KL

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Really enjoyed our last few days here. KL is a great city and has been made even more enjoyable by staying in the fantastic hotel. Done most of the tourist things, went up the twin towers this morning which was good. The architecture here is fantastic and it feels like such a modern city, a lot of highrise blocks (not many ugly ones) and with the skyrail and monorail looks like the stereotypical Asian city that you see in the movies, as I expected Singapore to be, but it wasn't so much. I love also the Islamic influence here, some of the highrises have Islamic patterns down them and the combination of the modern skyline with Islamic influence is interesting and unlike any other city I've been to.

Still can't get over how multicultural it is here, went for dinner at an Egyptian street bar the other night, before heading to a Turkish bar and the night before that went for food at a Jamaican bar. Last night went to an Irish pub, and tonight had dinner at a local Penang restaurant and then went for drinks at a Tapas bar!

We were walking back one evening from having a few drinks out (at the Turkish bar!) and they were filming a movie right near our hotel. There's a big cross roads near us surrounded by big flashing billboards and has the skyrail running over it - so feels very modern Asia, either way they were filming a car chase, 3 pimped up sports cars raced round the corner about 5 times. Was fantastic and like nothing I've ever seen before.

Had a lovely dinner out tonight, the same person who set us up in this hotel has a sister who lives in KL and she took us out to dinner. It was really interesting being able to talk to someone who lives in the city, I've realised since I've been here that I miss interacting with the locals so much as you can't ask the stupid questions about things you see. Since I've been here I've been bugged by the fact that people riding motorbikes/mopeds wear their jackets backwards, (it's so they don't flap around in the wind, duh) it was great being able to ask all those stupid questions and really get a feel for the city from someone who lives here. Also it's been great to have dinner with someone who can explain the menu, and she's introduced us to some great dishes out here and now finally we feel like we know what we're ordering.

Found the Malaysian people to be so friendly, and enjoying being 'invisible'. In Africa it became so tiring constantly being noticed, talked about, and hassled, here it's a blessing to be able to walk into a local bar or shop and be treated like every other person there. Also enjoyed being able to talk to the locals without feeling like they want either money or sex from you - I'm not saying that every person in Africa was like that, but it was a much bigger problem to girls out there than here.

Got an early start tomorrow, picking up our visas for Vietnam first thing (assuming they've granted them, if they haven't I might sit outside the embassy sobbing for a few hours). Then checking out of our lovely hotel (which will really make me sob) and going to the Cameron highlands. Expecting it to be a bit cooler there, but plan to do a few treks (well Katie and Helen type treks, maybe we should call them nice gentle walks) and see the countryside and tea plantations.

Been experiencing some extreme Asian rain whilst we've been here, the type that lasts all afternoon and soaks you through to your pants in about 30 seconds. It's horrible getting soaked through then walking into an air-conditioned shop/bar/hotel and freezing and it's not as warm here as in Uganda so missing the heat a bit. But after the highlands we'll spend most of the time on the coast diving and chilling on the beaches and generally being out of the main cities - bliss!!

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