Haggis68

Hi all, i am new be nice .....

My Oh has got herself a Head of Department job at the Tenby International School in Ipoh, we move out in August. I have so many questions some Malaysia in general others Ipoh related.

But my main desire is to find other ex pats out there to help me settle in, i can get the beers in, networking will be crucial for me as i (the unemployed OH) will attempt to teach English as TEFL qualified if at all possible i will also be considering doing voluntary work as well. I simple will not want to stay at home while OH is at work all day...uh uh to boring not for me.

so if you live in Ipoh, please let me know and well have a chat about whatever you like about the area, i may try and ask you for good areas to live and might ask about the floods last year and which areas were not flooded. lets chat.

regards for now.

bakedbean

Hello again. Of course we shall be nice

I think there was one person who was moving to Ipoh on this forum. Let's see if they respond. Most of us are in Penang, KL or Melaka or Nusajaya.

I'm not sure that Ipoh is a major expat town and actually may not be a bad thing hehe. Locals are generally very friendly and will usually be fluent in English so just try and mix with neighbours and others you meet. They will not bite. As I understand, Ipoh is predominantly racially Chinese....as is Penang where I live. Enjoy.

ex reg

Haggis68, have you been out to Ipoh to look around yet???

Haggis68

Love Baked beans,

Thanks for your response, in regard to not many living in Ipoh this is not a massive issue we are traveller adventurous types and will be travelling extensively outside of working commitments, so meeting peeps in Panang or KL is all good. we are in our 40's and pretty chilled, Ipoh peace and quiet may suit us and i like photography so will enjoy all of the contrasts there.

But we will have a car and so getting about will be easy enough.

May i ask you some Malasian Q's -

bugs! are they in your face all day buzzing in your earholes etc, or not to bad?

Heat - is it a dry heat or a moist damp heat and is it unbearable or just nice (nice would Tenerife temps)

a start, again thanks for your time.

lastly what negatives are there about living in Malaysia compared to the UK (not to say the UK is perfect it is not)

regards.

bakedbean

i don't notice too many bugs ...just mozzies. The Aedes mozzies are particularly dangerous so best to spray up.

Dry heat? Oh I wish. Sorry, it is very humid pretty much all year round. Some get used to it. Some don't. It's not a particularly pleasant climate, to be honest .

Negatives compared to the UK? Can only think of the humidity...but thank God for aircon

Anyway, plenty of positives to look forward to. No snow. A lot cheaper than UK on just about everything. Great food. Plenty of places to see in Malaysia and petrol is a fraction of the cost of UK.

May I take it that you've never visited Malaysia or the Tropics before?

Haggis68

Thanks again,

to answer your question no we have not lived in Malaysia i am well travelled but simply put not in that part of the world, but this is bringing us a unique opportunity to do it on a British equivalent salary, so we should get to see a lot.

we have spoken to one teacher in Ipoh and she says it i a dryer heat than in Panang, but im not really that bothered, we will simply have to deal with it, i was more concerned that you would just be sweating all day and in need of constant showers, i assume that in the jungle yes but not so in the cities.

I like the location of Ipoh in relation to KL and Penang and Thailand to be honest, we will seek fun and excitement elsewhere and return to tranquillity Ipoh afterwards (if it really is that quiet as peeps seem to think).

can i ask what are the police like with foreign drivers, nice or not?

also - how long have you been there, and would you come home? do you miss the UK?

Dentists and doctors and opticians are they just as they are at home? are they really expensive or fair.

thanks for now, hope someone from Ipoh shows up ..

regards

Gunnar45

Hi Haggis68,
I never had any problems with police when driving, at checkpoints when they see you are a foreigner they just wave you through.
Medical services, dentists and opticians are very low cost compared to western Europe and top range regarding quality (At least in Penang where I live).

ex reg

Ipoh is similar to Penang 25 years ago imo.

Penang changed/upgradrd for various reasons.

Not sure that Ipoh will do the same and not in the next 5 years.

For me Ipoh is run down scruffy and dirty even by Malaysian standards.

Unlike Penang I didn't see much nice housing or accommodation around and there are only a very few acceptable restaurants.

Eating out in coffee shops is not something I'd do daily and supermarkets are poor.

Ipoh is near to Cameron Highlands but again you might visit there once but not twice.
Ditto Kuala Kansar.

Different people have different perceptions so I hope you enjoy yourselves and find me to be incorrect in my view.

bakedbean

Answers above in red.

Haggis68

Baked bean,

i see you play the guitar BB - nice so do i....

thanks the reason i ask is that i may some dental treatment and i could simply wait until im there rather than do it here and get ripped off big style (not with NHS currently). Thank you in regard to the doctor information, so basically £6 gets you seen and dealt with with medicines, fair enough although with the school contract i am assuming there will be some sort of arrangement for staff.

Ex reg - wow sadly your take on Ipoh is the worst i have heard to date, from my breif research Ipoh is up and coming with a lot of new construction in housing and commercial areas and it seems to be being promoted as the new up and and coming retirement destination, maybe money is piling in and over the next 10 years things will modernise, this is only a guess, but when looking for properties out there, there seems to be a lot of building projects going on - But you could be right though...i will let you i guess when i am there. We also will have a lease car as part of the contract so wont be trapped in Ipoh, we will up your end of the woods most weekends probably as well as KL and SP as the car will allow us the freedom to roam.

Gunner - Thanks good to know i expected as much, but youve confirmed it cheers.

bakedbean

Haggis68

I saw one of your pictures it said it was you playing the guitar. might have been someone else. ?

ex reg

As bb will confirm I'm not gonna give an opinion similar to many here.
I do believe I'm realistic though and not as many people do when on holiday always recount even horrible experiences as 'marvellous, great holiday'.

And you're not holidaying but will be living a solid portion of your life here.

Not saying you won't settle in and enjoy yourselves, I hope you do but it's better to be aware of what you might be in for' rather than receive a big shock when you arrive.

I've just been doing a 3 week road trip around Peninsula Malaysia and Ipoh is far from the bottom of my list but I have lived and worked in Malaysia for nearly 40 years and now reside for 6 months every year in Singapore.

If there is a local ex pat community then it is possible to get involved with that and that helps the settling in process. I didn't see many ex pats in Ipoh at all. But I do like involving myself with locals and in Ipoh they are very friendly there.

It does ssurprise me that bearing in mind that Ipoh was the center of the Tin mining industry in Malaysia that it isn't more prosperous. Maybe like the mining areas in the UK the mine owners took the money and ran.

Haggis68

ex reg - Thanks, your experience and knowledge will be treated with the respect it deserves and we have taken note. I am i guess just trying to get a feel from what people say about the place to add to my basic knowledge, and having travelled i understand and appreciate the benefits of being realistic. as my dad used to say - ''there is no paradise only illusions of it, don't be fooled''.

In regard to the expate side of things the school will be the centre for all social activities and will be our prime circle of friends, so yes this will help us and i am sure we will be made very welcome. The job too will keep us pretty busy i am guessing.

im going to make a guess here and say Ipoh in 20 years time will be very different from today looking at the Australian investment and building companies developing there at present (in connection with Malaysian ones) and how it seems to be being promoted, it may take a while but reading between the lines thats what it looks like to me. anyway that wont effect us at all, its just an observation. But to buy a property there now, you could triple your money in 10 years...just a guess.

bakedbean

Err...don't know about any pics with guitars....must be another BB on here perhaps.

Have a friend who has retired to Ipoh on MM2H and she loves it. I guess it's like everywhere ...you like a place or not. Plenty of folks don't like Penang either. Horses for courses and all that.

Hope you will post back on this forum and give us your thoughts after youve moved. That would be useful for others.