From Batu Ferringhi, we moved into our new apartment in George Town. We had found the apartment through the help of a local housing agency that many expat companies use.
The first weekend in Penang, we had looked at 10 or so places, and our search had come down to two options. Behind Door #1 was an outdated and dirty-looking interior that had a wide deck and enjoyed an incredible view to the Straights of Melacca. Set along Gurney Drive, which is a posh enclave of condo buildings, a shiny mall, big trees and a waterfront esplanade, the exterior surroundings of this place were the definite draw; the interior was 'eh'. Behind Door #2 was a just-built place with modern furnishings and a city view, but no deck. Around the building was an eclectic mix of old George Town -- falling-down abandoned rowhouses crowded among markets, food vendors, shops and homes crammed along narrow streets. Being city-dwellers who love the vibrant life of Portland that was just outside our doorstep, we sacrificed the view and deck in favor of Door #2.
With either place, we would have had to put up with a certain amount of contractor work, like telephone and cable installation, but with the new building, there has been much more 'customization' that has been required. We are not picky and demanding folks, but we are simply too Western to live without things like hot water in the shower and at the kitchen sink or a towel rack. And hey, it's not our fault that the place was wired with about half the amount of watts or amps or whatever it is that makes the electricity stay on when you have more than 1 appliance running...The first night when the stove was fully operational, its outlet suffered a minor implosion and the fusebox broke...literally. The building maintenance people saved our bacon (or rather stir fry) by installing a higher amp fuse running to our apartment from the main switchbox at 9 pm on a Saturday night! The electrician comes next week to run another electrical line so that we can use the microwave + anything else in the future.
On the plus side, I have discovered that there is a grocery store on the third floor of our building. Mall shops and restaurants comprise the first and second floors, and four floors of parking are set between the grocery store and the apartments (in a twist of numerical logic, while our floor is marked level 15, it's actually about level 18).
Anyhow, there is a big push in Penang to cut the use of plastic bags (YAY!), so my excursions run something like this: shop, pay, reload groceries into cart, ride elevator up, roll cart to front door, unload and then take cart back down to lobby. I hate grocery shopping, but really this is almost frighteningly convenient.
More about the vagaries and inanity of grocery stores and their own special muzak another time when I'm up for it...
The first weekend in Penang, we had looked at 10 or so places, and our search had come down to two options. Behind Door #1 was an outdated and dirty-looking interior that had a wide deck and enjoyed an incredible view to the Straights of Melacca. Set along Gurney Drive, which is a posh enclave of condo buildings, a shiny mall, big trees and a waterfront esplanade, the exterior surroundings of this place were the definite draw; the interior was 'eh'. Behind Door #2 was a just-built place with modern furnishings and a city view, but no deck. Around the building was an eclectic mix of old George Town -- falling-down abandoned rowhouses crowded among markets, food vendors, shops and homes crammed along narrow streets. Being city-dwellers who love the vibrant life of Portland that was just outside our doorstep, we sacrificed the view and deck in favor of Door #2.
With either place, we would have had to put up with a certain amount of contractor work, like telephone and cable installation, but with the new building, there has been much more 'customization' that has been required. We are not picky and demanding folks, but we are simply too Western to live without things like hot water in the shower and at the kitchen sink or a towel rack. And hey, it's not our fault that the place was wired with about half the amount of watts or amps or whatever it is that makes the electricity stay on when you have more than 1 appliance running...The first night when the stove was fully operational, its outlet suffered a minor implosion and the fusebox broke...literally. The building maintenance people saved our bacon (or rather stir fry) by installing a higher amp fuse running to our apartment from the main switchbox at 9 pm on a Saturday night! The electrician comes next week to run another electrical line so that we can use the microwave + anything else in the future.
Anyhow, there is a big push in Penang to cut the use of plastic bags (YAY!), so my excursions run something like this: shop, pay, reload groceries into cart, ride elevator up, roll cart to front door, unload and then take cart back down to lobby. I hate grocery shopping, but really this is almost frighteningly convenient.
More about the vagaries and inanity of grocery stores and their own special muzak another time when I'm up for it...
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