holiday post mortem (part 3)

cost of living in msia is getting very high compared to the last 5 years. 
masa bulan puasa baru ni, i went to pasar malam to buy some lauk. terkejut bila kena bayar RM3 for seketul ayam masak merah. duit keluar macam air. groceries in msia are not cheap at all and thats just shopping at giant, not cold storage or village grocer yg glam tu.

cost of living here is not cheap either but we basically know how much we spend every week for grocery shopping and our monthly expenses. honestly, i hardly have £10 in my purse sebab gi office naik bus guna bus pass bayar £50 per month. kamar drives to work, minyak (diesel) isi full tank can last for 3 weeks if just for going to & from work, kids walk to school and  all of us bring packed lunches.  kat sini we hardly eat out, sampai lil missy cakap "eating out again??" bila kita keluar makan for breakfast, lunch, dinner, supper in msia. food choices is abundant in msia sampai tak tau apa nak makan. but then they are not cheap either. tapi sesekali balik memang lah nak makan macam2 sampai naik senak perut. balik sini 2 hari perut dah kosong and back to normal.

house prices, tok sah citer lah. we find it so ridiculously overpriced and those house developers are making money like nobody's business. kalau quality of houses ok tak pe lah jugak. ni rumah baru siap dah retak sana sini. i just couldnt believe my ears bila orang cerita harga terrace houses pun average RM500k and some ugly looking houses/condominium can cost million ringgits. glad we bought our houses years ago while we could still afford it. dulu2 beli rumah for investments, and now that we need to pull our resources for our own place here, Alhamdulillah ada jugak rumah yg boleh dijual tapi kena lah simpan satu untuk tinggal kalau balik for good.

and MOST residential areas that we went to are "gated community", ada guard houses and boom gates. honestly i find it quite intimidating. even pasang grille kat rumah pun dah rasa lemas which  explains why our place on the bukit doesnt have any grille.  but alhamdulillah so far ok. and most front door ada 2-3 locks. ni sebab crime in msia menjadi2, case robbery, kidnapping, assault etc. its sad actually. just when we thought the country is peaceful (war free) but its not completely true especially when people have to be watchful ALL the time.  ramai orang said to us "grass is always greener, hujan emas di negeri orang, hujan batu dinegeri" but truth to be told, we especially the kids are happier here. memang lah banyak negative perceptions about the western world and racism/discriminations/crazy people/boring brits  but so far, we have been quite fortunate. as abovementioned  cost of living is not cheap here and we were quite choosy with where we live. our house is smaller than our apartment back home but we never regretted moving to this neighbourhood - quiet, good neighbours, close to kids schools and public amenities. and no grilles, no fancy gates/fences, no complicated locks.

when asked "nak duk UK sampai bila ni?", my common answer would be "sampai pencen kut, then balik lah msia".  and kamar asked me " sure or not you want to go back to mad traffic, crazy drivers on the road, kaypoh neighbours, unhealthy & unsafe surrounding. nak pegi walking sorang2 kat park pun tak boleh" hmmm...see lah how.