Kuala Lumpur 'one of 7 magnificent cities in the world'

[webfact]

Kuala Lumpur 'one of 7 magnificent cities in the world'



KUALA LUMPUR: -- Kuala Lumpur has been voted one of the seven most magnificent and incredible cities in the World. The other six were La Paz (Bolivia), Havana (Cuba), Beirut (Lebanon), Doha (Qatar), Vigan (Philippines), and Durban (South Africa), according to New Straits Times.

From a long list of 1200 nominees from 220 countries the list was narrowed down to 28 through qualification and selection process. The top 28 cities went through three phases of worldwide voting until seven cities were chosen.

The seven cities were chosen based on voting from people using the Internet, smartphone applications, international telephone voting lines and text messaging.

Announcing the results at the New7Wonders voting center in Dubai, Bernard Weber, Founder-President of New7Wonders stated, “We congratulate each of these cities on achieving their New7Wonders status, and we look forward to celebrating their election to the “canon of 7″ with their citizens in 2015.”

Launched two years ago, New7Wonders Cities is the third global vote and follows the New7Wonders of the World and New7Wonders of Nature campaigns.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/kuala-lumpur-one-7-magnificent-cities-world


-- Thai PBS 2014-12-10

[terryp]

laughable

[Just1Voice]

WHAT? This can't be right. Doesn't everyone know that BKK is the most wonderful city in the world.

[Anders W Ferslev]

is the most boring city in Asia

[TheSiemReaper]

I love KL and completely understand why it would make the list. Malaysia is multi-cultural (unlike Thailand which pretends to be in order to take money from tourists). It's a city with focal points, neighbourhoods, good food, welcoming to visitors, plenty to see and do, etc. the only thing wrong with Malaysia is the price of a pint...

I fully expect to retire in Kuala Lumpur.

[soihok]

Wow.

Just spent 2 years living in KL, certainly isn't a magnificent city by far. I would say its a mess.

What were these voters thinking, or rather what were they asked and what experience they were commenting on.

New7Wonders my a**

[Familyonthemove]

Well KL is 'nice' and the Petronas Towers look amazing - but it's a bit boring.

The whole list is a bit odd.

Shouldn't a magnificant city has the 'buzz' and energy of a mega-metro world city? And more than one (well technically two) buildings with great architecture.

Shanghai, Dubai, New York, London, Hong Kong, Sydney..... and for sheer crazy 'buzz' Mumbai.

[MobileContent]

The food is great in KL, the place has many attractions and as far as I know no double pricing. Both KLIA 1 and 2 are far superior compared to Don Muang or Swampy. Immigrations and police is nice to deal with as a Westerner and it is very much a family destination to stopover for 2 days for further travel to Langkawi, Malacca, Penang or the East Coast. Alcohol is expensive of course but still affordable.

[Estrada]

The New7 Wonders of the World is a scam! They were found previously to have requested sums as high as $500,000 from Countrys to place their Country near the top of the listings. This explains why some of the not so nice places in the World have got high placings in the list. I hope that TAT has not fallen for this scam.

[lust]

KL is a yawner.

Also the only place that we had theft in all of Asia. We stayed in a fancy hotel with cctv throughout. My gf left money in the hotel room thinking it would be safe only to have it stolen. Around $400 of different currencies.

When we went the manager, I insisted he show us the footage but they deleted the footage after going in.

After going to the police, he said "you rich, Malay people poor, can't help you" lol.

[RickyJB]

i´ve just booked a few days in Kuala Lumpur for me and my gf , just after new year on recommendations of many of my friends, they said the place is fantastic...never been before, so hoping its true...so any tips of what to see and do , would like to hear

[HUAHIN62]

There is only three good things in KL, good Indian food, a good chiro (that comes to Thailand every month to get away from boring KL - his words) and cheap electronics, maybe a 4th thing, direct flights back to Thailand. BORING !!! The survey must have been conducted in downtown KL.

[kinmaew]

The only things I like about KL are:

Food - Great Nasi Kandar and lots of other great curries if you like that type of food.

umm

KL Bird Park area is ok

Patalang Street sucks you may as well be at any trinket market in LOS

Girls - Bloody expensive at Bukit Bintang just for a massage and a little bit more.

Beer - Expensive except if you are on the street

Easy to get around, weather is mostly miserable, hot yes but always seems to be overcast no real sunny days I have found. Good for Air Asia good airport train.

Batu Caves is ok for a day trip but only go once. I think I would be bored in 3 days. Reckon Penang is better in every respect

[farang2002]

What a joke!

[RickyJB]

is there 2 Kuala Lumpurs? because from what ive been told and what comments ive seen on here , seems like 2 different places..

find it kind of strange that Beirut made that list..<deleted>

[HerbalEd]

"Magnificent and incredible"??? Really?? KL? Havana? Now that's incredible ... in the most literal definition of the word (i.e., not credible).

[Rogie]

As this is the South-east Asia forum, as KL gets a mention, it only seems fair to also give Vigan a whirl.

I hadn't heard of Vigan so looked it up. . .

The city of Vigan (Ilokano: Ciudad ti Bigan; Tagalog: Lungsod ng Vīgân) is a fourth class city in the province of Ilocos Sur,Philippines. It is the capital of the Province of Ilocos Sur. The city is located on the western coast of the large island of Luzon, facing the South China Sea. According to the 2010 Philippines census, it has a population of 49,747 people.

It is a World Heritage Site in that it is one of the few Hispanic towns left in the Philippines where its structures remained intact, and is well known for its cobblestone streets, and a unique architecture that fuses Philippine and Oriental building designs and construction, with colonial European architecture. Because of this, Vigan City was officially recognized as one of the NEW7Wonders Cities together with Beirut, Doha, Durban, Havana, Kuala Lumpur, and La Paz.

But also:

An average of 7-10 typhoons visit Vigan annually

.

This doesn't sound too good but maybe this is par for the course in the Philippines.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vigan

Many TV members seem to have visited KL, me included, but has anyone been to Vigan? If so, did it live up to its World Heritage Site listing?

Edited December 11, 2014 by Rogie

[Postmaster]

Don't go there. The religion is wrecking it !

[soihok]

Exactly

[ExPratt]

They must lead shallow lives

[soihok]

Depends if you are Bumi Putra or not, two completely different sets of rules.

[Bkungbank]

Compare with Bangkok

1) Clothing are expensive and design not good , here in Pratunam is shopping heaven

2) Beers are expensive due to Islamic heavy on tax

3) Bars banned for those looking for sexy ladies

4) Security many hand bags snaching on day light

5) taxi scam no meters

6) Boring city

Don't know why it have been selected?

[ExPratt]

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Depends if you are Bumi Putra or not, two completely different sets of rules.

Yes the Bumi Putra (Prince of the soil). If just shows how the favoring of Bumi Putras has held the country back if you look at Singapore

Edited December 11, 2014 by ExPratt

[MrWorldwide]

Compare with Bangkok

1) Clothing are expensive and design not good , here in Pratunam is shopping heaven

2) Beers are expensive due to Islamic heavy on tax

3) Bars banned for those looking for sexy ladies

4) Security many hand bags snaching on day light

5) taxi scam no meters

6) Boring city

Don't know why it have been selected?

I'm guessing it wasnt determined by hard-drinking whoremongers and I disagree that 'many hand bags are snatched in broad daylight' - pure fantasy unless things really have changed in the last year or so. If you want 'sexy ladies', you only have to go to Bukit Bintang - Filipina and Thai freelancers aplenty, not to mention women from Africa and Europe - just take a stroll down Jalan P Ramlee and follow your nose. They're not open air beer bars like LOS, but by Malaysian standards they're a very thinly disguised venue for prostitution. Not sure if the PI government's efforts to stop young women being trafficked out of the country has put a dent in their numbers, but I met several who were working longterm in Malaysia and saw no pressing need to go home while they were making money for their families. Same story as many in Thailand - some smooth talker promised them the world and left them with a baby to care for - mama take care etc. Gotta love the classics.

[spidermike007]

Havana? KL? Havana is a broken down piece of crap, run by a couple of despot brothers. Last time I was there a Cuban man was arrested for talking to me on the street! He was put in jail for two days. They are so paranoid that they lock people up for talking to foreigners. I will never return to that decrepit city. Stopped at a restaurant on the highway and the only food they had was a bologna sandwich on white bread, with no toppings, or really bad french fries. That was it! The food there is some of the worst in the world. I asked a nurse about supplies, and she said her hospital had only seen a few bandaids in the past year, and they had not had aspirin in two years! At a hospital in the capital. The lack of supplies, basic commodities, etc., makes the place a hellhole, plus the police state aspect of the place. The filthy gangster, billionaire Castro brothers. The filthy military. Who needs the place? Not I.

As far as KL goes, it is a nice town. But, one of the worlds top cities? I doubt it. This is a very strange list. La Paz? Beirut?

Edited December 14, 2014 by spidermike007

[Tomtomtom69]

I love KL and completely understand why it would make the list. Malaysia is multi-cultural (unlike Thailand which pretends to be in order to take money from tourists). It's a city with focal points, neighbourhoods, good food, welcoming to visitors, plenty to see and do, etc. the only thing wrong with Malaysia is the price of a pint...

I fully expect to retire in Kuala Lumpur.

I fully agree with you, except the part about Thailand pretending to be multicultural. No it doesn't even try - most Thais with Chinese heritage don't even acknowledge that they have Chinese ancestry; they can't speak Chinese and don't even know which part of China their ancestors came from. Thais are proud just to be Thai and don't have any plans for their country to become multicultural anytime soon, despite the presence of a large number of westerners and other foreigners.

But yeah KL is a nice place - good food, nice people and great infrastructure plus a lot of English speakers. The only reason why I'm so comfortable in Thailand is due to my fluent Thai skills, I wonder how/why so many expats who can't speak a lick of Thai think it's better than KL? Obviously they don't realise that the Thai smiles/laughter are actually fake and that they are being insulted in front of their faces but with no language skills they don't understand what the locals are saying about them! Also, I can't imagine the frustration about not being independent and relying on a Thai spouse etc. to get everything done because one is too lazy or whatever to learn the local language.

I find the smiles in KL more genuine albeit it's mostly Malays that smile rather than the Chinese or Indians. Even so, Malaysians are more business like and down to earth and just because they don't smile all day doesn't mean they aren't friendly. I also don't smile at people I don't know or maintain eye contact if I don't know them - but once you get to know me people say I'm really friendly. Same as Malaysians.

[stuurman]

Just back from KL and find it far from "magnificent".

• The city itself is unkept, filthy and a concrete jungle without character.
• The people are unfriendly and grumpy.
• The drivers are the most aggressive I have seen in Malaysia.
• A pint of beer is even more expensive then in Singapore.

In my view it's the worst Asian city, it has all the cons but none of the pros.

Most magnificent Asian cities IMO are Hong Kong and Bangkok.

Edited December 18, 2014 by stuurman

[soihok]

Yes, after living there for 2 years I agree with your comments about it, apart from the people who I found reasonably friendly and depends where you were drinking.

Its also far from being a safe place.

[MrWorldwide]

Since we're voting

Nastiest city in Asia - Jakarta

Best city in Asia - Tokyo

Happy to debate either, but KL is still better than Surabaya or Shenzhen, IMO.

[soihok]

Never been to Tokyo, been to Osaka (work trip).

Singapore must be right up there also.