Yes they have waterproof stuff. The most popular waterproof technology is a membrane called GoreTex. Heck, even Prada Sport has a range of clothes which are made with GoreTex.

Expect to pay around £60 for GoreTex shoes (let's say, from Clarks), and £200 for good GoreTex (winter) jackets (let's say, from Tog24). If you don't like them heavy, there is a lighter (and pricier) GoreTex XCR version. Alternatively there are many other clothes made from different waterproof technologies which sell for cheaper.

If I were you, I'd grab some Samyang or Nongshim noodles instead. Much better, but slightly pricier at just below 50p a packet.

I agree. Open up your taste buds!

This post has been edited by elb: Aug 25 2006, 04:58 PM

I suggest you to bring Korean Noodles instead of Maggi Mee. When you are in UK, you tend to eat more than usual in Malaysia. Therefore, a packet of Maggi Mee won't last you for long unless you are small eater.

Home sick is common. But once you settled down and get to know more friends, you'll forget this feeling..

British are lazy bas3rds. They only wash their dishes when they want to use. Else, the kitchen sink would be full of their dirty dishes!! So, come to think of that, (even if) the accomodation provides 1 rice cooker, I doubt it is clean

That's not the worse yet because I dont give a damn if they use their own stuff without washing.

Those I met used my stuff and just left it there for days without washing. Later I found out they wont wash your stuff no matter how much time you gave them so in the end I put all my stuff in my room and only took it out when I want to use them.

You should see how much stuff the cleaner had to throw away after one year. They would rather use other people's stuff or just buy new ones then washing up their used utensils.

I had already lost count of the number of moulding shit left in pots, bowls and pans in my first year.

one day i woke up with a mouth-watering aroma in my flat. so i walked to the kitchen, and my spanish/japanese flatmate, reo, was stir frying something on the stove using my wok.

"smells good. whatcha cookin?"

"pork somthing-somthing"

"oih baka! i told u not to use my stuff to cook pork!"

"ostia! i forgot! i'll buy u a new one!"

(we taught each other cursewords in malay/spanish/japanese)


moral of the story - if u're muslim, u've got to go great length to remind ur flatmates that u dont eat pork, and not to use ur cooking utensils for cooking pork and the likes. so eventually i had labelled every stuff i had with my name and "not to be used for handling pork". fortunately reo's pretty cool with it .

This post has been edited by azarimy: Aug 25 2006, 06:25 PM

Thank god my flatmates do not use mine. But they rarely cook. Even if they do, they would cook simple stuffs such as pasta etc. Or they buy frozen foods. I just couldn't stand the annoyance of dirty stuffs in the kitchen sink whereby I use it every single day!!

So, here's another tip for UK-bound students;

1) You must be patience at times
2) Know your flatmates well so that you could tell them your 'rules'

Man, your flatmate damn cool. That's good. At least they respect other's .... er.... rule, should I say?

I used to get Nishin but I found out there'a pretty nice instant noodle from a company called JingMaiLang and it's great stuff (plus it's 27pence as well). But sadly, still need sometime to find it here in London.

By the way, you can get those Goretex winter jacket at RMB 200 to RMB 300 in China which is about RM 100 to RM150 each.

Dreamer

Are those <ahem>.. knockoff?

Yes.

Dreamer

i just came back from uni pre-depature briefing, the uni people says no need bring maggie mee, as there are a lot of asian stores there...but the maggie mee there is not cheap, after convert the price into ringgit, at least RM1.50 per pack...and should we apply 'International student card' and 'Nx2d'(i can't remember the name, just roughly like this) Card? as the travel agent called MSL said these cards are useful cause got discount everywhere? Actually all these benefits we can actually have it by our uni student card as well, isn't it? one more month leave..........

This post has been edited by tommy141184: Aug 26 2006, 07:14 PM

Yes. RM1.50 per pack, but if you calculate it backwards, you're spending RM3000 + airticket to transfer something that is worth RM1.50. Try and bring a 5 pack maggi mee for your first week, that's all you need.

Save your space for something you can't get here in the UK such as some herbs, snacks or stuff.

I'm not sure what is the card you are talking about but most uni offer the student this card called NUS card and you can get pretty good discount here and there.

discounts for students everywhere! just bring ur student card! this is something that we dont have in msia. well, we do, but hard to find. it's not as widely acceptable as it is here in the UK.

the only thing that is hard to find here is tempoyak. i can find cencalok, budu, belacan - virtually every spice i need. but yeah, it is a little pricey if u convert it. so my advice is DO NOT CONVERT! u must weigh everything against ur monthly budget, not conversion.

if ur monthly budget (not inclusive of accommodation) is GBP 300, then u know u can afford a whole box of 50xmaggi mee (GBP 6++). that's if u larat to consume maggi mee for a month laa.

i'm a rice person. i can only survive with maggi for a meal or two. that's it. then i've got to have rice. earlier when i came here, i didnt have any rice cookers, so i brought several packs of brahim's ready to eat dishes with instant nasi impit/ketupat. survived with those for about 4-5 days until i've found where i can buy all of those in chinatown.

Geminist,

Actually, you should bring some spices like White Pepper, Black Pepper, curry powder. Those things are small and light and you can bring a little bit to last one year. But, they cost a lot of money in USA. Is it the same in UK??

Dreamer

I brought over a few packets of curry powder to UK. The ones that are ready packed and sold in Carrefour. RM1 per packet. It is almost dollar to dollar in UK.

UK textbooks are expensive.

Anyone know where is the best place to get the widest range of textbooks in KL? or preferably in JB?

text book for what field/course exactly?

i usually shop using amazon.co.uk. lotsa 2nd hand books. i bought most of my reference books online. cheap, especially when near christmas.

Anyone in Newcastle? Im planning to buy a desktop here as i would be staying for quite a period of time. Is buying online cheaper? I've browsed the Dell website and i came up with this spec:

SYSTEM COMPONENTS

Dimension 5150(D08515) Qty 1
Intel® Pentium® D 805 Dual Core Processor (2.66GHz, 533MHz fsb, 2x1MB cache), Genuine Windows® XP Home Edition (Incl Operating System Re-installation CD) Unit Price Incl. VAT £491.87
Catalog Number: 202 D08515
Module Description Show Details
Base Intel® Pentium® D 805 Dual Core Processor (2.66GHz, 533MHz fsb, 2x1MB cache)
Microsoft Operating System Genuine Windows® XP Home Edition (Incl Operating System Re-installation CD)
Memory 1024MB Dual Channel DDR2 533MHz [2x512] Memory
Keyboard Dell(tm) Entry Quietkey USB Keyboard - UK/Ire (QWERTY)
Monitor Dell(tm) 19" Value Flat Panel (E196FP)
Video Card 256MB ATI Radeon® X600 HyperMemory graphics card
Hard Drive 160GB (7200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive with 8MB DataBurst(tm) cache
Floppy Drives Internal 13-in-1 Media Card Reader
Mouse Dell USB 2 Button Wheel Mouse - Black
Modem No Modem
CD/DVD Drives 16x max. DVD+/-RW Drive
Sound Cards Integrated Audio with Dolby Digital 7.1 capability
Speakers No Speakers
Shipping Documents System Documentation with UK Power Cord
Gedis Bundle Reference List D08515 Dimension 5150
Microsoft Application Software Microsoft® Works 8.5 - English
Standard Warranty Collect & Return, 1 Year Service only
Cover It with Dell Support Services Collect & Return, 1 Year Service only
AntiVirus & Security Software McAfee® Security Centre(tm) 15-month subscription
Digital Photography No Photo Organising & Sharing Software/No Photo Editing Software
Order Information Dimension Order - UK
Dell System Media Kit No Resource CD
SecureData Software No Secure Data Software
Promotion included with your Order Processor upgrade from Pentium 4 521 to Pentium D 805 included in your offer
Adobe Reader Adobe Reader 6.0 - English
Promotions Hidden Option Class 512MB RAM FREE - Double Memory Promo 2x512 MB 533MHz
Promotions Hidden Option Class Free 15 month McAfee Security SW upgrade
Dell Internet Order Dell Internet Order.
Network assistant 90 days trial of Network Assistant included
TOTAL Incl. VAT:£491.87

Total excl. VAT VAT Rate Total incl. VAT
Sub-total £418.61 17.50 % £491.87
Total Delivery Charge £51.06 17.50 % £60.00
Total Price £469.67 17.50 % £551.86

is it worth the money? Or is it better to shop around in Newcastle?

I need management books.

No matter how cheap they are, they are still alot more expensive then Malaysia.

Amazon marketplace books are on average 20pds per book or alot more if the book is not a popular one. And for unpopular books, you cannot find them on ebay as well so even worse.

Yes. They are expensive. But, how many books you need and how are you going to bring it over to UK?

1) Bringing it along by putting it into your luggage? Doesn't it compromise the weight that you need for other stuffs?
2) By post? Bear in mind the amount you need to pay and the possibility of getting lost/damage too.

This post has been edited by goliath: Aug 28 2006, 11:44 AM

You can really consider not getting them because someone I know is doing her PhD. and to date, she hasn't even bought a book yet.

All I'm trying to say is, you can get most of the stuff you need from the library itself at Bradford Uni. It's not the best library around but they have stuff you need and with Athens, you can gain access to alot of online journals/resources (you can even read Economist/Forbes/Fortune via Athens).

Also, if you're doing Masters, you're given a bigger book loan limit (more than 8 I believe) so it's really not much of a problem at all

---
Dreamer101,

They cost more expensive here even if I get the spices at a local middle east store. Basically it fluctuates around 1 GBP for spices which mean it's around RM7 for a pack.