As we emerged from the aeroplane to the sight of Kuala Lumpur airport David announced "I could be in Manchester" - it was a fair comment, the weather was grey (at this point I'd like to point out that we were in an air conditioned building so had no idea how hot it actually was out there!) the airport was big, modern and surrounded by trees. It just had an air of familiarity!

After so many months travelling in such different cultures arriving in Kuala Lumpur was, as David so succinctly put it, like coming back to the future. We had been told by a number of people that they did not like Malaysia and that they couldn't wait to get out of KL. It just shows that you really need to visit a place and make your own opinion rather than basing decisions on other peoples perspectives. It is a modern, vibrant city with a whole mix of races and religions.

We have always kept our eyes on the purse strings but on arrival in Malaysia we have implemented a daily budget of 20.00 pounds each (including accommodation and travel). We were therefore delighted to find that the Petronas Towers one of the big tourist attractions in KL is free. We decided to walk to the towers rather than take the monorail but the atmosphere here is so hot and humid we were both drenched in persperation when we arrived - our clothes and hair were just sticking to us!!! I can't describe the absolute pleasure you experience the minute you walk into an air conditioned building - it is heaven. When you arrive at the Petronas Towers you are provided with a pair of rather worn 3D spectacles as you have to watch a promotional film before you can go any further. It is a bit cheesey and you feel like you're going to be tested on it or marched off for a job interview when it has finished. Obviously that didn't happen and instead we were led to the lift and taken to the viewing bridge on the 41st floor where we had 10 mins to take photos. Fortunately for us we had arrived early enough to get some good views i.e before the rain came!. To exit you walk through a room with some learning tools which were quite good fun, D designed his own building, we both found out how many times our height the Empire State Building is and also saw what happens when lightening strikes the Petronas Towers with a live display.

Later we went over to the KL Sentral railway station to book our overnight train ticket to Butterworth. As we were walking through the station a couple came running up to us thrusting some tickets in our hands and saying they were valid until 10am tomorrow if we were interested and then ran off again. It turns out that they had given us tickets for the 'hop on/hop off tourist bus' - fantastic a free journey back home!!! We stood waiting for the bus to arrive when suddenly the sky went grey and the heavens opened - it was as quick as that. So the first part of our bus journey around KL was in torrential rain with the occasional clap of thunder thrown in for good measure! Fortunately within about 30 minutes it was all over. So that was our first, soon to be many, exposures to Malaysian rain storms!

The most amazing thing in KL is the shops, of which it has many, all based in what they refer to as shopping plazas. I think the KL's must be a wealthy bunch as these plazas have shops such as Gucci, Prada and Chanel as well as Zara, D Perkins, Gap, Mango etc. We have just spent 3 days shopping intermittently and having a real western fix after so much sightseeing. David managed to replace a number of items in Top Man and I've purchased a couple of new dresses from Zara and some underwear from good old Marks & Spencer.

Another treat for me in KL has been going to have my hair cut. I was a bit naughty and went to Toni and Guy's (probably not officially within the budget) but it's really difficult when you're in a strange place to know who to go to and I guessed that they would have to have been trained in the Toni and Guy way - anyway have to say 'Zoo' (yes that was his name!) has done a really good job!

KL is really quite cosmopolitan (or at least it is in the areas that we've visited) and David has been particularly taken with it. There are lots of ex pats floating around and I get the feeling David could quite see himself here!