Saturday 11th August

We did our usual routine before leaving for the bus stop where our bus arrived on time and left only 15 minutes late. The bus was the VIP of VIP buses and was the cheapest bus we have ever had on our trip costing £7! There were only three seats in each row as the seats were HUGE, and came with a retractable foot rest! Luxury! Our journey, which was only three hours to Kuala Lumpur, was very enjoyable! Why can't the buses be like this all the time?

We arrived at the bus stop/airport but the bus driver assured us this was KL Sentral (not a spelling mistake!) this was the first time I thought on our trip we had got off the wrong stop. I asked a taxi driver if he could take us to our hostel in China Town and how much. Too much my surprise it would only cost 10 ringgit, $3. We agreed and jumped in as I had no idea where I was and had no intention of walking around for five hours! We made small talk with our driver, which was mainly about the Olympics and betting…! Our hostel wasn't too far away, but too far to walk. I later learnt that there was a metro in the airport, but we still had no clue what stopped we needed! Our driver dropped us off at the wrong hostel, but it was only a short walk away and before long and a falling out, we arrived. We couldn't check in till 2pm, and it was 1pm we waited around and had a look at the map and I planned our daily trips!

We checked in at 2pm into a 24 bed dorm, luckily the room is huge so doesn't feel as full!

Our first task was to get bus tickets to Singapore; we asked the unhelpful woman at reception where to go to the bus stop and went on our way. It was an easy route on the metro and easily found the station. We then brought our tickets for a grand total of £8 to Singapore on another VIP of VIP buses!

Pleased we got everything important sorted we went off to explore; our first stop was the KLCC Park, where the Petronas Towers are and a huge shopping mall! We arrived and walked out to view the 7th biggest building in the world. They are impressive, the towers are owned by the fuel company Petronas, the tower is 452 meters and has 88 floors. The architecture of the building is Islamic, which you can clearly see, and the famous sky bridge at the 41st and 42nd floor. This is used for workers to move from one tower to another. Would have been a pain if you had to go all the way to the bottom and back up! We took a few pictures of the towers before heading back into the AC heaven! We went to see if there were any tickets available to buy for tomorrow but the security guard said to come back tomorrow. I asked what time would be the best time to get here as it was first come first served. So we decided 7:45am would be the best time according to our inside source!

Our mission for today was to buy cheaper clothes that we need for Australia. We managed to find an outlet store with a 50% discount on most items! We brought a few items before continuing our journey around the store. We had some dinner, in the form of Maccy D's before heading back outside to see the Towers at night as it was 7pm now!

They looked even better at night than during the day! I don't normally find buildings impressive as much as 'natural sites' but I have now decided that the Petronas Towers are my favourite building, and the Cathedral on Spilled Blood in St Petersburg is now second! We took some more photos before deciding to walk to the 7th tallest TV tower in the world, which is 421 meters. It was a short walk away and we jumped in the free shuttle to the tower. We paid the fee and jumped into the lift to the top. It was a great view and the Petronas Towers looked better up here! It was hard taking pictures as the light inside the tower kept reflecting off the window, but I tried my best!

We decided to head back to the hostel after our really long day, Stu has already complained about how much we have done in Malaysia. I think he has gotten too lazy in Thailand!

We chilled out in the hostel with our roomies who are mainly English, German, Australian and Dutch. I went to be early ready for our wakeup call at 6:15am to get ready eat and leave! Stu decided to go out, but more on that later!

Sunday 12th August

I was rudely awoken when someone jumped down from the top bunk, I thought it was Stu, and proceeded to hear the tell tell signs of someone throwing up in the room somewhere. I was too tired at 5am to even see what was going on. I couldn't go back to sleep and woke up when I heard Stu's alarm going off. I climbed up to make sure he was getting up to turn the alarm off, but he was so drunk he had no idea what was going on and proceed to continue sleeping! So I turned it off! I then got myself up and washed and went for round two to wake him up. I managed some basic communication and demanded him to get up while I had breakfast. I went down for breakfast for 30 minutes before returning upstairs to see if Stu had gotten up. He hadn't. I prepared myself to go to the towers by myself and took enough money and tried round three to get Stu up, he woke up and then proceeded to run to the bathroom to throw up!

He returned washed and dressed, but still looked like hell!! I enjoyed this seeing as Stu was so hungover and told him what I thought had happened when he came in, the suspect of the throwing up incident! He didn't deny nor confirm as he couldn't remember.

We arrived at the towers at 7:45am and proceeded to line up and wait for the doors to open at 8:30am. We ended up talking to another British couple who have been living in Perth for the last 25 years.

We finally brought our tickets at a steep price of 80 ringgit, £16 for the 10am tour.

We left the towers to go into the mall to find Stu some food as he felt like he could eat. Maccy Ds it was! We've had Maccy D's for the last three meals! Oops!

By the time we were done it was coming up to 9:40am so we made our way to queue up to start our tour. We went through a mini airport security scanner and waited for our tour to begin. We had a quick introduction video before we all piled into the elevator. It was a quick ride up to the 84th floor where we had 30 minutes to enjoy the view. We had a good old peer out the window and took the customary pictures. We got rounded up again and headed down to the 41st floor, the sky bridge. It was pretty cool walking in the middle of the buildings. There was no glass floor, but it was an impressive sight nonetheless! The 42nd floor is reserved for employees and the 41st is for us rabble!

We had another 30 minutes before we had to go back down to the ground. It was a highly enjoyable experience, I think Stu enjoyed it, but it was hard to tell him being so hungover!

We headed towards one of the many walkways that KL has to offer, by passed many tiny shops and café, all closed. I'm guessing because of the holidays. We then came across one of the much talked about air conditioned walk ways, we ran in and was greeted my nice cool air! It was lovely! We used the walk way all the way to our next location.

Our next location was checking out the main high street and Times Square. On route, we got distracted and found a Primark kind of store and went shopping. The queue reminded me of Primark; it took us 45 minutes to get to the till!

After our trip we headed back on the metro and towards another mall in the form of electronics. It took us a wee while to find a shop to buy a new hard drive, but we managed it! Upon exiting the mall it was chucking it down with rain, we managed to dodge in and out of shelter and made it to the metro!

We decided to head home, due to Stu still being hungover! Stu had a cat nap and I just chilled out in the room with my fellow roomies!

We headed out for some Indian food which was extremely tasty with our fellow roomies! Stu went to bed early to get some sleep as he got none last night!

Monday 13th August

My plan today was a walking tour; Stu's plan was to get seriously ill, like seriously ill. We had to make a detour to the doctor's office, after a short wait Stu was seen to and pills acquired. A throat infection and his tonsils have swollen up massively!

We dived into a Maccy D's (not what you're thinking!) to get some water for Stu to take his 5 pills! This started the epic long day of Stu whinging all day!

Our first stop was China town; we wandered the outdoor market of Petaling Street, selling all kinds of things from shoes to food! It was enjoyable, apart from Stu!

We headed to the Art Gallery where we enjoyed the view of all the buildings surrounding the highest flag pole in the world. I don't know why they built the tallest flag pole, but it was here! It was really warm, and I did feel sorry for Stu, so we headed back. We stopped in the Times Square Mall to look at the theme park that covers two floors, it even has a rollercoaster! It reminded me of the rollercoaster in Las Vegas. We didn't get the chance to go on it because of Stu. Never mind.

We headed home as Stu was aching. As soon as we got back I rearranged my bag and Stu went to bed. I swapped my nice low bunk for his higher bunk. Not impressed. I felt I was in the clouds, literally! Nearly fell off it a few times!

I woke Stu up for dinner, where he had some soup and I made him eat it all. I however had spring rolls and some yummy Malay curry! Yummy!

Stu went back to bed, and I think he slept much of the night through. I just chilled out with my other roomies before they got kicked out for making too much noise at 11pm from the floor down below!

Overall view on Malaysia:

We only had 10 days in Malaysia which went zooming past at a quick rate. We enjoyed it so much; we got to see so much and learnt a lot. The cost of living was slowly creeping up, but we manage to find a lot of cheap eats! There is such a mixture of cultures here and we enjoyed all the food they offered here! The landscape in the highlands was fantastic and the big city was a good reminder of the western world.

Total miles travelled from UK: 15,003

Transport taken:

Trains = 21

Boats = 11

Bus = 25

Hours ahead of UK:

+8