Blue waters, green jungles and a cultural rainbow

Shopping

Malaysia is a seller's market for those who buy into retail therapy.

It hosts hundreds of duty-free locations at airports and in Langkawi and Labuan islands. Tioman is duty-free and a hop across the border from Singapore.

Eight international airports offer goods and services tax refunds.

Still, the capital remains the mainstay for power purchasers looking to exercise purchasing power.

Downtown Kuala Lumpur clutches eight malls. Another 12 orbit the metropolis.

Chinatown and Little India are places for purchases as much as they are ethnic enclaves.

Pavilion KL is ostentatiousness,manifested.

The 127,1000-square-meter white-marble grounds, centered on a massive Zeus statue, serve less as a shrine to the Greek gods' king than to materialistic hedonism.

The 450 stores that emanate from Hellenism's supreme deity and crystal fountain are of the likes of Gucci, Rolex and Prada. Idols of our age－yet only some among those that make Malaysia a divine destination. Ancientapes, forests and reefs also offer spiritual sublimity.

Of a different kind. And with a lot more color.