Kuala Lumpur is confusing. I've never come across a city so in need of street signs but there don't appear to be any around. None that point in the right direction anyway. However, despite spending the majority of our four day stay trapped in a train station or a shopping mall that we couldn't find the exit to we still managed to cram quite a lot in.
The city is very built up and full of grand skyscrapers. The most famous are the Petronas Towers, two identical buildings with a bridge connecting them midway up. The sheer size of them is impressive enough but once the sun goes down they transform from just really tall buildings into the most beautiful crystal-like statues in the KL skyline. You can pay to go up them but we opted to stand and admire the view from below.
Another rather awe-inspiring statue is that of the Hindu Deity, Murugan, which stands at 140ft outside the Batu Caves. The caves themselves are home to three different Hindu temples and a whole load of bats and monkeys. It takes 276 steps up a steep flight of stairs to reach them but they're well worth a look.
Back in the city centre there's both a Chinatown and Little India, great for eating cheap street food and buying designer goods (fakes, obviously.) We ate there every evening except for the first when we got over-excited at the sight of all the Western restaurants and ended up in Nandos. A minor slip up but in fairness they're difficult to avoid - there's everything from a Dominos to a Marks & Spencer! Percy Pigs were our second slip...
The shopping centres are similarly Westernised. We found huge malls filled with Topshops and Zara's but the clothes are the same prices as back home making them absolutely extortionate out here.
The nightlife is fairly expensive too so we only went out one evening. We were lucky enough to find an amazing hostel called Reggae Mansion which has its own rooftop bar so we started out there and then headed to Bukit Bintang, a row of bars in the centre of town.
KL to me was like a long weekend city break and although it's a great place to visit, I'm looking forward to getting 'back home' to the beach!
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