Malaysia's Tourist Mecca
Written: Dec 31 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great Shopping, Fantastic Food Wonderful mix of diverse cultures
Cons: Nightlife is punctuated by numerous "professionals"
The Bottom Line: This city is a great place to stop, shop and enjoy the nightlife for a few days.
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| LuzonTS's Full Review: Kuala Lumpur |
Warning!!! This Epinion contains information that is adult in nature and may be found offensive by some
An surprise call from the boss led to a unexpected trip to Malaysia. We landed in Kuala Lumpur the first night with the expectation of departing around noon the next day so it was binge drinking mode once we left the airport.
The company provided us our own driver who had no problem with us getting slammed on screwdrivers on the way to our hotel. The company was also nice enough to provide us with local cell phones at no charge.
The thing that I noticed right off the start was how much the place reminded me of Singapore. A large clean city with a nice mix of tropical gardens tossed in. Also noticeable was the harmonious mix of Chinese, Malay, Buddhist, Muslim and Christian peoples/cultures.
We stayed at the Regents Hotel. We had nice rooms with double beds, cable TV, bath and shower, mini bar, Internet hookup, etc. The cost was about 250 Ringgit. The exchange rate was about 3.8 Ringgit(MYR) to 1.0 USD.
The hotel staff was the most professional and thoughtful I have ever encountered. I have stayed at well over 100+ hotels of varying quality and these guys provided the best customer service and attention to detail.
I could go through the hall and take a piece of fruit from the complimentary display upsetting it and five minutes later, pass through and the staff has rearranged it in a neat stack again.
Before I could finish my statement that my laptop power cord was incompatible with their outlets, a power adapter was placed in my hands. I could go on and on about this outstanding hotel.
Across the street was a Planet Hollywood but I have never been impressed by the chain so it was a 3 MYR cab ride to the Hard Rock Cafe(HRC) We got there at 10PM on a Saturday night and found that all the tables were filled and they stopped serving food at 10:30 PM so it was a liquid dinner.
I started off with a pitcher of Carlsberg that came to 56 MYR... OWWWW!!! Turns out the Muslim dominated country has a very high tax on alcoholic drinks. It is allegedly 60% Muslim and 40% everything else.
Most if not all of the Malay ladies were accompanied by men so it was a quick change of plan and we immediately befriended a pair of Japanese gals from Tokyo who were there on vacation.
We had a great time with the pair but their night was cut short as they had a very early flight the next day. Our goal was to try and meet a couple of girls who knew the town and could show us around the sights as we had no clue as to what to do here.
Our next stop was down the street from the HRC. A place called the Beach? This was a part outdoor, mostly indoor dance club that was packed full of people. The music was good, drinks watered down and lots of local and foreign girls of many nationalities.
My mood went South as in a span of ten minutes I was seconds away from two fist fights. The first was a Chinese guy who was goaded by his rather rotund girlfriend in some kind of attempt at proving his manhood. A very dirty stare was enough to get that couple to back-off.
A short time later a European guy tried the puffed up chest routine but before we could go to blows the bouncers immediately threw him out of the club as this guy had already caused problems earlier and was being closely watched.
My mood went south and I quit the dance floor. I found an area just outside the club where the girls seemed to congregate. I was quickly hit upon and then I realized I was chum in shark filled waters. All of the single girls were actually Thai and Filipina "professionals" who were expecting a price of 400-500 MYR for an all-nighter. I laughed and they left.
A word of caution!!! There is a wooden boat near the right hand side of the club close to the bar. That is where a majority of the cross-dressers hang out. You have been warned. The cross dressers in this neck of the woods are also very difficult to spot at first glance. Even some of the locals were fooled until closer inspection.
It was 2AM and I still had a plane to fly in 12 hours so it was back to the hotel for a little shut eye. Just about every taxi driver will offer you a chance at good looking girls for a short time of 150 MYR or a long time of around 300-400 MYR. The drivers also tend to neglect to turn on their meters and charge triple the normal fare at this time of morning.
At first glance, my thoughts were that Kuala Lumpur (KL) was all about the nightlife but as luck would have it my plane had issues and I was given the opportunity to see much more.
It was 7AM and I was greeted by the prompt wake up call. By 8PM my dry cleaned clothes were delivered to the second by the hotel staff. It was 24 MYR, but they did an outstanding job.
The company van was on time for our pickup to the airport and three hours later we were back on our way to the hotel as our plane had some serious maintenance issues. I hate the luck!!!
Check in was even quicker and a bottle of wine I had left in the minibar was returned to me. Our original rooms were still being cleaned up so it was a trip to the IMBI plaza.
The IMBI plaza is a collection of computer, video and gaming stores. You can buy just about any piece of hardware or software on the market at about 1/3 less than what you would pay in the US. This includes branded computers like COMPAQ.
DVD and software knockoffs could be purchased in a range of about 5-40 MYR. Most of the software was a pain in the neck to install as you needed to take a few extra annoying steps to make it happen. I would advise against any questionable software as they tend to have viruses and other issues.
After the plaza it was a search for an internet cafe and next door to the hotel was the BINTANG Internet cafe. Very fast connections and plenty of computers to choose from. The prices were comparable to the PI. 2 MYR covers up to the first half hour as a minimum and then 1 MYR for every 15 minutes after that. They can be called at 603-2145-6202.
Funds were running low and right next door to the cafe was an ATM. Turns out ATM's are about every 100 meters. It was also munchie time so I hit up the 7-11 right next to the ATM. Not quite the brands we are used to but suitable substitutions nevertheless.
Next stop were the Petronis Towers. We jumped in a cab driven by a guy named GUNA. A very amicable chap he can be depended upon for taking you on a sightseeing tour of the city or finding a nice girl to deliver to your hotel or you to the nightlife interests of your choice. He can be reached at 017-307-8039.
The towers did not feel as imposing as we thought they would but hey, we were in the tallest buildings in the world. We wanted to get up to the top but the highest you could go was the sky bridge which was somewhere around 2/3's the way up.
Turns out you can't just go walking up, you have to get tickets to go there so off to the counter only to find that the tickets were already out. The good news was that the tickets were free, no charge. I later found from a local girl that you need to get there at 9am in order to get the tickets.
That night it was back to the HRC for a little dinner. The food was good, very similar to every other HRC around the world and then it was off to the bar for some more pitchers of Carlsberg. I spent more time watching what was going on and found that even in a place like this cross dressers were allowed in to ply their trade and suprisingly quite a few guys took advantage of that.
Just about the entire group of girls around the bar were "professional" types so if thats what you want thats where you get 'em. If you want to meet the normal nice girls then you have to try to go to their tables and introduce yourself but the cold contact method is very difficult here.
We tried on a group of about 10 girls with mixed results. In short they were in town from Penang on a training visit with their boss. By midnight their chaperones herded them out the door, back to their hotels for an early morning departure. The music on Sunday nights is a kind of blues theme and the band was OK but the music just did not work for the ladies. When the DJ came out the girls started to open up.
The ride home was courtesy of another driver named "Joe" who assumed all yanks were stupid and had huge wallets. He was pretty funny to talk to and he swore he had a great selection of girls he could bring by the hotel. His number was 019-6183473.
The Malays that we met in Kuala Lumpur were all great speakers of English, friendly and were not ignorant of the world around them. They seemed fairly well educated. It was easy to have a normal, articulate conversation.
The food here in KL is fantastic and restaurants were just about everywhere. Prices in most, to include the upscale locations were fair. Most of the cuisine is Chinese and I highly recommend the places the locals tend to hang out at.
Shopping seems to be the favorite thing to do here for the tourists. Malls abound everywhere you look and there can be some fantastic deals had. The mall in the Petronis Towers on the other hand contained some high end stores that charged a great deal for their wares.
We were unable to find a local that had the time off to be able to show us around town to the other touristy locations but we have another trip coming up in the future and you can be sure I will do my homework this time.
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Couples
Best Time to Travel Here: Anytime
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Epinions.com ID:
LuzonTS
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Location: asia
Reviews written: 103
Trusted by: 46 members
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