malaysianmama

Hello, my husband and I are seriously considering moving to KL in August this year, and the reason I am posting is that we have two young children. By August our little boy will be three and our daughter will have just turned one. So my big question is - are there plenty of things to do for toddlers (and mums because I will be a stay at home mum for a while!) or would I go stir crazy?!? Also I don't drive so is it easy and safe to get around the city and what happens about car seats? We are thinking of basing ourselves in Mont Kiara so would that be accessible to where we need to go? Thanks very much in advance!

Englishmum

Strongly suggest you join MANZA - the Malaysian Australian & New Zealand Association, which is open to expats of any nationality (locals can join too).

Here is all their info:

http://www.manza.org

They have a 'mini manza' section for mums and small children.

My Aussie friend lived in KL and didn't have a driving licence when she lived there; I'm seeing her tonight (in NYC) and I'll try to remember to ask her your questions, so do pop in again on this forum!

malaysianmama

Thanks for the reply and the link to MANZA -I'll check that out. And do please let me know what your friend says! Thanks

Englishmum

Hi, didn't get too much info really as we were at Madison Square Garden last night watching Eddie Izzard! She did tell me that she wasn't a mum when they lived there, she was a newlywed...however she went to classes at an art college and tried to get the public bus there and back; it was a nightmare with everyone crammed onto the bus like sardines. The buses are very slow as traffic congestion is really bad in KL and her journey time could be up to 2 hours - so she ended up taking a taxi there and back every day.

What she did tell me was that sometimes when phoning for a taxi they would say 'no taxi available' so she would offer them extra money and suddenly there would be one available after all! Her best advice was to try and live near your spouse's place of work as his commute could be awful, or if you already have nursery schools planned, to live fairly close to where your children are likely to be frequently going for their daily activities.

malaysianmama

Hiya,

Sounds like you had a fun night! Very jealous!

Thanks for the tip about the traffic- I had read that it could be bad. I would definitley want to live close to my husbands work in that case. And playschools I guess...lots to think about. Thaks for replying though- appreciate it!

Kooky.

Traffic in KL is a nightmare, and taxi drivers are not far off that! My friend employs a driver - if you got one he could take your husband to work and then be at your disposal.

galba

I lived there for 2 years from 2006-2007 and had a fantastic time. I had my 4th child in Gleneagles Hospital and was delighted with the medical care.

There are many clubs that you can join with young children:

ibufamily.org - great for playgroups and meeting up with other mums, they also produce a magazine every month with some great articles.
My girls went to The Children's House - a montessori playschool in Damansara Heights.

There is a gymbaroo, kindermusik etc available in most of the 'expat' suburbs.

We lived in Kenny Hills and my OH worked in the twin towers. The commute was only 20 minutes and the house had great access to Bangsar, Damansara Heights and many of the other shopping malls/Ikea.

We loved KL and would jump at the chance to go back there - the social life was second to none!