"Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia's Powerhouse" Kuala Lumpur by M0B1US

Kuala Lumpur, is an unlikely name for one of Asia's most vibrant and progressive cities and probably my most favourite Asian city so far...

It is a fast paced and hectic blend of old and new, with a stunning ultra modern district mingling in with old colonial buildings, Chinese shophouses and Islamic minarets dotting the cityscape.

KL as the locals call it started in the 1860s when a group of tin mining prospectors landed at the confluence of the Sungai Klang and Sungai Gombak rivers. This settlement quickly turned into a mining boomtown, ruled in succession by Sultans, the British, the Japanese in between the British again before independence in 1957 and self determination by Malaysia's people...

KL is a real melting pot of cultures with large populations of Malays, Chinese and Indians that seem to live together side by side in harmony. These eclectic cultures are one of the major draw cards of this fascinating and frenetic metropolis.

For me before visiting here, KL made me think of the Colonial past, pollution and the awe inspiring Petronas Towers - well I certainly got far more into the bargain than that and left wanting much more from my new found young friend! :-)

Our choice of hotel was decided by arriving at the chaotic Puduraya Bus Station and basically finding the first place outside towards Chinatown and ended up in a rather nice room at the Hotel Impiana as they were having a special offer... :-)

KL's vibrant market scene

About the pollution. When we were there in January the air was fine - nothing worse than say London on a hot day... Perhaps the 'summer' is worse however we are so close to the equator that I am not sure it makes much difference?

There are a number of must sees in KL, including for me top of the list, Petronas Towers!

The Towers are the world famous tallest office buildings in the world! And, best of all there is a viewing bridge halfway up the towers where you can get FREE tickets to see the rest of KL laid out below you...

The area around the towers is a high tech mall of hundreds of shops and food outlets and a large cinema where we saw a great film called 'Hero' by the same people that did 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'...

Another more historic area to visit is the Merdeka (Freedom) Square, which was the centre of the British colonial power as evidenced by the imposing mock tudor Royal Selangor Club.

Chinatown is another great place to visit and a great area to stay as it is a crowded and vibrant area packed with colourful shop fronts and is home to the hectic Jl Petaling Night Market and the enclosed Central Market.

KL also boasts a number of impressive mosques of which the most famous and accessible is Masjid Jamek at the site where KL's founders first landed.

Further afield are the Batu Caves which we were most fortunate to be here during the annual Hindu festival of Thaipusam...

One thing to be aware of is the fact that I almost got pickpocketed for the first time in my life on the crowded Light Rail system - so you really have to be on the lookout for this kind of thing as we were...

KL's Batu Caves during Thaipusam

KL's public transport is in a weird transitional period where there are a number of new developments such as the excellent overhead LRT (Light Rail System), however unaccountably none of these different lines seem to integrate and it can be quite an exercise getting from one place to another if you need to use more than one kind of transport.

To my mind the Putra Line is the best of the three LRT lines as it seems to link all the major attractions together quite well.

Integration is finally starting to happen now that the new KL Sentral station has opened and this now links the rest of the city to the national rail network quite well.

There is also a mad and frankly very confusing bus system as well which as we were in central town we only used once as a special charter out to the Batu Caves for Thaipusam (it only had one destination so we had no fear of getting lost, and in the end it worked brilliantly well!).

The other facet of the bus system are the national routes which we had to get to grips with at the Puduraya Bus Station which we arrived at from Melaka and left from to Georgetown. This place is a chaotic mess at first sight and takes a little getting used to, especially the fact that there are any number of companies operating the same routes at similar times and prices - you just have to dive in there and get yourself a deal!

There are also Taxis that are metered by distance (by law) though they do prey on new arrivals by refusing to use their meters. We didn't take any as we were right in the middle of town and right next to a couple of LRT stations.

For all its seeming craziness, KL traffic and transport was actually very efficient and fast moving - even when it came to catching a bus 15km out of town into a seething throng of 1.2m people the journey only took 45mins!

• Pros:A young and vibrant city constantly offering new entertainments
• Cons:Sometimes a bit too fast and frenetic - I was almost pickpocketed here!
• In a nutshell:A Fantastic blend of cultures both new and old