Safety Tips in Kuala Lumpur

Crime rate is down but snatch thefts still happen.. Beware of motorcyclists with pillion riders who have been known to grab ladies handbags, sometimes dragging them fatally. So, always carry your valuables on your shoulder facing the inner side of a side walk, never on your shoulder on the roadside, which gives easy access to snatch thieves to grab. Even a backpack can be grabbed from the side/back imho!
In all likelihoods, snatch thieves will be local drug addicts, looking for money to buy a fix, not foreigners! But there are unlikely to strike anywhere other than the roadside in some neighbourhoods, esp in alley ways. So stick to the main streets, ya? So, just practise common sense and enjoy photographing KL's picturesque buildings/scenes! :)

When visiting the Suria KLCC shopping center you should be aware that there are certain restrictions regarding photographing because of security reasons because it´s located in one of the worlds highest buildings and is a potential terrorist target.
These rules are quite visibly posted so you should be able to find a board that mentions them.
I saw several people breaking these rules, so i don´t think they are that strict, but i would still recommend that you follow them as it would be a real bummer getting arrested, fined or having your camera equipment confiscated.

If you go up the stairs, you can meet a lot of long tailed-macaque monkeys and if you have peanuts with you, they'll climb to you as I won't consider recommending. You might fall though.
You can take photo's of them, carrying their babies for the peanuts. There are locals in the entrance, who will approach you to buy peanuts! These monkeys are quite aggressive if they saw food articles in your hands

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Word of warning: If you're easily offended then you shouldn't visit the National Mosque as when I visited (in Feb 2009) there were large banners draped off the outside of the mosque that seemed to denounce American products such as Starbucks, Coco-Cola and Colgate toothpaste (for some reason) and a dead child's head resting on top of rubble with slogan's about Palestine and Israel. Now there's a place for everything but surely this isn't it when foreign visitors come here to visit. Can you imagine this kind of thing being plastered along Westminster Abbey or St Paul's Cathedral?

The tickets are free, but handed out from 0830 in the morning. There would be queues gathering from 0730! By 0830 there would be on average 100-150 people waiting. There are fixed number of viewings per day, so by around 1130 all tickets would have been given out.

It's first come first served basis, and you can request tickets for more people (even if it's only you in the queue), but you have to specify the time you want to come back, it has to be on the same day.

Viewings are not allowed on Mondays.

You only get a limited field of view, cannot even see KL Towers from the skydeck, so for all round city views go to KL (Menara) Tower at Jalan Ramlee, not far from Petronas.

Monkey's, we had seen them in the wild before, and its always a pleasure to see the cute ones again.
Well, not all Monkeys are nice and cute. Here, at Batu Caves, where sometimes tourist's feed them, they can become aggressive, and if you have seen their teeth, you wouldn't want that to happen!
Keep an eye on your children, as well as anything loose you have on you, .....sunglasses, camera, food in your hand etc.
There are plenty of the Macques here, outside and inside the cave, nice to look at, but don't get too close!!

The problem of snatch thieves is still prevalent despite actions by the Police to curb it... Snatch thieves are opportunists who take advantage of carelessness of the public... They usually prey on ladies as they snatch their handbags... In the city, they usually ride by on motor cycles with pillion passengers who will snatch the handbag and make their escape... There are many cases where the victim is injured (some seriously with head injuries) when they fall while hanging on to their handbags... Some of the victims may end up in a coma or even death...

Ladies should be aware of her surroundings at all times... They should have their handbags close to their bodies when they walk along the pavements...

While we were in K.L. we were a witness to a chain snatching incident in a bylane of a busy area.It happened in broad daylight and so we became more cautious about going into not so crowded lanes.
One of the taxis we took from Raja chola station to midvalley mall,charged us double the fare and since it was our first taxi ride we did not know what to expect.But on our return,we were charged half of what we first paid!!Better to check the approximate rate,from the hotel you stay at or someone you know.
Since we came to K.L. after a trip from Singapore(where laws are very stringent)initially we took safety for granted)While in Singapore,is almost totally safe,it is not so in K.L..This tip is especially for those coming to K.L. after a trip to Singapore