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Rating: 
( 4.8 ) ( 97 votes )
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
May 01, 2003 02:21
Pros: great shopping place, good
food, trendy people
Cons:
nothing cultural
I've missed coins! Unfortunately I know how tragic that sounds but
after using Mickey Mouse notes for so long (Vietnam's Dong is a
currency where you could lop three noughts off the end and make
it much more manageable and stop having to get 2,000,000 every time
you go to the bank) it's a relief to be using something sensible
and coins. Also tragically though I've inadvertently become a bit
of a numismatist as coins are accumulating in every pocket as I
always forget to use them because they're such a novelty.
I never thought I'd enjoy shopping so much! Starved of shops where
haggling is not a pre-requisite for the last three months, being
able to pick something up (without hassle), take it to the counter
and pay the amount on the price tag without worrying that you are
getting ripped off is a real luxury. As is to be expected, the bank
balance has come in for some heavy punishment but it's relieving
to know that your purchases are not going to fall apart at the first
sight of a washing machine. As may be evident, we've achieved nothing
cultural in KL, spending all our waking hours either shopping or
eating.
KL is a city of young, trendy types, shopping plazas, and coffee
bars. It's the antithesis of everything I've come to expect of South
East Asia and we've had great pleasure abusing that fact - we've
even had our first McDonalds since leaving the UK and I didn't even
feel guilty.
We'll be returning in a week or so and have conveniently postponed
everything you're supposed to do in KL until then. We have seen
the Petronas Towers close up (although admittedly because there
are more shopping plazas in the vicinity) and I love them. Although
they've had a greater impact on me than Kirsty I can't help but
feel that twenty or thirty years from now they will suffer the same
fate as most modern buildings in that they will look dated as someone
builds something bigger and better. |
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