Any recent experiences of Kuala Lumpur?

[WhiteRabbitCandy]

Am looking for any recent experiences of family life in KL. We've lived in Asia before - Singapore - which we enjoyed but are now back in the UK. DH has been offered a job in KL which we're strongly considering. Our DC are in y3 and y5 so it would have to be a reasonably long stint so we don't interrupt high school exams. School places are included and an accommodation allowance.

It is it a good quality of life? Easy to get domestic help? Public transport? Good expat/British community?

I've only visited but was staying with (British) family who live there so have some insight. They live in Mont Kiara and like it - their quality of life is excellent compared to the UK in terms of better work/life balance and higher pay relative to the cost of living (they're teachers) and they made a good group of British expat friends very quickly. Services like public transport aren't as developed as here and the traffic is awful, but they're still better than the average for that part of the world. They aren't planning to stay there long term because they don't get on with the weather and I think are a bit fed up with some aspects of living in a country that's not as developed as the UK - there's more bureaucracy to contend with and customer service is a lot worse, by the sounds of it - but have both said they're glad they made the move and wouldn't consider coming back here.

Personally I have to say life in KL wouldn't be for me - I found it a really boring city that seemed to be mostly offices and shopping malls (though the botanical gardens were fab), Mont Kiara, while pretty, felt isolated and getting to the city centre was a bit of a pain, and the biggest positive of being there was that it was easy to get to other places that were more interesting. I think it really depends on what you like though - if you're happy for most of your leisure time to be spent in the apartment pool/gym, socialising with friends at home, restaurants or malls and then going on short haul flights for weekend excursions, you'll probably love it. If like me you're more about wandering down alleys looking at old buildings and visiting independent cafes and so on then it's definitely not the place for that.

We have family who lived there for years and we visited them several times. It worked for them and they enjoyed it. There's a big ex-pat community that's constantly refreshing so there are always new friends to be made and parties to go to. They permanently had a nanny/housekeeper and driver. No public transport to speak of. They lived in a gated development with a pool etc. in a central location. Kids enjoyed their school but it was not particularly academic and the secondary choice was limited, which was one of the reasons they came home to the UK.

I would absolutely hate living in KL, though. The traffic and pollution are awful. There are no green spaces at all. The ex-pat thing felt quite stifling, and there was no integration with the local communities. I couldn't really cope with all the complaining about their maids, but then I understand that's not unique to KL! It was a great base for holidays, though. It wouldn't compensate enough for me.

I was also going to mention about there being very little integration between expats and locals, but then I thought that's probably a choice, and presumably you could get to know people from local communities if you wanted to and made the effort. I didn't notice any obvious feelings of hostility from locals towards expats, FWIW.

OrangFizzyWorm isn't kidding about the lack of green space in the city centre, though (apart from the aforementioned botanical gardens). I saw this picture posted on another site and immediately knew it was KL - walking anywhere is really not an option!

Thank you this is helpful. I have lived in disorganised Asian cities before so it wouldn't be entirely new although I didn't realise the public transport isn't great

Depends where you live. There's actually a very good integrated mass transport system (underground/monorail/overground), plenty of buses including a number of free routes and Grab (Uber equivalent). All very affordable and efficient. But it's also true that Malaysians seem addicted to car culture and traffic jams.

I'm of Malaysian origin and most of my friends/family live in KL. When we go home to visit, we always choose accommodation close to a mass transit station and use the public transport to get around.

There are several really lovely parks in KL, but the rest of it is very built-up. IMO if you spend time in the old city centre, it's all walkable, loads of independent shops and cafes, and the best local food. Apart from THE HEAT AND HUMIDITY, of course.

I know nothing about the expat community though.