(Oooopps got a little bit behind with this...we wrote it at the time but just didnt post it on here...sorry its out of date!(

After spending much time in the, let's say, lesser developed world it was time to head to the big sky-rise horizon that was Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.

We flew there from Laos after realising we did not have enough time to get back to Thailand for our flight from Phuket, which would've taken two days to get to! So booked a flight from Vientienne. The flight was great and we tried to wangle first class-didn't happen, but we'll keep trying. The airport in Kuala Lumpur was huge and we couldn't for the life of us find where the Hell we had to get our bus from. We decided against a taxi as they were expensive because the centre of the city is an hours drive from the airport. We eventually found the depot and jumped on the bus. The first thing we noticed was the infrastructure and the fact that there were ACTUAL roads in this country as opposed to dirt tracks. It was very much like Europe.

We had pre-booked our hostel whilst we were in Thailand weeks ago but foolishly failed to recall the name of it so had to ask someone if we could use their laptop to check it out on the web! We worked out where it was and jumped in a cab from the bus station. We finally got to the hostel that was above a fruit shisha smoking restaurant. We had a balcony overlooking part of the busy town and the room was really clean but we had a shared bathroom that barely locked! We had a room downstairs with free internet and satelite tv and there was a kitchen so that we could make our own food. We'd not done this yet as we'd not stayed in a place that had these resources so we thought that it could be a money saving scheme and decided to do some shopping for bread, cereal, milk and coffee so to stock up for breakfast.

The first evening we headed to China Town (there's one in every city) and went to er... Nandos...! Possibly the most expensive meal we'd had to date. After all, there was chicken on the menu! Then we wandered through the hectic but buzzing night markets and bought one or two things. The night markets were a big part of Malaysian culture and it seemed shopping was in general, there were loads of shopping centres and malls to keep even the busiest of shopper happy. We spent about 3 hours at markets and were tempted by a load of cheap goods but thought about our daily budget after the expensive meal we'd had... We couldn't be arsed to walk back though so, jumped into a cab and said goodbye to our daily budget!

The next day we spent searching the delights of Kuala Lumpur. But as soon as we'd stepped out of the door the heavens opened! We got absolutely drenched. In most circumstances we would have turned back there and then and but having such little time in the city we thought we'd stick it out and decided to head to the the 'forth tallest telecom tower in the world'. We're not sure how much of a feat that is really?? If the highest telecom tower was an Olympic race then K.L. wouldn't even have got a medal! Noone ever remembers who came forth... nevertheless, it was one HUGE building and stood proudly above the rest of the impressive skyline. We worked our way to the first floor and were told that it would be a pointless excercise going to the very top as the view was so poor due to the rain and mist. We didn't fancy going all the way up there to see gloom so stayed around and had a spot of lunch in the restaurant and looked around at the souveniors. We soon realised that if the skies were clearing they were doing it at a very slow pace. We thought we'd avoid paying the admission charge and instead go to the highest hotel instead! It was very close by so dashed over to avoid getting too wet. It was the number one hotel in Kuala Lumpur, dead posh as well and we looked like two monkeys that had just been through a washing machine without any washing powder. But, like before in Japan, when we walked into the hotel we were greeted by a, "we hope you are having a wonderful stay at EFJ". We replied, "er, yes thank you, we are very much so". We darted to the lift and went to the top floor to check out the horizon. To our delight there was a rooftop pool and bar and a really great view! We had no idea that mountains surrounded Kuala Lumpur, but now we do. It wasn't too misty either so who needs to pay over the odds to see a forth-placer when you can see number one for free!!

That evening we walked to the "other" Twin Towers and what a sight! They were lit up beautifully but every night (morning) at 0015am they switch the lights off and it looks spectacular. The photos show the true picture (if you parden the pun). Now these are the largest twin towers in the world and there is a tunnel half way up linking both of them. Its spectacular! We ventured inside and got chucked out as the lights turning off is a sign that the place is closed (we knew that but were just being nosy).

The next day we were off to Singapore! It was a brief stay in Malaysia but of course a memorable one. It was nice to see the developed infrastructure after seeing such developing urban areas in previous countries. We jumped on a bus to get us to Singapore. It was the best bus we'd been on for weeks! Loads of leg room and the chance to lean back really far too!! Its the little things in life that you seem to appreciate whilst travelling..

Bring on Singapore...