Today was my first experience of a shopping centre in Kuala Lumpur. After we hailed a taxi to the Mid Valley Shopping Centre, I was amazed by the sheer scale of the site. We decided to spend the whole day there and began by visiting the large cinema complex inside. Prior to leaving Britain I had fancied watching Johnny Depp's latest film "Dark Shadows". As an aside, every time I see the title I hear the track "Dark Shadows" by Christian metal band Seventh Angel in my head. Inadvertently we sat in the best seats at the back of the screen. The film is excellent and Johnny Depp is brilliant as ever.
After the film we visited a couple of guitar shops and with Malaysia being in Asia, the majority of guitars are either Japanese or Korean imports such as ESP, Ltd and Yamaha guitars. Some US built guitars such as Squier and Epiphone are also available which was the case in the second store we visited. We also visited some CD stores which we may return to if the exchange rate is favourable.
During our time in the centre we encountered some strangely named shops. The most amusing was "Heart Attack" (pictured above), which appears to be Malaysia's version of Claire's or Accessorize. In the centre's extensive food court area I also found the British themed potato snack specialists "Crazy Potato" (pictured right) and upstairs there was an iced yogurt specialist called "Moo Cow".
We tried out the "Chicken Rice" restaurant and I really enjoyed my Beef Noodles and spring rolls. On our holiday I have decided to try to eat as much Malaysian food as I can (not to excess that is!) There is something for sure there are many food outlets here! Indian, Chinese, Malaysian, Thai, Taiwanese, Japanese, Singaporean, British and American food outlets ensure that there is something for everyone here. In the shopping malls there are also familiar brands such as "Marks and Spencers" (pictured left), Sony Centres and Borders.
One slightly funny thing my lovely lady had warned me about was to be prepared for the Malaysian shop assistants and their tendency to be over friendly towards British people. Apparently Brits are viewed as affluent and many of their faces lit up when we entered the various different shops. I disappointed them all however by not spending a penny on their wares though! My lovely lady and I enjoyed our time there though and we will probably come back to the centre again before we return to the U.K.
