My return to Kuala Lumpur was made far more fun by the companionship of Christian, who after the nightmare speed boat journey kindly lent me some money when we discovered we were both getting the same bus back to KL and my card wouldn't let me withdraw any money. This journey to KL was somewhat smoother than the first one from Thailand; though the driver wouldn't win any awards, it beat a thirty hour journey any day. A note on the previous journey - the boat from Koh Tao was the most bizarre form of overnight transport I'd encountered so far without a doubt. It was basically just made up of a super sized mattress (aka thin, slightly padded cushion) running the length of the boat with a walkway down the middle, numbers stamped on the wall above a small pillow (if you were lucky) that created 'beds' that were barely big enough to lie any way other than sideways. You basically ended up spooning strangers the whole night. Weirdly, two guys I'd met on my second night of my travels in Bangkok were next to me on the boat. Vaguely recalling this was the third time I'd seen them, they said we'd seen each other in Vang Vieng, which explains the haziness. Small world. Oh and there were literally about seven life jackets in the vicinity of about thirty 'beds', which was comforting, though I can't speak for the facilities at the middle and other end of the boat.

I hadn't liked Kuala Lumpur the first time I'd been there, though when you experience a bad case of homesickness and don't meet many people you tend to associate the bad mood with the location, which isn't really fair. My previous visit had consisted of a lot of humidity and rain, an expensive night of wine whilst watching (and judging) the Royal Wedding with some random expat woman who to be honest was a bit strange but kind enough to invite to sit with her and join her friends after the nuptials; a tearful phone call home to everyone celebrating with a traditional English street party with copious amounts of Pimms and champagne and a visit to Zara and Topshop that almost caused a major breakdown. I still hadn't seen the Petronus towers which was something I definitely wanted to do, so after a early morning McDonald's breakfast once off of the overnight bus, Christian I made plans to meet later that day, whilst I vowed to kurb the newfound McDonald's habit there and then - no more Maccy D's on this trip.

Setting out into the city, it struck me again how rude people could be in KL. I think in Britain we're on the whole brought up well mannered in quite an extreme way, what with our queues, please and thankyous. In Malaysia my experience has been that nobody waits for anyone to get off of the train or monorail before trying to cram on themselves, something that as a London commuter is a huge pet peeve of mine. And forget about chivalry, it's dead here. Another thing that really screwed with my London orientated mind is that they stand on the opposite side of the escalators than they do at home. It's so weird how much it's engrained in my mind and body to automatically stand on the right, walk on the left.

My last day in Malaysia was spent eating Baskin and Robbins, salivating over the bags in Chanel, musing over how much I'd missed grass when we stumbled upon a park and then getting bitten by massive ants as I revelled in the romance of walking barefoot on grass for the first time in months, darting around Little India eating curry, then dashing back over to the Petronus towers to see them all lit up. They are absolutely stunning, a real achitectural achievement.

I've met people who absolutely love Kuala Lumpur, and although it's not really for me, it is a pretty fascinating city in ways. Every 100m or so is completely different, with Chinatown, Little India, the business district and the shopping centres being all fused together in a small area. Though I wouldn't rush back, the Petronus towers are fantastic and I'm really glad to have seen them. The transport is also brilliant, some of the best I've used. And on that note I'm going to hop on the monorail and the bus to get to the airport for my next destination - Indonesia.