Kuala Lumpur

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Our journey from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur took a little under seven hours by train; a choice governed more by the fact that we were fed up with flying than perhaps practicality. Maybe alarm bells should have started ringing when we realised that all four tickets for the whole journey came to a grand total of £12. The carriage was ok if you kept your head down and ignored your surroundings. A highlight of the journey was a lovely musical interlude provided by an elderly Malaysian lady singing rather tunelessly to Abby and Freya for over an hour. Stuart then decided to join in Spike Milligan style, while I quietly died of embarrassment in the corner. We soon stopped drinking our bottles of water despite the heat to avoid having to use the toilets, however poor Abby and Freya were forced to succombe . Yet another experience to add to the list!

After a crazy taxi ride from the station we were relieved to find our hotel was as clean and comfortable as described. So comfortable in fact that we spent the whole of the next morning relaxing around the pool and acclimatising. The location of our hotel right in the centre of KL allowed us an easy walk to the Pavilion Mall, full of shops, bars and restaurants. We even found a supermarket stocked with an array of 'Simply Waitrose' products so it was with great excitement that we had baked beans on toast with grated Cathedral City cheddar cheese on top for supper- absolutely delicious!

The main attraction in KL is the Petronas Towers, only completed in 1996, over 450m high. So after buying our tickets we arrived at the base at our allocated time slot ready to ascend the first lift to the 42nd floor. This gave us access to the viewing bridge which links the two towers, incredible to think that this structure weighing over 700 tonnes was craned up from the ground as a single piece. From here the next lift took us on up to the 86th floor. The view from the top was staggering and actually quite unreal.

So Kuala Lumpur- a busy city with a huge amount of building work going on. Amazing shopping, including Marks and Spencer's, but not quite sure where the soul of this place is. Ready to move on after two days.

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Photos

kuala Lumpur
Incredibly hot, but we're getting used to it now.

The Petronas Towers
Unexpectedly appealing

The view from the top
86 floors up