bakedbean

Somewhat off topic but how are you finding Port Dickson? Good place to be? Be good to have a new topic on Port Dickson.

Jill Brown

To be honest, we have lived here for 3 1/2 yrs now and we have no regrets. A lot of money is being put into Port Dickson developing abandoned building sites and the new PD Waterfront is very nice. It is quite an ideal location really as it is 1-1/2hrs to Malacca, 40mins-1hr to the airport and about 1 1/2 hours to central KL. Since we moved, two of the bigger supermarket chains have come to PD, a Giant and TF. We live on a peaceful little gated estate 1km from the seafront at Telok Kemang with several other expats but mainly mixed race locals all of us in landed 1 and 2 storey bungalows (to put it as locals do). It appears as though Port Dickson was abandoned by many after the crash in the 90's but it has picked up again of recent times and properties on our estate are both going up in price and becoming harder to find. We belong to a super little club (the Royal Port Dickson Yacht Club)... no yachts though but a very friendly little club on the coast with sailing dinghies, tennis, squash, table tennis, darts, snooker, hash house runners and golf players. It has two saunas (find I already live in one so haven't tried them). All in all... no regrets about moving here... we have looked all around Malaysia and find this suits our needs... can't cope with the east coast rains... too like the UK of recent years!

ex reg

We like visiting Malacca and I haven't been to PD for30 years so things will have changed but from your post it seems a possible alternative to Malacca.

Is there a nice hotel we could stay in. Don't mean the multi national chains but something with some character just so we can spend a few days there to get ourselves into the flow before a longer stay?

Jill Brown

Yes, it is where we stayed when we first came to Port Dickson... not tatty, nice food, good price, beautiful position and right next to the Yacht Club... the Bayu Beach. If you want to meet, send me a private message and I will send you our address.. you would be very surprised at what we have been able to achieve here. Happy to show you what has changed and what is yet to come.

bakedbean

I've asked Sue (Admin) about splitting this Topic as there's some great info on Port Dickson.... thanks Jill. (and yes, it was me that went off topic Guilty).

Jill Brown

Sorry, I'm not much help as I am new to this website and wouldn't know how to start a new thread (not a techie!). Hope the UK weather is better for you this year than last, I felt as if we had stolen all their sunshine last year.

ExpatNick

Hello Jill Brown,

My wife and I are also interested in PD, and your posts have interested me.

Don't worry!! We won't be stalking you or anything else sinister. But can I ask: is the Bayu Beach at RM200 / RM290 at weekends decent value? It seems a little high for a place that labels itself as 3-star.

Could I also ask if you know where I could find availability and cost of the bungalows at your own development - again not stalking!! I'd just like to have a baseline for comparison's sake.

Many thanks in advance if you can spare a little time to help, and I quite understand if you're skeptical and wary of giving out too much info.

Expat Nick.

Jill Brown

Hi there,

Not a problem. Property on our estate is mainly found by coming an looking although you may find some with an agent called Charles Joseph. Most of the big house owners are after between 450,000-500,000RM'i'sh and are selling at those prices currently. They are quite pretty from the ouside but to get to western standards you will need to renovate. We spent several time that on ours but then again we had two plots of land and doubled the size of the existing bungalow, have a good sized pool and additional guest house in the garden. There is pumped water to all points, solar heating and hot water to all taps and is on 1/3 acre of land... o.k. so we went a little over the top but boy do we love it. We are 1km off the beach (good job too as it can get very noisy and busy at the weekends, public and school holidays).

The problem I have found with hotels in Port Dickson is they are either high end (The Thistle, Water Chalets etc) or budget.. which can be nice but there are not that many middle range ones. Can you not get here during the week instead of the weekends? you will get the wrong impression of PD if you only visit it at the weekend as 5/7ths of the time it is a different town to live in. When our relatives have visited they have taken on a two bedroomed apartment privately at the Bayu for around 1500RM per month.

Don't mind you picking our brains (such as they are) and happy to help in any way we can. We have helped others as local knowledge is easily shared and difficult to get and we remember as newcomers how others helped us.

Good luck.

Jill

bakedbean

Hi Jill. You mentioned 400 to 500K in price for houses? What is the current allowable minimum for foreigners to purchase in Port Dickson? I'm a bit out of touch but thought it was higher?

Jill Brown

500,000RM for Negeri Sembilan

bakedbean

Thanks. Sounds like that works out well for foreigners then.

Jill Brown

That is why out of 100 occupied houses on the estate 10 have westerners in them. For a little town like PD that is a high percentage. There are quite a few others here but they live in either the Bayu Beach apartments or the Admiral Cove apartments at the marina with a handful living outside these three areas.

ExpatNick

Hello Jill,

Thanks for all the info and the offer of more - I'm sure I'll take you up on it!

Your home sounds delightful, and you've done almost exactly what my wife and I want to do - nice house, pool, bit of land around us, renovation to our own standards, etc. You don't want to sell do you?!! Just kidding.

We may try to visit PD next month but my available leave days (yep, still working I'm afraid) don't make it easy except at weekends, or with a PH attached. However, you've given us fair warning as to what to expect crowd-wise so we'll have our eyes and minds open whenever we come.

Thanks again, and I'll be back with more queries after my research this weekend.

Jill Brown

Funny you should say that. It is something we are considering for the future as I have recently been diagnosed with arthritis in my hip. At the moment, the management of the house and land is doo'able between us. The problem will come in future years when my situation worsens as we are only on one police pension between us. This means that in the long term we will be unable to afford a gardener, pool guy and maid on the pension. So watch this space and come and stay in our guest house if you visit Malaysia and you will see what I am talking about... and no... I don't think you are a stalker!

bakedbean

Sorry to hear that Jill. Life sucks sometimes.