I just spent a full week in Kuala Lumpur (KL to locals), the capital of Malaysia and a true megapolis, home to over 7,000,000 people. Anytime I hear “capital city” in Southeast Asia, I automatically imagine hell. Concrete edifices hastily thrown up, brutal traffic, non-stop noise and sweltering heat.
But, I’m very happy to say that KL was none of that. Locals will complain about traffic, but they just don’t know how good they have it. Most have never stepped foot in Manila, Jakarta or Bangkok. In fact, Kuala Lumpur was one of the nicest major cities I’ve ever been to. The roads are very modern, wide and the networks expansive, as well as offering a good-enough bus and metro system. The airport, while a bit outside the city, is a 28 min train ride into town or a $20 cab ride. I ended up using Uber a lot as the taxi drivers are scammers and often refuse to use the meter, but if they do, it’s very cheap, just insist.
