7

I'm planning to hitchhike Singapore or Kuala Lumpur to Taiwan in a couple of weeks and I expect to sleep outside sometimes.

I've never been to this part of the world before but I've noticed that in some countries finding camping gear is as easy as finding a large shopping mall or supermarket, but in other countries it's close to impossible. Especially if you want cheap stuff you can leave behind after a few months rather than expensive gear such as North Face, Kathmandu, Mountain Designs, Paddy Pallin, etc.

For buying a cheap tent and sleeping bag, is Singapore or KL better? Is there a certain mall or shop or chain I should look for?

I've since heard that Kuala Lumpur has some of the same megastores I know from Eastern Europe such as Carrefour and Giant. Such stores carry exactly the kind of camping gear I need in Europe but I haven't been able to find out if they carry it in Malaysia too.

I visited a Giant store in KL today and at least that one was not a megastore / hypermart and had nothing like what I was looking for. But maybe there are larger ones further out ...

Improve this question

4 Answers 4

Reset to default
5

In Singapore, I'd head to the army surplus shops at Golden Mile Complex in Beach Road (nearest MRT CC5 Nicoll Highway, also walkable from Bugis). They sell cheap army gear, including everything you could possibly need for camping, and it's all intended for tropical use.

Another more central (and thus probably mildly more expensive?) option is A-Team in Peninsula Shopping Centre, smack dab in the CBD near Town Hall MRT.

Improve this answer
1
4

Cheap stuff and Singapore is a contradiction. Nothing other than food is cheap in Singapore. You'll pay several times what you would pay in KL.

The shopping in KL isn't great. It isn't awful either but you're much better off in my opinion going to Bangkok or HMC if you want to shop or get cheap camping gear. You'll get a better selection and better prices.

In terms of a place, I don't know KL well enough to choose a specific place. In Singapore there are dozens of malls but they're all expensive. If you want to go to Bangkok, I'd go to either the weekend market or MBK.

Improve this answer
1
  • Sorry, this is not a useful answer -- you provide no information about where to buy anything, and no actual prices either.
    – lambshaanxy
    Aug 14, 2013 at 3:05
4

Today I bought one of the cheapest 2-man tents and cheapest sleeping bags in a "Giant" hypermarket out in the suburbs of Kuala Lumpur.

Most if not all of the megamalls and hypermarkets are very difficult to get to by public transport but luckily I had a local friend with a car.

My cheap gear cost only 100 ringgit (MYR). That's about 23 Euro or $30.70 US Dollars. This was quite a bit cheaper than similar generic gear I found in a competing hypermarket a few days ago, "Aeon Big". The one hypermarket I did not try was Tesco, so they may have similar or better prices, and similar or better range.

I've also now checked the famous Mustafa Centre in Singapore and they had a very limited range of generic tents and sleeping bags. More limited and more expensive than I found in KL.

Improve this answer
0
3

From my experience, Giant Store at Harbourfront ( Vivo City ) Singapore sell tents.

However most camping stores are located around Bras Basah - City Hall Area. Most of them are not located in mall.

Some of them are :

  1. camperscorner.com.sg
  2. adventure21.com.sg
  3. bodypac.com

However I'm not able to confirm the price.

Update : I went Vivo City last week and the cheapest price for tent was 34 Singapore dollars.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .