Asia Trip 2014: Day 14: Kuala Lumpur Shopping

Good Morning from Kuala Lumpur! We bid farewell to Bali after another amazing holiday.  The last few days of our holiday are going to be spent in Kuala Lumpur.   This time our trip isn’t about seeing the sights or experiencing all the tourist spots – for that you can find details on our 2013 trip reports.

Today’s Program is going to be a marathon of shopping – from all our trips to Kuala Lumpur over the past few years the wife has built up quite a repertoire of shops she loves to visit when in town.  Stick with me as I try to survive

Breakfast

We always get the Breakfast at the Impiana KLCC – they have a lovely setting up on the 15th floor where you can sit out on their balcony and enjoy a glorious breakfast whilst overlooking the Kuala Lumpur skyline waking up for the morning.

The breakfast up on Cedar on 15 is a “Western” flavour breakfast, whereas the downstairs restaurant features a more “Asian” flavour.  This is the only part of Impiana that we don’t like – because the Asian breakfast is really quite tasty but the views from the 15th floor are hard to beat – so good luck making that choice.

Now I know you will laugh – but take a trip to the Toilets in Cedar on 15 – they are something else (Such that my wife even decided to photograph them!) – lovely hand lotion and soaps available….my hands feel so soft.

Shopping

Now Kuala Lumpur is like many other Asian cities – in that most shopping centres don’t really open until after 10am so don’t feel like you need to rush through breakfast.  You can have that extra cup of coffee.

First destination for the morning is Sungei Wang Plaza up on Jalan Bukit Bintang.  This is an 8 floor shopping centre containing many boutiques and funky little stores.  You won’t find your top shelf brands here but will find some really different and unique items.

Massage

I took the opportunity while the wife was otherwise engaged in Sungei Wang to go and grab a quick massage.  I always go to a lovely little place on Bukit Bintang called Best Friend Foot Massage & Health Therapy.  They provide really professional massage full body as well as foot reflexology.  I have had each and they are really great practitioners.  Only problem is when I rocked up the whole street has been closed down, I think they are going to knock down the buildings and build some new shopping centre! Argh! Thank god though they had a sign on their door that they are moved down the road to Jalan Alor!

So I stopped in for a quick 1 hour body massage.  Now after you have had so many cheap massages in Bali don’t expect them as cheap in Kuala Lumpur the massage was about MYR 60 ($20AUD).

Shopping

Anyway I met back up with Dan and we finished off at Sungei Wang, wife had a good result from her expeditions – however in 1 hour she barely even covered 2 floors of this place so be prepared:

• 2 Pairs of Ladies Shoes – MYR 98.90
• 1 Childrens Outfit – MYR 35.10
• 1 Ladies Handbag – MYR 49
• 1 Mens Satchel Bag – MYR 65
• Total @ Sungei Wang – MYR 248

Next up was the equally if not more imposing – Berjaya Time Square Shopping Centre – this place is HUGE! Looking at around 10 floors of shopping, including an indoor theme park! Any men reading this please take warning – find a bar nearby and stay there this place will kill you.  We have never got to every section – and I have easily LOST over 4 hours in this place one day.

My wife always swears by Elianto – they sell a wide range of skin products and make up – great value and really good quality products.  So every time we hit Time Square we have to stop her and load up on her essentials.

• Elianto Products – MYR 77
• (MORE) Kids Clothes – MYR 65
• Earrings – MYR 60
• Total @ Times Square – MYR 202

So by this point I had lost my patience and wanted to head off and grab some lunch.

Handy thing with Berjaya Times Square is that it is actually connected to the KL Monorail so our next destination was Petaling Street Markets in Chinatown – jumped on the Monorail at Imbi Station to Maharajalela Station (MYR 1.20 per person).

Travel Tip: If you are looking to explore Kuala Lumpur definitely check out the Monorail.  Most of the main sites are connected to the monorail and the others are attached to the LRT Train.  Checkout – MYrapid to get all the details on the monorail stations.  Most tickets are only about RM1-3 per person.

As another tip: don’t line up to buy a ticket from the counter, head to the machines (they are in Malaysian and English) and buy your tickets here – massive time saver.

Lunch

Jump off the Monorail at Maharajalela Station and head round to Petaling Street.  Petaling Street is the main Market area located in the Chinatown district of Kuala Lumpur.  It is the destination for all your “genuine” copies of products at bargain prices.

For lunch we wanted to pop into the Tang City Food Court.  This is a tricky little place to find – as you walk up Petaling Street Markets you will get to a central intersection, between Jalan Petaling and Jalan Hang Lekir – head to the right and go down a little bit.  The Tang City Food Court is to your left behind the shops.  You will see a few food vendors cooking on the street thats the spot.

The way the food court works is that you find a seat first then go off and order your meal.  Most of the vendors will bring the meals to you.  There are also roving staff from the drink stall that will take your drink order.

Now I will issue this disclaimer – this place will not be for everyone – it is very much a local food destination, you won’t notice many Tourists in here.  But meals are cheap (and clean) and it is a really authentic place to sit and enjoy people watching for a while.

We got a couple of different Roti Breads, I got the Mutton Roti Canai and Dan got the Roti Garlic Chicken (about RM16) and a few iced Milo drinks (RM4.80).

Shopping

Lunch finished we popped out to check out the Petaling Street Markets.  Now if you have haggled for prices in Thailand or Bali you will be well placed here, the same general rules of thumb apply – start your price at 1/3 of what was offered.  Be prepared to walk away – besides you are going to see the same stuff at at least 5 or 10 different stalls.

We have a rule though that we will never buy from any market vendor that is being annoying trying to get us in – so we tend to be a little selective with who we want to buy from.  And above all please remember to have a bit of fun, don’t get angry – don’t get frustrated.  This is as much a game to them as it is to you.

• 6 x Mens Polo Shirts – MYR 100
• 4 x Kids Polo Shirts – MYR 60
• Total @ Petaling Street – MYR 160

*Now I must point out at this stage – we don’t actually have any kids – my wife is just addicted to buying presents for all our friends and family who are either pregnant or have recently had kids!  I think at some point I need to have an intervention – these kids have almost got more clothes this holiday that I have!

Shopping

We wandered back up to the Monorail station and grabbed it up to Bukit Bintang Station.

Our other #1 shop that we MUST go to in Kuala Lumpur is UniQlo.  We haven’t got one of these stores in Brisbane – anyone reading from Melbourne will know that you have a UNIQLO in Melbourne, however the prices in Australia (as is the case with everything in Australia) are about 3 times more expensive.

So we popped in to their main store in the Fahrenheit88 shopping centre.  This shopping centre is really quite odd.  For a while it never seemed finished, but there are now a good range of shops in here, including a great little Brand Outlet place in the basement/lower ground floor.

• Various Stuff @ Uniqlo – MYR 450

Dinner

We headed back to the hotel to drop off the day’s spoils and also to have a shower to freshen up for dinner.

As I mentioned yesterday – this is the walkway connecting Bukit Bintang with the Impiana KLCC Hotel as well as the KL Conference Centre.  Effectively allowing you to walk the whole way between Bukit Bintang and the Petronas Towers undercover – perfect to get out of the traffic and the humidity.

Once you have checked into your hotel room at the Impiana you will rarely actually go back to the Lobby again – the walkway makes life so much easier.

For dinner tonight – I must apologise we are not being particularly adventurous because we love Meng Kee Grill Fish @ Jalan Alor so head back there.

Another glorious feast of Seafood and Sate Chicken was had.   Do make an effort to head down Jalan Alor.  My best advice walk the entire length the first time and get a general idea of what is on offer then walk back up to pick where you want to eat.  Nearly every place will have a tout out the front trying to get your business – so for the uninitiated it will be a bit overwhelming but I can assure you it is a really great place.

If you want to try a really great Beer get onto Tsingtao.  It is a Chinese beer that I have been drinking for many years and always get it whenever I can.  Really great flavour and always gets you mad respect amongst the Chinese staff and patrons when they see you drinking “their” beer rather than Tiger…

After Dinner we made a quick stop at Pavilion for some Gelati.  Wifey got the Chocolate and Salted Peanut Butter and I got the Stracciatella and Caramel.

That’s it for the day – tomorrow is our last full day in Kuala Lumpur – after all the shopping today I wonder what tomorrow will bring….hint: Probably more darn shopping.

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Liked anything you heard from today’s blog?  Here is the summary of places we visited and their websites (where I could find them):

Food:

• Cedar on 15 (@Impiana KLCC Hotel)
• Tang City Food Court @ Petaling Street
• Meng Kee Grill Fish @ Jalan Alor
• Gelato Fruity @ Pavilion Kuala Lumpur

Shopping:

• Sungei Wang
• Bejaya Times Square
• Petaling Street
• Fahrenheit88

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