Hi prettylaidback,

Planning to study overseas next year?

A big hello to every1 here as well! Interesting property talk... just curious I used to live in USJ2 about a decade ago as a kid... how's the area like now?

Cheerios peeps

Ahaha... Same as usual I guess... I still remember my dad having to leave early mornin to get through Jalan Kewajipan to get to the city..... I guess some things never change

Brisbane.... graduated and then got an offer from a bank for some IT work... So I stuck on....

Benefits of working here I guess pay is pretty good.... down sides are.. well you'll need to start from ground zero with friends and also the cost of living and taxes here are kinda high... can you believe it.. a simple 3 meal mixed rice combo costs RM27 here!!

and don't even get started with real estate!!

Sometimes I wonder if I should head back instead now that I've built up some saving

You should try checking out Australia's Migration Occupation Demand List (MODL) from their Dept. of Immigration & citizenship... Unless I'm mistaken, nursing, midwifery & engineers are pretty high in demand due to skill shortages... and Malaysians seem to have a pretty good reputation with the Dept (compared to Mainland Chinese and Indians here...) May help you in deciding in your course especially if u plan to work overseas 4 a while

Oh one thing though.. I have a friend who works in Dubai as a Journalist.. and has lived there from the time he was six... His advice... it may be touted as a cosmopolitan city in the middle east... but it's a very bad place to get into trouble.... especially with the local emiratis and especially so if you have no "wasta" or in mandarin... guanxi....

Let's not get started if you're female shall we....

This post has been edited by 3ff3z8e: Oct 19 2010, 06:29 PM

Hmm... well it is.. but from what I know... you'll probably want to stay in the correct areas, since most of the time the different cultures are quite segregated.... like %where I stayed when I visited... Bur Dubai... it's the old run down part of dubai... mostly from the Indian Sub-continent.. and about 70& of the population is male... you go to Jumeirah Beach.. mostly angmoh expats.... NOw across the dubai creek from where I stayed is Deira.... never gone there but according to my friend... quite scary at night as the Eastern European Mafia (ruskis and Ukrainians) has control of that area

Interesting to say the least.. have eaten everything from your Expat fare (TGIS Friday), to Sri Lankan Cuisine, Indon Luwak Coffee (apparently beans that are collected after it gets crapped out by some mammal creature in Indonesia... adds to the sweetness they say..), Indian Cuisine... pretty much standard fare to be honest.. nothing remarkable... but my favorite to be honest was a street mini kebbabish sandwich laced with garlic yoghurt called "shwarma" or something like that..

If you are interested in reading further about the not so bright side of dubai... you should check out this blog called "Secret Dubai"...

She's living as an expat over there... and gives you an insight of expat life there...

basically how the hierarchy of ethinicity goes

Emirati Arabs at the top
next are Gulf Arabs and Ang Moh Expats
then comes the East Asians (Japanese and Chinese)
then the South East Asians (Indon Philipinos and others ) and Eastern Europeans..
Then at the bottom of the lot are the Indians, Pakistanis labourers

Generally the lower you are the crappier you're treated and more likely to be held victim to the system


This post has been edited by 3ff3z8e: Oct 19 2010, 06:44 PM

Really just a "concrete phallus" building exercise in the name of national pride.... Who's bigger!!

Dunno if you guys have read this

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/07/business...&ref=middleeast

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-13/d...-cbre-says.html

Well... not too sure if they've recovered... but I heard the real estate situation there is not very good right now... and when I landed there last year... there were all these luxury vehicles (BMWsparked at the airport carpark collecting like weeks or months of dust... apparently I was told these belonged to expats who lost their jobs but had a debt to pay and few out to avoid jail time.... well basically if you miss your payments you go to a debtors prison... since the UAE there is no concept of bankruptcy..

And before you think that these expats deserve it for borrowing too much apparently even a bounced cheque due to some incompetent bank staff fouling things up can land you in that same jail as well...

Yup the Abu Dhabi Sheikh is a pretty smart dude from what I hear... and Abu Dhabians in general carry themselves with a little more grace ..it seems

lol just a slightly older man griping about his travels in the middle east

feel free to alter the subject... worried its getting stale

This post has been edited by 3ff3z8e: Oct 19 2010, 07:02 PM

Not sure when's the last time u visited.. but have you managed to try Max Brenners chocolate and the other choco stores as well?

Oh and make sure you don't miss the gelatos

Well I used to study in Melbourne... but moved up to Brissie since my job offer was up there.... Have to say, I prefer living in Melbourne... easier to source decent Asian food and I love the trams....

This post has been edited by 3ff3z8e: Oct 19 2010, 07:10 PM

Nopers.... I'm an IT geek!! Well actually also with a degree in Bean Counting as well

Daayem.... that's a pretty bold proposal!! LOL

I'm not sure if I should be disclosing this but it's with one of the Smaller banks.... The bigger ones quite demanding the requirements...

Hmm... not too sure if the States is in a good shape right now... and considering the fact that they don't have a national healthcare system like australia's Medicare or Britians NHS.... you might want to consider the UK or Aust. Instead... or if you still prefer the Americas head to Canada.. (watch the mockumentary Sicko if you need further explanation... it's alittle extreme and over the top but show's the reality of how middle class US citizens go bankrupt if they fall seriously ill..)

On the flipside the USD is goin down the drain... so it may be a good place to get educated... but to work... yeah... head north to Canada at the very least...

This post has been edited by 3ff3z8e: Oct 19 2010, 07:30 PM

Amen to that sista.... I know what you mean... I wish I could be back there as well at times.... but well.. let's face it... for a banana like me I get crap from all sides.... and the quality of edu here leaves much to be desired.... and the pull of the mighty AUD$ is too strong for me... a few years away helps my financial situation a lot.. so yeah... that's my reason

Well... don't worry about that too much la... I also have to think for a second or two before I start speaking Mandarin... trying to learn from my colleague from Malaysia as well and he's Chinese-ed as well..

Well I guess I can say my experience has been coloured a little when I was in Year12 since believe it or not I was the only Sekolah Kebangsaan educated guy in there... was a little hard on me to be fair and I was a bit bitter about that... but I do try to keep in prespective that both sides also have judgemental people as well so I try not to judge ppl nowadays...

Well hope we can get along!

Actually it's about RM3 to a dollar me thinks... so the saving power is x3 for every dollar you save here (I'm not using earning pwer as a measuring stick since the cost of living and taxes here are at "vomit blood" level..... on the plus side u do have social security which is frequently abused by lazy peeps... and a health system which covers most illnesses besides dental stuff