I lived in Malaysia for 2 years, if you go on holiday its wise to stay for at least one month. Malaysia was amazing! I felt like I was living in a first world country. The city is clean, affordable, and the people are really friendly.
I lived in a state called Selangor, city Selayang. Selayang is about 20 minutes drive on the highway from the centre of Kuala Lumpur state. Selayang is a place where the normal working person can live comfortably and afford every luxury available. A normal working person in Malaysia, earning about (Ringett) RM3, 000 per month can rent a fully furnished apartment for about RM800 per month. Food can come up to RM300 for two people per month. I speak from personal experience.
You can have entertainment in your life, ie going to movies, having dinner at a restaurant or mall or takeouts can cost about RM150 for two people during the month. If you are really looking for cheap food, but healthy you can eat at a place called mamma shops.
Mamma shops are all over the city, but it’s wise to eat at the shops where you see lots of customers. I usually used to it at south Indian mamma shops. A plate of food, consisting of rice, chicken, fish or mutton, pappadums, pickles, chappati or puri would cost be about RM10.00. Juice would be about RM3.00. The food at these places is always freshly made before lunch hour because these shops are always being inspected from the Malaysia Health Department. If you want to holiday in KL, and you have a low budget the best place is to stay at YMCA in KL itself. Rooms go for about RM50 per day with two single beds in it. The rooms are very neat and tidy with hot water 24 hours through the day. I don’t know about double bed rooms.
The mamma shops are 2 minutes walk, the train station and monorail is about 10 minutes walk, the south Indian mamma shops are about 20 minutes walk. All the Indian sweets (meethais) are just opposite the mamma shops.
If you want to go and see the KL Twin Towers (Petronas Towers), by taxi about 15 minutes. It is a long wait, but it is a worthwhile wait!
You can go window shopping in Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC) Shopping Mall. However, KLCC is very beautiful with its amazing water fountain, best to see in the night.
Malls like Sogo and Mega Mall in KL, One Utama in the city called Damansara. (One Utama is the cheapest!)
One Utama is the biggest shopping mall in the whole of Asia. There is a shop called Jusco, it is a reasonably priced shop. When you shop in Jusco, there is nowhere else where you can buy that same item. If you get hungry, in the shopping mall you can find lots of takeaways, like KFC, McDonald’s or Burger King. If want the more exclusive, there are restaurants that are Thai, Indian, Chinese or even Western.
In KL go visit China Town at Petaling Street near Puduraya Bus Station. Where all duplicates of designer brands are sold, like wrist watches eg rolex, bags, souvenirs etc. Which are perfect for gifts.
Opposite One Utama is Ikea where you can get a lot of cheap stuff for your home. Ikea sells things from beds, sofas, to candles and all. Quite reasonable. You can go grocery shopping at Tesco which is just a little drive ahead of Ikea. Damansara is a high market area.
You can spend a day at Sunway Lagoon. There are major big water rides, which are fantastic!!! To get more information log on to https://sunway.com.my/lagoon/ its lots of fun. The shopping mall at Sunway Lagoon has been designed like the Egyptian Pyramids. Some things in the mall are reasonable. Sunway Lagoon is near Damansara in an area called Petaling Jaya.
The night life in KL city is amazing. If you enjoy going to discos and all, then this is the place for you. Although the entrance fee is quite high about RM100 per person, you still enjoy yourself thoroughly. When you go to the disco, there play all sorts of music like rave, slow music, R&B, remixes of famous songs, and sometimes they have live bands.
After you feel that you have had enough of shopping you can go site seeing to Genting Highlands which is about 1 hour away from KL City. You can go by bus; The Genting Express Bus leaves every hour from the Puduraya Bus Station in Kuala Lumpur. Genting Highlands has many activities; you can easily spend 2 days there. It’s very reasonable during off-peak season. Genting Highlands is the most developed hill resort in Malaysia. At about 2, 000 meters above sea level, it offers a cool respite from Malaysia’s capital city combined with all of the excitement, luxury, and entertainment of an international resort destination. There are international dinner shows and discos, while the world-class Casino de Genting offers the tables and slot machines.
The resort also includes two theme parks, both with dozens of amusement rides and attractions suitable for the entire family. In addition, the Asana horse ranch offers equestrian activities, rides for children and lessons for beginners.
Accommodation includes the Genting Hotel, the Theme Park Hotel, the Resort Hotel, and the Awana Golf and Country Resort.
As you drive back from Genting Highlands you can go see the Batu Caves Temple which comes along its highway, if you are not with a tour bus. Whatever you ask for at this temple, you are guaranteed to get it. It has now built a very tall statue of a God.
The island I most enjoyed was Langkawi. It has white sandy beaches and we stayed in a four star hotel. The hotel was right on the seashore! It was amazing. We swam in the clear blue ocean water and collected the shells.
Langkawi is a duty free island; everything is ten times less the price of everything in KL. In KL if you are paying RM100 for a crockery pot or Johnny Walker Blue Label Scotch Whiskey, you can find it in Langkawi at RM50. Things are extremely cheap.
Langkawi is also famous for its sea food. Like lobsters and super size prawns and crabs. Again very cheap in the mamma shops.
You can travel to Langkawi from KL by air, bus and ferry. Go to the following website for more information https://best-of-langkawi.com/INFO-getting-to-langkawi.php
If you go by bus from Kuala Lumpur takes approximately six hours to Kuala Kedah and approximately seven hours to Kuala Perlis, then proceed by Express Ferry Services to take you to Langkawi Island.
You can go as a family, alone, a couple or even a group and you will have lots of fun!