A Photo Tour Of Miri and Ipoh - Show Me Your Neighbourhood

The other year I was privileged to post a Show Your Neighbourhood article on living in Astana, the fascinating and beautiful capital of Kazakhstan.  When we left there we moved to Malaysia where we spent 18 months, 9 in Miri, Sarawak in Eastern Malaysia and 9 months in Ipoh, Perak on the Peninsula.  Both of them are fairly typical mid size towns - big enough to have everything you need but smaller than the large commercial centres of KL and Penang.  Our life in the two towns was very different but rather than do two separate posts I thought I would combine them into a single (but perhaps a little lengthy) post. 

Malaysia is, of course, a world famous tourist destination and, as a place to holiday it has it all, caves, modern metropolises, old towns, varied food and beautiful scenery.  We enjoyed all of that in our time in the country but, of course, day to day life is about so much more than and very different to a tourist experience.  With that in mind here is my ‘tour’ of day to day life in Miri and Ipoh.

Playgrounds

Malaysia does playgrounds really well, at least for the people who can afford them.  Most neighbourhoods will have one although the quality of these varies greatly.  High end developments will have good set ups whereas children in less affluent areas have, of course far less luxurious equipment or even nothing at all.  Most larger towns will also have playgrounds in public parks that are freely accessible to all children.

A typical playground in a high end development in Ipoh

And in a smaller, less affluent town.

Our favourite public park was the imaginatively named Tamam Awam (Public garden) in Miri.  Set between the town and the airport this garden had an aerial walkway, a dry playground and a water playground.  Our children used to love to bring their swimming costumes and water pistols to the park and could happily play for hours, making new friends in the process.  The park was also fitted out with many barbecue spots and, on weekends, would be filled with groups of family and friends enjoying a convivial evening.

Skywalk in the Miri Public Gardens

Public Waterpark In Miri Park

Transport

In Miri and in Sarawak as a whole there was very little in the way of public transport other than buses.  Most people drive cars (Proton and Perodua, the two Malaysian car manufacturers having a near monopoly on the non 4x4 market) or the ubiquitous mopeds and the standards of driving are generally poor.  The city roads are well maintained but outside Miri, with the exception of the plantation roads, they become rather ramshackle and poorly maintained. The state is crossed by many rivers so boat traffic is popular.  Some of the boats are gigantic, closed and air-conditioned to give a comfortable ride.

Mopeds, Motorbikes, Perodua Myvi and Proton Saga Cars are everywhere

On the peninsula there are wider options available.  There are still local and long distance buses and a very good train service that connects the length of the country.  Driving standards are a little better and the roads are well maintained.  Malaysia has one of the best motorway systems in the world, it is tolled but the prices are not expensive, at least for expats and foreigners.  For average wage Malaysians who live in KL and need to use a minimum of two toll roads twice a day on their commute the price can become a drain.

In Sarawak anything that is not a main road is still an adventure to drive down.

Sometimes the road just...ends and you have to get a boat instead.

With so many people relying on private transport parking can become a nightmare with double parked cars being the norm in some commercial centres. 

A Typical House/Building and Streets

There is no such thing as a typical house in Malaysia.  The housing in a chic condo or high end housing development in any main town will be very different to that in the kampongs (villages).

In Sarawak the traditional house is a long-house where the whole village will live under one roof.  Traditionally made from wood and palm they are now made from concrete and tin and look rather like terraces.  In the kampongs all over Malaysia you will still see houses raised on stilts. 

A Sarawak long house - modern in build but traditional in outlook
the whole village lives under one roof.

Wooden houses in kampongs are often raised on stilts

Modern housing built in the interior of Sarawak

Large housing developments are now the norm in many towns, ranging from terraced one story homes to detached bungalows (while a bungalow is a single story house in the UK it is a stand-alone house of any number of floors in Malaysia).  Many of the developments are soulless and built without reference to the environmental pressures of the area, one modern development near the Miri airport seemed to flood up to knee height or more in any period of heavy rain – not ideal in a tropical country.  We lived in an independent house in a garden suburb in Miri but moved to a detached bungalow on a development in Ipoh.  We were very lucky to live in a development where a lot of attention had been paid to the communal gardens and areas and while the house was not ideal the environment, next to a lake, was stunning.

A typical suburban row of terraces in Ipoh

A development of 3 story 3 bedroom town-houses

Houses will often have large verandas where people can relax in the shade and with enough space to park the car underneath.  This has the dual advantage of keeping it out of the sun and out of the rain making it easier to load and unload.  Many Malaysian homes will have a double kitchen which can take some time for expats to adjust to.  The wet kitchen is usually outside and a connecting door will lead to the indoors, dry, kitchen.  I think the idea is to do all the messy prep and cleaning in the wet kitchen (many Malaysians buy food fresh daily) but I made sure that our houses had an integrated modern kitchen. 

Our development in Ipoh - a little greener than most.

More houses are being built all the time.

Schools and Nursery’s

Most towns have a profusion of ‘Tadikas’ or nursery facilities.  These cater to all groups with specialist nurseries ranging from ‘Little Caliphs’ Islamic Nurseries to Chinese language nurseries or those who seek to educate in English to give children a head start in that language (one we saw claimed that it could have your child reading English confidently age 2 – I want to know how as I wish my native English speaking children could do that!).  Montessori nurseries are very popular although how true they are to the Montessori principals varies from one to another.

A typical nursery

Schools are housed in specially built compounds, because of the weather they tend to be in 2 or more story buildings with classrooms set along an open air corridor and set around the playing fields.  Most classrooms will have open windows along at least one wall to promote air flow.

Rural school

Education is a political hot potato in Malaysia at the moment.  Of course it is difficult for an expat to comment insightfully on domestic politics but my understanding is as follows.  Vernacular schools for Chinese and Indian Malaysians are guaranteed under the constitution.  These tend to be more academically rigorous than the Malay language state schools and as such the children tend to get much better exam results.  As a result there are some sections of society that wish to do away with the vernacular schools while others, of course want to keep them.  The vernacular schools are not exclusive, however, and it is not unknown for children of other ethnicities to go to, for example, to a Chinese school. 

City School 

International schools, often teaching the iGCSE and offering either A Levels or the IB are very popular with more wealthy parents as these are seen as giving a smother entry into high class universities worldwide.

Markets and Supermarkets

Many Malaysians still prefer to buy their food at the markets and a bewildering array of high quality produce is available, particularly if you go early in the morning.   In Miri where we were by to the sea the seafood was particularly fresh – being loaded into the markets straight from the boats.  Even in Ipoh which was a little way in land it was possible to get good fresh sea food.  In Ipoh we were also lucky to be close to the Cameron Highlands were a lot of temperate vegetables were grown meaning that we could purchase locally grown varieties instead of expensive imports. 

Beautiful fresh fruit from the market

Fresh fish

And ducks...

And pigs - you could make your own brawn
if you like that sort of thing!

Malaysian supermarkets, particularly on the peninsula, are excellent.  They stock a full range of fresh and dried goods and it is possible to find the ingredients to cook just about any type of meal from Indian to Mexican, Chinese to Western.  The only thing that is hard to find in Malaysia is good quality meat.  The meat that is available is very expensive and sold in small portions and the quality is dire.

Supermarkets are excellent and stock most things

I hope you have enjoyed this whistle-stop taster tour of what it is like to live in Miri and Ipoh.  For more posts on life in Malaysia you can click on the button below or any of the relevant ones in the side bar!

One Year In Malaysia

It is hard to believe but, in a few short weeks, we will have been in Malaysia for one year.  Time has truly flown, we arrived as a family of four and are now a very happy and settled family of five (plus pets).

  

Just before we left Kazakhstan I wrote about what I would and would not miss about our life in Astana.  It was certainly hard for me to leave behind the first posting I had shared with my husband and children, I cried when our plane took off and we left Kazakhstan behind forever, something I have only done with one other posting.  Reading the list back I was pretty spot on with what I miss and do not miss.

A new posting is always daunting, things that have become routine in the last place are difficult, at first, in the new home.  It can take time to adjust as well, to recognize that the old life is gone and you are living the new one.  This is particularly so for us because when we move we go directly from one posting to another with no holiday in between to cushion the blow.  We literally wake up one morning in the old home and the next in our new place.  Our move to Malaysia has been complicated by the fact that we had a fairly major in country move to contend with 9 months into our time here. Nevertheless I think we can safely say that we are now settled into our life here in Ipoh.  I have been thinking about what I like and do not like about our new home.

From this....

To this...

To this... life has changed dramatically in the last 12 months.

I like:

• Our home.  We had a beautiful home in Miri, possibly the best house I have ever lived in, it fitted all our criteria as though it had been made for us.  The one niggle – slow wifi in the TV room and our bedroom.  This was the house we brought our new daughter home to, 10 weeks into our time in Miri and it will always have a place in our hearts.  Our home in Ipoh is also lovely.  The house itself is not as perfect a fit for us as the Miri one but the area is spectacular.  A river for the dogs to swim in, wildlife at our doorstep (I counted 10 separate close wildlife encounters on my last evening run); what more could we want.
• Our car:  driving has always been important to me, it gives me independence and I love being behind the wheel.  Our car is old but does the business and is spacious enough that everyone is comfortable. 
• The weather:  I miss the extreme seasons of Astana, there was something about the cold weather (and the stunning blue sky) that made winter there a magical time.  The hot summer was a glorious change and the dichotomy was simply magical.  That said I like the simplicity of having just one season to contend with.  The fact that I do not need to spend 10 minutes getting dressed for the outside (and a further 10 getting the baby swathed) clinches the matter. 
• My hair:  the dry climate in Astana meant that static was the order of the day.  I spent 3 years trying to calm my hair down with tumbler dryer sheets and oil, I still looked like I had stuck my fingers in the plug. Humid frizz is a doddle in comparison!
• The simplicity:  although English is not the first language here everyone speaks it to some degree and all banks etc are able to operate in it and have website pages in English.  This makes life much easier as I no longer need to sit down with a dictionary to work out what I am trying to do.  Films in the Cinema are also in English which is blissful.
• My tan:  I will never be a brown nut as I have ridiculously fair skin.  The light here, however, means that I have graduated from deathly pale to looking as though there is at least a breath of air in my body.  I am still white enough to cause exposure problems in photographs (I am really not kidding) when standing next to other people though so I have some way to go.
• Flowers:  cut flowers are not easily available here but when I did track down a florist that sells fresh rather than fake they are cheap compared with Astana.  This means I can enjoy the luxury of cut flowers to cheer up my home.
• Fruit:  here in Ipoh we are a short drive away from the Cameron Highlands so I can also get  both the 'run of the mill' tropical offering and temperate fruit and herbs (which are expensive and exotic in other parts of South East Asia) quite cheaply.
• Starbucks:  my local one is a drive though, this is bad for my waistline but makes the school run bearable. 
• Visas: or lack thereof.  We, of course, need to have visas to allow us to live our lives here in Malaysia.  Our family, on the other hand, just have to turn up at the airport to be granted leave to remain for a whole 3 months on a tourist pass.  This means that it is easy for people to pop over and visit without the need for complex letters of invitation and visits to embassies to get the visa.

I am still learning to cope with:

• Humidity:  I grew up in the tropics so I don’t mind the humidity as such but it would be nice to be able to wear my hair down outside from time to time without the back of my neck getting soaking wet in 2 minutes.
• Driving:  Malaysian driving is an odd combination of passive and aggressive.  Some people will pull out onto a main road doing no more than 20kph and continue to drive a similar speed on the main motorway,  others will drive ridiculously fast, weaving in and out of traffic.  Don’t even get me started on the dreaded moped in the blindspot!
• Loo paper:  Squirty water hoses are the norm here so the rule is, very strictly, bring your own wherever you go or do without!  Public loos in Miri were best avoided altogether, here in Ipoh they are pretty decent (if somewhat lacking in paper).
• Ants:  these have the potential to be a problem anywhere in the world (Nigeria was particularly bad for them) so I can’t really complain.  We seem to have some pretty persistent ones, however so everything has to go in a Tupperware, even in the fridge!
• Time Zones:  We have an awkward 7 or 8 hour (depending on the time of year) time difference with our families.  This means that it can be difficult to find a time to make a long call.

All in all not bad, we are enjoying our time here so far and looking forward to seeing what the next year will bring.  

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The Empire Hotel and Country Club, High Tea on the Shores of the South China Sea

We found the Empire Country Club quite by accident.  Our moving and packing schedule from Miri to Ipoh was fairly rigorous and the move came as a short notice shock to the children who were just starting to settle in Miri.   A few months ago we read that there was an ASEAN dinosaur exhibition coming to Brunei just a short drive from Miri.  The children, who love dinosaurs, asked very politely if we could go to see it.  While we normally avoid this type of stuff like the plague we thought it would make a perfect treat to reward them for their good behaviour and excellent help with the packing.

dodgy dinos

The exhibition was set a few kilometres from the capital Bandar Seri Begawan in the grounds of the Royal Brunei stables set in a park that is, for all the world, rather reminiscent of the Royal Parks of England and where the (beautiful) horses have a standard of living that many people in South East Asia would envy.

Inappropriate  Pandas

The exhibition itself could have been viewed as a disappointment.  It consisted of a few animatronic models that looked as though they had been used for a 50s B movie.  They were, for the most part, anatomically incorrect and the information about them was scanty.  The children enjoyed the visit but saw it for what it was, a pastiche, and they pointed out more errors than they learned facts.  The displays were also, somewhat incongruously, peppered with pandas! We did not manage to work out why this was and everyone we asked just looked at us rather blankly.   Having paid more that US$60 to get in we stayed for an hour to try to get our monies worth before escaping to buy some food feeling that we had rather wasted one of our precious pre-move afternoons.  We were going to drive in to Bandar when we saw a sign for the Empire Country Club.

Mosaics in the most expensive hotel building in the world

We had both read about this place as it was infamous for almost bankrupting the oil rich state.  It was built, originally, as a private residence but when the costs of construction could not be met it had to be taken over by the state and turned into a hotel.  It is, perhaps, one of the most sumptuous buildings I have ever seen, rivalling the Hermitage  which is not surprising given the amount of money it cost to build.  It manages (just) to appear luxurious rather than kitsch but it teeters very close to the edge.

Stunning Carvings

The main hall is an echoing chamber of marble with mosaics laid into the floor and the stairwells are studded with tiger eye.  Pavilions in the beautifully manicured grounds utilise some of the most magnificent wood workmanship and around every corner there is a new visual or tactile treat.  The grounds are extensive and comprise a number of different gardens, at least three (to our count) swimming pools and a number of alcoves and beaches.

one of the many swimming pools

The accommodation blocks were added to
make the residence into an hotel.  Rates are, we understand, quite reasonable.

By the time we arrived the hotel was serving high tea and Mr EE and I decided that we deserved a treat for putting up with the dinosaurs.  We have never eaten so prodigiously, for half the price of the dinosaur exhibition we were treated to tea, delightful sandwiches, petits fours, scones with cream and jam and sparkling juice.  As soon as a plate even looked like running out a replacement was magicked out of thin air.

Traditional high tea...

After high tea we took a stroll around the beautiful grounds and enjoyed all the magnificent craftsmanship the hotel has to offer.  We watched the sun set over the South China Sea, one of the last opportunities we would ever have to enjoy such a view, and wandered back to the car through the complexes of guest rooms.  These were rather less spectacular (at least on the outside) than the original building and its annexes and looked for all the world like the university college accommodation annexes we had lived in during our undergraduate degrees.  We returned to the car for our 2 hour drive back to Miri and our rather denuded house.

...with more food than four people could ever eat.

The whole experience was unexpectedly delightful and an oasis of calm in what had been a hectic few days (I defy even the most seasoned expat not to be stressed by a move with three weeks from notification to completion). It left us feeling completely refreshed and recharged and we rather regretted that we had not visited before.  I suspect, however, that familiarity would breed, if not contempt, then diffidence.  Our unexpected traditional English treat in an unusual location was just what we needed at that time and it could never be as good again.

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Driving - Sarawak Style

We love to drive and will use any excuse to spend the afternoon on the road.  Our ideal holiday comprises a car, the kids and the open road.  

Our Mitsubishi - in any one car-park there will be at least 20 other cars
just like it, same age, same colour.

After the hustle and bustle of the busy yet slow (60kph limit) Astana roads Sarawak is a little different.  Car's are not particularly varied here, you will typically see flocks of Perodua Myvi, a small but perfectly formed run around, and the ubiquitous Saga (Proton’s small saloon, we had a matching pair at one point) to trucks (Toyota Hiluxes for the most part) and 7 seater 4x4s (Toyota Landcruisers and Mitsubishi Pajeros).  There is so little variation in model and colour that it can be quite hard to find your vehicle in the carpark. 

Main roads are mostly excellent..

The roads in Miri can be a little congested at peak times but otherwise there is very little trouble with traffic.  The main problem comes with the driving.  Learners have to pass a written and a practical test and display P (probationary) plates for the initial period post-test but the majority of early lessons are taken in an off road learning centre.  This means that learners get very little exposure to real road situations. 

Slow cars are a nightmare on the single carriageway roads.

People are not aggressive drivers by any means, in fact I would go so far as to say they are dangerously passive.  The limit on dual carriageways here is 90kph but it is not uncommon for drivers to saunter along at 40.  Cars quite regularly pull out onto the carriage way with next to no acceleration in front of faster vehicles leading to urgent slamming on of breaks.  Lights (I have mine on to make my car visible at all times of the day, a legacy of my parents’ adherence to Norwegian rules of the road) only go on as dusk is well under way and sometimes (but not always) in periods of heavy rain.  When it rains here it does get really heavy, wipers on maximum and 5m visibility maximum type heavy which makes the roads dangerous, particularly as very few drivers choose to increase stopping distances

On many roads 4x4 is a must

Pedestrians jaywalk across dual carriageways with impunity and undertaking is frighteningly common.  It is wise to check and double check mirrors and over shoulders even on a clear road as mopeds and motorcycles appear out of nowhere and think nothing of sitting in your blind spot for long distances.  These mopeds and motorcycles are also quite happy to drive the wrong way down the carriageway so be aware of them.  Interspersed amongst all this you get the same speed demon idiots that are common worldwide – overtaking on bends, undertaking in traffic etc.  All in all, however, driving here is pretty sedate and well regulated.

Smaller roads can get damaged all too easily

Leaving town the main roads are decent but single carriageway  with few opportunities for safe overtaking so if you get stuck behind a lorry or a bimbler you have little recourse.   A few months ago we drove down to Niah to see the caves.  The 2 hour journey back was stretched to 3 hours as we were stuck in a long tailback behind a Myvi doing 40kph.  Our poor 6 week old baby girl was desperate for a change and a bottle but by this stage it was getting dark and we had nowhere safe to pull over until we got back to town. 

The further in to the interior you go the less solid the infrastructure...

In the rainy season the combination of heavy palm oil and logging traffic combined with torrential downpours take their toll on the highway and potholes, sometimes huge ones, appear at quite short notice. Once you leave the Trans-Borneo highway or the fairly decent coast road you end up battling on smaller and smaller roads which are highly susceptible to wash-outs during the rainy season and 4x4 cars with engine armour, snorkels and winches are a necessity rather than a poser' luxury.  A large portion of Sarawak is easily accessible only by air (for example Bario in the Kelabit Highlands near the Indonesian border and Mulu World Heritage Caves) or by fast boat up the river (for example Kapit, upriver from Sibu).  It is not unknown for colleagues from the interior to have to request a week's leave to travel home for an obligation like a wedding or a funeral because the journey there and back typically takes several days.  

At certain places the road just comes to an end.  The gravel in the
foreground is the end of the main carriageway, the only way across the river is by ferry

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