Kuala Lumpur

The previous evening I spent wandering around China Town and it struck me just how I was taking everything in my stride. If it had been my first couple of weeks traveling things would have felt so different. After being in Asia for about 5 and a half months you start to miss the little interesting things that were so amusing or interesting to begin with, they are just kind of accepted or ignored to an extent. This makes writing my blog a little more difficult as I forget to write about the things that may be very different to home but I just take them as being very normal now. For instance I don't think I've even mentioned when I was in Hanoi in Vietnam walking down the street a guy was simply taking a leak right in front of us in the street? Or how in Cambodia some men would just relieve themselves in full view in the park?

Kuala Lumpur is very different though, its much more organised and has a Western feel to it much like Hong Kong.

I felt right a home in the city and felt comfortable walking round the streets not knowing where I was going. The city itself seems quite small and most places seem walkable.

It was amusing to watch other backpackers wandering nervously round China Town, perhaps this was their first stop on their trip. It reminded me just how far I have come whilst traveling as I sat on my own in a Chinese restaurant sipping a beer and watching people pass. One Westerner nervously walked into the restaurant and took the seat in front of me, he looked very un confident and looked at me as if to say "Please save me and join me for dinner as I'm very self conscious on my own.". I know how he felt, I'd been there before and it made me realise how much more confident I am now.

Going into a busy restaurant full of locals and being the only person dining alone is something you get used to after a while. I felt fine in Kualua Lumpur after all this wasn't quite like China, most people spoke english.

I was staying in a dorm room in the hostel which was a bad choice on the first night as one guy was snoring his head off all night. I resorted to the mp3 player and head phones but I didn't get a great nights sleep, thankfully him and his girlfriend left early in the morning. I was thinking of saying something but surely his girlfriend already has. I mean if I really had a snoring problem I'd get a single room, surely it's just very rude to inflict it on others?

I spent the morning in Kuala Lumpur in a shopping centre looking at various digital cameras.

My camera seems to have a scratch on the lens hence whenever you take a photo it focuses on the scratch and not your subject. So I'm thinking of spending under 200 pound on a new camera. I had a demonstration with various cameras from the very cheerful and helpful staff in the shopping centre. I managed to find one that I liked but thought I'd better cross reference it on the net before buying it , it seemed pretty cheap at 180 plus a 1 gig memory card. I later found out that although its a very good camera you can buy it via the internet for the same price, so I'll be waiting until I reach Singapore to see if it's any cheaper there.

After the shopping without buying anything I walked towards The Petronas Twin Towers, this was once the world's tallest building but now is currently the tallest twin towers in the world.

It was an impressive sight as I attempted to take a photo of myself and the towers, it was an impossible task.

I spent a good half hour to an hour around The Petronas Towers and in the shopping centre (I finally found and bought a guide book. Expensive though.) at it's base before heading to The Menara Tower. The Menara Tower is currently the world's fifth tallest telecommunication tower, I purchased a ticket for the observation deck at an altitude of 276 metres. The view was amazing although slightly cloudy, the staff at the tower handed me an audio and video player which explained what all the sights were around the city. I was quite impressed that this was actually for free or included within the ticket price (About 3 UK pounds.). From the observation deck I spotted China Town and took note of the way back to my guest house before heading back down as the sun went down. It was a good day, I enjoyed both of the towers, most impressive visually was The Petronas Towers but the view from The Menara Tower was also great.