Tuesday, February 17, 2009
KL Diary - The Shopping
Shopping in KL is definitely more fun and easier with everything under one roof in an air-conditioned mall and underground parking. However, this year we did not do much shopping except for food items like Chinese herbs (for soup), curry mixes, instant noodle, Tom Yum cubes, Bak Kut Teh spices and mushrooms. As usual, my MIL also bought some pyjamas and underpants for Dominic. For once, I didn't buy any clothes for myself because with the current exchange rate and the UK sales (which I think is not happening anymore), it makes more sense to buy our clothes here.
I cannot decide if groceries are more expensive in M'sia but at a glance, the figures did look huge. For example, 2L of milk (labelled 'susu asli Malaysia', which means locally produced) costs RM12, whereas in the UK 4 pints (which is equivalent to about 2.3L) is only £1.44. That's only for milk, but then milk here is cheaper than water. Organic vegetables are especially expensive - RM4 for 2 skinny looking carrots. However, I guess many people probably don't cook at home, much less buy organic produce.
The first thing I did once we got back to KL was to buy some nappies for Dominic (because he still needs them at night). I tried the Mamy Poko Pants and they're the best ever nappies I've bought. I wish they're sold here because Dominic still overfills his nappy so much that it leaks almost every night, even though we made him pee before going to bed. However, I paid RM50 for 20 pieces, which means RM2.50 per piece. Over here, I don't think I've paid more than 20p per nappy.
I've also noticed that products are more varied in Malaysia. There are so many brands of milk powder it made me dizzy, and in the end still bought the wrong one because there's one with "natural" flavour and one with "honey" flavour and I got the honey flavoured one because the word "Madu" was sooo tiny. There are also so many types of shampoo and shower gel!
All in all, I LOVE shopping in M'sia. It's not crowded like Oxford Street (or Westfield nowadays), everything is under one roof, you can have a bite anytime during your shopping, the children's gym is within the same building and your husband can bring the kid there while you shop, they don't make you bring your own plastic bags, you can rent 'Kiddie Cabs' for your kids and ... and ... and ... I don't know, I just love it! Has anyone of you tried dropping your kid at the Ikea Smaland play area while you shop? It's great! We took Dominic there one day and he totally enjoyed himself (and we totally enjoyed ourselves too). We've tried bringing him to the one in London a few times but the waiting list was always a few hours! I cannot imagine where all those people came from. It was jam packed even at 10 in the morning on a weekend!
