Hello's, and Questions!

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Hi All, I'm Starbuck. I've been a lurker on the site for a few months during the MM2H application process, but there was such a wealth of knowledge on the site I barely needed to do anything more than read!

I was MM2H approved in February, and got here (Bangsar, KL) last weekend - joining my wife and small son who preceeded me while I shut up shop back home in Ireland.
Any other Paddies out there??

Been up to my neck in organising some of the basic necessities since I arrived - my other half couldn't do it all alone because she's got her hands full with junior.

Anyhow, I'm beginning to get things under control now - got our internet service connected yesterday. Hurray! Finally have contact with the rest of the world again.

I've got a few questions which I hope some of you old hands might be able to help with:

1. Big problem with car order! Wanted a Honda CRV (under the tax free scheme here) but just got told none available until November! Does anyone know of a good Rental or Leasing company where I can hire a car in the meantime, at not too exorbitant rates? Any other better ideas?

2. GPS - can anyone recommend the best GPS for driving around Malaysia?

3. UK newspapers - is there any outlet in KL selling the UK Sunday Times? I need my fix!
I think it used to be possible to buy UK papers here, because I remember when Dr.M banned the Observer for making certain allegations. Did all the UK papers pull out? I haven't seen any around.

I'll get back with a longer profile - if anyone is remotely interested!!

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Hi Starbuck,

Congrats to your approval. We are just about to be in Bangsar in two weeks time (moving from the PJ area). We are Australian. PM me if you guys want to meet up.

Re: car rental. Car rental is expensive here. We use a company called Shajasa Car Rental. They might not be cheapest but they are very helpful, honest and professional, drive the car to/from our home, and service the cars properly. We got a special rate for renting for 3+months. When we go away and don't need the car, they come and take it back, and don't charge. Let me know if you want the details and a personal intro.

Re: internet, can you tell me which company you are using?

Re: GPS, we brought our Garmin from the US. It has an SD card slot. We went to the Garmin stall in Mid Valley and for RM100, the guy gave us an SD card with a good map of Malaysia/Singapore in it. We also bought the Malaysian map from Garmin in the States for double that price but it isn't as precise as the one we got here.

Regards

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Hello Starbuck

If you pop along to Low Yat shopping centre (just off Bukit Bintang in KLCC) you can view a wide range of Sat Navs from about 300rm with maps pre-installed.
Alternatively (if you have one) use your own GPS and download a comprehensive free Malaysia map from www.malsingmaps.com onto an SDcard, this covers both Singapore and Malaysia and is updated very frequently.

If you want to save yourself about 15rm reading a photocopy of the Times then I would recommend you go to www.timesonline.co.uk and read it on the internet.

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Any other Paddies out there??

Hi Starbuck,

I'm winding down here in Baile Atha Cliath and hope to be in Malaysia along with the boss in October or November. Congratulations on your acceptance for MM2H -- I was going to apply but her nibs wants to try it out for a while so we intend doing the visa run for a year or so and see where we'd like to settle. It will probably be Penang, though.

I will be very interested to hear how it is going for you so keep us all posted.

Adh mor!

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hi, starbuck,

Congratulations on the approval and welcome to the site. Glad that you found the site useful, and that you're posting. Have you collected your visa yet?

Anything that you can add to the site as an updating on procedures will be appreciated.

You'll need 10 posts to PM.   

Thanks for using this particular topic. It's a great place to start.

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Hi All, and thanks for the friendly welcome and helpful advice! And THANKS for providing the Forum Scott!

Sazz I Googled Shajasa and found their website. The lowest rate quoted is 1,080RM per week = 4,320 per month. Over the 6 months we'll need the car that'll burn over 25K of the 50K tax discount on the CRV. So it's only marginally worth the wait. Might be better to just put the 25K and the CRV money into a decent (foreign built) second hand car instead. It's a pity, but we need a safe ride for junior. Malaysia's local car builders lose out - but it seems they have more than enough demand anyhow.
I'll PM you anyhow about rates for long term hire....[Edit: Actually I just realised I can't because my post count is too low yet. I'll get posting...]

Regarding internet, we signed up with Streamyx. I did a small bit of research from Ireland and they seemed the best of a bad bunch. I only took the 1Mbps package to start with. A lot of reviewers say the higher advertised speeds are never acheived, and are thus merely a rip-off. The 1Mbps service here in Bangsar is benchmarking around .22Mbps against local servers (using Speedtest.net) and got as high as .60Mbps against a server in France (the French have super fast internet). So all in all I'd say you're lucky to get half the advertised speed on the 1Mbps package, and I have no idea if its worth the money to upgrade to higher speeds. Has anyone else done the benchmark on the 4Mbps product?

Corporateangel - Re GPS - sounds like the Garmin Nuvii is popular. Though some mates back home swore by the Tom Tom. I'll do some more research before taking the plunge. Without a car it's not a high priority anyhow.

Slan Torq - give me a PM if you're coming to KL on a visit. I'd be happy to meet and fill you in as much as possible. Have you been down before?

Just to give a bit of my own backround - I'm a 50 y.o. airline Captain, just 'retired' from one of the major Irish carriers after 30 years of worldwide aviating. Never put a scratch on one.  I was born in Belfast, but lived in Dublin for most of my professional life. I did some contract work for MAS back in '93 and fell in love with this place (and my Malaysian wife). We always planned on returning here on retirement, and we had bought a small pad as an investment. Didn't expect to be living in it 5 years early, and with a 2 y.o. boy in tow - but we're ecstatic about how it has all worked for us! I haven't hung up the hat for good just yet....I'm looking at airline job offers in the region....but no particular hurry for the moment. She hasn't gotten sick of me being around the house all day yet. Though I am finding it a bit harder doing 'nothing' than I expected it to be. Lucky I have my wee lad to keep me busy.

All I need now are a few beer drinking buddies to go watch the World Cup games with!
Anybody familiar with RonnieQ's in Bangsar?
 

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Hi Starbuck,

We rent an Toyota Avanza from Shajasa for $2500 per month, which includes insurance and maintenance. I wouldn't say this is the safest car but it was the most reasonable rate we could find. Anything cheaper are Wajas and Wiras. The rate is still high considering if you bought say an $80,000 Vios, the loan repayment is about $1500 per month.

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Thanks Sazz, I'll investigate that one.