Following our stint in cyberspace, we moved into the house staff accommodation in time for the new school year. Being a new build, there is a snagging list as long as your arm. As long as two arms, if I'm honest.
Furniture arrived in drips and drabs. As did the water in the shower. Small things made such a difference. The arrival of a coffee table was an achievement. The arrival of a couple of wardrobes was amazing.
Being on site has as many advantages as disadvantages. It is clean and new - bye bye Bangkok headboard - and you have your own space to begin to make your home. Also you can rock out of bed at 8am and be teaching at 830am, if you so desired. Or, like me, if you leave your laptop charger in your classroom, no need to fret as it's a less than five minute stroll from your house.
But there are disadvantages too. We are in a small and new township called Bandar Enstek, with little shops near by, in the middle of nowhere. Without a car it is difficult. We need to rely on public transport and the local bus stop is miles away, so it's down to the use of a Teksi. But there aren't that many here.
In Malaysia they have this great system of booking a cab through your smart phone. myteksi allows you to put in your location by GPS and your desired destination and cabs in your vicinity bid for your fare. You then get an offer and you accept the price up front. It's amazing.... but only in the big towns and cities... not in Bandar Enstek!
Luckily a local man, Mr Richard, came to our rescue. The friend of a friend of a friend of a colleague, he has become our life line to nip to KLIA2 Jaya Grocer or Nilai for shopping at Tesco.
As typical of the massive supermarket Tesco, they cover a range of basics we can buy in the UK so that keeps us all happy. From HP Sauce or Marmite to Tesco Finest granola or Weetabix, most needs are covered. Most importantly, they have a non-halal section selling bacon, wine and beer. A slab of 24 x 330ml cans of Guinness is 202RM (£50.50) or Tiger Beer at 175RM (£35) if we are feeling flushed. Wine ranges from 50RM to 200RM (divide it by 5) a bottle - my favourite at 54.99RM (£11) is the Yaldara Estates Shiraz. Although, with the festive season coming around soon, I've currently got my eye on a bottle of Baileys for Christmas at 130RM for 70cl - yes £26!Apart from Tesco, it's not as if we have many places to go. We eat in the Dining Hall with the boarders and are on duty every other evening, so it's not like we can just swan off for a meal with family and friends at Shaftsbury Square at will, as we did when living in Cyberspace. We also work until 3-5pm Saturday and on a Sunday rota. At best we might get a Saturday 5pm till Sunday 9pm 24 hours off.
24 hours off site - we tried that once. Back at the end of September, when I was fit to throw the towel in, we decided with 48 hours notice that we needed an overnight away. Little did we know it would be more stressful than staying here.
The local beach and coastal town of Port Dickson seemed the best place away for 24hrs. It is only 30 mins away (just not on a Saturday evening as our journey took 90mins in the weekend traffic).
We booked into a hotel on the outskirts of town. The Paradise Spa Hotel. Typical of here the hotel was not paradise nor did it have a spa. Before you ask, yes, I did read Trip Advisor. Yes, I did know all of this before I booked.... but I wanted to escape and all the better hotels were booked at short notice.
The hotel was lovely and clean and a family room was a two-bedroomed suite with TVs, ensuite each, a small fridge (unclean and not cold) and very limited wi-fi connection. The roof top swimming pool was lovely and the view was as good as it gets for this area. We asked the reception staff to book us a taxi into the main town area as we wanted to eat at the El-Cactus Mexican restaurant which had been recommended to us. The receptionist had other ideas. She refused. Yes - point blank refused. She told us the chef was very good and would cook our meal. Talk about being press-ganged into it. We were tired, and didn't have the energy to argue. We were pleasantly surprised. We had four steak and chips - cooked beautifully - with a lovely black peppercorn sauce. Well done chef!
However, our favourite was breakfast. It was a buffet with something for everyone. I had the noodles, rice and ayam (chicken) curry. It was delicious!Before we knew it, it was time for home and school. 24 hours had flown by and we were no further relaxed but had tried curry for breakfast - magic!
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