Alan Wales

I will be moving to KL in May for at least 1 year and will visit in March looking for accommodation etc. I will be with my wife and I will be working in Sungai Buloh.
I have seen on other posts that Bangsar, Kenny Hills, Federal Hills and Damansara are good Expat areas - Are any of these areas close enough to Sungai Buloh for a daily commute? Are there any other good areas close to Sungai Buloh?
Also any comments or advice on life in KL would be most welcome.

galba

Alan, didn't want to read and run! We left KL about six months ago having lived there for 2 years. Me, OH and 4 kids had a brilliant time and plan on moving back at some time. We lived in Kenny Hills which with the road network is pretty ideal. OH and I had a great social life, food is excellent and cheap and we had help in the house.

Don't go with any preconceived ideas, be ready to try new things and get out and meet people. I'm very jealous....can you tell!?!

Galba

Amazing Grace

Sungai Buloh is quite a way out from expat areas.We lived in Bangsar for over 4 years and loved every minute of it. SB area is very nice but not heavily populated by expats. Might I suggest you get in touch with the Association of British Women in Malaysia (ABWM) and one of the things they do i s have what the call a link lady who lives in different areas populated by expats. When I was there, there was a very nice lady who lived in SB and was the link lady. Do a search for ABWM and this will give you all the information you AND your wife might need.

I would also suggest looking around Sri Hartimas area as this was the area we passed through to catch the highway to Penang and on the right hand side of which was the new Sungai Buloh hospital which my husband's company had a lot of involvement in the building of.

Good luck and hope you all have a very happy time in KL. I am also very jealous.

Alan Wales

Thanks for your replies. My wife is a fitness fanatic and personal trainer, and wants a gym close by where we live.....she also is a long distance runner, what areas would be considered safe for outdoor running and does anyone know of any running clubs for her.

galba

There are Fitness First gyms all over the place and they are around £20 a month (make sure you haggle the price!). Not sure about the running though - saw lots of joggers in Bangsar but couldn't tell you if there was a club.

As amazing grace said, contact the ABWM before you get there and they should be able to tell you.

Galba

Amazing Grace

If you find a lovely condo to live in they normally have a good gym facility with lots of modern equipment and also a good sized swimming pool. There will be a Hash Harriers Club as well. Gym membership can be expensive but again get in touch with the ABWM who will have all the answers you need and more.

honeybee

Hi there,

If you are going to work in SB you might consider living in Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI) which is a nice residential area with houses and condominiums near to major shopping area of Bandar Utama, Tescos, Carrefour, etc. Although the highways are much better than before the commute from Bangsar/Kenny Hills will take time esp with traffic jams. SB is an up and coming area but not one where you would find many expats.

I lived in Petaling Jaya for 12 years and loved many things about Malaysia. Havent come across any expats who didnt love it.

Good luck

honeybee

Just to add

TTDI will have expats in the condos
has a recreation park for jogging, walking etc which is rather nice once you can handle the heat!

Penang

Hi there,

Just to add to what honeybee has mentioned.

Sungai Buloh is very near many conveniences. Honeybee mentioned One Utama (a mall in an area called Bandar Utama), Carrefour, Tesco, but missed out on Ikea (their largest operation in all of Asia Pacific) and Cold Storage (Malaysia's oldest supermarket which specialises in imported groceries especially from the UK, Australia and New Zealand. They sell some Waitrose stuff). All these shops and malls are across the road (well, more like highway) from each other and if you asked me for distance, I would say probably a mile or so from each other. My guess would be, without traffic being a problem, and you lived in the new areas of Sungai Buloh (say, the two gated communities of SierraMas and Valencia and the elc international school), it would probably take you 15-20 minutes to reach these areas of shops by car.

Just to let you have some idea of what is in the One Utama mall in regards to international businesses and familiar to the British: Starbucks, Marks and Spencers, Mothercare, Miss Selfridge (UK prices though), a Manchester United merchandising store (is it still there?), Nike, Reebok, a very nice but very cold cinema, and loads and loads of restaurants. You are spoilt for choice in supermarkets. In One Utama, there is Jaya Jusco and Giant. Across the street/highway (North) is Tesco, Cold Storage and Carrefour.

Across the street/highway (East) from One Utama is TTDI (Taman Tun Dr. Ismail). It is true that though in the past 5 years or more, quite a few expats have moved to TTDI, the historical areas of where expats live are not near Sungai Buloh. However, it is also true that with the traffic jams, you may find commuting very tiring and tiresome. It would be good to live near.

TTDI is a very middle class and a very nice suburban area. It is fringed on one side by lush green hills which are used mostly by Malaysians for jogging and exercising. These green areas look like forests to untrained eyes but they are actually former rubber plantations which have been left for the forest to take over. There are clear jogging trails made by continuous use. I used to cycle a lot in this area. It is safe to jog in this area! I hope it is still so. I think maybe the heat and humidity may be a problem if your partner has not run in such conditions before.

If you are approaching TTDI from Sungai Buloh, just before TTDI, you will also pass Damansara Heights (did I get this name right?). I am referring to the new area after the Penchala toll where land has been to sold to build superluxurious homes. Some of the homes have been completed are selling at more than 5 million ringgit.

The reason I know some of this is that I used to live in Bandar Sri Damansara, though now not popularly known as part of Sungai Buloh, on the land register, it is still part of Sungai Buloh.

It will be by no means difficult (just long if traffic is bad) to get to the traditional expat areas if you so wish to visit other expats since Sungai Buloh sits near a spaghetti junction which takes you right to the heart of Kuala Lumpur, and it is also connected straight to the ring road that goes around KL. There is a Sungai Buloh entry/exit to the North-South Highway - the main highway trunk that links the border of Malaysia-Thailand to Singapore. In other words, you actually are in an area where there will be several ways to get to many different parts of KL (and also other parts of the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia), all linked up by highways.

Further south from Bandar Utama (is in the municipal council area of Petaling Jaya) are several Petaling Jaya areas (from Damansara Utama, after that SS2, etc.). SO all very developed and filled with shops, banks, businesses, hospitals, gyms, not to mention the Light railway transit (above ground "underground").

Let me stop. Hope this helps.

Alan Wales

Thanks for all the comments
It is looking like we may move into the Bangsar area, as 2 expats I will be working with are living in Bangsar and say the commute is not too bad. We will be going over in a couple of weeks to check things out. Any comments on Bangsar good and bad would be most welcome....

honeybee

You will like Bangsar, got everything for the expat and very near to Megamall. Bangsar is just near enough to KL too.

galba

Bangsar is great, easy travel into the city centre, fantastic eating places and good shopping too (have a look at Bangsar Shopping Center BSC and Bangsar Village on your reccie). OH and I had a date night every Thursday and would go to Bangsar for a foot massage then a meal at the place opposite Bangsar village. As for accommodation - depends how much you have to spend!

The ABWM house is located very close to Bangsar Shopping Centre.

Let us know how it goes!

Galba

Alan Wales

Thanks to everyone who has replied, your comments are a great help for us when we go over to KL for the last week in March, to search for somewhere to live.
Many thanks for your comments, will let you all know how our search goes, and where we end up.
cheers
Alan and Sandy

honeybee

Good luck with your new adventure!

pineapplelump

We are moving to KL too in August. My husband will be working in Equine Park and the kids will be going to Alice Smith Primary. I like the look of the houses at Desa Park City, can anyone tell me how long it would take to get to both Equine park and AS primary from there of morning?