Shah Alam

Shah Alam is a city 25km (15 miles) west of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is to Kuala Lumpur what Naperville is to Chicago, with 3x the area and population. Not unlike Naperville, Shah Alam is a quieter suburb with local arts, shopping and industry. Manufacturing, education and automotive industry play central role in economy of Shah Alam. It is home to working middle class to upper middle class professionals.

Shah Alam is most famous for its mosque, the Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Mosque. It is also known as the Blue Mosque and has been claimed to be the largest mosque in Malaysia, and one of the largest in Southeast Asia. The mosque has the capacity to accommodate 24,000 worshippers at one time. Its distinguishing feature is its large blue and silver dome, which measures 51.2 m (167 ft) in diameter and reaches 106.7 m (350 ft) above ground level. The mosque has four minarets erected at the corners, each minaret is 142.3 m (460 ft) tall. The mosque was commissioned by the late Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz when he declared Shah Alam as the new capital of Selangor on 14 February 1974. Construction of the mosque was completed on 11 March 1988. Shah Alam replaced Kuala Lumpur as the capital city of Selangor when Kuala Lumpur was incorporated as Federal Territory.

While not the most conservative state in Malaysia, the city of Shah Alam is known to be more conservative than Kuala Lumpur and surrounding cities. There are no bars or nightlife, entertainment is pretty limited. See KL for nightlife.

Entertainment/recreation revolves around shopping, sports, and outdoors. While there are no bars or nightlife, people still go out at night to "mamak stalls" which are 24 hour, diner-like joints, with open air patios, huge TV screens showing soccer games, serving all day/night breakfast and anything in between (see Food section).

Transportation: Public transportation is not reliable or efficient. Download "Grabcar" app - ridesharing is cheap and reliable. Uber no longer operates in Malaysia.