A rather bland place

Petronas towers [Enlarge]

Say the name Kuala Lumpur. What does it conjure up? The Petronas Towers... the Malaysian Grand Prix... anything else?

Us neither. We came here not really knowing what to expect, but expecting a modern, industrialised Asian city. And that's what we got. It's hot, it's clean and it's quite relaxed. But that's it.

So what does Kuala Lumpur have to offer? It's a melting pot of cultures (to use a travel guidebook phrase). On any street or subway train you'll see faces from all over Asia. Fashions are varied. Women walk through the airconditioned malls in full black muslim burkas, accessorised with designer label handbags and the spoils of a day's hard shopping, while their teenage daughters in skin tight jeans pay lipservice to their culture with sequined head scarves; Indian women in garish saris dawdle through the streets of Brickfields.

Taiwanese food [Enlarge]

The multiculturalism extends, gloriously, to the food. Having made such a mess of Taiwan that we didn't even manage to sample any Taiwanese food, we finally rectified this when by chance we stumbled upon the 'Little Taiwan' restaurant after emerging from the subway into an almost deserted mall. We ordered delicious noodles and a side order of dumplings. Glenn's noodles came with chicken and Isla's with honey coated pork. They were worth waiting for!

We spent three nights in Kuala Lumpur, but we arrived late on the first night and left early on the final morning, so we only actually had two days to explore. But despite the short time, we didn't feel we missed anything. As well as the ubiquitous visit to the Petronas towers we filled our time with a fun afternoon at Petrosains, the Petronas-sponsored interactive science museum inside the Suria shopping complex adjoining the towers.

Maybe the friendly Malaysian temperament and culture just doesn't lend itself well to bustling metropolises; or else Kuala Lumpur just doesn't have enough history and attractions to distinguish itself from any other big city. We still love Malaysia, but in our opinion the smaller towns have so much more to offer.