Final Thoughts About KL

Having spent two days in KL, I realize there is much more to see in Malaysia, if I only had the time. I'd like to return to this country and spend about 10 days here. I'd spend a day or two in KL shopping and then head out to the east coast where they have a national forest and some picturesque beaches. A massage on the beach would be perfect. What makes this country great is the low cost of living. You can easily find lunch for 5 Ringgits (US$1.50) and it's quite hearty. Transportation here is okay. It exists and you can get around, but if you're not traveling by plane, expect to lose half a day (sometimes a full day) to traveling via bus or train. They're painfully slow when compared to Japan. Seriously, it takes almost 7 hours to get to the east coast by train or bus, a distance that should be covered in 2-3 hours by train (if they had some high speed ones). When I inquired about the closest beach towns, the hotel receptionist was like, "Oh, it's not very far. Just take a bus 4 hours to Penang, spend a couple of hours there, and come back." I'm sorry, but eight hours of traveling with only two hours of leisure? Not my kind of fun.

The climate here is very tropical and humid. I wonder if that'd get to me after a while. You're continuously wet and sticky. The humidity can make the smell of some KL streets unbearable. Fortunately, I haven't had to spend too much time on those streets. I stick to the nice part of town where the five-star hotels are. Nice hotels, nice malls = good life in Malaysia. If I had to choose between Malaysia and Japan...well, that'd be a tough choice. Cost of living in KL is remarkable. However, the climate might be a little more than I want to bear. Plus, Japan has such a nice transit system; although, I don't like the "crowdedness" of Japan. I like having open space like I have here in KL or back home in the US. I'm also not sure if I'm a fan of the Japanese school system—they study too much. Then again, KL's intercity transit sucks. After all, it took us nearly 7 hours to get to Singapore. All the cities are really far spread apart. Forget. As much as I'm enjoying my travels through SE Asia, nothing beats the United States. It just rocks. I don't think I could ever call SE Asia home. Maybe a short-term residency, but definitely not long term.

For the record, I was able to make it through Malaysia without getting robbed. That was one of my goals. It really was that safe, but I wanted some peace of mind, so I took my precautions. Look at the picture more closely, if you haven't figured out what I'm talking about.