Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur proved itself to be a fun, charismatic and modern city with the stars of the show clearly being the striking Petronas Twin Towers which look impressive from all angles as they pierce the city's skyline. As with Singapore, we were won over by the food with hawkers on every corner serving up tasty dishes of all descriptions. Culinary highlights included the satay, my first taste of durian (yes, I did quite like it believe it or not), beautiful roasted chestnuts, the juiciest clams ever and a typical Malaysian breakfast of nasi lemak (coconut rice with anchovies, egg and spicy sambal).

We were lucky enough to be shown around by a friend we met in Perhentian who took us to a beautiful waterfall on the Chiling river just outside of KL. After surviving a trek through the jungle and several clumsy river crossings we relaxed to the sounds of water crashing down the cliffside - I'm told that it's a popular Malaysian pastime to spend weekends trekking past rivers and swimming at waterfalls and having had an awesome day out I can easily see why.

With hundreds of air conditioned malls to choose from, we naturally indulged in more shopping and even stopped by an Indian palm reader who kindly  informed me that I'm going to meet my husband at 27, which gives me all of 2 weeks to find the poor unsuspecting sod... For some reason I'm a little dubious of the accuracy of this reading so relax all you eligible bachelors; I think you are safe for now! Cata and I are too busy protecting the Universe...

The Petronas Twin Towers:

New friends and awesome food:

Chiling river:

A roller coaster in a shopping mall? Well why the hell not...

Singapore and Penang

Oh Singapore, Singapore, Singapore! How do I love thee? Let me count the ways!

At first I wasn't sure if I just loved this place for the pure joy of being back in civilisation, but after a few days there the love only grew. Clean, shiny gleaming city of awesome food, countless air conditioned malls, artificial beaches, landscaped gardens and towering sky scrapers in all shapes and sizes. We were initially worried that our wallets wouldn't be able to handle iy but honestly we didn't find it to be too expensive - the transport is reasonably priced and easy to use (keeping in mind that London is my reference point!) and the food is so cheap and sooo good - it's just the shopping temptations that you have to keep in check and if you can manage that (we failed a bit) then your smooth sailing. Having said all that the drinks in bars and clubs were unbelievably expensive so if partying is what you are after then you'd best come here with a heap of savings!

Our first day there we recovered from our overnight flight by lazing by the pool in a beach club on Sentosa island. The beaches are beautiful although noticeably artificial but sadly the sea is not particularly inviting - not surprising with it being the one of the busiest ports in the World. Before it gained independence in 1965, Singapore was the main British naval base in Asia and the World's largest dry dock which earned it the description the 'Gibraltar if the East' - it's no small wonder why we felt so at home! However having been to both I can safely state that Singapore is nothing like Gibraltar...

Once we got round to exploring we found a clean, cosmopolitan city whose inhabitants seem so relaxed that it's hard to believe there is such an abundance of economic activity going on. The highlight here other than the shopping is the stuffing of ones face at the various hawker centres dotted around the city. For less than a fiver (GBP) you can gorge yourself on dumplings, noodles, soups, dim sum, crab, pig intestines or pretty much any other food you can or can't think of all of which taste beautifully delicious (OK, so I didn't actually try the pig intestines... Maybe next time).

We very reluctantly left the city comforts of Singapore and headed to Malaysia based on the recommendations of some fellow travellers we met at our hostel. Our first stop was Penang where we didn't really have enough time to do anything other than head to a bar to play some pool and drink a Jaeger bomb or two which was fun enough but sadly I have nothing much to report about this city... I hear the assam laksa here (more food)is unmissable but sadly we missed it but it was a fun night out! At 5am we transferred our sore heads to a minibus to the Perhentian Islands where I'm currently sat writing this... All I'll say for the moment is that I may never leave here!

Chilling on Sentosa:

Marina Bay Sands:

Drinking coconut juice with a view:

Plenty of bars we couldn't afford at Clarke Quay:

The beautiful temple in China Town:

Sunset in Sentosa:

Fat prawns and the best dim sum ever:

Night bus to Penang with massage chairs!:

What I saw of Penang! :