We got the biggest comfiest bus ever to Kuala Lumpur. It was definitely the nicest journey yet anyway. Sadly when we arrived in KL finding our hostel was not easy - we seemed to get stuck on one road going round in circles, and when we finally got there it seemed to be shut, until we realized it was up a flight of stairs, phew. We were staying near Petaling street, which is basically Chinatown, which sounds lovely but in reality is a big street with chinese lanterns and Malaysian men shouting at you to buy t shirts, handbags, sunglasses etc. All a bit manic and not my kind of place. We had some nice food at a streetside café but were annoyed they added a sneaky service charge - yes we're back in the land of added extras on your food bill. Oh dear.

The next day we had some stuff to post so got totally lost trying to find the post office with the world's most confusing streetmap, when we finally got there it was a lot closer to our hostel than we realized and should not have taken so long to get to! I did not have a good relationship with the streets of KL let me tell you 555. After finally posting off some stuff we went to the shopping centre where they had these buddy bears which are meant to encourage international peace and cooperation. There were some brilliantly decorated ones. In the evening Nina went to see her friend Guillame and I went to Central Market which has a lot of stalls selling local Malaysian trinkets and other stuff, it was a lovely market and I picked up a few cute little things.

I had the next day to myself so was up and out by 7am to go to the Petronas Towers, which only have a limited number of tickets released every day. It was strange walking through KL in the dawn light, at the metro there were people selling food by candle light and lots of business workers rushing around. Had to queue for a while to pick my ticket up but finally got up the towers, first stop, the skybridge, which is the bridge suspended between the two towers. Apparently you can feel it swaying when you stand in the middle sometimes, but I couldn't feel anything. The bridge isn't actually attached at the ends so it allows for movement in case of earthquakes, proof of which happening lies in the big gouge out of the floor from when the bridge moved 6 inches during the earthquake on Boxing Day 2008 which caused the tsunami. After going on the skybridge we were sent up to level 86, the viewing platform, in the lift which made my ears pop, where you get some pretty spectacular views. The weather was cloudy when I went up so there were little cotton wool clouds between the distant mountains, and it was a bit hazy further out but the views were still pretty special.

After finishing at the towers I wandered around the mall for a while, mainly browsing a bookstore for about an hour, if only I had spare cash! Then I went to Petrosains, the science museum which is linked to the towers so you get half price entry. It was good, a bit like a cross between eureka and the film museum in Bradders as it was really interactive - the only downside was the excessive aircon which turned my toes blue!!

The evening was pretty relaxed as our bus to Singapore was early the next day, we went to Nandos, where I managed to get my favourite bean salad as a side! Tourist central I know haha. There was a torrential downpour around 9pm and the roads flooded in literally 10 minutes. The shower was only short though, and the roads were clear about another ten minutes after it finished. Crazy weather.

The storm pretty much signaled the end of our trip to Malaysia, a flying visit if ever there was one but I enjoyed it immensely and would visit again without hesitation - perhaps because it is quite Westernised but still has its own cultures and identities.

Becca x