Malaysian Money...nice..

So we ordered some Malaysian cash as we wanted to be nosey and get excited like kids when we went to France on a school trip years ago...''what does the money look like''...

Nice so we got em at a rate of 5.7 ringets to the pound market price was 5.9 at the time, we went to 7 different money exchangers and found that the difference was huge, always got to do your footwork finding the best rate, we changed £1000's worth and got 5600MYR. if we had gone with Co-op Travel we would have lost about £60...always good to look around and be informed.
So a 100 MYR note to us is like a twenty pound note although exact exchange today is £18, and the 50 MYR notes are like a £10 but actually 9 at today's rates. And to be honest that's how well use em.

My budget is going to be 2000 MYR per month to spend on what I like that's me pocket money whilsy i am there (until I run out of course and demand more).

getting very close now 3 weeks till offskis.

New Renters, good references and paid depositors....phew...!!!

The scare of our originals renters pulling out was big enough to be honest its hard enough selling up and leaving the country to somewhere strange and new without having to worry about your house empty at home costing you a fair chunk of your money. But we called in friends and they have come up trumps and it is thank to them and them only that we have new tenants, we owe them a meal out at Cosmos Derby and some Fuchsias....(some plant ) I could mention them here but being private people I wont, but you know who you are and Thank you. x

They paid the deposit and first months rent in advance without question, all references were very good especially the previous landladies, so we have done all we can and they are church members of a particular belief and so we feel peer pressure  should it ever be required is available (a useful tool when you think about it - that can help people from wandering off the straight and narrow)

So now the big clean, rubber gloves have always suited me, the main problem around the house is the holes from my pictures being put up and when you pull the nails or tacks out some of the plaster decides to come with it..ruining the whole wall and no we don't have the original paint!!!! of to B&Q then...grrrr...

Went to Timsons to get keys cut - got home don't work...? what rubbish but yes a guarantee has been offered for a re cut but even so more faffing...

3 weeks of cleaning here we go. then offski...

The Move Cube has left for Malaysia...

On he 15th of July the crate from Seven Seas arrived at our home in a trailer pictures below, its a curious thing when something like this arrives at your gate and you have to stuff in all your carefully chosen artefacts that you really think you'll need 2 months after you have already arrived in the country.....not only that but we are still in the UK for 5 weeks without it all, and all that we have in our home now is what will be taken on the flight, everything else in the house will be thrown, sold or given away. It is a very hard choosing what should be packed, the box that came was 146cm long by 111cm wide by 186cm tall, an unusual shape and to get everything in well you needed a masters at trigonometry. Of course I make no such claims to having such a thing but i am a splendid stuffer inner... and we stuffed it in, real good...

My only treat was taking my skateboard and my busking Boss (street Cube) Amp and of course the Roland piano (in bits), everything else was essentially Stephanie's stuff for work.

So there ya go, that's the size of box you get for very close to £900 for a one way trip to Malaysia by ship, it will take 81 days and so even though we will arrive on the 17th of August in Malaysia we wont see our belongings until the 1st of October there abouts. You could and we do assume that by the time it arrives we would have re bought half the stuff already as need s may require it.

Suffice to say it now feels very real indeed, Stephanie has had her introduction to the school newsletter which is the last one the school and parents gets to see before they break up for summer, so everyone has seen her face now...here is the link to the PDF her pen portrait is on page 16 half way down, the newsletter also shows you what the school looks like and what it gets up to.

http://www.tenby.edu.my/photo/newsletter/201500715nl84b.pdf

Also recently our what seemed to be assured tenants bailed on us and said they could no longer afford it, but we have found some others who seem to be fine through a friend, we shall see them this weekend and sort out final details and confirm and if this goes well here will be no need for an agency and we can relax a little, these were people that had expressed an interest a few months back as well, so we had to honour them and give them the choice.

It was all going so well...so so well....but the renters have pulled out. !!!!

It really was going so well, too well as they say, but yesterday the renters came over and said that due to a change in their personal employment situations they no longer wish to rent the property, they of course were not obligated to do so as no contract had been signed but it was just about to be.

So now we have put the word out to see of some previously interested parties may still be interested, if not we have to go the agencies and from discussion with many people they don't do much for their money ever...and cost the landlords a lot.

IMS is the local agency that seems to be hot at the moment but with a placement and finders fee of £260 and regular monthly fees of £40 upwards depending on how much you earn for your rent can bring the bill up to £700 a year for what nothing....leeches.

Hey Hoy, maybe its for the best because having peeps in your house that you dont know makes it more business like instead.  well see....

SIGH chin up lets crack on were off to Malaysia soon.

Seven Seas Crate.....coming in a week.

We decide to use the services of Seven seas shipping for some of our stuff which we somehow believe we cannot live without. We have for example decided to take our Roland £2500 digital piano, why oh why well i love it and i love playing it and well, because we can. We have decide to use the Move Cube that they offer seen below and what you do is load it up, they lock it, store in a bigger box, wait to fill it and then ship to Malaysia video link below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sg0VHAohTuI

The cost for us to drag loads of our Shitte half way across the world is about £900 in total, half paid in here in £'s and the other half paid there in MR's, the risk is customs laying claim that something is worthy of import tax which is theft and can be high....finger crossed.

They will arrive at our house give us 3 hours to load it up its 2 x 2 x 2 (m2) or thereabouts, and then drive off with it, thing is after that's gone we will only be able to leave the house with flight luggage allowance no more, what to take and what to leave that's the issue. Suffice to say after its left everything else in the house has to go......a strange feeling is dawning...and we will still have 5 weeks to live in a house with a blow up mattress and an old settee not much else....

Lets hope that's not my piano on the far right......

Invites for tea would be welcome as we wont have much kitchen equipment either heh he.

The excitement is building for sure.

Basketball Coach or Swimming Coach....mmmmm

It is all very possible that the school will employ me in some capacity, no guarantees of course, but the school seem open to the possibility of helping me out and why not, keeping me the OH (me)  busy is helpful to their cause of securing Stephanie's longevity. And with that unusual ideas are coming forward, like swimming coach or running the basketball team? mmmm, I played basketball when at school something about zone defence and man to man marking  and I was ball handler starting games off deciding the play to go for....look at that sounds like i know what i am doing ha ha .... no not really....could be a fun idea.

Swimming coach well I have always wanted to do this, and they have more importantly an outdoor pool, imagine that teaching something in the sun, oh maybe I am dreaming, but if i can impress them, maybe just maybe something unusual and fun will come out of this trip, let alone of course my potential to teach English to the youngsters (if i ever get the TEFL done).

Of course guitar lessons would be something i could do privately for some beginners out there, and my local contacts could help me in that regard.

so many possibilities are slowly rising out of well nowhere really.....

Only 6 weeks to go, will be living on the floor soon as all furniture has nearly gone!!!!

exciting times...

7 weeks to go...and MR G made contact.

The house gets empty walls look bare and rooms have an erry echo as there is nothing left to soak up the sound, sound great with my guitar amp and looper though. OK ok its not that bad but you can tell we are off  soon and beginning to let go of the house we love so much. I do and have in the past become very attached to buildings i have resided in and i will miss this place esp the garden when i depart, it was my creation after all....sigh.

But last night I was introduced to Mr Neil Page the Tenby International School secondary principle and Stephanie's employer on Skype, it was 11pm in Derby - 6am Ipoh Malaysia, he looked worn out to be honest shattered if being blunt but he could not see me as our camera is broke, he could only hear me....but i got a lot of useful information about the place and lets put it this way he may even offer me a job or certainly do his best to assist where ever possible in that regard....so wow this changes things slightly and if anything was to come of his offer then wed be in the money. interesting points he made were.

• Flights to OZ are super cheap less than £100 return (certain times of year)
• Holidays to Bali and flights super cheap less than £200 for two. 
• Langawi Resort prices dirt cheap. (also tax free haven where you go to buy electrical s etc)
• Food in Ipoh super cheap....
• Train travel £15 to Thailand....!!! (8 hour journey 1st class with aircon)
• Golf membership in private club (through school) £25 a month unlimited golf and use of all facilities including outdoor swimming pool full gym etc etc you can imagine. 
• He explained that you haggle for everything...everything..all is negotiable...
• Cameron Highlands is just like England climate wise, half way up breath in that fresh air....
• Tolls cheap get a pre paid card lasts for ages. 
• Car lease has full insurance and cheap through school. 
• School has full heath insurance for staff and partners (that's me) 
• Bugs not as bad as everyone makes out...
• lastly he was a bloody nice chap actually.....

So after that i feel ready to jump on a plane and bugger off....mind you this heat wave is lush isn't it...let that pass then well go. But to be honest Nepotism seems to be key here as all of these deals and offers all come through the school and their contacts, even some holidays he was saying come form parents who have empty condos all over and as their child resides in the school offers are made for cheap breaks, so networking as we call it is crucial, but even being associated with the school essentially has its benefits. 

We also been in contact with the other new member of staff who is joining the school and they are a childless couple who are well travelled in and around the area and they are happy to share lifts etc....it is all coming together so seamlessly i am awaiting a problem....but none is forth coming as of yet...

7 weeks to go and its all coming together nicely.....i am hoping this will be my view when settled.