After a leisurely start and a self-service breakfast I spent the morning exploring Chow Kit. The local area is a mixture of run down flats, nice hotels, side street markets and lots of traffic. Its strange, being a country girl, KL has everything I don't like about living in a city, its hot, busy, and polluted, but there is something I like about it. Moped zoom along the pavements dodging pedestrians as the monorail glides overhead. The wet market sells everything from live fish to a whole cow's head whilst second-hand shoes are sold alongside fake designer handbags on every corner. But most important it just has a good vibe, the people are nice and they have a certain pride in their city and country.

I traipsed about, learning my way around Little Indian and found the hospital a short walk from the hostel, and it's massive! I hope I can find out where I need to be on Monday. Having said I'd meet one of the girls I met last night for lunch I returned to Cosmopolitan Hostel (CH) where she had made a Yemen biryani with chicken and potatoes. It was really nice and once full we decided to head for the Petronus towers together that afternoon. After a slow walk there we dropped into the Maya Hotel (my favourite hotel in the world, after staying there in 2008) before popping across the road to the shopping centre at the base of the towers. This was a different world, shops like Armani, Prada, Chanel and Gucci lined the numerous floors of the mall, a stark contrast to the imitation stalls selling outside.

Excited by a Pandora shop I was disappointed to find it hadn't opened yet so instead we decided to get an ice cream from The Cream and Fudge Factory. I got a caramel and chessecake ice cream in a waffle topped with wafer and macadamia nuts. It was delicious (which was lucky as it cost a bomb). Refreshed by our break we made our way back via the monorail (past the Hard Rock Café), making the journey considerably shorter.

Dinner was curried noodles from the 7eleven next door, as I was feeling a bit dodgy, followed by some dragonfruit I brought at the market to share. This went down well and got me talking to a man from Vietnam, which is apparently the number one exporter of dragonfruit. He has been all over Asia but highly recommends a trip to Indian and Vietnam should be high on my list.

Hoping to travel to the butterfly and orchid gardens tomorrow, so look out for pictures soon!