BB Area

In an area that you can cover by foot in a matter of minutes is Malaysia's most hardcore shopping district. This pulsing heart of Kuala Lumpur is called the Golden Triangle and houses our business community, our strong nightlife and our many, many shopping havens.

From cheap and tacky to out-of-this-world designer gear, the Golden Triangle boasts endless shopping and can put a serious strain on your wallet and put blisters on your feet if you're not too careful.

At one simple cross-junction you get such a plethora of choice that it is easy to understand why Malaysia is such a hit with locals and tourists as a shopping paradise.

Keeping it cheap (though not necessarily at giveaway prices) Sungei Wang, which incidentally means River of Money, shopping mall is one of the grandfathers of the Bukit Bintang area. Built on the site of the old BB Park, itself a den of iniquity in the 50s, Sungei Wang is notorious for its wealth of shops and the diversity of products it houses.

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From electronic goods, such as cameras, videocams to hi-fi's, Sungei Wang has it. Pay cash and get a bigger discount, pay with a credit card and see that discount decrease. If you want a new hand phone, Sungei Wang is ideal. Countless booths showcase the latest phones, each gleaming and smaller than the next. Flashing posters display deals on mobile packages, giving free monthly subscription, free phone calls to Mozambique (not) as they aim to outbid each other for customers. Nokia, as it moves to bring a bit of corporate feel to the mish-mash shopping mall, has a number of Nokia Priority Counters strategically placed near the entrance.

Besides the endless hand phone combinations and cheap VCDs, Sungei Wang is the best place in Kuala Lumpur for funky fashion. It is great place to see the latest trends within the young, mostly Chinese community. Weekends usually find the mall packed with kids wearing staggering platforms, wildly dyed hair and outlandish outfits that the Hong Kong superstars would adore.

Cool boutiques litter Sungei Wang on every floor, decorated like mini-clubs, their owners push the J-Pop or Hong Kong fashions to the extreme. It is one of the best places to find individual second-hand clothing in KL and with the numerous skate shops and record shops plying club culture, it is an ideal way to view Generation Y life.

A pedestrian bridge links Sungei Wang to its more illustrious neighbor Lot 10. This distinctive green mall moves up a notch in terms of its contents. With Japanese giant Isetan as its anchor tenant, Lot 10 has some of the best in designer and non-designer wear in a more relaxed environment. Isetan also has one of the biggest MNG stores in KL; MNG (trendy Spanish labe360l also known as MANGO) regularly causes major havoc during its sales.

As you move through the upper levels of Lot 10, the shops get more exclusive. Versace, Armani, Versus are all represented and as Lot 10 is smaller than Sungei Wang and more aesthetically laid out, you will never get lost.

Further along Bukit Bintang, past numerous sidewalk cafes, Italian Pizzerias, and Planet Hollywood sits the modest KL Plaza. U2, Mystery. Urban & Co and Seed all beckon shoppers on its opening floor. Sales offering 70% off, and bargain buys are the norm and the huge Tower Records on its first floor houses some of the best music available in the country.

A venture inside KL Plaza may come, as a disappointment, scattered little boutiques, and numerous watch shops are mostly the tenants. Almost deserted, your best shopping comes from the above shops and the futuristic Nike shop upstairs.

This brings us to the big daddy in Bukit Bintang, Star Hill. This gilded mall sits next to JW Marriot and houses some huge names in designer fashion and accessories. From Gucci to DNKY, Star Hill is top to bottom designer gear. From Japanese housewives to royalty, this is for the seriously rich, or for those with bottomless credit cards and as the sunlit Star Hill is never busy, it is delight to wander round in.

Though designers rule the shops, anchor department store Tangs makes Star Hill the one generally affordable pit stop. Selling household goods, fashion, jewelry, cosmetics, perfumes, shoes and more, Tangs is reasonable and is an alternative to Isetan in the area.

And come October 2003, a new mall that already being regarded as the "mother of all malls", the Berjaya Times Square, will be opening its doors (and what wide doors it'll be, too!). Costing in excess of RM500 million, this mall is said to be the largest building of its kind to be built in a single phase in the world! And if you think that the Midvalley Megamall is huge and an effort to walk around, then wait till this mama opens as it is even bigger, making you walk 7.2km just to cover the whole mall!

	Flanked by two intimidating 47-storey towers (hotel and service suites filling up 1.75 million sq.ft.), the main block comprises of 17 levels where the LG, G and Level 1 to 10 is the shopping mall - food and entertainment center occupies Level 1 to 4 while the theme park takes up Level 5 to 9 - and the corporate offices fills up Level 11 to 13.
	And what is filling up the mall? Well, there will be 12 retail anchors (the British retail giant, Debenhams, being one of them), 800 individual shops, a 50,000sq.ft. auto mart, 300,000sq.ft. for 50 food outlets (cafés, bistros, fine dining restaurants and fast food stations), 8-screen cinema, a 300-seat theater for concerts, plays and other performing arts and a physical fitness studio.

Then, not forgetting the 450,000sq.ft. indoor theme park where four awesome thrill rides await you: the 800-meter long Roller Coaster, 30-meter high Spinning Star, the Twin Hammer and the Super Look On Top. Just remember to eat after going on the rides. In addition, for the extreme sports enthusiasts, there's a 130,000sq.ft. extreme sports arena just for you to slide, ride, burn and test your skills. There is even something for the less sporty in the form of a 56-lane bowling alley and a 10,000sq.ft. billiards and pool club!

Kids too have something to shout about at Berjaya Times Square as there are 10 special and exciting family and children's rides, plus a 'Kidz Town' where there'll be shows, parties and schools for developing the young minds in the fields of computer, creative arts, dance and music. Phew, that sure is a lot to see and do in this mall! Make sure you wear your most comfortable walking shoes when shopping here!

Nevertheless, whatever you fancy or feel like filling your shopping bags with, the golden triangle and in particular Bukit Bintang has it all. To top off the shopping experience, go on a weekend, the usually hated time to go, because DBKL has made the usual traffic-laden streets pedestrian friendly, the streets and shops are all yours.

Dress comfy, take your time and as they say, shop till ya drop!