Blogs from Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia, Asia

This morning we went to breakfast with the owners of the BnB we're staying at since our stay includes breakfast. They took us to a Chinese wet market along with another traveler who is staying at another one of their properties. We all shared a few dishes that are standards for breakfast, and it was so good! Really a place where locals go. Both Michael and Christina were so passionate about KL, food (my kinda people!) and just an interest in their guests and where they're from. There are so many beautiful buildings here! You have elaborate mosques, temples, old colonial buildings and structures. After breakfast we went back to the room to catch up on picture offloading from the camera, sorting our laundry to get it washed then headed out to Chinatown. In KL central, ... read more

After cruising the South China Sea for a day and enjoying the on board activities and culinary pleasures, we arrive at Singapore, an island nation emerging from the British Empire as a former member of the Malaysian federation. It has become an economic powerhouse while still maintaining an English interest in civility, law abiding citizens and cleanliness. In the morning, after arrival, I venture out to ride the overhead cable car to visit a variety of sights, including Singapore’s Universal Studios theme park. Not needing to see a step child of Orlando’s original, I enjoy alternative sightseeing until our afternoon excursion bus tour of Singapore’s iconic sights. Stopping at Thian Hock Keng Temple for photos we continue on to Clarke Quay for a riverboat ride in the middle of the city. Our guide points out the ... read more

On the 3rd, Soph and I moved to the Federal Hotel for a little luxury (Sophie's birthday gift to me). It was a nice hotel, but very dated, and they only allowed free wifi for one device per room; a second was charged at 25RM. I'm glad we didn't pay cos the connection was awful. We constantly lost reception, and every time we went online, we had to go through the log-in rigmarole. Our password also had to be changed three times. Ridiculous. As became a daily pattern over the next few days, we just relaxed by the pool, shopped and ate. Tony and John joined us when they surfaced in the afternoon, and we sat laughing at their water-based stunts. One afternoon, we even had afternoon tea by the pool, too. Very British. Anyway, in ... read more

We woke up bright and early, and caught the 8am coach to Kuala Lumpur. We had large, comfortable seats, and I slept for most of the journey, thus missing out on the scenery. We arrived in KL around midday, and walked to Reggae Mansion hostel. It's definitely one of the best hostels I've stayed in to date, with large capsule-style beds. We rested for a while, before heading out for Nandos and to do some shopping. When we got back, we chilled again, and had a thoroughly good laugh while Sophie cut John's hair. In the evening, after Tony and John demolished a bottle of brandy and best part of a bottle of vodka, we walked to Reggae Club. I say 'walked', but Tony and John play-fought most of the way, greeting and high-fiving strangers in ... read more

It had been 6 weeks since Sam surprised me with the prospect of coming out to Kuala Lumpur for a few days and with the thought also of staying in a lovely hotel and the arrival of packages from home, we all had our own reasons for being massively excited about his coming visit. Our plane from Siem Reap touched down at Kuala Lumpur airport in the late morning of Sunday February 10th and I'm afraid to say that we didn't set off the proceedings particularly well. Maybe our excitement had clouded us with stupidity or perhaps the one hour time difference had set our minds to malfunction but we arrived with not even a remote inkling of where we were going or which currency we would use to get there. I have blamed it once ... read more

We docked at Port Klang which is located about 45 km west of Kuala Lumpur After breakfast we went on tour - 'Kuala Lumpur of your own' where we were driven by bus to Bukit Bintang in the center of Kuala Lumpur. It is difficult and hot to walk on foot in the city. So we took the monorail and metro from Bukit Bintang to China town, where we walked through the market streets around Jalan Pataling and visited a temple the markets. From China town we walked to the Central Market and then on to Merdeka Square and the Royal Selangor Club. We passed the Sultan Abdul Samad Building and Masjid Jamek on our further way to Little India - a very colorful area. Here we walked through the shopping street Lebuh Ampang, and then ... read more

Ok so for those of you who haven't seen Entrapment (incl. James) the Petronas Towers are the world's largest twin structure - an ajoining bridge allows you to see the KL skyline. We'd heard you had to get there early to get a ticket so we made our way across for 9am. Unfortunately they had already sold out of tickets but we remembered that a friend had said you could get a great view of the towers themselves from the Traders Hotel sky bar. Plan B = return to bar in the evening for a night-view of the towers. We decided to have a wander through 'Little India' to see the silk and sari shops and also grabbed a curry and lentil daahl lunch here too. We spent the afternoon ... read more