Wednesday 11th February

Got up early and made our way down to the bus station on Beach Street, we booked the bus with Grasslands bus company the fare was 30 Singapore dollars each which was about ￡15. The bus was 26 seater and very comfortable, big reclining seats and lots of leg room. The journey took 5 hours, after we had left Singapore Island the scenery was Jungle up to about an hour out of Kuala Lumpur when it began to be more built up.

We were dropped in the city centre, not knowing where we were and where our hotel was, we went into the nearest hotel and found map. There is a brilliant monorail system around the city and we had been dropped by one of the stations. As it happened our hotel was about 5 stops along the track the cost of the journey was about 20p!

The hotel was booked through the internet, when we arrived we realised what a good find it had been. It was a 4 star hotel, very plush with swimming pool, and we were upgraded to huge room on the 21st floor with king sized bed and fantastic views over the city, including the Petronas towers! We sat on the bed after dark with the curtains open looking out at the lights of the city, far more entertaining than the TV.

Thursday 12th February

Made our way down to the Petronas towers first thing to get our tickets to go on the bridge. You have to collect the tickets and they allocate a time slot, only 15 people can go on the bridge at the same time, it is free to go on the bridge. We had nearly 2 hours before our time slot, so we went for a look around the mall at the back of the towers. For anyone who likes shopping this place would be heaven, six floors of designer shops and well known outlets, We found out the food court and went for breakfast.. The Malaysian people seam to love shoes and handbags, there are lots of shops selling these.

At 12 O;clock we went up the tower and on to the bridge, this was on the 44th floor, there were great views over the city. Afterwards we went back to the mall for lunch. After we again used the monorail to travel around, then went back to our posh hotel for a swim and dinner. As we got off the monorail we noticed there were lots of people gathered around and electrical shop, they were sat on the shop front and the pavement, there was loud music coming from the shop and we thought perhaps there was some live music going on, but on closer look it turns out they were watching the wrestling on TV.

Friday 13th February

We decided to stay at the hotel for a couple more nights so we could plan where to go next. We decided to go to the island of Langkawi, an island off the north west coast of Malaysia, close to the Thai boarder. We went down to the bus station to find out about tickets. We found the right bus and booked the overnight one so we arrive at the ferry terminal first thing in the morning. On the way back to our hotel it began to rain, the first rain we have seen since leaving the UK.

Saturday 14th February

We decided to go to the park where the museum and other attractions are. We used the train which was as efficient as the monorail, very cheap too only 2 ringgets for both of us that's about 40 pence. We walked for most of the day round the park, calling in at the national museum, the orchid gardens and the planetarium. It was extremely humid which made walking very uncomfortable. There was lots of different flora and fawner to look at along the way though. As we got off the monorail the electrical shop had lots of people outside again watching the wrestling, it must be big sport here.
We went for a meal at a Sudanese restaurant in the evening and treated ourselves to a beer, almost ￡3 a glass and it wasn't a pint glass either. Bottles of wine (Jacobs creek) cost about ￡8 a bottle, consequently we have not had much to drink! Food was good though.

Sunday 15th February

We decided to have a lazy day by the pool, read the papers and have a swim. Went out later about 5 o'clock, couldn't believe how much traffic there was on a Sunday evening. KL seems to have a real problem with traffic most of the day and the air quality is not too good. There has been a constant haze over the city since we came.

Went back to the mall for a look round the shops, found an interesting items, underwear! Where as in the west the women strive to stay thin and get rid of excess fat around the bum and legs, the women here are very thin and have no hips and bums. The have a garment called magic pants which make them look as though they have a fuller figure.

Monday 16th February

We decided to go and see a few other bits around the city. We went to have a look at the old jail at Pudu, unfortunately you weren't allowed in to have a look around inside, but you could take photos from the outside. Then we went to the central market, which was at one time a proper market with fish meat and veg, they were going to demolish it about 10 years ago but it got a reprieve and now sells locally made goods, food and other things. While in side we came across an odd stall called "cute fish foot spa", on closer inspection it was a pool with lots of fish in and for ￡1 you could have 10 minutes with your feet in the pool. I had to have a go, what a strange sensation, hundreds of fish sucking at your feet.

We got off at a couple of stops along the monorail track and had a look round , there are shopping malls everywhere with designer shops, they are always busy no matter what time of day or evening. Kuala Lumpur is a very multicultural city and everyone appeared to live together harmoniously.

At 9 o;clock we set off for the bus station to catch the bus to Kuala Perlis. The bus station was full of bus fumes and not the most salubrious place in the world, I wondered why people were sitting on the benches with their feet up and then realised when a cockroach ran over my foot. We boarded the bus at about 11pm destination Langkawi.