Kuala Lumpur 5th Jan to 9th Jan

After a luxury bus journey from Penang, we arrived around 3pm in Kuala Lumpur. As we cruised in to the city we were greeted by a London like scene with taxi's and buses beeping and queuing at every angle. As we disembarked the bus we took to the side walk and went on the accommodation hunt. After a grueling half hour we found a small little guest house called tropical guest house situated in the Golden triangle and only a two minute walk to a huge road covered in food markets of local cuisine.On arrival we were greeted by a number of travelers all of which acknowledged and advised us of the quality of the place we were about to stay. As we dumped the bags we sat in the communal area for a while where we met a number of people that we would end up spending far amount of time with. Alex, a lad from Derby took us to an eight floor electrical store packed full with laptops, camera and TV's he like many people we had met had invested in a laptop for the trip and it was something that Rachel and I had discussed. As we hunted round the complex a couple of laptops caught our eye by no decision to buy was made. When we arrived back at the guest house to be greeted by Alex and Tom along with a guy called Mat's a Norwegian mad man and a couple of trainee nurses, on a work placement Kate and Emily. As a group we set out to tackle the local food, of course we went to the cheapest places we knew which was that food market but we were in for a treat, upon ordering we decided on sting ray, chilly chicken buttered prawns, noodles and lemon chicken. Now having only ever swam with sting rays, "as you do" eating one was a new experience, however the softness of the meat was unreal and the taste even more so.Everything that came with the meal was cooked to perfection only I could have done a better job.Although after a few drinks back at the guest house, someone came out with the crazy idea to try frog porridge, "and yes it's as rank it sounds" We wandered back to the market to see a bucket filled with skinned whole frogs being served with some sort of rice slush with chili paste, After sampling the dish Rachel and I along with pretty much everyone else decided that frogs belly was not for us.

The next morning we arose with the lads from the night before and set off for the Kuala Lumpur twin towers, due to the fact that they issue tickets for free, they are only given to a limited number of people per day so we had to be up early to get some, "a challenge for us travelers having knout to do all day" but we made it. As we entered the buildings, memories of canary wharf flooded back, although these buildings we in immaculate condition and glistened in the morning sun. After queuing for around an hour we were given our time slot and we headed out side to marvel at these famous towers, joined in unison by a viewing bridge inserted after the two buildings were erected. While taking some photos a Danish traveler appeared in his late 40's this chap was wild, as he mimicked many of the accents and attempted impressions of many different culture, certainly entertainment to pass the time. As we arrived back in the towers we were made to watch a film produced by the owners of the towers, (an oil company, surprise surprise) and after they had told us about the wonders of how much money they make from earth's natural resource we entered the lift which took us 41 floors and around 40 seconds, "the ears did pop…twice"The view from the bridge was amazing and although we did attempt to get back in the lift to visit the top floor 80 something, we were stopped by the fact you needed a big shinny key, and of course a pretty big security guard, for Asian standards that is. Later in the day headed down to china town where I finally found a new pair of cheap shorts due to my ones looking a bit old and in need of a wash, "it's just easier to buy new ones." After Chinatown Rachel and I left the others and went on one of our seemingly now famous walks around the city with no map. Around 3 hours or so later dehydrated and slightly leggy we did find the path home, only hampered by a woman on a Zebra crossing. Now Rachel has been telling me the entire whole trip not to keep talking to strangers, after this experience I might just start listening to her, an innocent conversation of crossing the road soon became a religious debate! Apparently I have evil within due to my pointy teeth? Weird hey, well my response after she had told me I must extract them was that it must be evolution and that science supports religion and vice versa. "Don't say that to someone who is religious" it was like waving a red flag in front of a bull, 10 minutes later I was eventually allowed to leave the debate withered and sorrowful. The evening was spent with some cheap food and movie, oh yeah and a lap top purchase… long story cut short, decided to buy, £280, haggled down by 30rm (sod all) but pleased and will enjoy free wireless for the rest of the trip.

The next day many of the group we had met had moved on to their next destinations, we on the other hand spent the day wandering around the lake gardens and KL centre while riding the Metro, as featured in the film Entrapment. The day passed with mainly sightseeing and in the evening we settled for a set meal curry just short of our guest house which in fairness was pretty dam good. Now feeling like we had achieved all of what we wanted to have achieved in Kuala Lumpur we headed for the bus station and booked our tickets for Singapore.With Singapore on the mind I settled for Singapore noodles for breakfast before heading to the cinema for the day. As we wandered in to the shopping complex we were amazed at the size and quality of the place, all sparkling clean with every possible shop imaginable on display. A bit further in we found the cinema where we relaxed for the afternoon enjoying Australia and popcorn for little more than 3 quid between us! As our time in KL drew to a close we had planned to head up the Menara Tower in city which is the forth tallest in the world, however ridiculously over priced we had wasted our time however we did meet an English couple who had thought the exact same thing and we wandered off for a drink with them. We finished the night in a small little Russian bar sipping in Tiger beer and exchanging stories of us in Thailand and them in Australia.

On leaving Kuala Lumpur we also are leaving Malaysia, all be it a short visit in comparison to Thailand we have still enjoyed the limited sights that we have seen and the food. The time of year is not the best to visit this country however as the small islands off the east coast are closed due to monsoon season and these look like paradise, "Guess we will have to wait till Fiji"