KUALA LUMPUR - ODDS AND ENDS

A pretty jewellery box from Jadi Batik
This cute tiffin carrier contains lots of yummy chocolates - from KL airport.

I've been longing to find this kokeshi - bought from Isetan stationery department at Suria.

MALAYSIAN LIFESTYLE MAGAZINES

Here are a few magazines I purchased in KL, containing many beautiful photos.
How stunning is this garden?

I bought this for the Paris article.....I can dream can't I??

I want to live here.

I may steal a few ideas from these.

KUALA LUMPUR SHOPPING GUIDE - 4- PAVILLION MALL

Directly across the road from the Marriott is the Pavillion mall, which is a huge and very stylish shopping centre. It houses all the high end fashion names, but also lots of more affordable shops, such as Gap and Forever 21. On the ground floor, there is the wonderful gastronimically delightlful "Food Republic" food court, which offers every cusine under the sun, including my favourites, Toast Box for Kaya toast and Beard Papa, a Japanese cream puff outlet. I tried the satay in a cup twice because I loved it so much.
Everything here looked so yummy, but there are only so many meals per day. Eating out is so cheap in Malaysia.

Forever 21 had some great buys and even some in my size! I wish we had this store in Australia. We ended up buying quite a bit of clothing and jewellery here.

Kawaii snack

Hilarious Alice in Wonderland display.

I bought this funky canvas from "Oriental Art", and also the Peranakan cup below. They sold lots of other beautiful objet d'art, but most were too heavy to take home.

We found a shop selling all Japanese products - mainly nick nacks and cosmetics. There was also a Sasa cosmetic shop, and the Watson Pharmacy also sold Japanese Kate and Shiseido make up, which are my favourites.
I also bought loads of clothes from Gap, most of which I got at 1/2 price. I would definitely recommend this mall as a very enjoyable place to shop and eat.

KUALA LUMPUR SHOPPING GUIDE - 3- JADI BATIK

Batik handkerchief.

Batik photo frame

Wooden carvings in frames.

Batik fabric.

Songket.

Silk paintings.

On our second and last day in KL, my son contracted the mandatory bout of food poisoning, so a few of our planned trips had to be cancelled. Luckily, there was a very nice doctor in the Pavillion mall across the road from our hotel who treated my son successfully. In between bouts of vomitting, we managed to still go shopping. I wanted to go to the Craft Complex, but our taxi driver said that "Jadi Batik" was a better place to shop for souvenirs, and without me agreeing, the next thing I knew, we were at Jadi Batik! As the driver was waiting for me with the meter running, I had to shop fast. There were lots of lovely things to buy, but I didn't have the time to really browse. Anyway, you can see that I did purchase some beautiful fabric and silk batik paintings. As I was happy with my lot, we didn't end up going to the Craft Complex, so I'll save that for next time.

KUALA LUMPUR SHOPPING GUIDE - 2- CHINATOWN NIGHT MARKETS

Unless you are wanting a fake handbag, I wouldn't bother going to the night markets, as they don't sell much else. It is really crowded and hot, with lots of hawkers trying to obtain you attention. Maybe, it is different during the day though. I was wanting to go to the nearby Central Market for souvenirs, but I ran out of time.
I did however, find a shop that sold these beautiful Chinese fabrics. And my daughter did end up buying a "Channel" handbag, so it wasn't a fruitless excursion.

So that's all I have to say about the night markets !

KUALA LUMPUR SHOPPING GUIDE - SURIA KLCC TWIN TOWERS

I was lucky enough to have a midyear holiday to Malaysia and Singapore.

Kuala Lumpur is a city of extremes. There are still people living in makeshift shacks, made from wooden crates and corregated iron.

And then there's Louis Vuitton, Prada and Gucci.

We stayed at the Marriott Hotel on Bukit Bintang, which was lovely.

We only had 2 days in KL, so we had to indulge in some speed shopping. The prices in Malaysia are fantastic for Australians. Our first stop was Suria KLCC shopping mall. We had breakfast at their Starbucks, which is always a good choice for international travellers. Then we explored one of my favourite stores in the whole world, Kinokuniya books. I bought these 2 books which came with bags. I have a little bag addiction.

I found a couple of chirimen craft books, with some adorable projects.

I love these retro dolls.

Cute "How to Draw" books.

Cute little cups from Starbucks.

Stamp from Kinokuniya.

This mag comes with a cute Rilakkuma pouch.

A few cute things from Isetan.

Spectacular architecture.

Beautiful parkland at KL City Centre - the view from Starbucks.

From the inside - looking up through the centre of one of the towers.

Toys R Us

Yummy Malaysian food from the food court

The Twin Towers look spectacular at night.

There are many lovely fashion stores at Suria, such as Topshop, Gap and Guess. I don't think we have these in Australia. If you are a tourist, you can obtain a Privilege Card, whereby you can get discounts at most stores, so take your passport along.

If you live on the Gold Coast, you can take a direct flight to KL on Air Asia, which has cheap fares.