KL is such a screwed up place, I hope I don’t need to go there ever again. I’ve been there like 4 or 5 times over the past few years and each time I have this same feeling.

There is practically nothing to look forward to in KL. Food-wise, we have better (and cleaner) stuff in Singapore. If we want cheap food, we can always go to JB.

I just don’t understand how people can claim KL as a ’shopping paradise’. I’ve been to all the major shopping complexes there and I still cannot understand what is so appealing about shopping in KL. First of all, the service standard is pathetic. Price-wise, in Singapore we can get cheaper electronics stuff, computers, brand-name goods and practically everything else other than food. In terms of variety, I am certain we do have a wider range available locally than in KL.

Sightseeing is almost non-existent in KL, unless you consider viewing the smoky, heavily polluted and filthy streets of KL from the top of the Petronas Twin Towers as a wonderful sight.

Safety is always a problem in KL. Picketpockets and robbery are common sightings in the streets, and daylight robbery (pun intended) in touristy shops and the horrible taxis.

Talking about taxis, I’ve never had a single trip where I did not encounter problematic taxi drivers. Just to name a few problems…

When you need a taxi desperately they are always nowhere in sight, when you don’t need one, they are everywhere. Once you get on the cab, if you forget to remind them to switch on the meter, most of the time they will forget. Then when you reach your destination, they will ask for an exhorbitant price. Then there’s the type who refuse to go to your intended destination unless you pay them 20 or 25 ringgits, which is as good as daylight robbery. If you are lucky and the driver have no qualms about driving you to your intended destination and switching on the meter, you are only half lucky. Chances are, if the driver knows that you are a foreigner, he will bring you on a joyride just to let the meter jump a few or even 10 ringgits more. Then, finally, if you are still sane and calm after having excess time and money wasted taking a taxi, there are the insane traffic jams of lovely KL to irate you further.

KL can’t even give visitors a good first impression. If you arrive at KLIA thinking that you are already in KL (like most people do), you are wrong. KLIA is in Sepang, 70 kilometers away from KL, and a 1.5 hour busride away before factoring in traffic jams that crawls from the heart of KL to the North-South Highway. The only sensible way to travel from KLIA to KL is to take the insanely pricey KLIA Express train service that brings you to KL Sentral train station. By the way, probably the only 2 public places with clean toilets in KL are KLIA and KL Sentral station…

Taking express coaches in KL is almost always a problem. Availability is not an issue, but the coach drivers’ sense of punctuality are terrible. When they say departure time is 1530hrs, most probably they mean that the driver will board the coach at 1530hrs, make his way to the gas pump and top up gas for 10 minutes, before driving to the bus berth for passengers to board. 10 minutes may sound not too bad, but don’t forget, the chances of a driver boarding the bus on time is really low. If that’s not bad enough, there are always the damaged seats that cannot be adjusted, leaving you in an upright posture for the 6 hours trip… faulty aircons that are either too warm or too cold… unnecessarily long breaks at canteens on the N-S Highway that charge exhorbitant prices for pathetic mosrels of food…

And finally when you think that everything is over… there are the crazy queues at the immigration complex to end your horrible KL trip.

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