October 20th, 2007
I recently spent some time out in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur is the biggest city in Malaysia but unlike it’s big city neighbor Bangkok in Thailand with a population of about 14 million, Kuala Lumpur has a population of just under 2 million people. The Malaysian people are predominantly Muslim although some Malaysians follow Buddhism, Hinduism and Christianity. Walking the streets of Kuala Lumpur, many of the people have a distinct Indian look although some Malaysians have descendants from a mix of other Asian nations. I felt Kuala Lumpur was a warm and welcoming environment in general.
In the center of Kuala Lumpur city stands the Petronas Twin Towers, the tallest twin buildings in the world. Standing alongside these awesome twin towers was quite an experience, the workmanship of these buildings was amazing and they are remarkably high looking up from ground level. The Kuala Lumpur Twin Petronas Towers are without doubt one of the most impressive pieces of architecture I have ever seen, from the outside they look to be made entirely of stainless steel and glass. If you are in Kuala Lumpur, do yourself a favor and check out these towers at night, they glow like massive white beacons of light shooting high into the sky, they can be seen from miles and miles away.
Unlike in Thailand where only a small percentage of the population can speak English, I had very little trouble talking with the locals and navigating my way around the city. The official language of Malaysia is Malay but most schools in Malaysia teach English as a compulsory subject these days.
Kuala Lumpur is quite an easy city to get around in with many taxis available and a very regular and consistent monorail transportation system within the city. The monorail is cheap and runs from about 6am to Midnight everyday. If traveling by taxi, it is best to settle on a price for the trip when you enter the taxi, I didn’t notice any taxi meters in any of the cabs I traveled in.
If you are arriving from the Kuala International Airport it is important to know that the city is about 60-90 minutes drive away by car depending on where your hotel is located. A taxi fare from the airport to the city is also quite expensive so for these reasons I took the KLIA Express train to the city which travels non stop to the city and takes just 28 minutes to arrive at KL Sentral (spelt Sentral not Central) station. When I left the city to return to the airport I was able to check in my suitcase at KL Sentral station for my Malaysia Airlines flight after I bought my ticket for the KLIA Express train to the airport. This meant that I no longer had to carry my suitcase and when I arrived at the airport I did not have to check in any bags, simply make my way though customs and onto the plane. This is a great service offered to Malaysia Airlines, Cathay Pacific and Emirates.
Around the Petronas Twin Towers the architecture of the surrounding buildings is most impressive, not unlike Singapore. This area is the cleanest part of the city and boasts a number of specialty shops and a huge shopping arcade under the Twin Towers. A little bit further away right next to the Imbi Monorail station is one of the 10 biggest shopping centers in the world, the massive Times Square shopping complex. Times Square is ten stories high with every different type of shop you could imagine with a cinema complex, Imax Theatre and a monstrous indoor theme park for both adults and kids. The prices in most of the shops in Times Square seemed quite reasonable.
The temperature in Kuala Lumpur is mainly hot and sunny all year round although from September to April is the monsoon season and when you would expect to see more rain. The rain usually comes down fast and hard but it normally only rains in short spells for an hour or so. Like much of South East Asia, Kuala Lumpur is generally hot most of the time.
Each year Malaysia hosts the Formula One Grand Prix in cars and bikes, this is the busiest time to go to Kuala Lumpur and by far the most expensive time of the year. The race meetings are held just outside the city near the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
The impressive architecture, warm climate and friendly people make Kuala Lumpur a place worth spending some time. You could probably see a fair chunk of the city in just a few days or you could spend more time there in one of the many fine hotels within the city. I found Kuala Lumpur to be an interesting and inexpensive place to spend some time out.
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