Hi everyone,
If love can move mountains, it also makes people move abroad, in countries such as Malaysia.
Following your life partner in a country with different customs and rules is an act of absolute trust and may require a period of adaptation.
This is why we would like to have your opinion to answer these questions and thus help future expats who are preparing to follow the same track by moving in Malaysia.
What preparation do you have, or do you advise, to do before your departure in order to make the best of this experience?
What challenges have you faced? In what areas (finding a job, socialization, well-being)? How did you overcome them?
What is the outcome of this experience for you? Would you do it again if the opportunity arose?
Has your relationship with your beloved changed since your expatriation in Malaysia? Do you have any advice on this subject?
If your expatriation involved children, how did you manage to maintain a family balance in the face of this life change?
Thanks for your contribution!
Loïc
Following your life partner in Malaysia
I moved to Malaysia originally as my wife was Malaysian, and we felt we would have better opportunities to make money in Malaysia.
Ups
Great opportunity to make money if you have the contacts (eg politicians) than in UK where there is more competition.
Exciting for me as the expat. Great food, friendly people and just well different. KL especially is "Asia lite" easy on expats.
Downs
Malaysian politicians (well UMNO) were corrupt to the core so getting involved with them is disheartening. Business in Malaysia is super corrupt and that is hard to adjust to as an expat. Also being taken to a brothel for a business meeting is also a little disconcerting.
My now ex-wife had massive culture shock and I have been this many times in others. Often it is the Malaysian partner who suffers this, especially women. Sexism, glass ceiling and being that "stuck up (deleted)" come into play. Including death threats for uncovering corruption. That didn't help.
Now I am happily married to an Indonesian academic and we are both expats! Easier that way imho. Both in it together. And I don't get involved in Malaysian business as I am an honest man, it hurts your soul. Better a poor honest man! I have seen many a ruined expat who stayed too long in business in Malaysia.
I in fact have struggled here ... after living in hk for 15 years with no issues at all... i found on totally different frequency here...
i font recommend living here long tetm...
Bob that is curious. I lived in Hong Kong for 7 years and only left in 1995 because of the handover back to China. But Hong Kong (discovery Bay) meant I could windsurf every weekend and visit the small islands or go to Macau, so exciting.
I lived in Malaysia 12 years and left because I realized that apart from having a comfortable life with a nice car, good shopping and eating, that there isn't all that much to do or see in Malaysia and I felt that I was wasting my life away when there are so many other more interesting places to experience. My Indonesian wife lived with me in KL for about 7 years but we got bored and moved to Indonesia where we are enjoying our life much more.
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