KUALA LUMPUR
Kuala Lumpur, if you judge it by its name, sounds much more exotic than it is. Located near the middle of the west coast of peninsular Malaysia, 400 kilometers northwest of Singapore and 40 kilometers inland it is the capital and largest city in Malaysia and one of the most modern cities in Asia. Glass and steel skyscrapers, construction projects, middle class homes and automobiles far outnumber interesting markets, temples and colonial buildings.
Kuala Lumpur is known locally as KL. Established by British as their colonial headquarters, because of its nearness to important tin mines, it has grown from a humid tropical river town of a few thousand people to a city of 1.8 million people mostly since World War II. Its name means "muddy river mouth," a reference to the coffee-colored Klang River that runs though it. The city is hot and wet — with temperatures staying between 26 and 33 degrees C (80 to 90 degrees F) — nearly all year. March through October is little drier, but it still quite hot.
On the plus side, Kuala Lumpur is much more manageable and less chaotic, congested and polluted than Bangkok and other Asian cities. It also has a lively intercultural mix. It also offers an interesting fusion of Malay, Muslim, Chinese, Western, and Indian culture and features colonial neighborhoods once used by Malay princes, Chinese gangsters and British merchants.
On the negative side, Kuala Lumpur is kind of boring. There isn't really all that much to see and do unless you are the kind of person that like Singapore. Many travelers don't even bother to stop in the city and visit it unless they have to catch a flight at its airport. In recent years Kuala Lumpur, and Malaysia as a whole has tried to spiff up its image. A new airport, new highways and a new light rail system were built in the late 1990s and early 2000s. KL now is home to two of the world’s tallest buildings: the Petronas Towers. Between September 11th, 2001 and 2006, 59 buildings 30 stories or more were completed, under construction or proposed.
Simon Elegant wrote in Travel & Leisure: “Combine multiple races and religions anywhere and you have a volatile mix; stir in one of the fastest economic growth rates in history for the past 30 years, and you get Kuala Lumpur, a city still a little dazed by its arrival at the crossroads where development, multiculturalism, and Islam collide. [Source: Simon Elegant, Travel & Leisure, August 2006]
Located at an elevation of 66 meters, Kuala Lumpur doesn’t lie within a Malaysian state rather it occupies its own entity: the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, which is surrounded by the state of Selangor. The city population is 1.8 million; the metro area population is 7.2 million. The total area of the city is 243 square kilometers (94 square miles); the total area of the metro area is 2,243.27 square kilometers (866.13 square miles). The city’s population Density is 6696 people per kilometer. [Source: Wikipedia]
Kuala Lumpur Multi-Culturalism
Simon Elegant wrote in Travel & Leisure: “Just over half of the population of the country today are Malays, and thus also Muslims, their ancestors having been converted by Arab traders several centuries ago. The arrival of so many Malays in what had been, until the mid-eighties, a largely Chinese city was a tectonic break with the country's colonial past. In the early 20th century, the entire peninsula was controlled by Britain, whose officers found, to their irritation, that the Malays had no interest (understandably) in working the colonial rubber plantations and tin mines, preferring instead to tend their own rice fields. So the British simply imported laborers from China and India who were willing to do the backbreaking, often life-threatening (malaria was rife and untreatable) work. The descendants of those immigrants form nearly half of Malaysia's current population, which stands at about 25 percent Chinese, 7 percent Indian, and the rest people of indigenous or mixed heritage. [Source: Simon Elegant, Travel & Leisure, August 2006]
“For a while after independence in 1957, it looked as though the system established under British rule to hold together the new nation's diverse races — with the Chinese dominating the economy and the Malays, still largely rural, in control of politics and enforcing sharia among Muslims — would function. But in 1969, disparities in wealth and the Malays' insecurity about their grip on power exploded into race riots that lasted for three days in Kuala Lumpur, leaving hundreds dead. Shocked politicians began a huge affirmative action program designed to shift ownership of the country's wealth to its Malay majority and, at the same time, create a middle class of Malay doctors, lawyers, and businesspeople. Its success is probably as much attributable to simple economics as to government policies:
“And yet, the affirmative action and global trade that brought Malays into the middle class now threatens to keep K.L. in a sort of stasis. Anwar Ibrahim, former deputy prime minister and the most outspoken critic of Mahathir's administration, is concerned that the system has created a generation of overdependent, underqualified Malays. "The program can no longer work in an increasingly globalized world," Ibrahim says over a cup of coffee at his house. "Graduate unemployment is huge. And these issues can explode" — as they did in 1969 — "if they are taken up by demagogues." Speaking about the impact of the affirmative action policies that discriminate against Chinese Malaysians, Azmi Sharom, a law professor and sometime social activist, tells me, "You can't expect to exclude thirty percent of the population from the best universities and jobs and not face the fact they are going to take their talents elsewhere." Estimates vary, but there's little dispute that in the recent past Malaysia has suffered a serious brain drain, specifically among middle-class Malaysian Chinese. Unable to secure places at local universities, many go abroad to study and never come back.
“But as Sharom also points out, Kuala Lumpur has an ace up its sleeve: its immigrants. While America is embroiled in a border debate, Malaysia welcomes workers from all over the map. The city has always relied on newcomers — laborers from China's southern coast, Malay farmers from the rice fields of Kedah 300 miles north of the city, and, these days, computer programrs from New Brunswick working in K.L.'s own mini?Silicon Valley (the much-touted Multimedia Supercorridor). As long as they continue to be embraced by this patchwork society, there will always be an influx of new citizens, Sharom argues.
“And there's another type of immigrant attracted by Kuala Lumpur's increasingly cosmopolitan edge: the returnee. Cheong Lieuw was born and bred in K.L., then spent nearly three decades achieving fame in Australia as the chef who, in the 1970's, more or less invented Asian fusion at his Adelaide restaurant, the Grange. Now Lieuw has come back to open a new restaurant, Senses. But he would have returned anyway, he says. "I do nothing but eat while I am here," the rumpled, slightly roly-poly 55-year-old says a little ruefully as he watches a waiter at Senses serve me a bouillabaisse inspired by a local coconut-based curry called laksa. "All Asians are food-obsessed, but K.L. is really special," Lieuw says. "Right now, for me, Kuala Lumpur is one of the most interesting places in the world because it just has so much variety." So long as that variety continues to lure boundary-breaking residents like Lieuw, it will remain one of the world's most dynamic urban centers — a heartening prospect for a city facing an uncertain future.”
Kuala Lumpur’s Rapid Development
Simon Elegant wrote in Travel & Leisure: “A generation ago, Malaysia was a rural backwater still largely dependent on natural resources (it was the world's largest producer of tin) and agriculture (ditto for rubber and palm oil). Then, in 1981, a zealous medical doctor named Mahathir Mohamad took over as prime minister and began an ambitious program of export-led industrialization. By the turn of the last century, Malaysia's economy was powered by the manufacturing of everything from semiconductors and hard drives to air conditioners (of which it is one of the world's biggest producers). As the capital city, Kuala Lumpur welcomed the rural laborers who poured in from the countryside eager to work in the factories that had sprung up in the suburbs. [Source: Simon Elegant, Travel & Leisure, August 2006]
“Most of these newcomers were descendants of the original inhabitants of the Malay Peninsula, a long finger of once densely forested land hanging off Thailand like an exclamation mark, pointed by the island of Singapore. Malaysia is a land still rich in natural resources and has largely been spared the natural disasters that plague its neighbors. It also has a relatively small population (around 25 million) and a gross domestic product that keeps expanding at an enviable 5 to 6 percent a year. With the affirmative action program steadily increasing the Malay share of the country's wealth, and an economy strong enough to withstand events like the 1998 economic meltdown that pummeled most other countries in the region, Malaysians have achieved an enviable standard of living. Simply put, people with houses and cars and jobs are unlikely to start race riots.
“When I moved to Kuala Lumpur in 1998, the city's current incarnation as a thriving global metropolis seemed a very remote possibility. The Asian financial crisis was at its height, and Malaysia's currency had dropped to half its previous value against the dollar in a matter of months. The country's economy was faltering, a problem made worse by a bitter fight between Mahathir and his sometime protégé, the former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim. Within days of my arrival, I was running through the streets with thousands of protesters, our eyes watering from the mist of tear gas that hung over the capital's main boulevards. Now those days of rage and fear are distant memories. The economy's natural strengths quickly reasserted themselves and the protests simply ran out of steam. Today, in fact, you're more in danger of being trampled by hordes of eager shoppers than by demonstrators. You might find your eyes watering, but only from a midnight supper of chakueitiao — flat rice noodles fried with garlic, egg, shrimp, chives, and plenty of chiles — served at an outdoor food stall on Ceylon Hill. The worst fight you'd encounter might be over a table at Third Floor in the JW Marriott Hotel, where the foie gras with a caramelized-pear-and-burgundy reduction rivals any such dish in New York.”
Kuala Lumpur in the British Colonial Era
Simon Elegant wrote in Travel & Leisure: “ Hidden amid this forest of nondescript buildings indistinguishable from their counterparts in cities throughout Asia, there are a few reminders of the colonial past. To the east is the former residence of the British governor of the Federated Malay States, a rambling two-story mansion with wide verandas and fluted columns set among the last remnants of the jungle that once covered the whole peninsula. In 1989 it became the all-suite Carcosa Seri Negara hotel, and its bar serves those trying to recapture the era of Somerset Maugham. Maugham's stories — written mostly in the 1920's and 30's — are redolent of a long-dead age when colonial officers dressed for dinner in their remote jungle outposts and rubber planters quietly drank themselves to death while their wives conducted torrid affairs with neighbors. They are also true to life, literally: he lifted most of his material from the pages of the Straits Times — the planters' daily — in some cases barely bothering to change the protagonists' real names. [Source: Simon Elegant, Travel & Leisure, August 2006]
“Another favorite source of material was gossip Maugham overheard at the Long Bar of the Selangor Club, a Kuala Lumpur institution now 122 years old, on the edge of the cricket green (always the centerpiece of British-administered towns). The cricket grounds have been cut back to a smallish patch now named Independence Square, but the clubhouse is still there, a faux-Tudor building abutting the truncated field. Today, the Long Bar is known mainly for its cold beer, fading photographs of bygone rugby teams, and an antiquated rule excluding women. Some tourists come to catch a whiff of the clubhouse's history or perhaps a glimpse of the Moorish high-court buildings across the road. But most don't stay long, preferring to flock back to the shops, clubs, and restaurants downtown at Bukit Bintang or on the nearby Beach Club strip where Ibiza is located.
“That's too bad, really, because in some small part of the city's consciousness lingers the memory of an older, smaller Kuala Lumpur, barely more than a colonial town, where the Chinese ran the shops while the Malays tended to their rice in the kampangs (villages) and the Indians worked the rubber and oil-palm plantations they were born and raised — and would die — on. Those times are long gone, of course, but a similar reality still thrives in the city's ordinary, outlying neighborhoods, where Malaysians of all races mingle in an unlikely tableau of shared prosperity and peaceful coexistence.”
Tourist Offices in Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur Tourist Information Centre
Kuala Lumpur Sentral Station,
Lot 21, Tingkat 2, Balai Ketibaan,
Kuala Lumpur City Air Terminal,
Stesen KL Sentral,
50050
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Tel: 603-2272-5823
Kuala Lumpur Tourist Information Centre
Kuala Lumpur International Airport,
Visitor Service Centre,
International Arrival Hall, KLIA,
64000 Sepang,
Selangor, Malaysia
Tel: 603-8776-5647/5651
Kuala Lumpur Tourist Information Centre
Jalan Ampang-Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia Tourist Centre (MTC),
109 Jalan Ampang,
50450
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Tel: 603-9235-4848/4900
Fax: 603-2162-1149
The head office of the Tourist Development Corporation Malaysia is located at 17th, 24 and 30th Floor, Menara Dato Onn, Putra World Trade Center, 45 Jalan Tun Ismail, 50480 Kuala Lumpur,Tel: (3)-293-5188, fax: (3)-293-5884.
Orientation in Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur is relatively easy to get around in despite the fact that streets often change name and curve around in typical British style. Most places of interest are on the east side of the Klang river around Chinatown (lying within the roads Jalan Cheng Lock and Jalan Sultan) and the Golden Triangle defined Jalan Pudu to the north, Jalan Ampang to the south and Jalan Imbi and Jalan Tun Razak to the west.
The Golden Triangle includes bustling shopping area of Bukit Bintang, the office towers of Jalan Raja Chulan, the Jalan Sultan Ismail five-star hotel strip, the Jalan P. Ramlee party street, and the entire Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC), which is home to the Petronas Twin Towers, Suria KLCC shopping centre, KLCC Convention Centre and the KLCC Park. KL's traditional City Centre is southwest of the Golden Triangle.
Chinatown is the main budget hotel and restaurant area. The Golden Triangle is the main top-end hotel and shopping area, with Central Market nearby. Petronas Twin Towers is located at the Kuala Lumpur City Center, a new 100-acre development site formerly occupied by the Selanger Turf Club. This should not be confused with KL's traditional City Centre. The main railway station is across the river from Chinatown. Two important roads, Jalan Tun Perak and Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, intersect near a large park known as Padang.
Entertainment in Kuala Lumpur
Many discos, bars and nightclubs are found in the large hotels and in and around the Jalan P. Ramlee party street in the Golden Triangle. Performances of Malaysian dance are staged at the National Theater and sometimes at nightclub floor shows in the major hotels. Instant Cafe Theater Company stages political satire. The Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra performs at the Dewan Filharmonik Petronas, a concert hall between the Petronas Towers. A calendar of events is usually available at the major hotels and tourist offices. Also check out local entertainment magazines, the Lonely Planet Books, newspapers and posters put up around town.
Many of the cities most popular restaurants, hotels and entertainment spots are located in and around Chinatown, the Golden Triangle, and Bangsar Baru (eight kilometers south of Kuala Lumpur), a relatively new expatriate bar hangout area. Bangsar Baru, known locally as Bangsar, is made up of nine rows of converted shophouses along Jalan Telwai. During the day it is a trendy shopping area with boutiques and art galleries. At night the bars, restaurants, cafes and bistros draw large crowds. The prices are higher than other areas in Kuala Lumpur.
Istana Budaya is Malaysia’s National Theatre. It is has been said that it is first theatre in Asia equipped with cutting- edge stage equipment that is on par with the Royal Albert Hall in London. The main building s shaped like a “sirih junjung” (a traditional arrangement of betel leaves used in Malay weddings and welcoming ceremonies), and is divided by function, based on a traditional Malay house. The interior of the Istana Budaya is something you won't want to miss as it is built from Langkawi marble and decorated with tropical wooden doors which feature hand- carved flower and leaf motifs. In short, this place is a work of art in and of itself. On its annual calendar are international cultural and musical performances as well as concerts and ballet performances. To find out what events are on, just call the venue ahead of time. Istana Budaya means “Palace of Culture”) Contact: Istana Budaya, Tel: 603-4026 5555, Fax: 603-4025 5975, Email: info@istanabudaya.gov.my. Getting There: By Car or Taxi: Istana Budaya (National Theatre) is on Jalan Tun Razak, next to the Heart Institute (locally known as IJN).
According to “Cities of World”: “A number of air-conditioned theaters in metropolitan Kuala Lumpur show a good selection of American films, but many films are censored. Local cinemas also show a variety of Chinese, Indian, Indonesian, and Malaysian films, occasionally with English subtitles. Ticket prices are reasonable, but these theaters are not frequented much by the expatriate community. Although the city has no professional theaters, the major hotels do have occasional dinner theater presentations, amateur theatrical events are staged at ISKL, and local professional productions are occasionally presented at various venues. Dining out is a favorite pastime.” (See Restaurants Below) [Source: Cities of the World, Gale Group Inc., 2002, adapted from a October 1994 U.S. State Department report]
Nightclub and Party Scene in Kuala Lumpur
Simon Elegant wrote in Travel & Leisure: “ Though it's well into the morning hours on Kuala Lumpur's trendy Beach Club strip, the nightclub Ibiza is just starting to heat up. Hip-hop (right now, it's "In Da Club" by 50 Cent) is blasting out of giant speakers onstage, the music so loud that the glasses on the tables are vibrating. The entire dimly lit basement room is heaving with moving bodies. Every so often someone swings up onto the stage to join the two dozen dancers gyrating there, mostly young girls in tight jeans and bare-midriff tops, their swaying and shaking only intermittently visible through the strobe flashes and dense clouds of cigarette smoke. I lean over toward my tablemate, a genial twentysomething in a backward baseball cap. He says his name is Saleh. "Aren't you worried about being raided?" I yell in the Malay I've picked up during my seven years as a journalist here. [Source: Simon Elegant, Travel & Leisure, August 2006]
“The police have been known to descend on the clubs that have cropped up in Malaysia's capital in recent years, mostly searching for ecstasy and amphetamines. But I'm referring to the religious police, another issue altogether. As Saleh and pretty much everyone else in the club are Muslims, just being there could get them hauled up in front of the Islamic law courts by officers of Kuala Lumpur's Religious Department. (These sharia courts deal with all noncriminal matters for Muslims.) The charge for clubbing would likely be "indecent behavior," a catchall favorite of the department. Never mind the bottles of Jack Daniels that stand on almost every table in the place, or the clothes the girls are wearing, which might make even Shakira blush. Either of those could theoretically draw a penalty of fines or jail time if the judge happened to be in a bad mood. But Saleh's response is nonchalant.
"Ever since that raid at Zouk, those guys have been lying low," he says, referring to an incident last year, at another velvet-rope club just around the corner, that still lingers in the popular consciousness. The Religious Department officers rounded up some 100 young Muslims and detained them overnight; many of those nabbed, it turned out, were children of Kuala Lumpur's most influential political families, and the controversy that ensued eventually reached the ears of the most senior lawmakers. The raid received considerable unfriendly coverage in the media, and charges against the clubbers were quietly dropped. "And anyway," he continues, "some friends of mine were told that this place definitely won't get busted tonight." He grins and rubs his fingers and thumb together in the universal gesture for money.The young crowd's flaunting of rules they consider irrelevant typifies the electrified atmosphere that rapid change has sparked in this city.”
Sports and Recreation in Kuala Lumpur
There are skating rinks at the Mines Shopping Fair and the Sunway Pyramid. The latter also has an amusement park. Kuala Lumpur’s Formula One track is located st Sepang near the new international airport. The Mines Resort Golf Club was built in what was once the largest open-cast tin mine in the world. In addition to the Robert-Trent-Jones-designed golf course there is a theme park, a shopping mall, a beach resort ad a convention cnter.
Restaurants in Kuala Lumpur
Malay food, Chinese food, Indian food, Italian food, Korean food, Japanese Food and other international cuisines are all available in Kuala Lumpur as well as McDonalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken and pizza places. The swankiest restaurants are generally located in the large hotels. There are good Indian restaurants in Brickfields and good Chinese restaurants in Chinatown and along Jalan Bukit Bintang near Puda Raya bus station. There are lots of good cheap Malay and Indian cafes at the central market and in the central districts. Check out the food stalls and noodle shops around Bukit Bintang. For trendy restaurant and bistros geared for expats check out Bangsar Baru..
According to “Cities of World”: “Dining out is a favorite pastime. The cuisine offered by local restaurants reflects the rich diversity of Malaysia's population; literally hundreds of restaurants, coffee shops, and open air food stalls specialize in Malay, Indian, Western, and any of several types of Chinese food. Except at hotel restaurants, dining out is fairly inexpensive. Restaurants are sanitary, and while not up to U.S. standards by any means, are acceptable for most people. The food can be exciting to taste and, at open air restaurants or stalls, exciting to watch being prepared. For those who seek other kinds of excitement, the city also has several discos and a number of bars and nightclubs. Visiting musicians perform at several concerts each year.
Scores of food stalls with delicious food can be found at the night markets at Taman Connaught Night Market on Wednesay night, the Sunday market at Kampung Bahru, Chow Kit Lane (across the river from the train station) and the indoor market at Jalan Hang Kasturi. There are a number or roadside food stalls throughout Kuala Lumpur. Ask a taxi driver to take you to a good one. If you are not sure what to get, most stall owners will let you sample their offerings. Restaurant guides in English are sometimes given out free at the major hotels and tourist offices. They are sold at newsstands and bookstores in areas frequented by tourists. Also check lists of restaurants in local entertainment magazines, the Lonely Planet books and other guidebooks.
Lot 10 Hutong: Kuala Lumpur Street Food in a Food Court
Sean Yoong of Associated Press wrote: “Before you glimpse the roast duck on skewers, before you hear the clanging Chinese woks, the first hint that you're approaching a melting pot of generations-old family recipes is the sizzling smell of charcoal-fired noodles. The place is Malaysia's newest food court, whose modern sleekness in a bustling mall belies the rich history of its offerings: many outlets here are run by families who have hawked their food for decades in pushcarts on the streets of Kuala Lumpur, surrounded by traffic fumes, noise and heat. [Source: Sean Yoong, Associated Press, February 11, 2010]
“Now, these masters of classic cooking — once scattered across Malaysia's largest city — have come under one air-conditioned roof at the "Hutong" food court, keeping alive a heritage that some feared would be gobbled up by fast food chains. "We have a legacy of 60 years," said Herbert Wong, one of the scions of a back alley porridge business pioneered by his grandfather in Kuala Lumpur's Chinatown in 1949. "The recipe is the same — since my grandfather's time, we did not change anything," Wong said while watching his employees prepare piping-hot bowls of creamy rice porridge topped with raw fish, pork intestines and handmade meatballs.
“Like Wong's locally famed Hon Kee Porridge business, the most prominent tenants at Hutong are ethnic Chinese Malaysians who have whipped up a culinary storm for decades, earning immense popularity because their recipes handed down over generations were known to be the best in town. The recipes were brought by Chinese immigrants to this country during the British colonial eras of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Most of it is cheap, hearty and relatively fast to cook.
“But the vendors are aging and some of their children are reluctant to take over the business because of the long, exhausting hours in hot, humid conditions. Also, most of the children are better educated — Wong is a Singapore-trained mechanical engineer — and can secure more professional jobs. Fearing these signature recipes might someday be lost forever, Malaysian tycoon Francis Yeoh had an idea. He persuaded selected hawkers to open stalls in a food court in Lot 10 — one of Yeoh's shopping malls — overseen by their own family members who control how their dishes are prepared. "It's good because you can see all these famous brands in one place and you can make sure that they stay alive," said 62-year-old Lee Ah Sang, who started selling "bak kut teh," an herbal broth made with pork ribs, nearly 40 years ago. “Yeoh, a self-avowed foodie and savvy entrepreneur who runs the property and utility empire YTL, hand-picked the vendors for Hutong, which he dubbed a "gourmet heritage village."
“Hutong, Mandarin for courtyard neighborhoods traditionally found in Beijing — fits the look of this place. It's a sprawling but cluttered area where 20-odd stalls seem to spill over to one another. Customers stomping over Hutong's gleaming, green-tiled floor jostle for space during lunch hour, when the mall benefits from being at the intersection of downtown Kuala Lumpur's commercial and tourist district. Yeoh's spokespeople estimate 250,000 people visited Hutong in December, its first full month — an impressive figure because most of Hutong's stalls serve pork, which is off-limits for the ethnic Malay Muslims who comprise nearly two-thirds of Malaysia's 28 million people. Customers are mainly from Kuala Lumpur's ethnic Chinese minority.
“Food bloggers have raved about being able to sample such vast variety without having to travel to each of the businesses' original stalls. Hutong's success is gratifying for vendors such as David Low, one of the few non-Malaysians whom Yeoh invited. Low, a Singaporean, has been preparing variations of Malaysian Chinese food, including oyster omelets and stir-fried noodles with prawns, in the neighboring city-state since 1972. For the older generation, they loved this kind of dishes. But now, the younger people go for McDonald's, Western food, Japanese food. Slowly this kind of food might die out," said Low, whose children work as accountants and bankers and declined to join him. Nevertheless, the booming business at Hutong indicates people aren't quite ready to let these foods go. Despite the proliferation of sushi bars and burger franchises nearby, young office workers and families with teenagers are among the customers.
“Yeoh's plan to preserve the recipes for many years to come also seems to be working because some of the vendors' children have shown increased interest in working in Hutong's clean, comfortable environment. "Each generation will reap what the former generation has sown," said Tan Kai Yong, Yeoh's mother who helped launch Hutong. "It is my joy that we are able to share the good food that we have enjoyed — not only with my children, but with my grandchildren and their children's children. With Lot 10 Hutong, we are preserving a cultural and culinary legacy.
Shopping in Kuala Lumpur
Shopping areas in Jakarta include Petaling Street in Chinatown; Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman, a major one-way road; the Central Market and Little India. There are many shops and stalls selling fake designer merchandise along Jalan Mountbatten and Petaling Street. The priciest and most exclusive shops are located in and around the large hotels, particularly in the Bukit Bintang near the Ritz-Carlton hotel. Bukit Bintang, in the heart of the city, is a famed shopping dining and entertainment district. At one time in the not so distant past three of the world’s 10 largest malls were in KL.
Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC), situated in the base of Petronas Twin Towers, Pertama Complex, the Lot 10 Shopping Mall, Sungei Wang shopping plaza, Bukit Bintang Plaza, KL Plaza, Starhill, Low Yat Plaza and Berjaya Time Square — a mixture of middle to high end shopping malls — are all clustered close together in the Golden Triangle. The Petronas Towers houses Suria KLCC, an impressive shopping mall with a Chanel, Bulgari, Cartier, Gucci, Tiffany’s and others. In the suburbs are the malls One-Utama, Mid Valley Megamallm, The Maines and Alamanda in Putrajaya.
Jalan Pahang in Little India is home to a number of shops selling hand-blocked batik fabrics and kain singket cloth (interwoven with gold threads, traditionally used to make elegant ladies’ sarongs). The Royal Selangor factory in Setapak has a wide variety of reasonably-priced pewter ware. There are lots of interesting Chinese shops, antique stores and cheesy souvenir shops in Chinatown. Also check out the night market at the Sunday Market (at Kampung Bahru), Chow Kit Lane (across the river from the train station) and Taman Connaught Night Market on Wednesday Night, and Kasturi Walk, a covered arcade near the Centreal Market.
BBKLCC (Bukit Bintang to Kuala Lumpur City Centre)
BBKLCC refers to the shopping area that stretches from Bukit Bintang to Kuala Lumpur City Centre. Bukit Bintang, in the heart of the city, is a famed shopping dining and entertainment district. The priciest and most exclusive shops are located here near the Ritz-Carlton hotel. Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC), situated in the base of Petronas Twin Towers. Suria KLCC, an impressive shopping mall with a Chanel, Bulgari, Cartier, Gucci, Tiffany’s and others.
The crescent-shaped KLCC shopping mall contains two major department stores, 300 specialty shops, two spacious food courts with a wide selection of local and international food, an indoor theme park and amusement center, a multiscreen cinema complex, a prominent center court, two outer courts featuring major promotions, and a framed skylight following the crescent shape of the small.
BBKLCC was ranked as the world’s fourth best shopping city by CNNGo. Stretching from Bukit Bintang to Kuala Lumpur City Centre, it offers a plethora of fashion, food and entertainment options. Lose yourself in the huge selection of local and international brands available across nine signature malls within the area. The shopping district is also well-connected via a covered pedestrian walkway and an efficient network of public transportation. Contact: Pavilion KL: Address: 168 Jalan Bukit Bintang, 55100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Tel: 603-2118 8833, Email: customerservice@pavilion-kl.com
Getting There: By Car: Pavilion is located in the heart of Jalan Bukit Bintang. There are multiple entry points to the Pavilion car park along Jalan Bukit Bintang and Jalan Raja Chulan. By Bus: From Titiwangsa, take the Rapid KL B103 bus to Bukit Bintang via KLCC, or B102 to Bukit Bintang via Kampung Baru. From Mid Valley City, take the Rapid KL B110 bus to Bukit Bintang via Bangkok Bank. By KL Monorail: Board the KL Monorail and stop at the Bukit Bintang/Raja Chulan station. Monorail operating hours are from 6:00am to midnight. By Light Rapid Transit (LRT) While there are no direct LRT trains to the Bukit Bintang area, interchanges to the KL Monorail can be made at the Hang Tuah and Titiwangsa stations from the Ampang Rail Line. If you’re using the Kelana Jaya Rail Line, stop at KL Sentral Station. The KL Sentral monorail station is 140 meters away from the main KL Sentral building.
Central Market of Kuala Lumpur
The Central Market (near the major hotels) is housed in an art deco building. Among the interesting ethnic items for sale are masks form Sarawak, rattan chairs, oak furniture carved by Malays, Muslim head scarves and forearm coverings, yellow Chinese opium pipes, batik tea shirts and robes, jade chopsticks and silk tapestries. The market also serves as a gallery for local artists and craftsmen.
Located in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, a few minutes away from Petaling Street, Central Market is a famous landmark for Malaysian culture and heritage. The building was built in 1888 and originally functioned as a wet market. It has since been classified as a Heritage Site. Tourists tends to shop for handicrafts, art, kebaya, songket, batik and authentic Malaysian souvenirs. A Batik Emporium houses well-known designer labels, with the best Malaysian-made batik items including from clothes, shoes, bags to home furnishing.
The Central Market has an outdoor stage, where visitors can catch colorful arts and cultural events. During the country’s main festivals this area is lit up and features a number of events. For a more contemporary take on the local arts scene, The Annexe Gallery, located at the back of Central Market, is a popular venue for events such as film screenings, art exhibitions and public discourses. Contact: Central Market Management, Tel: 603-2031 0399 / 539
Getting There: By Taxi or Walk: Central Market is on Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock, opposite the Klang Bus Stand. By Light Rapid Transit (LRT): The Pasar Seni station on the Putra LRT line is right outside Central Market.
Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman
Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, a long shopping street, sometimes referred to as Jalan TAR, was the one of the main shopping areas of Kuala Lumpur before the shopping scene in KL was taken over by modern shopping complexes and malls. This stretch of road is flanked by pre-war buildings whose distinctive facades have been preserved and readapted to accommodate modern retailing businesses. Here, you can walk through the archways of shops for an immersion into a shopping and cultural experience that goes back several decades.
Many established shops like G.S. Gill, P. Lal and P.H. Henry chose to remain when others moved out. The shops here offer a wide range of fabrics and textiles, imported leather goods, bags and luggage, carpets, sports goods and winter clothing. Narrow alleys between the shops offer a fantastic range of clothing material at irresistible bargain prices. Other established names offer collections of silver and crystalware. Sogo Shopping Complex and Maju Junction Mall are also located along this stretch.
Every Saturday between 5:00pm-10:00pm, Lorong Tuanku Abdul Rahman is closed to traffic and transformed into a night market (“pasar malam”) where petty traders and hawkers sell an assortment of goods in the open air. Walking through it promises to be an interesting experience, and it is also a good place to pick up some casual attire, local products, as well as sample local delicacies. Contact: Malaysia Tourism Centre (MaTiC): Address: 109 Jalan Ampang, 50450 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Tel: 1 300 88 5050, Fax: 603-2162 1149, Email: enquiries@tourism.gov.my
Getting There: By Taxi: The busy part of Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman is in between Jalan Tun Perak (Dataran Merdeka, Merdeka Square) and Jalan Sultan Ismail. A good landmark to stop at is Sogo shopping mall. By Light Rapid Transit (LRT): The Bandaraya station on the STAR line is on Jalan Raja Laut, which is parallel to Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman. Alternatively, you can get off at Masjid Jamek (both STAR and PUTRA lines), walk into the little lane that leads into Little India and cut across the alley onto Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman.
Accommodation in Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur has quite a few deluxe hotels including a Ritz-Carlton, Hyatt, Shangri La, Mandarin Oriental, Hilton, nice Marriot and Sheraton, and Inter-Continental. Many are located in the Golden Triangle area.
The nicest and most atmospheric place to stay is the Carcosa Seri Negara, a quaint hotel situated in a 100-year-old mansion formally used by the British governor and stayed in by Queen Elizabeth when she visited Malaysia in 1998. In the 1950s, Vice President Richard Nixon stayed here and the film The Seventh Dawn, with William Holden, was shot here. The staircases and tables are made of teak. Each suite — which go for between $325 and $950 a night — has its own butler. Tea is served every afternoon on the veranda.
There are also quite a few standard hotels (including a best Western and a Holiday Inn), hostels, guest houses, and YMCAs and other hotels. Popular budget hotel areas include the Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman area, Jalan Raja Laut, Chinatown, and Brickfields. Be warned that many of the cheap hotels also serve as brothels. The tourist office in Kuala Lumpur and the hotel information desk at the airport can help you find a top end or starred hotel. The Lonely Planet books have good lists of cheap guest houses.
Transportation in Kuala Lumpur
There are taxis and buses in Kuala Lumpur as well as a Light Rail Transit (LRT) system and a monorail. Transportation options and names include Plusliner, Express Rail Link (ERL), Putra LRT, Star LRT, Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB), Monorail, Radio Taxis Services, KL Sentral, Malaysia Central and Rapid KL.
Many tourists uses taxis. City taxis are required by law to use the meter. There are also minivan type taxis for carrying larger parties and these fares are usually higher. Taxis may be arranged by phone. However, a surcharge applies. A surcharge applies after midnight, for extra passengers or luggage. Taxis may be in short supply during rush hour and during poor weather conditions.
RapidKL operates two Light Rail (LRT) lines and 70 percent of the city’s bus services. KL Monorail runs from Titiwangsa to KLSentral and the Golden Triangle. An electric train links Kuala Lumpur and Port Klang. Putra LRT and STAR LRT have Light Rail Transit (LRT) lines to city’s eastern and western suburbs. KTM Kommuter trains routes: Sentul to Port Kelang and Rawang to Seremban. People Mover Rapid Transit (PRT) is a monorail system linking main locations in city center.
“KL Hop On-Hop Off ” double-decker buses provide guided tours of the city. 24-hour tickets give riders unlimited hops “on or off” for a day. Regular city buses are overcrowded during rush hour and may not run on schedule. Some buses may be in poor condition. Express buses serve routes between Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Kuala Lumpur, Nilai, Subang, and Shah Alam. Buses leave every 15 to 30 minutes from 5:00am to 11:00pm. Fixed-route minibuses (“Bas Mini”) are available for local destinations. They travel specific routes and charge a flat fare for all destinations. Express buses provide transport to Hentian Duta bus station on Jalan Sultan Ismail. There are feeder buses to city center and many hotels.
Bus Stations: Puduraya is the main bus station in city center. Traffic near the station may be congested. East coast express buses leave from Putra Bus Station across from the Putra World Trade Center. Southbound buses leave from Medan Mar. Other east coast buses leave from Pekeliling Bus Station. North and south bound buses, minibuses and hired taxis leave from Pudu Raya Bus and Taxi Station.
Train Stations: The main railway station is across the river from Chinatown. It is housed in a pretty colonial building. Kuala Lumpur Sentral (KLSentral) is the central train, monorail and bus station. Trains provide transport within the city and to main cities in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore. Taxis and buses are available at the station. Parking facilities and feeder bus services at rail stations are inadequate.
According to ASIRT: “1) Major roads, especially in city center, are often congested during rush hour. Traffic jams are common. 2) Implementation of a traffic control system is helping to reduce congestion. 3) Entrance of heavy vehicles into the city is restricted in rush hour. 4) Some streets are one-way. Traffic direction may change during rush hours. 5) Some roads in city center have bus-only and taxi–only lanes. 6) The increasing numbers of road signs, lane markings and traffic barriers are improving road safety. 7) Pedestrian bridges are provided at some locations. 8) Parking: Charges for long-term parking in city center are reasonable. However, high fees for short-term parking make public transport a better option. Parking may be difficult to find outside city center, especially near public transport stops and shopping districts. During rush hour, parking is illegal on major roads throughout the city.” [Source: Association for Safe International Road Travel (ASIRT), 2007]
Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons,
Text Sources: Malaysia Tourism websites, Malaysia government websites, UNESCO, Wikipedia, Lonely Planet guides, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, National Geographic, The New Yorker, Bloomberg, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Japan News, Yomiuri Shimbun, Compton's Encyclopedia and various books and other publications.
Updated in August 2020