Lontong for the Soul: The Smells of KL

Lontong for the Soul: The Smells of KL: "What is up with all the bad smells in KL? For starters, what is with this haze? I moved here to get fresh tropical air, feel the warm oc..."

Finding an Apartment in KL

Finding an apartment in Kuala Lumpur, like in any city, can be frustrating, even with proper planning.  However, since KL is quite a modern city, there are a plethora of resources available to provide enough information to become an informed decision maker.

Searching for Apartments

The website I recommend to start your search is iproperty. This website is absolutely AWESOME! I honestly wish we had a website like this in US.  From here, you can search thousands of listings of apartments, townhouse, and homes that are either for rent or for sale (there is even an option for properties on auction). You can narrow your search square footage, location and price. You can even narrow your search by location of major attractions, such as schools, transportation or shopping. Using the ‘Advanced Search’ you can specify the number of rooms, if the housing is furnished or unfurnished and the type of facilities desired (such as a pool, fitness centre, nursery or 24 hour security). My favourite feature of their website is that you can search using a map.  When you choose this option, the search results show a map of KL with the apartment options highlighted with red tick marks. You can click on the individual tick marks to obtain detailed property information. This gives you an ability to really see which part of town the apartments are located in.

As I was moving from another country and had never been to KL before, and I did not know anyone that lived in KL, my issue was that I did not know which areas of KL I would consider living in. I did some research on what areas are good to live in, but I didn’t know if I wanted to pay a premium to live in an ‘expat area’ (like Bangsar and Ampang) just because it was an expat area. As my husband and I were living in NY, and were used to taking public transportation, we decided we wanted to live somewhere that was close to public transportation, so we wouldn’t have to get a car right away if we didn’t need one. There are many posts online that discuss how the bus system in KL is frustrating at best (will post on public transportation in KL at a later date), so we decided we wanted to live in walking distance to the train system, so we wouldn’t have to rely on buses. In addition, upon moving here I had a job but my husband didn’t.  As we didn’t want his commute to be unbearable (and we didn’t know where he would have to commute to), we decided to stick as close to KL Sentral as possible (since almost all the train lines went out of KL). Narrowing out search made it a lot easier for us when searching for apartments, because we could easily eliminate places that were too far out.

If public transport is not a concern, I think the main thing people should realize when looking for an apartment in KL is that the traffic here is extremely bad.  A majority of the people I work with commute between 1 ½ to 3 hours to and from work each day!  It’s not that they live super-far (without traffic their commute runs between 15-20 minutes each way). Rather, they spend hours and hours each week in huge traffic jams, even if they pay tolls to ‘avoid’ the traffic.  As such, if you plan on driving in KL (which is recommended for people with children as walking is not an easy feat (will blog about walking in KL at a later date), then try to get a place as close to where you will work as possible, so you can avoid the crazy traffic and take as many back roads as possible.

As a note, one thing that really surprised me in reading the apartment descriptions is that people here are allowed to be blatantly racist. Many descriptions say ‘only families’ or ‘no children’ but some go as far to say ‘only chinese’ or ‘only malay’! In the US, you could be taken to court for being that ‘honest’ in your preferences. However here, it’s quite the norm. It was taken to an entirely new level when we arrived because when we asked one of our agents about it (who was Chinese herself), she openly discussed why other races were not considered ‘suitable tenants’.  My husband and I were horrified to say the least – however they are serious about this stuff here.  Although tensions here are quite low, under the surface, it appears that many have preconceived notions of different races, so be prepared for that before you arrive.

Making Appointments

Once our search was narrowed, we decided to pick a few apartments in different neighbourhoods we were considering, so we could compare in person the pros and cons of location, verses space, verses price. As we were still overseas, we emailed at least 10 different brokers, detailing the apartment(s) we liked that they were showing, along with the request that we were interested in anything else they had on their book that they thought we would be interested in. Another great thing about iproperty is that once you find a property you are interested in, you can look at the property realtor’s page that lists every property they have posted on the website.  This saves time because you can view a couple of properties with the same realtor in one day.  We booked multiple showings over a 3-day period, and made sure we had the realtor’s phone numbers before heading off to KL.  Once we arrived, we went to an internet café and reconfirmed our appointments – giving the realtor’s our KL contact information.  As a note, when making these appointments, make sure that you have a specific location where you can meet them at, as I learnt this the hard way by waiting an hour at a train station exit when the realtor was just across the street in her car.

Prioritization

After looking at many apartments (around 10), I realised for the same price range you can get a HUGE range of apartments and apartment locations in KL. Thus, it’s important to look at as many places as you can take. Despite the differences in interiors, the biggest issue I had when looking was that since KL is spread out, I usually did not see many restaurants or shops around the areas where I was looking for apartments.  Thus, I quickly learnt that I had to go out of my way to ask the realtor to show us the surrounding area so we could really understand the area we would live in. Also, as my husband and I wouldn’t initially have a car, we wanted to make sure there were plenty or restaurants and shops in the area for convenience purposes.

Negotiations and Legal Requirements

Once we decided on a place, we started negotiations.  Yes, rent is negotiable in KL; and we were able to drop the rent by RM100 per month – which isn’t that bad.  Our strategy was to discuss how we didn’t like the furniture and we needed to spend additional money on decorations. Additionally, we negotiated with the owner to purchase a new bed for the spare bedroom and to provide a microwave.  In the end, we were happy with our price, and felt we got a great deal (picture of our apartment’s amazing pool is attached)!

Just to note, in KL if you want to rent an apartment you are required to pay a 3 ½ month deposit (includes the 1^st month’s rent, and a utility fee), as well as copies of your passport. In addition, you have to pay nominal stamping fees (which is similar to a notary republic). Once this deposit is paid, if you back out, you lose your deposit. However, if the owner backs out after accepting your deposit, they are required to pay back your deposit plus a month’s rent.  This is to cover any losses the potential renter would bear if the owner changes their mind.

If you have any questions on looking for apartments, or need to bounce ideas off of someone, feel free to send me any questions. 

Best Hotel Locations When Looking for an Apartment in KL

Best Hotel Locations When Looking for an Apartment in KL

Trying to determine where to stay when you first move to KL can be frustrating.  For me, searching blindly for hotels online provided information overload. So many questions popped into my head:

1.       How long should I book a hotel, since I don’t know how long it takes to find an apartment (I will address apartment hunting in another post)?

2.       What is the best location for a hotel?

a.       I wanted to be central enough to take public transportation around the city to visit the different apartments (especially since I didn’t know which part of the city to live in).

b.      I also wanted to be around tourist attractions so I could start exploring the city when I’m not looking for apartments.

3.       What is a good price range for a hotel?

a.        I heard that Malaysia was a cheap place to live, and there were many hotels that seemed extremely-affordable in USD, but I wanted to make sure that I didn’t stay in a dangerous location and wanted to room to be clean.

Well, let’s go in order.  I decided to book a hotel for a week and half, not knowing how long it would take me to solidify an apartment.  I used Expedia, and researched hotels with lenient cancellation policies.  I found a great hotel in Chinatown that only required 24 hours to cancel (Swiss Inn).  I figured that once I found a place and put down a deposit, it would take a day or two to finalize everything. In that timeframe, I could then cancel the hotel without any major penalties.  (For me, it ended up taking a solid week to get a place, so I was happy that I booked it for over a week.)

In reviewing Swiss Inn, my husband and I were overall really happy with our choice.  For around $30 USD a day, you can’t beat the value.  We had a huge room with a window, extremely helpful staff, and a better-than-expected breakfast buffet (free) that included fresh fruit, French toast, chicken sausage, eggs, cereals, toast and local favourites (either stir fry noodles or nasi lemak (rice with spicy sambal sauce, peanuts and cucumbers)). The hotel seemed safe and relatively clean.  On the downside, our widow overlooked the Petaling Street Chinatown night market (pictured).  There was music blasting from about noon till 2-3AM every night, so it was hard to relax mid-day and go to sleep at night. However, you do get what you pay for, and for that price, I would still recommend the hotel to others.   On the plus side, we got to explore Chinatown, buying fresh fruit from local stalls, and needed toiletries from the discount stores. We also were able to see many of the tourist attractions (like Central Market, KLCC, Masjid Jamek, etc.) all within a small walk or short train ride from our hotel (separate post on tourist attractions).  There was even a hostel right down the street where we could get laundry washed for RM6 per KG. 

In looking back on this approach, the only thing I would have changed to make things easier would be to book directly with the hotel, rather than through a travel website.  This is because to cancel a hotel you booked through an online agent, you have to contact the online help desk to receive your refund.  Usually this isn’t hard. However when you are traveling overseas, it’s difficult to call internationally to the travel website to reclaim payment for any days you didn’t end up using. Although Expedia staff were more than helpful at processing in return, in the future, if traveling internationally try to remember to stay local as much as possible. It’s always easier to work with the front desk of a hotel than an international online company.  

Now that I live in KL, I can attest that the two best areas to use as a base are Chinatown (where I stayed) and KL Sentral.  Chinatown is great because you have more than one public transport train line running through the area (I used Pasar Seni as the apartments I was looking for were along the Petaling Jaya Rapid LRT line). * As a note, many buses run through the Pasar Seni stop, so this can be an alternative to the train lines. There are also taxis that are easily accessible (separate post on taxis in KL).In addition to where I stayed, there are really cheap backpacker hostels and hotels/motels that can meet any budget.  The major downside about Chinatown is that it’s noisy at night, as they have daily night markets that go way into the wee hours of the morning. Additionally like many Chinatown areas around the globe, as the streets gets crowded at night there is an increased risk for pickpocketing, so it’s important to keep all your personal belongings close by and be on higher alert.  With that said, in my experience Chinatown in KL did not seem unsafe, and I ventured around by myself during the day, and always with my husband at night.   

If you have a bigger budget, the other place to stay would be KL Sentral (either the Hilton or Le Meridien).  KL Sentral is the ‘Grand Central’ of KL.  Almost every train line and a majority of busses leave from KL.  There is an express train from there to the Airport, and there is always a line of taxis ready to serve you.  The hotels are a bit pricier that Chinatown, but if you are with children and want something a bit safer, or want to stay somewhere quieter and more secluded from the hustle and bustle, these are the hotels for you.  Their staff is warm and friendly and both hotels get great reviews (although I’ve heard the Hilton is slightly nicer than the La Meridian).  KL Sentral is one train stop from Chinatown (Pasar Seni), so it’s as convenient as Chinatown without many of the downsides. *As a note, the picture shows KLSentral with the two hotels attached (at the top).  This picture comes from google images, and is not a picture I took.

If you have any specific questions on where to stay, including other areas not mentioned, please let me know. I will respond to your post in a timely manner. 

Who, What, Where, When and Why

Who: An American expat living in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

What: A blog about adjusting to life in Malaysia: what I like and don’t like… where I go… what I do… the experiences I have.

Where: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Southeast Asia

When: Now

Why: Before moving here, it was hard for me to find accurate information on living in Kuala Lumpur.  Most expat blogs were focused on high-paid individuals who live a separate life from the average Malaysian.  I decided to work at a real Malaysian company, where everyone is from the country – born and raised.  I want to see what it is like to be a Malaysian, getting by on an average salary, eating at local restaurants (and not just the Western franchises), shopping like Malaysian’s shop (going to the flea markets and pasar malams (night markets)), and living where Malaysian’s live (not secluding myself in the high-rise and highly-secluded expat-havens where the guards and doormen ‘make sure’ that the ‘expat’ experience is maintained at all times.