Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
229
($2.90-$7.25/£1.80-£4.50) for a pint of beer, depending on what and where you order.
Although quite a fe w pubs ar e open for lunch, most clubs won 't open until about 6 or
7pm. These places must all close b y 1 or 2am, so don 't plan on staying out too late.
Nearly all have a happy hour, usually between 5 and 7pm, when drink discounts apply
on draft beers and “house-pour ” (lower-shelf) mixed drinks. G enerally, you're expected
to w ear dr ess-casual clothing for these places, but av oid old jeans, sneakers, and v ery
revealing outfits.
The center of nightlife, if y ou want to br owse, begins at the corner of J alan Sultan
Ismail and Jalan P. Ramlee. Walk along P. Ramlee and y ou'll find bars of all kinds, plus
cafes and coffee shops. Jalan Bukit Bintang is another popular area to visit.
For a little live music with your drinks, the recently renovated
Hard Rock Cafe,
Jalan
Sultan Ismail next to Concorde Hotel (
&
03/2715-5555
), hosts the best of the regional
bands, which play most nights for a cr owd of locals, tourists, and expatriates who take
their parties very seriously.
The biggest dance club in to wn is
Zouk,
fashioned after the ultrasuccessful Z ouk in
Singapore. It's at 113 J alan Ampang, do wn the str eet from MTC (
&
03/2171-1997
).
There's a co ver charge of anywher e betw een RM25 and RM40 ($7.25-$12/£4.50-
£7.20), depending on what's going on inside.
Bangsar,
just outside the city limits, is 2 or 3 blocks of bars, cafes, and estaurants that
cater to a variety of tastes (in fact, so many expatriates hang out thee, they call it Kweiloh
Lumpur, “Foreigner Lumpur” in Mandarin). Every taxi driver knows where it is. Get in
and ask to go to J alan Telawi Tiga in B angsar—fare should be no mor e than RM7 or
RM10 ($2.05 or $2.90/£1.25 or £1.80)—and once ther e, it's very easy to catch a cab
back to town.
13
SIDE TRIPS FROM KUALA LUMPUR
Batu Caves
Located 13 km (8 miles) nor th of Kuala Lumpur,
Batu Caves
have become one of the
most significant Hindu religious sites outside of India. Built within a series of caves inside
a limestone hill, three main caves make up a temple complex devoted to the Lord Muru-
gan. During the Hindu Thaipusam festival, held each year in either January or February,
devotees bathe in the nearb y B atu Riv er befor e donning
kevadis,
stainless-steel racks
decorated with flowers and fruits and held to the body with pins and ske wers. A proces-
sion leads from the river to the hill and up the 272 steps to the main cav e. The festival
draws over 800,000 each year, but the caves are a nice side trip any time. The most con-
venient way to visit the caves is by taxi, which from KL will take about 25 to 30 minutes
and costs appr oximately RM15 to RM20 ($4.35-$5.80/£2.70-£3.60). D uring Thai-
pusam, contact the Tourism Malaysia office for shuttle instructions.
Taman Negara National Park
Malaysia's most famous national park,
Taman Negara,
covers 434,350 hectares (1.1 mil-
lion acres) of primary rainforest estimated to be as old as 130 million y ears, and encom-
passes within its bor der
Gunung Tahan,
peninsular Malaysia's highest peak, at 2,187m
(7,173 ft.) above sea level.
Prepare to see lush v egetation and rare orchids, some 675 bird species, and maybe, if
you're lucky, some barking deer, tapir, elephants, tigers, leopards, and wild cattle or gaur.
As for primates, there are long-tailed macaques, leaf monkeys, gibbons, and more. Taman
Negara showcases efforts to keep this land in as pristine a state as possible, despite exten-
sive logging in many parts of the country.
