But, he said, on his final night in the city, once they were all back in his hotel room, the taxi driver pulled out a knife and held it to his throat.
"There was a 15-minute struggle. I started by snapping the guy's knife - if I didn't snap that guy's knife, I'd probably be dead because the first thing that happened was he slit my throat.
"I lost a hell of a lot of blood. In the end I lost all my strength, and I was about ready to give up.
"They had some shirt or some towel around my throat and were strangling me," he said.
He said the material made it difficult for him to breath, but that he managed to wrangle his way free after the man put his hand close to his face.
"I bit his finger so hard, I felt the end joint of his finger break off."
Mr Stanley said he broke free, made it to the elevator which he took to the reception level where an English man came to his rescue.
"I was at a point where I couldn't even hold my head up," he said. "This English guy held a towel to my throat to stem the bleeding.
"The reception phoned the ambulance and police. I lost ... consciousness at some point. I remember being in the ambulance but I don't remember much after that until I woke up the next morning."
Mr Stanley stayed three nights in hospital and has knife wounds to his back, neck and face.
He is planning to fly to Bali today, and spend a few weeks recuperating before returning to New Zealand.
Before Malaysia he had visited Cuba and Bangkok as part of his vacation.
While he did not wish to return to Kuala Lumpur again, a local police officer had told him he would have to return for the first day of a court trial over the attack, Mr Stanley said.
He said he wasn't sure if he would be able to.
Next trending article: Renewal of gang ties may make retaliation for killing more likely
