1. KUALA LUMPUR IS A COSMOPOLITAN CITY
You will find Malaysia, especially Kuala Lumpur is home of a huge range of people around the world. The majority of the population are Malay Malaysian, Chinese and Indian Malaysian. There are also a great number of people from different countries, cultures and religions living in Kuala Lumpur like Thailand, Philippine, Singapore, Korea, Japan, China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, American, Europe, etc and a huge mixed-race communities. There are a lot of different religions in KL like Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, etc. As I see, Kuala Lumpur is a multicultural and a very interesting city to live. Living in KL for a period of time, you will have a bunch of friends from all different countries.
2. DON'T EXPECT TO EAT MUCH PORK HERE!
There are a majority of Muslims in KL who don't eat pork, then it is a bit hard to find pork or bacon in KL. For sure, it doesn't mean that there are no pork restaurant or no bacon, but if you move to KL for a while, you will notice that they will mark "halal" and "non- halal" for the restaurants, BBQ areas, hotel serves, microwaves or even the drink. So what do Halal and Non- Halal mean in Malaysia?
- Halal is "no pork". So when you see a restaurant with "halal" sign, definitely there is no pork there or when a microwave with "halal" sign, you are supposed not to use this if you eat pork.
- Non- halal means that the restaurants got bacon, or you can use the microwave to heat your bacon.
So, when renting a room in KL, please make sure that you ask your owners or your roommates if you can cook pork in the house or not before moving in. But no worries, pork lovers, there are such a bunch of pork restaurants list that you can easily find out in google.
So, what kind of meat is common in KL? This is chicken, chicken everywhere. Chicken burgers, chicken noodles, chicken soup, chicken rice, BBQ chicken, etc. Welcome to chicken kingdom!!!!!!
3. NOT A CITY FOR "VEGETABLES" LOVERS, like me!
"Health Minister S Subramaniam said the National Health and Morbidity Survey showed that only 6% of adult Malaysians consumed sufficient fruits and vegetables last year compared to 7.5% in 2011."The fact is that there is a lot of kind of vegetables in the supermarkets, but I don't know why it is super difficult for me to find a vegetables dishes in most of restaurants in KL.
In Vietnam, my home country, people love eating different kinds of vegetables and you, as a foreigner, visiting Vietnam might sometimes be surprised with a lot of vegetables dishes with a little meat. Then, Malaysian, they are meat lovers. In one meal, there are maybe 1 vegetable with 3 meats, or sometimes no vegetable at all.
For that reason, I usually visit Vietnamese restaurants or hotpot restaurants, buffets or cook at home. In case you are a chicken or meat lover, Malaysia is a must visit country for you.
4. AN IDEAL PLACE FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIKING, WATERFALLS & MOUNTAINS.
There are various hiking trails and a plenty of excellent waterfalls near Kuala Lumpur. The best thing living in KL is that I can easily find a trail or a waterfall to trek at the weekend, let's escape from the busy and crowded city. In fact, within 1 or 2 hours away from KL center by car, you can enjoy your weekend in the nature of Malaysia.
It's doesn't matter if you are a beginner hiker or an experienced climbers looking for challenges, there's always a trail for you to choose. If you love hiking and nature, then KL is a great place to move in.
5. GOT A NUMBER OF MUST LOCAL NIGHT MARKETS
If you want to experience the local lifestyle, there're a large number of night markets( also pasar malams) in KL for you to do so. Usually they just open the street's markets 1 night a week, but no worries, it should be a few night markets around your area to check out. There's tons of authentic local food, street foods, noodles, nasi lemak, and other snacks with an excellent price. You can also shop a lot of cheap fruits and vegetables there. Beside the food, visitors can easily find out gadgets, clothes and other common household items in these lively street markets.
The very famous and big local market in KL that is recommended to visit is Taman Connaught Night Market, locally known as Cheras Pasar Malam. Besides, Jalan Alor is well-known for tourists and a perfect spot to visit, but it is quite expensive and it's not really a local market because you can find a lot of different food there, Malaysian, Thai, Vietnam, Indonesian,etc or even Western food.
6. ENGLISH IS AS SIMPLE AS EVER
There are three main languages in Malaysia: English, Bahasa and Chinese. English is a second language in Malaysia which is spoken by most of Malaysian. Since a lot of foreigners from different part of the world live in KL, basic daily conversations become very interesting and easier.
Sometimes, people just use one word to express the whole sentences, like
- Can!, Can? Can not! instead of "Yes, you can." "Can I use it?" "You can not use it!" :D
- Finish!( in the restaurant) instead of "Sorry, we are out of that" or "we don't have that tonight!"
- Yes, No, Ok! :D
Most of people in KL can speak multiple-languages, and they usually combine all in the conversations; they speak Bahasa but sometimes use English words or Chinese words. That's quite interesting, right!!??And if you are an English beginner, no worries when travelling or moving here, everybody will try to understand you. Try to learn some basic English or Bahasa will be useful.
7. A very diverse public transport system.
8. Heavy heavy showers are often
9. A wake-up late city
10. A hot and cold city
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