Kuala Lumpur, worthwhile?
#1
Original Poster
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 210
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Kuala Lumpur, worthwhile?
Planning a trip to Asia, have been to KL (albeit eons ago) and after reading aobut the city I'm not sure if it worth spending day or two in KL. Will be flying via KL, so a stopover is a possibility. I remember Petronas Towers, the Batu Caves, etc. Is there anything new in the city that is worth visiting? If not, I will just skip it and spend more time elsewhere.
#4
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 547
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dgunbug, we were just there for the first time about 3 weeks ago. We were there for 2 days and 2 nights and could have used AT the VERY LEAST one more day. We saw some highlights, but had to skip quite a lot just because of lack of time.
FYI - We arrived from Bangkok around 3:30p. Didn't get to our hotel (Doubletree) until about 6:30p. We had pre-arranged for a taxi driver to pick us up from the hotel and take us to Pasir Penambang for a seafood dinner and to Kuala Selangor for a fireflies tour. We were 30 minutes late by the time we arrived at the hotel (not including checking in), but luckily, our driver waited for us and we had his phone number to confirm that we had arrived and still wanted to use him. The rest of the evening worked out as planned. The next day we had to search for a place to exchange money as we hadn't exchanged much at the airport. We thought we could just go to a bank the next day to exchange more not realizing that it was the start of Ramadan and all the banks were closed. We walked to the Petronas Towers Mall where we were told we could probably find a money exchange place open and there was. From there, we went to the KL Towers/Malaysian Cultural Centre. After going to the top of the tower and checking out the architectural displays in the cultural centre, we decided to take a leisurely walk back towards the Petronas Towers to do some shopping. Even though it was hot, it was actually pleasant and you see so much more (or maybe just different things) when walking. We shopped for a few hours and had dinner, then took the LRT to Chinatown. We shopped in the Central Market, but many of the shops were closed because of Ramadan. The next day, we took a taxi to Batu Caves. The drive was supposed to then take us to the Royal Selangor Pewter Factory, but he told us it was closed. (Don't know if this was true or not, but we were okay with skipping it). Instead, we had him drop us off at Chinatown again where we spent quite a bit of time at Petaling Street and went back into the Central Market (many more shops open). By then, we had to go back to the hotel, retrieve our luggage and get to KL Sentral for our overnight train to Singapore.
FYI - We arrived from Bangkok around 3:30p. Didn't get to our hotel (Doubletree) until about 6:30p. We had pre-arranged for a taxi driver to pick us up from the hotel and take us to Pasir Penambang for a seafood dinner and to Kuala Selangor for a fireflies tour. We were 30 minutes late by the time we arrived at the hotel (not including checking in), but luckily, our driver waited for us and we had his phone number to confirm that we had arrived and still wanted to use him. The rest of the evening worked out as planned. The next day we had to search for a place to exchange money as we hadn't exchanged much at the airport. We thought we could just go to a bank the next day to exchange more not realizing that it was the start of Ramadan and all the banks were closed. We walked to the Petronas Towers Mall where we were told we could probably find a money exchange place open and there was. From there, we went to the KL Towers/Malaysian Cultural Centre. After going to the top of the tower and checking out the architectural displays in the cultural centre, we decided to take a leisurely walk back towards the Petronas Towers to do some shopping. Even though it was hot, it was actually pleasant and you see so much more (or maybe just different things) when walking. We shopped for a few hours and had dinner, then took the LRT to Chinatown. We shopped in the Central Market, but many of the shops were closed because of Ramadan. The next day, we took a taxi to Batu Caves. The drive was supposed to then take us to the Royal Selangor Pewter Factory, but he told us it was closed. (Don't know if this was true or not, but we were okay with skipping it). Instead, we had him drop us off at Chinatown again where we spent quite a bit of time at Petaling Street and went back into the Central Market (many more shops open). By then, we had to go back to the hotel, retrieve our luggage and get to KL Sentral for our overnight train to Singapore.
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#11
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 547
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I really think I'm out of synch with the regulars on this forum, but I still appreciate all the insights I read from them. Maybe I'd feel differently if I'd been to KL before or if I even traveled more, but I always feel like I wish I had more time no matter where I've been, including KL. Although I wish I'd had at least one more day (2 more would have been great), I do think that, after that, I wouldn't have felt the need/desire to return again.
#12
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 33,288
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We are all different, all like different things.
The first time I was in KL was in 1995. I had just read an article by a well-known travel writer who named KL as his favorite SE Asian capital. What he liked was that it seemed more "manageable" to him, less chaotic than other cities. I kind of like a spicing of chaos.
The first time I was in KL was in 1995. I had just read an article by a well-known travel writer who named KL as his favorite SE Asian capital. What he liked was that it seemed more "manageable" to him, less chaotic than other cities. I kind of like a spicing of chaos.




