So New Year's Eve and onto the capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur to see in 2007. Had a journey into the city I'd rather forget with some horrible man sneezing and spluttering next to me, and one who definitely didn't like what he'd had for dinner the night before sat in front of me. It was four hours I'm not too keen to repeat again...

But once we arrived things picked up. We stayed in Chinatown, right in the heart of the night market so plenty of opportunity to pick up a bargain or several. The backpack is certainly a bit heavier than when I left home now! We took a bit of a walk around Chinatown before heading out for the evening's celebrations. We started with a great chinese meal and then headed to the reggae bar for a few cheap drinks, which then turned into a few more...they coaxed into staying with free gifts like giant party poppers, whistles and glo sticks, which after a few drinks seem like the best presents ever! But we did eventually prize ourselves away to head to the main square for midnight where we'd heard there were fireworks. The clock struck midnight and the crowds looked to the skies, but where were the fireworks...well not here. Apparently they'd been cancelled becuase there had been some bad floods in the south of Malaysia and the money had been donated there. Nice of them to tell everyone then...but it seemed not all fireworks in the city were cancelled as we managed to see some others that were going off in other areas, just from a little further away!

So New Year's Day arrived and for me it was more like half a day. After a very late night and too many rum and cokes, I didn't manage to drag myself out of the hotel until after lunch, but realising I only had one day left to explore the city I forced myself outside with the sunglasses glued very firmly to my eyes.

Having been to Kuala Lumpur before I'd already seen some of the sights so I decided to head for the Menara Tower, the fourth tallest communications tower in the world. Not feeling like I had the legs to walk I took a cab, but at least this way I knew how to get back! If you go up to the observation deck they give you some earphones so you can take your own guided walk around viewing the city from every angle. It's a pretty good way to get your bearings of the city, although don't look down if you're scared of heights!

Feeling lazy after my cab ride up to the tower I decided to walk back into town, but unfortunately on the way the weather decided otherwise. One minute there I was strolling along in the sunshine and then suddenly a monsoon...no warning, no spots of rain, it really was just like someone got a huge bucket of water and started tipping it everywhere. I was soaked until a nice taxi driver took pity on a dripping wet English maiden and took me back to my hotel. After drying off I headed out into Chinatown for some retail therapy. You really can buy fake anything here, from gucci sunglasses and prada bags, to billabong t-shirts and rolex watches.

It was another night market for dinner on New Year's day. We went to a suburb called Bukit Bintang and to a small restaurant (and I use the word loosely) famous for it's chicken fish. It has to be the most ugly fish you can ever imagine, but it tastes just like chicken, hence the name!

One final stop at the Petronas twin towers, now the second tallest building in the world, but I think still the tallest twin towers. They look spectacular at night and made a great photo stop, here before heading back to the sanctuary of my bed...