House utilities

我察觉到我们地区，左鄰右舍的房屋设计，没有一间是相同的，不过每家都是有一个地下室，它的深度就像一层屋室，那些小窗是地下室的高窗。我们的地下室是放洗衣机、干燥机、冷／暖气装置及雜物等…
我们很少看到有人在屋外晒衣物，即使是夏天，干燥机就是用來代替陽光。热水、冷／暖气是用煤气，所以除了須给电、水、排污、电话费之外，还有煤气和垃圾費。冬天房屋需要暖气…这些月份的煤气费就比較高！
居住马来西亞者須给电、水、排污、电话费﹔大多数人是購桶装煤气煮食﹔而槟島居民多住於 '高楼' 式的公寓，所以每月須交管理维修费。

I noticed that almost every house here is a different design, as I have not found the same one in our neighborhood. Nevertheless, most houses here have a basement and it is about a level deep. Those little windows are on the top of the wall in the basement. Our basement has a laundry, drier, hot water heater, air-conditioner/furnace installation and other things…

We rarely see people hanging clothes for sunshine, but use a drier instead of sunshine, even in the summer. Our hot water and house furnace use natural gas, so the utilities – besides electric, water, sewer, and phone– are gas and trash pickup. In winter, the house has to be heated…these months the gas bills are higher!

In Malaysia, people only need to pay for electric, water, sewer, and phone, but most people also buy gas in a tank for cooking. On Penang Island, many people live in tall buildings like apartments or condominiums, so the residents need to pay for maintenance and management every month.

Edition on Jan 12.