A transplanted Aussie with a love of travel, cooking and entertaining good friends.
A transplanted Aussie with a love of travel, cooking and entertaining good friends.
Member since:11.07.2000
Reviews:9
Members who trust:2
Malaysia's International Airport is a bit mis-named. It is actully 75km from Kuala Lumper - which can be a hell of a trek if you arrive in the middle of the night or, worse still, during peak hour traffic! As this was my first stopover in KL I was unaware of this and the travel agent certainly did not make this clear. I had a one night stop-over in KL on my return to the UK from Australia. We were late getting in so my 9pm arrival time was actually 11.15pm. By the time I got to my hotel in KL and booked in it was after 1am. I had a flight out at 11am but because the hotel pick up service has multiple stops and was going to be hitting traffic I was told to be ready to leave at 7am!! This made for one very short night! I can not stress strongly enough - if you are only in Malaysia on a lay over spend a bit extra and book a room at one of the airport hotels (they are more expensive but charge per 6 hr block so at least you only pay for what you need to use and the convenience is worth it!) They are building a light rail connection with the city but as this is not due to open until 2004 at the earliest it ain't much use to us at present.
Having got my gripe out of the way, what was the airport itself like?
Malaysians have, in recent years, gone on a frenzy of construction and have a love affair with records, tallest, longest, shiniest etc. The airport is no exception. It is bright, modern and absolutely huge!! The layout is a bit confusing but there are ample maps of the "you are here" kind and everyone seems to be very helpful. As an English speaker with embarassingly non-existent linguistic skills, the fact that everyone I met spoke perfect english was a decided bonus.
There is a mass of shops once you pass through the customs area. These range from "Harrods" (can't escape it aparently) through most of the well known international clothing stores to those selling local produce at much marked up rates. I was impressed that in all the shops that I visited, the attendants were helpful but not overly pushy. I can't say that I found all that many bargains - then again I have yet to find an airport that does. I did stock up on CDs at the airport. You can buy pirated versions for peanuts at the markets but firstly, the quality is dodgy and more importantly, I feel very strongly that it is a major form of theft and I don't want to join in. This way I got a good selection at reasonable prices and a guarantee that they were not of the "black market" variety.
I read the opinion given that the food was 4 times the cost of elsewhere in Malaysia and I would have to agree. However, this too is normal in airports and the fact is that food in the rest of Malaysia is incredibly cheap. I had a decent coffee and salad sandwich for the equivilent of £2.75 Stirling which is better than most High Street outlets in England. There is a good range of eateries offering variety in both the type and price of food available. There is also a range of lounging areas and showers and restrooms. My days of sleeping in airports are behind me, thank God, but there seemed to be quite a few people doing just this without problems.
I was impressed that at no stage on either of my stopovers to or from Australia, did I have to queue for customs, tickets, book-in, toilets or any of the shops. The whole airport was run smoothly and there was a relaxed and pleasant atmosphere noticable at all times.
I can't say that spending time in an airport is in my top 10 list of fun things to do but if you must the KLIA would seem to be one of the better ones to do it in.
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