The TRX Exchange & Park

MALAYSIAEARLY RETIREMENTSLOW TRAVEL

Liz

1/31/20264 min read

R has come up with a suggestion to visit the TRX mall for today’s outing. I’ve no idea where this is and have not heard of it, but I’m more than happy to give it a try. So, after breakfast, off we go.

It’s about a 30-minute walk from the apartment to the Mall, and we pass the Berjaya Mall on our way there. It was fairly easy to find, even though we kept thinking that we might be going the wrong way! However, we pretty much turned a corner, and it was straight ahead of us. Our initial thoughts were that it looked like a very impressive building.

I also absolutely loved the fact that the massive old raintree, known as the "Merdeka Tree", has pride of place outside this mall. The tree is old and very beautiful. It is from before Malaysia's independence in 1957, and it was carefully relocated to this location.

The TRX Mall & City Park

The Tun Razak Exchange, otherwise known as TRX or The Exchange, is a large development by the Ministry of Finance Malaysia in the heart of Kuala Lumpur for international finance and business. The development was named after the second Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, due to its location along Jalan Tun Razak.

The Exchange is deemed the major retail and lifestyle hub in Kuala Lumpur's financial district, and it was officially opened in late 2023. The 17-acre development features over 400 stores, a 10-acre public rooftop park, and various brands like Gentle Monster, Alo Yoga, as well as the first Seibu (Japanese luxury) department store in Malaysia. As one would probably expect, based on its location in the Financial District, it is a very high-end mall and caters not only to the public and tourists, but also to the workforce that works in and around the area. The ground floor has all the luxury brands and even luxury toilet facilities that you pay to access. I’m not sure how much they cost, but part of me just wanted to try them to see what was so ‘luxury’ about them, but the sensible, frugal part of me was like ‘hell, no – I’m just going to use the free ones’, which I knew (and they were) very nice. Though I couldn’t help but think that if I were buying goods from the expensive stores on the ground floor, then I would be very annoyed at being expected to pay to use these facilities – perhaps you get a special card or something to allow you to use them for free in those cases?

It was interesting to see that the building appears to have been built and is perhaps now owned/managed by the Australian company, Lendlease. The reason I found that strange was that this was the same company that built my previous work location (an expensive flagship building at the time), and still an impressive-looking building to this date, but then I am also aware of some of the not-so-good issues that were related to that building, too! However, I am guessing that office and retail space is less problematic to build and operate in comparison to some of the requirements for my old building, but it was an interesting coincidence.

It was another busy day of walking as we walked all the levels of this building. The upper and lower ground levels were, without a doubt, the busiest parts of the building. This was mainly due to the food and dining options, as well as where the more affordable shops were located.

We also really enjoyed walking around the rooftop area, which we thought was fabulous, despite the heat. There were little areas where people could rest and relax, and it just felt like having a little private oasis of calm in the middle of a busy and hectic city. We thought it was interesting to see the plaque that recognised The Exchange 106 building as the 14th-tallest building in Malaysia in 2019. I can only imagine the owners being a bit miffed when the Merdeka 118 building opened five years later and bumped this record place (though I do think the Merdeka cheated a little by adding the pointy bit on top of the building #justsayin!).

R also spotted a Shake Shack restaurant (they sell burgers!) here that he quite fancies trying out, as they will be cheaper here than back at home.

As expected, the areas were very busy around lunchtime, so we waited for a bit and went for our lunch after the rush to the food court area on the lower ground. I got a very nice chicken noodle dish, and R got a chicken and rice claypot dish, which he’d been wanting to try.

After lunch, we did some more walking around, before we went to the grocery and bakery to pick up some items for the evening’s dinner.

Overall, we really enjoyed this mall and will very likely pay it a return visit.