As one of the major tourist attractions in Asia, the city of Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia has a lot to offer. This large, vibrant city is home to over 7 million and it is a virtual kaleidoscope of impressive architecture, incredible cuisines, vibrant cultures, and an enchanting past.

The heart of the city, The Golden Triangle, is also known as the shopping and entertainment district of the city.

Start your trip off to KL at The Petronas Twin Towers. As THE top attraction in KL, these modern wonders are one of the architectural gems of Malaysia and are the tallest twin buildings in the world. The exterior and interior of the buildings resemble contemporary Islamic art, a symbol of Malaysia’s Muslim religion.If you are visiting the towers remember to collect your FREE tickets to go up and see the amazing view from the Sky Bridge. The sky bridge is a 58-metre double-decker bridge linking the twin towers at 170 metres above Kuala Lumpur city.

Don’t forget to wear comfortable shoes when visiting the Petronas Twin Towers because at the foot of the building there is a trendy shopping complex called the Suria Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC). Suria KLCC showcases the collections of the world’s top designer brands. There is also an art gallery, movie theatres, a science museum, a range of restaurants and a park that surrounds the towers.

Shopping doesn’t stop at Suria KLCC though. The Golden Triangle has loads of options for shoppers. At Bukit Bintang, you’ll find a variety of malls and shopping outlets that include Lot 10, Times Square, Sungai Wang Plaza, and Low Yat Plaza.

There are many Kuala Lumpur hotels within easy walking distance of the Petronas Towers. Accommodation in Kuala Lumpur is very affordable and there are quite a few five-star hotels that offer great rates that will suit a range of travel budgets.

Well-known hotels near Suria KLCC include the Swiss Garden Hotel Kuala Lumpur, Corus Hotel Kuala Lumpur and the Impiana KLCC Hotel Kuala Lumpur. This amazing city has a lot to offer, so do some research when planning your Malaysia holiday to experience all that Kuala Lumpur has to offer.

Finally, don’t miss out on some entertainment when you’re exploring the heart of KL. There are numerous museums, nightclubs, shops, parks and trendy restaurants to keep you busy during your stay in beautiful Kuala Lumpur.

This is a sponsored post by the travel team at Wotif.com.

Mixed Satay

Singapore has been on my travel wish list since my late teens. With a long five-day weekend coming up and knowing that we could use our air miles to travel to one of the world’s three city-states for free, we were booked and ready to go faster than you can say cat on a hot tin roof.

The Fullerton Hotel

John and I didn’t spend much time preparing for our trip to Singapore. Under normal circumstances, we’d have planned a loose travel itinerary to follow. Given the amount of time we had, and the way my health has been, we decided to leave things up to chance. We each picked two things that we would like to do and then fit it into our schedule. My friend, Josh, was kind enough to provide some insider tips, since he recently completed co-authoring Lonely Planet’s Singapore guide. While we weren’t able to take all of his suggestions, we now know what we can do for our next trip.

Our journey began with a first-class flight on Singapore Airlines. After being completely pampered for the duration of the flight, we took a taxi to our hotel, The Fullerton Hotel, a five-star hotel in downtown Singapore. Arriving at 11pm didn’t leave much time for sightseeing, but we did manage to squeeze in some awestruck wanderings along the pier and an authentic $16 Singapore Sling in our hotel lobby. Sorry, no Raffles this time. We planned on going, but we figured our money would be better spent elsewhere.

Singapore Day One found us snuggled up in our beautiful room overlooking Boat Quay on the Singapore River.  You’ll be able to read more about our beautiful accommodations in a review post, but rest assured, this is one of the most picturesque hotels we’ve had the pleasure of staying at. We enjoyed a leisurely buffet breakfast at the hotel and then set out for a day of sightseeing and shopping. We’d arrived just in time for the Great Singapore Sale! We wandered down to the waterfront and took a look at the Singapore Flyer, shopped to our heart’s content at Bazaar 21 and took advantage of the 70% off sales on designer name clothing.

Chili-shrimp and fries skillet.

That afternoon, we headed for Orchard Road to find out what all the fuss is about. Shopping centers are always great places for food and people-watching. We combined the two together and enjoyed a terrific seafood lunch of pan-fried chili shrimp. I took an hour to peruse the bookshelves at Borders – a real honest-to-goodness bookstore from back home – and picked up some titles I’ve been waiting to get my hands on. I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. We went back to the hotel for a swim and a snooze before our evening activities commenced.

Carrie and Nellie

Later on in the evening, we met up with a blogger friend of mine, Nellie, who writes Wild Junket. She and her friend, K.K. were kind enough to meet us at our hotel. From there, we had a bit of a walking tour while Nellie explained about the local history. We headed for a famous hawker center, Lau Pa Sat, where Nellie and K.K. treated us to some Singaporean delights that included lots of satay, fried carrot cake, laksa, and ice-cold beer. We ended our evening with some live music and a few beers at a bar called Insomnia in Chijmes Hall, formerly one of the last few cloistered convents in the world. Thanks very much to Nellie and K.K. for taking time out of their day to show us around their beautiful city. Your travel tips and suggestions were taken to heart and we truly enjoyed meeting you both!

Satay and ice-cold Singhas.

Satay Master at Lau Pa Sat food center.

Petronas Twin Towers Photo: John Kellenberger

I love Kuala Lumpur. It’s one of the nicest cities I’ve been to in Asia. KL has a vibrant array of cultures and we were fortunate enough to experience quite a few while we were there.

KL’s airport is really clean and efficient. Rather than pay for a cab, we decided to take the KLLR (Kuala Lumpur Light Rail) to the downtown core. We had a lovely, air-conditioned ride to the heart of the city before jumping onto the monorail which brought us to “The Golden Triangle,” where the most famous landmarks, luxury hotels and best shopping malls can be found. We found a mid-range budget hotel, but John didn’t really like the set-up. He decided to leave me in the lobby for fifteen minutes while he went in search of an Internet cafe. John is a master of on-line travel bookings. He quickly secured us a room with Priceline and got us a great deal at the Renaissance Hotel, a five star hotel in the heart of the Golden Triangle. Our hotel was a five minute walk from the Petronas Twin Towers and Suria KLCC.

We only had four days in KL, but we made sure each day was action-packed. We immediately set out for the Suria KLCC for some food and window shopping. John was fascinated with the ultra-modern architecture and we especially loved the food courts. This shopping complex is one of the nicest ones I’ve been to in Asia.

Petronas Twin Towers Photo: John Kellenberger

View from the Sky Bridge. Photo: John Kellenberger

The Petronas Towers are the tallest freestanding twin towers in the world at 451.9m. John got up early to get two free passes for us and we spent a terrific afternoon on the sky deck. Amazing by day and spectacular at night, we were simply enthralled by these towers of stainless steel and glass. It was a thrill to ride up to the 41st floor and enter the famous sky bridge, where we could see the rest of the city spread out before us.

That evening, we headed down to Jalan Peteling in Chinatown for some bargain shopping. We had a great time hunting for a pair of shoes in John’s size (size 16). Most of the sellers laughed at us when we told them his shoe size and one man even told us that he did not sell shoes for King Kong. To date, we’ve never found a pair of shoes in Asia to fit John’s feet.

The next day, we booked a tour with our hotel and were privately escorted through the city and surrounding suburbs by a highly knowledgeable Hindu tour guide. This man was a fountain of information and we determined by the end of the tour that he probably spent a lot of his free time reading encyclopedias, although he had an annoying habit of putting a “Yes? Yes!” and the end of every statistic he spouted. The tour was quite enjoyable. He pointed out the major landmarks of KL, gave us some interesting and little known facts about Malaysia and showed us our embassies before starting our tour.

Our first stop was at the Royal Selangor pewter making factory. This is where they make world-famous pewter house and tableware. We visited the factory and observed the workers as they cast, shaved, polished and hammered pewter drinking cups. John even had a try at the special hammering technique himself. Afterwards, we spent about an hour in the showroom, debating over which special piece to buy for a souvenir. We finally settled on two beautiful Chinese rice bowls depicting the four seasons of China.

A Royal Selangor Special Edition Pewter Plate for the Lord of the Rings.

Our second stop was at a rubber tree plantation. Rubber is one of Malaysia’s main exports. The plantation wasn’t at all what we expected. Our guide stopped on the side of the highway and got out with a huge knife. I wasn’t sure what to think at this point until he started scraping at a tree. Natural latex flowed from the wound and this becomes natural rubber once it hardens.

Batu Caves, Gombak, Malaysia.

Our last stop was at Batu Caves, which are situated in the Gombak district, thirteen kilometers north of Kuala Lumpur. These famous caves are a sacred place for Hindu’s and we arrived just in time to join the Hindu Thaipusam festival. Despite the heavy rain, over 800,000 worshipers were milling around the area. No one seemed fazed by the weather in the slightest bit. We, on the other hand, made a mad dash around to have a look, but the rain proved to be too much and we decided to head back to our comfortable hotel room.

We spent our last night at a dinner theater, where we enjoyed traditional Malay food and a wonderful cultural show. We left KL the next day with many fond memories and an anxious desire to return to this captivating city in Malaysia.

We left Saigon last night at 8:20 and traveled by train to Nha Trang.  Saigon was absolutely wonderful.  We totally enjoyed our time there, in part, to Moira, who put us up in style at The Majestic and The Renaissance.  Both of these five star hotels are located on the waterfront within walking distance of all the great bars and restaurants within the area.  We were pampered for almost a week and I have to say, it felt great after two weeks of hard travel.  We managed to squeeze in a tour of the Mekong Delta, a trip to Cu Chi Tunnels, several museums and several walking and shopping expeditions.  The artwork here is incredible and we had a hard time restricting our purchases.  Since we still have three weeks left in South East Asia, we are quite limited to what we can take with us. 

Vietnam and Cambodia couldn’t be more different.  The people here are friendly and kind.  The food is terrific and we weren’t bothered by a soul.  Within a day or two of entering Vietnam, we knew that two weeks just wasn’t going to cut it.  We will definitely come back, despite a rather rocky entry at the land border of Chau Doc.

John and I opted to travel by overnight train to Nha Trang.  The trains here make Chinese trains seem luxurious by comparison and we were a little shocked at first by the small amount of space we were allotted in our soft sleepers.  We were the first ones to board and got settled in comfortably with hopes of having the cabin to ourselves when a Vietnamese family entered.  There were six of us crammed into one small cabin and we were just starting to regret our decision to take the train when the two young adults left.  They were simply seeing their folks off.  So, John and I were left alone with an elderly couple who spoke no English.  Nevertheless, they were very kind and we were quite glad we were sharing with them as the A/C in our cabin kept quitting.  Several times during the night, our Vietnamese friends jumped out of bed to proclaim, “Hot.  Very hot!”  Then they’d search for someone to come and fix it and we’d fall asleep again for another hour or so until it happened again.   I woke up this morning around 5am and watched water-filled rice paddies float by.  It was an incredible morning. 

We have used our Lonely Planet guidebooks every step of the way and they haven’t steered as wrong yet as far as accomodations are concerned. 

We are staying at Blue Star Hotel, a cheap 2 star hotel just off the beach.  We’re quite pleased with both room and service.  Our room is quite large and very clean.   The staff are really friendly.  They’ve booked our onward train tickets for us and our boat cruise tickets for tomorrow.  We even handed in our washing this morning and recieved it in record time.  I highly recommend this hotel to anyone traveling on a budget. 

We are absolutely thrilled with the beach as well.  It’s the nicest beach we’ve been to.  The beach extends around the entire bay and the water is clean and deep sea blue.  There’s no trash, no hawkers and best of all, hardly anyone here.  We practically had the beach to ourselves today and we didn’t leave until we were good and crispy.  It’s been a wonderful and most relaxing day. 

Tomorrow, we’re going on a boat cruise to explore the area and unfortunately, we have to leave the next day in order to keep on schedule.  We’re sad we don’t have more time here, but Hanoi and Halong Bay are coming up and we still have to make our arrangements for Laos.

All in all, our train ride was pretty good and we’ve decided to travel the rest of the way by train to Hanoi, where we will meet up with Jason and Vicky, two friends from Reach To Teach.  We quite excited to be meeting up with them.  We contacted them today and have made arrangements to meet up with them in Halong City.  We’ve booked ourselves on an old junk boat for an overnight cruise of Halong Bay and Cat Ba Islands.  From there, the four of us will travel to Laos.

Day Signs, originally uploaded by globetrotterI.  A quiet back street in Kowloon is virtually unheard of.

Kowloon hosts several famous day and night markets that draw people in, but we decided to spend our time in the Mongkok District, which is frentic at any time of day. It’s one of the busiest shopping districts in Kowloon. It has everything from clothes and shoes to kitchen supplies and jewelry boxes. We thought it was great. This is where you want to come if you’re looking for fake designer watches and handbags.

Vendors attract customers by posting currect magazines featuring the latest accessories. No dealing occurs on the street. If buyers are interested, they’re asked to go to an upstairs apartment to inspect the goods closely before bargaining and making a purchase.

I can’t say I was entirely comfortable about being led into filthy stairwells, down dimly lit corridors and into private rooms that function as a showroom by day and bedroom by night.  Then again, I’ve got a six foot nine giant to protect me.  In reality though, we were perfectly safe.  We were asked to have tea with one elderly man while we salivated through Dior handbags, Chanel sunglasses, Louis luggage and Bvlgari watches.  We bargained hard and left with far more than we had promised ourselves.  By the end of the day, we had gone though all of our money, had treated ourselves royally and were feeling awfully proud of our new acquisitions.   Shopping in Hong Kong is totally out of this world. 

Today was another day for exploring the city of Taipei on the bike. We are quickly coming to appreciate the advantages of this kind of travel. We’ve explored most of Asia by motorbike. Time and time again, we are treated to fascinating and tantalising aspects of culture we might otherwise miss in the confines of a car. A motorized bicycle of any kind is definitely an asset to the wandering traveler, especially if you like to make a lot of stops.

This afternoon, we set off for Caves Bookstore and the Grand Hotel. Once again, the chaotic and bustling streets of Taipei caused our spontaneous natures to be sidetracked. This time, we found ourselves stopping at a traditional Chinese medicine market at DiHua Street in Section 8. Perhaps the best part of traveling for us is stumbling upon these small little worlds that we don’t even know exist. We always eagerly grab these opportunities when they present themselves and are never ever disappointed. This market proved no exception to the rule and we were instantly lured in by the plethora of strange and exotic goods.

We saw giant plastic bags full of all sorts of mushroom, fungi and, my personal favorite, the ever-enchanting elephant ear fungi.  The gorgeous assortment of tea in color was a pleasure to the eyes. Plastic bins played host to an eye catching assortment of traditional health and body teas. Shark cartilage, dried sea cucumbers, dried whole squid, pickled ginger root, abalone and other delightful natural fish products assaulted the senses.

We are astounded at the number of natural remedies that are instantly available here for a mighty high price tag. Nonetheless, it was a fascinating glimpse into daily life and I was instantly reminded of the old street markets in China. We never did make it to the Grand Hotel, but we weren’t too disappointed as the day proved to hold other treasures for us. And, after all, tomorrow is another day.