so. i’ve been in malaysia for close to a month now. here’s my on-going report on singapore’s northerly neighbor. it may appear to be my grouses but i’m appreciative to being close to singapore’s medical facilities as my wife had ongoing health issues from giving birth to our son and whatever other benefits malaysia has for us.
we’ve primarily escaped north as we’ve been priced out of suitable accommodation in singapore as my free wheeling lifestyle has been financially stymied by a disastrous crypto run and the birth of our son.
and also because i do not wish to live in my wife’s country of origin not be near her family. i definitely do not want to sleep on the freaking “traditional” floor ever again.
fwiw i’m the primary care giver / full time dad to my child. i am extremely stressed and very depressed as i’ve doing this non stop for close to a year now with extremely minimal help from others. i’m not doing a top job of “fathering” but i’m trying my best every day.
(i’m also 99.9999% sure my wife has major post partum depression on top of her other childbirth related health issues.) and i am 100% sure we hate each other. it may or may not pass. anyway, i digress.
we elected to drive up north via a pirate van. our car, a singapore registered corolla was driven up by a friend after i took it out of layup. it will be using used it as a runabout in malaysia until i decide which car to buy locally (my). 30k sgd gets me a brand new car in my.
the roads in residential areas are filled with potholes and humps. on my short drive to my nearby mail, there are 13 humps on one short stretch of road. the humps are of varying sizes most of which are unable to accommodate super cars. the roads are also filled with extremely sharp turns and road markers make no logical sense to be half the time.
i should probably invest in a local driving test guide book.
we’re starting in a 2+1 apartment and rent is less than 6k ringgit pm.
of concern are the regular sound of the azzan which is extremely triggering for me for a variety of reasons (ptsd type mostly), so we’re looking for apartments that minimizes such sounds.
thankfully we found a Serviced Apartment with decent soundproofing and is quite far from their muezzin and for now it’s very bearable except for the predawn calls when things are quiet. i do not believe we can do better in the city so i try to make sure i’m asleep or groggy at that time.
my wife continues to look for a long term apartment we can sign a 2-3 year lease for but none have met our joint requirements thus far. she persists despite being very tired of the realtors baiting and switching.
stuff in the local grocery stores and malls are about the same as in singapore or not cheap enough to make a difference. j costa cup of plain black coffee is 4.20 ringgit.
today i bought an “XL” (more like a ny large) pizza from dominos and it was 36 ringgit which i thought was pretty cheap for a “meat” pizza.
the same goes for grab app which i use everyday. takeout meals are about 20 ringgit. the app continues to promote “contactless” delivery method which means the driver or rider just dumps your food at the pickup/ drop off point bench, takes a picture, and freak off. there is no delivery to the door. ever.
i can see it saves time for them. but i have to head down to pick it up in a 39 floor building with only 2 primary passenger lifts. each floor has 4-6 apartments and floor 1 actually starts from 7th stories up from the ground floor, and with 3 floors of common facilities below floor 1 . sorry if this is confusing.
all floors with the digit “4” have been replaced with “3a”. because asia.
i’m told the local tap water leaves the water plant drinkable. so i’ve brought along a few zero water pitchers to filter out micro plastics from bottled RO water (0.90 ringgit for each 1.5L bottle) until we move and can install our own RO machine.
spam comes wrapped in its own little baggie. because non halal. in the supermarkets, there’s a whole mini supermarket inside the supermarket operated by chinese looking people selling only non halal stuff.
i miss pork and ribs and stuff.
ok. i have alot more in my mind but i’m so tired. bye!
