Move to Ipoh

Well Ipoh is a sleepy provincial city (used to be much more prominent). Not many western expats there apart from those who are working in the semi-conductor and similar industries. Some of these have their family live in KL area and they just spend 4 days in Ipoh. There are large cement and mining facilities in the area and the air quality is questionable. I would say its not worth the upheaval to be honest. If the job was based in KL or Penang, then I would answer differently.

Thanks Gravitas, I'll wait for some more people to jump in and contribute.

One other issue is that your child would need to attend a fee-paying school and so factoring in those addidtional costs would give you a better picture of the value of the salary offered.

Are there good English schools in Ipoh? Whats the average cost for grade 1 child?

https://www.google.co.id/webhp?sourceid … chool+ipoh

Daytime Ipoh is a lovely town with a fantastic mix of culture and history.
Night time Ipoh is a hell hole of prostitution and ladyboys.


Edit - and a very nice pizza hut.

The thing to watch for are the non-refundable registration fees, for example at Tenby Ipoh this is RM2,800 and 1 terms' fees in advance. http://www.tenby.edu.my/ipoh/fees1

There is also a deposit to be paid. This is all in addition to tuition fees, which vary depending on the class level (why I have never understood).

Just use Fred's link to check out the schools available.  The curriculum is probably loosely based on the UK system. There is a Canadian system school in KL area.

Fred wrote:

Daytime Ipoh is a lovely town with a fantastic mix of culture and history.
Night time Ipoh is a hell hole of prostitution and ladyboys.


Edit - and a very nice pizza hut.

This probably describes the far east in a nutshell.

Gravitas wrote:

Fred wrote:

Daytime Ipoh is a lovely town with a fantastic mix of culture and history.
Night time Ipoh is a hell hole of prostitution and ladyboys.


Edit - and a very nice pizza hut.

This probably describes the far east in a nutshell.

As long as the Pizza huts are nice.

Now I have a decent keyboard to type with, I'll expand.
I've been to that very interesting city many times, and have almost always loved it.
One downside is the terrible Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde way the place changes.
The day sees a nice place, with plenty of shopping for day to day living, and a wealth of culture and history.
The temples are very interesting, but the general mix of cultures even more so.

The night is very different, the streets changing to a dangerous playground for those looking for carnal pleasure with ladies of the night, and unsure of their gender people of the night, all willing to do disgusting things to you (and/or let you do disgusting things to them) for a small fee.
I apologise I can't tell you how much, but I was disinclined to catch AIDS and die, so I didn't partake of their services.

Three silly dudes tried to mug me near Pizza hut one evening.
There I was, all innocent (or unproven guilty), on my way back to my hotel for a bit of kip after a hard night at the cinema and a very nice food court in the north of the city. I was unaware (honest), the area was the Indian red light district (Yes, even the prostitutes practice racial segregation in IMalaysia).
The dark and lonely street turned dangerous as three dudes with foul intent blocked the archway in front of me, probably wanting to see the contents of may wallet in their pockets.
A lot of years of martial arts gave me one thing - if you back off in any way, you're buggered so, that training in mind, I smiled and evil smile, clenched my firsts, and walked directly at them, speeding up in a "Yummy, I'm going to enjoy putting them in hospital" sort of way, whilst working out the best way to make the leader of the three fall over as painfully as possible.
I'd already decided a swift kick in his knee, followed by my knee in his face as he fell.
In my experience, if the leader goes down in pain, preferably with copious quantities of blood coming out of him, the other tend to do a runner, but I wasn't to have the chance.
Seeing my attitude, and guessing what I was thinking, they decided they didn't want to try hospital food, so they pissed off.

I had another pizza the following night - it was very nice.

I live in Ipoh and my son is a Principal in KL.

Ipoh is a much easier  place to live than Kuala Lumpur . The cost of Ipoh compared to KL is 20 percent less.

The traffic in Ipoh is a joy and life will be earlier. There are 2 international schools here and they are expensive.

You are only 2 hours to Penang and 2 1/2 hours to KL so it is a good place to live. There is some crime as my wife

was robbed by a guy on a motorcycle.  KL and Johor Baru also have crime but most is not violent.. I would say the

cost of living is 1/2 of Canada. Taxes are 26 pwrcent and your wife may have a hard time getting a job here.

Ipoh has an amusement park, caves, horse racing and shopping..


It is 32 degrees or 95 degrees F all year long.

There is a large amount of retirees in Ipoh. and the place shuts down at 9 PM.

I like it

Ipoh is a nice place to stay. With ETS the traveling distance to KL take around 2hrs only. Ipoh will become the city of choise because compare to KL with heavy traffic and chous ,your health will become deteriorate. Welcome to ipoh

I realise I am joining this discussion late. I live in ipoh. My kids attend the local international school which follows the international primary curriculum. The secondary follows International gcse which is the same as the uk. If you need any further info I am happy to be contacted personally.

Oh sorry. General safety is fine. The people are very friendly and it is a great experience for kids. we are veggie and the kids eat Dahl from a banana leaf with their hands. My youngest goes to a local nursery/school and is learning Tamil/ Malay and Chinese there. The heat is hard going at times but the storms are wonderful.

Ipoh is a great place to raise children and retirement. It's much more relax than KL in all aspect. Although Ipoh is basically a Cantonese town for the Chinese, people communicate in English generally. I have no problem moving around in Ipoh at all.

Private schools here use English. At least three international schools in Ipoh. All uses British Curriculum. One term school fee in KL can almost pay for a full year here. Cost of living is reasonable. Safety iis not an issue. Everywhere is the same.

All the best

Hi, I am planning to move to Ipoh by Mid of November '15. Looking for houses that to Apartments like 2 Bed room ones. By contacting the company provided agent; the house rents are around RM 2400 per month. Where as if I am checking on line I see that in Ipoh we get 3 bed room houses with in RM 1200. why this much differences; If I go through agents.

Also, can any one help me to know the current cost of living. I have 2 kids viz., one is 10 years old boy and another is 1 year girl baby. of course, one wife . So, can any one help me to calculate my cost of living for the following:

Electricity bills
Water bill
Internet and TV cable bills
Milk (2 lit / Day)
Glossary for month
Utilities per month
out side eating once in a week
miscellaneous expenses (any)

Any suggestion to stay near by areas of Tenby International school. how will you see the general safety during day?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Hi Muvvacb,
It really depends on where you want stay. In general, better environment for sure more expensive. Houses around Tenby are not cheap, coz those are all new. Nearby is Malay area mainly.

House rental can go fr few hundreds to thousands. Depends on area, type of property and furnished or not.

If your 10 years old is going to study in Tenby, try some other area.. Eg. Sunway, Ipoh Garden East. These areas are convenient to go to school through toll free highway.

If you Hv not committed to any school, you'll have more choices. Ipoh has more private schools now. In town, Tenby, of course, is still the best choice for foreigners... Less culture shock !!

All the best

Thanks Jlme Here,

Infact I am towards like what you have explained. Giving preference in and around Tenby school to stay, even I have to spend some more RM extra.

But I am unable to calculate cost of living. I am a medium spender. Any advice in this direction.

Hi Muvvacb,

Desa Meru Park is the nearest housing area from Tenby. You only need to cross a road. It's a new development. Rental is a bit steep. You may check out this link to get some ideas...
http://homes.mitula.my/homes/for-rent-house-meru-ipoh#

Monthly expenses...
1- Electricity bills - depends on how often you use air-conditioners. Some of my friends have to have air conditioning and that would be costly... Say RM1500
2- Water bill - about RM100
3- Internet and TV cable bills - 14mbps is ard RM150. Basic astro package RM90
4- Milk (2 lit / Day) - refridgeted Fresh milk RM8/lt vs shelf packet milk RM6/lt
5- Grocery for month - depends on ur consumption ??? Pre-wash salad RM8 per pack for one. Chicken whole leg RM5
6- Utilities per month - phone bill ??
7- out side eating once in a week - Ipoh restaruant in general is affordable. A pleasant meal per adult may be around RM50. Hawker definitely much cheaper.
8- miscellaneous expenses (any) - petrol ?

Hope this help.

All the best

Thanks Jlme Here,

Very useful information for my pre-work.