KL safe?

[Serendipity]

Upon speaking to travellers, they have advised KL maybe not be the best place for young girl traveller? We need to get our flight from KL to Oz and just now we are in Krabi town, does anyone know if there are any nice places on route down to KL or if KL is safe enough???

Thanks!! :)

[steveadmin]

That's strange - if I were given a list of cities in South East Asia and asked to rank how safe they were then Kuala Lumpur would be pretty much at the top. I travelled with a female backpacker there six years go and both of us felt more than safe. The only problem I can remember is confidence tricksters coming up to you in the street, trying to befriend you and get you to go to their house -- obviously you DON'T do this! -- it leads to a "friendly" game of gambling which you seem to be winning, until they take you to the cleaners and you lose a severe amount of money. (Hint: be WARY of anyone you have just met on the street inviting you somewhere - a good tip for ANY country!)

What did the travellers say was particularly unsafe about Kuala Lumpur? I am intrigued.

As for stopping off, Penang is a nice destination and a logical stop-off point for your journey. The transport hub city is Butterworth and then you get the bridge over to Penang, which is an island. Some nice colonial architecture, decent Indian restaurants, malls, generally a nice vibe - you'll notice the step up in "development level" over Krabi straight away.

[Nomadcitizen]

Hi Serenpidity,

KL is indeed relatively safe place in general. As Steve said in his previous post, be cautious if ever you have someone who come to you and invite you to his house or for gambling but I would like to add a couple of points:

As every city, there are some areas you should not walk alone at night such as Chow kit area for instance and some further suburbian area of KL might be not suitable for you to go (Klang valley).

Also, you need to be careful with taxi drivers at night, specially if you are alone, some incidents took place (rape, murders...).

Finally, when you need to withdraw cash at ATM machine at night, it's better for you if you can be with someone, as it's common for certain people to snatch your money immediately after.

At the end, it's all about common sense, nothing to be paranoid because KL is a great city to be, locals are super friendly and most of them reliable, I do enjoyed each time I go there, but due to my experience I just play safe :)

Hope it helps

John

[pigeon]

Can't recommend. There is a law for the taxi drivers should run on meter. But even in KL (Pasar Sini - near the Central Market) there not running on meter. That means they are not fear to law authority. Like that there are lot of scams going on KL city. So can't guarantee that KL is safe to travel.

[TimKessler]

KL is safe, as safe as any other large city in the world. Just like traveling to anywhere else, just keep out of dark lanes or dingy areas. Stick to the city and its bright lights and you've got nothing to worry about. I dare say it is safer than most other cities in Asia.

Tim

[caffynacino]

KL is a safe place .This is 2012 and we are free to go any where in this world.Now days there is very few restricted places .Any one thinking about kL security issue don't worry it is similar to any other place.

[zakmanja]

Hi, KL is actually very safe to travel alone, I saw many young travelers traveling alone in KL and Malaysia, nothing to worry about. Crime is everywhere...no cities without a crime, is just that you need not to attract crime to you, like walking alone at dark street at night or wearing expensive watch or jewelery.

Hope you enjoy your stay in Malaysia..cheers

[sakuraluu]

KL safe and friendly, I've ever travel to KL many time with my friends, my wife.

[Alti]

I used to live there for 2 months. It's safe place. I was walking around city and clubs with my friend and we never get in dangerous situation.

Originally Posted by Serendipity

Upon speaking to travellers, they have advised KL maybe not be the best place for young girl traveller? We need to get our flight from KL to Oz and just now we are in Krabi town, does anyone know if there are any nice places on route down to KL or if KL is safe enough???

Thanks!! :)

I think malaysia is not as safe for foreigners and locals whether u are a girl or guy, young or old. recently, my friend who has many businesses in malaysia wanted to drive his company vehicle here. when he tried to enter, the customs said he had to apply with JPJ. At JPJ they said he have to be involved in a business in Malaysia before he met the requirements. After he submitted all his documents and JPJ approved his vehicle, he has been going in an out many times but then on one occasion recently, the customs stop him and told him he need to pay $200 before he is allowed to leave Malaysia. When he asked then to show him the rules, they detained him for a few hours. In the end they could not show him any documents and he had to pay the money before they let him go. When he tried to take their names, they hid their ID Tags and threaten to ban him from entering malaysia again if he continue to ask questions. I am sure there are many good men and women serving the government in Malaysia but it is the few bad eggs at the frontline that spoil the show for everyone and this is why the country has much difficulty progressing. If the same thing happened in SG, i am sure the officer will not dare to threaten as he knows that he will lose his job. When i go to SG, the officers are professional and smile. i even learn when i talk to them that some are from malaysia. If all our good officers go to Singapore to work then what are we left with? Public servants must know that they are paid with by tax payers to serve the public not to threaten their very own paymaster. Now my friend decided to close his business here and of course his malaysian staff will lose their jobs. i wonder how many more people have such experiences. if the frontliners can put the country's image before themselves, it will attract more investments and we can be ahead of SG one day.