Plenty to do in Malaysia's capital...For those who can afford it! (Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia))

Member Name: Pablo_Sevilla

Product:	Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)
Date:	27/05/09 (7 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good monorail and subway, plenty to do, green areas, clean

Disadvantages: High price, night life is very expensive, not so good for backpacker budgets, traffic is a nightmare

Kuala Lumpur is the capital of Malaysia. It is busy commercial airline transit hub making it a fairly cheap destination to fly to from Europe though better deals are usually to be found by flying to Bangkok first then getting a very cheap AirAsia (www.airasia.com)connecting flight to Kuala Lumpur.

You can also get an international sleeper train (one via Butterworth in Malaysia, one via Hat Yai in Thailand) that will take you all the way to Bangkok and vice versa. The cost of a sleeper train with a bunk is very reasonable (roughly around 30-50$) and even the 2nd class sleeper is clean and comfortable. The journey is quite scenic and good fun. In high season you are likely to meet other travellers on board.

Kuala Lumpur has plenty of sights to see. The Petrona towers used to be the highest buildings in the world until fairly recently and are impressive. The butterfly park is also well worth an hour and the Rainforest in the city makes a welcome break from the hustle and bustle of city life.

There is a tour bus for about 10$ per day that is worth the money if you only have a day and want to see as much as possible, be warned however that at rush hour the entire city can grind to a halt with tail backs and you can spend literately an hour on the bus and go only 500 metres!

For this reason it's far better to take the cheap and efficient monorail or subway services especially at rush hours.

Malaysia has good night life with plenty of night clubs, but it will cost you a lot. Alcohol is very expensive due to the high taxes the predominantly Muslim government puts on sales. A beer can cost you 4-5$ dollars in a bar, whilst in an alcohol retailer it costs maybe 2-3$. This is extremely expensive by south-east Asian standards.

Chinatown and Little India are well worth a look with buzzing shops and great places to eat.

Budget accommodation is no problem, cheap dorms cost about 20-30 MYR (7-10 dollars). Pricier options are available all across the city. The Golden Triangle and Chinatown seem to be the cheapest though.

KL is worth a couple of days but for me it lacks the atmosphere of other Asian cities because it looks so orderly and is very 'westernised'. Also the fairly high prices are a big drawback for people on tight budgets. Though the big plus point is the lack of touts and the city is clean compared to other Asian cities.

Summary: Expensive and lacks atmosphere of other 'grittier' Asian cities...But nice enough