Malaysia

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eastaugh36

Brownlow Medallist
Veteran 10k Posts
Sep 9, 2000
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Adelaide
AFL Club
Essendon
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Glenelg, Redbacks, Lakers
We are heading to Malaysia for 2 weeks. We will be staying in Kuala Lumpur and also Penang.
Does anyone have any suggestions,tips etc. We want to do many tours. Which are the best? Where are the places we must go?
What will the weather be like in mid-late February.
Cheers
 
You should enjoy Penang, make sure you visit Georgetown. KL or 'Rag Head City' as I prefer to call it, is a different matter, the shopping is ok but not what it's cracked up to be but the food is good and cheap. If you haven't been before and you're into bargain shopping and haggling you should visit Chinatown. You can catch a train and get off at either Masjid Jamek or Pasir Seni stations, beware of Taxis the drivers are dodgy in relation to meters and not using them. We were there 2 weeks ago and the exchange rate was $1 AUD to 2.54MR which was the lowest we've experienced for quite some time, it's still sub 3MR today. The weather is fairly static around the 30 degree celcius mark and you will notice that it doesn't get light until somewhat later than in Australia well certainly WA.
Your wife/partner should, if possible, avoid carrying a shoulder type bag as it is not uncommon for thieves on motorbikes to snatch them. One of my adult daughters had her gold necklaces snatched from around her neck by a couple of these creatures. Needless to say you are wasting your time reporting any such crime to the corrupt police.
Overall it's the capital of an Islamic country so be prepared for cultural differences.
 
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Not sure what it is about KL, because there isn't a whole heap to do, but I love the place. Food is by far the highlight there for us.

A few things:
-Menara Tower (KL Tower) is a better view than the Petronas as you get a view of them then when you're on top of KL Tower. Just on the towers they make getting around pretty easy on foot as you can always use them as a navigation point.
-KLCC Park is at the base of the Petronas and a nice place to get some rest after being in the heat. Has a free wading pool to help cool off.
-Kampung Baru is a little "village" that sits next to the bigger buildings of the city. Comes alive of a night with some nice food options of a night if you really want to feel a part of the place.
-Lot 10 Hutong food court is a collection of all the best street food in the city that the government provided food & water to set up shop. Its very clean and your best 1 stop shop in the city to try a lot of great foods at very little costs.
-Chinatown is good to pick up your fakes in shopping - handbags, sunnies, tshirts, wallets, Angry Birds, whatever really. Its damn hot being so cramped in the tight aalleyways but still worth a visit. We found the food over here to be pretty hit and miss, and usually just use it for a few beers and snacks. Some of the side streets have some great prawn crackers with some great dips to go with.
-Jalan Alor we loved the first time we visited and couldn't wait to eat here again next trip. To be honest we continue to go back more so for the business of the place and to people watch of a night, but I reckon theres nicer places to eat in the city.
-But the best food in the city for me is the Indian. I'm really not an Indian fan over here in Australia, but the tastes over there (and Singapore I find) really do Indian well. There is Little India which is basically next to Chinatown which has plenty to try, but for us the best place to get it is in the back blocks of Bukit Bintang. Literally 1 street back behind the biggest shopping malls & accommodations in the city are where all the workers eat in there little stalls. The flavours are amazing and we found it to be damn cheap with a naan, main & drink costing us about $2 each.
-Couldnt tell you where it was exactly but we had an Indian chicken fried rice over near the KL Tower area one day where had all the chicken bones still in it, but I still salivate thinking back to it. It was damn nice.
-The big malls in Bukit Bintang are alright if you like that sort of thing. We generally duck in here to go to a specific shop if we need something or to beat the heat for 20mins. Their prices aren't that much better than here in the big malls.
-Alcohol isn't as cheap as the rest of SE Asia (Singapore aside) given they have high taxes but you can still get a longneck for around $4AUD.

Well that really turned into a food blog mostly. In general though, KL seems to cop a bad or boring rap from others I know, but I happily use it as a gateway to the rest of Asia on most of our trips mainly because of the good cuisines, where we spend a day or two either side of our trips to stopover. And that is made easier by AirAsia flying through there. The guys will often stare at my wife a fair bit as she's a skinny blonde but the majority of the time they are a friendly bunch.

Enjoy.
 

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deathevocation said:
Wasn't too hard to find expat type bars. Can't recall names but they are there.
Click to expand...

Cheers, spot on.

If anyone is wondering the "Australia Channel" shows the footy. It was channel 69 in my hotel (Cambodia). Most places in Malaysia seemed to have it too. Sports bars will put it on if you ask. I had a quick look at the guide and it looks like they show at least 4 games a week.
 
Get a massage and ask for a happy ending.

You can not go wrong. $2 suckie suckie. (Gee that's not racist at all)
 

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Will be heading to KL in 11 days for a few nights before I do an Intrepid tour of Cambodia.

Staying in a hostel, and will be doing a guided city tour and going on the Petronas Observation deck on the first day and an Intrepid food tour the next day. Will work out how to spend rest of my time over the next day and a bit and other times as I do.
 
What is nightlife like in Kuala Lumpur?

I will be there over a weekend soon.

What's this place like for girls? By the sounds, it won't be anything like some of the other countries in the region.
 
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