Kuala Lumpur

List of International Schools around Kuala Lumpur

As a service to friends looking for information about International Schools in Kuala Lumpur, here’s the results of several hours of research. I am quite shocked at the number of schools I was able to find.  There are 45 on this list, and growing.  The largest list anywhere else on the web doesn’t even get to 30.  I want to keep this list as complete as possible, so if there are any schools not listed, please let me know by plugging your school in the comments below. I will be sure to add your listing to the main list as well.

The list of International schools in Penang can be found here as well.

Alice Smith International School

Alnoor International School

Rest stop sebelah bukit gantang

We’re headed back to Kuala Lumpur to visit the American Embassy again. Now that we have the baby’s Malaysian birth certificate and passport photos. We can make our appointment and apply for a US Passport and a Consular Report of Birth Abroad. We find that we would rather drive the Malaysian highway system than use the air transport that is available to us in Penang.  We break up the long car trip with a stop at a rest stop along the way.  We’ve decided that this particular Rest Stop at Bukit Gantang is probably our favorite. Read more…

IKEA in Kuala Lumpur

On our recent adventure to Kuala Lumpur, we tried to do some things that we can’t do because we’re living in Penang.  One of those things is a trip to IKEA.  It is located in Damansara, not terribly far from the highway, although if you are coming from the wrong direction, you will have to work your way around and under the highway just to get through the series of one way streets to get to the store.

Why do we want to go to IKEA?

For our older two children, they really enjoy going to Småland.  This is a play area with a ball pit and some coloring stations and I don’t know what else that they can be watched for an hour, while parents shop.  Kids must be between 4-10 years and 90-130 cm.  I guess they need the height requirement because kids don’t carry ICs.

Another reason we wanted to go to IKEA was the food.  There are days when my wife has dreams about the Swedish Meatballs and the Poached Salmon.  I asked her which she was going to choose, and she answered both, we’re sharing.  I guess I don’t need to try something new on the menu.

While we can find furniture in Penang, the comparable equivalents tended to be cheaper at IKEA, even if you figure in the price of shipping.

The final reason to enjoy a trip to IKEA Damansara is to learn Swedish.  Ok, you won’t learn how to string together a whole sentence, but I asking my kids to get something off the Expedit, or to punish them by sending them to their Gulliver.

Some Tips

Avoid the crowds

One tip, don’t go on Sunday afternoon.  It is crowded.  We were in line to check our kids into Småland, for over 30 minutes.

Shop online before you get there

The store can be quite overwhelming.  In fact, it can be quite maze-like.  I have heard anecdotes of people in IKEA stores in the states that were so lost in a store, and could not find an exit, that they ended up going out an emergency exit and got in trouble.

One thing you can do to help yourself out is to shop online and know what you want to get when you get there.  The IKEA website will not allow you to select and pay for items to be delivered to you.  What it will do is allow you to create and print a shopping list.  The shopping list will tell you whether or not a particular item is in stock (at the time you make the list) and where on the racks you can find your item.

Share Delivery

IKEA will ship up to Penang, but you have to pay for a whole lorry, whether you buy one item or fill the whole truck.  As of 2012, the price of the lorry to Penang is RM 690.  In the past there have been groups who have shared the cost of delivery.  You can comment below or check out the forum to ask if anyone else is interested in sharing a delivery.

Renewing American Passports in Kuala Lumpur

If you live overseas full time, like we do, eventually you will have a situation where you will need to renew your passports.  They only place to renew American passports in Malaysia is in Kuala Lumpur, at the American Embassy.

We had to do this a few weeks ago and it turned into quite the adventure.

First, before we left Penang, we got ourselves a Garmin GPS.  I bought this Garmin nüvi 1350 on the third floor of Gurney Plaza, one of the shops in the middle, close to Popular bookstore.  They charged me RM 499 and promised to update my software and maps every six months for free.

We got the GPS unit because, quite frankly, KL traffic scares me.  I have been in cabs in KL and I was certain I would not be able to  navigate the streets myself.  And, as it turned out, even with the GPS unit, I got lost once.  I will say that in terms of keeping my heart rate at a reasonable level and stress level reasonably low, the RM 499 paid for itself in future healthcare costs.

We checked into our guest house and prepared ourselves to go early the next morning to the Embassy.  I had called before leaving Penang, and I found out that the Consular services section does not make appointments for American Citizen Services and that I just needed to be there between 9 and 11 in the morning to process my paperwork.  We left our guesthouse in Subang Jaya at 9 and arrived at the Embassy at 10:30!  Lesson learned.

Second lesson learned was about parking at the US Embassy.  There isn’t any parking near by.  Next time we go we’ll just take a cab.  I ended up on a side road behind the Embassy in a space that was probably not a space.  As I was parking, I wondered if I might return with the car towed or clamped.

Third lesson learned was about bringing a backpack into the Embassy.  No backpacks and no electronics allowed.  We had to put our cell phones in the backpack which they let us check in at the guard station.

Then the waiting began.  We got a number from the ticket dispensing machine.  Because we were American Citizens without an appointment we pushed the C button.  Looked like there were 7 C’s before us.  Our kids couldn’t sit still very well.  We let them play in a little corner where the bathrooms were.

To prepare you for the process, be prepared to have to wait for your number three different times.  After we were called we went to the little booth to submit the paperwork.  Thankfully I had downloaded from the American embassy website, filled in the papers, and printed the paperwork in Penang before we left.  Then we wait again.  The second time we were called up to pay the fees.  Then we wait again.  Then the final time, we get the passport back with a claim receipt.

The website says that the passports are ready two weeks from when you submit the application.  When you apply, you can give them an email address to notify you when it is ready.  Ours were ready one week later.

Everyone needed to be at the Embassy to submit the application.  For the minor child, both parents need to be there.  The website also lists other documents you need for the minor.  We had to bring her Consular Report of Birth Abroad and our original Marriage License.  Bring originals because copies, even notarized copies, cause headaches.

We got the passports back with a yellow sticky note as a claim receipt.  Anyone can go with the passport and claim receipt to pick it up, so that made things easier.  I had a friend going to KL and was willing to take 2 hours out to run this errand for me.

All in all, I think the process was fine.  Wish there was some thing for the kids to do while they were there, but we seemed to be able to keep them from annoying the crowded waiting room pretty well.