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Kuala Lumpur: Shopping mall delight

For many visitors to Kuala Lumpur, shopping is high on the list of things to do.  No wonder since the city boasts some of the largest and most modern Malls in the world.  Although this wasn't why we visited, we did end up spending a lot of time in a few of the big ones, perhaps it was a sign that we were longing for home and the familiarity of western style shopping.  Or it could be the post christmas sales!  Anyway we didn't buy a lot but we did spend a lot of time discovering why shopping centres can be a tourist attraction in themselves.

Our local Mall was Pavilion.  With over 550 shops spread over about 8 floors it was comfortably bigger than anything in Australia.  The Mall includes plenty of kids options such as a Lego store and an interesting section "Tokyo Street" for smaller shops, a bit like a traditional outdoor market inside a Mall complex.  They also had a huge Star Wars display promoting the movie released over Christmas.  Eating at Pavilion we did discover a fundamental truth that the best malls usually have the worst quality food court.  The Thai food we brought at the dirty dingy Central Markets was much nicer!

Then there was the even bigger Berjaya Times Square.  Over 1000 shops set in the bottom stories of a huge building.  The Mall is one of the top 10 Malls by size in the world (exactly where it rates depends on different definitions of size) and the building it sits inside is also one of the worlds 10 largest buildings (by volume).  The key feature of this mall is the indoor amusement park - the largest in Asia which includes a massive rollercoaster.  There's also bowling, an escape room, an archery range and all sorts of other entertainments available.

Finally there was the Suria KLCC Mall under the Petronas Towers.  A mere 300 stores, specializing in luxury and high end retailers.  Being Petronas they had one of Lewis Hamilton's race cars on display and a very nice Christmas themed exhibit including Malaysia's largest Christmas tree out the back.

There were a few other smaller Malls we visited including a Mall dedicated fully to electronics stores which excited Samuel no end.  There's no doubt that KL is a shoppers paradise, and if you like your shopping it should be high on the list of desirable overseas destinations.

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