Kuala Lumpur

I am going to have to separate this blog from our time here in Malaysia's capital as there is much to tell and show about the city, the hotel and the food (of course!)

Firstly we arrived here at 7am Malaysian time still feeling like it was the night before. Apart from a quick nap around lunchtime, we plowed through the day to try to avoid the jet lag. Unfortunately for Stuart this didn't work out too well as he hasn't seemed to be able to shake it!

The first day we didn't venture out of the hotel .. which really there was no need to as it I such a nice place. But, more about that later..

The next day was my 35th birthday! Stuart still feeling naff, we decided to stick nearby and went to see the famous Petronas Twin Towers. They feature on the majority of Kuala Lumpur's souvenirs and are well at home in amongst the skyscrapers dotted all around the KL skyline. A few photos taken outside, we then headed into the building which houses a 6 storey shopping mall .. needless to say I was in heaven! There is also a covered walkway - a blessing in the heat and humidity - to an Aquarium where we saw sharks, sea turtles, rays amongst other things!

The next day Stuarts jet lag continued to defeat him so I made my way into the touristy centre alone. The public transport is easy to use and cheap though everyone seems to take taxis, but I managed the 2 stops on the train just fine. I visited the central market and the Petaling Street market in Chinatown. Then onto see the Merdaka Square, where the Malaysians celebrated the end of British Colonisation on 31st August 1957 and raised the Malaysian flag in place of the Union Jack.

The next day I managed to drag Stuart out and we had a really interesting guided tour of the Masjid Jamek (Jamek Mosque). Malaysia is a predominantly muslim country and it was good for us to learn about both the mosque itself and the history of KL. More history and a glimpse of what the future holds for the city were then discovered in the City Gallery, a small exhibition with a miniature model of KL and its most important buildings.

From where I am writing this, I can see the KL Tower, another tall structure, which lights up at night. Adding to the enormous amount of pollution - light and otherwise - that gives the allusion that it never gets truly dark here.Read more