The Flight
Not recommended for the faint-hearted. A 4-hour stop in Dubai seemed like a good idea at the time, but it just prolonged the agony. And be warned - nowhere in Dubai airport can you beg, steal or borrow baby-food so poor Fynn was reduced to a Farley's rusk soaked in water, which he wasn't impressed with at all! It's not an experience we're in a hurry to repeat nor remember at length so here endeth I.
Housing
This is the beginning of our 2nd week in Malaysia and the house-hunting has been underway in earnest. We've found 2 places we love - Gita Bayu and Bangsar. Photos of the former below.
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| Shaded area of GB pool for kids |
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| Clubhouse restaurant |
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| GB gym |
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| Jacuzzi in pool |
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| Koi |
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| Floating pavilion |
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| GB pool |
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| Clubhouse restaurant |
Not too difficult to see the appeal! The thing about Gita Bayu is that it's only 15 minutes from work - not to be considered lightly when you see drivers on the roads here - but at least 30 from KL city where all the vibrancy of Malaysia, shopping and nightlife is. Also there is no shop on-site, and the nearest is a 10-minute drive to a big mall (The Mines). The pool closes at 7.30 and the restaurant at 5.30 so what do people do after hours? Just not sure we could survive with so little surrounding us as we've never claimed to be country-dwellers. And forget public transport - we'd probably both need cars living here.
Apparently there's a really good community feel to the place with Malaysians and Europeans making up about equal numbers, though the expats are mostly Australian rather than British. There is one other family from my school living there, but with both parents and 2 kids at the school, no chance of a carpooling :( And would a constant, unchanging community become claustrophobic after a while, or simply great friends? Not to mention the mozzies in this jungle areas...Despite all this you can see how gorgeous it is to be there, and the condos blend into the amazing landscape and are luxurious too.
On the other hand, Bangsar is a really lively expat area with a good mix of locals. The condo is huuuuge and fab and, extremely unusually, has a garden. When I say "fab" though, I mean potentially, as it has just being renovated. That gives us a chance to put our own mark on it, as it'll be all blank walls and bland furnishings. The facilities are ace and it's only a few minutes walk to shops, restaurants, bars etc. BUT, it's at least 30 minutes to work, with the additional factor of having to leave extra-early to avoid traffic. Not to mention that the condo isn't even ready yet - might not be for another 2 weeks so not exactly sure what we'd do in the meantime.
Having done a bit of exploring around KL yesterday, including Central Market, it is a great place to be and there is lots to discover. It's so appealing to live somewhere close to have access to it all and there are big pluses for the kids here too (as there are in Gita Bayu). Oh, decisions, decisions!
