Kuala Lumpur

So we finally departed Borneo for Peninsular Malaysia and our first stop was the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur. KL is a very modern, developed city with its own underground trains, shiny financial district, upmarket shopping centre and, of course, the tallest buildings in the world, the Petronas Towers.

The Petronas Towers, tall.

Little India and Chinatown were our first port of call, both to see the sights (Including the Hindu temple below) and track down some Premiership football. Unfortunately, Spurs lost :-( but watching Premiership football in a Reggae bar with a Bob Marley soundtrack in SE Asia is a once in a lifetime experience!

A Hindu Temple in KL's Little India

The next day we went to the Lake Gardens looking forward to seeing some nice orchids, hibiscuses and deer...but they were all closed for renovation . Nevertheless, we saw Malaysia's National Mosque and the gardens themselves which were really quite a beautiful interlude in KL's jungle of concrete, steel and glass.

The next day we went up the KL Tower and the Petronas Towers, getting some fantastic views of the city...

The National Stadium as seen from the KL Tower

Afterwards, we went to do what the whole visit to KL had been about, lunch at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel (v v posh) and a taste of durian pancakes (durian is a Malaysian fruit infamous for its awful smell but fantastic flavour). The pancakes were lovely, but durian is definitely an acquired taste.