The nice people at the organisation have been kind enough to introduce me to the nightlife in KL ever since my first evening. Which has been actually really nice and helpful from them. The city is really non-walker friendly - meaning that there are few street crossings, super tiny pavements next to huge streets where cars and motors (jeeez, the motors!!) are driving about like mad.
So it was quite refreshing to go out with people who know the place, and take you to cool places, where actually locals hang out.
In my first evening we went to Changkat - the place where apparently everyone goes out in the weekends. It's basically a few streets filled with tiny food places with plastic tables and chairs (that serve delicious food by the way), alcohol shops, fast food places (that obviously serve their fast food, not ours:)), bars and pubs, clubs and whatever else you might envisage that could qualify as a "hang out place". That also includes the 7 Eleven...I could not believe it but yes, here you go to "hang out" at the 7Eleven! They have chairs and everything!
As you might expect, alcohol is a big thing here! As in, a lot of people don't drink it or are not supposed to drink it. As a consequences it is quite expensive (as in, Scandinavian prices most of the time...). Obviously, people find ways to go about that problem :)
So the second night we went out, we started with a good-old-fashioned-high-school-style-beers-bought-in-the-supermarket-and-drunk-in-the-park kind of thing! Which proved very satisfying because of the good conversations and the fact that it was the first time in the day when the air was actually breathable :)
And after that...la piece de resistance came! We went to a place called Merdekarya. Which was obviously situated in the back yard of I don't know what weird restaurant, going up some stairs and then uncovering a curtain. And there it was! The place where all the rebels gather!! Merdekarya literally translates as "freedom art". And it is a place dedicated to freedom in all its aspects and to Malaysian identity (or to the finding of the Malaysian identity). There was a very good concert happening when we went - a really cool band that even went into songs such as "My God is better than your God". Now, I don't know if you got it by now, but Malaysia is quite a conservative place, so such music and atmosphere was refreshing! Obviously, it is not an isolated case. Apparently there's more such examples. But to me, it was awesome! Also because it felt very much like a place at home! :)
So it is a definite MUST when in KL: http://www.merdekarya.com/