Back to Malaysia

Yes, I have arrived back in Malaysia for round two. The first round was from 2006-2010. The school set me up in a five star hotel for my first week, but I didn’t blog from there because Internet costs rm25 per hour. As I spent four years in Malaysia before, there are some things I want to do differently this time. The first thing I am doing differently is not throwing my money away on rent every month. My employer provides a housing allowance rather than free housing and I intend to use it more wisely this time. There are plenty of apartments near my school, but in my opinion they don’t represent good value.


I have secured a house that is in some cases 1/3 as cheap as the apartments other teachers will be living in. It’s not a mansion by any means and it’s not as modern as the other places available, but the price is absolutely right. Actually, to correct that, I’m confident that next year I can get a reduction in my rent or move to a nicer place in the same neighbourhood for the same price as there will be no real estate agent taking their cut.

The place already looks much nicer, but Lyna is in the process of decorating it. There will be another post of the crib once it’s finished. I think Lyna also has a secret plan to get a puppy to join us.

The one of the key benefits of this place is that its actualy a lot closer to Chinese restaurants than my last place. That means cheap eats and more importantly, cheap drinks (in Malaysian terms). There's also a pretty good pirate DVD.

Ugly gate should hopefully get painted soon.

Living room

Master bedroom

Beautiful view from balcony outside master bedroom