Kuala Lumpur: Blue-sky expat haven?

You've probably seen the adverts with the woman singing, "Malaysia, Truly Asia," hummed the tune a little in your head, and thought about how long it's been since you last had a beach holiday. Fair enough. Malaysia does have more than its fair share of beautiful beaches, but it also has more than that - a stunning capital city that embodies the very spirit of this multi-cultural melting pot. But, I hear you asking, can it beat Beijing? And if not to relocate there, is it worth considering for property investment purposes.

This weekend Singapore-based real estate enterprise Orange Tee hosts a property investment opportunity (details here) at the Park Hyatt in Beijing – and this is why real estate dabblers in Beijing should take a closer look at what’s happening elsewhere in Asia.

Well, being a former resident of the Chinese capital myself, I'm probably in a better position that most to compare the merits of the two. Okay, Kuala Lumpur (universally known as KL - the Malaysians love their abbreviations) admittedly doesn't have the cache of being the administrative centre of the fastest growing economy of earth, nor can it boast of having hosted the Olympics (though, for what it's worth, it did host the XVI Commonwealth Games in 1998), but in so many other ways KL has much more to offer than Beijing.

For starters, let's look at pollution. Okay sure, when it gets bad enough in Beijing the 'weathermen' fire off their artillery guns and the rains wash away the smog, but in KL it's a blue sky day everyday. We don't even feel the need to count 'em.

Point two: people here are not only friendly, but they're also helpful. Be honest, when was the last time you asked for something in a Beijing shop only to hear 'meiyou' in response? Buying flowers for my wife the other day, the woman behind me in the queue jumped in front of me - to proffer her discount card so that I didn't have to pay full price. Another case in point: my friend recently travelled to the beach resort island of Pangkor (three hours drive from KL), had a splendid time, caught a taxi back, and promptly left his RMB3,000 camera in the car. Upon discovering it was missing, he called up the taxi service. Even though by this point the taxi was already back in Pangkor, the man on the phone said they would dispatch someone to bring it to my friend the next day. And they did. Hands up if you've ever left anything in a Beijing cab, called up to see if it's been found, and been told that the cabbie looked but found nothing on his backseat. 'Meiyou'.

A third difference. It might shock you to learn that KL is a cheaper place to live than Beijing – while nevertheless having a higher quality housing stock. Apartment complexes here come with all the amenities.

For the same price as we were paying in Beijing, my wife and I have a larger apartment, plus pool, tennis court, gym, two parking spaces, decent management and excellent security (no young kids with wispy moustaches masquerading as guards here, no sirree).

Oh, and did I mention the weather? It's a balmy 30 degrees Celsius all year round. We don't need heating, but neither do we need air conditioning (though we do have it); we just open the patio doors, turn on the fan, and let the gentle breeze do its thing.

With asking prices for property in the city centre ranging from around RMB14,000 per sqm to RMB33,000 per sqm, there are still bargains to be found, but prices are rising fast as people worldwide are attracted by the Malaysian lifestyle. If you needed anymore convincining it's the perfect time to invest in this emerging nation, Kuala Lumpur came in 70th in the 2009 UBS list of the world's most expensive cities to live in - Beijing was ranked 18 places higher at 52.

Then there's the food. Oh, the food. As you'd expect with a country as ethnically mixed as Malaysia (including 54 per cent Malay, 25 per cent Chinese, and 7.5 per cent Indian populations), the cuisine is fantastically varied. From the national dish of Nasi Lemak (a platter of food wrapped in banana leaf, with cucumber slices, small dried anchovies, roasted peanuts, hard boiled egg, and hot spicy sauce) to the ubiquitous Mee Goreng (Chinese fried noodles), and the Indian-influenced Banana Leaf (white rice served on banana leaf with an assortment of vegetables, curry meat or fish and papadum), KL dining covers all three major food groups, while still serving up a host of Western and other choices. Similarly, there is a thriving bar scene. Okay, admittedly Malaysia isn't perfect, but when we compare our lives in Beijing with what we have - and can afford - here, it sometimes runs damn close.

Orange Tee's investment fair takes place this Saturday and Sunday at the Park Hyatt in Beijing -- see here for more details.