One of my favorite cities - Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur is one of my favorite cities. After a few weeks in Singapore, anywhere else would be like a breath of fresh air. Although Singapore is neat, clean and orderly, one can only take so much of it. There isn’t anything wrong with Singapore that one can put a finger on, but the Singaporean atmosphere is unique and somehow gets at you after a while. Personally I put it down to the Singaporean mentality - rude and arrogant.

Just the opposite from Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, or KL as it is popularly called, is messy, dirty and noisy. The traffic is always bad and on rainy days the whole city can be a large parking lot. People drive like crazy and I often wonder why there are not many more accidents. It could be because the KL drivers are skillful, albeit rude.

My four days in KL were mostly spent in shopping malls. There are so many of these scattered in and around the city. I was staying at the Boulevard Hotel adjacent to the Mega Mall in Mid Valley. Our stay in KL coincided with the Malaysian Grand Sale. Shopping is good and cheap. Other places visited along our shopping trial were the KLCC, One Utama, Bukit Bintang, Sungei Wang and Lot 10.

KL food is much better than that of Singapore. The choices are greater and in general much cheaper. KL hospitality is much better than what the Singaporeans can provide. Somehow there is always an atmosphere of friendliness and welcome from the people of Malaysia. One does not feel the arrogance of the Singaporean here in KL.

There are many thing that Singapore is more advance than in Malaysia. However, in my book, kind hospitality and friendliness are more important than clean streets and orderly traffic.