couple of hours after that you would not have known it had been raining.

We managed to find a rental car and then set off in a taxi to collect it. We have hired it for a month so that we don't rush into a purchase. There is a car called a Great Wall M4 that we like a lot but the automatic version will not be available for another month or so. The other favourite is a Perodua Myvi which is a smallish car but amazingly roomy on the inside. That's what I have hired so that I can test out whether we would manage with one permanently. I have only driven it back to the hotel but I have to say that I was surprisingly impressed with it considering it is amongst the cheapest available.

We hope to conclude the paperwork for the villa tomorrow and we can then start the search for furniture. The tentative move in date is 29th August so fingers crossed for that. We are also hoping to check out a golf course or two tomorrow and maybe get a game in the next few days before I start work in earnest next Wednesday.
David

Some pictures of the house

Housing update

We have today agreed the rental of a house which is literally right next door to the school where I will be working. The house is brand new. It's a semi detached although its a bit different from UK the houses are joined back to back so you don't even realise you have a neighbour. There are three en-suite bedrooms and a huge living room, and separate dining room. Only downside is there is no bath, only showers!
This picture is the same house but in the next row. I thought at the time that this was the exact house we would get but actually its the one in the next row along. Exactly the same house though.

The house is on a gated community with a clubhouse that has a swimming pool, small gymnasium and bookable common room. I will try to post some more pictures when I learn better how to get them off the phone and into the computer. Our house is ate the very edge of the community. Everything you can see to the right of the tree in the picture is part of our house. Now the serious car hunt begins.

David

Houses and Cars

Yesterday we spent the day looking mostly at houses and a couple of cars. We have found a property very close to the school that looks perfect and our estate agent is now in negotiations with the owner to try to fix out a few issues. We are very excited about it and are going back for a second viewing today. I hope I can get a couple of pictures today to post for you to see. If we get it for the money we consider it is in the PERFECT location. I am purposely not giving too much away here at the moment until the deal is secured because a number of the teachers who were initially looking in the city are realising that the traffic is VERY busy and that a place nearer the school is not such a dumb idea. I don't want the owner realising that there is competition for the place in case I get gezumpped. The car I had identified looks like it is not available in automatic transmission until October so I need to decide whether to rent and wait until it comes in or just buy something else. We saw a nice little car yesterday that we think would be a good alternative. Much smaller but it has a big feel inside. I am planning to test drive the manual version of the bigger car and have a good look at it then decide whether to wait (not a thing I am overly good at) or just to get the smaller one. Sheila has picked her colour for the smaller one. Mystical purple! I have to say it's a really nice colour so I won't have to drive around with a paper bag over my head with holes cut therein.

Getting ready now for our second viewing. Keep your fingers crossed for a successful negotiation.
David

House search ready to begin

We have spent the last two days trying to adjust to the seven hour time difference and completing some admin tasks for the school. Our bank account should be in place and we have toured both the junior school and senior school campuses today. The school is superbly resourced and things are really well organised.

Tomorrow we meet with the estate agents to start the house hunt. We have identified a couple of possibilities from the internet and are looking forward to getting things moving. The hotel is lovely but we really want to get into our own place. We think we want to live south of the school and travel into the city from that side because we are not really city dwellers. Most of the new staff are quite young and either WANT to be in the city for the nightlife or NEED to be near the junior campus because they have young children attending there. We are in the happy position of not needing either of those things and so can look further afield where our allowance will go that much further. We have spotted one property that is only a few hundred yards from the school front door. We will definitely have a look at that.

I also need to get a car organised but I am not in a rush whilst we are living slap bang in the middle of traffic jam corner. This hotel is in a very busy part of town. It is literally attached to the Mega Mall shopping complex and so attracts cars from everywhere. It is however simply a turn left out of the lift of the hotel and voila, you are in the shopping mall. Take the link pathway from that mall and voila, you are in Garden Mall. There is a big variety of shopping on the doorstep here.

Weather here is very pleasant indeed. Thunderstorm yesterday but so far not looking like any rain today. It's hot and sunny with lots of clouds that intermittently block the sun keeping the temperature very pleasant indeed. After the house and car search? Then comes the golf course search.
D

Midnight o'clock

It's midnight o'clock here in KL and we have to be up in 8 hours time but my body thinks its 5pm and it's really not sleepy. The flight on the Airbus A380 (upper deck) was very good and I slept a decent bit of the night. Sheila has gone to be already trying to convince her head that it's bed time. I can feel the alarm going tomorrow morning and my body being at the depths of its slumbers. Time will tell, like it? time will tell. Good one Dave (oh thanks very much).
I tried a night view picture from the hotel room

It gives a wee flavour of the scene. That's the Cititel Hotel just across the way from us. I am going to try to join Sheila in the land of nod methinks but I am not overly optimistic. Wish me luck!

KL another city that never sleeps

Arrived safely in the Boulevard Hotel, in downtown Kuala Lumpur. We are in the Executive suites on the 21st floor and have a great view of the city from the window. Sounds like it's going to be a bit noisy because the traffic is very busy outside, albeit some distance away .... downwards! Looks like it might go like that all night.

Tomorrow we start our orientation programme with a tour of the city. It's already 10.30pm here but our bodies think it's only 3.30pm so we are still very much awake. It will be a different story tomorrow morning when the tour starts I guess. Hotel is very comfortable but we'll be glad when we eventually get to a place we will call ours for the next couple of years. The other new staff that we have met are very friendly and the first meal was excellent. Hey, I think I might just like it here.

I have been given a KL mobile sim card and so those of you who might need it should receive a text in the next day or two with my new number.