The Petronas Towers within touching  distance from my room!

Since shopping was the main item on our agenda, we were thrown into it almost from the start. Our guide Jeevan helped us with a smooth check-in at the Renaissance Hotel on Jalan Ampang, an oldish hotel but with five star rating nonetheless, chosen for its location near the Petronas Towers and Bukit Bintang or Star Hill which is also known as the Golden Mile as it is a thriving entertainment and shopping area.

Tourism Malaysia‘s office outside our hotel

We were each of us given individual rooms that were comfortable and well appointed with fantastic views of the city. From the window of  my room on the 11th floor I had an unhindered view of the stunning – the iconic Petronas Towers and a bird’s eye view of the Toursim Malaysia office with its pink tiled roofs. Later on, I realised that the building in the compound adjoining us, housed the Pakistani High Commission and was one of the few old bungalows that made up this street which used to be called Millionaires’ Row.

Before heading out we were given a brief property tour of the hotel by the General Manager, giving us an idea of the facilities and various levels of hospitality available at the hotel. This also gave us a chance to meet the other delegates from India, two gentlemen from Delhi and three journalists from the South.

The Mall Crawl

We began our Mall Crawl from the Pavilion Mall, a mid level lifestyle Mall getting ready for 1Malaysia YES starting from November 15th and going on till January 4th. With tall red Christmas trees flanking the outside and Christmas decorations all over the place, it indeed boasted a festive air.

There were several Indian tourists/shoppers on the road yet unlike the Indian tourist of yester -years who wore their Indianness on their sleeve, the new Indian traveller is distinctly global with a fashion sense that allows them to blend easily with the locals on the streets, with their widespread use of cosmetics and fashion accessories.
The Pavilion Mall, Jeevan informed us was once a girls’ school showing how development has transformed KL into a vibrant world class city.

Bukit Bintang has a whole range of Malls for high end shoppers and bargain hunters alike where one can shop for Labels and electronic goods without paying any duty.
International names like Louis Vuitton, Versace, Chanel and Ralph Lauren share space with local International designer labels like Zang Toi, Bernard Chandran and Jimmy Choo and local designer labels like Vincci and Padini to name a few.

Sungei Wang Plaza is a veritable bargain hunter’s paradise with a warren of stores stocking all kind of goods from SIM cards to groceries and cosmetics and clothes –  almost like an Elco Arcade type of Mall. Apart from getting stuff at unbelievably “good” prices, the thrill of shopping in this mall is the bargaining which is normally absent in a sanitized mall with its fixed prices. Some of the people in our group actually managed to strike deals hammering down prices to almost half and unlike the shopkeepers in Shanghai who actually shout at you for haggling, these shopkeepers are more civil and enjoy the verbal sparring.

Low Yat Plaza is perfect for those seeking bargains in IT , digital games. cameras and other electronic items with 500 retail outlets operating within the 7 storied mall. With Malaysia being a manufacturing hub of high quality electronic goods and also duty free haven for electronics this is the perfect place to buy your gadgets and gizmos at competitive prices. I for one found the scratch guard the screen for my Canon SX 700 HS , something which I looked for high and low in Mumbai. I also managed to pick up a strap for the camera which made it easier for me to lug around town. While the shops are pretty transparent, it helps to have a local who knows his way and can perhaps broker a better deal than what is advertised.

Mother & daughter dressed identically

A must visit Mall at Bukit Bintang

We passed other malls like Lot 10, Starhill Gallery but didn’t venture in as we were feeling tired and wanted to wind down with a quick cup of tea which we had at the Old Town White Coffee, a chain of Irani style roadside Chinese cafes now found in almost every mall.

Fresh roasted corn anyone?

Dinner that night was at Nawab’s which was really nothing to write home about  foodwise or decor wise…….