When you’re on the 4 degree longitude line, you can bank on the weather being hot year round. I had the opportunity to travel to Malaysia in November 2008.
Malaysia is one of the two shining stars of the East/South Pacific (Singapore is the other). Most of the region is known for substandard living conditions, underdeveloped infrastructure, asinine dysfunctional government bodies, among many other (negative) things. Even with these negative aspects, places like Thailand, Indonesia, etc. seem to maintain a sizable tourism industry. Arriving in Malaysia, one might think they’ve left the East/South Pacific from how developed and maintained the mainland is.
Downtown Kuala Lumpur resembles almost any other modern, industrial city. Sky scrapers littering the horizon, significant public transportation (bus, taxi, mono-rail, train, etc.). It’s also, for the most part, quite clean and maintained. English is prevalent in just about any location (restaurant, shops, speaking to the general public), so getting around and talking to the general public was never a problem.
The above picture shows the space needle in Kuala Lumpur. If you cut across the street and walk about 1 km, you will be right in front of the Petronas Towers. They were completed in 1998 and held the title of the talled towers in the world until 2004, when the Taipei 101 was completed. There is an observatory available to tourists to take an elevator up and take pictures, but it closes at 5 pm, and I was never free during business hours to make the trip up to take pictures. Adjacent to the towers, and connected internally, it the Suria Mall, also known as the Suria KL CC. It’s a posh shopping mall with a movie theaher and large variety of restaurants to try.
Authentic Malaysian food is hard to come by in the capital area. Most of the restaurants offer a variety of food, and much of the Asian food offered is a collaboration of Chinese, Malaysian, and Indonesian food. Once one leaves the city area, local food is available and abundant. The picture to the right shows a Malaysian dish. The fish is wrapped and cooked in coconut leaves after it is prepared and spiced. I don’t recall the name of the pyramid shaped item, but the long one is named “ata ata”, which translates to “brain, brain”. The pyramid shaped item is a fish patty, embedded with some veggies and spices. The ata, ata is a sliced piece fillet, marinated in some curry paste. Both are cooked over a charcoal grill.
Food in Malaysia is very cheap, a full meal can be purchased for ~$3 USD. Fast food is real food and quite tasty, unlike what we’re used to in the USA. We had 3 orders of the above and beverages, which netted a total cost of ~$8 for three people. The food at the hotel was quite expensive and quite bland when compared to both local food and the local fast food.
Malaysia is a great place to visit. Friendly people, great food, and VERY backpacker friendly.
Exchange rate at the time (Nov 2008): $1 USD = 3.60 MYR (Malaysian Ringgit)
Noted Hostel costs: $10-20/night
Noted Hotel costs: $100-$170/night
Average Meal (local): $3-5
Average Meal (hotel):$30
Average train/mono-rail ride: $0.50-$3
Average taxi ride: $5-8
Tags: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Petronas Towers
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