Kuala Lumpur

We arrived in Malaysia's capital not feeling quite the ticket, as Sam previously mentioned. (What he forgot to say was that he too wasn't feeling that amazing either!) The only thing for it was a dirty McDonalds, a quadruple Big Mac. So far in South East Asia we haven't seen much variety in burger offerings. You only seem to be able to get bigger versions of the usual suspects. A Big Mac with four patties in it is definitely good and how a Big Mac should always be served, in my opinion. 

Feeling a bit more like ourselves, we ventured into the city searching out a place to stay in the Golden Triangle area. Guesthouse found I spent the rest of the early evening nursing my prolonged hangover. Genuinely felt dreadful and wasn't milking it, as Sam might have suggested!

Rather than bore you with our daily movements and too many details, I have decided instead to give you my top ten KL highlights, so here goes...

Katie Tazzyman's Top Ten Kuala Lumpur Times

1. Eating at Din Tai Fung - I can't express just how much I love this restaurant. We found this chain in Hong Kong and felt incredibly lucky to find it again in KL. Unfortunately they don't have one in the UK or Zurich, but I am seriously considering campaigning to make this happen. The New York Times even voted this place as one of the top ten restaurants in the world. Got to be up there with one of the best meals I have ever had. The steamed dumplings are insanely good.

2. Strolling through China Town - The food scene wasn't as good as were were hoping for, but the atmosphere was great. The market is immense. Stall after stall of the same goods, many of which look like they've fallen off the back of a lorry. We managed to get a pair of snazzy binoculars for a fair price (Yes, we really are turning into our parents! But we reasoned that this would be a sensible and very useful purchase for our Sumatran jungle adventures). We also had a blissful time sipping tea at the Old China Cafe.

3. Avoiding the monkeys at the Batu caves - We took a train to the north of the city to visit this beautiful Hindu shrine, guarded by a 140 ft golden statue of Lord Muruga, to whom the whole temple is dedicated. The temple is within the caves and you have to climb 272 steps to reach the entrance. It was a pretty treacherous ascent and descent trying to avoid the vicious Macaques who treat the temple as their home. We witnessed one very stupid tourist feeding one and then petting it on the head, for which he received a potentially dangerous swipe on the hand.

4. Seeing 'The Dark Knight Rises' at the cinema - I am not a Batman fan, but this was a very entertaining film. I would give it 6 out of 10. Am still a bit freaked out by the memory of Bane's evil voice though.

5. Seeing Arsenal play for the first time at Bukit Jalil stadium - Arsenal vs. a Malaysian XI in Arsenal's Asian Tour - they won 2-1. They were completely rubbish and didn't deserve to win (even Sam agrees), but it was still pretty cool being in a massive stadium for the first time seeing a big game. Also, was fascinating observing the seemingly fickle Malaysian crowd. Most were covered in Arsenal supporters gear - shirts, scarves, hats, lanyards, you name it, they had it on - but seemed to be supporting whichever team had the ball at the time. Was a little disheartening that not that many were wearing their own country's shirt.

6. Petronas Towers - They're really big (the tallest twin buildings ever built) and look really glitzy when it's dark and it's covered in lights. There's also a pretty good shopping mall inside which was most convenient for buying all the toiletries we needed to stock up on.

7. Kuala Lumpur Tower -  You can get a really good view of the Petronas Towers and all of KL's other landmarks by going up the Kuala Lumpur Tower which has a viewing platform which is 276 metres from the ground.  The only downside is that is it seems to attract a lot of idiot tourists and also that the 'free' audio guide they give you is completely pants.

8. Merdeka Square - This is Malaysia's Independence Square, the location where they raised the Malaysian flag for the first time on the 31st August 1957, to mark their independence from British rule. Loads of interesting colonial buildings placed around the square.

9. Central Market - Needless to say Sam and I had a falling out here. He detests shopping, especially in places like this, as he would say they're filled with 'tourist tat'. I on the other hand become a woman possessed and left with a few items which I now regret purchasing.

10. Little India - I'm running out of things to list in my top ten of KL, so this is a little weak, but walking through Little India was kind of interesting. Lots of saree shops and restaurants. Not so different from the kind of scenery we are used to in Whitechapel.

All in all a great city to spend a few days in if you're over this way. A word of warning though, despite being a well developed city, KL lacks any decent pavements and in general isn't great to navigate around on foot - we got lost several times. Although, one of these times did lead us to the world's greatest restaurant.

Malaysia done, on to Indonesia!