Malaysia is the Southeast Asian destination that Indians never pay enough attention to. I plead guilty myself to this neglect.
Nearly two decades ago I went to Kuala Lumpur and Penang to shoot for my Discovery Travel and Living series Asian Diary. I remember Penang vividly: A city dominated by overseas Chinese who have made Malaysia their home for many generations. It was a city with a distinct culture and history. And it also had some of the best street food in Asia.
Kuala Lumpur, on the other hand, was a bit of a blur. I remember it as busy and bustling (journospeak for crowds and traffic jams) but not much else. I stayed at the JW Marriott which was large but well run and I remember thinking: Malaysia has got its strategy wrong.
In those days Malaysia’s tourism pitch to Indians was that it was just as advanced and sophisticated as Singapore and was a perfect alternative.
This was nonsense but I understood the historical background. Once upon a time Singapore and Malaysia had been part of the same country. But Singapore was run by the overseas Chinese while Malaysia was an ethnic patchwork in which the Malays dominated. The Singapore Chinese were not happy about this Malay dominance, the two communities clashed and eventually Singapore became a city State on its own.
To everyone’s surprise Singapore which had no natural resources except for the ingenuity of its people flourished and went on to become one of the world’s great cities.
Malaysia had oil so it was always going to be okay but as Kuala Lumpur grew, the competition with Singapore became more intense.
Two decades ago, when we shot Asian Diary, Singapore was already ahead of every other Asian city except perhaps Hong Kong and Tokyo and the future seemed bright. Japan was in a recession. Hong Kong had been handed over to mainland China by the British, large companies were moving out and there were concerns over tensions between locals and Beijing.
It was at this stage that Kuala Lumpur started pitching itself as the alternative to Singapore for Indian tourists because it had great malls, terrific hotels etc. This was a crazy strategy to begin with and as the global financial community abandoned Hong Kong for Singapore and the city boomed (I find it more expensive than Tokyo now) there really was no way Kuala Lumpur could keep up.
I never had reason to go back to Malaysia and when I discovered that I had to make a brief visit for a conference, I wondered how to negotiate Kuala Lumpur. I spoke to Mahmoud Skaf who runs Marriott in Malaysia and asked for an honest opinion. Was the JW Marriott still as good as it used to be ? Indeed, it was, Mahmoud said, but did I realise that the JW Marriott and the Ritz Carlton (also a Marriott brand) were part of the same complex and were connected by an upmarket mall?
I said I remembered this vaguely and when Mahmoud said I should stay at the Ritz Carlton this time I readily agreed. Being a cautious traveller, I then quickly checked the rates and discovered to my surprise that both hotels were remarkably reasonably priced: Much less than their Indian counterparts, never mind Singapore where hotel rates are at European levels.
It was to prove to be a wise decision. The hotel was classy, elegant and better managed than most Singapore hotels I have stayed at over the last five years.
As for Kuala Lumpur itself, Mahmoud warned me that I was coming at the wrong time to fully enjoy the city. The Ramadan fasting had affected restaurants and if I wanted the full gastronomic experience I should come back later.
He was right. And he was wrong. I ate extremely well In Kuala Lumpur though yes, Ramadan had affected some restaurants. This was particularly true of the fine dining scene.
I use the term ‘ fine dining ‘ in the loosest sense because Kuala Lumpur doesn’t really have much in the way of Michelin-type dining. The famous guide has arrived in the city, but the inspectors have been largely unimpressed. There are only four Michelin starred restaurants in the city and just one restaurant with two stars. (Contrast this with Singapore with its total of 47 Michelin starred restaurants of which three have the top rating of three stars.)
I imagine the fasting season affected these restaurants because when I called the one two-star place to ask for a table for dinner, they told me they had already closed at nine pm!
But that was fine with me because I explored the street food and went back to Jalan Alor, the famous restaurant street I had shot at for Asian Diary (touristy but fun).
The two real discoveries were a) how good the Chinese food was and b) how well you could eat at the malls at all price points. (Even the more expensive places were generally cheaper than mall restaurants in India.)
I ate excellent dim sum at a fancy tea house in the Starhill Mall which connects the JW Marriott and the Ritz Carlton. And at the Pavilion mall I found a branch of a popular Hunan chain where all the other customers were Chinese, and the staff spoke halting English (if they spoke it at all). The food was amazing, from the fried prawns smothered in chillies to pork braised till it was melting.
My best meal though was at my own hotel. At Li Yen the Ritz Carlton’s mostly Cantonese restaurant I enjoyed excellent Peking Duck and roast meats that were in the same league as Hong Kong’s famous barbecue places.
Standards everywhere were high. On one occasion when I only had time for a fast food meal, I picked up a hot dog from Five Guys. It was delicious.
Did Kuala Lumpur remind me of Singapore? Not in the slightest. It wasn’t just that everything cost a third of what it would have in Singapore, it was also that it seemed more cheerful and well, earthier. The people were friendlier, less arrogant and the vibe was much warmer.
Yes, there is room for improvement. Taxis can be hard to get (even on GRAB) and the airport is a cross between Meerut railway station and a downmarket shopping mall.
But on the whole, it reminded me more of Bangkok than any other Asian capital. If airline connectivity does improve then it could be the next great destination for Indian tourists.
