The Red Palm is our home for the next few nights basically it is a budget guest house with very strict rules but a very friendly atmosphere. Everyone must remove their shoes at the door and there is no alcohol allowed in the house although you can drink in the garden if you want. We were struck by how respectfull everyone is to each other here. It's very quiet at night despite the fact that people are coming and going all the time. (Although the noise from outside forms a constant hum) There is a little communal kitchen which you can use whenever you want to make coffee and there is everything you could want for breakfast (except bacon as this is a pork free household!) All in all a fantastic little home from home in the pulsing heart of the city, and when I say pulsing I mean possitively palpitating! We are in an area called Bukit Bintang and it is full of Halal restaurants, Indian restaurants and Chinese restaurants, clubs and nightspots of all kinds and they seem to keep going until just before dawn at about 6:00. We are not used to sleeping in a noisy city but non the less we did manage to sleep quite well and when I woke I realised that I had subliminally absorbed the amazing fact that Liverpool beat Arsenal (something to do with the cheers from the bar next door where it was playing live untill about 3;00a.m.) We didnt actually wake till about 10:00 a.m. and felt really guilty! then we set off to explore KL. After a light breakfast Mandy and I caught the Hop On Hop Of city-tour bus as we have found these really good when you get to a new city as they help you get your bearings and see all the places you want to go back to and all the places you would rather not go back to! In the case of KL there were many more of the former and the problem is we have only today, tomorrow and a day and a half when we get back around the 24th April. We got off the bus at the obligatory Petronis Twin Towers which is an amazing landmark and a mega shopping complex all in one. There was no way I could get Mandy up th the Sky Bridge which joins the two towers and apparantly provides fantastic views of the city, so we did the only remaining thing and went for a beer! Or to be more precise Mandy had a beer and I had what everyone else was having Iced peach tea. Very refreshing! Then the four o'clock rain storm which Martyn warned us about started except it was 2 o'clock! (You never were much good with times were you Martyn!) We got back on the bus and went on to the Central Market which was absolutely fantastic. Mandy found a shop full of carved wooden Buddahs and Ganeshes and things and was in raptures. The clothing stalls were stunning dripping with every colour known to man and silks and satins fluttering in the breeze....WOW!

We then walked through Chinatown and there was an even bigger array of market stalls with every brand of fake designer goods. Anne, (our TSO) would have had a field day! I didnt buy any Ann, honest I didnt!. We found our way back to Bukit Bintang and went in to Red Palm for a freshen up then went out on the town to find some food and participate in our favourite hobby...people watching. It has an extra dimension here as there are so many races and cultures and actually very few caucasians. We ended up after an hour's stroll (It really is too hot for anything more rapid) in a loud and colourfull Chineese pavement restaurant called Dragon View. The menu was like no Chineese restaurant I have ever been in so we guessed and boy did we make the right choices.... Crowned by two of the biggest "River Prawns" you ever did see!! A fantastic feast for 120 ringgits (twenty squids!)

Got back to the Hostel about 11 just as most of our co-residents were going out! A short chat with our host and so to bed, absolutely cream crackered.........But that wasn't the end of it was it Martyn? Oh no!!! The phone started "Hello Motoing" at 10 to 4 With Martyn cheating at the Royal Oak Quiz... Hope youre reading this Mike and Kate! then he finaly shut up and ZZzzz.........